Chapter 103: She Is Not from Earth

Night deepened.

After stepping out of the broken door of the underground research facility, Lin Qing lightly leapt up, kicking off the elevator shaft walls several times, and soared out of the eighty-meter-deep shaft.

“You’re out already?”

Tang Wanqiu glanced at Lin Qing in surprise and comforted him: “You arrived late, so it’s no surprise you found nothing…”

“I happened upon data on fourth-tier gene optimization.” Lin Qing said.

“Fourth-tier gene optimization data? Really?” Tang Wanqiu exclaimed. “What kind?”

“An energy stabilizer.” Lin Qing said. “It aids in absorbing fourth-tier energy, slowing and stabilizing its release.”

Tang Wanqiu nodded slightly. “That should be effective. Submit it to the Patrol System later—if it’s genuine, you’ll earn a Special-Class Merit.”

Lin Qing’s eyes lit up. “The branch doesn’t have Special-Class Merit exchanges—do I need to go to headquarters to redeem it?”

“That’s right.” Tang Wanqiu nodded. “The original version of ‘Zi Zai Shen,’ which you’ve studied, can only be exchanged for with Special-Class Merit. The same goes for certain gene optimization benefits.”

She glanced at Lin Qing. “However, you’ve fulfilled the terms of your training contract—you’re entitled to three free gene optimization trials.”

The contract stipulated that if you mastered the original ‘Chaoyang Training Method’ and the original ‘Zi Zai Shen’ combat technique within this year, you’d qualify for gene optimization benefits.

“How many Special-Class Merits would it cost to exchange the Star-Class Bloodline Evolution Serum my cousin gave me at headquarters?” Lin Qing asked.

“Special-Class Merit?”

Tang Wanqiu chuckled and shook her head. “Special-Class Merit won’t do. Ordinary high-energy evolution radiation only requires that—but the Star-Class Bloodline Evolution Serum demands a Glory Medal.”

“That valuable?” Lin Qing blinked in surprise.

“Thank your cousin,” Tang Wanqiu murmured.

Lin Qing nodded silently.

“Alright, go. Train hard. Don’t forget what I told you.”

Tang Wanqiu sighed. “I still have to wait here for the senior patrol inspectors who haven’t emerged—and that person from the Urban Circle.”

Lin Qing nodded slightly.

He said nothing more, turning on his heel and leaving the ruin zone surrounded by the cordon.

…

He returned home in silence.

After closing the door, Lin Qing spoke: “Chen Guang, can you eavesdrop on Tang Wanqiu’s communications?”

The next moment, Chen Guang’s voice echoed in his mind: “Unless it’s a self-aware intelligent lifeform, I can easily infiltrate and monitor her communicator via the network.”

“Self-aware intelligent lifeform?” Lin Qing asked curiously.

He knew that for Chen Guang, the Chuanxing Tower was her server.

“There’s one at Patrol Headquarters,” Chen Guang said. “It oversees the entire regulatory department and has spawned numerous sub-intelligences as overseers.”

Lin Qing froze, recalling the hoarse voice from the branch’s combat technique vault.

So that was one of its sub-intelligences?

Of course—there are so many patrol branches worldwide, each with its own combat technique vault, yet they’re always available 24/7.

They can instantly contact headquarters, retrieve any data, and never rest or rotate staff. Who else could it be but an intelligent lifeform?

“I remember my father once had an intelligent lifeform—loyal as they come. I don’t know what happened to it now,” Chen Guang murmured.

“Monitor Tang Wanqiu’s communicator,” Lin Qing said. “I want to know what Patrol Headquarters concludes after the death of that person from the Urban Circle.”

“Understood.”

Chen Guang added: “Aren’t you going to reset me as your guide?”

“No need.”

Lin Qing shrugged. “You still know the access codes to Patrol Headquarters, you’ve served Dr. Chu Hui, and you know plenty of secrets. Your current form suits you fine—though your three-no personality is a waste of this appearance.”

“My father programmed this personality—he modeled it after his adoptive father’s.”

Chen Guang said calmly: “If you want to reset me, you must initialize. I can back up all my recorded data first.”

Lin Qing sighed and shook his head slightly. “No need. Leave it as is.”

No wonder—this was the mindset of a three-no intelligent entity. It never considered whether it might vanish.

“The patrol team has exited the facility with the bodies of Fei Wen Vitas and Luo Wu,” Chen Guang suddenly said.

“Oh?”

Lin Qing poured himself a glass of water and sipped slowly.

Moments later, Chen Guang spoke again: “They don’t suspect you at all. As planned, they believe Luo Wu used a biological weapon to kill Fei Wen Vitas—and exhausted his own life force in the process.”

Lin Qing nodded slightly.

