Seventy-two Percent Compatibility, the Three-Inch Stone Monkey

Ji Zhixing stopped before a metal platform and activated the gene apertures inside his body.

Boom!

Almost the instant he activated his gene apertures, he froze.

All this time, one of his two gene apertures had lit up over a larger area.

The other had always responded weakly.

But now, the gene aperture that had always responded weakly suddenly blazed with light.

The light was intense, instantly illuminating the interior of the gene aperture and filling more than seventy percent of it.

"This..."

Ji Zhixing's pupils contracted slightly, and his heart gave a powerful thump.

"How could this be?" he murmured, stunned and delighted. "This gene aperture only had one or two percent compatibility with every gene I tested before, but now..."

He took a deep breath and activated his gene apertures again to make sure.

There was no mistake.

Brilliant light filled a full seventy percent of that gene aperture!

Seventy percent... no, seventy-two percent! A storm of emotion surged through Ji Zhixing. Seventy-two percent compatibility?

He had learned from his textbooks as a child that gene cultivators usually had less than fifty percent compatibility with any given gene. Even exceeding fifty percent was uncommon. As for exceeding seventy percent...

It was not unheard of.

But it was extraordinarily rare!

I actually have more than seventy percent compatibility with this gene?

Uncontrollable elation welled up inside Ji Zhixing.

"This gene..." He raised his head and looked at the light screen above the metal platform.

The gene's name and description were displayed quietly on the screen.

Ji Zhixing was briefly taken aback when he read the name.

He stood before the metal platform for a while, his gaze flickering.

After a moment, he took a deep breath, committed the platform's location to memory, and turned away to continue exploring the other areas.

No hurry. I'll keep looking, Ji Zhixing thought as he walked. Since I found one gene with such high compatibility, perhaps I can find a second.

He was different from everyone else.

He had been born with dual gene apertures.

He could fuse with two core genes.

Ji Zhixing suppressed his excitement and continued past one metal platform after another, activating his gene apertures to test their compatibility.

Meanwhile, in the first-floor hall.

I wonder how Ji Zhixing and the others are doing.

Their homeroom teacher, He Yanbing, had just finished advising several students. She checked the time and headed upstairs.

When she reached the second floor, she spotted Huang Yu and Yu Zhirou immediately.

They were standing before separate metal platforms, studying the floating light screens intently. Both were clearly taking their gene selection seriously.

He Yanbing walked over and scanned the surroundings, but Ji Zhixing was nowhere in sight.

She frowned and approached Huang Yu. "Huang Yu, where's Ji Zhixing?"

Huang Yu blinked, snapping out of his sensing state, and looked around blankly. "Huh? Ji Zhixing? Wasn't he over there just a moment ago?" He pointed at a nearby platform.

"Where is he now?"

Huang Yu scratched his head. "I don't know. I was concentrating on sensing the genes and didn't notice."

He Yanbing turned to Yu Zhirou.

Yu Zhirou shook her head as well. "I didn't notice either. I saw him over there earlier, but I don't know where he went."

She and Huang Yu had been searching for suitable genes the whole time. Only when He Yanbing asked did they realize that Ji Zhixing had disappeared at some point.

"Now that I think about it, I haven't seen him for a while," Yu Zhirou said.

"Could he have gone up to the third floor?"

He Yanbing frowned.

The third floor was where the third-order gene samples were kept.

Ji Zhixing had only awakened second-order gene apertures, so going up there would do him little good.

Still, he might have gone up out of curiosity.

"Never mind him for now. How are you two doing? Have you found any genes you like?"

He Yanbing put the question to Huang Yu and Yu Zhirou.

"Ms. He, I've got my eye on the lightning leopard gene. I have thirty-six percent compatibility with it. I'll keep looking, but if I can't find anything with higher compatibility, I'll choose it," Huang Yu replied immediately.

"The lightning leopard gene? Thirty-six percent compatibility? That's fairly good."

He Yanbing nodded slightly.

"What about you, Zhirou?"

She turned to Yu Zhirou.

"The windtail bird gene has the highest compatibility with me, but it's only twenty-nine percent. I'm going to keep looking," Yu Zhirou replied.

"A bird gene?"

He Yanbing's eyes brightened slightly. "Then try looking at more bird genes, especially wind-attribute ones."

"All right, Ms. He."

Yu Zhirou answered dutifully.

After giving the two a little more guidance, He Yanbing headed for the stairs and briskly climbed to the third floor.

There were very few people there. She scanned the floor and saw only one boy wearing a No. 1 High School uniform, but he was not Ji Zhixing.

He isn't on the third floor? Puzzled, He Yanbing glanced toward the fourth floor. After a brief hesitation, she decided not to go any higher.

She returned to the second floor and looked around carefully once more, but there was still no sign of Ji Zhixing.

Where did that boy run off to? After a moment's thought, He Yanbing felt a sinking unease and headed down to the first floor.

The first-floor hall bustled with people.

Ji Zhixing was examining the platforms one by one when he suddenly stopped before a metal platform.

[Name: Three-Inch Stone Monkey Gene

Rank: first order

Description: A small primate native to the deep mountains. Adults stand only about three inches tall. Light and agile, they can leap freely among mountain rocks.

Because of their tiny size, they often hide in rock crevices, hence the name Three-Inch Stone Monkey.

Primary ability tendencies: enhanced agility, stone monkey heart.

Main advancement paths: three-inch stone monkey king gene, stone spirit monkey gene...]

"Three-Inch Stone Monkey... stone monkey..."

Ji Zhixing murmured the name, then activated his gene apertures to check his compatibility with the Three-Inch Stone Monkey Gene.

Whoosh!

The next second, he froze.

The gene aperture that had always shown good compatibility with ape and monkey genes now lit up over a full seventy-two percent of its interior!

"Compatibility... seventy-two percent? Another gene with seventy-two percent compatibility?"

Ji Zhixing's eyes widened in disbelief.

His other gene aperture having seventy-two percent compatibility with the gene he had found earlier was already incredible.

He had never expected to find another gene with seventy-two percent compatibility.

"There's no question anymore!"

Ji Zhixing took a deep breath. "I've already checked almost every ape and monkey gene on the first floor."

"The Three-Inch Stone Monkey Gene has the highest compatibility."

This gene... really is weak, Ji Zhixing analyzed rapidly. An adult Three-Inch Stone Monkey is only three inches tall, barely bigger than a rat. The strength boost it can give me at first will be almost negligible, and the speed boost will be limited too...

But a moment later, his gaze grew resolute.

But seventy-two percent compatibility! What does compatibility that high mean? It means I can tap into this gene's deeper potential and have a better chance of evolving it to the second order, or even higher.

With compatibility this high, if I don't choose it, I'll regret it for the rest of my life!