The Strongest Gene

Night time.

Chen Feng paid the fee of 100 yuan and directly entered the virtual classroom. Inside, it was already fully seated with a crowd and was bustling with activity. By eyeballing it, the crowd amounted to a hundred people.

This was the benefit of a virtual classroom. Regardless of how many people were attending the class, you would not feel crowded.

At 8:00 PM sharp.

A silhouette of light flickered and Professor Tao appeared.

He was an elderly person with somewhat grizzled hair. Although peoples’ appearances were much younger with the advent of the era of genes, Professor Tao was already around 50 to 60 years old.

"Dear students, let me talk about the lumberbear gene..."

Professor Tao did not speak anything nonsensical, instead starting the lecture immediately.

However, these problems were something that were not different from what Chen Feng had seen online. He did not purposely come here just to see Professor Tao read from the textbook.

As he thought of this, Chen Feng intuitively raised his hand.

"This student, is there a question?" Professor Tao smiled.

"Professor Tao, I wanted to ask if there is a possibility for the lumberbear gene to have a third type of mutation?" Chen Feng spoke directly.

"Third type?" Professor Tao frowned.

"Yes." Chen Feng nodded his head and said with a deep voice, "Lumberbear’s Wrath, increased strength by 10 points for 10 seconds, 60 second cooldown. There are three crucial numbers here. Since duration and cooldown period have a possibility of a mutation happening, could a mutation happen to the 10 points of strength?"

"Impossible," Professor Tao firmly denied.

"Why?"

Chen Feng was somewhat doubtful. Was it due to the lumberbear gene’s internal structure?

However, what left him astonished was Professor Tao not directly answering him and instead impatiently stating, "Impossible means impossible. I have produced a higher number of mutated lumberbear genes than the number of all the genes that you have seen. Yet, I have never seen the strength mutation that you mentioned."

"Oh." Chen Feng paused. "I was only talking about its possibility."

"There is no such possibility! Student, you are here to attend a class! There are a thousand students here. Every second you waste is equivalent to 1,000 seconds! Every 10 seconds you waste are equivalent to a whole session wasted just like this. What right do you have to waste everyone’s time and money?" Professor Tao said righteously.

"..."

Chen Feng had a stupefied expression on his face.

There was no other reason!

It was because the way this fellow calculated time was exactly the same as the high school teacher in charge during his previous life! This was how your family calculated time? To have the concept twisted to such an extent, in this aspect at least he could be considered as outstanding.

However—

Professor Tao still hadn’t answered Chen Feng’s question.

"Just sit down."

Someone beside Chen Feng suddenly pulled him down.

"Mm?"

Chen Feng looked at the person oddly.

"Stop asking, you won’t be able to get any results."

That person laughed in a mischievous way. "Professor Tao has been relying on the lumberbear gene his whole life. His only accomplishment in life is the lumberbear gene guide he wrote back then. And within the guide, it was clearly mentioned that the lumberbear gene only has two types of possible mutations! And you now come and ask him this question? Isn’t this akin to overturning his only achievement?"

"How is it possible for him to answer you?"

That person smiled. "Even though I also do not believe that the lumberbear gene has another mutation, your seriousness in learning is something I greatly approve of."

That person introduced himself. "Let me introduce myself. I am Mu Yuan, a beginner gene producer."

"Chen Feng, a beginner gene producer."

Chen Feng nodded and gestured. "Those things you told me, I know about them. However, Professor Tao is, after all, someone who has been researching the lumberbear gene his whole life. He should at least know more than others."

"Whole life?"

Mu Yuan laughed involuntarily and said in a low voice, "Hehe. From what I know, back then he researched for a year and gave up on lumberbear gene research after noticing that he hadn’t made any progress. However, he did not manage to accomplish anything else either. Hence, he started to conduct a class every once in a while to earn some extra income."

"Oh yeah, the contents of his classes were always those that were already publicly available online. If not for my course assignment making attending this class compulsory, I wouldn’t bother coming." Mu Yuan sneered.

"..."

So this was the way things were?

He was somewhat regretful. He had thought that he would be able to find the origin of the lumberbear gene’s mutation.

Right at this moment, Chen Feng felt a lot of eyes looking weirdly at him. Subsequently, Professor Tao’s voice could be heard.

"Youngsters nowadays, don’t bite off more than you can chew! Just a rookie, yet you've started having a wild imagination and talking about a mutation that is fundamentally impossible. What kind of mutation do you want a labor-type gene such as the lumberbear gene to have? You are so great that you can let a lumberbear gene mutate out a wing and bring you to the heavens?" Professor Tao stated faintly.

