Can scientific research be called indecent?

With infinite sympathy for Zhen Chanzi, Wang Qi hurried back to the dorm.

The Yao Ding Suanjing cultivation technique was immensely helpful to him. As a modern cultivation method, the total amount of Magical Power it could provide and its recovery speed were incomparable to Daluo Hundiantianjing. Although Yao Ding Suanjing had no particular advantage in specific areas, in terms of pure computational ability, it was absolutely unmatched throughout history!

On Earth, scientists had always called mathematics the "queen of sciences." Without mathematics, no research could be conducted.

Without Fourier transforms and calculus, how could one establish a foothold in electromagnetism?

Without Taylor series expansion and genetic algorithms, one couldn't even research genetics.

Without mathematical modeling, no mechanics research could be carried out.

Therefore, when choosing a cultivation technique, Wang Qi had first selected Yao Ding Suanjing. No matter what he cultivated in the future, Yao Ding Suanjing would be useful.

Thinking of this, his mood greatly improved. He quickly walked to his room door, ready to sleep and then begin cultivating tomorrow.

As he reached his room door, he stopped. He clearly heard voices inside.

Was it an illusion?

Wang Qi pressed his ear against the door. This time, he heard even more clearly. It was unmistakably the sound of a girl humming. Her voice was warm and soft, almost sickeningly sweet, and exceptionally pleasant. Wang Qi stepped back two paces and looked up at the room number: Geng Zi 414. It wasn't his. He rubbed his eyes again, confirming he hadn't misread.

"My eyes, I've found the key," Wang Qi muttered, speaking a meme only he understood, as he pushed the door open.

After ruling out the possibility of being in the wrong room, and being certain he hadn't booked any special services, only two possibilities remained.

First, the girl humming inside had the wrong room.

Second, he had attracted the attention of a thief.

He'd deal with the first possibility later. If it was the second, it would be a welcome development! While he had to commend the thief's courage for sneaking into the Immortal Alliance territory to steal, targeting a dormitory area that housed at most mid-stage Qi Refining disciples meant this thief must be doing very poorly—and humming while committing a crime? Utterly unprofessional!

Catching a beautiful female thief was a classic trope in novels! Thinking of this, Wang Qi couldn't help but flash a wicked, or perhaps lewd, smile.

Unfortunately, Wang Qi couldn't share these thoughts with Zhen Chanzi, otherwise the old man in the ring would have immediately criticized Wang Qi's straying thoughts.

Furthermore, it was truly pitiable that the once dignified Mahayana cultivator had been reduced to a commentator of mundane items like Zhen Chanzi.

After opening the door, Wang Qi saw the humming girl at first glance. He froze for a moment, then couldn't help but murmur, "Brother Heavenly Dao... I finally understand your preferences..."

Firstly, the girl's hair color was strange. Humans in the Divine Continent looked like Asians from Earth, but there were many "ethnic minorities" with different skin colors, and hair and eye colors weren't uniform. However, a vibrant orange like this girl's far exceeded the human norm. Yet, this orange hair looked exceptionally natural, completely unlike the "emo" styles seen in the cultivation world.

Secondly, the girl had no ears on the sides of her head, but a pair of cat ears on top.

Her slightly parted lips, and her voice that was bursting with sweetness... yes, this was an authentic beast-eared girl.

Although he briefly suspected she was a legendary transformed demon, a transformed Demon Beast would at least need to be at the level of ancient Soul Separation or modern Void Refining. Such a powerful demon would never intrude upon the dormitories of Qi Refining cultivators.

However, Wang Qi pushed aside his thoughts about the girl's identity. A curiosity, purely academic, took control of him. In the language of certain manga, he felt a switch flip inside him.

"Can I touch your ears?"

"Huh?" The girl, hearing Wang Qi enter, had already put on a professional smile. But Wang Qi's words froze her face.

"You're smiling, so you don't object?" Wang Qi was excited. The physiological structure of such peculiar creatures was incredibly fascinating. And the feel of them...

"Hey! Wait, meow! I... Mrow!" The girl finally reacted, protesting loudly. But Wang Qi was quick, grabbing her ears.

What a great feel!

Wang Qi exclaimed inwardly, thoroughly enjoying himself. He had wanted to do this since childhood in his previous life, and today he actually succeeded!

As Wang Qi squeezed the girl's ears, her face grew redder. She struggled desperately, trying to escape the villain who was playing with her ears. But Wang Qi could feel that the girl had no Magical Power within her; her strength was only at the level of Qi Refining or Heaven-Through stage, not to be feared. Seeing she couldn't break free, the girl cried out in distress, "Help! Someone... Help me!"

It was time for the classic line! Wang Qi was inspired and said with a "sinister smile," "Go ahead and scream! Scream until your throat is raw, no one will save you!"

Suddenly, Wang Qi felt a sharp pain in his back, and his body flew through the air, crashing into the wall. Wang Qi quickly extended his hands, pressing them against the wall to cushion the impact, then locked his grip, naturally exerting force to dissipate the momentum. He landed on the ground.

Damn, someone actually came to save me when I yelled!

Wang Qi grumbled inwardly as he turned around. He saw Xiang Qi shielding the cat-eared girl behind her, her face filled with anger: "Wang Qi... I never thought you were that kind of person!"

"What kind of person?"

Xiang Qi pointed a finger at Wang Qi's nose and scolded, "You actually used force on a girl! Public indecency!"

