Bro, Haven't Seen You in a Few Days, Why Are You Wearing a Skirt?

The holographic projection was very long, but the most information-dense portion was largely concentrated in the dialogue from the first few minutes. What followed was Researcher G-13 running around planning the project, inserting a whole series of sub-topics into Floor B6's original research schedule—including induced mutation, reverse reconstitution, and more. Until finally, the test subject that had evolved into a progenitor suddenly went berserk, and all of Floor B6 fell under the erosion of the slime mold. Although Researcher G-13 called for reinforcements in time, it was clearly too late. A fully armed assault team entered Floor B6, but they were quickly overwhelmed before the tide-like swarm of slime mold fruiting bodies. In fact, judging from the footage in the experiment log, Researcher G-13 had a chance to escape. However, in an effort to retrieve the experimental data and research results, he missed the final escape window and was brutally killed by the progenitor in the laboratory's server room. Toward the end of the recording, Chu Guang noticed a very interesting detail. Although Researcher G-13 ultimately failed to retrieve the research data and most of the researchers on the floor perished in the turmoil, according to the personal account of the log's owner, several researchers still managed to board the elevator under the assault team's cover. Furthermore, they carried away a briefcase containing a set of reagents known as the "induced evolution stock solution." And that set of reagents was precisely the root cause behind Floor B6's fall. Regrettably, the person in the holographic recording gave no account of where the briefcase went. As the floor's lights went out one by one and the air purification systems shut down, the final frames drew to a close in a desperate, absolute silence... What surprised Chu Guang was not entirely this hidden piece of history, but rather that such an astonishing experiment was merely the tip of the iceberg when it came to the shelter's secrets! He grew increasingly curious about what was written in the first-generation manager's logs. As the holographic recording drew to a close, the former Academy prospector standing nearby suddenly sighed with emotion. "I suddenly have a feeling... your predecessor was quite terrifying." Chu Guang glanced at Yin Fang. "Hm?" Yin Fang pressed on, "Did he always spy on people like this?" Chu Guang shook his head. "I wouldn't know. He's been dead for so many years." "Are you sure?" To be honest, Chu Guang wasn't sure. Previously, he had merely made the subjective assumption that a normal person couldn't live that long, and therefore deduced that the first-generation manager must be dead. Yet after encountering so many old monsters, he suddenly realized that two centuries might not be all that insurmountable after all. Whether through cryosleep, bionic prosthetics, or other means, as long as one wanted to stay alive, there was always a way to cling to breath. Worst came to worst, one could even upload their consciousness to the cloud. Still, even with his preexisting assumptions overturned, Chu Guang felt that the man was most likely no longer in this world. As for the reason... "He didn't seem like someone good at lying... and besides, I don't think he had any reason to lie." "Why?" Yin Fang raised an eyebrow, looking at Chu Guang with keen interest. "Didn't you say you've never met him?" Chu Guang shook his head. "I don't know, but I'm rarely so certain about something without reason... Just consider it my intuition." Yin Fang didn't pursue it further. It wasn't an important matter anyway. His casual question had only stemmed from his professional habit of digging up the past; his interest in ancient relics was second only to coffee machines from the Prosperity Era. "Thinking about it like that, though... makes it feel even more terrifying," Heya sighed, shifting her posture as she crossed her arms. Beneath her silver bangs, her expression was grave. "He knew everything, yet tacitly allowed it all to happen... It feels as though even the betrayal of his own people was factored into his calculations." Whether it was that nobody named Guard, or Researcher G-13. Yin Fang nodded in agreement. "Right? I was just pondering that. If Floor B6 spiraled out of control under his tacit authorization... what was his goal?" Chu Guang leaned back against the sofa, closed his eyes in thought for a moment, and said: "An original progenitor from the Three-Year War era, undergoing controlled evolution in a resource-scarce environment... That might be what he needed." Yin Fang continued to ask, "And then? Where was he planning to use it? To defeat the broodmother in Qingquan City? With all due respect, even if it could manage that, a newly born broodmother wouldn't necessarily obey us." "I don't know... Maybe he didn't know what use it would have either, so instead of using