In the second semester of senior year, June 6th.

Time passed quickly and in the blink of an eye, it was the day before the college entrance exam.

That day, the school canceled classes and let students rest and relax on their own to prepare in their best state for the big exam.

On the school path.

Lin Zichen and Shen Qinghan strolled aimlessly, walking, looking around, chatting and laughing along the way.

Holding a cup of milk tea in her hands, Shen Qinghan took a small sip and said, “Xiao Chen, the college entrance exam is tomorrow. I’m a little nervous.”

“You’re a student from the elite class, ranking among the top in the entire school. What’s there to be nervous about?” Lin Zichen said with a smile.

Compared to when she had just entered high school, Shen Qinghan’s grades had improved a lot.

She had gone from being dead last to 28th in her class.

That put her second among all the girls in class, higher than several boys.

Across the entire senior year, she could easily stay within the top 40 — definitely a top student.

“I’m afraid I’ll pee during the exam…”

Shen Qinghan pursed her milk tea-flavored lips, her face full of worry.

Lin Zichen said indifferently, “You’re worrying too much. Over the past six months, your urgency to pee has greatly reduced. Your body is nearly back to normal; it’s not that easy for it to happen anymore. Even if you really do get nervous and pee, there are still diapers, right? Just stay calm, don’t get nervous.”

Since last October, when Shen Qinghan came of age, her body had gradually improved and was no longer as sensitive to water penetration as before.

The exact reason remained unknown.

However, Lin Zichen speculated that her body had stabilized as she matured and that her organs were no longer easily permeated by water.

“Xiao Chen, why does my body get permeated by water so easily? What’s the reason behind it?”

Shen Qinghan genuinely wanted to know the answer, but after nearly three years of research and hundreds of repeated checkups by Lin Zichen, they still hadn’t found the cause.

It frustrated her.

Seeing her troubled look, Lin Zichen gently comforted her, “That’s a good thing. The harder it is to find the cause, the older, more mysterious and stronger your superpower might be.”

The older something was, the stronger it was — a somewhat outdated belief.

In their past life, such talk would’ve been laughed at.

But on this mutated Earth, filled with Aberrant Beasts, supernatural powers and ancient ruins, that belief held a degree of truth.

Many scholars speculated that the Aberrant Beasts that suddenly appeared hundreds of years ago might not be alien species at all but rather ancient creatures that had originally existed on Earth.

The theory had many flaws and seemed absurd, yet many still believed it.

Because every other theory was even more absurd.

And in truth, the sudden emergence of Aberrant Beasts was absurd enough that even wild theories seemed reasonable.

“The older and more mysterious it is, the stronger it is?”

Shen Qinghan gave a bitter smile and said gloomily, “If only that were true. I just worry that this isn’t some kind of superpower but a simple physical defect.”

Lin Zichen smiled, “Even if it’s a defect, it’s fine. I wouldn’t dislike you anyway.”

Hearing that, Shen Qinghan’s heart warmed; she felt a gentle sweetness rising inside.

She stopped walking, lightly tugged at Lin Zichen’s sleeve and looked up at him with a faint, pleading gaze.

“Xiao Chen, promise me you’ll never ever dislike me, okay?”

“I won’t dislike you.”

Lin Zichen looked into Shen Qinghan’s watery peach blossom eyes and said playfully but sincerely, “If I ever dared to dislike you, my mom would be the first to kill me.”

* * *

That night.

After dinner, Lin Zichen checked his bank card balance. He had saved up two million — enough to unlock the Void Eel Compendium.

Without wasting time, he went out to the mall to buy meat for devouring.

Upon arriving, he went straight to the top floor to personally purchase it.

He was now eighteen and no longer needed a proxy.

Soon, he had a hundred catties of Void Eel meat in hand.

Finding an empty spot, he activated his will and began devouring.

[You have devoured the Life Origin of a large quantity of “Void Eel.”]

[Void Eel Compendium: 100%]

The moment the text appeared, a dark eel manifested in the void.

