Chapter 256: This Kid Isn’t Human
Chapter 256: Chapter 256: This Kid Isn’t Human
Xue Can was seething with frustration. He slammed his foot on the accelerator.
’Just get this mission over with,’ he thought. ’That way I won’t have to look at Fu Cheng and get annoyed.’
The one-ton motorcycle was incredibly powerful. Shen Lu, caught off guard by the sudden lurch, was thrown backward before slamming hard against Fu Cheng’s back.
The impact made her chest ache.
But the pain was secondary. The sudden, intimate contact was so awkward it made her toes curl.
’I’m docking his pay! He’s definitely getting his pay docked for this!’
Shen Lu was fuming. But with her helmet on and Fu Cheng sitting between them, she couldn’t properly voice her displeasure to Xue Can. Her only outlet was to vent her frustration by digging her fingers into the back of his shirt.
Fu Cheng was just as embarrassed.
He wanted to grab onto something to steady himself, but Xue Can was in front of him and Shen Lu was behind him. He didn’t want to grab the guy in front, and he was too embarrassed to grab the girl behind.
Still, he was more unwilling to keep pressing against Shen Lu. After a moment of deliberation, Fu Cheng grabbed the back of Xue Can’s collar.
Xue Can, whose collar suddenly tightened: ???
He realized it was Fu Cheng grabbing his collar. For a second, Xue Can had the bizarre feeling he was a horse.
’No, no, no.’
’How could I be a horse?’
’That Fu Cheng is just inhuman!’
They soon arrived at the checkpoint. Xue Can and Shen Lu both had passes, while Fu Cheng, being a citizen of the Upper City District, just needed an iris scan to get in.
As soon as they entered the Upper City District, Shen Lu noticed the sandstorms were significantly weaker.
It made sense. The Upper City District had devices to combat the sandstorms. For instance, the artificial trees in the planters had plastic leaves that would shake to block blowing grit. The trunks were equipped with micro-vacuums that sucked up sand before it could even touch the ground, sending it outside the city through a network of pipes.
The three of them breathed a collective sigh of relief when they finally reached the research institute.
After entering the main gate, the three of them removed their helmets. Shen Lu stepped forward to explain their reason for being there to the guard.
"You’re guests of Researcher Li? Please wait a moment while I verify."
The guard used his Light Brain to confirm with Li Qin. After getting a positive response, he led the trio to a small reception room.
A staff member brought in three cups of hot tea, casting a curious glance at Fu Cheng as they left.
For some reason, she felt the man in the wheelchair looked a bit familiar, as if she’d seen him before.
Xue Can pulled off his gloves and patted the sand from them.
He glanced at Shen Lu. The young woman’s expression was a bit sullen as she looked down and sipped her tea. He wondered if she was thinking about something unpleasant.
Fu Cheng leaned back in his wheelchair, his gaze unfocused as if he were lost in thought.
Xue Can pursed his lips. When he remembered Fu Cheng grabbing his collar during the ride, he felt an urge to punch him.
’Just a thought, though.’
’Even if I was going to do something, I couldn’t do it in front of Shen Lu. Besides, picking on a disabled person isn’t my style.’
After about a ten-minute wait, Li Qin finally arrived.
"Sorry to keep you waiting." Li Qin pushed open the door, but her eyes landed on a certain person and she froze. "Fu Cheng?"
Fu Cheng looked up at her. "It’s me."
Shen Lu looked from Fu Cheng to Li Qin. It was obvious they knew each other.
For some reason, she felt a pang of unease.
But Li Qin seemed to have no intention of catching up with Fu Cheng. After a brief greeting, she led Shen Lu to her office.
The office was just as messy as last time.
The three-tiered shelf against the wall now held a dozen more flowerpots. They were filled with soil, but there wasn’t a hint of green, making it impossible to tell if anything had been planted.
Li Qin cleared a space on her desk. "Can I see the pot of scallions you grew?"
Shen Lu composed herself and lifted her flowerpot out of the bag.
The flowerpot was one Shen Lu had salvaged. Not only was the rim chipped, but it was also grimy, looking especially shabby next to the pots in Li Qin’s office.
Li Qin’s eyes lit up as she looked at the flowerpot Shen Lu had taken out.
She had been excited just from seeing the picture, but the real thing was even more stunning than she had imagined.
She first took a soil sample from the pot, washed it in a solution, and then used a pipette to place a few drops of the liquid under a microscope for observation.
When Li Qin got busy, she tended to ignore everyone around her. With nothing to do, Shen Lu started looking around the office.
She leaned over to examine one of the pots on the shelf. A tender, pointed sprout was peeking out from the dark, reddish-brown soil.
’I wonder what it is.’
Shen Lu glanced back at Li Qin, who was completely absorbed in her microscope. Then, she stealthily sprinkled a little Jinkela into the flowerpot.
The Jinkela dissolved into the soil almost instantly, leaving only a faint scent that was noticeable if you got very close.
It smelled very similar to egg whites.
Shen Lu hadn’t used the Jinkela she’d obtained before. She was afraid that if she used it, something might go wrong with her scallions, and then she’d lose her chance to get into the research institute.
An hour later, Li Qin finally rose from the microscope, though she still seemed reluctant to stop.
She brought a form over and began to ask Shen Lu a few questions.
"The seeds? Just regular scallion seeds."
"The pot and soil were both salvaged."
"Did you use fertilizer? Hmm... I bury a few kitchen scraps in the soil every day. Does that count?"
"As long as it’s not raining heavily or too windy, I keep it outside. The light and ventilation are pretty good."
...
Li Qin’s questions were very detailed. Shen Lu could answer some, but couldn’t answer others, and for a few, she genuinely had no idea.
Fortunately, Li Qin wasn’t suspicious. She knew Shen Lu wasn’t a professional, so it was normal for her not to have all the answers. Li Qin was only asking because the questions were listed on the form.
Li Qin sent her preliminary analysis along with the completed form to her superior.
Her superior was a Third-level Researcher whose field of study was plant cultivation.
Plant cultivation was a massive field, and Li Qin’s own research into plant mutation was considered one of its branches.
"We’ll have to wait a bit now. I don’t know if my mentor will agree to see you," Li Qin said.
Shen Lu nodded. "Is your mentor strict?"
"Hmm?" Li Qin said as she carefully took a sample from one of the scallion leaves. "My mentor isn’t mean, just very strict."
Shen Lu pursed her lips but then let out a breath a moment later.
’What’s there to be afraid of? I haven’t faked anything or lied. The worst that can happen is that there are some questions I can’t answer.’
The wait started to drag on. Not wanting to stay in Li Qin’s office the entire time, Shen Lu said she wanted to return to the reception room.
It couldn’t be helped. Shen Lu wanted to explore, but security at the institute was too tight for her to wander around freely. Her only option was to use the walk back to the reception room as an opportunity to glean whatever information she could along the way.
At this, Li Qin paused what she was doing and turned around.
"I remember now. You’re Fu Cheng’s former fiancée, aren’t you?"
Shen Lu froze. "Yes."
"Oh." Li Qin turned back and resumed her experiment.
Shen Lu was a little thrown by the sudden question. She opened the door, intending to ask Fu Cheng what that was all about.
Just as she left the office, she had the bad luck of running into a patrolling security guard.
Under the guard’s "enthusiastic" escort, Shen Lu had absolutely no chance to peek at anything. She entered the reception room, her face a mask of frustration.