it himself, he left it for me." Having said this, Chu Guang sank into deep thought. Right at that moment, Heya, still holding her arms crossed, looked up and asked, "Did that technology... the one that induced fruiting bodies to revert into progenitors through artificial gene compilation... did it succeed?" Chu Guang blinked in surprise, then nodded. "It probably did... Otherwise, where did that broodmother on Floor B6 come from?" A complex look flashed in Heya's eyes—half admiration, half envy. "Incredible..." She had researched slime mold for so long, yet she had only managed to understand the creature's evolutionary principles and social habits on a theoretical level. Yet some scholar from two centuries ago, Researcher G-13, using only limited test samples and resources, had achieved such astonishing breakthroughs right inside a sealed shelter. Beyond the admiration and envy, a faint sense of defeat crept into her heart. No wonder her mentor, Karen, had always told her that the best era had already passed. An ordinary researcher who hadn't even left behind a name was far ahead of her in academic attainment. She truly still had a long way to go... Seeing the frustration behind that envy, Chu Guang was just about to offer a few comforting words—telling her not to compare herself to the old monsters of the Prosperity Era—when three lines of light blue pop-up notifications suddenly floated before his eyes. [Preprocessing routine complete.] ['Anomalous Individual' has been injected with the induced evolution reagent kit. Progenitor transformation complete.] [Accept? (If 'No' is selected or no decision is made within thirty days, an eradication routine will be executed on the synthesized progenitor.)] When he saw the last line of text, surprise flashed through Chu Guang's eyes. "...Progenitor transformation?" Good grief! So the shelter system intended to use the 'symbiotized' Luo Yu as raw material to create another progenitor?! He seemed to understand something. Yin Fang and Heya both turned to look at Chu Guang muttering to himself, giving him confused glances. "What?" Chu Guang didn't answer. With a gentle swipe of his index finger, he selected the [Confirm] button on the interface only he could see. Rising from the couch, he walked over to the power armor standing in the corner of the reading room. Once suited up, he latched the warhammer leaning nearby onto his back. Glancing at the bewildered pair, he said concisely: "...A new progenitor." "Follow me to Floor B1." ... At the very moment Chu Guang pressed the confirm button, a dense crowd of players had already gathered around the conveyor belt. "Holy crap? Luo Yu?" "You're... Brother Luo Yu, right?" "Bro, haven't seen you in a few days, why are you wearing a skirt?" Surrounded by the crowd of players, the "Luo Yu" standing beside the conveyor belt didn't speak, only watching them quietly. That so-called skirt was naturally not an actual skirt, but a mass of crimson fungal matter trailing on the ground like a hemline. And it wasn't just the legs that were concealed. The fleshy pink fungal matter covered nearly its entire body, leaving only a few human-like features. Even its facial features looked like melting ice cream, reduced to an abstract contour. Yet this appearance wasn't as hideous as one might imagine, and the little earthworm-like tendrils floating behind its head were nowhere near as gruesome as the progenitors seen in the earlier Tide. At least by human aesthetics, those large, round eyes and soft bodily contours were surprisingly cute. Moreover, the dull, vacant expression from before was gone from its face, replaced only by a somewhat bewildered, clueless innocence. "Yee... woo?" A confused murmur slipped from its mouth, prompting an uproar of howls and shrieks from the surrounding players. Some gagged theatrically, while others were struck right in the heart by the cuteness. "Holy crap, stop acting cute, damn it!" "Wake up! You're a boy, dammit!" "Oh no... I actually think this guy is kinda cute." "Feels like a dolphin, doesn't it?" A female player curiously stepped forward and patted its head. "Luo Yu" showed no hostility at all; instead, it made a pleased sound and rubbed against her hand, prompting a horde of players overflowing with motherly instincts to start petting and fondling it all over. Watching "Luo Yu" surrounded by the crowd, Mosquito and a group of players wore expressions dripping with envy, jealousy, and hate. Scavenger in particular practically harbored murderous intent. *We're all mutants, so why the hell are you so popular?!* "We really should just kill it." Standing to the side, Silver Daddy nodded in deep agreement. "Agreed... it's breaking game balance!" The Silver brothers nearby also chimed in loudly: "+1." "Damn right!" *We all joined the game around the same time, so why the hell are you so lucky?!* *Rigged!* *It's definitely rigged!