Above the Clouds

"Can this stuff be interesting too?" Lin Yan flipped open the book, looking at the various English abbreviations and knowledge points inside, and asked in surprise.

"Whatever you do, if you don't enjoy it or find pleasure in it, you can't unleash creativity," Wen Zhi'an said. "That's what my dad taught me."

"Just like your perfect performance at the training grounds today. It was because you liked it that you could be so confident, right?"

Lin Yan thought to himself, Not at all. The source of my confidence is beyond anything you could imagine.

I've got cheats.

"Then I'll have to learn properly from Little Wen and become a diligent top student."

"You never say anything seriously." Wen Zhi'an stood up and said, "I'm going back to work. If you don't drink your coffee, it'll get cold."

"Okay."

Lin Yan watched the girl's retreating figure, lifted the coffee, and took a sip. It was rich and mellow, with a citrusy aroma reminiscent of fruit peel.

He opened the book, activated Mind Palace, and began absorbing the knowledge at an almost terrifying speed.

Nine in the evening.

The researchers in the laboratory had washed the experimental equipment and put away the tools and materials.

Wen Xiuyong clapped his hands. "Everyone worked hard today. I had someone prepare a late-night snack. Let's eat together, then go back and rest."

Thinking of Lin Yan, Wen Zhi'an wondered whether he had left yet, so she went to check the room next door.

Lin Yan was still sitting where he had been. The video files on his laptop had been sped up twentyfold, and the images flashed by at breakneck speed.

Yet Lin Yan watched with complete concentration.

A stack of books, perhaps twenty or thirty volumes, sat on the small table beside him. The books Qi Ze had given him were among them.

Wen Zhi'an was somewhat confused. What was he doing?

She walked closer, picked up one of the books from the table, and flipped through it. She found annotations in several places, written in neat, elegant handwriting. Looking closely, she could tell they had been carefully considered, not empty scribbles.

And she couldn't find anything wrong with them.

She did not disturb Lin Yan. One video progress bar after another vanished from the laptop at high speed, while she flipped through the books one by one, reading the notes he had added. Gradually, a frightening thought arose in her heart.

"What's wrong?" Wen Xiuyong walked in from outside, saw Wen Zhi'an standing there blankly, and asked.

At the same time, he saw Lin Yan's extraordinary study session.

He raised an eyebrow.

Wen Zhi'an's expression was somewhat strange. She did not dare voice her guess and merely said, "See for yourself."

She pointed at the books, then stepped aside.

Wen Xiuyong picked up two books and flipped through them. By then, Lin Yan had finished watching all the video files on his laptop.

He closed the computer, stood up, and turned to look at the father and daughter.

Naturally, his strength was such that he could not possibly fail to notice people approaching from behind simply because he was focused on studying.

There was not much left anyway. Since they had not interrupted him, he might as well finish it all at once.

"Are you getting ready to rest?" Lin Yan asked. "Then I'll take you back."

Their dormitory was not here, but in a building beside headquarters.

It was equally heavily guarded.

"Wait a moment." Wen Xiuyong continued flipping through several books and asked, "You've learned all of it?"

These books were all new, so the notes could only have been added by Lin Yan.

"Yeah."

Lin Yan nodded casually.

Although Mind Palace had evolved from a shooting skill, its level was extremely high. It had long since broken free of its previous limitations. At this stage, it could be said that even his system panel was probably less useful than this skill.

Lin Yan's brain now processed information at a speed comparable to a computer's, and that was only because the degree of his genetic evolution was still limited.

What this directly gave him was formidable learning ability. Unlike the Po Jun Sword, learning skills tended to manifest in more profound and mysterious ways. If his own realm was not sufficient, he would naturally get half the result with twice the effort.

These kinds of knowledge, however, were relatively better suited to his way of learning.

Wen Xiuyong fell silent, even somewhat afraid that this guy was telling the truth.

Turn it off. This isn't fun.

You're making me feel like my life has achieved nothing.

"How about giving it a try?" he asked.

"Uh, judging by the look of things, you're getting ready to rest, right? Let's do it tomorrow."

"No need to wait until tomorrow. Right now."

With things like this, how could I sleep if I went back now?

"Fine."

Lin Yan had no choice but to agree. At that moment, Qi Ze poked his head in through the doorway. "Teacher, what's going on?"

"Nothing."

After they finished their late-night snack, Wen Xiuyong brought Lin Yan to the lab bench. Wen Zhi'an also got up, intending to follow them.

Qi Ze asked in confusion, "What are you doing?"

Wen Zhi'an said quietly, "Lin Yan seems to have learned almost everything. My dad is having him try extracting Coenzyme R3V."

"What?" Qi Ze practically doubted his own ears. "What do you mean, he's learned almost everything?"

"It's only been three hours, and you're telling me this?"

"If you're curious, go take a look too." Wen Zhi'an was not surprised by his reaction, but that was all she could say.

Qi Ze immediately ran after them.

The researchers present exchanged glances, their expressions all somewhat strange. They did not believe such a person could truly exist, yet given Lin Yan's status and behavior, he would not be so lacking in judgment.

"Let's all go take a look."

Seeing that everyone was eager, Professor Wu spoke.

Lin Yan put on a lab coat and stood before the lab bench. The extraction process for Coenzyme R3V surfaced in his mind.

At present, the raw material for Coenzyme R3V was still sourced from monster visceral tissue, making the overall cost relatively high. Following Wen Xiuyong's research direction, they had gradually begun attempting to cultivate microorganisms for fermentation-based production. This approach held great promise for both increasing output and controlling costs.

However, there were still many technical obstacles, and the quality of the extracted product remained low.

Unhurried, he prepared the raw materials and the tools he would need.

Then he began the extraction step by step.

If they had not seen it with their own eyes, they would have found it difficult to believe that what was happening was real.

"My God..."

"Who said experiments are all about practice making perfect? Today, my entire worldview has collapsed."

"This is too absurd."

"I've done this experiment hundreds of times, and I'm nowhere near this proficient."

They could hardly bear to keep watching, for the sake of their self-respect.

The ideal requirement for the experiment was a recovery rate of 95%. Just from watching Lin Yan's procedure, Wen Xiuyong knew that this extraction had already achieved perfection.

What he found most unbelievable was that Lin Yan had not followed the established procedure completely. There were several subtle adjustments that would have been difficult to notice without close attention. At first, he had thought they were mistakes on Lin Yan's part.

But he quickly dismissed that notion.

His professional instincts told him that the person before him was even attempting to optimize the experimental procedure.

Those were two entirely different concepts. It fully demonstrated Lin Yan's solid theoretical foundation and unconstrained creativity.

The extract of Coenzyme R3V was an odorless, tasteless, transparent crystalline powder. Wen Xiuyong picked up the sample and immediately began testing its quality.

The result was unbelievable, yet entirely expected.

He said seriously, "Would you like to study under me? With your talent, I imagine it won't take many years for you to surpass me."

He was Wen Xiuyong. Everyone knew the weight of those words.

But Lin Yan shook his head and smiled softly. "Professor Wen, I'm actually a very confident person."

"Hmm?"

"Given the same amount of time, you are not the one I intend to surpass."

Lin Yan enunciated every word. "I want to surpass those who stand above the clouds of the War God Palace, looking down upon the world."

Is anyone really reading this book? QAQ