Hui Tian Ch35

Chapter 35

After five years, Shen Zhuo finally realized what Su Jiqiao was referring to.

---

For many reasons, Shen Zhuo, who was in his early twenties at the time, already held a pivotal position in the HRG project team. It’s no exaggeration to say that half the students in his major wanted to join his cutting-edge research group, even if it meant just washing test tubes as an undergraduate to get familiar.

Su Jiqiao was the youngest and most watched first-year graduate student at the time. It was not surprising that he wanted to burnish his resume, but encounters between people are just that strange—
Shen Zhuo didn’t like him.

Su Jiqiao, who was smooth and skillful in his dealings with everyone, who was praised and admired by all, and who had been invincible in his undergraduate years, was, from their very first meeting, directly categorized by Shen Zhuo into the “uninteresting” pile.

Su Jiqiao didn’t understand why, but he felt he could.

In his own field, Shen Zhuo was absolutely dictatorial. It was like a powerful immortal in a novel accepting a disciple. Even if you were exceptionally talented and tried every way to please him, if he didn’t like you, he could simply not accept you. Conversely, even if your aptitude was ordinary or even foolish and ignorant, as long as he felt a connection with the student, he was willing to teach you from the basics, hand in hand—the undergraduate student, Chen Miao, who was handpicked to wash test tubes in the HRG lab for over half a year, was a prime example. The most famous incident involving this person was when he raised his hand three times to interrupt Shen Zhuo during his first public lecture, saying, “Teacher, what you’re teaching is too difficult, none of us can understand. Can you slow down? I barely passed the admission line, and if this continues, I’m going to fail!”

Only two kinds of people could be treated differently by Shen Zhuo: one was a pure fool, and the other was a true genius. In the atmosphere of the research institute at that time, the former was a rarity, but the latter was endless, with new ones appearing every year.

There were so many doctoral students who wanted to enter HRG, and Su Jiqiao had no hardware advantages. He was only a first-year graduate student. Fortunately, he was very good at using leverage.

If it wasn’t love at first sight, he just had to take a detour. Su Jiqiao had always been skilled at designing this.

“—Teacher Shen, Teacher Shen!”

At the end of the first semester, a student group leader from the HRG project stopped Shen Zhuo at the laboratory door, his youthful indignation somewhat palpable. “I have a question. Why won’t you let Su Jiqiao join your project group?”

Shen Zhuo stopped, staring at him expressionlessly, his gaze very much like a normal person looking at a mental patient.

Setting the project aside, Shen Zhuo himself was not a very popular teacher among the students—he was sarcastic, direct, and ruthless in his words and actions. Of course, there were some in the research department who fanatically adored him, but among the students, those who liked him were a minority. Most were just forced by his authority to be guinea pigs, punching the clock to get points. This was the first one who dared to speak to him like this.

“Look!” The student group leader’s face flushed, and he held up a thick stack of literature. “This is the literature reference Su Jiqiao did for us in private. He did it all by himself, secretly, and didn’t even tell us—yet you insist on not letting him into the project group because of your prejudice. It’s really too unfair!”

“…” Shen Zhuo’s eyes narrowed slightly.

The student group leader became anxious. “Teacher Shen, you—”

Shen Zhuo finally asked the first question: “What prejudice do I have against him?”

The student group leader subconsciously wanted to say that Su Jiqiao was too pure and outstanding, which would make people jealous, but then he suddenly realized that the person in front of him was Shen Zhuo, and all the words were instantly stuck in his throat.

Shen Zhuo asked again, “He didn’t tell anyone he did this literature. So how did you know?”

“I… I discovered it by accident. Junior Su has always been secretive and didn’t let anyone see. I was just curious…”

Shen Zhuo was too lazy to even look at this classic trick anymore. He directly interrupted the other person and asked the final question: “I just won’t let Su Jiqiao into the project group. What can you do about it?”

The student group leader didn’t expect Teacher Shen to be as sarcastic and unreasonable as the legends said. He was stunned for a moment.

Then, all the young man’s indignation turned into impassioned righteousness. He puffed out his chest and said loudly, “Since you are so stubborn, then to seek fair treatment, I can only tell you that without Su Jiqiao’s help, our group cannot complete the project on time. Please understand!”

