“I don’t understand, why did we come back?” Woolf asked.

“Woolf, you can be confident, but not arrogant. Do you have the confidence to face a monster with just the few of us?” Bai Yi asked.

“…I don’t!” Woolf thought about it and shook his head.

“That’s right, I don’t have the confidence either, and there may not only be one monster in the research facility. Although I really dislike Yu Han, sometimes we can’t act purely based on our likes and dislikes.” Bai Yi explained.

“Hahaha, just like they said, I’m really a musclehead.”

Although they decided to cross Otorohanga together, they did not move immediately. At this time, even Bai Yi had to admit that entering the monster-infested city at night was really too dangerous. He couldn’t put the people who trusted him into danger, so all of them decided to stay for the night and move out tomorrow morning.

……

There were quite a few residences scattered around, so the group very quickly found two empty houses to stay in. Not everyone had left the neighbourhood, and when the other residents saw the group of them trespass into other people’s homes, they didn’t try to be nosy either. Everyone understood what the situation was like in New Zealand now so there was no point in calling the police. As long as Bai Yi’s group did not target them for any violent crimes, they would already thank their lucky stars.

After meticulously checking every corner and sealing all the small cracks or holes in the house, everybody prepared to go to sleep.

Momo was tired long ago, so when Bai Yi carried her to bed she very quickly fell asleep. Bai Yi gently kissed Momo on her forehead and smiled warmly.

Activated cells, gene fusion… This would be terrible news to anybody but to Momo it may be an opportunity. Momo’s congenital disease caused her vision to worsen and now she was almost blind. However, Momo told Bai Yi yesterday that her vision was actually getting better!

This was a rare piece of good news!

“Uncle Bai, are you in?” Hong Qi Hua’s voice came from outside the room.

“I’m here, what are you doing here so late at night instead of resting?” Bai Yi opened the door and let her in.

“I have an idea to discuss with Uncle Bai.” Hong Qi Hua said without beating around the bush and entered Bai Yi’s room.

“What idea?”

“Taking the initiative to fuse with genes from other lifeforms!” Hong Qi Hua said softly.

Bai Yi was surprised for a moment, and then looked at her and laughed. What a crazy idea, the people in his team were really a bunch of lunatics. However, since Bai Yi could laugh, it meant that he also had this idea in his head, just that it was still an incomplete and immature idea.

“I’ll go call Woolf and Heloise, I know what you mean. I’ve been thinking about this too.” Bai Yi said.

“En!” Hong Qi Hua nodded.

Very quickly Woolf and Heloise was called by Bai Yi into the room. The two of them were apparently quite surprised, what did Bai Yi want from them at this hour? When Woolf saw Hong Qi Hua, he had a ‘just as I expected’ look on his face, and laughed at Bai Yi teasingly.

“What are you laughing about?”

“Bai Yi, I think this isn’t too appropriate? Why did you ask us to come to be lightbulbs when you were staying together with Hong Qi Hua?”

“Tch your head is always full of nonsense, I wanted to discuss something serious with you guys.” Bai Yi immediately understood what Woolf meant. Apparently, he thought that there was something going on between him and Hong Qi Hua. To be honest, Hong Qi Hua was really outstanding. If it was possible, Bai Yi was willing to woo her as well. However, after adopting Momo, Bai Yi gave up on the thought of finding a wife. Very few women would be willing to accept having an unknown girl becoming their daughter.

“What is it?” Woolf did not continue teasing.

“Should we take the initiative to fuse with genes from other lifeforms?”

“Did you go mad!” Woolf instantly became shocked after hearing Bai Yi.

“No, I didn’t go mad. I’m serious about this.” Bai Yi shook his head.

“Martin already said that according to the level of the activated cells ranging from LV1 – LV9, the number of times a person could undergo gene fusion was also correspondingly 1 – 9 times. We now already have a preliminary idea of how powerful activated cells are, and not fusing with genes from any lifeform is basically impossible. So I think, rather than unintentionally fusing with some random useless genes, why don’t we take the initiative to fuse with the genes of more useful lifeforms?” Bai Yi said while Hong Qi Hua opened her laptop and took notes.

“Why are we taking the initiative to fuse genes? I still don’t understand.” Heloise questioned.

“Because of abilities and power! You should’ve already seen Yu Han’s strength; an initial estimate would be that he can lift an object of 2 tons. Although Woolf is also very strong, he is apparently weaker than Yu Han. The only difference between them is that they fused with different genes.” Hong Qi Hua raised her head and explained to Heloise.

“Let’s not talk about the experiments that escaped from the research facilities. Just the shadow that we encountered this afternoon from the sewers is already very dangerous to normal humans. If we want to survive in this world that is becoming more and more dangerous, we need greater strength. So now…the way I thought of to increase our strength is to pick genes from useful lifeforms to fuse with, such as ants!” Hong Qi Hua said very seriously.

