The Strongest Gene

Old Mei inhaled deeply. "Well, I’ll follow behind one of them and see what happens." Presently, the chill that had been sent down his spine remained. He was like a chess player whose chess pieces were all in position. His chess pieces all appeared intact, yet all of them were covered with a layer of poop. When touching them, he wouldn’t die, yet there would be a feeling of disgust. This was precisely how he was feeling currently.

Suddenly, he recalled that huge boulder that had appeared on the summit earlier. Back then, he’d had a feeling that someone was scheming against him. From how things were progressing, could that be true? As he thought of the possibility of him transforming from a chess player into someone else’s chess piece, he shivered. He had to investigate this clearly.

Thereupon, hidden in the dark, Old Mei followed behind three different squads in a row. Those squads hunted hillsea beasts without stop before returning. Old Mei did not do anything and was only observing them silently. However, nothing was found. These people always went down to the foot of the mountain, seemingly preparing to leave.

Just as Old Mei was about to give up, suddenly, he saw something odd at the foot of the mountain. There, at the entrance to the Othershore Mountain, a guy with a small patch of beard in his 30s was running a vending stall. Beside him was a signboard stating that he was here to produce hillsea gene reagents. Below the signboard was an excellent producer badge.

Old Mei’s expression changed slightly. "Excellent producer?" When he saw someone carry a hillsea beast over to exchange for a red sphere, he finally understood what was going on. So the red spheres originated from here?

As he witnessed how that excellent producer produced two red spheres and kept one for himself before giving the other to the hillsea beast supplier, Old Mei’s expression became unsightly. Therefore, only a single hillsea beast was required to trade for one of these? If so, his plan would be...

Old Mei felt like he had fallen into an ice cave. He knew that it was over for his plan. With this red sphere, he had no hope of hunting those genetic warriors here. If he wanted to gather the particles, he would have to face those genetic warriors head on. But then, his combat power...

Could he look for those without the red spheres? As Old Mei swept his eyes around, his gaze became sorrowful. Everyone here seemed to have those red spheres in their possession. The scariest fact was that his initial young hillsea beast plan was supposed to keep these people here for a long time, yet now that no longer seemed to be the case. With the appearance of those red spheres, the speed at which these people could complete the mission had greatly increased. It wouldn’t be long before they succeeded in completing it.

At that time, his mission...

Old Mei’s heart became ice cold as he thought of that. Could he kill this gene producer, then? Old Mei glanced at that pile of red spheres beside the gene producer and instantly gave up on this impossible thought. He was sure that regardless of whether or not he could kill that person, the moment he made a move, he himself would most definitely die.

What to do, then? Old Mei pondered in despair. Would he have to give up just like this? He had spent 10 whole years preparing for this. Gathering so many 6-star secret arts and 5-star secret arts, each of them was something he had obtained with no regard to the price paid, and now... he had to give up on it? These secret arts he had painstakingly gathered over a period of 10 years would only be exchanged for these young hillsea beasts? No, that wouldn’t do!

Old Mei kept observing the crowd that was moving around as he contemplated speedily. He was already an extremely intelligent person, as he had been able to use only 10 years to gather so many valuable secret arts, regardless of the methods or prices he had paid. He refused to believe that this was unsolvable for him. He believed that he would most certainly be able to think of something.

Red sphere...

Hillsea beast...

Old Mei fixed his gaze at the people walking around. Suddenly, his heart jolted. Perhaps there were still other methods to do this! Since those people could make use of the red spheres, perhaps, the same applied to him?

Shua!

Old Mei’s eyes lit up. Indeed, the red spheres!

He could obtain the red spheres by trading using hillsea beasts! For others, they would have to hunt for the beasts painstakingly. For him, though, this was not necessary. With a single plum blossom imprint, he could transform a hillsea beast into his pet. However... the flaw of that was the fact that he could only have a single pet under his control at any given time.

Therefore, he could only use one hillsea beast every time he moved. Now, though, things would be different. Perhaps he could kill his own pet before using it to trade for the red sphere? Yes, this was feasible! The more Old Mei thought of it, the more he found this plan feasible.

Damn it. Since you guys can use those red spheres, then let us compete and see who will have more red spheres!

