In less than half a minute, Yuan Dongzhi arrived.

Her entrance was simple and direct—she drifted down slowly from high above and landed beside Shen Qinghan.

She had flown here.

Aerial flight.

High-level lifeforms can manipulate objects at a distance by means of powerful spiritual power.

If the “object” they manipulate is themselves, that becomes flight.

“What happened?”

Yuan Dongzhi looked at Shen Qinghan as she asked.

On WeChat, Shen had told her there was an urgent matter that needed handling and asked her to come quickly. As for what it was, Shen Qinghan didn’t know; she was just the messenger.

“Vice Principal Yuan, these two came to ask me for help and gave me a bag of spirit fruit. Inside is this red seed that looks very strange. I suspect it’s a method the Divine Plant Cult uses to force students into the cult.”

Lin Zichen looked toward Yuan Dongzhi and briefly summarized what had happened and his suspicion.

Before she even finished listening, the moment Yuan Dongzhi saw the red seed in his hand, her brows knit tightly.

‘A Tree Demon gu seed! And not just any—an advanced Tree Demon gu seed the size of an egg! A gu seed this large could probably control even a high-level lifeform! And the Divine Plant Cult was using it on a freshman?’

With that, Yuan Dongzhi raised a hand and made a light pulling motion. The red seed in Lin Zichen’s hand was drawn into her palm.

After a couple of careful glances to confirm it was indeed a Tree Demon gu seed, Yuan Dongzhi said to Lin Zichen, “That red ‘seed’ in your hand is the seed of a certain alien tree. If you swallow it, the tree will control you and you’ll no longer be your own person. It’s one of the Divine Plant Cult’s common methods for forcing people to join.”

‘Swallow it and be controlled? This Tree Demon gu seed is that vicious? Lu Gang and Wang Shujie are real bastards!’

Lin Zichen cursed inwardly.

He then recalled how, after the live-combat exam ended when the whole class took the bus back to school, Lu Gang and Wang Shujie had looked… off.

Thinking it through now, those two must have just been controlled by someone from the Divine Plant Cult and didn’t quite know what to do yet.

He told Yuan Dongzhi about this.

Yuan Dongzhi nodded, then tapped lightly on the ground with her toe, lifting herself into the air to hover.

Lu Gang and Wang Shujie lifted off as well.

She had extended her spiritual power to suspend them in midair.

“Vice Principal Yuan, we were forced—”

“Vice Principal Yuan, I—mmph!”

The two had just started to protest when, in the next second, Yuan Dongzhi used spiritual power to stitch their mouths shut. They couldn’t make another sound.

Both faces turned pale; panic filled their eyes.

In that instant, both knew they were finished. Their end would not be a good one.

Ignoring the pair, Yuan Dongzhi looked down to Lin Zichen and Shen Qinghan, “The internal situation among humans is much worse than what you see on the surface. Cults are everywhere; there are hidden cultists in many places. When you deal with people, learn to keep your eyes open. Even instructors and school leadership cannot be trusted wholesale. In short, never drop your guard.”

She turned to Lin Zichen, voice even, “I’ll take these two back for questioning. I’ll inform you as soon as there are results.”

With that, she didn’t linger. Spiritual power flared as she carried Lu Gang and Wang Shujie, flying toward the administration building.

‘Flying really is great…’

Lin Zichen watched Yuan Dongzhi depart, eyes full of envy.

“Xiao Chen, Lu Gang and Wang Shujie are awful. You were thinking of helping them and they were thinking of harming you!”

Shen Qinghan was furious.

Lin Zichen thought it over and felt a chill. If those two had targeted Shen Qinghan instead and caught her alone, they might actually have succeeded.

He warned her, “Those two really are scum. From now on we have to be careful—never drop our guard.”

“Mhm, we’ll be careful.”

Shen Qinghan bobbed her head like a pecking chick.

Lin Zichen fell silent, thoughts running.

Shining too brightly really is dangerous.

He’d already drawn the Divine Plant Cult’s attention.

Fortunately, Danger Perception and Survival of the Fittest had both pinged him in time, letting him catch Lu Gang and Wang Shujie’s plot.

Otherwise he might have been hit…

Steadying himself, Lin Zichen dumped the entire bag of spirit fruit.

Chances were the fruit itself was fine.

But out of caution, better to toss it all.

No need to be greedy for such cheap gifts.