Shen Zhuo’s deep, dark eyes, like a cold pond, stared at him. After a moment, he nodded and said, “Fine.”

Then he took out his phone, dialed a number, and the other end answered almost immediately. “Hello?”

“Director Yang, please transfer a group from the second-year graduate students to me. They can be in place tomorrow. Tell them there’s no rush to report today… It’s fine, I’ve used up a group.” Shen Zhuo paused and gave a concise evaluation: “Experimental consumables.”

Then he hung up, put away his phone, and said lightly:
“Your entire group is fired.”

“…” The student group leader could hardly believe this was the result. For a few seconds, he thought he had misheard, and only now did he wake up as if from a dream. “T-Teacher Shen?”

Shen Zhuo walked past him without a word.

The senior group leader had an epiphany and stumbled forward to block Shen Zhuo’s path, futilely reaching out to stop him. “Teacher Shen, you can’t do this! I… I didn’t mean that. We can complete the project, we—”

The next moment, his cheek was seized, and he was forced to tilt his head up.

Shen Zhuo held the young man, who was no shorter than himself, with one hand, preventing his hands from touching him, but his tone was steady. “Do you know what kind of people I despise the most?”

“…”

“Stupidity, violence, impotent rage, and worthless indignation,” Shen Zhuo said. “In my eyes, you are not even as good as consumables.”

He threw his hand, and the poor young man stumbled back, trembling in disbelief, watching with wide eyes as Shen Zhuo lifted his foot and walked out of the laboratory.

Shen Zhuo’s steps were always steady, his face calm and unperturbed. He strode like a meteor around the corridor until he was blocked by a figure running towards him:
“Senior Shen, Senior Shen, I’m sorry! Please listen to my explanation!…”

Su Jiqiao stopped on the lower flight of stairs. Perhaps because he had rushed over, his small face was flushed red and white. He panted as he looked up at Shen Zhuo pleadingly. “I really didn’t know things would turn out like this. I really didn’t know the group leader had seen that information. Actually, I was just waiting to impress you after I finished it. Senior, you have to believe me—”

“Su Jiqiao,” Shen Zhuo interrupted him.

The boy fell silent, not daring to open his mouth.

Shen Zhuo’s voice was soft, deep, and cold. “Your shabby little tricks got an entire group fired, and what’s the first thing you say to me when you rush over?”

Su Jiqiao was suddenly stuck.

“You really didn’t know things would turn out like this?”

“…”

The boy was speechless, only able to maintain this posture of looking up, innocent, timid, and pitiful. Anyone who saw him would only feel heartache.

“Go back. You can’t impress me,” Shen Zhuo said. “Don’t come to see me alone in the future.”

He passed by Su Jiqiao’s side and walked down the stairs. Behind him, Su Jiqiao suddenly turned around, this time truly anxious. “…But Senior Shen! I—”

Shen Zhuo raised a hand to his side, and the boy’s trembling voice came to an abrupt halt.

“Call me Teacher,” Shen Zhuo said coldly.
“We are not that close.”

·

Although it was just a very marginal and unimportant student project within the larger HRG project, the incident caused a huge uproar. It took a full half-month for the storm to subside, and Su Jiqiao’s carefully maintained perfect image also suffered its most tragic Waterloo.

Half a month later, Shen Zhuo had someone thoroughly investigate who had leaked the project progress to Su Jiqiao so that he could do the literature review. He then severely punished the relevant personnel and arranged for the fired group of students to be assigned to a new project.

Su Jiqiao didn’t give up.

Su Jiqiao was a firm believer in the principle of water dripping through stone. After that afternoon, he made many more efforts, even moving other advisors to plead with Shen Zhuo on his behalf. He did everything he could, and everything he couldn’t, short of getting high and pretending to be crazy to break into Shen Zhuo’s office like Kingston would later do—but he was never able to melt the solid ice.

He could be so smooth as to coax back the entire group of students who had been fired because of him, but he was never able to step into Shen Zhuo’s office again.

In this world, Shen Zhuo couldn’t necessarily see whoever he wanted to see, but if he didn’t want to see someone, he could definitely make sure that person couldn’t see him.

