Sunday night, after dinner at home, Lin Zichen hailed an Uber and returned to Shanhai University with Shen Qinghan, their parents from both families seeing them off.

Originally, their parents had offered to drive them, but Lin Zichen felt it would waste their time going there and back, so it was better to spend a little and take an Uber.

They reached campus and had just stepped into the dorm.

A notification popped up on the school app: 300 credits deposited.

It was the reward for completing the Catwoman mission.

The original reward was only fifty credits, but it was raised to three hundred because Director He, who manages the mission system, learned that Catwoman’s Biological Level wasn’t Level 6 but Level 9.

Of the 300 credits, 200 were what the Level 9 mission should have awarded.

The extra 100 were compensation for Lin Zichen.

"The school’s mission system is so unreliable. It’s a good thing you’re strong enough, otherwise this Catwoman mission would have gotten you killed."

Seeing the credit notification on Lin Zichen’s phone, Shen Qinghan couldn’t help complaining.

Lin Zichen agreed, "Total trap. I’ll have to be extra careful taking missions from now on."

Shen Qinghan, "Once isn’t enough—you need ninety‑nine extra carefuls."

Lin Zichen chuckled, "True."

Then he added, "By the way, when there’s a suitable mission, I’ll take you along to get you used to blood and toughen your heart."

"I’m in."

Shen Qinghan agreed without even thinking.

If it was something Lin Zichen wanted to do, she supported it unconditionally.

* * *

Time passed, they both sat on the living‑room sofa on their phones.

After scrolling the news for a bit, Lin Zichen opened the credit mall in the school app and placed an order for ninety jin of Living Dead Slug meat, hoping to unlock the Living Dead Slug Compendium tomorrow morning.

Before, he’d worried that buying too much Aberrant Beast meat at once would look suspicious and draw attention, so he’d planned to order ten jin at a time, ten separate orders, slowly reaching a hundred.

Now that he thought about it, that was too much hassle and unnecessary.

It was only a hundred jin of beast meat—nothing unusual really. No one would care.

He’d just been overthinking it and creating needless trouble for himself.

"Is there any beast meat you want to eat? I’ll order some."

After buying the Living Dead Slug meat, Lin Zichen looked at Shen Qinghan.

Beast meat is highly nutritious and greatly aids evolution. Shen Qinghan’s body was so weak that he needed to get her more of it.

"Let me see."

She opened the credit mall on her phone and, after browsing a bit said, "Let’s get Violent Eagle meat. One credit gets six jin. That’ll last us days in the fridge."

She still couldn’t bear to spend credits, picking the cheaper beast meat on purpose.

"Alright, I’ll place the order for Violent Eagle."

"Don’t, I’ll do it. I still have the ninety credits you gave me."

With that, Shen Qinghan placed the order in the mall.

Lin Zichen let her—after all, they lived under the same roof. Credits were shared.

Ding‑dong!

Suddenly, the doorbell sounded.

At once, Lin Zichen spread his senses to see who it was.

It was Ma Xiwei at the door.

‘What was she here for? Is it about the Catwoman mission?’

With that question in mind, Lin Zichen rose from the sofa to open the door.

Shen Qinghan followed.

Creaaak—

The dorm door opened.

Ma Xiwei stood outside and said politely, "Sorry to bother you so late."

"What can we do for you?" Lin Zichen asked calmly.

Ma Xiwei didn’t waste words, "I’m curious how you completed the Catwoman mission. Mind sharing?"

"Not convenient."

"Then I won’t intrude."

With that, Ma Xiwei turned to leave, not pestering them.

Shen Qinghan hesitated, then called after her, "Xiwei, um… want to come in for tea? I brought some from home—my mom pan‑fried it herself."

"Next time... I’ve got something right now."

Leaving that neutral line behind, Ma Xiwei quickly disappeared down the stairs.

She lived downstairs in Room 501, not with her parents.

She found living with them annoying and preferred her freedom.