Woolf and Heloise were completely stunned. This idea, this crazy idea!

“Did the two of you think of this together, or does it belong to somebody?” Woolf asked.

“Both of us probably had the same idea. When Hong Qi Hua came to discuss things with me I was quite surprised as well.” Bai Yi said after he and Hong Qi Hua looked at each other.

“Hmm what chemistry you guys have!” Woolf didn’t forget to tease them.

“I understand now. What you mean is rather than fusing some useless genes in a situation not under our control, we should proactively fuse with some strong genes, raising our chances of survival in this world.” Heloise was also very clever. Although she’d just found out about this issue, she understood very quickly.

“That’s right. Powerful strength, greater speed, precise vision, strong regenerative capabilities, flight, strong immunity…all these can increase our chances of survival!” Hong Qi Hua said while recording their discussion.

“But we will turn into monsters!” Heloise said hesitantly.

“If we become monsters then we can search for the drug to regain human form, but if we lose our lives, then there’s nothing left. From the experiments that escaped from the research facilities, I’m afraid that all of New Zealand is going to become a giant testing ground. Probably not long after… monsters will be running amok all around.” Bai Yi said calmly.

Everybody was silent for a while; Bai Yi was definitely not the kind to be a doomsayer. Everybody in New Zealand felt the extreme hunger, meaning that everyone had already been infected with activated cells. The first phase of being infected was binge eating, and then gene fusion, turning into all sorts of monstrous forms.

“How are we going to do this?”

“There are a total of about 2.5 million species of organisms. Animals make up about 2 million, plants, 340 thousand, and microorganisms, about 37 thousand. The first to be eliminated would be microorganisms, since they have always existed in every corner of the world. If it were possible to fuse with their genes, then we would’ve fused with them long ago.” Hong Qi Hua said.

“Secondly, although there are millions of species out there, we should eliminate those that aren’t commonly seen since we won’t be able to come into contact with them in our current situation. We should pick some animals or insects that have special abilities from the remaining species, such as ants!” Hong Qi Hua plugged in her data dongle and searched the net.

“Although ants are small, depending on the differences between various species of ants, they are able to lift between 20 – 150 times of their weight. With just this, there is nothing that can compete with ants in the natural world.”

“Martin said that activated cells can produce special energy, but we are unable to feel it explicitly. So our focus now should be dealing with the dangers around us. Powerful strength, fast speed, precise vision, strong regenerative capabilities, flight, poison immunity, water adaptation, special abilities…, is there anything else you guys want to add on?” Hong Qi Hua said, discovering that Woolf and Heloise were staring at her blankly.

“Was Hong Qi Hua always so impressive?” Woolf ‘secretly’ asked Bai Yi.

“You should ask Qi Hua yourself.” Bai Yi said.

“If the impressive you are talking about is how I am now, then no, I’m not impressive at all. Just a few days ago I was just an unassuming girl in the university.” Hong Qi Hua shook her head.

“How can that be? No matter how I look at it, you should be some influential figure in the school! Those kinds of…those kinds of…!” Woolf didn’t manage to say what kinds of those things in the end, as he had a dumbly limited vocabulary. However, Hong Qi Hua’s performance during this period really made it hard to believe that she’d been unassuming just a few days ago.

“I’m telling the truth.”

“Some people will only show their brilliance under special circumstances and times. In ordinary times previously, the talent of many people would remain buried just like diamonds stuck underground for the rest of time. Miss Hong Qi Hua, I think you are that kind of person.” Heloise looked at Hong Qi Hua and gave her comments.

“Thank you!” Hong Qi Hua was neither too humble nor too proud, neither too servile nor too overbearing.

“Ok then, let’s continue the discussion about the active fusion of genes.” Bai Yi saw that Woolf had signs of continuing to go off-topic, and immediately stopped it.

“Before we discuss the active fusion of genes, we must make certain of one matter.” Bai Yi saw the rest of them focusing and started to speak.

“What is it?”

“Will we lose our minds after turning into monsters?” Bai Yi said solemnly.

____________________________________________________________________

At this time, not only Bai Yi’s group, but Yu Han’s group also didn’t rest immediately and were discussing the current situation. Qin Kai Rui wasn’t willing to face the monsters directly and felt that crossing the city was too dangerous. Yu Han couldn’t be bothered to explain anymore since Bai Yi and Hong Qi Hua had already explained it very clearly. It was just that this idiot couldn’t get it inside his head.

“We will cross Otorohanga tomorrow!” Yu Han made the decision coldly then put his arm around Ning Xue and went back to their room together. In a few short days Ning Xue’s heart had already fallen for Yu Han. In dangerous times like this a weak girl did not have much resistance to a man that she could depend on.

Qin Kai Rui sat there, gritting his teeth.

Khina looked at the view of Yu Han’s back and sorrow flashed across her eyes. It had only been a few days, was it just because she wasn’t as pretty as Ning Xue?