SS 77: The Storm is Brewing

The sin of this reform must be borne.

How could the top scholar Feng Yuansi be an Atavist? This question puzzled not only the Science Academy and the Alliance’s upper echelons but also the Atavists themselves.

After all, he was supposed to be a Kirates dragon. What exactly was going on?

And how did he pass the medical examination upon employment? Of course, the medical exam wouldn’t check for the use of prosthetic skin; there were plenty of people in the Alliance who underwent full-body skin replacements because they felt unattractive. That wasn’t important.

What mattered was that blood tests during employment were mandatory, and the blood composition of an Atavist, especially a plant-type Atavist, would surely differ from that of ordinary people. How did he manage that?

Feng Lianzhu obtained blood from an ordinary miner on a remote planet, who was also a soldier of the Empire and switched the samples. Swapping a blood sample right under the medical staff’s noses wasn’t a difficult task for him.

His story had many loopholes, and it was precisely because of these many loopholes that people believed he was a plant-type Atavist and were convinced that he had nothing to do with the theft of the young dragon specimen.

Atavists had shown extreme rejection reactions when close to the young dragon specimen, just as Dog 16 and others felt uncomfortable near Fat Dragon’s nest. Atavists were particularly sensitive to Kirates, with some even going into shock or dying from the specimen’s power.

The Empire and Alliance geneticists believed that Atavists were failed products of genetic evolution. When humans intervened with Kirates genes, the research aimed to integrate dragon genes into the human body, granting humans the power of the Kirates race. Atavists were considered rejects, their genes flawed, hence their inability to withstand the power of the young dragon specimen.

However, as human genetic levels advanced, scientists discovered that even some individuals with A-level genes reacted similarly to the young dragon specimen, though very few. When humans with S-level genes appeared and were tested, their reactions to the young dragon specimen were even more intense!

Thus, the rare A-level individuals like General Laurie, who reacted to Kirates energy, were defined as A+ with the potential to ascend to S-level, giving scientists a new research direction.

This raised a question: if only individuals with A+ or higher genetic levels reacted, what about the Atavists?

This viewpoint was quickly dismissed. Humans believed that Atavists couldn’t withstand the power, whereas high-level individuals’ reactions indicated imminent evolution. The difference was that Atavists could die from the reaction, while A+ individuals and above wouldn’t. Atavists couldn’t take genetic evolution drugs, but A+ individuals and above adapted well.

Only Feng Lianzhu knew that the two were the same; Atavists were actually another direction of human evolution, not necessarily inferior. They had a more pronounced sensitivity to life energy, potentially evolving just by being near Fat Dragon’s nest, like Dolphin 66.

Kirates was a race so powerful that if you weren’t strong yourself, you couldn’t even perceive how formidable they were. Like a frog in a well, if you can’t jump out, you’ll never understand how vast the sky is.

Individuals below A+ level lacked the privilege to comprehend this power.

Atavists had it, but the Alliance and Empire unanimously denied this possibility, likely due to human arrogance and an inferiority complex. They couldn’t accept that Atavists might be closer to evolution than themselves.

When Feng Lianzhu obtained some of the young dragon specimen’s data from the Imperial Army, he had already planned this method to leave the laboratory openly and sever ties with his former teachers. By exposing himself as an Atavist who felt intense discomfort near the young dragon specimen, it would be impossible to suspect him of stealing the specimen, unless the Imperial Army had their heads hit by a comet.

With his identity surrounded by doubts, Feng Lianzhu was cleared of any involvement in the young dragon specimen case. The issue of his identity was not a matter of ethics and unrelated to his teaching duties. The Science Academy’s military staff, too busy to investigate Feng Lianzhu’s doubts further, transferred him to the officials responsible for the new bill and washed their hands of the matter.

They unwittingly sent away the true mastermind behind the young dragon specimen and the interstellar port assassination cases, turning instead to scour the planet for the non-existent young dragon specimen.

The officials working on the new bill found Feng Lianzhu troublesome. This 18-year-old Atavist and top scholar had proven with his excellence that Atavists were normal people, not monsters. The Alliance could gain a group of exceptional talents by accepting Atavists’ unique appearances.

But it was too late. After more than a thousand years of exile policies, the Alliance viewed Atavists as genetically defective, and the discrimination by ordinary Alliance citizens had pushed this potentially co-evolving mutant race to an extreme.

The prestige of being a top scholar was too significant, and like the Atavists involved in the underground arena case, he was untouchable. The officials had no choice but to detain Feng Lianzhu with Lizard and the others temporarily and sent someone to investigate the remote planet Feng Lianzhu had listed as his address.

Logically, the Alliance should have sent someone to investigate, but at that time, Eimiral Star was under martial law. To prevent the young dragon specimen from being taken out, the entire planet was being searched thoroughly, and even official ships weren’t allowed to leave.

On the way from the Science Academy to the detention hotel, Feng Lianzhu noticed the entire planet was under construction. The ground in front of the Supreme Court was completely dug up, creating a dusty mess. The hotel’s enforcement officers were covered in dust and wore masks. He had to use a lot of willpower to not laugh out loud.

