“Dr. Lisa?”

Seeing Dr. Lisa rush over in a flurry, the female clerk at the counter turned her head away, raised a hand to cover her eyes and let out a long, deep sigh.

“Didn’t I already tell you? We still need to verify that candidate’s background.”

Hearing this, Dr. Lisa walked over to the counter without the slightest concern, chattering nonstop as she continued, “Oh right, there’s also a useless one recommended by an old friend that we need to take care of. Why not just drag that pretty boy over too and make some use of him as scrap—use him as a reference sample?”

‘An old friend’s recommendation? Useless? Pretty boy? Uh… The old hag isn’t talking about me, is she?’

Standing nearby and listening in, Li Chen felt the corner of his mouth twitch slightly.

‘Tsk, but what does that old hag mean by an old friend recommended we take care of him?’

Li Chen suddenly thought of the sister who, not long ago, had spoken to him with a face full of worry about him going to Thunder Martial Arts Hall for the assessment.

‘Sorry about that, Sister Liu Yu.’

After sorting out the cause and effect, Li Chen sighed helplessly, half laughing and half crying.

‘Looks like this useless pretty boy really embarrassed you.’

Yet despite the utter lack of respect and the old hag repeatedly insulting him with words like “useless” and “recycling,” Li Chen felt not the slightest anger in his heart.

‘After all, as harsh as her words are, they aren’t wrong.’

Li Chen’s martial arts aptitude really was mediocre.

Even if he used some illegal taboo secret arts, overdrawing his life force with extreme methods, he would probably still never break through to third tier and would spend his entire life circling the bottom ranks of martial artists.

If it were him right after transmigrating—arrogant and full of ambition—he might have flown into a rage over just a few words from Dr. Lisa, even impulsively trying to do something drastic to prove himself.

But the current Li Chen?

‘Heh, yeah, that’s right. I’m just a useless pretty boy anyway. But what can I do when my dear wife just happens to like a good-for-nothing who does nothing but lie flat, slack off and freeload, waiting to die~’

With a place to belong to in his heart and a family behind him, Li Chen completely ignored that woman’s disdain.

Besides.

‘If getting scolded a few times lets me pick up Supreme Freedom Art for free, who knows how many people in this world would be willing to kneel before that old hag just to be scolded?’

That said.

‘Then who exactly is the perfect experimental subject that old hag was talking about?’

A blazing fire of gossip ignited in Li Chen’s heart.

Judging by her tone, he was definitely able to cultivate the technique too—he was just being used as a comparison reference for the person she truly wanted.

So then, who could possibly be valued so highly by this arrogant old hag, to the point of her being so fixated and even losing composure?

Hiss…

Honestly speaking, Li Chen didn’t envy being “valued” by Dr. Lisa at all.

Based on his understanding of that old hag, her so-called “valuing” probably meant wanting to tie someone up in a basement and keep them company in her lab all day.

Just imagining such a miserable fate made Li Chen feel sorry for that poor soul.

“Dr. Lisa?”

While Li Chen was still thinking, the eldest young miss of the Schufestan family beside him spoke up.

This young lady, though dressed simply, carried an innate air of nobility in every gesture. She politely bent her knees and offered Dr. Lisa a flawless courtesy bow.

“Greetings. I am Kate Schufestan. I wonder if you still remember me? A few months ago, we met at the Titan Heavy Industries press reception.”

Kate Schufestan truly lived up to her noble lineage.

Though her etiquette was impeccable, it never felt forced. Her complex gestures flowed naturally, as though they weren’t the result of harsh training but an instinct she was born with.

“Oh, so it’s the Schufestan family’s little wolf pups.”

Seeing Miss Kate, Dr. Lisa’s mouth twisted unnaturally as she muttered things like “vampires should all explode” and “ungrateful white-eyed wolves should just die”—remarks utterly heretical in nature.

Hiss.

