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Chapter 35
After five years, Shen Zhuo finally realized what Su Jiqiao was referring to.
Due to many reasons, Shen Zhuo, who was in his early twenties at the time, had already occupied a pivotal position in the HRG project team. It was no exaggeration to say that at that time, half of the students in this field wanted to join his cutting-edge research group. Even undergraduate students were willing to wash test tubes just to get familiar with him.
Su Jiqiao was the youngest and most anticipated first-year graduate student at the time. It wasn’t surprising that he wanted to bolster his resume, but fate works in mysterious ways—
He didn’t appeal to Shen Zhuo.
Su Jiqiao, with his polished social skills, admired by everyone, and undefeated during his undergraduate years, found himself placed in the uninterested pile by Shen Zhuo right from their first meeting.
Su Jiqiao didn’t understand why, but he felt like he could comprehend it.
Shen Zhuo was absolute in his domain, much like the way powerful cultivators in novels would accept disciples. Even if you were exceptionally talented and tried your best to please him, if he didn’t like you, he could reject you. Conversely, even if your aptitude was ordinary or even if you were dull and ignorant, as long as he felt a connection with you, he would be willing to teach you from the basics. An accurate example of this was Chen Miao, a designated undergraduate who spent nearly half a year washing test tubes in the HRG laboratory. The most famous anecdote about him was during Shen Zhuo’s first public lecture, when he raised his hand three times to interrupt Shen Zhuo, saying, “Professor, your lecture is too difficult; I can’t understand. Could you slow down? I barely passed the admission line to get in here, and if you continue like this, I’ll fail!”
There were only two types of people who might be treated differently by Shen Zhuo: the pure-hearted fools and the true geniuses. In the research institute’s atmosphere at that time, the former were rare, but the latter emerged constantly with each new intake.
With so many doctoral students wanting to join HRG, Su Jiqiao had no hardware advantages; he had just started his first year of graduate studies. Fortunately, he was very good at leveraging external forces.
When initial affinity was lacking, one could only take a detour through other means, and Su Jiqiao was always adept at designing such strategies.
“—Professor Shen, Professor Shen!”
At the end of the first semester, a student group leader in the HRG project intercepted Shen Zhuo at the laboratory door. He was somewhat impetuous and full of indignation: “I have a question. Why won’t you let Su Jiqiao into your project group?”
Shen Zhuo stopped in his tracks, staring at him expressionlessly, his gaze somewhat resembling how a normal person would look at someone mentally disturbed.
Apart from the project, Shen Zhuo himself was not a very popular teacher among students—he was harsh, direct, and showed no mercy in his words and actions. Of course, there were some in the research department who fervently admired him, but among the students, those who genuinely liked him were few; most were merely complying with his authority as lab rats to get grades. This student was daring to speak to him like this was the first.
“You see!” The student group leader’s face turned red as he raised a thick stack of documents in his hand. “These are the literature references Su Jiqiao privately prepared for us. He did it all by himself without telling us—even though you persist in not letting him join the project group due to prejudice, it’s just too unfair!”
“…” Shen Zhuo narrowed his eyes slightly.
The student group leader became anxious: “Professor Shen, you—”
Shen Zhuo finally raised the first question: “What prejudice do I have against him?”
The student group leader instinctively wanted to say that Su Jiqiao’s innocence and excellence might arouse jealousy, but suddenly realized that he was facing Shen Zhuo, and all words were instantly stuck in his throat.
Shen Zhuo asked again, “He didn’t tell anyone about these documents he prepared, so how did you find out?”
“I, I accidentally discovered it. Junior Su always hides his work from others, and out of curiosity, I…”
Shen Zhuo was too tired of such classic routines to bother with the look anymore. He interrupted the other person directly and posed the last question, “If I don’t let Su Jiqiao into the project group, what can you do?”
The student group leader hadn’t expected that Professor Shen would be as harsh and unrelenting as rumored, and for a moment, he was stunned.
