Evolving infinitely from ground zero

At night, after having dinner and a shower, Lin Zichen went back to his room and sprawled on his bed, scrolling through news on his smartphone.

Close to nine o’clock, his next-door neighbor Shen Qinghan came to find him, dressed in pajamas and carrying a fruit brand tablet computer into his room.

“This tablet is for you, my mom bought it especially for you,” she said.

Shen Qinghan handed the tablet that she was holding over to Lin Zichen.

Lin Zichen was somewhat puzzled, “Why did Auntie Meng suddenly give me this?”

Shen Qinghan explained, “Before the practical assessment, didn’t my mom say she would buy the latest fruit brand smartphones for us? She thought it over and felt that tablets would be more convenient for our studies, so she decided to buy tablets instead.”

Upon hearing her explanation, Lin Zichen remembered.

He picked up his smartphone and sent a message to Xu Meng on WeChat, saying he really liked the fruit brand tablet computer and thanked Auntie Meng.

While he was chatting with Xu Meng,

Shen Qinghan at the bedside took off her slippers, revealing a pair of petite, delicate, fair feet, and skillfully climbed onto his bed.

She then sat cross-legged on the bed, her pretty face showing a faint blush, and said softly,

“Xiao Chen, I want to sleep over at your place tonight, is that okay?”

“What?”

Lin Zichen thought he had heard wrong and looked up at her in surprise.

Shen Qinghan clarified, “The compatibility test is tomorrow, and if I sleep alone, I will definitely keep thinking about it and then not be able to sleep.”

“But if I sleep with you, I can talk to someone and divert my attention, so I won’t keep thinking about the compatibility test and end up unable to sleep.”

After saying this, she looked into Lin Zichen’s eyes and asked again, “Is it okay?”

“If you want to, then of course it’s okay,” Lin Zichen replied.

It’s not like they hadn’t slept together before.

When they were children, they often slept together.

More recently, they had slept together during the seven days of the past practical assessment.

“Then I’ll tell my mom now that I won’t be going home tonight.”

Shen Qinghan took out her phone and informed Xu Meng on WeChat that she would be sleeping over at Lin Zichen’s place tonight.

For something like this, she knew Xu Meng would definitely not mind.

As expected, Xu Meng had no objections, and even proactively said she would bring over a toothbrush, toothpaste, towel, diapers, and the clothes to wear for the next day for her.

But she didn’t need them.

Because she had already brought these daily necessities with her when she came to find Lin Zichen.

In the time that followed,

the two sat close together, watching the news on the newly purchased fruit brand tablet.

They watched and chatted, discussing the contents of the news.

During this time, they came across many news stories about the conservative faction in evolution.

It was the faction that does not support Genetic Fusion, but firmly believes that humans can break their limitations through their own potential and evolve into Advanced-level Creatures, Rare Level creatures, or even Epic Level creatures.

During the time of the college entrance exams, these conservatives were very active, frequently appearing in news reports from major media outlets, extending olive branches to many genius examinees.

They claimed to have unique Body Refining methods that could very likely help humans break free from the limitations of frail flesh and refine the body to a strength not inferior to Genetic Integrators and Mechanically Modified Humans.

However, these Body Refining practices could only be cultivated by Pure Blood Humans with intact bodies.

Therefore, they now need enough geniuses to practice these Body Refining methods to prove to the world that humans can evolve into higher forms of life solely through their own potential.

As soon as these conservative views were aired, they immediately drew countless curses.

People criticized them for enticing geniuses to give up Genetic Fusion and mechanical modifications to practice their so-called Body Refining methods, claiming it was harmful.

“Xiao Chen, do you think humans can really evolve into higher-level beings purely through their own potential?”

After reading these conservative statements, Shen Qinghan couldn’t help but raise such a question.

Her personal opinion was that they could not.

If humans truly had this potential, with so many people around the globe, some would have evolved into higher-level creatures based solely on their own inherent abilities by now.

However, to date, not a single example exists.

Beyond Genetic Integrators and Mechanically Modified Humans, the strongest known Pure Blood Humans are at the Ordinary Ninth Rank in terms of Biological Level.

They are very strong, and their statistics are infinitely close to those of Advanced-level Creatures, but they have always been unable to break through the last barrier to evolve into Advanced-level Creatures.

“I believe that humans can evolve into higher-level creatures based solely on their inherent potential,”

replied Lin Zichen without hesitation.

Seeing his decisive answer, Shen Qinghan couldn’t help but ask with curiosity emanating from her clear eyes, “Why do you think so?”

“I feel that if this world has Exotic Beasts, then correspondingly, there should be Exotic Humans. That would make things seem more reasonable,”

explained Lin Zichen, and then he added, “The Exotic Humans I’m referring to are the kind of humans who can evolve continuously through their own potential.”

“That does make sense.”

Shen Qinghan mused with a contemplative expression, “Logically, if there are Exotic Beasts, there should definitely be Exotic Humans too. It’s unreasonable for there to be only Exotic Beasts and no Exotic Humans.”

“But where are the Exotic Humans?”

“Exotic Beasts have been around for so long, so why haven’t Exotic Humans appeared?”

Shen Qinghan was genuinely puzzled, feeling that it didn’t make sense.

Suddenly, she had a thought and immediately turned to Lin Zichen, “Xiao Chen, you’re not an Exotic Human, are you?”

Lin Zichen denied, “You’re overthinking it. I’m definitely not one.”

I’m just a wimp. How can I compare to an Exotic Human?

The next morning, just as the sky began to brighten.

Lin Zichen awoke from his bed and the first thing he did was to lift the blanket to check if the bed was wet.

Thankfully, it was dry.

Shen Qinghan hadn’t urinated last night, or perhaps she wore a diaper.

Lin Zichen wasn’t unduly worried for no reason; as a child, Shen Qinghan’s bed-wetting had truly scared him.

Every time she didn’t wear a diaper and they slept in the same bed, he would invariably be urinated on, which had left him with a psychological shadow.

About half an hour later, Shen Qinghan also woke up.

After the two of them freshened up and had breakfast, they headed out to school together.

The compatibility test for the candidates of Shanhai City was arranged in a research facility on an island.

To get there, students had to take a school bus.

In less than ten minutes, Lin Zichen and Shen Qinghan reached the school.

By that time, the schoolyard was already teeming with people. The candidates were waiting for the buses to come and pick them up.

Before long, the buses arrived.

All of the candidates boarded and set off for the research facility.

On the bus.

Lin Zichen thought back to Wang Shujie and Lu Gang’s odd behavior from the day before and glanced over at them out of the corner of his eye.

He then noticed that they didn’t seem to be in good spirits.

They appeared somewhat listless, lacking their usual energy.

So what exactly was wrong with these two?

Lin Zichen was quite puzzled.

PS: Holding out my bowl, asking for monthly tickets and recommendation votes!