Even as a bystander, Li Chen couldn’t help but be startled by Dr. Lisa’s unrestrained mouth.

He’d heard long ago that this old hag was a “madwoman,” but he truly hadn’t expected her to openly bring up ugly secrets involving consortium families.

Despite their opposition and countless bloody struggles behind the scenes, on the surface all consortiums adhered to certain shared “principles” to uphold the existing order of Hive City.

Whenever matters touching on those “rules” arose, they could instantly set aside their grudges and become one another’s most loyal allies.

And it was precisely because of this that the major families, led by the top ten consortiums, had remained unshaken for hundreds of years, always standing at the very peak of Hive City’s ruling class.

‘So… the waters behind the Schufestan family extermination case really do run deep.’

Looking at Miss Kate, who remained spirited and composed, maintaining her aristocratic elegance even in the face of Dr. Lisa’s rude provocation, Li Chen fell into deep thought.

‘In the game’s introduction and the Public Security Bureau’s published case files, the massacre was simply blamed on the terrorist organization Utopia, acting to steal the power of singularity technology.’

But… how much value did the so-called “truth” that was made public to all Hive City citizens really have?

‘In the original work, because I didn’t intervene, Xiao Mengya and the Utopia organization both acted under the banner of opposing consortium rule, but in reality they had no specific targets. Their actions were driven more by hatred toward the consortiums that had once harmed them…

Because of this, Utopia in the original story wasn’t particularly strong organizationally. It relied more on Xiao Mengya’s cheat-like personal strength and overwhelming charisma to gather a group of followers with divergent ideologies, all helping her take revenge on the consortiums that had once treated her as an experimental subject and a living weapon.

With that level of organizational power, it was actually very difficult to strike at the core of a consortium, let alone wipe out an entire family.

Most likely, in the original work, Mengya was just taking the fall—though given her personality, she probably didn’t mind being seen as the butcher of a consortium family.

For Utopia, which at the time was hunted everywhere, its forces besieged to the point where even its underground headquarters was breached, forcing them to retreat to desolate pre-civilization ruins outside Hive City, being saddled with the ‘glorious achievement’ of exterminating a consortium family was a net gain no matter how you looked at it.

The suspicious part is this—although the Schufestan family ranks lower than Solares and Montmorency, they’re still part of the Uppermost Hive’s ruling class. Even if Xiao Mengya personally took action, wiping out an entire family without missing a single person?’

Li Chen didn’t believe it.

‘So who was the real mastermind?’

Li Chen didn’t know.

But he had a strong feeling that the Schufestan family and Dr. Lisa’s research were likely connected to it.

‘So in the end, Xiao Wei bought me a Thunder Martial Arts Hall membership to keep me away from danger, but instead it brought me closer to the eye of the storm?’

Although he didn’t know who the culprit behind the Schufestan family massacre was, nor whether the changes caused by his transmigration would alter the family’s fate, one thing was certain.

‘Cultivating Supreme Freedom Art won’t be simple.’

Sure enough, the martial world’s rule of “payment and price” was still in effect.

‘But then again, that old hag looks down on me so much that I’ll probably be a marginal figure in the entire research team…’

Li Chen weighed the pros and cons repeatedly.

‘Even though the technique isn’t fully developed yet, with my understanding of martial arts, once I have the general outline, it won’t be difficult to extrapolate the complete method.’

And on top of that—

Clang.

Li Chen drew the alloy blade at his waist, his eyes flashing with sharp light.

Ding.

[Detecting player’s <Red Lotus Saber Art> current realm: Proficient. Current proficiency: 11%. 89% remaining to reach Minor Mastery.]

The proficiency panel was Li Chen’s greatest trump card as a “good-for-nothing.”

‘Even if that old hag doesn’t care about me, as long as I deduce the complete technique, relying on daily proficiency grinding, I can still cultivate it to great mastery.’

So, considering all factors—

‘Supreme Freedom Art, I’m taking it!’

