Chapter 53: What Is a Meme

The next day.

Stag Academy - Wing D (Sub-level 2)

Occultism Group Lecture - Memetics Major - Experimental Class.

"Professor, why is your classroom so deserted? It's just me, where are the other students?" Xiuxiu asked, looking at the empty classroom while facing Professor Lowengen, who was busy preparing reagents at the front.

Professor Lowengen used a dropper to release the final drop of liquid into the reagent in his hand before looking up to reply:

"Memetics is dangerous. I usually don't begin formal instruction until the second semester of the first year. During the first semester, I have them read books related to the memetics major to build a solid foundation before they come into contact with memetics."

Xiuxiu casually picked up a copy of *The Selfish Gene* from the edge of the table, his fingers gently flipping to Chapter 11, [Memes: The New Replicators]. He looked at Professor Lowengen and said in a mock-complaining tone:

"Professor, I'm a Little Stag too. Why didn't you let me study along with them? Is it appropriate for me to be exposed to such dangerous stuff right now?"

"A Little Stag who hasn't even been in school for a month goes to [Vortex Music] to buy meme antibodies? A Little Stag downloads an illegal app embedded with 124 backdoors that violates the *Veil Act*? The most incredible part is that this Little Stag actually had the Stag Academy's think tank use the [Sword of Judgement] to help him purge the app."

"You really swallowed the sugar-coated pill and then fired the cannonball right back."

"Hah, is this a Little Stag? This is practically a scheming little fox," Professor Lowengen said as he packed away the reagents and looked at Xiuxiu.

"124... I knew those profit-driven, black-hearted penguins were untrustworthy, but I never expected them to be black-hearted to this extent," Xiuxiu closed the book, touching his chin and clicking his tongue.

Xiuxiu knew that a non-standard lineage app like the [Guide to Abnormal Community Life] would inevitably have meme information uploaded as backdoors, but he simply hadn't expected those fat penguins to be so utterly unscrupulous.

124 of them? Even those pink little apps on Blue Star wouldn't dare pull off something like that!

Fat penguins, you have no conscience!

"The Wandmen aren't the developers of this app; they just secretly bought a portion of the developers' equity," Lowengen said.

"Come on, these are the test questions I prepared. Time limit one hour, full score 100. If you finish and score above 90, I'll start your lessons ahead of schedule." Professor Lowengen pulled out a pre-prepared test paper and handed it to Xiuxiu.

"Oh ho, getting special treatment. Professor, is this really appropriate?" Xiuxiu said with a cheeky smile.

"Finish the test first before you talk," Professor Lowengen shot him a glare.

"Fine."

Xiuxiu took the test paper, found a seat, and took out his fountain pen, while Professor Lowengen said to him:

"Are you ready?"

"Mm."

"Then, time begins."

—————Test Paper—————

Question 1: What is a "meme"? (This question only requires answering theoretical knowledge based on the contemporary scientific worldview - 2 points)

Answer: A meme is the sociocultural counterpart to the word gene. Literally, gene means the basic unit that constitutes a living organism, whereas a meme is the basic unit that constitutes culture.

.......

Question 4: What is meant by the function of the meme as the basic unit of culture? (2 points)

Answer: The concept of a meme is to liken behaviors within a crowd to a virus, infecting others.

Question 5: Please list non-supernatural meme contamination. (6 points)

Answer: On a heavily social lineage app developed by the Wandmen, there is a feature that allows sharing interesting aspects of daily life with friends. If I upload a post or image stating [Repost XX to receive good luck].

You read it and follow along.

Congratulations! You have just been infected by the meme virus I created. Regardless of the mechanics, it instantly altered your behavior, causing you to copy that line of text, making this meme virus self-replicate, and compelling someone else who sees this line to copy it in turn.

........

Question 21: What is a meme-eradication catalyst? (8 points)

Answer: A meme-eradication catalyst is a specific information carrier loaded with a massive amount of pre-manipulated anomalous information. It utilizes an overwhelming volume of data and compulsory, repetitive output to induce synaptic saturation and neurological damage in the brain.......

Should one encounter a meme catalyst that distorts the nature of consensus reality, once the catalyst erupts, consensus reality will also undergo distorted changes based on the catalyst's anomalous principles.

.......

Question 25: Must the effects caused by a meme catalyst always be negative? (4 points)

Answer: Not necessarily. The functions of some non-standard catalysts also include memory impairment. Memory-deletion catalysts created using this principle can be used to shield against contamination when encountering [divine contamination] or [un-stareable] catalysts.

——————————————————

"Professor, I'm done," Xiuxiu said, raising his hand to Professor Lowengen after writing the answer to the final question.

"It's only been thirty-four minutes. Aren't you going to check your work?" Professor Lowengen asked Xiuxiu.

Xiuxiu waved the test paper in his hand and smiled back at the professor:

"Definitely over 90."

"Young man, rushing things is never a good habit." Professor Lowengen took the test paper from Xiuxiu's hand and began grading it on the spot.

Three minutes later.

"Mm, not bad, 98 points," Lowengen nodded in satisfaction.

"How is that possible? It should be 100 points. Professor, did you misread something somewhere?" Xiuxiu asked Professor Lowengen with a look of astonishment.

"The remaining 2 points were deducted for your handwriting. It's too ugly." Professor Lowengen held up the test paper with its elegant handwriting and performed a masterclass in talking nonsense with his eyes open right then and there.

Fine, I see you just didn't want to give me those 2 points for fear I'd get too arrogant, right? Xiuxiu muttered inwardly to himself.

"Hugh Abraham, do you know about the supernatural lineage hierarchy centered around Stag Academy?" Professor Lowengen chose to change the subject, asking Xiuxiu with a serious expression.

"Most academic research institutions on Terra dominated by Blue Books adopt a five-tiered hierarchy. From bottom to top, they are: Novice Scholar, Intermediate Scholar, Advanced Scholar, Magister, and Archmagister."

"Generally speaking, students of the Stag Academy lineage can advance to the rank of Intermediate Scholar after completing four years of university and fulfilling all subject requirements. Of course, there are also exceptionally talented individuals who advance to Advanced Scholar before graduation by publishing groundbreaking theses rarely seen in the secular world," Xiuxiu replied.

After listening to Xiuxiu's answer, Professor Lowengen smiled at him and said:

"That is the conventional advancement method for the Stag Academy lineage, but you know that Stag Academy also has other lineages—like you. We have no way of teaching them through conventional means, especially the Heavenly Kingdom lineage."

"You must realize that the rejection rate of the Heavenly Kingdom lineage is extremely high. Therefore, we do not intend to teach you by the book."

"Since you chose Memetics and Abnormal Aesthetics as your major courses, your intentions are already quite obvious."

Professor Lowengen looked at the smiling, blond-haired youth and stated directly:

"Hugh Abraham, state the [Modules] and [Artistic Installations] you desire."