More Ridiculous Than Fiction

As the days passed and sufficient data accumulated, Shang Lu finally discovered the differences between artificially cultivated "Mountain-Climbing Gu" and wild "Mountain-Climbing Gu." This type of Gu insect is a relatively common variety of "human Gu." In the larval stage, it feeds back vital essence to improve the host's physical constitution; once fully matured, it additionally consumes the host's vital blood and essence, boosting the host's strength, speed, endurance, explosive power, and impact resistance in a short period of time, with a particularly remarkable bonus to close-quarters combat. Shang Lu’s project recruited nine volunteers, with a parallel group of six Gu masters planted with artificially cultivated Mountain-Climbing Gu, and a control group of three Gu masters planted with wild Mountain-Climbing Gu. The results showed that before the Gu insects matured, the combat effectiveness of the nine samples showed little difference. The advantage of the wild Gu insects lay in their maturity: consuming the same amount of vital blood and essence, the artificially cultivated Gu insects provided a combat effectiveness boost to the host that was about 50% weaker than that of the wild Gu insects. This finding matched the project headed by "White Dove."

Discovering a problem did not equate to solving it. What was the underlying cause? Shang Lu was utterly baffled and unable to find an answer.

For Sima, his current work had come to a temporary close. He bid farewell to White Dove, intending to return to Section Two for work. He was still惦着 (thinking affectionately of) the "Large Honey Pill" and the "Immaculate Gu," feeling an itchy eagerness and impatience. White Dove dismissed the testing team, kept Sima behind alone, and told him not to stand on ceremony and to brew some tea for himself. Sima was deeply impressed by the white porcelain cup and jasmine tea in her office; he brewed two cups, placed one on White Dove's desk, and carried the other to drink himself.

Tea fragrance curled upward. White Dove did not touch her teacup, instead slightly furrowing her brows as if weighing her words. After a moment, she lightly tapped the rim of the teacup and said, "What are your thoughts?"

Sima wore a blank look. What thoughts? What kind of thoughts? Fortunately, White Dove did not make him guess and continued asking, "The artificially cultivated Gu insects are inferior in ability to the wild ones. What do you think is the reason?"

Sima continued to wear a blank look. He was no expert in Gu manipulation, so how could he possibly know such a profound answer! However, since his direct superior had brought it up, he had to offer a few supportive remarks to avoid an awkward and impolite silence. He wrung his brains for a moment, then hesitantly said, "Could it be... that too many were produced, diluting the vital energy?"

"Too many produced, diluting the vital energy?" White Dove repeated. Sima meant that the conservation of "quality" applied—as quantity went up, quality declined. This was barely plausible. She knew that Shang Lu had used hormones to stimulate the Gu insects into breeding a massive number of offspring; without hormones, the reproduction rate of the Gu insects was outrageously low. The core of artificially cultivating Gu insects lay in "mass production." Without the advantage of mass production, one might as well go look for wild Gu insects. Previously, she had always suspected the hormones were to blame. According to Sima's logic, as long as one consciously controlled the breeding quantity of the same batch, the Gu insects' abilities could be enhanced. Maybe he had actually hit the mark!

"Anything else?" she continued to ask.

Sima put on an expression of deep thought. White Dove waited for a while, and seeing that he truly couldn't squeeze anything else out, instructed him to go back and think about it slowly, and to report any insights to her privately. She emphasized the word "privately" heavily, and Sima understood her meaning instantly. Just as he was about to stand up and bid farewell, he unexpectedly heard her say, "What do you think of Zhou Lingri?"

Sima's heart skipped a beat. "Uh, Chief, I have a girlfriend..."

White Dove said dismissively, "I know. That track and field coach from Beizhi Foreign Languages University, right? She is not suitable for you. A Gu master can only partner up with another Gu master to get through life; otherwise, life remains uncoordinated. Think about it. Zhou Lingri likes you quite a bit, and she can barely manage to overcome the side effects of the Gu insects. If it were anyone else, she would go crazy."