Then, all the young man’s indignation turned into impassioned rhetoric, and he stood tall, saying loudly, “Since you are so stubborn, for the sake of fairness, I must inform you that without Su Jiqiao’s help, our group will not be able to meet the deadline. Please understand!”
Shen Zhuo’s eyes, as dark and cold as a frozen pond, stared at him, nodded briefly, and said, “Okay.”
Then he took out his phone, dialed a number, and almost immediately someone answered on the other end, “Hello?”
“Director Yang, please transfer a group from the second year of research to my hands. They can start tomorrow, and tell them not to rush to report today… It’s okay; I’ve ‘used up’ a group.” Shen Zhuo paused briefly and gave a succinct evaluation, “Test Consumables.”
Then he hung up, put away his phone, and said casually:
“Your entire group has been dismissed.”
The student group leader could hardly believe this outcome. For a few seconds, he thought he had misheard until reality struck: “Shen… Professor Shen?”
Shen Zhuo walked past him without a word.
The senior group leader suddenly realized what had happened. He stumbled forward, and futilely tried to block Shen Zhuo’s path, reaching out to stop him from leaving, “Professor Shen, you can’t do this! I, I didn’t mean it that way. We can meet the deadline, we—”
In the next moment, his cheek tightened as he was forced to tilt his head upward.
Shen Zhuo held the young man, who was not much shorter than himself, with one hand, preventing his hand from touching him, but his tone remained calm, “Do you know what kind of people I detest the most?”
“…?”
“Foolish, violent, impotent rage, worthless indignation.” Shen Zhuo said, “In my eyes, you are even less valuable than consumables.”
He shook his hand, and the poor young man stumbled, trembling in disbelief, watching Shen Zhuo stride out of the laboratory.
Shen Zhuo’s footsteps were always steady, his face calm and unruffled. He swiftly turned down the corridor until a figure rushing toward him blocked his path:
“Senior Shen, Senior Shen, I’m sorry! Please let me explain!…”
Su Jiqiao stopped on the lower stairs. Perhaps due to rushing over without pause, his face was flushed, and he panted while looking up at Shen Zhuo pleadingly, “I really didn’t expect things to turn out like this. I had no idea that the group leader had seen those documents. I just wanted to impress you with them. Senior, you have to believe me—”
“Su Jiqiao,” Shen Zhuo interrupted him.
The young man fell silent immediately, not daring to open his mouth to speak a word.
Shen Zhuo’s voice was gentle but cold, “Your petty tricks resulted in an entire group being dismissed, and your first words to me are?”
Su Jiqiao suddenly faltered.
“You really didn’t expect things to turn out like this?”
“…”
The boy was speechless, maintaining his upward gaze, appearing innocent, timid, and pitiful, evoking sympathy from anyone who saw him.
“Go back. You can’t impress me,” Shen Zhuo said. “Don’t come to see me alone in the future.”
He walked past Su Jiqiao, who turned abruptly, this time genuinely anxious, “…But Senior Shen! I—”
Shen Zhuo raised his hand to the side, and the trembling voice of the boy abruptly ceased.
“Call me Professor,” Shen Zhuo said coldly.
“We don’t have that kind of close relationship.”
***
Although it was just a very marginal and unimportant student project within the HRG project, the incident caused a big stir afterward, and it took almost half a month for the storm to calm down. Su Jiqiao’s carefully maintained, perfect image also encountered the most severe setback.
Half a month later, Shen Zhuo thoroughly investigated who leaked the project progress to Su Jiqiao for him to prepare literature and then severely punished those involved. He arranged the dismissed group of students into a new project.
Su Jiqiao didn’t give up.
Su Jiqiao was a firm believer in the power of perseverance. After that afternoon, he made many efforts, even persuading other mentors to plead with Shen Zhuo. He did everything possible, except for barging into Shen Zhuo’s office like Kingston later did—yet he still couldn’t melt the ice.
He could finesse his way to coax back the entire group of students who were dismissed because of him, yet he never managed to step into Shen Zhuo’s office again.
