Chapter 10: Chapter Nine: The Janitor Monk of Yujiang University

In an era where everyone talks about gene fusion, a university's gene laboratory is undoubtedly a top priority.

Whether the genetics department is prestigious or mediocre, the gene laboratory remains a key focus of university investment.

But Ding Huan had no faith whatsoever in Yujiang University's gene laboratory—he even doubted whether Yujiang University had one at all.

If it didn't exist, he'd have to find another place to rent one.

To Ding Huan's surprise, Yujiang University not only had a gene laboratory, but its exterior scale seemed substantial.

He spotted the words "Genetics Department Laboratory Building" from afar, needing no one's directions.

Yet as a key facility of the university, this gene lab had no security guards and no students or faculty coming and going.

Ding Huan walked into the laboratory building as if entering a deserted zone; apart from the lights along the corridors and stairwells, he saw no one.

A clear sign hung at the stairwell entrance: 1F Gene Collection, 2F Gene Samples, 3F Gene Experiments…

Ding Huan went straight to the third floor; as soon as he arrived, he saw one of the labs still lit up.

This? If Yujiang University was about to shut down, who was still conducting gene experiments here?

Ding Huan walked to the door and knocked on the glass panel—no response.

He opened the door himself and saw a man in a lab coat hunched over a desk, utterly absorbed in calibrating something.

The lab's environment… was beyond words; even the glass door lacked an internal lock.

"Teacher," Ding Huan knocked again, this time with more force.

The man finally looked up, turning toward Ding Huan, who still wore his backpack; after several seconds, he asked blankly, "Who are you? Who are you looking for?"

"I'm here for you," Ding Huan smiled, stepped inside the lab, and shut the door behind him.

He had already seen the name tag on the man's chest: Yujiang University Genetics Department, Geng Qianxing.

Ding Huan had come to borrow the lab, but then he noticed the research materials on Geng Qianxing's desk—all of them focused on endurance gene serum.

One page was open, filled entirely with recorded data and various extraction symptoms.

In his memory, endurance gene should have been developed by Heluo Upper Military University, around the end of this year.

Ding Huan had faced death countless times, yet still died while being hunted down.

Seeing that Geng Qianxing was researching endurance gene—and that in his past life he'd never heard of Geng Qianxing—he felt something was off.

"For me?" Geng Qianxing finally set down his test tube, staring at Ding Huan in confusion.

He had almost no social life, spending all day in the lab—who was this stranger, and why was he looking for him?

Ding Huan sat down in front of Geng Qianxing and said, "I'm here to save your life."

Geng Qianxing frowned, his tone sharp: "I'm perfectly fine—I don't need you saving me."

Ding Huan chuckled. "You're fine now, but once your endurance gene serum is complete, you'll be facing death."

After saying this, Ding Huan became even more certain his guess was nearly correct.

From his experience, Geng Qianxing's endurance gene experiment was nearing its end—results would emerge in at most a few months.

If the endurance gene serum was developed by Geng Qianxing, yet in his past life he'd never heard of Geng Qianxing…

Then this man was either imprisoned or eliminated.

But this guy was impressive—a silent monk-like figure who single-handedly developed endurance gene serum.

Geng Qianxing's eyes widened in astonishment; after a long pause, he asked again, "How do you know I'm researching endurance gene serum?"

He'd never told anyone about this gene serum—how could this stranger possibly know? He couldn't make sense of it.

Ding Huan said, "Because I also research gene fusion—and I understand it better than you do.

I can say this: on Earth, no one currently understands human gene fusion better than I do—at least not yet."

This wasn't empty boasting; in his past life, Ding Huan had fused six genes entirely on his own.

Two hundred years of cosmic wandering, plus auditing lectures from renowned gene masters, allowed him to gradually form his own understanding of gene and human fusion.

Those gene masters—any one of them, if they came to Earth, would be invincible in gene research.

If that weren't enough, the parchment he possessed pushed gene understanding far beyond current knowledge, revealing to Ding Huan an entirely new world.

Merging all these insights, Ding Huan forged his own gene understanding system.

Though it wasn't yet fully clear, he believed that with continued verification, he would eventually perfect his gene system.

Under normal circumstances, without gene foundation establishment, a person could fuse at most nine alien genes—otherwise their body couldn't withstand it.

Ding Huan had no gene foundation establishment, yet he devised an alternative method to fuse more genes—but before he could implement it, he was hunted down.

During the chase, he gradually realized that even if he fused more genes and gained more abilities, it wouldn't change his fate.