Although the living conditions of Lizard and the others hadn’t changed, and they could move freely within the hotel, the entire place, including the bathrooms, was now filled with surveillance cameras. They were being monitored at all times. Therefore, when the Atavists saw Feng Lianzhu, they didn’t dare show any recognition, merely exchanging names as if they were acquaintances rather than friends.

Only the more gentle-looking Unicorn approached Feng Lianzhu for a hug, pressing his forehead horn against Feng Lianzhu’s brow. This wasn’t considered a violation of rules—merely a welcome gesture for a newcomer.

Unknown to the Alliance, during the hug with Unicorn, Feng Lianzhu conveyed a message through Unicorn’s ability: “Wait a moment, the outcome will soon be clear.”

Unicorn was puzzled. What more was there to wait for? The agitation had been done; what followed should be their return to the Primitive Stars, right?

They weren’t worried about not being able to leave Eimiral. The memory of the golden dragon playing with warships as if they were balls on the day they were supposed to return to the Primitive Stars was still vivid. With a Kirates lurking on Eimiral Star, how could they be trapped?

The courage of Lizard and the others to declare their ambition to establish a nation in the live broadcast came from a place of confidence!

From the day Feng Lianzhu decided to join them on Eimiral, the underground arena’s Atavists knew they wouldn’t be abandoned this time. So, whatever they did, even if it was reciting a scripted speech, they were fearless!

However, openly questioning the Alliance’s unjust laws in court could be done more frequently, but perhaps they should cut back on reciting scripted speeches.

Unicorn used his special ability to inform his companions, and Lizard asked with a look: What was Feng Lianzhu waiting for?

With a twitch of his lips, Unicorn replied: “He’s waiting until Eimiral turns its capital into farmland.”

The Atavists nearly couldn’t hold back their laughter. They were initially unaware of the young dragon specimen issue, but they gradually guessed it. As Atavists, they were quite happy about it. The young dragon specimen was both the source of their existence and the real target of their hatred. Now that it was destroyed, they were pleased.

The one capable of this, of course, was the top scholar Feng Yuansi.

The data submitted by Feng Lianzhu’s reported family address, a place heavily influenced by the Empire on the remote planet, matched exactly what Feng Lianzhu had said. A deeper investigation would have to wait until the martial law on Eimiral was lifted.

With General Laurie, whose bounty had risen to three billion star coins due to the underground arena case, on Eimiral Star, how long could he remain hidden while the planet was being turned inside out?

During lunch, Unicorn asked Feng Lianzhu: “What are you waiting for?”

Feng Lianzhu looked up, his eyes smiling as he conveyed his message: “War.”

When the staff received information from the remote star that everything was normal regarding Feng Lianzhu, they knew that a silent war had already begun amidst the Alliance’s frantic state.

Was General Laurie unaware that his bounty had increased after the underground arena case? Why would he take such a risk to come to the Alliance’s capital planet? Merely to assassinate five prisoners?

Of course not.

For a newly promoted general of the Imperial Army to take such a risk on Eimiral Star, there could only be one reason— to achieve a significant feat.

To perform an extraordinary deed that would secure his position among the generals and demonstrate his ambition for the marshal’s position.

The war between the Imperial Army and the Alliance was imminent, and that moment would present the best opportunity for the Atavists to establish their nation.

Feng Lianzhu lay on the hotel bed, eyes closed, reviewing his plan: to abolish the old bill, ignite a fire in the hearts of the Alliance’s Atavists through the live broadcast, intensify the contradictions between the Imperial Army and the Alliance, and await the war he had personally catalyzed.

Without him, this war might have been delayed for hundreds of years.

“System, I’m probably the sinner of the common people in this era,” Feng Lianzhu sighed inwardly.

【Congratulations, Host, on understanding ‘Sense of Guilt’, earning 5000 points.】

Feng Lianzhu: “…”

He glanced at their shared points, which had risen to over 400,000, enough for more than 400 minutes of video calls with Fat Dragon, albeit unusable.

Lizard lived just a wall away. Thinking of these Atavists, Feng Lianzhu’s resolve strengthened.

“Without me, the war would continue for hundreds of years, and the Atavists would never be free. The tragedies of individuals like Lizard, Unicorn, Dog 16, and Dolphin 66 would go on, perhaps even unresolved hundreds of years later,” Feng Lianzhu thought. “Since my ultimate task is nation-building, then I must bear this reform’s sin.”

【Congratulations, Host, on understanding ‘Sense of Responsibility’ and ‘Moving Forward Amidst Burdens’, awarding 5000 points.】

Just as he finally shifted his thoughts from points and video calls to the Atavists, the system reminded him again with points that he hadn’t seen Fat Dragon in a long time.

Now an adult, he was unstoppable in the gaming world, killing all in his path, and Feng Lianzhu no longer needed to worry about his safety.

But, he missed him.

Feng Lianzhu turned over, facing away from the wall, his mind uncontrollably thinking, “I really miss Fatty. I haven’t even touched his grown-up white belly yet.”