"Zhixing?"
At the sight of Ji Zhixing, Zhang Yulan immediately rushed over and seized her son's arm, her fingers trembling and her lips quivering, unable to speak.
Her tears spilled down in a rush, one drop after another landing on the back of Ji Zhixing's hand.
"Mom, I'm fine." Ji Zhixing held her hand and softened his voice. "I'm perfectly fine, not a scratch on me. I just spent a few extra days out there."
Zhang Yulan nodded desperately, unable to stop her tears, and reached out to
"As long as you're back. As long as you're back."
Ji Guodong stood beside them, staring at him, his voice hoarse.
Ji Zhixing waited for his parents to calm down before turning toward the family opposite them.
Most of the middle-aged woman's arrogance had drained away. The burly middle-aged man stood in the doorway, wariness on his face, but stubbornly refused to back down.
The delinquent-looking teenager leaned against the doorframe, a trace of disdain on his lips. When he saw Ji Zhixing look over, he snorted.
Ji Zhixing said nothing. He stepped forward and pushed the burly man aside. The man tried to block him, but a single shove sent him stumbling away.
He grabbed the teenager by the collar, tightened his fingers, and lifted him clean off the floor.
"What are you doing!" the teenager cried, his feet dangling as he desperately tried to pry Ji Zhixing's hand loose.
Holding him aloft, Ji Zhixing slammed him into the wall with a bang. The back of his head struck the wall, making him see stars and choking off every curse in his mouth.
"Go on." Ji Zhixing leaned closer, his voice quiet but every word perfectly clear. "Don't you have a filthy mouth? Try mouthing off to me."
The teenager opened his mouth to say something, but when he met Ji Zhixing's eyes, he swallowed his words.
"Ji Zhixing!" Alarmed, the burly man rushed forward to pull them apart.
Without even looking back, Ji Zhixing kicked out, catching him squarely in the lower abdomen.
The burly man grunted and fell backward into the room, landing on his backside. For a long while, he couldn't get up.
"He's attacking us! He's attacking us!" the middle-aged woman shrieked, her piercing voice loud enough to reach the entire building.
Ji Zhixing grabbed the teenager's hair and slammed his head into the wall again. At the dull thud, the woman's screams abruptly stopped.
Ji Zhixing glanced back at her and said evenly, "Shout again, and I'll kill him."
The middle-aged woman froze, her face deathly pale.
The burly man climbed off the floor, clutching his stomach, his face alternating between livid and pale.
He opened his mouth, his voice unsteady. "Ji Zhixing, my son awakened a second-order gene aperture. He's already enrolled at Rain City Middle School. In the future..."
"There is no future." Ji Zhixing turned toward him, still holding the teenager aloft.
Looking at the burly man, he said slowly, "Let me teach you a lesson. Until your son stabilizes his gene aperture and fuses with a gene, you'd better behave yourselves."
"After all, I only fused with a first-order gene. If you anger me, I'll kill your entire family myself. My one life for all of yours-would you say I come out ahead or behind?"
The burly man looked at Ji Zhixing, then at his son dangling from his hand. His expression shifted repeatedly, his lips trembling, but in the end, he didn't dare respond.
Ji Zhixing looked away and slammed the teenager into the wall once more before letting go.
The teenager slid down the wall, his legs so weak he could barely stand. Leaning against it, he gasped for breath and looked up at Ji Zhixing, his eyes filled with fear.
But beneath that fear lay deep, poisonous resentment.
Ji Zhixing glanced at him and paid him no further attention. He turned and nodded to his parents. "Dad, Mom, let's go home."
Zhang Yulan took his hand and gripped it tightly, refusing to let go.
Ji Guodong followed behind as the family went downstairs.
"Brother!"
As soon as they entered their home and shut the door, Ji Zhiyu spotted him and rushed over, throwing herself into his arms. She clung tightly to his waist and burst into tears.
"Brother!" she sobbed, barely able to catch her breath. "They all said you were dead... I didn't believe them... I knew you'd come back..."
Ji Zhixing held his sister and patted her back, smiling. "There, there. I'm fine. Something unexpected happened, that's all. Look, aren't I perfectly all right?"
"Yeah. As long as you're okay." Ji Zhiyu released him, her eyes red.
Ji Zhixing rubbed his sister's head and sat down with his family, giving them a rough account of what had happened without going into detail.
