Seeing it was about time, Lin Zichen left the institute, went to the residential quarter to buy groceries and headed back to the dorm to cook.

He wanted Shen Qinghan to have a meal the moment she got back from her morning classes.

After a while shopping, Lin Zichen soon returned to the dorm.

Not long after, Shen Qinghan finished class and came back too.

The two cooked together in the kitchen, then after eating, took a refreshingly cold shower and went to their room for a nap. Life was very comfortable.

“Xiao Chen, this morning Master found me and said she wants me to undergo Gene Fusion early. The fusion target is the Azure Jellyfish Gene. She said the Azure Jellyfish Gene suits me well in the early phase.”

On the bed, Shen Qinghan curled up with her back to him in Lin Zichen’s arms as she spoke.

‘Azure Jellyfish?’

Lin Zichen knew of that Aberrant Beast—he’d read about it in books as a child.

It was a low‑tier Aberrant Beast. The biological level of an adult averaged at Ordinary Level 7.

A powerful Jellyfish King could break the shackles of the Ordinary Level and evolve into the Advanced tier.

Azure Jellyfish usually lived in the ten‑thousand‑meter deep sea and were extremely rare, rarer than giant pandas in the previous era.

Its trait was Spiritual Power far surpassing creatures of the same tier.

Its ability was the free use of Spiritual Power to control water.

Controlling water was something any creature with high Spiritual Power could do.

But the Azure Jellyfish was different: even while still in the Ordinary stage, with only a thin thread of Spiritual Power it could control dozens of cubic meters of seawater.

In short, it was better at playing with water than anything else.

After going over the Azure Jellyfish information, Lin Zichen said to the girl in his arms, “Sounds good. I think the Azure Jellyfish suits you. Do as Master says.”

Shen Qinghan turned over to face him, a little uneasy, “I also think it suits me, but Master immediately said she wants me to fuse the Azure Jellyfish King Gene. That’s a gene from an Advanced creature. My body is so weak—what if I can’t bear it and mutate?”

‘They were fusing the Azure Jellyfish King Gene?’

Lin Zichen blinked, very surprised.

If the Azure Jellyfish was rare, then the Azure Jellyfish King was extremely rare.

Out of ten thousand Azure Jellyfish, only one Azure Jellyfish King would be born!

Yuan Dongzhi truly lived up to being the wealthy daughter of the Yuan family—moneyed up and generous—casually gifting a Jellyfish King Gene to a disciple. She really was willing to invest.

‘I wish I had a master that generous too…’

Lin Zichen felt a stab of envy, then comforted her: “Don’t worry, Jellyfish‑type Aberrant Beasts are naturally very compatible with the human body. Plus your Gene Fusion Adaptability is as high as 21%. Fusing an Advanced Aberrant Beast Gene is more than within your capacity. You definitely won’t mutate.”

“Will there be any side effects?” Shen Qinghan was still uneasy.

When facing the unknown or doing something for the first time, humans are naturally uneasy—that’s a built‑in survival mechanism.

There’s an opposite mechanism too: curiosity.

Shen Qinghan was timid; the uneasiness smothered her curiosity, leaving her anxious.

Lin Zichen smiled, “There will be side effects, but they’re familiar ones—for example, a high chance of losing fertility and visible external traits of the Aberrant Beast appearing. These days, those ‘side effects’ barely count as side effects. As for losing fertility, you already had healthy ova extracted and preserved. If you want children later, you just use those ova. As for external beast traits, those can be hidden—just put the beast gene expression to sleep.”

He added, “And many external traits actually improve looks—cat‑eared girls, fox‑tailed girls; you’ve seen them. They’re very popular.”

“That’s true.”

Her peach‑bright eyes sparkled.

With that, her anxiety eased—and even turned into a bit of anticipation.

She began to look forward to what kind of beast traits she might show after fusing the Azure Jellyfish King Gene next month—and whether she’d look even prettier.

“Also, gene tech is already very mature. You can not only fuse but also strip. If there’s an adverse reaction after fusion, you can strip it later.”

Lin Zichen gently kneaded her hand, his voice calm.

Strictly speaking, ‘strip’ wasn’t precise.

More precisely, it was suppression.

There is a special virus that is harmless to humans but highly aggressive toward Aberrant Beast genes.

By injecting that viral reagent, you can suppress the expression of the beast gene in the body.