Wang Qi's mouth twitched. "I've just never seen this young lady's... uh, these peculiar ears before, and I wanted to touch them. How is that indecent?"

"Even if she's a Half-Demon, she's still a citizen under the Immortal Alliance! Don't you see her as a person?"

"So... I just touched her ears out of curiosity, it's not a major crime, is it..."

Su Junyu poked his head in from the doorway, a strange smile on his face, looking like he understood everything. "For Half-Demons, it's those ancestral traits that are off-limits."

"What's with that 'fellow traveler' look on your face," Wang Qi said stiffly. "And what's a Half-Demon?"

"When a transformed demon mates with a human and conceives offspring, that's a Half-Demon," Zhen Chanzi explained in Wang Qi's mind. "For tens of thousands of years, the immortal and demon races were opposed to each other, and neither race tolerated them. But it seems things have changed."

This is unscientific! Wang Qi looked at the cat-eared girl—this action startled her, and she shrank back behind Xiang Qi—and asked, "Love between humans and demons can actually break the reproductive barrier? That sounds so..."

Xiang Qi looked at him suspiciously. "You've really never seen a Half-Demon?" Wang Qi quickly shook his head. Xiang Qi then looked at the ring in Wang Qi's hand and asked, "Old man, you never told him about Half-Demons?"

Zhen Chanzi chuckled. "Ten thousand years ago, if a cultivator saw a Half-Demon, who wouldn't just kill it with a sword?"

Hearing the word "kill," the cat-eared girl trembled.

Xiang Qi patted her back, comforting her softly. Su Junyu then explained carefully to Wang Qi.

The so-called "transformation" was a Spiritual Power that demons could learn after reaching a certain level of cultivation. This Spiritual Power allowed them to change their form by altering their bloodline structure without changing their bloodline itself. In Earth's terms, it was like changing gene expression without rewriting the genes.

After the expression of DNA changed, the Demon Race's physical bodies became indistinguishable from humans, and the reproductive isolation between humans and demons would temporarily disappear. During this period, if humans and demons mated, there was a very low chance of offspring. This was the original origin of Half-Demon. And if a Half-Demon had offspring with a human, there was a 50% chance the infant would be a Half-Demon.

A Half-Demon infant looked exactly like a human at birth. It wasn't until around the age of twelve, when secondary sexual characteristics began to develop, that they would gradually show ancestral traits—the most common being hair color, ears, and tail.

It's worth mentioning that cultivators from Spirit Beast Mountain, led by the True Man Tian Gu Fa Bu Er, had proposed renaming transformed demons after deciphering Spiritual Power. The principle behind demon transformation was almost identical to a caterpillar metamorphosing into a butterfly, the only difference being that demons relied on Magical Power while caterpillars relied on hormones.

However, this scientifically rigorous suggestion was vehemently opposed by other Free and Unfettered cultivators. Several great demons at the Mahayana stage, who had good relations with Spirit Beast Mountain, also stated they would immediately turn their backs on Spirit Beast Mountain if they dared to use that academic term for the Demon Race.

In short, thanks to the persistence of those seniors, transformed Demon Race are not called "perverted demons" today.

Wang Qi keenly caught the key point: "Wait a moment, 'appears after secondary sexual characteristics begin to develop,' which means..."

Su Junyu gave a thumbs-up: "Exactly! The ears and tail of a Half-Demon, for humans, are..." He glanced at Xiang Qi's chest and coughed, "Ahem, a bit regrettable..."

Xiang Qi smiled thinly and unleashed her Heavenly Order Sword Disc: "You rich snob, come here, I promise I won't kill you."

Wang Qi covered his face. What he was thinking at that moment was: I've messed up this time...

After a round of explanations, the situation finally calmed down.

Xiang Qi summarized: "In other words, you, Wang Qi, because you had never seen a Half-Demon, out of curiosity, laid hands on this Half-Demon junior sister, Mao Zimiao, and committed public indecency."

Wang Qi's mouth twitched: "I reserve my opinion on the 'public indecency' part..."

It was to satisfy curiosity! It was a scientific activity! Can the work of a researcher be called indecency? Can it?

"Apologize, in any case."

Wang Qi honestly apologized to the girl named Mao Zimiao. The girl blushed and quickly waved her hands: "No need, meow! Actually, senior brother, you were also... unintentional, meow!"

"Uh, I've wanted to ask since a while ago... is that meaningless 'meow' a unique verbal tic for Half-Demon?"

Mao Zimiao panicked and quickly waved her hands: "It's not, meow! I... I just... meow... just..."

Xiang Qi helped her out: "It's due to the Half-Demon's physiological instincts. Core Formation stage demons can alter their throat structure when tempering the Twelve-Story Building, but Half-Demon cannot."

The girl blushed even harder: "It... it really isn't that I can't control it, meow!"

The Half-Demon girl was in Wang Qi's room because she had taken on a mission from the Immortal Alliance to clean the dormitories before the students moved in, in order to accumulate "merit points."

Immortal Alliance merit points are something similar to contribution or points. As long as you accumulate enough merit points, you can exchange them for anything you desire from the Immortal Alliance.

Once the misunderstanding was cleared up, Xiang Qi instructed Mao Zimiao to leave first, then looked at Wang Qi: "Your skills have improved. Have you decided on your cultivation technique?"

Happy New Year, everyone!!!