The cold wind that had swept by when they passed each other in the stairwell became Su Jiqiao’s last impression of Shen Zhuo for a long time afterward.

·

“I went abroad in the second year to get my second degree, and I also continued to teach at other universities.” Shen Zhuo sat in the private jet seat, his eyes reflecting the blue sky and white clouds outside the window, his tone casual and relaxed. “At that time, the HRG project had hit a bottleneck, and I wanted to be exposed to some new ideas. I thought I would find many, many talents overseas, but who knew I would only find many, many Billy Kingstons?”

Bai Sheng sat opposite him, unable to hold back a laugh. “Is that Kingston kid a fake too?”

“It depends on how you define ‘fake’,” Shen Zhuo said. “In my opinion, 99% of the Kingstons are fakes. I don’t like the kind of student who deliberately comes to the teacher and says, ‘This exam was really too easy. I didn’t even review at all. I don’t know why other students can’t just casually take the test and get an A like me’; when in reality, they don’t even know how to hide the fact that they stayed up all night, even taking drugs, and reek of it.”

“…” Bai Sheng couldn’t help but ask, “Do many of your students do that?”

“Many,” Shen Zhuo said. “They want to be praised as geniuses, but they don’t have the corresponding strength. I don’t know why they are so eager to get the teacher’s approval. I can only advise them to focus more on themselves.”

Although Bai Sheng had always been annoyed with Kingston, in this instant, he magically empathized with the despair of the Kingstons under Shen Zhuo back then. “Then… what about Su Jiqiao? Is he considered a fake?”

Unexpectedly, Shen Zhuo shook his head. “Su Jiqiao is the other extreme.”

Bai Sheng raised his eyebrows, not understanding.

“Su Jiqiao is the kind of student who doesn’t need to review at all and can easily get an A the next day, but will shyly claim to everyone that he burned the midnight oil, pouring his heart and soul into it. Even if he gets sick from staying up, he won’t take a leave of absence, insisting on coming to your class in his ‘sick’ state, and must sit in the front row.” Shen Zhuo smiled, although the corner of his lips was sarcastic. “I was always curious what would happen if I put Kingston and Su Jiqiao in the same class. Unfortunately, I never had the chance to try.”

Bai Sheng imagined the scene in his mind and almost burst out laughing.

“You came back to the country after getting your degree?”

Shen Zhuo hummed in agreement.

“What year was that?” Bai Sheng asked with interest.

“Five years ago, when the evolution had just begun.” Shen Zhuo let out a breath, his profile outlined with a sudden clarity against the light from the window. “At that time, many meteorites were sent to the Central Research Institute. The entire institute was shrouded in high-intensity radiation. The students whose genes could evolve, all evolved… Su Jiqiao became an A-class at that time.”

Speaking of which, Bai Sheng suddenly remembered something and couldn’t help but ask curiously, “By the way, since Su Jiqiao is an A-class, what is his ability?”

Shen Zhuo didn’t answer immediately, but was silent for a moment, a subtle, indescribable look in his eyes.

“Su Jiqiao has evolved in several aspects… the main one is the mental type. But mental-type abilities are undetectable. Unless he is willing to say it himself, the detector cannot show the specific effects of the ability. I have only seen him put someone into a deep sleep in an instant.”

“Besides that, because he has that obsession of ‘must have the love and attention of everyone around him’, so… he also developed a very special evolutionary direction.”

Bai Sheng: “?”

Shen Zhuo said slowly, “His face.”

·

Shen Zhuo’s first reaction upon seeing Su Jiqiao again was: did he get plastic surgery?

Su Jiqiao was already the kind of very handsome and likable teenager. After evolution, the details were even more perfected, exquisite and flawless. Just standing there, he had a gentle, jade-like grace.

Then Su Jiqiao opened his mouth, and Shen Zhuo’s impression changed to: he’s still the same person as before, not a single bit has changed.

“Teacher Shen, when did you come back? That’s wonderful!” Su Jiqiao appeared exceptionally surprised, even joyful. There was no trace of fakeness. “I’ve been hoping you would come back soon. Was your journey smooth? Did you get a good rest?”

Without waiting for Shen Zhuo’s reply, he turned to his Supervision Office colleagues beside him, his tone tinged with pride. “This is Teacher Shen Zhuo. He’s already the most formidable mentor in his field. He took great care of me when I was a student. What do you think? Seeing is believing, right?”

