Gene Pool

"Have mercy!"

The shop owner burst into tears. "Big brother, we're just a small business! I could tell the moment you walked in that you were extraordinary, but if you keep this up, all the machines are going to break! How about this? I'll prepare all the Gene Reagents you won right away. Could you please stop?"

Chen Feng: "..."

It made it sound like he had done something terrible.

"Really."

"If you keep playing, we'll have no choice but to shut down."

The shop owner begged.

Chen Feng rolled his eyes. He had only come to test the Luck Aura.

"Don't worry, I won't mess around."

Chen Feng could neither laugh nor cry. After he gave his word, the shop owner finally let go.

This time, Chen Feng did not use the Luck Aura. He casually tried a few times, and sure enough, the results became ordinary random patterns again. The shop owner, meanwhile, held a bottle of Wood Bear Gene and watched him anxiously.

Helpless, Chen Feng could only leave.

This was the Entertainment Zone, where entertainment came first. Many people came merely to have fun, and it was a small business. Chen Feng had no reason to ruin someone else's livelihood.

Besides, he had already obtained what he wanted most.

Back in reality.

Inside the rented apartment, Chen Feng made his final assessment.

The Luck Aura had the easiest time altering pure probabilities, no matter how small those probabilities were. But once it involved the occurrence of an "accident," it would definitely consume a large amount of Luck Value!

For the Luck Aura, such things were instead the hardest to come by.

For example—

Making a slot machine "accidentally" break down.

"As for the lottery..."

Chen Feng looked at the 12 remaining points of Luck Value in his body, opened a lottery website with live drawings, then activated the Luck Aura and chose to buy a ticket.

Then, the lottery numbers were drawn.

Whoosh!

Chen Feng's Luck Value instantly bottomed out.

All 12 points of Luck Value had been used up.

"Congratulations, you have won first prize."

A dialog box popped up on the Light Screen.

Chen Feng compared it with his ticket and shook his head helplessly.

First prize: 50,000 yuan.

Grand prize: 500,000 yuan!

What Chen Feng had wanted was the grand prize. Yet first prize had appeared in the end, which could only mean one thing: this lottery system had not even set a grand prize! And if he wanted to create an "accident" that would let him win the grand prize, 12 points of Luck Value were nowhere near enough!

So—

He had only won first prize.

"I still lost money."

Chen Feng spread his hands. As expected, this sort of thing was unreliable.

With 12 points of Luck Value, if he made mutated Wood Bear Gene, he could produce six of them! Even if he sold them at the lowest price, he could still make 120,000 yuan!

After deducting costs, he would still have 90,000 yuan. When he calculated it carefully, he had actually lost money.

"What a win..."

Chen Feng could only smile bitterly.

It seemed that getting something for nothing was not really possible. Although some lottery events were certainly legitimate, Chen Feng had taken a rough look—there were currently four or five thousand lottery events underway! He could not possibly try them one by one, could he? He absolutely could not fall into this trap.

"Small gambling costs money; big gambling costs lives."

Chen Feng sighed with feeling.

He continued searching for information about formulas, but there was nothing useful to be found online.

"Can I only buy them?"

Chen Feng was somewhat disappointed. He decided to ask Mu Yuan. That guy had become a producer earlier than him, so he should know some ways to obtain formulas.

Chen Feng contacted Mu Yuan and briefly explained what he needed.

Mu Yuan remained silent for a long time.

"What's wrong?"

Chen Feng found it strange.

"You mean, the only Gene Reagent you know how to make right now is the Wood Bear Gene?"

Mu Yuan looked utterly shattered as he stared at Chen Feng in disbelief. "So you didn't even claim the recipe that comes with Beginner Producer certification?"

Chen Feng paused. "What is Beginner Producer certification?"

Mu Yuan: "..."

For a full five seconds, time seemed to stand still.

Looking at Chen Feng, who was waiting for an explanation, Mu Yuan could only accept the truth—this guy who had created an absurdly powerful mutated reagent and stomped Professor Tao underfoot didn't even have Producer certification! What era was this? Was he seriously living like some ancient hermit, rubbing fireballs together in the wilderness?

"Then why did you tell me you were a Beginner Producer when we met last time?"

Mu Yuan said irritably.

"It was displayed on the Digitization Panel."

Chen Feng glanced at the Beginner Gene Production Technique on his panel, perfectly calm.

"That's just an evaluation."

Mu Yuan gave a bitter smile. "All right, let me explain this properly."

"The data on the Digitization Panel is only for your own evaluation. It's just for reference, basically an offline version. You know what offline means, right? Some people can even cheat and modify their own Digitization Panels. Of course, that's just fooling themselves. It has no real use!"

"To become an actual Gene Producer, you need to go through assessment and certification at the Gene Production Association. To encourage everyone to get certified, the Association also offers plenty of benefits. Every successful certification comes with generous rewards, and the reward for Beginner Producer certification is one recipe of your choice from the recipe database."