Rustle, rustle.

Li Chen silently stepped forward into the tense standoff among the group.

“So, Dr. Lisa, I regret to inform you on behalf of Titan Heavy Industries that our cooperation on the current new martial technique research project must be terminated immediately. Furthermore, per the original contract clauses, our company will obtain your original experimental data, the master outline of the technique and all other related research assets…”

Facing Dr. Lisa’s increasingly dark expression, Miss Schufestan maintained a gentle smile while delivering words that were completely cold and professional.

“To put it plainly, you want to strip me of every contribution I’ve made to this research, right?”

Dr. Lisa bluntly shot back, “Heh, you think I don’t know what kind of white-eyed wolves your Schufestan family is? Let me tell you—I was prepared long ago.”

Crash.

She pulled out a thick paper document from her pocket.

“See this clearly? Whose signature is on this addendum? Thunder Martial Arts Hall!”

Crossing her arms, Dr. Lisa sneered with confidence.

“By the way, your name is Kate, right? Go back and tell that old mother wolf behind you—this time, your opponent isn’t just me!”

“…”

Faced with Dr. Lisa’s confidence, Kate Schufestan showed no reaction at all, as though Thunder Martial Arts Hall—so famous in the Upper Hive—wasn’t worth any concern.

“Opponent?”

The Schufestan family’s young miss tilted her head slightly.

“Miss Clerk, regarding my earlier assessment result… as a Seed Elite, do I meet your company’s—no, now that I’ve joined your company, I should say—do I meet our hall master’s criteria for being listed as a candidate for inheritance disciple recruitment?”

The clerk remained silent.

But silence itself was an answer.

“I’m sorry, Dr. Lisa.”

Producing the card the clerk had handed her earlier, the Schufestan young miss spoke with impeccable manners.

“But contrary to what you think, I’m not your opponent. On the contrary, I’m here to join Thunder Martial Arts Hall as part of this family.”

‘Impressive.’

Watching the entire farce unfold from start to finish, Li Chen couldn’t help applauding her performance inwardly.

“You—you…”

Seeing the card, Dr. Lisa’s jaw dropped and refused to close, her previously unrestrained demeanor shrinking back in fear.

‘But now it was my turn to appear.’

Seeing the old hag get shut down like this was amusing, but if she truly lost the research project, the technique Li Chen had planned for would be gone.

“Cough, cough.”

Li Chen cleared his throat and stepped forward.

“Hm?”

Although she had noticed someone nearby earlier, Dr. Lisa—who never bothered with irrelevant people—finally focused on Li Chen once she saw his face, surprise flashing across her expression.

But unlike other women who showed desire upon seeing Li Chen, Dr. Lisa looked at him the way a scientist looked at a rare experimental specimen—cold, mechanical and objective, which made one deeply uncomfortable.

“Um, I’m one of the newcomers who just took the assessment. This is my result.”

Holding his test sheet, Li Chen pretended to be shy and handed it over, acting as though he knew nothing of their earlier conversation.

“You’re the pretty boy Liu Yu mentioned, right?”

Dr. Lisa sized him up briefly before losing interest.

“You really are the best-looking man I’ve ever seen. No wonder that silly girl Liu Yu fell for you. But your physical aptitude… tch. What ‘above average’? It’s downright trash.”

‘Above average? Sister Liu Yu… did you calculate that based on the Hive City civilian average? But it’s good that you look down on me. I really don’t want to get involved in your feud with the Schufestan family.’

“Wait!”

Just as Li Chen was secretly hoping she’d casually agree to let him join the project as a reference sample, Dr. Lisa suddenly grabbed him and yanked him closer.

‘What?’

Li Chen looked at her in shock.

“Candidate No. 4119—hey, counter clerk. He’s the one you mentioned earlier… that genius?”

‘Genius?’

Li Chen instantly felt a piercing gaze land on him.

It was from the Schufestan family’s young miss.