In the open space in front of the Research Institute’s main gate, the atmosphere was strange for a moment. The expressions of the few Evolutionists as they looked at Shen Zhuo were very subtle. One could tell what they were thinking without even looking—
This is the famously sarcastic, unreasonable Shen Zhuo, who didn’t forget to make things difficult for you before he left, and who went to great lengths to prevent you from joining his project group?

Shen Zhuo’s complexion was not good at all, his features clearly weary, because his return journey had not been smooth at all. Just as he was about to return to the country after the global evolution began, he was put under house arrest at the university by the local government. After finally managing to escape and taking a detour back, he was detained at an airport hotel in a certain Nordic country for a month. The International Supervision General Administration knew his value and, after failing to entice him with various offers, almost drugged him and took him to Switzerland. It was only after much negotiation that he was finally allowed to return.

Everyone knew how arduous his flight had been, traveling day and night, almost circling half the globe.

But he didn’t want to give Su Jiqiao an opportunity to make a fuss. He just nodded and started walking forward. As he passed by, Su Jiqiao reached out and stopped him. “—Senior Shen!”

Shen Zhuo’s steps paused.

For a few seconds, the air was filled with an awkward and embarrassing silence.

“Can I have a word with you alone?” Su Jiqiao asked sincerely.

The other Evolutionists exchanged glances. From their expressions, they were clearly worried that Shen Zhuo would slap Su Jiqiao in private. “Uh, but…”

“After Senior Shen went abroad, I’ve missed you very much. I’ve been thinking about you even after leaving the Research Institute.” Su Jiqiao’s tone was soft, his posture extremely low. “I’d like to have a word with you alone. Is that okay?”

“…”

The Supervision Office colleagues exchanged glances, then hesitantly took their leave. Even after walking a long way off, they couldn’t help but look back worriedly.

Only after the figures of those few people had completely disappeared in the distance did Su Jiqiao open his mouth to say something, only to be directly interrupted by Shen Zhuo:
“I told you to call me Teacher.”

“…You haven’t changed at all, Teacher Shen.” Su Jiqiao smiled with a hint of emotion and said, “I’d like to ask you a question.”

Shen Zhuo frowned and stared at him.

Su Jiqiao then slowly asked, “Why didn’t you evolve?”

There were only one hundred thousand Evolutionists in the world, but that didn’t mean only one hundred thousand people’s genes could evolve. It was just that various countries had timely collected and sealed off the evolution source meteorites. If everyone were allowed to come into contact with the meteorites, the number of Evolutionists would probably have exceeded several million, and the racial conflict would have been more intense and more difficult to reconcile.

However, Shen Zhuo’s failure to evolve was not really because he hadn’t been in contact with the meteorites. In fact, given his status, he was one of the top experts who had come into contact with the evolution source the earliest. Therefore, it was publicly acknowledged that the reason he didn’t evolve was purely because—he couldn’t.

He just couldn’t. No one had ever specifically come up to Shen Zhuo and asked him why he couldn’t evolve. Therefore, Shen Zhuo found this question rather baffling, and his brow furrowed even deeper. “Do you see evolution as proof of genetic superiority?”

Su Jiqiao stared at him straight on. “—Isn’t it, Teacher?”

The boy’s aggressiveness had always been subtle and hidden. Only now did it finally show its edge. “Hasn’t evolution since ancient times always been about the survival of the fittest? Shouldn’t the inferior genes that cannot evolve disappear from the earth?”

“…”

Shen Zhuo stood there, surprised. Faced with Su Jiqiao’s undisguised gaze, he finally realized a rather obvious problem that had been overlooked for a long time:
This boy in front of him didn’t dislike him.
He detested him.

If it weren’t for meeting Shen Zhuo at the Research Institute, Su Jiqiao would have been the only genius boy from the very beginning. If it weren’t for Shen Zhuo’s indifference and neglect, Su Jiqiao’s brilliant student days would not have ended so ignominiously, almost leaving a stain that a perfectionist could not tolerate.