"After all, the Gene Production Association still hopes to see Gene Production Technique develop as quickly as possible."

Mu Yuan finished all that in one breath.

"Any recipe I want?"

Chen Feng's eyes immediately lit up.

"..."

Mu Yuan sighed. That was clearly the wrong thing to focus on, brother!

He knew what Chen Feng was thinking and advised, "Although you can choose any recipe, I wouldn't recommend picking a high-star one. Since you're taking the Beginner Producer certification now, you can only choose F-Grade Gene recipes. High-star F-Grade recipes are difficult to make and completely useless otherwise, so people usually choose recipes that are easy to learn and improve. That way, they can raise their strength as quickly as possible."

"I see."

Chen Feng suddenly understood. "So that means I can choose a Five-Star Recipe?"

Mu Yuan burst into tears.

So after all that, Chen Feng hadn't absorbed a single word!

"Brother, I know you're a genius."

"But wouldn't it be better to choose difficult recipes once we reach Intermediate Producer or Advanced Producer? At the beginning, shouldn't you pick something simpler so you can advance more easily? Recipes only improve your production ability after you've mastered them!"

Mu Yuan tried to persuade him earnestly.

"Mm-hm, got it."

Chen Feng was immensely grateful. "I'll go take the assessment first. Contact me anytime if you need anything."

Mu Yuan: "..."

This guy wasn't really going to choose some high-star recipe, was he?

Probably...

Not, right?

Even Mu Yuan wasn't sure.

Chen Feng was a genius he thought highly of. The two of them had also jointly put Professor Tao in his place a few days ago, so they had something of a bond. Mu Yuan really didn't want to see Chen Feng waste his time by choosing a difficult recipe. After all, many four-star and five-star F-Grade recipes were difficult enough that even Intermediate Producers wouldn't dare touch them lightly!

"I hope you don't do anything reckless."

Mu Yuan muttered to himself.

Meanwhile.

Chen Feng had already headed enthusiastically to the Gene Production Association.

He understood Mu Yuan's advice, but he knew his own situation. Right now, only by choosing a difficult recipe could he possibly make it in time for registration for the Gene New Talent Competition.

At a time like this, he had no choice but to go all out!

Gene Production Association.

A hundred-story building stood in the center of Jin City. Every surrounding residential district and entertainment facility existed to serve the people here. And this was merely the Jin City branch. The Gene Production Association's status was obvious.

"Hello, I'm here for Beginner Producer certification."

Chen Feng arrived at the front desk in the lobby.

"Certainly. Please wait a moment."

A beautiful staff member helped Chen Feng verify his identity and complete the basic registration and assessment procedures, then led him to a room.

"Please complete the written test here first, then produce three F-Grade Gene Reagents in succession."

The staff member gave him a sweet smile. "Call us anytime if you need anything."

"Thank you."

Chen Feng gave a slight nod.

As expected of the Gene Production Association, the quality of service here was even higher than he had imagined. Looking down on you because you were young? Looking down on you because you were poorly dressed?

How could that be possible?

The more upscale the place, the higher the standards for its staff.

He entered the room.

There was no examiner. Only a floating Light Screen and several cameras sat on the table. It seemed everything here was handled automatically.

Chen Feng began the test.

The theoretical questions were not difficult. As long as he could identify certain materials, that was enough. For the practical portion, Chen Feng selected three sets of Wood Bear Gene materials and had the staff bring them in. He completed the production with ease, passing the beginner gene assessment without a hitch.

"Congratulations, Mr. Chen Feng."

The staff member smiled sweetly. "You have become a Beginner Producer. Your personal records have been updated, and you may now choose one gene recipe for free."

"Good."

Chen Feng's heart stirred. He had finally reached this step.

Swish!

The Light Screen flickered.

Countless gene recipes flashed before his eyes.

Chen Feng was so excited he could barely contain himself. Even though he could only choose F-rank gene recipes, there were still at least several hundred thousand options here—far too many to count.

After giving it some thought, Chen Feng selected five-star difficulty.

Swish!

Only twelve recipes remained. Yet most of them bore a glaring red warning—Materials Missing. These recipes were too old, and some of their materials had already vanished. In this era, gathering all the necessary materials was already incredibly difficult. As for the few that still had available materials...

Chen Feng took a look. Those materials were simply beyond his reach.

These recipes were likely special formulas designed for specific functions. Their power was low, so they had been classified as F-rank, but their restrictions were extremely severe. Chen Feng carefully looked through them. Nearly all the Five-Star Recipes were unusable!

It seemed he could only choose from the four-star ones.

Chen Feng shook his head and filtered the list again.

Compared to the Five-Star Recipes, there were far more four-star recipes. Chen Feng easily picked one whose production materials were relatively easy to obtain.

"This one."

Chen Feng confirmed his choice.

"Certainly."

The staff member smiled sweetly, then looked at the recipe Chen Feng had selected. Her little mouth fell open, shock flashing across her face. It was actually this recipe!