What did "life remaining uncoordinated" mean? Did it mean "sexual life uncoordinated"? Sima felt things were fine for now, but there was no guarantee a few years down the line... However, since White Dove had laid her cards on the table at this moment, she clearly had her considerations. Sima sat back down and tentatively asked, "Who is 'anyone else'?"

White Dove said, "Several years ago, a 'young scion of a wealthy family' from Beizhi City took a fancy to little Zhou and pursued her very aggressively. At that time, Section Two had just been established, everywhere looking for connections and scrambling for resources. That young scion's family wielded immense influence, and under pressure from various sides, little Zhou relented and agreed to try dating him first. Later, an accident occurred. Her personality changed drastically; she developed an absolute aversion to him, refusing to even see him or speak a word to him. The other party was quite serious, though, dead-set on marrying little Zhou into his family, and the resulting fallout turned very unpleasant. Section Two also bore some of the pressure..."

"Was it because of the Gu insects?"

"...Dr. Cao said this is a side effect of the 'Immaculate Gu'—'physiological aversion'—and it's incurable. At the time, we even considered extracting the Gu insect and letting her leave Section Two to live the life of a normal person. The problem was that the Gu insect's parasitic location was unfavorable; extracting it would be a matter of nine deaths and one life, with a very low probability of survival. Little Zhou herself doesn't know this yet; she is desperately hoarding performance points, wanting to swap her Gu. She thinks swapping for a 'combat Gu' will win her freedom, but actually, she is just comforting and hypnotizing herself..."

Even urban melodramas weren't this bizarre. Sima found it utterly preposterous. Being a wealthy scion, he could have any woman he wanted, yet he had to fixate on Zhou Lingri like hanging from a single tree. Reality really was more absurd than fiction. He scratched his head and asked, "Does Section Two need me to 'draw agro'?"

A trace of a smile appeared on White Dove's face as she said, "'Draw agro'—that's a very vivid way to put it. We do indeed have such a consideration. When necessary, you and Zhou Lingri will leave Section Two, find a place to lay low and avoid the limelight for a while, and return once the situation stabilizes. It won't be too long, at most a year or a half."

Sima felt a suffocating sense of an impending storm. He did not dare ask too much, fearing that the more he knew, the more dangerous it would be, and he remained silent for a long time.

White Dove said, "You are taking a risk with this matter. Section Two will provide a certain degree of compensation depending on the circumstances, temporarily treating it as field duty. Think it over carefully and give me a reply as soon as possible. My personal advice... is that you should accept!"

Sima agreed to go back and think about it, then stood up once again to take his leave. This time, White Dove did not keep him.

Leaving the Gu Insect Research Institute, bathed in the warm sunlight, Sima stepped into the bustling street. Like a drop of water merging into a river, he let out a long breath, feeling relaxed and safe. He vaguely sensed that White Dove and the others were plotting something and wished to avoid extra complications, which was why they needed him to "draw agro," divert others' attention, and minimize variables as much as possible. For him, this was an opportunity. He would go with the flow, accept the assignment, leave the center of the vortex with Zhou Lingri, and head out of town to lie low, which conveniently made it easier for him to "pasture" his Gu insects.

After pondering for an entire night, when he went to work the next day, Zhou Lingri—having not seen him for a while and brimming with words—chatted with him about quite a bit of gossip. Sima was somewhat absent-minded, and the distraction was so obvious that even she noticed. The young girl instantly recovered her high-and-mighty coldness, returned to her computer to clatter away at the keyboard, nursing a fit of sullen anger. Sima pulled a chair over to her side, gave a gentle cough, and asked, "Comrade little Zhou, what do you think of me?"

"Eh? What do you mean, what do I think?" Zhou Lingri didn't react in time.

"Looks, income, temper, ability. If they're not bad, shall we try dating? What do you think?"

Zhou Lingri blinked, stunned and speechless for a long moment.