Chapter 6: Failed

Fifteen years old: without realizing it, you've already been working at the uncle's shop for a long time; the uncle treats you all very well, never making you work overtime or do heavy labor. You often experiment with your gene-editing theory using tree leaves, and the several locust trees at the restaurant entrance have suffered greatly from your tinkering, being plucked bare like the head of a ten-year veteran programmer.

However, it's not without gain; you can now finally alter some simple life codes, and you can't help but marvel at the wonder of life.

But the most surprising thing is Lin Ran; she actually relied on her own willpower, continually breaking through her physical limits, reaching the rank of second‑level gene warrior, and you can't help but marvel again at Lin Ran's talent, which is truly monstrous.

And after going through life‑and‑death separation, Lin Ran has become ever more clingy toward you; her behavior has become increasingly without bounds, and you've several times seen the uncle looking at the two of you with an ambiguous gaze, which makes you feel embarrassed.

That same year, someone tried to organize a Resistance Army against Caesar Life, but it had no gene warriors at all and was swiftly suppressed; the price of gene drugs also increased severalfold at that time.

Those supernatural creatures also periodically harass the residents; because there are no high‑level gene warriors, each incident can cause several deaths and various severe economic losses, leaving the people of Yong State in utter misery.

Sixteen years old: your understanding of the gene‑hacker ability has deepened further; the higher the rank of gene warrior, the more complex the life code, and the longer it takes to crack.

Every year, you hold a memorial on the day your father went to the battlefield and the day your mother was settled; these dates constantly remind you that your great vengeance remains unpaid, the culprits still roam free, and you cannot let down your guard.

Because the butterfly effect of lacking high‑level gene warriors has become ever more obvious, food prices have skyrocketed, and on the street you can often see supernatural creatures coming to the city to forage; everyone on the street wears a worried expression, and the uncle's restaurant has gradually shifted its main business to selling alcohol.

You take in everything you see, and your hatred for Caesar Life grows even stronger.

You can do more and more work in the uncle's shop, and the uncle happily gave you a raise, though it wasn't much; Lin Ran was still happy. You know Lin Ran likes sweet food, so you often use your leftover money to buy her small cakes; Lin Ran never picks and chooses—she likes anything sweet and will stuff it into her mouth.

Sometimes you can even see her stuffing a huge chunk of rock candy into her mouth to chew; seeing this, you feel as if the insulin throughout your body is going crazy.

But since Lin Ran likes it, you have nothing to say; you know she also likes jasmine flowers, so you specially made a jasmine‑flavored cake and a large jar of jasmine‑flavored rock candy for her birthday eve. Lin Ran was overjoyed; in front of you she tossed a huge chunk of rock candy into her mouth, and it went 'crack‑crack' as she chewed, making you break out in goosebumps. You sometimes even wonder whether a mosquito that sucked Lin Ran's blood would turn into a bee on the spot.

Seventeen years old: you already have a very deep understanding of gene‑editing technology, but indeed, as you know, the knowledge base of gene drugs is fragmented; if you relied on your own research, you wouldn't know when it would be—maybe the year of the monkey and month of the horse—but you still refuse to give up.

That same year, a city nearest to the original heavenly‑disaster front line was besieged by tens of thousands of heavenly disasters overnight; in less than a night, over a million people became food for the disasters, and the whole city turned into a blood nest.

Caesar Life has always been the leader of gene technology in Yong State; their mastery of gene technology is even greater than that of Yong State itself, especially the clones they created without regard for moral bottom line. Although they cannot break the gene lock to replace ordinary people, this still makes them extremely arrogant and self‑satisfied.

During the two most precious years when humanity should have rapidly grown stronger, Caesar Life chose to become independent kings, yet the heavenly disaster made good use of this breathing spell.

Caesar Life never imagined the heavenly disaster would return so quickly; in their plan, humanity at least had five years of breathing time, enough for them to research clones capable of breaking the gene lock.

Because there were no high‑level gene warriors available, they had no choice but to dispatch the latest‑researched clones to fight the heavenly disaster.

However, the clones themselves could not break the gene lock at all, so it's easy to imagine that this batch of clones they sent out wasn't very strong; they were quickly defeated. Just as they were about to temporarily abandon the clone program and resume conscription, something happened that nobody expected.

After the heavenly disaster had swallowed several cities in a row, it unexpectedly halted its advance and stopped spreading, as if waiting for something; the people of Caesar Life remained uneasy, and for this reason they reopened the gene‑drug course at the Gene Research Academy.

To consolidate their position, they stipulated that anyone who had studied the method of producing gene drugs must, upon graduation, go to work for Caesar Life and sign a confidentiality agreement; yet this still gave you hope.

You decided to apply to the Gene Research Academy; as long as you obtain the method of producing gene drugs, you can rely on gene‑hacking to manufacture large numbers of gene warriors, thereby changing the current situation and overthrowing Caesar Life.

You said, 'Let's do it,' and you looked up the admission requirements of the Gene Research Academy; fortunately, because of Caesar Life's involvement, enrollment was open to everyone this time, and you easily signed up.

Lin Ran learned of your idea, but she wasn't very supportive; she feared you would be purged by Caesar Life like your mother, and she believed that only by becoming strong herself could she truly avoid being manipulated by others.

You had your first major disagreement, but the cold war lasted only three days; Lin Ran couldn't wait to come back, make up with you, and said she simply didn't want you to bear everything alone, and she reverted to her former cute, coquettish self.

The Gene Research Academy wasn't as easy to get into as you imagined; as expected, you failed the entrance exam, you were unwilling to accept it, you signed up for the second exam, and while you were re‑studying the textbooks, you never stopped researching gene editing.

Now you can already alter many gene traits; the stray dogs around the restaurant have all been turned into solid muscle by your gene‑hacking, but you still have no clue how to open the gene lock, and everything seems to have stalled.

Eighteen years old: you failed the entrance exam for the second time, you were utterly puzzled, and after careful investigation you realized that the whole exam was rigged—the method of producing gene drugs would never be opened to ordinary people; in other words, you had wasted nearly two years on something meaningless.

Upon learning all this, you felt disheartened and hopeless; when you returned to the restaurant, however, an accident occurred.