Watching him throw everything into the trash, Shen Qinghan winced.

It was the waste that stung.

A whole bag of spirit fruit—surely worth quite a bit—and just like that it was thrown away. What a pity.

She knew they couldn’t keep it; she would have tossed it too.

But it still hurt, like watching money burn.

“Those fruit aren’t safe, so let them go. Don’t keep staring at the trash.”

Lin Zichen poked her cheek and smiled, “If you want to try them, I’ll order some from the credit mall later.”

Shen Qinghan shook her head, “No need, I don’t especially want them—I was just curious.”

Spirit fruit are too expensive; she didn’t want Lin Zichen burning credits on them.

Credits should be saved for alien-beast meat.

After all, Lin Zichen can devour beast meat to gain abilities; buying meat has a much better cost-performance ratio.

A sensible woman should think that way for her man.

She wasn’t all that “sensible” yet and she and Lin Zichen hadn’t reached the point of being fully grown-up partners.

But right then, that’s what she felt: in her heart, she already thought of Lin Zichen as her husband.

Lin Zichen knew how she thought and that she hated spending credits.

He smiled, “You may not want fruit that much—but I do.”

Seeing it was about time, he added, “Alright, go to class or you’ll be late. When you get back, there’ll be a fruit platter waiting.”

“Okay! I’ll look forward to it.”

Shen Qinghan smiled sweetly.

One glance at her phone and her expression changed.

Crap!

Only five minutes left before class!

She was going to be late!

“Xiao Chen, I’m off—bye!” She waved in a rush and sprinted toward the Evolution Academy teaching building.

“Run slower,” Lin Zichen called after her, “If you’re late, you’re late. It’s not a big deal!”

Shen didn’t listen; she only ran faster.

She was a model student—being late was not acceptable.

Lin Zichen could only smile helplessly, then turn toward the research institute.

On the way, he opened the credit mall and spent five credits ordering several kinds of highly nutritious spirit fruit.

* * *

Pure Human Institute.

As soon as he arrived, Lin Zichen told Liu Chuanwu and Song Yuyan that the Divine Plant Cult had set their sights on him.

Neither was surprised.

Song Yuyan said, “It’s normal for there to be cultists on campus. Generally they won’t expose themselves while at university—they proceed step by step, then slowly insinuate themselves into the upper echelons of humanity. After that, in education or other fields, they expand their influence and nudge all of humanity bit by bit. They’re impossible to defend against and basically impossible to ferret out. On the surface they look completely normal—they’ll even ‘kill cultists’ and loudly proclaim they’re defending humanity—yet in their bones they’re traitors.”

She went on, “There was even a longtime education-department official in Kyoto exposed recently as a cultist. He had laced the curriculum with a lot of his own ‘content.’ Who knows how many students were poisoned by it. What happened to you today is a lower-tier tactic—success rate’s not high and it’s easy to blow their cover.

That sort of sacrificial-pawn approach usually happens when a cult leader thinks the underlings aren’t worth cultivating and decides on ‘waste utilization’—send them to do high-risk, high- reward, but low-probability jobs. If it works, great. If it doesn’t, consider it downsizing.”

‘Downsizing?’

Hearing the word, Lin Zichen was a bit taken aback.

Lu Gang and Wang Shujie were both “two-top-university” material and yet they were used as cannon fodder.

It seemed the Divine Plant Cult’s entry threshold was very high…

He asked, curious, “Sister Yan, have you ever been targeted?”

“Of course.”

Song Yuyan smiled, “Back then I was Kyoto’s exam runner-up—a famed genius. Which cult wouldn’t want me? But ever since I joined the Celestial Pavilion and faded to mediocrity, they haven’t been interested. A sadly happy thing, I guess.”

Yes—this “pureblood human path” was so unpopular even cults looked down on it. Even dogs would shake their heads.

As for Lin Zichen being targeted, that was because he’d only just started on the pureblood path and could still turn back.

Add to that his ‘freshman-king’ status and a brilliant performance in the opening trial—tall trees catch the wind very much applied.

“Zichen, don’t worry too much about the cults.”

Liu Chuanwu chuckled, “A lot of cultists were sweet-talked into it. Those truly forced into it are rare. If your will is firm, you’ll be fine. And even if you really do get hit, ask Yuan Dongzhi—she can fix it for you at any time. Those two high school classmates of yours wanted to hurt you likely because they couldn’t resist the resources on offer. They joined willingly, not under true duress.”