After that, over years, it can slowly erode the beast gene until it is completely cleared.

Many bio‑weapons targeting Aberrant Beasts are created from this special virus.

“You make it sound easy. Stripping is painful. I still hope to fuse perfectly.”

With that, Shen Qinghan sat up, picked up her phone, opened a video and held it up to Lin Zichen, “Xiao Chen, take a look.”

Lin Zichen sat up and looked at the screen. A scene of the seabed came into view.

Judging from the angle, it wasn’t shot by a submarine but by a person diving down in person.

“So it’s a diving video. I thought you were going to show me an ‘educational’ video.”

Lin Zichen teased her.

She rolled her eyes, “Look at you—you always call me a little perv, but you’re the perviest one. Show you a video and that’s where your mind goes.”

“Don’t invert cause and effect, Shen Dirty-han. It’s because you’re too pervy all the time that my mind reflexively goes there.”

“Ugh, you’re so annoying!”

She swatted him and huffed, “Enough talk, watch the video. The Azure Jellyfish will appear any second.”

Lin Zichen stopped teasing and focused on the screen.

A few seconds later, with a turn of the camera, several deep‑blue, strange jellyfish drifted into view.

From afar, they looked like dark‑blue flames floating in the water—surreally beautiful.

They were enormous, at least three meters long by eye.

Adult Azure Jellyfish.

Their habitat was the ten‑thousand‑meter deep sea. For them to grow so huge under such crushing pressure said everything about their bodily toughness.

“Aren’t Azure Jellyfish beautiful?”

Shen Qinghan tilted her head toward him; a few strands of hair slipped across her forehead, making her look pure and lovely.

Lin Zichen brushed her hair back and gazed at her face, couldn’t help praising, “Beautiful—but not as beautiful as you.”

Her heart warmed and she smiled, “Sweet talker.”

He slid an arm around her slim waist, “Want a taste?”

“Just a little.”

She leaned in and pecked his lips, then licked her own, laughter bright in her clear eyes, “Xiao Chen’s lips are sweet.”

Then she blinked her big, watery eyes, “Guess who shot this video?”

“Your Master?”

“Correct!”

She snapped a silent finger‑gun, then said in disbelief, “Master didn’t bring any equipment—she just dove to ten thousand meters on her own. How tough do you have to be to do that?”

“At least Rare‑Tier.”

“Rare‑Tier, huh? That’s high. I wonder if I’ll ever evolve to Rare‑Tier.”

“You will. Your Gene Fusion Adaptability is 21%. Forget Rare‑Tier—even Epic shouldn’t be out of reach.”

She wasn’t convinced, “It’s not that simple. High adaptability doesn’t guarantee strength. It still depends on physique and resources.”

“Your physique is already exceptional—born with amazing water affinity. If you follow the water‑attribute Gene Fusion path, you’ll become a powerhouse, stronger than your Master.”

He poked her soft cheek with a finger and grinned, “As for resources—you don’t need to worry. I’ll be your sugar daddy for evolution. Whatever resources you want, I’ll get them for you.”

She snorted, “Yeah right—‘sugar daddy.’ You just want me to call you daddy. Don’t think I don’t know what boys are thinking. Always trying to take advantage of me!”

“That’s slander.”

“I don’t believe you. You definitely want to hear me say it.”

“Fine, fine—I want to.”

“Hmph, I knew it!”

She wore a victor’s smile.

Lin Zichen turned the AC down two degrees, pulled up the quilt to cover them both and urged, “Sleep, it’s almost one. If you don’t, you’ll be dozing in class this afternoon.”

“Okay, I’ll sleep now.”

She nestled close and lay quietly.

Then, while he wasn’t paying attention, she leaned toward his ear and whispered, “Daddy~”

A hiss of breath shot through Lin Zichen; his whole body jolted.

This little minx was too flirtatious. Criminally so.

He couldn’t take it, turned on his side to warn her, “Shen Dirty-han, keep that up and you won’t be sleeping.”

“I won’t. I’ll sleep.”

Having teased him enough, she closed her eyes, satisfied.

Lin Zichen didn’t sleep. He lay on his side scrolling the news.

His body far outclassed Shen Qinghan’s; he didn’t rely on sleep as much and didn’t need a nap.

After a few stories, one strange item caught his eye.