This eel possessed an acute danger sense — whenever a predator entered a certain range, it would flee instantly.

As the image in the void faded away, two new lines of text appeared.

[You have successfully unlocked the Void Eel Compendium and gained the biological attribute — Danger Perception.]

[Danger Perception: Within a certain range, you can clearly sense hostility from other lifeforms and are more sensitive to the pressure they emit, allowing you to more easily determine their biological level.]

After reading the message, Lin Zichen immediately began testing the new biological attribute.

He looked around. No hostility detected, but he could feel waves of biological pressure.

Based on their intensity, he roughly gauged the biological levels of everyone nearby.

Most were at Ordinary First Tier, a few strong ones at Ordinary Second Tier and beyond that, nothing.

Simply put, most people in this world were still ordinary humans.

Gene Fusers and Cyborgs were extremely rare.

Otherwise, their social standing wouldn’t be so high.

Before leaving, Lin Zichen took a casual walk through the mall, browsing for his next target to devour.

Eventually, he set his eyes on the meat of the “Living Dead Slug.”

The price — one hundred thousand per jin.

The most expensive item in the entire mall.

Even so, he decided firmly to buy it.

The Living Dead Slug was an Aberrant Beast with an incredibly strong regenerative ability, capable of healing at a rate up to a hundred times that of an ordinary slug.

As long as it wasn’t instantly killed and had enough energy, it could heal from any injury.

If he could obtain even one-tenth of that regenerative ability, his life would be tougher than diamonds.

‘One hundred thousand per jin… a hundred jin makes ten million. With my current writing income of one hundred thousand per month, it’d take over eight years to save that much. Too long. Looks like I’ll need to increase my income after the college entrance exam.’

* * *

Southern River Province, Provincial Education Headquarters.

Minister’s office.

A man nearly two meters tall was giving a report through a projector to a woman sitting in an office chair.

“This year, the overall education performance of the cities in Southern River Province is roughly the same as last year. Qianzhen City still leads, followed by Changzhou City, then Nanguan City, after that Shanhai City, Daoshan City… and last place is Haiyuan City. It’s worth noting that Shanhai City’s education performance has improved significantly this year. Part of it is due to the city’s growing education quality and part of it from drawing in top students from other cities. And finally…”

“...”

* * *

About an hour later.

The man finally finished his report and said respectfully, “Principal Yuan, that’s all the provincial education data for this year.”

“Hmm, thank you for your work.”

Sitting in the office chair, the woman in a light green qipao, with cascading long hair and a pair of dragon horns on her head, took a sip of tea and nodded.

Her name was Yuan Dongzhi. Though she appeared to be in her forties, she was actually nearly a hundred years old.

She was one of the vice principals of Shanhai University, as well as the Minister of the Southern River Province Education Headquarters — and also a powerful Gene Fuser.

People usually called her Principal Yuan, never Minister Yuan.

In this world, universities with Evolution Academies and Mechanical Academies were the most powerful institutions — the true peaks of authority.

And their principals were naturally the ruling powers of their regions.

Hence, in terms of status and authority, even a provincial university’s vice principal far outranked the head of the provincial education department.

Normally, the head of an education department was one of the vice principals from the strongest local university.

“Principal Yuan, how’s the situation inside Source Site No.36?”

The man hesitated for a moment but couldn’t help asking.

Yuan Dongzhi set down her teacup and said calmly, “It’s mostly stabilized now. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have had time to oversee this year’s college entrance exam.”

Hearing that, the man finally relaxed, letting out a deep breath.

If Source Site No.36 were still unstable, the entire Shanhai City and possibly the whole Southern River Province would be in danger.

Everyone living above it would suffer.

After a while, the man left.

Yuan Dongzhi rose from her chair, walked slowly to the floor-to-ceiling window and gazed toward the distant sea, murmuring to herself, “Unknowingly, it’s been years since I’ve taken in a disciple. I wonder if this year’s exam will produce a student worth my attention.”