He clapped his hands, “Alright, enough of that. Let’s get back to figuring out how to open acupoints.”

* * *

The three discussed in the lab for the next while.

By eleven, Liu Chuanwu had been invited out by his longtime ‘friend,’ and the session ended.

The result? Nothing.

Opening acupoints is still very hard. It’s not something that happens overnight—it takes years.

But for Lin Zichen it wasn’t a loss. He absorbed a lot from Liu Chuanwu and Song Yuyan’s failures.

Armed with those, he could avoid many detours later on.

“Right, Zichen, don’t forget I still owe you a secret. Anything you want to ask today?”

“Not for now,” Lin Zichen said.

“Alright, I’ll remind you again tomorrow so it doesn’t slip your mind,” she said.

‘Good grief—again tomorrow? Like an alarm clock, huh?’

Not wanting daily reminders, Lin Zichen thought for a moment. “Actually, I’ve got one. You look mixed—where are your parents from?”

“That’s it?”

Song Yuyan rolled her eyes, “Zichen, you’re an eighteen-year-old boy. Given a rare chance to ask a great beauty a secret, can’t you be a little naughty—ask my measurements or something?”

Now it was Lin Zichen’s turn to be speechless.

‘Sexual harassment, is it? Men and women both—see someone gorgeous and they just have to tease. As the saying goes: the ugly will never know how forward the pretty can be.’

He had learned that well.

“Haha, I’m kidding—don’t take it to heart, pure boy.” She laughed, then reined it in.

“You might not believe it, but I was a foundling. I don’t know who my birth parents are. Don’t get me wrong though—my childhood was very happy. My adoptive parents not only loved me, they were very well off. They ran several martial arts gyms in Kyoto. Thanks to that I wanted for nothing and basically lived in the gym. I trained and trained—and became Kyoto’s college-entrance runner-up.

Sadly, both adoptive parents had old injuries from their competitive days. In my second year of high school, they passed, one after the other. They never got to see me place runner-up. As for why I chose the pureblood path—well, that was because of them. They were both members of the Celestial Pavilion and old friends of the dean. They believed pureblood humanity was the future of humankind. I chose it to fulfill their wish.”

She gave a wry smile, “Too bad I’m trash. Ten years on this path and I haven’t made a ripple—everyone says I’ve faded into the crowd.”

Lin Zichen said nothing, listening politely and nodding from time to time.

He hadn’t really cared about her background—it had been a casual question.

But since she was serious, he would at least be courteous enough to hear her out.

“Your turn, Zichen. With a talent like yours—what do your parents do?”

“You might not believe it,” Lin Zichen smiled, borrowing her line, “but my parents are ordinary people. They write web novels.”

“Your parents are ordinary?” Song Yuyan was incredulous.

‘How do two ordinary people have a son like this? A gene mutation?’

* * *

The next day, Yuan Dongzhi convened a morning assembly for all freshmen.

Like a fire drill in our previous life, she talked about cults—what they are and why they’re dangerous.

She taught them how to recognize a cult and avoid being victimized.

She said that if anyone was ever coerced, they should come to her immediately—do not go along with cults.

Otherwise, once your hands are dirty, she would no longer regard you as a student, but as a cultist—as a traitor to humanity.

And then you’d be dealt with as such—no wiggle room.

About an hour later, the assembly ended.

Yuan Dongzhi found Lin Zichen and informed him of the investigation into Lu Gang and Wang Shujie and the punishments.

The investigation concluded:

Both were confirmed as members of the Divine Plant Cult.

During the live-combat portion of the college-entrance exam, a ‘safety officer’ forced them to swallow demonic seeds.

Under threats and temptation, they chose to join the cult.

The punishment:

Both were expelled from Shanhai University and would bear the corresponding criminal responsibility—their lives as they knew them were over.

In addition, Yuan Dongzhi said the provincial education department in Southern River Province had begun looking into this year’s live-combat exam and initiated accountability proceedings. There should be results soon.

Lin Zichen couldn’t help but sigh.

When they first started high school, Lu Gang and Wang Shujie wore the halo of Nanguan City’s young geniuses, lording it over everyone in Shanhai High School’s elite class—untouchable, radiant.

And yet, in only three short years, the two of them had ended up in iron chains.