In this world, Shen Zhuo didn’t necessarily meet whoever he wanted to meet, but if he didn’t want to see someone, he could ensure that person wouldn’t see him.
The cold wind stirred up by their passing in the stairwell became Su Jiqiao’s lasting impression of Shen Zhuo for a long time afterward.
***
“After the second year, I went abroad to get my second degree while also teaching at other universities,” Shen Zhuo said, sitting in the private jet seat with the blue sky and white clouds reflected in his eyes. He spoke casually, “At that time, the HRG project was at a standstill. I thought I could explore some new ideas overseas and discover many talents, but I only found many, many Billy Kingstons.”
Bai Sheng sat opposite him, unable to help but chuckle, “Is that kid Kingston also a parallel import?”
“It depends on how you define parallel imports,” Shen Zhuo said. “In my eyes, 99% of Kingstons are parallel imports. I dislike those who purposely come to the teacher saying, ‘The exam was too easy this time, I didn’t even study, I don’t know why other students can’t casually take the exam and get an A,’ while they actually stayed up all night the night before, taking drugs to stay awake, and don’t even know how to cover up the smell.”
“…” Bai Sheng couldn’t help asking, “Do you have many students like this?”
“Many,” Shen Zhuo said. “They want to be praised as geniuses, but they lack the corresponding abilities. 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 always disliked Kingston, at this moment, he inexplicably empathized with the despair of those Kingstons under Shen Zhuo’s command: “Then… what about Su Jiqiao? Does he count as a parallel import?”
Unexpectedly, Shen Zhuo shook his head and said, “Su Jiqiao is another extreme.”
Bai Sheng raised his eyebrows in confusion.
“Su Jiqiao is the kind of student who doesn’t need to study, casually gets an A the next day, but will shyly claim to be studying all night, even if he forces himself to come to class despite being sick, insisting on sitting in the front row,” Shen Zhuo chuckled, with a hint of mockery in his tone. “I was always curious about what would happen if we put Kingston and Su Jiqiao in the same class, but unfortunately, I never had the chance to try.”
Bai Sheng imagined the scene in his mind and almost burst out laughing.
“After getting your degree, did you return to China?”
Shen Zhuo nodded.
“In which year?” Bai Sheng asked with interest.
“Five years ago, just when the evolution occurred,” Shen Zhuo sighed, his profile outlined against the light outside the window, strangely clear. “At that time, many meteorites were sent to the Central Research Institute, and the entire institute was shrouded in high-intensity radiation. Students whose genes could evolve did evolve… Su Jiqiao became an A-class at that time.”
Speaking of this, Bai Sheng suddenly remembered something and couldn’t help but be curious, “By the way, since Su Jiqiao is A-class, what is his ability?”
Shen Zhuo didn’t answer immediately but fell silent for a moment, with a subtle and indescribable expression in his eyes.
“Su Jiqiao has several aspects of evolution… The main one is the mental aspect. But mental abilities are untraceable. Unless he is willing to say, detection instruments cannot show the specific effects of abilities. I’ve only seen him put people into instant sleep.”
“Besides, because of his obsession with ‘needing the love and attention of everyone around him,’ he also… has evolved in a very special direction.”
Bai Sheng: “?”
Shen Zhuo slowly said, “His face.”
***
Shen Zhuo’s first reaction when he saw Su Jiqiao again: Plastic surgery?
Su Jiqiao was originally a very handsome and likable young man. After evolution, his details became even more refined and perfect, without any flaws. Just standing there, he exuded a gentle and elegant aura.
Then, as soon as Su Jiqiao spoke, Shen Zhuo’s thoughts changed: he was still the same person as before, without any change.
“Professor Shen, when did you come back? It’s great to see you!” Su Jiqiao seemed exceptionally surprised, even jubilant, without a hint of pretense: “I’ve been hoping you would come back soon. Was your trip smooth? Did you rest well?”
Without waiting for Shen Zhuo’s reply, he turned to his colleagues and, with some pride, said, “This is Professor Shen Zhuo, the most formidable mentor in the field. He took great care of me when I was studying. How about it? Seeing is believing, right?”