* Also present in the Floor B1 hall, Yaya didn't crowd in; instead, she shuddered in fright and took a few steps back. "Ew! A humanoid leech!" Standing next to her, Tengteng gave her a strange look. "If Luo Yu hears that, he'll be heartbroken, you know." No matter what, wasn't there a huge difference between this and a leech? How did she even make that connection? Jieyan scratched the back of his head. "So what's the deal with this guy anyway?" Ye Shi shook his head. "Ghost knows... I just want to know if this thing counts as a player or an NPC now." If only Fang Chang were here. Out of everyone, that guy understood this game best. A few Y-2 drones hovered nearby, their underslung gun barrels trained warily on the "Luo Yu" beside the conveyor belt, ready at any second to fire injector darts loaded with inhibitors. None of the players noticed that the area had been discreetly brought under containment. Just then, a commotion arose from the elevator entrance. Clad in power armor, the Administrator strode over with Yin Fang and Heya in tow. "...What is going on here?" Shocked by the scene before him, Yin Fang swallowed hard. "The shelter resident previously symbiotized with Oasis No. 7 slime mold has been transformed into a progenitor!" Heya stared intently toward the conveyor belt. Having already discerned a few clues, she answered before Chu Guang could speak. Yin Fang's face was a portrait of utter bafflement. "...So does this guy count as a human or a progenitor now?" "Half and half." Offering a succinct reply, Chu Guang stared at "Luo Yu," equally bewildered by the shelter's handiwork. The only certain thing now was that his player could no longer log into this body, and the shelter had already begun cultivating a new clone for Luo Yu. Which meant... This was probably an entirely new individual? At this thought, he looked at the progenitor surrounded by the players. "Can you hear me?" "Yee-woo?" "Luo Yu's" big, doll-like eyes flickered up and down, curiously studying the hunk of metal before it. Seeing that it could hear his voice, Chu Guang pondered for a moment before speaking: "From now on, your name will be... Yu." ... To facilitate distinction and ease of raising, Chu Guang gave this artificially synthesized slime mold progenitor a new name. Perhaps because the residual memory fragments in its brain contained that syllable, the little fellow seemed very fond of the name. Its responsive cry carried a note of joy, and the little earthworm-like tendrils floating behind its head swayed like seaweed. Still, no one could be sure whether this harmlessness was an act or its true nature. To prevent history from repeating itself, Chu Guang temporarily placed this uncertain variable near the elevator exit on Floor B6, and had food delivered to it regularly. Though the creature wasn't very big, its appetite was surprisingly voracious; it could even devour a Crawler far larger than itself. That toxic black blood, a lethal poison to ordinary players who hadn't unlocked the "Iron Stomach" talent, was nectar and ambrosia to it. Watching the "little fellow" feast with joyous abandon, Chu Guang leaned against the elevator entrance and mumbled to himself, "Eat up, grow up fast... Damn, watching this is actually making me hungry." "Yee-woo?" Seeming to understand his words, Yu stopped eating, grabbed a dark, globby mass of fungal flesh with its hand, and offered it over, apparently wanting to share the delicacy. Looking at those innocent, wide eyes, Chu Guang waved his hands frantically. "No, no need. I don't eat that stuff... Just eat your fill." "Yee-woo!" Yu nodded, paid him no more heed, and merrily went back to gnawing on the half-eaten Crawler on the floor. The creature seemed to regard him as its father. And that was precisely what puzzled Chu Guang the most. If he remembered correctly, the first thing it saw upon waking hadn't been him, but a chattering swarm of little players. Could it be that some special aura about him gave it a sense of familiarity? This realization sent a shiver down Chu Guang's spine. As soon as the little guy wiped its prey clean, he hurried off to the clinic for a medical examination. "...Didn't you just have one a few days ago?" Zipping up his jacket and putting his clothes back on, Chu Guang took the fresh medical report from Heya and scanned through it. "Is it a crime if I suddenly felt like getting another one?" Heya sat down on a nearby chair. "Not really... By the way, your gene sequence development progress hasn't budged at all lately. You'll need to work harder." Chu Guang chuckled. "Aren't you afraid that if I keep evolving, I'll turn into a monster?" "Doesn't matter. Isn't your physical fitness already indistinguishable from a monster's anyway? Once development progress exceeds 30%, it's basically very difficult to produce offspring through normal means. Have you considered test-tube babies down the road?" Toward the end, Heya's voice took on a teasing lilt. Chu Guang cleared his throat lightly. "That's not what I'm concerned about." "I