Southern River Province, Provincial Education Headquarters.

Conference hall.

Yuan Dongzhi, the minister of the Provincial Education Headquarters, was watching the real-time college entrance exam data with education leaders from cities across the province.

In front of them stood a huge projector.

On the projection, the adaptability test results of candidates from each city were displayed.

After staring for a while, Yuan Dongzhi’s brows furrowed slightly.

This year’s results looked worse than last year’s.

Especially in Haiyuan City, which ranked at the bottom in education, the candidates’ scores were abysmal.

So far, candidates with gene fusion adaptability over five percent made up less than one-tenth of all examinees, far below average.

“Principal Han, the college entrance exam results in Haiyuan City under your jurisdiction are unacceptably poor this year.”

Yuan Dongzhi glanced at a man in the front and said coolly, “If it’s the same next year, then don’t sit in that seat in Haiyuan—go to Source Site No. 36 and realize your value there.”

Hearing he would be assigned to a source site, the man’s face was instantly filled with fear.

“Principal Yuan, next year Haiyuan City’s gene fusion admission rate will be at least ten percent. If I fail, I, Han Qianxiang, will go down to the source site of my own accord and dedicate myself!”

Under Yuan Dongzhi’s gaze, the man swore the oath with sweat beading on his forehead.

Expressionless, Yuan said, “Principal Han, ten percent is too low. Make it twenty percent. If you don’t hit that number next year, I’ll personally send you into the source site.”

At twenty percent, the man turned ashen.

He collapsed into his chair as if all strength had left him.

With Haiyuan City’s poor education level, how could that be possible?

Poach top students from other cities?

But Haiyuan City’s economy was in shambles—where would the money come from?

These words were no different from a death sentence, forcing him into a source site.

Source sites were crawling with aberrant beasts, where even Advanced Beings struggled to take a single step and one misstep could spell doom.

For an older Gene Fuser accustomed to a comfortable life in human society, entering a source site and encountering a beast riot was almost certain death.

The other city leaders knew this well and looked at the man with sympathy.

But none dared speak up for him.

They all understood Yuan Dongzhi’s domineering temper and wouldn’t risk drawing fire onto themselves.

“Principal Luo, Qianzhen City under your jurisdiction did very well this year. You produced several candidates with thirteen percent adaptability and even one at fourteen percent. That deserves recognition, so next year’s education funding will tilt your way.”

After finishing with Haiyuan City, Yuan turned to praise Qianzhen City’s leader—clear rewards and punishments.

Hearing this, Qianzhen’s leader beamed.

“Thank you, Principal Yuan, for your confidence. We will not let you down and will push Qianzhen’s results even higher next year.”

The other leaders were filled with envy.

They smiled and congratulated Qianzhen’s leader.

“Fourteen percent adaptability—barring surprises, that’s probably this year’s provincial champion.”

“Qianzhen City is on the rise.”

“Congratulations, Principal Luo.”

“…”

Qianzhen’s leader laughed.

“Not at all—just luck.”

At that moment, the Shanhai City section on the projection showed Lin Zichen’s gene fusion adaptability.

Candidate: Lin Zichen.

Candidate ID: 1207322328.

School: Shanhai High School.

Gene Fusion Adaptability: 15%.

Seeing the fifteen percent at the bottom, everyone froze for a second.

Then they reacted, faces full of disbelief.

“How much? Fifteen percent adaptability for gene fusion? Seriously? That’s almost at the level of Kyoto genius’s sixteen percent!”

“Lin Zichen? From Shanhai City? Principal Zhu, you’ve been getting rich in silence!”

“Who would’ve thought—the provincial top scorer is from Shanhai City!”

Every city leader present was shocked by Lin Zichen’s result.

Even Shanhai City’s own leader was stunned, mind blanking.

He knew of Lin Zichen, the student who had broken record after record at Shanhai High for three years.

But he had never imagined Lin’s gene fusion adaptability would be this high.

Fifteen percent—it was outrageous.

With that score, he was surely the provincial champion.

“Principal Zhu, excellent work. Next year, education funding will focus on Shanhai City,” Yuan Dongzhi said, smiling for once at Shanhai’s leader.

She hailed from Shanhai City and worked at Shanhai University, carrying deep affection for the city and had long wanted to favor it.

But Shanhai’s results had never warranted favoritism.

