Survival of the Fittest, Adaptation for Survival, Selecting Superior Bloodlines

Ark Gene Base was divided into six sections.

They were marked in white, yellow, purple, green, black, and red, corresponding to fur beasts, scale beasts, feather beasts, bare beasts, armored beasts, and insect beasts.

The colors also corresponded to their respective buildings, making them easier to distinguish in the future. Even the areas where these descendants lived would be divided by color, allowing people to tell at a glance what category of soul beast they belonged to.

This was zoned management, with efficiency as its core principle.

Led by Meng Qingrou, Lin Chen toured the Ark Gene Base, which was divided into six sections like a bird's nest, while opening his soul tool panel to inspect the various information and records on it.

The panel displayed all the animal species and information collected over the past two months.

The first category was animals covered in fur. More than a dozen species had been recorded in the gene base so far: cats, dogs, tigers, lions, bears, foxes, rabbits, cattle, sheep, squirrels, bats, monkeys...

The second category was scale beasts, animals covered in scales. There were the fewest of these, with only four species found: snakes, lizards, crocodiles, and pangolins... These four were also the most suitable types to breed with Di Tian, but for the time being, female hosts could not be mass-produced.

As for scaled fish and the like in the ocean, they would not be considered for now. He had not even figured out how to raise land animals yet, so he would not be reaching into the ocean anytime soon.

Besides, he could not create an ocean farm within the small world. He neither had the ability to raise such creatures nor needed them at present.

He would only consider such matters once he had become stronger.

The third category was feather beasts, and more than a dozen species had been found: sparrows, pigeons, chickens, ducks, eagles, peacocks, parrots, ostriches, swans, swallows, woodpeckers, and owls.

Honestly, he truly did not believe that sparrows or pigeons could lay dragon eggs, but he would still have to try in the future. As long as one did not let their thinking stagnate, there would always be more solutions than difficulties.

He had already begun having people develop an embryonic energy supply device, using soul tool technology to inject energy directly into the mothers' bodies and meet the energy demands of soul beast eggs.

However, the technology was not mature enough yet, so he would not consider breeding these relatively small soul beasts for the time being.

But once this technology took shape, he could mass-produce many bizarre soul beasts.

The fourth category, bare beasts, were animals whose bodies were not covered in fur, scales, or anything else, possessing only exposed skin, such as hippos, rhinoceroses, elephants, frogs, and toads.

The fifth category, armored beasts, included armadillos, land turtles, sea turtles, softshell turtles, and horseshoe crabs.

The sixth category, insect beasts, included butterflies, bees, ants, locusts, cockroaches, crabs, shrimp, spiders, centipedes, scorpions...

Although he had indeed made this classification, he still could not quite keep it together when he saw the sixth category of insect beasts.

Given their size, it was uncertain whether they could even withstand Di Tian's "youth."

Still, Lin Chen had some rather "perverted" ideas. He felt that if these insect beasts could lay dragon eggs, they might produce some exceptionally powerful and bizarre bloodlines.

But he definitely could not do that now. It was better to start with the conventional ones first.

He frowned slightly and carefully examined the animals in these six categories, falling into deep thought.

More than half of them could not be cultivated at present. Of the remainder, only a small portion could barely be bred in small batches. As for the rest, it would depend on the circumstances.

Lin Chen had built this gene base for two reasons. One was to build up the future population of his species, while the other was to select the soul beasts most suitable for cultivation.

There were differences among soul beasts, just as there were differences among animals.

He could not yet breed all of them on a large scale, but he could still select a few from each species to mate.

He would not blindly raise them like pigs. Instead, he would allocate resources wisely.

After Di Tian mated with them, he would select the strongest individuals with the best overall qualities from among their offspring.

Survival of the fittest meant keeping the better ones and eliminating the inferior ones, avoiding the waste of too much energy and effort on subpar specimens.

After all, Di Tian only had three breeding opportunities a day, while there were far too many animals that could breed with him.

Seeing Lin Chen lost in thought, Meng Qingrou did not disturb him and simply stood quietly at his side.

A quarter of an hour later, Lin Chen's tightly furrowed brows finally relaxed. He handed the soul tool panel to Meng Qingrou. "Auntie, starting tomorrow, reserve all three daily breeding opportunities for the ones I marked on here.

Use the major categories as the core for easier recordkeeping. Breed one species a day, and strive to produce thirty different dragon-type soul beasts next month."

The ones Lin Chen had marked were basically large-bodied animals. At the very least, they could not be smaller than dogs.

So although there were many species, after picking through them, he could barely select thirty.

As for the smaller ones, such as rabbits, he did not want to try them for now. One failure would mean one wasted opportunity, and he did not want to waste any at present.

Meng Qingrou took the soul tool panel and quietly looked through it before softly humming in acknowledgment. "Starting tomorrow, I'll have them begin preparations."

"Good. Auntie, thank you for your hard work."

Meng Qingrou shook her head. "Don't say such distant things. We only have each other left. If I don't help you, who will?"

Lin Chen's heart trembled, and he looked at her with gratitude.

But in the next moment, that gratitude vanished without a trace.

Without even lifting her head, Meng Qingrou continued swiping through the soul tool panel and casually said, "East Sea Junior Soul Master Academy starts tomorrow. Remember to go."

"Huh? School? Auntie, seriously? I'm the richest man in East Sea. Do I still need to go to school?"

"Even if you were the richest man in the world, you would still obediently go to school!

Don't act so world-weary at such a young age. Auntie wants you to have a complete childhood.

Go to Soul Master Academy, make friends, and learn knowledge. This is something every child must experience.

Your mother and father entrusted you to me, so naturally, I have to take responsibility for you."

"No, I'm not going!

I'm too needed here. They can't do without me!"

"Is that so?" Upon hearing that, Meng Qingrou immediately put away the soul tool panel, a kind elder's smile appearing at the corner of her lips. "There are only three breeding opportunities a day. It's not like you're the one breeding, so what are you busy with?

Don't you just stay in the base every day, shut away and making things behind closed doors?

Auntie thinks that even if you went to Soul Master Academy, it wouldn't affect your great farming enterprise. After all, it's not like you won't come home after school, right?"

"That may be true, but can I just not go?

I don't want to be friends with a bunch of snot-nosed brats. It's beneath me."

Although Lin Chen's body was only six years old, his soul was that of an adult. He truly could not do what Tang San did—pretend to be young! Much less sleep with a six-year-old girl.

"No. I've already enrolled you, and you must go tomorrow.

Oh, and make sure to keep the Eternal Heart close to your body when you go to school.

You've grown too comfortable staying in the small world lately. When I was tidying your room, I found it had actually fallen onto the floor. Are you itching for a beating?"