know what you're worried about. Relax, the situation you're dreading doesn't exist. Gene sequence development merely causes certain unexpressed genes in your DNA to express themselves again; it won't turn you into another species. You still have 23 pairs of chromosomes, and all your indicators fall within reasonable parameters..." Pausing, she added with absolute certainty, "Without question, human." Chu Guang's expression didn't change, but inwardly he breathed a quiet sigh of relief. Yet barely two seconds after he relaxed, Heya's next words tightened his nerves once again. "Mm... but honestly speaking, when studying your genetic information, I did find a few things worth noting." Chu Guang asked immediately, "What did you find?" "A few segments of DNA look artificially engineered, not recorded in the existing gene banks. Actually, not just you—all the clones in the shelter... or the shelter residents you call 'players'—have a little bit of it, more or less. Lately, I've been trying to isolate these sequences to build a database. Perhaps I'll make new discoveries." As she spoke, Heya's face grew increasingly animated, seemingly thrilled by such a challenging research topic. Chu Guang couldn't quite tell whether his mood was cheerful or heavy. However, learning that he was undoubtedly still human finally lifted the weight pressing down on his chest. Just like that, three days passed. Perhaps due to gorging on so much food, or perhaps because his "Intelligence Aura" had buffed this half-human, half-slime mold creature, Yu was actually beginning to babble words now. Except the first word that tumbled from its mouth nearly made Chu Guang spit out everything he had eaten yesterday. "Pa-pa?" Looking at those innocent, wide eyes, Chu Guang coughed twice and quickly clarified: "...I'm not your dad. Your dad should be a guy named Bai Ge." Yet the immature Yu clearly failed to comprehend such a complex monologue, merely tilting its head in clueless innocence. "Pa?" Chu Guang: "..." *Strange.* *I don't think I taught it that word!* *Where on earth did it learn that?* Besides learning to speak, a series of other changes appeared on its body. These included mimicking human behaviors and developing an intense curiosity toward its surroundings. After several feedings, Chu Guang discovered that the creature seemed completely attached to him. If it didn't see him for even a short while, it would wail and whimper with "yee-woos," and no matter whom he sent to coax it, nothing worked. As he gradually realized this problem, Chu Guang developed quite a headache. It wasn't that he lacked patience; he was simply far too busy. The Alliance's growth and construction both demanded his attention. The war in the west wasn't finished yet, and the leeks in the east were waiting to be harvested. He was the Administrator; where would he find the time to play nursemaid? Yet if he left it alone and let the creature whimper pitifully, Chu Guang felt a twinge of guilt. What was more, after painstakingly building a shred of cross-species trust, turning the fellow evil would ruin everything they had achieved. Right around this time, Chu Guang suddenly remembered that the little player named Luo Yu seemed to have respawned. Analyzing it rationally, Yu had mimicked Luo Yu as its template; the slime mold replacing its somatic cells even contained his DNA. Wouldn't this "blood-tied" intimacy feel far more direct than his own? "...How the hell did I forget about that guy." Chu Guang smacked the back of his head and immediately instructed Xiao Qi: "Xiao Qi, tell the player Luo Yu to proceed to the Floor B6 elevator entrance. I'll be waiting for him there." "Alrighty, Master!" Receiving the order, Xiao Qi promptly went off to summon him. Meanwhile, on Floor B3 of the shelter. Having suffered countless trials and tribulations, Luo Yu had finally logged back into the game. He had just climbed out of his incubation pod when, the moment he opened his eyes, he heard an electronic voice from above: "Will player 'Luo Yu,' upon waking, please take the elevator immediately to Floor B6 and speak with the Administrator to trigger a quest." "Holy crap?!" Hearing the broadcast, Luo Yu instantly caught his breath, his fists clenching in excitement. *A hidden quest!* *Bug compensation?!