Now the provincial champion had appeared in Shanhai and she could openly channel more funds to her hometown.

“Thank you for your confidence, Principal Yuan. Shanhai City will strive to maintain our momentum next year!”

Shanhai’s leader was radiant with joy.

By contrast, Qianzhen’s leader looked crestfallen, filled with frustration at the sudden reversal.

The champion had slipped away.

The budget tilt was gone too.

He was crushed.

Just as everyone assumed the provincial champion would be Lin Zichen, the Shanhai City section displayed Shen Qinghan’s gene fusion adaptability.

Candidate: Shen Qinghan.

Candidate ID: 1207322467.

School: Shanhai High School.

Gene Fusion Adaptability: 21%.

When the number twenty-one percent appeared, the conference hall fell into dead silence.

After a second or two, puzzled voices rose one after another.

“Twenty-one percent? What is going on?”

“Since national college entrance exams began, the highest for gene fusion adaptability was eighteen percent. How did twenty-one show up?”

“A testing error? Machine malfunction?”

“Then was Lin Zichen’s result also a mistake or a malfunction?”

“It’s possible.”

The leaders were calmer than expected.

Had it been sixteen percent, they would have been shocked.

But twenty-one percent was so absurd that their first reaction was a testing error.

Yuan Dongzhi said nothing, pulling up Shen Qinghan’s student file and projecting it on the big screen to read it carefully.

After a thorough look, she felt Shen Qinghan was just an ordinary student with nothing remarkable.

The other leaders finished reading and became more certain it was an error, criticizing the Shanhai research base staff as careless and calling for accountability.

Yuan also frowned slightly, thinking the staff there had been careless.

But considering the slim chance it might be real, she stood up and left the conference room to see the situation at the base for herself.

The base was nearby, so she could get there quickly.

* * *

Inside the research base.

The four of them stared at the gene adaptability on the phone screens, dazed.

“What the heck? Twenty-one percent? Is this wrong?”

He Yu rubbed his eyes and looked again, seeing twenty-one still displayed and feeling baffled.

Li Chuxin was speechless.

“Are the staff here that careless? They didn’t even verify the result before uploading it? What a joke.”

He Yu said, “The results are auto-recognized and uploaded by machine. You can’t blame them—maybe the machine malfunctioned.”

Li Chuxin dismissed that.

“Machine malfunction or not, it’s still on them. This is the college entrance exam—shouldn’t they have checked the machines beforehand?”

“Machines failing is normal. Checking them doesn’t mean they won’t fail,” He Yu insisted, still not blaming the staff.

Their back-and-forth soon turned into an argument, like a pair of bickering rivals.

“Xiao Chen, how can it be twenty-one percent? It must be wrong, right?”

Staring at the number, Shen Qinghan also felt it was outrageous and assumed there was a problem with the test.

Lin Zichen had a guess, but since there were many people around, he didn’t say it there.

He led her out of the base to an unmonitored corner.

Then he said, “I don’t think it’s wrong. Your superpower is water-related. You’re naturally good with water and have a high affinity for it. And the reagent used for testing is from the Flowcloud Jellyfish, an aquatic aberrant beast with a heavy water attribute. My conclusion is that your physique is highly compatible with water-attribute aberrant beast genes.”

Hearing this, Shen Qinghan finally put the pieces together.

Excitement surged in her heart.

Twenty-one percent adaptability—she was a genius among geniuses.

At last, she felt worthy of Xiao Chen.

All she could think about was this.

Since childhood, people had seen her and Lin Zichen as unequal.

She’d suffered a lot of verbal abuse because of it and felt miserable.

If the twenty-one percent was real, then no one would dare gossip about her being with Lin Zichen anymore.

Just then, her phone rang—it was a video call from Li Chuxin.

As soon as she answered, Li Chuxin’s voice came through.

“Hanhan, where did you go? The staff finally noticed your abnormal data and want you to come back for a separate retest.”

“Okay, I’m coming now.”

She hung up and hurried back to the base with Lin Zichen.

She wanted to take the test again and confirm whether her adaptability really reached twenty-one percent.

Just as she returned and was about to find the relevant staff, the sea outside the base suddenly heaved with towering waves.

Everyone was startled and looked out through the glass.

What they saw was a woman with dragon horns on her head, striding across waves tens of meters high and speeding toward the base.