He only told them that after falling into the water, he had become trapped in an underground water cave, where military personnel had found and rescued him.
As for Gu Zheng, Liu Qing, the Earth Core Spirit Liquid, and the hematite, he didn't mention a word.
Telling them would only make his parents worry.
"Mom, is there any food? I'd like something to eat." Once he finished, Ji Zhixing looked at Zhang Yulan.
"Yes. I'll heat it up for you right away."
Zhang Yulan hurried into the kitchen.
Ji Zhixing smiled. Hunger was secondary; mainly, giving his mother something to do would help her truly relax.
After his mother went into the kitchen, he took his father's phone, opened the contacts, and dialed a number.
The phone rang twice before the call connected.
"Hello?" He Yanbing's weary voice came from the other end.
"Teacher He," Ji Zhixing said.
The other end fell silent for a moment. Then He Yanbing's voice suddenly rose, filled with irrepressible excitement. "Ji Zhixing? You're back?"
"Yes, I'm back," Ji Zhixing said. "I'm sorry I made you worry all these days."
"As long as you're back. As long as you're back." He Yanbing repeated it twice before regaining control of her emotions. "Where are you? At home? Are you hurt?"
"I'm home, and I'm not hurt. Don't worry," Ji Zhixing said. "By the way, do you have Teacher Sun's number? I'm planning to go to school tomorrow and return his Yellowstone Staff."
"Yes, I do," He Yanbing said. "I'll send you his number in a moment. Teacher Sun has been worried about you ever since you disappeared, too."
"All right."
As soon as he hung up, the message arrived. Ji Zhixing dialed the number.
"Hello?" Sun Dajun's voice came through the receiver.
"Teacher Sun, it's me, Ji Zhixing."
"Ji Zhixing!" Sun Dajun's voice immediately grew louder. "You're back, kid? Are you all right?"
"I'm fine, Teacher Sun. I'm back. I'll go to school tomorrow and return your Yellowstone Staff."
"That's a small matter." Sun Dajun chuckled over the phone. "Having you back matters more than anything. If you haven't learned the Stonewall Staff Technique yet, you can borrow the Yellowstone Staff a while longer."
"Thank you, Teacher Sun, but there's no need. I've already learned the Stonewall Staff Technique."
"That fast?"
"The Stonewall Staff Technique is completely different from the Army-Breaking Staff Technique. Usually, after learning one staff technique, learning another that embodies a different intent becomes several tenths harder. You still learned it that quickly?"
Sun Dajun was astonished.
Ji Zhixing smiled and chatted with Sun Dajun a little longer before arranging to meet him at school the next day.
Just as he hung up, his mother, Zhang Yulan, brought out the food.
He ate three bowls of rice in one sitting.
Afterward, he chatted with his family a little longer, then sat on the sofa with his father's phone to look up some information.
He kept feeling that something about his situation wasn't right. It differed from what the books described.
He had developed the stone skin gene ability after taking just thirteen bottles of Petrification Gene Potion.
Compared with other people, that consumption seemed far too low.
Besides, taking the Stone Skin Gene Potion and the Origin Force Gene Potion had both felt very comfortable, as though the two potions were naturally suited to him.
Just as I thought!
After looking up some information, Ji Zhixing discovered that many people online who had taken the Stone Skin Gene Potion said it made their bodies go stiff for a short time.
But that had never happened to him.
Is it because of my gene furnace? I wonder if things will be different again once I buy the Gigantification Gene Potion and refine it.
If that really is the case, I should need less Gigantification Gene Potion, too, right?
Ji Zhixing felt a little excited.
After spending a long while chatting with his family on the sofa, he returned to his room, lay down on his bed, and began to rest.
Eighteen days. He had spent eighteen days in that underground water cave, without ever seeing the light of day.
He had developed the stone skin ability, mastered both the Army-Breaking and Bedrock staff techniques, and raised his cultivation close to the peak of the first order with the Earth Core Spirit Liquid.
Tomorrow, I'll go to school and return the Yellowstone Staff to Teacher Sun, he planned. Then I'll sell the hematite and buy the Gigantification Gene Potion.
I'll try to develop the Gigantification ability as quickly as possible, too.
He rolled over and looked at the moonlight outside his window.
Once the Three-Inch Stone Monkey Gene evolves into the Pikeman Stone Monkey Gene, I can fuse with a second gene...
He closed his eyes and slowly drifted off to sleep.
Before you continue