"Amazing, isn't it? I was quite surprised when I first discovered it! But when I prepared the second piece of bait using exactly the same process, the effect was gone!" Yu Dong shrugged, his tone somewhat complicated.

Zhang Yang didn't rush to respond, frowning as he pondered for over ten seconds before looking up and asking, "What did you do before coming to the site? Did the packaging for the base bait get contaminated with anything? Did you wash your hands before starting the bait experiment? Did you come into contact with anything suspicious?"

The speaker unintentionally made a point, and with Zhang Yang's reminder, Yu Dong patiently went over the details before and after preparing the bait in his mind.

As a professional, the detailed questions Zhang Yang asked had been drilled into Yu Dong many times by his teachers during school experiments. Controlling variables to eliminate external interference is common knowledge in experimental controls.

After going through the details, Yu Dong didn't find anything wrong.

Seeing Yu Dong's frown, Zhang Yang asked, "What's wrong? None of these are issues?"

"There shouldn't be any problem. I washed my hands and thoroughly cleaned the utensils used for preparing the bait.

Yesterday when experimenting, I added a few drops of musk extract, fearing that the smell might interfere, I even washed it all again!" Yu Dong said leisurely.

"Musk?"

Hearing the words musk extract, Zhang Yang looked up abruptly: "Do you mean that the basin used for preparing the bait had musk extract added to it during yesterday's bait preparation?"

Hearing this, Yu Dong realized as well.

"Yes! President Zhao helped me get a high-priced wild musk from Beijing Tongren Hall, which I used for the experiment!

Could it be... could it be related to it?"

As he said this, Yu Dong's breath became rapid.

Professionals engaged in researching freshwater attractants can't avoid dealing with such a special substance as musk.

Musk is derived from the dried secretions of the scent glands of mature male musk deer, min, or horse musk.

This stuff is an extremely precious traditional Chinese medicinal material, and ancient books record its ability to attract fish. In modern times, it's used widely in fragrance formulation, medicine, etc., and its price per gram is several times that of gold.

In wild musk, besides the main component muscone, there are many other complex substances, including but not limited to steroid compounds such as testosterone, estradiol, cholesterol, a variety of amino acids, allantoin, and protein kinase activators.

Before preparing the bait, Yu Dong indeed rinsed the basin according to standards, but after all, the bait preparation basin wasn't a laboratory Petri dish, so no one could say for sure whether microscopically it was contaminated with tiny substances.

"Could it be possible that a certain dose of musk extract on the basin reacted in some mysterious way with the bait and herbal wine, causing the fish to feed frantically?" Zhang Yang speculated.

Yu Dong slapped his forehead: "It's possible, very possible! I'll try again following this idea right away!"

After saying this, Yu Dong ignored Zhang Yang, turned around, and headed to the laboratory, jogging upstairs, and soon came out with a small bottle of extract.

Entering the state, Yu Dong seemed to forget the presence of Zhang Yang beside him, following the memory of yesterday's bait preparation process, adding a few drops of extract to the bait prepared, which was then directly thrown into the trash without use, followed by normal rinsing of the bait preparation basin.

After washing the bait basin twice, Yu Dong placed the basin aside to air dry naturally, busying himself for more than ten minutes before continuing the preparation process for the first batch of bait today.

Once the bait was prepared, Yu Dong eagerly hung the hook and cast the line into the water, staring unblinkingly at the bobber.

Despite preparing the bait identically in Zhang Yang's presence, the effect in the water was noticeable compared to the control group.

Although it wasn't as prominent as the first batch of bait in promoting feeding, six times of casting caught four fish, which was significantly better than before.

"It's working! It's working!" After testing six casts, Yu Dong shouted excitedly.

Zhang Yang also analyzed, "Stop shouting! It's still not quite right. I suspect there's still a variation in concentration measurement! After rinsing the basin yesterday and leaving it overnight, could there be a difference in the concentration of certain volatile substances?"

"Very likely. As long as we have a direction, it's easier to address. I'll redesign a control experiment right away! Finding the optimal solution is just a matter of time!"

Within the professional realm, Yu Dong regained his confidence.

In the following time, Yu Dong completely immersed himself in his research. Different concentrations and doses of reagents were mixed and then arranged in order from highest to lowest concentration, being tested one by one in practical application, while simultaneously collecting and recording relevant test results.

This operation was extremely tedious, and Zhang Yang, standing on the side and watching for less than half an hour, quietly got up and left.

Leave the professional work to the professionals. Zhang Yang couldn't offer much help here anymore.

Two days later, after dozens of trials, Yu Dong had initially grasped certain patterns and directly drove to Zhang Yang's fishing tackle shop.

During the midday break, with no customers in the shop, Yu Dong directly slapped his experimental results onto the table.

"I've figured out the preliminary patterns! Look, here are the test data from these past two days!"

Zhang Yang grinned without taking the data sheet: "It's enough that you understand it. I don't, so looking at it doesn't mean much, just tell me the conclusion directly!"

"Mixing a certain concentration of musk extract with herbal wine does indeed produce a special effect!

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.