"Xiao Chen, I think Xiwei’s pretty nice. We should keep in touch with her."

Shen Qinghan looked at Lin Zichen and suggested it.

She had a good impression of Ma Xiwei and wanted to be on good terms with the aloof dean’s daughter.

That night, Ma Xiwei had gone out of her way to tell her on WeChat that the Catwoman mission info was wrong and to warn Lin Zichen, which maxed out Shen Qinghan’s favorability.

Lin Zichen nodded, "She’s nice. If you want, invite her over more often. She’s right downstairs."

They went back inside.

Seeing it was about time, they headed into the training room—one did strength work, the other a second round of Skin Tempering.

After training, they showered. Both were hungry and went to the kitchen to cook noodles.

They exercised a lot every day and got hungry easily, so they needed multiple meals to replenish energy.

Soon, the noodles were done.

They sat face‑to‑face at the table, eating.

While they ate, Shen Qinghan stretched a foot under the table to tease Lin Zichen with practiced ease.

"What are you doing?"

Lin Zichen grabbed her restless little foot and looked up.

Shen Qinghan’s eyes curved with a smile, "Nothing—just teasing you. I saw the female lead do this to the male lead in the learning videos."

"You’re getting naughtier."

"It’s not naughty—it’s called romance. Do you like it or not?"

"I do."

Lin Zichen released the dainty, pale foot and answered honestly.

Hearing that, Shen Qinghan grew a little smug. Teasing him with her foot, she added playfully, "In the videos, the female lead even goes under the table to tease the male lead. When I’m in the mood someday, I’ll crawl under and let you feel like a male lead."

Lin Zichen said nothing, smiling like it didn’t matter—but inside he was very much looking forward to it.

The little minx was getting better at playing his heartstrings.

* * *

The next morning.

After breakfast, Shen Qinghan headed out alone to the teaching building for class.

Lin Zichen stayed home, waiting for last night’s ninety jin of Living Dead Slug meat to be delivered.

According to the school app, it would arrive around nine.

He planned to unlock the Living Dead Slug Compendium, see what biological attribute he’d get, then head to the institute to study the text on the Blood‑Tempering Art.

* * *

8:43 a.m.

The ninety jin of Living Dead Slug meat arrived.

So did the six jin of Violent Eagle meat Shen Qinghan had bought.

He put the Violent Eagle meat in the fridge.

Then tore into the boxes of Living Dead Slug meat and with a thought, began devouring.

[You have devoured a large amount of the Life Origin of “Living Dead Slug.”]

[Living Dead Slug Compendium: 100%]

As the text appeared, a severely wounded slug slowly took shape in the air, lying on the ground on its last breath.

It had been savaged, its body sliced into countless pieces by the Violent Eagle’s talons.

It looked beyond saving, waiting to die.

Yet in under five minutes.

The chopped‑to‑pieces slug reassembled itself, bit by bit, knitting together at a speed visible to the naked eye until it was whole again, miraculously alive.

At the same time, two lines of text floated in the air.

[You have successfully unlocked the Living Dead Slug Compendium and obtained the biological attribute—Rapid Self‑Healing.]

[Rapid Self‑Healing: Your self‑healing ability is greatly enhanced. As long as you are not killed on the spot and have enough energy, no matter how grievous the injury, it will self‑heal.]

‘This was broken.’

Staring at the prompt, Lin Zichen was thrilled.

He then grit his teeth, bit down hard on his hand and tested it.

The bite tore open the flesh below his right thumb, blood gushing nonstop.

Under Rapid Self‑Healing.

In seconds, the bleeding stopped.

A few seconds more, the pain faded and was replaced by an itch.

Lin Zichen went to the kitchen, rinsed his hand and checked the wound.

Just as he expected, the wound was gone.

Good as new.

No trace of injury at all.

To be thorough, he tested several more times.

Each time, the result was the same—perfect healing.

He felt invincible.

With Rapid Self‑Healing, as long as he kept a thread of life and had enough energy, he could pop back to full HP and MP again and again.