In the courtyard in front of the research institute, the atmosphere was very strange for a while. Several evolutionists looked at Shen Zhuo with expressions that were very subtle. Without looking, one could guess what they were thinking—
Is this the famous Shen Zhuo, who is known for being harsh and unfeeling and even troubled you before leaving, not allowing you to enter the project group?
Shen Zhuo’s complexion was not good at all, and his features were obviously haggard because his return journey was not smooth at all. He was detained by the local government at the university immediately after the global evolution occurred. Finally managing to escape and return, he was detained by a certain Northern European country at the airport hotel for a month. The International Supervision Office knew his value and tried various temptations but failed to persuade him. In the end, he was almost drugged and sent to Switzerland, but after multiple negotiations, he was finally released.
Everyone knew how turbulent his journey was, flying through day and night, almost circling half the globe.
But he didn’t want to give Su Jiqiao the opportunity to expand on the topic. He just nodded and stepped forward, but was stopped by Su Jiqiao reaching out: “—Senior Shen!”
Shen Zhuo’s footsteps halted.
There was silence for a few seconds, with an awkward and embarrassed atmosphere floating around.
“Can I have a few words with you alone?” Su Jiqiao asked sincerely.
The other evolutionists exchanged glances, showing clear concern that Shen Zhuo might raise his hand and slap Su Jiqiao behind their backs: “Uh, but…”
“Shen Senior, after you went abroad, I missed you very much. I have been thinking about you even after leaving the research institute.” Su Jiqiao’s tone was soft, and his posture was very low: “I would like to say a few words to you alone. Is it okay?”
“…”
The colleagues glanced at each other hesitantly and excused themselves, walking away far enough but couldn’t help turning back to look with concern.
Until the backs of those people disappeared completely in the distance, Su Jiqiao was about to speak, but was directly interrupted by Shen Zhuo:
“I said you should call me Professor.”
“…You haven’t changed at all, Professor Shen.” Su Jiqiao smiled somewhat nostalgically and said, “I’d like to ask you a question.”
Shen Zhuo frowned and stared at him.
Su Jiqiao slowly asked, “Why haven’t you evolved?”
There are only 100,000 evolutionists worldwide, but that doesn’t mean only 100,000 people’s genes can evolve. It’s just that countries have promptly collected and sealed off the evolution sources. If everyone were allowed to come into contact with meteorites, there would probably be millions of evolutionists by now, and racial conflicts would be even more intense and difficult to reconcile.
However, Shen Zhuo didn’t fail to evolve because he didn’t come into contact with meteorites. In fact, given his status, he was one of the top experts who had contact with the evolution source early on. Therefore, it was universally recognized that he didn’t evolve simply because—he couldn’t.
He couldn’t, that’s it. No one has ever come up to ask Shen Zhuo face-to-face why he couldn’t evolve. So Shen Zhuo found this question quite baffling, and his brow furrowed even deeper: “Are you using evolution as proof of genetic superiority?”
Su Jiqiao stared straight at him: “—Isn’t it, Professor?”
The boy’s aggressiveness had always been implicit and hidden, only revealing its sharpness now: “Isn’t evolution since ancient times about the survival of the fittest? Shouldn’t inferior genes that can’t evolve disappear from the Earth?”
“…”
Shen Zhuo stood there unexpectedly, facing Su Jiqiao’s unabashed gaze, finally realizing a problem that was actually quite obvious but had been overlooked for a long time:
The young man in front of him didn’t just dislike him.
He loathed him.
If it weren’t for encountering Shen Zhuo at the research institute, Su Jiqiao would have been the only genius from the beginning. If it weren’t for Shen Zhuo’s indifference and neglect, Su Jiqiao’s bright and shiny student days wouldn’t have ended so miserably, almost leaving behind stains that perfectionists couldn’t bear.
For someone who desperately wanted to be loved and recognized by the whole world, if you repeatedly refused to give him attention, he would transform from a lowly pleaser to an intolerable attacker—especially now that Su Jiqiao also possessed the powerful capital of being an A-class evolutionist.
