As parents, there was never enough time to spend with their children. Especially after she opened her shop. She had made some money at first, but the children were still young then, and she couldn't take care of both sides. So even now, she still felt guilty toward Jiang Shu and Jiang Yanyue.
She would never refuse when her son took the initiative to ask.
After tidying up the shop and putting all the cash into her bag, Xu Lizhi locked the door and followed Jiang Shu toward Yingtai Mall.
The mall's first floor was mostly gold and silver jewelry, luxury goods, and high-end cosmetics.
Without letting it show, Jiang Shu used the excuse that Xu Lizhi had never been there before to take his mom around the entire first floor.
"Xiaoshu, I heard Yan Yan say a few days ago that there have been all kinds of movies about martial arts lately. How about we go upstairs and see a movie? Just one movie. Your mom can keep up with the times, too."
"Sure, anything works. I haven't really been following movies lately, either. Let's ask Yan Yan what this one's called."
Jiang Shu secretly noted the places his mom had lingered over, then took out his phone and sent Jiang Yanyue a message.
Grass-Growing Yuantuanzi: "I'm shocked (doge)! Going to see a movie!!! Jiang Shu, what's a single guy like you doing watching a movie? Come on, tell me, which young lady are you with... sob sob sob..."
Jiang Shu: "Your mom."
Grass-Growing Yuantuanzi: "?!! Scratching my head. No, wait, do you think you're funny?"
Jiang Shu: "I'm serious."
Jiang Shu raised his phone, took a photo with his mom, and hit send.
Grass-Growing Yuantuanzi: "..."
"Just as I thought. I knew a perennial single guy like you could only watch a movie with your mom. Tsk tsk, what perfect timing. Martial Era is the hottest movie in Xia Kingdom right now. The special effects are incredible, and the cast is packed with award-winning actors and actresses."
"It's just a pity Ye Zhenzhen was born at the wrong time. She's too young and only just became famous, so she can only make a brief cameo. Otherwise, I'd definitely go to the cinema and watch her to my heart's content!"
"Low EQ: I'm broke and can't afford a movie ticket. High EQ: My idol was born at the wrong time and only made a cameo, so I'm not going."
"???"
Inside the theater.
The seats were eighty percent full. Jiang Shu and his mom sat in a corner.
Before long, the movie began.
On the screen, a gigantic cruise ship sailed smoothly across a calm sea.
The camera looked down from above, then slowly focused and zoomed in.
Following the tourists on the deck, it entered the interior of the ship.
A huge crystal chandelier hung at the very center. The lavish decor gleamed with gold, and the aroma of the food on the tables seemed to drift right through the screen and into everyone's noses.
Men and women chatted, music and dancing filled the air—it was like a paradise on earth.
Beneath the soothing piano music, not only the characters in the movie but the audience outside it all began to relax.
Time passed. Outside the cruise ship, the sea stretched endlessly beneath a bright, high-hanging moon.
The scene shifted, moving from the calm surface of the sea farther and farther down.
Twenty meters underwater, all kinds of familiar fish darted about in search of food, while colorful coral reefs thrived.
At sixty meters underwater, a pod of killer whales swam past.
At a depth of a hundred and twenty meters...
Two enormous deep-sea octopuses were mating.
But after they had finished, the male octopus didn't leave right away.
Nor did the female octopus eat him, as some scientists had observed in certain cases.
With their eight tentacles spread out, the two giant octopuses—each five or six meters long—lived together in harmony, as though nothing had happened.
In the corner, Jiang Shu, who hadn't cared about the movie's plot to begin with, abruptly clenched his hand.
Zheng Yanbo's words from that day rang in his ears once again: "Some wild animals seem to have entered a pathway of rapid evolution."
At that moment, he finally understood what those words meant.
Jiang Shu stared fixedly at the screen. The relaxed look he'd had before was gone.
These two giant octopuses had most likely already...
unlocked the Gene Lock that had trapped their species
for a full three hundred million years!
Every living thing had its own Gene Lock.
The Gene Lock held back its further development.
Octopuses had three hearts, nine brains, and two memory systems. Their bodies were so perfectly designed, they hardly seemed like creatures from Mystic Star.
But all octopuses, male or female, were doomed to die after mating.
The Gene Lock meant that even if a male octopus escaped, once mating was complete, its body would react as if some condition had been triggered and go straight into self-destruct mode.
It would either lose its appetite and gradually starve to death.
Or it would mutilate itself, eating its own tentacles and body until it died.
The female octopus, too, would wither away and die while waiting for her young to hatch.
The true lifespan of any octopus was only two or three years!
It wasn't that they lacked intelligence.
It wasn't that their bodies were weak.
They simply... died too fast, too soon.
They couldn't form a civilized society or pass their civilization down to the next generation.
But what if, starting now, they could pass it down?
Movies like this weren't made at random, without purpose.
Jiang Shu couldn't help taking a deep breath.
Xia Kingdom wanted to promote martial arts, while the Free Nation wanted to alter and improve human genes.
The fundamental reason was that the animals on Mystic Star were all evolving, all unlocking their Gene Locks.
If humanity stood still, could firearms suppress them for a while? Could they suppress them forever?
Who could say whether these animals might evolve into super-beasts that even nuclear bombs couldn't frighten!
All things were evolving.
Humanity had only one option: evolve—and evolve faster than them!
The Guiding Technique...
He had to get his hands on it as soon as possible!
Roaring Tiger Mountain Strength, too, had to be mastered quickly!
Time waited for no one!
Traveling between Two Worlds, seizing resources, making power one's own.
Jiang Shu believed only in himself.
He didn't dare entrust his own safety, or the safety of his parents and younger sister, to anyone else!
He practiced martial arts to take control of his own fate!
As his breathing gradually settled, Jiang Shu stole a sideways glance at his mom.
For the time being, Mystic Star didn't seem to be in any great danger.
The movie was only laying the groundwork.
Animal evolution would always take time.
In the early stages, modern weapons held absolute supremacy.
Humanity had enough time to evolve and unlock its own Gene Lock.
It also had enough means to turn some of the dangers into opportunities.
For example, by calling the flesh and blood of creatures that had unlocked their Gene Locks Exotic Beast Meat.
Bolstered by the performances of a whole cast of award-winning actors and actresses, and by special effects backed by massive investment, the movie's slowly unfolding plot wasn't dull.
The cruise ship vanished.
The government launched an investigation.
Before you continue