No surprise at this outcome.

He’d only been a patrol officer for half a year. Before Tang Wanqiu, he’d only ever displayed the strength of an ordinary senior patrol inspector—nowhere near capable of killing a scion from the Urban Circle’s Vitas family.

Moreover, without knowledge of the situation, they wouldn’t see any motive.

No motive, no evidence—why suspect him?

Especially since Luo Wu willingly took the blame, and Lin Qing had deliberately left that extremely valuable biological weapon behind. Nearly everyone would assume Luo Wu was the killer.

“By the way, didn’t you earlier have a robot help me open the control room door?”

Lin Qing suddenly asked. “After the Chuanxing Tower’s master-binding ended and I woke up, why didn’t I see that robot?”

“I confirmed you’d complete the binding within ten minutes, so I ordered the mechanical guardian to return to the lab,” Chen Guang said. “Besides, Luo Wu and Fei Wen Vitas were already heading toward you—I couldn’t stop them. Leaving the mechanical guardian there would’ve only increased your suspicion.”

“Couldn’t you have sent the lab’s mechanical guardians to block them too?” Lin Qing asked.

“I simulated the aftermath. That would’ve been too abnormal—only drawn greater trouble.”

Chen Guang said calmly: “If the Urban Circle discovers that a mechanical guardian meant to guard the lab appeared on the second floor—a violation of protocol—they’ll realize the facility must harbor a self-aware intelligent lifeform, not just an ordinary AI.”

She whispered: “Then they’d send investigators, find no intelligent lifeform, and naturally suspect the Chuanxing Tower’s AI—wondering if the tower itself was stolen, and the AI vanished with it.”

Lin Qing froze.

“Even if I’d sent the mechanical guardians to delay them until you finished binding and left the control room, you’d only have bought temporary safety. Post-investigation, you’d be the first suspect—and the outcome would be worse.” Chen Guang analyzed coolly.

Lin Qing thought it over, then nodded slightly.

After all, in the entire underground facility, apart from the animal breeding zone, he was the only person present.

If suspicion fell on the Chuanxing Tower inside the facility—who else could they suspect but him?

“From the situation at the time, the optimal choice was to conceal my existence as an intelligent lifeform.”

Chen Guang said: “I judged that Fei Wen Vitas would likely attack you. By leveraging the conflict between him and Luo Wu, I could completely clear your suspicion—hence the plan.”

She murmured: “It wasn’t the absolute best outcome—but it was the optimal choice under the circumstances.”

Lin Qing fell into thought.

Human and intelligent lifeform computational abilities truly couldn’t be compared.

He hadn’t been able to foresee so many subsequent developments and variables.

“What about the energy stabilizer?”

Lin Qing asked. “Why let me hand it in? If I’d found nothing, wouldn’t I be even cleaner?”

Chen Guang explained: “The energy stabilizer’s formula was hidden in the pharmacy room. Finding it by chance is perfectly normal—it actually makes you look more innocent.”

“When you write your report, imply your thought process: you headed straight for low-difficulty areas like the pharmacy—places nowhere near the second-floor control room.”

Chen Guang said: “That’s more plausible. Given your displayed strength, you couldn’t possibly have targeted high-difficulty zones.” Lin Qing nodded slightly. “Any other flaws?”

“There are a few—but nothing that would point to you,” Chen Guang said. “As long as you don’t slip up yourself.”

Lin Qing grunted.

Having an intelligent lifeform plan things for him truly saved a lot of effort.

He asked: “By the way, after the Chuanxing Tower’s master-binding, it went dormant inside me—how do I use it?”

“When your gene optimization index reaches 100%, it will activate,” Chen Guang said. “Alternatively, if you awaken your mental power or your authority.”

“Authority?” Lin Qing was stunned. “Forget authority awakening—where am I supposed to find the legendary Starlight Source Stone?”

“Indeed,” Chen Guang said. “Starlight Source Stones are monopolized by advanced civilizations across the universe. Authority awakening is only widespread among advanced civilizations—and can trigger unimaginable transformations in lower ones. But even the civilization behind the Zhixing people isn’t considered advanced in the universe, let alone Earth.”

“Oh?” Lin Qing had never heard this before.

Too bad—even the Zhixing people, who aren’t even advanced, had sent just one corporation that crushed Earth’s civilization underfoot.

!.

“Master, you only need to focus on reaching 100% gene optimization,” Chen Guang said.

“100%?”

Lin Qing pondered. “I only know higher gene optimization index is better. Do you have other advice?”

“‘Better the higher’? That’s inaccurate.”

Chen Guang said: “Your potential and strength after gene awakening aren’t determined by the index number.”

“Oh?” Lin Qing listened closely.

