Evolution Sequence Unlocked

[Great, adorable, beautiful, wise, peerless under heaven, unparalleled in the world, lovely enough to make fish sink and geese fall, beautiful enough to outshine the moon and shame the flowers...]

Lin Feng: "???"

The Cat Cake's brain crashed on the spot!

What kind of ultimate value assessment was this?!

This was obviously a fill-in-the-blank question for fans!

And it was a timed multiple-choice question at that!

But he was just a Cat Cake!

He couldn't speak, much less tap a choice with his nonexistent fingers!

[Warning! Rules-based Q&A trap detected! Conventional logical deduction ineffective!]

The system interface also turned a glaring red.

A countdown starting at ten appeared on the Herta Puppet's display board. With every passing second, Lin Feng felt his heart give a jolt.

He watched the scrolling words, frantic with worry.

"Great"? "Wise"? Those feel too ordinary. They don't show my value! "Adorable"? "Beautiful"? Those don't fit Herta's image at all!

What should I do? What should I choose?

Am I going to be sliced up for failing a bootlicking fill-in-the-blank question right after transmigrating?!

Just as the countdown was about to reach zero, and even Ruan Mei frowned slightly, thinking that this interesting little creation would ultimately fail to escape disaster—

The Cat Cake's body jolted!

There were only three blanks, but so many words. Since these were all compliments, he shouldn't fill in just three of them.

That's it!

He gave up on searching the word bank for an answer and abruptly raised his soft, flexible tail.

Using all his strength, he dipped it in the little bit of moisture that had seeped onto the tray out of nervousness (or perhaps some experimental liquid he didn't know about), then quickly and crookedly wrote three big characters beneath the three blanks on the display board held before him:

—→→

He hadn't filled in the blanks. He had drawn an arrow pointing beyond the board, straight at the Herta Puppet herself, who had regained her animation and was watching with folded arms!

The meaning was: Blanks? No need to fill them in! Every compliment points to you yourself. You are the definition!

Time was up.

The word bank vanished from the board.

The Herta Puppet's empty eyes instantly came alive again.

She looked at the crooked, water-stained arrow on the board and fell silent. Then, for the first time, the corners of the puppet's mouth curved upward, ever so slightly but unmistakably.

"Heh..." She gave a soft chuckle of uncertain meaning and set the dissecting tool in her hand back on the nearby workbench with a light clack.

"Ruan Mei," Herta said in her usual tone again, a hint of amusement in her voice, "this creation of yours has a strong desire to live, and... a rather distinctive talent for flattery."

She looked down at Lin Feng, who had collapsed on the tray from exhaustion and turned into a flattened "Cat Cake pancake."

"All right, little thing. You're safe for now."

[Ding! Beginner crisis mission completed! Reward: Evolution Sequence unlocked. Initial skill acquired: Data Devouring-Lv.1]

[Data Devouring: Can devour suitable data streams]

Lin Feng let out a long cakey sigh, feeling as though his soul was about to float out of him.

Finally... I survived!

The moment the Herta Puppet finished speaking, Lin Feng's "cake heart," which had just settled back into his chest, leaped into his throat again.

"Of course, by 'for now,' I mean—" The puppet tilted her head, a look of pure curiosity and cruelty belonging to a genius scientist appearing on her face and making Lin Feng's skin crawl.

"If I get bored one day, or lose interest in you,

I can find you at any time and finish the... slicing research I didn't complete today."

A cold gleam seemed to flash briefly from the scalpel in her palm.

Lin Feng: "!!!"

Help!

This isn't safety at all. It's just a suspended death sentence!

Hearing this, Ruan Mei covered her mouth and laughed softly.

Her laughter was pleasant, like a breeze brushing across strings, but it only made Lin Feng more despairing.

It's over. Is my one and only "creator" the sort who does things for fun too?

"All right, stop scaring him." Ruan Mei finally stopped laughing and reached out with her slender fingers to gently "scoop" the limp Lin Feng off the tray.

"I'll take you where you belong."

