I'll Take His Surname!

This was the first-generation Breeding Exemplar's second time laying eggs, so how could Luo Yu not be nervous? After all, her very first clutch had yielded nine with Mercy, two Exemplars, and one entirely new talent! That was a full twelve advanced talents. In the aquaculture tycoon Wang Defa's farm of over two thousand inkfish, there were only eleven advanced talents in total. A moment later, the Breeding Exemplar finished laying. This time there seemed to be eleven eggs—five fewer than before. Luo Yu didn't think she was falling off, however; he suspected the male Mercy inkfish was simply running out of stamina. After all, no field is ever worn out by plowing, but many an ox has dropped dead from exhaustion... Besides, ordinary male octopuses typically died shortly after mating. For an inkfish to merely suffer from "insufficient stamina" was already quite impressive. "Useless male octopus. With this little stamina, I couldn't even set up a harem for you if I wanted to." Luo Yu shook his head, lamenting that it just couldn't rise to the occasion. "I'm going to check on the condition of the eggs," he told Yuwan, unable to wait any longer to inspect them up close. He cast his gaze over them. This batch of eggs... Six had advanced talents, and five had ordinary talents... The overall quality had dropped drastically. It certainly wasn't the Breeding Exemplar's fault, so the blame naturally fell on that male octopus. Among the five ordinary talents, four were Thick Hide, which hardly warranted a mention. But there was one new ordinary talent—Heartthrob—that hadn't come from the mother or the father, making it an entirely novel mutation. [Individual Talent]: Heartthrob (Ordinary talent. Significantly more popular among members of its own species than normal individuals, regardless of sex.) Among the six advanced talents, luck hadn't been quite as favorable this time: only one possessed the Breeding Exemplar trait, while the rest were all medical talents. Fortunately, that single Breeding Exemplar offspring also carried the medical entry. Though the clutch as a whole was mediocre, he had finally rolled an individual with dual advanced talents! [Species]: Inkfish (Egg form) [Individual Talent]: 1. Mercy... 2. Breeding Exemplar... "Not bad." Luo Yu nodded, feeling at least somewhat rewarded. This egg could potentially serve as the new core for breeding medical inkfish. In the future, pairing it with something like the Super Antibody talent would yield far greater efficiency. Before the Super Antibody specimen started mating, he would break up the pair between Mercy and Super Antibody later and provide the latter with a new partner. "What's 'not bad'?" Yuwan strolled over. "The color of this batch of eggs is great. They're all healthy, with no bad or dead eggs," Luo Yu said. "Hmm..." Yuwan blinked and said, "You really know your breeding. Aside from inkfish, do you understand any other species?" "Such as?" Luo Yu asked. "Humans." "..." "Humans?" Yuwan patted Luo Yu on the shoulder and said, "It would be wonderful if you could pass down your Soul talent." "Back when our squad suffered that shipwreck, I pushed my skills as a navigator to the absolute limit, but the ship itself was simply too poor, and the helmsman couldn't salvage the situation. If we'd had a Ghost Ship back then, the fleet certainly wouldn't have taken such a heavy blow. Sigh..." She shook her head. "You're determined to walk the path of a biologist straight into the dark, aren't you? Having that Soul talent on you is frankly a bit of a waste." "When the Jingyue Armed Fleet's flagship, the *Jingyue*, returns to the island, Uncle Shui Wuyue will definitely be disappointed. After all, prime material for captaining a Ghost Ship turned out to be a researcher... There's no way you'll succeed him." "That's not necessarily true." Luo Yu looked down at the fish eggs. "Who knows? Maybe one day I'll want to head out to sea and search for the seven great mysterious seas as well... But rather than joining someone else's fleet, I'd rather be captain myself." "Really?" "Are you short a navigator?" Yuwan asked. "I've wanted to navigate for a Ghost Ship for the longest time." "..." Luo Yu replied, "I'm short a cook." "Do you know how to cook?" Yuwan said, "Who doesn't know how to cook? Isn't it just heating things until they're done? I'll give it a try tonight." *** Meanwhile, at the Chen Zhuo Biological Research Institute. Evening, around the dinner table. Chen Bo ate in silence. The table was laden with poached prawns, spicy crab, steamed fish, scallops with garlic and glass noodles... "Eat more. You're right at the age where your body is growing." Mother Chen kept piling food into his bowl. His father, Chen Zhuo, held a book in one hand and chopsticks in the other. "Dad, Mom..." After a moment, Chen Bo broke the silence. "Luo Yu asked me to go help out at his institute. He said he can't manage everything alone." Mother Chen's chopsticks froze, and Chen Zhuo also looked up at him. "..." Chen Bo shrank back slightly. In truth, the real reason Chen Bo wanted to go to Luo Yu's place was that the atmosphere at home was simply too suffocating. An environment that constantly placed impossibly high demands on him left him breathless. Even if he went to Luo Yu's place just to feed fish, it would probably be happier than staying at home... He felt that ever since Luo Yu had become