Chapter 2: Complete Ran!

Lin Ran loved jasmine flowers; she often pulled you to the small courtyard downstairs to see the jasmine she had planted at your house, then wore a little sachet filled with jasmine flowers, and accompanied you in playing with urine and mud—you urinated, you played in the mud—while Lin Ran scorned you from the side, and then, when you weren't looking, she grabbed a small shovel and heaped the urine‑mud under the jasmine, eagerly awaiting each bloom.

Basically, every day you could see Old Lin arriving with a dark face to pick up Lin Ran; your father delighted in mocking him, and then every so often you could see your father returning with a bruised nose and swollen face.

Age five: you dreamed of becoming a gene warrior, but your talent in martial arts was hopeless; you trained for so long yet saw no effect, instead growing increasingly weak; you also often saw Lin Ran's mother and your mother complaining that Lin Ran's learning talent was also a lump. In the grab-zhou ritual, others always pick what they're good at, but you and Lin Ran always pick what you're not good at.

Their conversation gave you a lot of information, and you then learned that Lin Ran's mother is also a pharmacist who develops gene medicines. They complained that the gene‑medicine companies on the market are becoming excessive, attempting to monopolize all gene medicines and raising prices without any scruples.

You were still too young to understand their talk about monopolies, companies, laws, and so on, and their conversation gradually drifted to whether you and Lin Ran should cultivate feelings while young; thus they privately arranged a childhood engagement for you and Lin Ran.

That remark was naturally heard by Lin Ran, who was playing beside you; from then on she often occasionally harassed you, while you solemnly declared that you had no interest in women—only martial arts could arouse your interest.

Age six: I don't know if it was because your words hurt Lin Ran, but she didn't come to see you for several months. When you next met, her personality had completely changed; she told you she was now Complete Ran and immediately demanded to beat you until you knelt and called her 'grandma'.

On a black carpet, a lively little girl sat on a boy's body, one hand tightly gripping his nostrils, the other arm choking his neck, with a fierce expression.

Beside them, Lin Uncle, his face full of beard, smiled extremely happily, imitating Zhang Jie's father's manner and ingratiatingly leaning over to him.

"Hey, my daughter is just awesome—she's become this strong after only a few months of training, unlike that despicable person's son, tsk tsk tsk."

Just as Zhang Jie's father was about to really fight, the two children's scuffle again attracted the two old geezers.

"Speak! You're not interested in martial arts!"

"I... no!"

Zhang Jie only felt he was about to be strangled to death; he never imagined Lin Ran was making him lose interest in martial arts this way, but he's a stubborn sort.

"Then you say! Are you interested in me?"

"I... just won't!!!"

The smile won't disappear; it will just shift.

Lin Ran's one sentence shifted the smile from Lin Uncle's face to Zhang Jie's father's face, and Zhang Jie's father also obsequiously imitated Lin Uncle's tone when speaking.

"Hey, my son is just awesome—any kids he has in the future will bear my surname, unlike that foolish girl's daughter, tsk tsk~"

Afterwards, the two old geezers started fighting like the kids, but it was obvious Zhang Jie's father was losing, thus forming the following scene.

Lin Ran grabbed Zhang Jie and beat him; Lin Ran's father pinned Zhang Jie's father and beat him; the old ones took hits, and the young ones took hits too.

After the incident, Zhang Jie's father couldn't save face and didn't dare to vent his anger on his wife, so he could only press Zhang Jie again and beat him.

Only a world in which Zhang Jie is injured has been achieved.

"Age seven: you and Lin Ran entered elementary school together; I don't know if it's because martial arts practitioners are usually irritable, but Lin Ran's behavior grew increasingly wild, her combat power went off the charts, she beat the boys in class like dogs, and that shy, gentle little girl has already died in your heart…"

The sun shone brightly; on the spacious playground, a bunch of elementary students ran and played freely, while the young PE teacher leaned quietly against the soccer goal, watching them, a picture of peaceful times.

And Lin Ran, dressed like a tomboy, rummaged through bush after bush, finally uncovering Zhang Jie in a dense thicket.

"Hey, why do you keep hiding from me? Come out and play house!"

"I don't!"

Lin Ran roughly pulled Zhang Jie out of the bushes, dragged him to play house; amidst the cheers of a bunch of kids, Zhang Jie, having no will to live, was forcibly put back in place.

The positions for playing house are fixed; the script is very melodramatic, about a girl being kidnapped by villains, a genius boy single‑handedly taking on a bunch of kids to rescue her, and Lin Ran is that genius boy who single‑handedly takes on the kids.

It's not that other boys don't want to be heroes; it's that Lin Ran's strength is beyond doubt…

And Zhang Jie? He is the girl kidnapped by the kids, waiting to be rescued by Lin Ran…

"Wah‑ah!"

"Uh‑ah!"

As the sound of the kids being gauze rang out, the prone Zhang Jie was lifted from the podium by Lin Ran in a princess carry, a faint jasmine fragrance drifted over, and their eyes met.

The girl's tender face had a speck of weed on it; her cute little face showed a smile, and the tiny tear‑mole at the corner of her eye was especially noticeable.

She carefully looked at Zhang Jie's eyes, her tone conveying seriousness.

"Zhang Jie, don't be scared, I'm here!"

"Age eight: ever since you started elementary school, every day has been utter torment, because there are so many boys in the class, she only picks on you."

Lin Ran doesn't like sour things, but she likes candied haws; so each time you're forced to eat the hawthorn she's sucked clean of its sugar coating, leaving you unsure whether to enjoy it or not, but you always show a look of disdain; thus some kids offer five packs of spicy strips to buy the hawthorn that Lin Ran's big sister has sucked clean, you ruthlessly refuse, and the kids doubt whether you like Lin Ran's big sister.

""I just like eating sour things—is that not allowed!" you said that, but you didn't realize Lin Ran was secretly watching your every move."

"Age nine: you discovered you were gradually becoming interested in biology; in your free time, besides training, you also read some extracurricular books on biology, gaining a more detailed understanding of the natural disasters mentioned in those books, as well as a certain understanding of humanity's current gene‑technology level."

"Disaster organisms, also called blood disasters, are organisms entirely composed of blood, possessing extremely strong assimilative ability; any organism or substance could possibly be eroded by them, becoming a second‑stage blood disaster; they erode buildings to turn them into blood nests, breeding blood disasters; historically it has been recorded that blood disasters even had the ability to erode stars, but this has not been confirmed nowadays."

"Recently, you often see news reports of the battle situation on the disaster front; it seems not optimistic, and this makes you feel a little afraid; your parents tell you not to worry, the sea‑city you live in is a strategic hinterland—unless the disaster front collapses entirely, disaster could never reach here—but you also often see them looking worried, as if they're encountering difficulties at work."