“Recently, mysterious unknown plants have been discovered in multiple areas of Shanhai City. They are diverse and oddly shaped. Many botanists are rushing to study them. As it is uncertain whether they are harmful, citizens are urged not to approach out of curiosity to avoid unnecessary casualties.”

Several plant photos were attached.

One glance showed they were all vines.

But none matched any currently known species.

Their shapes were bizarre and their root systems especially developed—like uncanny plants from a fantasy world.

Lin Zichen studied them and felt they looked familiar.

Thinking back, he realized they resembled the plants in a picture Shen Qinghan had shown him earlier.

A drawing Yuan Dongzhi had sent her on WeChat.

Strictly speaking, not a photo but a hand‑drawn portrait.

It depicted Shen Qinghan’s senior sister—a white‑haired girl suspected to be Bai Xue.

The girl wasn’t the point—the background was: strange plants like something alien.

Grass with black leaves and branches.

Trees whose trunks were veined like organs.

Seductively grotesque flowers with mouths.

The mysterious plants in the news, though different in appearance from those in the portrait, were alike in how bizarre they were—so similar they looked as if they grew in the same environment.

And the background of Shen Qinghan’s senior sister’s portrait was the Source Site.

‘So… were the plants in the news from the Source Site? But how could plants from the Source Site appear on Earth out of nowhere? Could it be the Divine Plant Cult?’

Lin Zichen suddenly thought of that cult.

He had seen it mentioned before in the mission system.

Divine Plant obviously had to do with plants.

And all cults were tied to the Source Site.

Putting the two together, it was hard not to connect the mysterious plants in Shanhai City with the Divine Plant Cult.

They’d wiped out the Rat God Cult and now came a Divine Plant Cult.

‘Traitors everywhere…’

Lin Zichen shook his head, exited the news and messaged his parents and future in‑laws.

He told them the mysterious plants might be tied to cultists and warned them to stay away if they saw any.

He also urged them to move to settle near Shanhai University as soon as possible.

Just then, Shen Qinghan rolled over to face him, “Xiao Chen, I can’t sleep.”

“What’s wrong?”

He put down his phone, concerned.

“My mind keeps circling around the early Gene Fusion. I can’t stop thinking. I just can’t sleep.”

“That’s normal. If you can’t sleep, don’t. Play on your phone a bit.”

A practical suggestion.

In a soft voice she said, “Then I want to play on your phone.”

‘Play on my phone?’

It sounded odd; he was puzzled.

Then he realized and twitched a smile, “You little minx, you want to watch those ‘learning videos,’ don’t you?”

“Aiya, don’t ask so much. Give me your phone. I want yours.”

“Take it, take it.”

He handed it over helplessly.

She passed him her phone in return, “So you don’t lose out—play on mine.”

He took it and scrolled the news.

He hadn’t finished the first story when unmistakable ‘learning video’ sounds came from beside him.

The leads were moaning.

Loudly.

Lin Zichen sighed and glanced over, “Shen Dirty-han, wear headphones for those.”

“Oh—forgot.”

She hurried to put them on.

And so one of them browsed the news in silence while the other, ear‑buds in, watched ‘educational videos’ to broaden her horizons. The room grew quiet.

At one‑thirty, Shen Qinghan finished and had learned plenty of ‘new knowledge.’

She took off her headphones, handed back his phone and smiled. “In return for borrowing yours, I’ll give you a massage—we’ve still got half an hour.”

“Good—well‑behaved.”

Lin Zichen gave her a thumbs‑up and lay flat, ready to enjoy her ever‑improving technique.

She didn’t start right away. Instead she got off the bed and fetched two pairs of stockings—one black, one white.

Sitting back down, she held them up. “No hands this time—let’s innovate. I’ll put on stockings and use my feet for the massage. Want to try it?”

“I do.”

In her left hand was white; in her right, black. She held them to his eyes, “Black or white—pick one.”

“Either, I like both.”

“Then I’ll wear one black and one white—both at once.”

‘Innovation at its finest. One leg black, one white?’

It looked odd—but he really wanted to try.

“Okay. One black, one white.”

“Done.”

She put on the white stocking on the left, the black on the right.

Then she began a deft foot massage.

After a while, the silence felt too quiet, so she role‑played as she worked, “Hmph, little Zichen, to dare raise your head before Lord Black‑and‑White Impermanence! Watch me hook your soul and bow your head!”

Lin Zichen couldn’t help laughing.

Outside she was meek, but at home she was lively and playful—a striking contrast.