an orphan, he smiled far more than he used to. Chen Bo figured that must have been the reason Luo Yu had suddenly unlocked his intellect and surpassed him all at once: free from the constraints of parents, his talents had finally flourished. "No," Mother Chen said. "Your goal is Canglan Ocean University. Right now, your most important task is studying, not working." "What help could you possibly provide? Listen to your mother," Chen Zhuo added. "How could I not be of help...?" Chen Bo countered. "I have a Spirit talent, and my development path is telepathy. I can already hold basic communication with some mutated beasts, understanding their condition, mood, and thoughts. If I go, I'll definitely be a big help." "Breeding research is tedious and drains a person's energy. If you go there, there's nothing useful for you to learn, which will only harm your future development. Besides, even if you know telepathy, do inkfish have the intelligence to communicate with you?" Chen Zhuo pointed out. "Furthermore, that is Luo Yu's research achievement. You cannot trap your own energy inside someone else's results; you have to find your own path... Barring any surprises, for the next year, two years, five years... Luo Yu's institute will be buried in breeding experiments. Are you going to spend years doing pet beast breeding alongside him?" "...Maybe Luo Yu will start a new project, and we can work on it together," Chen Bo feebly objected. "Silly child," Mother Chen said. "Where would so many new projects come from? Producing one decent research achievement in an entire lifetime is already exceptional. Look at your father—he only has one." "You're not a little kid anymore, so stop being so naive." Chen Zhuo shook his head helplessly. "Breeding medical inkfish while simultaneously running a brand-new project?" "He's just your peer, someone of your own age. Talent and energy are finite. If he manages to produce another new research breakthrough on top of this, let alone allowing you to go help him—your old man will gladly take his surname!" Hearing that, Chen Bo sighed. It seemed hopeless... *Luo Yu, oh Luo Yu, it's not that your bro won't help you, but I just can't get past my parents.* *** The next day. Yuwan arrived at the Director's office and stated her intention to become a security guard at the Luo Yu Research Institute. Yu Lei, Director of the Beast Management Bureau, set down his pipe and looked up at his niece. "You? Going to work as a security guard? Have you gone mad, or have I?" Yuwan spoke flatly. "Either way, I'm done being a secretary! Before, you always said I didn't have a proper job and refused to let me leave. Well, now I have one!" "Medical inkfish are extremely valuable. Even if the island is safe and doesn't require heavy security, it's better to be safe than sorry. Having me keep watch in person will give everyone peace of mind." "If you still don't agree, then I'll..." Yuwan declared, "I'll tell Auntie that you've been secretly smoking this whole time!" Yu Lei: "..." "Fine..." Yu Lei sighed. "I can't do anything with you. Let it be, then. The security at the Luo Yu Research Institute is officially your responsibility." Yuwan produced her resignation letter in a flash. *** That very day. Yuwan hauled bag after bag of daily necessities over to the Luo Yu Research Institute. Seeing that her personal belongings alone outnumbered everything his entire family had previously owned, Luo Yu fell into deep thought. She clearly intended to move in permanently. "Speaking of which... why didn't that fellow Chen Bo show up?" Now that the institute had a new employee in the form of a security guard, Luo Yu remembered Chen Bo. Hadn't he invited him over to feed the fish? Sure enough, the guy looked down on the job of feeding fish. "No vision, Chen Bo," Luo Yu couldn't help lamenting on his behalf. Once the paper on the Water Demon Beast's evolution was published, even a mere fish-feeder like Chen Bo would have shared in some of the glory. That was an undiscovered Monarch Species evolution pathway, after all. Yet the guy had let the chance slip right through his fingers. When that time came, even the inkfish with ordinary talents in the farm would double in value once more. That was precisely why Luo Yu hadn't rushed to discard those ordinary-talent specimens—after all, the rougher the storm, the dearer the inkfish! Before the Water Demon Beast appeared on a large scale, he definitely needed to hoard more inkfish regardless of their talents. When the time was right, he could simply sell the ordinary ones to the friendly neighboring islands. "Teacher Yuwan..." After she finished moving her things in, Luo Yu asked, "Have you ever taken the exam for a breeder qualification?" "A breeder qualification?" Yuwan wiped the sweat from her brow. "Why would I test for that? I'm not starting a business." "Though I never got certified, my breeding ability shouldn't be worse than those licensed breeders, right?" After all, she had once been an academic standout with real seafaring experience. Luo Yu asked, "Then would you mind feeding the fish on the side while working as security?" "Is that part of a bodyguard's duties?" Yuwan pondered. "You can use telekinesis to send the feed flying into the ponds without even stepping outside, and you can train your superpower at the same time." Luo Yu had picked up that sales pitch straight from a certain pet beast shop.