Ruan Mei took him out of the laboratory, rode an elevator, and crossed a long, narrow bridge corridor to the Seclusion Zone.

The surroundings were noticeably less bright and orderly than the Master Control Zone, with an isolated, slightly oppressive atmosphere.

Ruan Mei opened a special access-controlled door. Inside was a carefully arranged area that was relatively spacious and safe.

There were soft cushions, a temperature-control device, and some gentle instruments whose purpose was unclear.

This was the temporary habitat of Ruan Mei's creations, including the various Cat Cakes.

Ruan Mei gently placed Lin Feng on an unoccupied cushion.

In an instant, Lin Feng felt countless gazes focus on him.

A short distance away, several Cat Cakes of different shapes were huddled together, curiously sizing up their new "roommate."

There were ordinary Cat Cakes, as well as others with different colors and patterns, such as sesame crisp and chocolate cake.

Besides them, there were also some more unusual Ruan Mei creations that weren't shaped like Cat Cakes.

For instance, there was a creature resting quietly in a corner, drifting slowly like a small jellyfish, and something resembling a glutinous rice dumpling that was trying hard to curl itself into a ball.

And among this group of "little animals" was a small, flat-headed robot floating in the air.

The little robot was clumsily handing out some kind of nutrient paste to them, making friendly electronic squeaks.

"You'll live here from now on," Ruan Mei said gently, but with an unmistakable detachment. "Get along with everyone, all right?"

She seemed to have other matters to attend to. After giving her instructions, she turned and left.

As the airtight door closed, the atmosphere in this little "home for creations" changed instantly.

The Cat Cakes and creations that had seemed timid moments ago immediately livened up after Ruan Mei left.

The Cat Cakes in particular exchanged "looks" with one another, even though they only had beady little eyes.

Then the many creations parted to make a path.

A creation noticeably larger than the other Cat Cakes, snow-white all over except for a touch of pink on top and shaped like a dumpling, slowly "inched" up to Lin Feng, surrounded by its underlings.

It looked down on Lin Feng as he lay on the cushion—though it was only a little taller—its beady eyes full of scrutiny and... a hint of displeasure?

"Meowrr! Rrrr—!" (Translation: New guy! Don't you know the rules?!)

Lin Feng: "...Meow?" (Translation: Huh?)

"Rrr! Meow meowrr—! Rr!" (Dumpling Boss slapped the floor with its tail, looking imposing: This is my turf! Pay your protection fee! The tasty energy blocks like the ones under your cushion!)

Lin Feng lowered his head and looked beneath his completely empty cushion.

What energy blocks? I just got here. I don't have a damn thing!

"Meow... rrrr..." (Lin Feng tried to explain: I don't have any...)

"Rrroow—!" (Dumpling Boss was clearly dissatisfied with this answer and believed the newcomer was challenging its authority. Its body swelled slightly as it let out a threatening growl. The Cat Cake underlings around it also began to "meowrr" and tighten their circle.)

The little robot spun anxiously in place, issuing beep-beep-beep warnings, but it was clearly unable to intervene in this "inter-cake dispute."

Lin Feng lamented his predicament.

I just escaped a genius's scalpel, and now I'm about to be bullied by street thugs—or street Cat Cakes?

He watched Dumpling Boss and its lackeys closing in step by step and recalled Herta's threat to "slice him up at any time." An inexplicable surge of anger rose in him.

Did they really think he, Lin Feng, was a soft persimmon anyone could squeeze?

Just as Dumpling Boss prepared to give him a lesson with a "headbutt," Lin Feng sent out a thought—

[Data Devouring-Lv.1, activate!]

He couldn't directly devour living creations, but...

He aimed at the floor sensor light beneath Dumpling Boss. It was flickering slightly because the boss had excitedly slapped its tail just now, and its data stream seemed unstable.

An invisible suction force radiated from Lin Feng.

The next second, the sensor light went puff, its glow instantly dimming as though its energy had been drained in an instant.

Meanwhile, a system notification quietly appeared before Lin Feng: [Trace amount of clean energy devoured... Energy +0.1]