Because fundamentally, his power hadn't undergone a qualitative transformation.

To achieve a qualitative change in the body through gene modification, only gene foundation establishment could do it.

Geng Qianxing glanced at Ding Huan; he disliked socializing and was usually silent, but that didn't mean he was foolish.

He'd seen many people like Ding Huan—full of grand claims—and paid them no mind.

Ding Huan knew Geng Qianxing didn't believe him; he spoke calmly: "Fusing other genes inside the human body is extremely difficult.

Currently, Earth has few superior methods—well-known ones include destructive fusion, intervention fusion, similar fusion, and engulfing fusion.

If I'm not mistaken, your research direction is growth fusion—a method that's not only safe but also has a very high fusion success rate."

When gene fusion first began on Earth, countless people died; it wasn't until Ocean Gene Research developed the Half-Gamma gene.

Half-Gamma gene serum is a gene that extends human lifespan.

Through intervention fusion, this gene serum achieved over sixty percent fusion success, with failure mortality rates so low they were nearly nonexistent.

Worse still, if the first fusion failed, you could attempt a second or third time—only then did the gene fusion era truly begin.

"You really know…" Geng Qianxing stared at Ding Huan, disbelieving.

Growth fusion had many variants—he used a method he himself developed, and no one else could possibly know how it worked.

Seeing he'd stunned Geng Qianxing, Ding Huan continued, "Everyone else doesn't know—or won't believe—you can develop endurance gene serum. But I believe you."

After a pause, Ding Huan said something even more shocking, "I'm certain that the moment someone else learns about the endurance gene potion, that will be the moment you die."

"Why?" Geng Qianxing asked instinctively.

In his eyes, casually talking about dying was really a bit too sensational.

This is a society ruled by law, not the African jungle. Although now, because fierce beasts run rampant, human lives are worthless, that's only in places out in the wild where no one can govern them.

Ding Huan chuckled, "How much influence and effect the endurance gene potion has, I don't need to tell you—you already know.

Do you think others would let you keep such a huge money-printing method in your hands?

Besides, this isn't just a money-printing method—the deeper implications you probably haven't even thought about."

"If someone wants it, I'll just give it to them. I don't fight or compete—could they really kill me over it?" Geng Qianxing frowned.

Ding Huan could only sigh at Geng Qianxing's naivety. Hadn't he himself once been the same? If anything, he was even worse off than Geng Qianxing back then.

He sighed, "The fact that you could research the endurance gene potion, and research it entirely on your own, shows that your understanding of genes surpasses ninety-nine-point-nine percent of your peers.

Even if those people don't kill you, they will definitely imprison you, then have you research brand-new gene potions for them in some lightless, sunless place. That would probably be worse than being killed."

In his previous life, he was merely a gene-affinity body, and he was imprisoned for it—let alone someone like Geng Qianxing, a gene scholar.

Geng Qianxing instinctively shivered, and after a long while said, "Then I'll just stop the research."

Research on the fusion of gene potions with the human body was indeed his favorite work; he didn't want to lose his life over a job, or be imprisoned in a fate worse than death.

Ding Huan shook his head, "No, not only must you continue the research, I'm going to help you too. Then the two of us will shorten the time it takes for the endurance gene potion to appear."

"Didn't you just say…" Geng Qianxing looked at Ding Huan in confusion.

Ding Huan said slowly, "You should know what the world has become now, right? Countries without any bottom line are releasing toxins, polluting with nuclear waste.

The world is polluted, human lifespans are shrinking, and to survive, humans can only strengthen themselves. Martial arts are now flourishing worldwide, and gene studies have risen to prominence even faster—otherwise why would you be researching genes?

So only by becoming strong yourself can you ensure you aren't bullied, ensure you survive. Not by running away—running can only get you through a moment. Can you run for a whole lifetime?"

"You mean I research the endurance gene potion, then we take it ourselves to boost our own strength?" Geng Qianxing understood Ding Huan's meaning.

Ding Huan nodded and continued, "Just that alone probably won't be enough. If I'm not mistaken, the endurance gene potion you've researched is only a low-grade, first-tier gene potion.

This kind of gene potion fusion can only boost a person's endurance. Without gene cultivation methods, these improvements might turn us into gene ability-users, but for self-protection, it's still a bit short."

"Gene potions are also divided into high and low grades?"

Geng Qianxing looked at Ding Huan in surprise. These were things he had never heard of. Could it be that the gene knowledge he had learned was from a century ago?