* "Waaah... Brother Guang didn't forget about me after all!" Climbing out of the incubation pod, Luo Yu dashed for the door, only to find it wouldn't open. Only then did he realize he had forgotten to put on clothes. Embarrassed, he hurried back to the incubation pod, fished out a blue jacket to slip into, and hurried out the door. Without stopping to talk to anyone, he sprinted straight for the elevator and tapped '6' on the touchscreen. When the elevator doors opened once more and Luo Yu saw the azure power armor, he immediately snapped to attention in excitement, pressed his right fist to his chest, and began his performance with a look of utmost loyalty. "Respected Lord Administrator, is there anything I can do to share your burdens?" "Certainly. You came just in time." Turning around, Chu Guang looked at him with a serious expression. "The previous body you used was infected by mutant slime mold, leading to some unexpected developments..." According to the setting, the shelter's core NPCs were aware of the players' revival mechanism, so Chu Guang didn't bother beating around the bush inventing a pile of lore that might be misunderstood. He laid out Yu's current situation plainly. When he heard that the slime mold had used his body as a template to synthesize a progenitor, Luo Yu's eyes went wide, and he couldn't help blurting out, "Holy f***." "...F***?" Standing nearby, little Yu tilted its head. The hemline formed from fungal matter squirmed slowly as it shifted over beside Luo Yu, curiously examining this human who radiated a familiar aura. The tendrils floating behind its head leaned forward as well. This movement made Luo Yu tense up instantly, nearly backing right back into the elevator in fright. Seeing Luo Yu blurt out profanity out of habit, Chu Guang coughed lightly and warned him: "Exercise a little restraint... Try not to teach it strange vocabulary. Its mental capacity right now is only at the level of a two- or three-year-old human child. There are many things it can't understand, and shouldn't understand." Pausing, he continued in a solemn tone: "In short, this progenitor born from your template is crucial to our research. You are the resident in this shelter closest to it in bloodline. I hope you will represent us and establish a relationship with it that is at least friendly." "Specifically?" Looking at the little earthworms floating around him, Luo Yu swallowed nervously. "What... do you need me to do?" Watching him get along so "harmoniously" with Yu, a pleased smile appeared on Chu Guang's face. It seemed his deduction was correct. He could finally dump this burden. "Your task is very simple. Spend more time with it every day and teach it how to speak. When the time is right, you can take it outside the shelter and let it learn how to hunt." "But... I have other things to do too." Luo Yu wore a wry, helpless expression, clearly reluctant. Seeing through his thoughts, Chu Guang's mind stirred slightly, and he gave a light cough before continuing: "According to the Alliance's researchers, 'Yu' is currently the mutant with the highest growth potential and adaptability known to us. If raised properly, it might very well become a formidable combat asset..." At this point, he put on a hesitant expression. "Mm... Actually, I'm also wavering a bit on whether this might be too difficult for you." The moment he heard those words, Luo Yu instantly held his breath. *Wait!* *Does that mean... this thing is the current server's strongest combat pet?!* Thinking about it, it was only natural for the faction boss Administrator to hesitate. After all, his sequence tier wasn't particularly high, hovering only between T2 and T3. Suddenly acquiring such an overpowered combat pet would undoubtedly affect game balance. When the time came, plenty of bastards on the forum would surely howl for it to be nerfed. Once he realized this, Luo Yu's gaze—previously fraught with hesitation—instantly turned burning hot as he looked back at little Yu. *How is this a tentacle monster?* *This is clearly an SSSR-tier divine pet, alright?!* *Who knows, maybe I can even teach it to fly an airplane!* "Please leave it to me with complete confidence, Lord Administrator!" Terrified that Chu Guang might change his mind, Luo Yu hurriedly adopted a dependable expression and accepted with solemn gravity. "I will definitely not let down your expectations!" Inwardly rejoicing, Chu Guang kept his face blank, feigning hesitation for a moment before nodding reluctantly. "...Since you've put it that way, I'll entrust it to you!" ... The job of feeding little Yu was temporarily handed off to Luo Yu. As for Heya, Chu Guang had her analyze the technical feasibility of having Yu devour and replace the Floor B6 broodmother, as well as assess potential risks. The shelter system had offered no further hints on how to utilize Yu, seemingly leaving the decision entirely up to him. Chu Guang intended to have Luo Yu raise it for a while. Once they formed a bond—and ideally could communicate normally—he would have it attempt to devour the Floor B6 broodmother to see if it could replace the slime mold there, validating some of Researcher G-13's conjectures. If this plan ultimately proved viable, not only would the Alliance gain a formidable fighting force, they might even fulfill the long-cherished wish that even the Post-War Reconstruction Committee had failed to achieve—retaking downtown Qingquan City! When that day came, all of Qingquan City's resources would fall into the Alliance's grasp! And not just Qingquan City— Every other urban cluster overrun by slime mold would be within their reach as well!