After coming out of the bathroom, Lin Zichen and Shen Qinghan blow‑dried their hair and went to bed.

They chatted for a while before going to sleep.

Shen Qinghan mentioned that Yuan Dongzhi only mastered the technique of manipulating the vital blood inside others from afar a year after fusing the Azure Jellyfish King Gene.

She however, had mastered it in less than half a month after fusion, her talent far surpassing Yuan Dongzhi’s.

She planned to hide the fact that she had mastered vital‑blood manipulation, learning from Lin Zichen how to keep a trump card.

She would wait until she had mastered stronger techniques and grown more powerful, then reveal that she could manipulate vital blood.

For now she already looked plenty like a genius who could get any resource, there was no need to show all her strength.

Keeping a trump card was the correct choice.

Hearing her plan, Lin Zichen smiled and said it was good that she had learned that from him.

They kept talking on and off like that.

When the time reached 11 p.m.

Lin Zichen suddenly thought of something.

He rolled onto his side and said to Shen Qinghan, “Before, I said you are also a pureblood human, I asked your master whether you could walk the path of pureblood humans and she said no, that your vital blood was too weak. But I just realized, if you can manipulate others’ vital blood from afar, there’s no reason you can’t manipulate your own vital blood to temper your body. Most importantly, you and I are both special existences, things ordinary people can’t do, we might be able to do.”

Saying that, Lin Zichen sat up, looked at Shen Qinghan lying at his side and said seriously, “I’ll teach you how to use vital blood to temper your body right now, try it and see.”

‘We are both special…’

Shen Qinghan suddenly felt like she had been confessed to, like she and the one in her heart were going to face the whole world together in a chūnibyō way.

But she did not feel embarrassed, she felt it was wonderful.

“Hanhan?”

Seeing Shen Qinghan a little dazed, Lin Zichen called to her in confusion.

Shen Qinghan came back to herself at the sound, quickly sat up in bed and said with firm eyes, “You’re right, we’re special, I can definitely use vital blood to temper my body.”

* * *

In the time that followed.

Deep in the night.

Lin Zichen taught patiently, Shen Qinghan studied earnestly.

Two and a half hours later.

One thirty in the morning.

Shen Qinghan suddenly cried out in excitement, “It worked, Xiao Chen, I did it.”

She had successfully mastered the Blood‑Tempering Art.

She could use mental power to manipulate her own vital blood and temper her flesh.

She could walk the path of pureblood humans just like Lin Zichen.

Seeing that she had truly learned it, Lin Zichen was a bit surprised.

Two and a half hours earlier he had only wanted her to give it a try, without much hope.

Because the Blood‑Tempering Art has a threshold.

According to Liu Chuanwu, your vital‑blood strength needs to reach at least Ordinary Tier Four to have enough power of vital blood to temper the body.

Yet Shen Qinghan’s biological level was only Ordinary Tier Two, but she had succeeded with the Blood‑Tempering Art.

She could use vital blood to temper her flesh.

It broke common sense a bit.

“Xiao Chen, I can enslave Aberrant Beast genes to gain their abilities, you can devour Aberrant Beast meat to gain their abilities and we’re both walking the path of pureblood humans, now we really are a peerless duo.”

Shen Qinghan hugged Lin Zichen in excitement, her pretty face flushed red.

Lin Zichen smiled, “As it should be.”

He was happy for her and excited in his heart, but he did not show it all on his face like she did.

That was just personality.

Shen Qinghan wore her feelings on her face, he stayed calm.

* * *

In the days that followed.

Whenever she was in the dorm, Shen Qinghan would practice the Blood‑Tempering Art with Lin Zichen, using vital blood to temper her body.

With a tempering master like Lin Zichen around, Shen Qinghan did not take a single detour.

It was full straight‑line acceleration, her tempering progress was fast.

In less than half a month.

Shen Qinghan achieved first skin‑tempering in one go.

Her biological level rose straight from Ordinary Tier Two to Ordinary Tier Three.

It was not as efficient as Lin Zichen, but compared to Liu Chuanwu and Song Yuyan it was a total stomp.

And there was something interesting.

Even though Shen Qinghan had completed first skin‑tempering and her skin had grown tougher, the feel of it to the touch was no different than before, still supple and smooth.

If not for the skin‑strength test where a fruit knife was dragged hard across her hand, Lin Zichen would have suspected she hadn’t tempered her skin at all.

* * *

A few days later.

A sunny morning.

Shen Qinghan had no classes that morning and was sleeping in a bit, currently underneath her quilt.

Lin Zichen woke early but did not rush to get up.

He sat with his back against the headboard and browsed the task system on the school app on his phone, thinking about taking some off‑campus city missions to earn credits.

After browsing a while, he remembered he had said he wanted to let Shen Qinghan see some blood to temper her mindset.

So he spent half an hour carefully picking and finally chose an in‑city off‑campus mission to capture drug traffickers.

Mission, capture drug traffickers, a 21‑person gang, armed with firearms, no cyborgs, no Gene Fusers, located on the outskirts of Shanhai City.

Reward, 50 credits.

The reward was only 50 credits which meant the difficulty was not high, perfect for letting Shen Qinghan see blood and experience the feel of combat.

‘Yes, this mission it is.’

Thinking that, Lin Zichen accepted the mission in the system to unlock more details.

The mission would begin at 11 p.m. tomorrow night and required reporting two hours early at Shanhai City’s Security Headquarters, then accompanying the security officers as outside support to capture the traffickers.

In other words he would be a hired fist.

Lin Zichen suspected that those cyborgs he saw as a kid were most likely outside support hired by the Security Headquarters.

“Xiao Chen, when did you wake up?”

Shen Qinghan woke groggily and looked at Lin Zichen with sleepy eyes.

“More than an hour ago.”

Then Lin Zichen said, “I just picked an in‑city off‑campus mission on the school app to capture drug traffickers, we need to head to the public security side at 9 tomorrow night to join the operation, you come too, I’ll let you see blood.”

“Okay.”

Shen Qinghan agreed without a second thought.

Lin Zichen handed her his phone and said gently, “Then it’s settled, take a look at the mission details first, I’ll go make breakfast.”

“Mm.”

Shen Qinghan answered and took the phone.

Lin Zichen did not linger, he got out of bed, put on his shoes and left the room, heading straight for the fridge.

He had barely taken a few steps when the doorbell rang.

Ding‑dong.

Hearing it, Lin Zichen immediately spread his senses to see who had come so early in the morning.

He sensed Li Moyu standing outside the door.

‘What was he here for.’

Lin Zichen wondered.

He did not overthink it and quickly went to open the door for Li Moyu.

Creak—

The door opened.

At the sight of Lin Zichen, Li Moyu got straight to the point, “Lin Zichen, I took an off‑campus mission last night to kill a water monster at Ordinary Tier Seven, it’s risky to go alone, want to come with me? The reward is 100 credits, we split it fifty‑fifty, fifty credits each, we also split the water monster’s corpse fifty‑fifty. Fifty‑fifty is not ripping you off, last week I went home and under my dad’s arrangement I fused a Demon‑Eyed Giant Ape gene, my base strength is now Ordinary Tier Six, once I fully activate the Demon‑Eyed Giant Ape Gene I can jump straight to Ordinary Tier Seven. That strength is not worse than yours, maybe it’s even stronger.”

He rattled this off in one breath, then asked again, “So, want to team up?”