“Simply put—more comprehensive, more specialized.”

Chen Guang explained patiently: “All gene abilities are manifestations of your genes optimized by higher-tier energy. You need more types of energy optimization, and higher-tier optimization—not just chasing the number. Once you exceed 100%, that’s enough.”

Her words opened a new perspective for Lin Qing.

In other words, maximizing fourth-tier gene optimizations mattered more than the index number.

“But first, you must exceed 100% gene optimization.”

Lin Qing silently resolved on his near-term goal.

After all, the prerequisite for using the Chuanxing Tower was reaching 100% gene optimization.

“Debt.”

He didn’t bother to rest, immediately beginning to practice the original version of the “Free Body” combat technique.

Practicing the combat technique imposes strain on the body, so the number of daily sessions is limited; one session alone was enough for him to estimate how long it would take to repay the debt.

Twenty minutes later.

“Phew…”

Lin Qing slowly exhaled, opened his eyes, and a hint of delight shone in his gaze: “Much simpler than I imagined.”

The “Free Body” combat technique requires using starlight forged from mysterious energy to open force points and energy nodes, consuming vast amounts of energy to gradually acclimate the body and ignite a single star.

The hardest part is the process of bodily acclimation.

In the future predicted by the Anti-Entropy Entity, he trained relentlessly until old age, his body withered and frail, before finally igniting all forty-eight thousand stars.

But completing it is far simpler.

He had already ignited all forty-eight thousand stars; there was no need to wait for his body to slowly adapt—he only needed enough energy to form the “stars”!

“Just one practice session ignited sixty stars.”

Lin Qing estimated internally: “At five sessions per day, that’s three hundred stars ignited daily. At this rate, I’ll complete the ‘Free Body’ combat technique in no more than one hundred and sixty days.”

This progress is far faster than he had anticipated.

Normal training would consume most of a lifetime; completing it requires only five or six months.

“By month’s end, I’ll also have repaid the ‘Instant Light’ ability.”

Lin Qing mused silently: “Then I can begin pre-advancing the ‘Star Refining Art.’”

This cultivation method is now extremely important to him.

Once combined with the energy stabilizer and paired with a suitable Level Four energy source, he could use the bloodline evolution method to begin unlocking the fourth-level genetic abilities of the Celestial Orb Sovereign!

Breaking past 100% gene optimization index depends on it.

“There’s still plenty of room for growth,” Lin Qing thought eagerly, glancing again at the Anti-Entropy Entity’s order level.

Even after eliminating a large group of outsiders, the level remained unchanged at 5.7.

“Outsiders don’t belong to my life sphere…”

Lin Qing sighed inwardly: “Once I reach the Global Patrol Headquarters, a Senior Patrol Chief’s jurisdiction will expand greatly—then order level growth will become much easier.”

He was still merely the Patrol Chief of An’an City, not even a Senior Patrol Chief yet.

Once the order level reaches 10, pre-advancing another ability will accelerate his progress significantly.

…

The night passed.

June 4th, morning.

Lin Qing awoke, no sooner opening his eyes than he received a major message from the Patrol—his sleepiness vanished instantly.

“The Patrol Force was ambushed last night?”

“Multiple personnel seriously injured, and even the bio-weapons were stolen?”

Lin Qing found it hard to believe, murmuring softly: “Chenguang, do you know who did this?”

“Unknown, but most likely members of the Primitive Research Institute,” Chenguang’s voice echoed in his mind.

“Truly insane,” Lin Qing remarked.

“The Primitive Research Institute today is different from when Father was alive—I don’t understand it anymore,” Chenguang said. “But anyone with a tattoo bearing a numbered code joined within the last decade.”

Lin Qing understood.

Yet the Primitive Research Institute’s blatant hostility made him appear even more innocent.

He rose, dressed, sent a quick message to Zhao Jiayi next door, confirmed she was ready, and stepped out.

The Patrol Force had been ambushed—he naturally had to check whether Tang Wanqiu had been injured.

“Good morning.”

Zhao Jiayi wore a crisp Patrol uniform, her face bare of makeup, strikingly beautiful, her hair tied high in a ponytail, lending her an air of sharp efficiency: “How was your visit to the research institute last night?”

“Fine,” Lin Qing replied casually, then reached over to smooth her turned-up collar.

“Oh, by the way, my application result came through,” Zhao Jiayi said cheerfully. “I can serve as your assistant on the trip to headquarters.”

“Good,” Lin Qing nodded slightly.

Just then—

“I just sensed your assistant releasing a psychic scan. She’s a psychic awakening.”

Chenguang’s voice suddenly echoed in his mind: “She’s probably not from Earth.”

Lin Qing froze.

(End of Chapter)