Bear Tree Meow Goo Gang Shaman

"Lin, are you really not going to reconsider?"

The old professor's nagging voice came through the phone:

"A genius in a fundamental discipline like you should have a top-tier research environment—

Our university's biology lab may not compare to Harvard's, but it's still world-class. How can you do research while holed up alone in some little shop?"

"Thank you for your concern, Professor Wilson... but I still believe that science comes from practice—

I'm very interested in the '1KP' project starting this November, so I've decided to collect samples myself."

His gentle voice carried a hint of apology as he responded to the old professor's persuasion. Oaks turned on the speakerphone, set the phone on the table, then turned and took a black hoodie from the coat rack.

He had just checked for the keys in his pocket when Professor Wilson's voice sounded again after several seconds of silence.

Perhaps because of the speakerphone, the old professor sounded rather helpless:

"All right, Lin. This makes me the sixth invitation you've turned down lately...

But if you're participating in this global initiative, I'll help explain things to the other professors."

"Uh... thank you," Oaks said, rubbing his chin again. He grinned and grabbed the electric shaver beside his phone.

"Professor Wilson, you know the significance of this global initiative to botanical research—

It's a worldwide collaboration aimed at studying the diversity of genes and genomes in plant species, from green algae to flowering plants, over more than a billion years.

Although my degree is in biology, my botanical studies have actually gone a little deeper than my zoological research."

"Bzzzz—"

The electric shaver started buzzing, and Professor Wilson's wry laugh came through the phone.

"Ah, that's true, but you're the genius who single-handedly raised our biology department into the nation's top three—

I think you'd be better suited to gene sequencing and data research after the samples are collected. I can already picture those people at Harvard and MIT laughing at us."

"Uh, I still hope to go into the rainforest and collect samples myself—I've lived in this concrete-and-steel metropolis for too long. I'm nearly disconnected from nature."

Rubbing his smooth chin, Oaks tossed aside the shaver with satisfaction and picked up his phone.

"Besides, Professor Wilson, a large part of why I conduct biological research is because I hope to improve people's living environment. Your research directions, and those of the other professors, differ somewhat from mine."

"Aha, Lin, I have to say that your goal is admirable... but I still have reservations about an academic elite like you running a tiny houseplant shop!"

Oaks smiled apologetically.

"Professor Wilson, this is a social experiment... You'll understand soon enough—

Please apologize to the other professors for me again~ That's all, bye~"

"Beep!"

After hanging up, Oaks let out a sigh of relief. He slipped his phone into his jeans pocket, tidied his red hair, then happily went downstairs, locked the front door, and headed toward the back entrance.

Oaks Lin, a Doctor of Biology and graduate of Cornell University in New York, was fairly well-known in academic circles.

Although he lived in New York, Oaks was actually of Central European mixed heritage, with half Irish blood.

Therefore, although his face and features closely resembled his father's Chinese heritage, one of the Celts' most distinctive traits inherited from his mother—red hair—still showed clearly on him.

His home was the two-story standalone storefront of the "Emerald Dream" houseplant shop in Brooklyn's Twentieth District, New York. It was the greatest inheritance his parents had left him—

At the end of 1999, when Oaks was fourteen, the couple had been killed in a car accident while returning from a business trip, without even leaving behind last words.

When he received the news, he had been eagerly waiting for his parents to return and celebrate Christmas with him. The immense shock and grief made him faint, and when he woke up, he had become what he was now.

A... special soul had taken over his life.

So, although twenty-three-year-old Oaks owned a car, he avoided driving whenever he went out unless he was making deliveries.

As for taking the subway... come on, could New York's subway even be called a subway? It was hell!

"If it's my birthday, I'll close the shop and take the day off... But life lies in movement."

After locking the back door, Oaks looked up at the half-open transom window, then glanced at the electronic watch on his wrist.

"September 22, 2008, ten in the morning."

Nodding, Oaks stretched, lowered himself into a slight crouch, then sprang upward—

"Whoosh—"

A faint glimmer flashed. Oaks's slender figure, nearly six feet three inches tall, vanished. In his place, a plump orange tabby cat with a broad face slipped through the transom window and disappeared in an instant.

That was right. This was what made Oaks special—

In his previous life, his name had been Lin Xingye.

Born in an industrial city, he had longed for nature without limit since childhood. Even when playing games, he always chose classes with a nature-themed background.

Thus, after graduating from college with a degree in environmental protection, he chose to become a forest ranger in a national forest nature reserve.

Then, on his thirtieth birthday, Lin Xingye was heroically killed while investigating a poaching ring, trying to stop the poachers from starting a forest fire in their madness—

When he awoke again, he had received nature's gift.

Although his reincarnation location was less than ideal—New York was one of the world's most environmentally polluted cities, not to mention its horrifying wealth gap and the tangled coexistence of glamour and chaos.

But Nature Force had not only strengthened his body and mind; it had also granted him unique spells and an inheritance—

"A one-of-a-kind four-specialization class, Bear Tree Meow Goo Gang Shaman, Azeroth's messenger of nature—"

"Druid!"

Although he had a deep understanding of this so-called jack-of-all-trades class, Oaks had not been happy for long after gaining his abilities.

Because, before he had even fully integrated the previous owner's memories, a highly anticipated global conference had aired on television.

It was the New Year's Eve technology conference in Bern, Switzerland, in 1999–2000.

A turn-of-the-century academic gathering of the world's top scientists.

And its brightest star was—

The chairman and CEO of Stark Industries, genius scientist, wealthy philanthropist, renowned playboy...

Tony Stark!

That night, there even seemed to be rumors of a scandal involving him and another female scientist.

Well, that was the sort of thing the public loved to hear about.

But Oaks had been utterly stunned at the time.

After carefully sorting through the previous owner's memories, he had no choice but to force down his initially soaring spirits—

This world had Stark Industries and Tony Stark.

Stark Industries had factories in both Long Island and Queens, New York.

And the Captain America Memorial Museum was right there in the Brooklyn where he lived.

Yes, Captain America, the Howling Commandos, Ms. Peggy Carter's World War II memoirs.

Wasn't that enough to make things clear?

His abilities were certainly interesting, but this was not a primitive society!

In an era when Earth's Biosphere had been damaged to such an extent, a nature-based spellcaster was practically weakened from birth...

"I need an identity to conceal myself!"

From then on, Oaks established his code of action... or rather, his code of survival.

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