At this, Old Mei calmed down. Suddenly, he felt like those red spheres were not the product of someone scheming against him. On the contrary, those red spheres were helpful for him. He would be able to use those as his own weapons! Finishing his thoughts, Old Mei acted immediately. Soon, he summoned another hillsea beast nearby.

Pu!

With his own hands, he killed his new pet. The hillsea beast merely gazed at Old Mei with an odd expression, evidently not understanding the reason this person who seemed to be mentally linked to it was killing it.

Old Mei couldn’t even be bothered with the beast’s thoughts. "Hmph." Despite the fact that this imprint’s original function was to summon a pet, as far as he was concerned, these beasts were mere livestock.

Clang!

He reached the vendor with his hillsea beast.

"I need production," Old Mei stated with a deep voice.

"Sure," Chen Feng replied in a well-practiced manner. Next, he raised his head, and he was instantly dumbfounded. Old... Old Mei? Chen Feng nearly ended up tossing a red sphere at him. What in the world? Why is this guy here? Oh, hold on. Since my appearance has already been changed, he shouldn’t have recognized me. Eh, hold on... he wants me to produce the gene reagent?

Chen Feng was somewhat stupefied.

If he recalled correctly, hadn’t these red spheres appeared to only make Old Mei’s life difficult? Why in the world was this guy coming here to trade as well? Chen Feng felt like some changes had occurred to his plan.

"Oh... you want me to produce?" Chen Feng asked cautiously.

"Yes," Old Mei stated impatiently. "Faster. I’m in a rush."

Chen Feng was not bothered with saying anything unnecessary. "All right." Soon, he finished producing for Old Mei before handing over a red sphere. With an amazed gaze, Old Mei studied the red sphere in his hand before leaving. As for Chen Feng, he was still somewhat stupefied.

Mhm... what is going on with this guy?

Chen Feng wasn’t exactly worried about increasing Old Mei’s strength with those red spheres. For every red sphere he sold, he obtained one for himself as well. Moreover, he had also accorded a "special treatment" to Old Mei by slightly altering the measurements in his formula when producing that reagent.

Well, it wasn’t that big of an alteration anyway. The only difference was Old Mei’s red sphere being somewhat weaker than a normal red sphere... Mhm, around 20% weaker. At a glance, one wouldn’t notice it. Even if he was found out, he could still claim that the hillsea beast used had been weak anyway.

Chen Feng sunk into contemplation. "Wu... what is that guy planning to do?" Subsequently, after only half an hour, Old Mei was back with yet another hillsea beast. And next, after another half an hour, he was back with another hillsea beast. Old Mei kept returning. At times, he would return after one hour. At times, he would return after only 10 minutes. While the rest were still in the midst of traveling, Old Mei was already returning with his hillsea beast. His speed was truly astonishing.

One time...

Two times...

Old Mei kept trading for the red spheres without stop. As for Chen Feng, his expression became even weirder.

"Could it be..."

He had a vague guess as to what Old Mei was trying to do. In short, Old Mei was trying to trade for a huge pile of red spheres and use brute force to complete his plan? Moreover, the red spheres would be sourced from Chen Feng? This...

Chen Feng did not know if he should laugh or cry at this. Indeed, Old Mei was very intelligent.

The method Old Mei was using to obtain hillsea beasts was indeed astonishing. Based on Chen Feng’s guesses, this might be some pet-taming ability. With this, Old Mei was able to profit greatly. In a short few hours, he had obtained more than 10 red spheres. Apart from Old Mei, who else could do this? Without a doubt, among everyone here at Othershore Mountain, apart from Chen Feng, the one whose strength had increased the most presently was Old Mei.

However, Old Mei seemed to have neglected something. This so-called excellent producer here was precisely Chen Feng. Each time Old Mei obtained a single red sphere, Chen Feng also obtained one, one more powerful. As the amount increased and time passed... Even Chen Feng felt somewhat embarrassed as he continued this scam.

Is this proper? After all, Old Mei is elderly. To scam an elderly this way...

In a well-practiced manner, Chen Feng gave Old Mei another red sphere. "I await your next visit." With a kind gaze, he watched on as Old Mei left, his inner heart lamenting endlessly.

Sigh, what a kind old man.