[Survival of the Fittest: Your life origin stands above all, allowing you to devour the life origin of other beings to promote your own evolution.]

The moment Lin Zichen saw this message, his first thought was—life has different ranks of worth.

It felt like a return to raw nature.

Survival of the fittest.

However, he didn’t dwell on that. His focus quickly shifted to the words “Life Origin.”

Life Origin?

What did that mean?

He suddenly recalled the beast fang given to him and Shen Qinghan by the white-haired girl. He remembered that when he had studied it before, it contained vigorous vitality.

So he turned to Shen Qinghan, who was humming a tune as she walked beside him.

“Hanhan, can you take off your beast fang and let me see it?”

“Why do you suddenly want to see it?”

Shen Qinghan obediently took it off and handed it to him, looking puzzled.

Lin Zichen casually made up an excuse, “I think the material of this fang is quite good. I wondered if I could turn it into jewelry for you.”

“Huh?” Shen Qinghan looked surprised, then troubled, “Xiao Chen, this was Bai Xue’s gift to us. Turning it into something else without her permission doesn’t feel right.”

“You’re right, then we won’t.”

Lin Zichen replied offhandedly, though his full attention was on the fang, sensing the vibrant vitality within.

The moment he felt it, his palm grew hot and in the next instant, the fang’s vitality surged into him.

At the same time, words appeared in the void.

[You devoured a trace of the Life Origin of the Abyssal Giant Butterfly]

[Abyssal Giant Butterfly Compendium: 1%]

[When the Compendium progress reaches 100%, you can evolve parts of the attributes or skills of the corresponding aberrant beast]

‘Could this really be a butterfly’s fang?’

Reading the message, Lin Zichen stared at the thick fang in his hand, stunned by the bizarre reality.

Clearly, this mutated Earth was filled with strange aberrant beasts, far beyond his previous life’s understanding.

His thoughts soon returned to Survival of the Fittest.

This Biological Attribute essentially gave him the ability to grow stronger by devouring other beings.

Many ideas filled his mind.

Could he devour ants, mosquitoes, flies, cockroaches—the common pests everywhere—and gain their attributes or skills?

Like… a cockroach’s tenacity?

Later at home, he would test this Biological Attribute on small animals.

“Xiao Chen, haven’t you seen that fang for a long time? Why are you staring at it like you’ve discovered something new?”

Seeing him dazed, Shen Qinghan found it strange.

Lin Zichen withdrew his focus from the void and casually brushed it off, returning the fang to her.

Though its vitality was gone, it wouldn’t decay like flesh and blood and could still be kept.

* * *

Soon, they returned to the classroom.

As soon as he opened his desk, Lin Zichen was stunned.

His once empty drawer was stuffed with love letters, packed so tightly there was no space left.

It was obvious—some girl too shy to give them in person had dumped a hoard of accumulated love letters into his drawer while he was away.

This wasn’t the first time.

‘So many letters…how should I handle them?’

He looked troubled.

At that moment, Shen Qinghan handed him another letter with a mischievous grin, “On the playground earlier, the class rep from next door asked me to give this to you. She was too shy to approach you herself.”

‘Another one…’

Lin Zichen sighed, taking it reluctantly.

Looking through the stack, he realized they weren’t from one person but over a dozen.

‘At least these girls are decent—they didn’t throw away their rivals’ letters.’

He smiled wryly.

He gathered them up, intending to throw them away somewhere private.

But Shen Qinghan stopped him, “Don’t, Xiao Chen. If the girls found out, they’d be heartbroken. If you don’t want them, let me keep them safe for you. Whenever you feel like reading them, you can come to me.”

With that, she stuffed the letters into her bag.

Lin Zichen didn’t mind—less trouble for him.

Then he remembered the other fang in his own bag, also a gift from the white-haired girl and devoured it.

[You devoured a trace of the Life Origin of the Abyssal Giant Butterfly]

[Abyssal Giant Butterfly Compendium: 2%]

Now that he knew its name, could he find info online?

He searched “Abyssal Giant Butterfly.”

He remembered once uploading a photo of the fang to an image database in elementary school, but found nothing.

Now, armed with a name, he expected better results.

But he was disappointed—nothing appeared. The Abyssal Giant Butterfly wasn’t in any known records.

That meant it was an undiscovered aberrant beast.

The Compendium was doomed—without any info, it couldn’t be filled.

Unless he met the white-haired girl and learned more.

* * *

After class, Lin Zichen and Shen Qinghan went to the bike shed and pulled out a bicycle.

Though half a year old, it looked brand new thanks to Shen Qinghan cleaning it every few days.

As they pushed it toward the gate, she suddenly wanted a lollipop. Lin Zichen bought one for her.

“Eat it on your own. You’re old enough, don’t make me feed you.”

He unwrapped it and held it to her lips.

Used to this closeness, she smiled sweetly as she accepted it, “I can’t help it. It tastes sweeter when you feed me.”

“It’s just psychological.”

Seeing her cheeks puffed out with the candy, he poked her.

“Don’t poke my face,” she pouted.

“It’s soft, so it feels nice to poke,” he teased.

“If it feels nice, then pinch or rub, but not poke. Poking feels weird.”

“Fine, then I’ll pinch.”

“No, rub instead. Rubbing feels better.”

“….”

They joked and pushed the bike along.

Passing the training field, Lin Zichen saw the martial arts team at practice—and recognized the boy who had lost to him and got three silver medals.

He was sprinting across the grass with a rope tied to his waist, dragging a tire for resistance training.

“Xiao Chen, look at him working so hard. Do you think the sports meet pushed him?” Shen Qinghan whispered around her lollipop.

“Maybe.”

Just then, the martial arts coach turned and spotted them, then walked directly toward them.

Shen Qinghan panicked, “Oh no, Xiao Chen, did he hear us talking too loudly?”

“It’s fine, we didn’t say anything bad,” Lin Zichen reassured her.