“…Evolution and elimination are both processes of natural selection, but they don’t imply inequality in the meaning of life. From a social standpoint, it may create temporary class barriers, but the ecosystem will continuously self-adjust, eventually achieving a relatively equal state of ‘born equal’ once again.”
“Evolution is not without cost, and it shouldn’t be squandered like winning the lottery.” Shen Zhuo looked directly at Su Jiqiao and said slowly, “I advise you to realize this as soon as possible.”
He no longer wanted to waste words with Su Jiqiao. He was about to move forward when, the next second, Su Jiqiao raised his hand to stop him, making an unusually forceful gesture: “The reason you say that is because—”
A student suddenly turned into the corridor and stumbled upon this scene: “Senior Su?”
Su Jiqiao’s movement faltered slightly.
The scene became tense for a moment. Shen Zhuo was about to take advantage of the situation to leave, but he saw Su Jiqiao sighing helplessly and gently saying to the student, “Let me take you somewhere else for a stroll, alright?”
Before the words had finished, an inexplicable force emanated, and the student didn’t even have time to react. His entire body froze in place, his eyes becoming vacant and bewildered, as if he had suddenly entered a trance.
Shen Zhuo turned abruptly and asked, “What did you do?”
“Just harmless daydreaming.” Su Jiqiao said casually, “It’s alright, he’ll wake up soon.”
This was not a harmless matter at all. Shen Zhuo felt absurd internally: “Is this the current management situation in the Central District Supervision Office? Are evolutionists now allowed to use abilities on humans at will?”
Su Jiqiao smiled faintly at him, saying nothing.
Shen Zhuo turned his head and strode toward the student, but his wrist was suddenly gripped from behind. Su Jiqiao spoke softly, “It’s okay, Professor Shen. My ability doesn’t leave traces in reality, so you don’t need to worry about him waking up and exposing me.”
Shen Zhuo’s tone was slightly annoyed, “You…”
“Do you not believe me?” Su Jiqiao carefully scrutinized Shen Zhuo, seemingly feeling a hint of pleasure from the other’s annoyance, and smiled, “Would you like to experience the feeling of evolution? Or perhaps I should lend you my ability to try?”
The idea of lending abilities was unheard of, and the words sounded like a provocation. Shen Zhuo found it unreasonable and forcefully pulled his wrist away, “I don’t want to experience that. If you ever harm humans again, I’ll…”
At that moment, figures appeared not far away. It was the few evolutionists from the Supervision Office who were still worried and had turned back.
Shen Zhuo stopped speaking, staring at Su Jiqiao’s pupils.
“Genetic evolution and the value of life are two different things,” he said each word, “If you truly desire everyone’s recognition, focus your attention back on yourself first.”
Su Jiqiao seemed surprised by his words, hesitating for a moment.
Shen Zhuo continued coldly, “Wake up that student and take him to the lab for a physical examination.” Then, without giving Su Jiqiao a chance to intervene, he took a step back and walked straight ahead.
“…”
Su Jiqiao’s lips moved as if he wanted to explain something, but he remained silent.
He stood still until Shen Zhuo turned the corner of the road, still feeling the gaze behind him, as if it were watching him go.
***
“—Su Jiqiao!”
On the smoothly flying plane, Shen Zhuo suddenly opened his eyes, his expression slightly changing.
Five years later, he finally realized what had happened in that memory.
As they looked into each other’s eyes, Bai Sheng couldn’t help but be astonished, “Su Jiqiao said, ‘My ability won’t leave traces in reality,’ and he isn’t afraid of the student waking up to accuse him because he used his ability to send that student into a daydream world where the real-world detectors are useless to him…”
They looked at each other, recalling the two victims’ frantic self-harming actions and the detectors that couldn’t detect any abnormalities.
“Perhaps he wasn’t provoking you, and his ability can really be lent out,” Bai Sheng said incredulously, murmuring, “So four days ago… Rong Qi went to his hospital room.”
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