A person who desperately wants the love and approval of the whole world, if you repeatedly refuse to give him your attention, he will shift from a low-posture pleasing to an unbearable attack—especially since Su Jiqiao now had the powerful capital of an A-class evolution.

“…Evolution and elimination are both processes of natural selection. They do not represent inequality in the sense of life. In a social sense, it may cause temporary class barriers, but the ecosystem will constantly adjust itself and one day reach a relative situation of ‘born equal’ again.”

“Evolution is not without a price. It cannot be squandered extravagantly like winning the lottery.” Shen Zhuo looked directly at Su Jiqiao and said slowly, “I advise you to recognize this point as soon as possible.”

He didn’t want to waste any more words with Su Jiqiao and was about to walk forward, but in the next second, Su Jiqiao raised a hand to stop him, his action unusually firm. “You only say that because—”

A student suddenly turned out of the corridor and ran into the scene. “Senior Su?”

Su Jiqiao’s movement paused slightly.

The scene instantly became a stalemate. Just as Shen Zhuo was about to take the opportunity to slip away, he saw Su Jiqiao sigh helplessly and say gently to the student, “Let me take you for a walk somewhere else first, okay?”

As soon as he finished speaking, an indescribable force emanated. The student didn’t even have time to react before he froze on the spot, his eyes dazed and lost, as if he had suddenly fallen into a dream.

Shen Zhuo turned abruptly. “What are you doing?”

“Just a harmless daydream,” Su Jiqiao said lightly. “It’s fine, he’ll wake up soon.”

This was not a matter of being harmless or not. Shen Zhuo felt a sense of absurdity in his heart. “Is this the current state of management at the Central District Supervision Office? You Evolutionists can now just use your abilities on humans whenever you want?”

Su Jiqiao smiled at him, not saying a word.

Shen Zhuo turned his head and strode towards the student. In the next moment, his wrist was seized from behind. Su Jiqiao’s gentle voice said, “It’s alright, Teacher Shen. My ability doesn’t leave any trace in reality. You don’t have to worry about him exposing me when he wakes up.”

Shen Zhuo’s tone was slightly angry. “You…”

“Don’t you believe me?” Su Jiqiao carefully examined Shen Zhuo, seeming to derive a trace of pleasure from the other’s anger. His eyes curved into a smile. “Would you like to experience the feeling of evolution? How about I lend you my ability to try?”

Lending an ability was unheard of, and the way he said it sounded too much like a provocation. Shen Zhuo found it completely unreasonable and, with a pull, freed his wrist. “I don’t want to experience that kind of thing. If you ever randomly use your ability on a human again, I will…”

At this moment, figures appeared not far away. It was the few Supervision Office Evolutionists from before, who had been worried and had actually turned back.

Shen Zhuo stopped his words and stared into Su Jiqiao’s pupils.

“Genetic evolution and the value of life are two different things,” he said word by word. “If you really crave everyone’s approval so much, focus on yourself first.”

Su Jiqiao didn’t seem to expect him to say that and was stunned for a moment.

Shen Zhuo said coldly, “Wake that student up and send him to the laboratory for a physical examination.” Then, without giving Su Jiqiao another chance to stop him, he took half a step back, passed by him, and walked straight ahead.

“…”

Su Jiqiao’s lips moved as if he wanted to explain something, but he didn’t say it.

He stood there motionless until Shen Zhuo turned the corner of the road. He could still feel the gaze from behind him, like a shadow following him, as if watching him walk away.

…

“—Su Jiqiao!”

On the smoothly flying private jet, Shen Zhuo’s eyes suddenly flew open, his expression changing slightly.

After five years, he finally realized what had happened in that memory back then.

Their eyes met, and Bai Sheng was stunned. “Su Jiqiao said, ‘My ability doesn’t leave any trace in reality,’ and he wasn’t afraid of the student reporting him after waking up, because he used his ability to send that student into a daydream world. The detectors in the real world were useless on him…”

They looked at each other, and both of them simultaneously thought of the two victims’ crazed, self-mutilating actions, as if in a dream, and the detectors that couldn’t detect the slightest abnormal fluctuation.

“…Maybe he wasn’t provoking you. His ability can really be lent.” Bai Sheng’s tone was slightly incredulous as he murmured, “So four days ago… Rong Qi went to his hospital room.”

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