Everyone broke into hearty laughter.

After a long time.

Professor Tao started his lecture again, and they stopped looking Chen Feng’s way.

This guy...

Chen Feng frowned.

Cold light flashed through Mu Yuan’s eyes. "True enough, he is still behaving this way."

"You knew him?"

Chen Feng could hear some underlying meaning.

"Back when the lumberbear gene was new, my grandfather also wrote a lumberbear gene research paper. In order to guarantee the information’s correctness, my grandfather conducted a lot of research to prove his hypothesis and was somewhat slower than this fellow who had directly released a research result filled with loopholes to grab the title of the first issuer of the research."

"Afterward, when my grandfather released his research, no one was interested in it."

"If it was only like this, it would've been fine. What was most vexing was that this bastard subsequently copied my grandfather’s research for a second amendment and released his research once again. This was the reason the complete version of the guide exists nowadays. Within the guide, 80% of the information was obtained from my grandfather!"

"Too bad my grandfather back then was not a gene producer with a big reputation..." Mu Yuan stated regretfully.

"So this was what happened."

Chen Feng was enlightened.

At the same time, he was also somewhat disappointed. Not able to find the origin for the lumberbear gene’s mutation and instead getting a clear look at what type of person this grandmaster here was.

"However..."

"Should I face slap right here?"

Mu Yuan was suddenly excited. "To be honest, I originally thought that you were randomly asking. However, looking at your style of doing things, I suspect that you have already produced the gene with the third type of mutation. Hehe, if you question or publish your mutated gene at this time, things would be interesting!"

Chen Feng laughed involuntarily. "Ah."

He faintly refused. "You think too much."

"All right."

Mu Yuan shrugged without care. "Leave me your contact details. I feel like we have a lot in common. Oh, right, if you really have any problems during your research studies, I suggest you go to the virtual community’s learning forum. There are a lot of grandmasters there."

Learning forum...

Chen Feng remembered it.

This class continued for a long time. During the latter part, Chen Feng was also seriously listening. However, he did not get any useful knowledge from it. After class, Chen Feng went to the virtual community’s learning forum.

Xx gene’s research and production, thoughts: xx gene’s mutation probability, etc. He could see various kinds of discussion threads. Even through the light screen, Chen Feng was able to feel the enthusiastic discussion atmosphere. A smile formed at the corner of Chen Feng’s mouth. This was what he was looking for.

Was there a possibility for the lumberbear gene to have a third mutation?

Chen Feng quickly posted his doubts.

The learning forum was bustling, so replies started coming after a short while. Chen Feng started seriously reading the replies as a lot of people started contributing their thoughts.

Gene’s sudden change...

Gene’s growth...

Etc.

Many people started to explore the question from various angles.

Chen Feng was also researching seriously.

At this moment, Professor Tao had just finished his meal after returning home. During the meal, he was busy berating in front of his family how the students nowadays had no manners, were not sensible, were biting off more than one can chew, and wanted to mutate out a wing to bring them to the heavens, to the point where he didn’t even notice the impatience on his son’s face.

"Father, how long have you been past your prime," Tao Lijun stated unhappily.

"Past what prime!"

Professor Tao rebuked, "My popularity is still high!"

"Hum—"

The wristband’s vibration interrupted Professor Tao’s sentence.

Professor Tao looked at it and smiled immediately. There were unexpectedly a lot of people that were tagging his name on the learning forum. "Look at this. I have only been away for a while yet there’s already so many people inviting me to answer their questions. The learning forum still cannot do without me. Your father still has some reputation."

"Let me take a look."

Tao Lijun curiously came over.

Whoosh!

Learning forum loaded and the light screen appeared.

"Is there a possibility for the lumberbear gene to have a third mutation?"

Tao Lijun blanked momentarily before showing a strange expression. "Isn’t this the impossible thing that you mentioned earlier? They are discussing this."

Immediately, Professor Tao had an unsightly expression.

Possibility of a third mutation?

He vaguely guessed something. As he opened the thread, it was really that question!

"Bastard."

Professor Tao started scolding. "How can this be so? Students nowadays are really not engaging in any honest work! I had clearly told him it was impossible for a third mutation to happen. He actually did not trust me and started asking this kind of question at the learning forum. This is totally looking for sensationalism."

"Father." Tao Lijun was speechless. "He probably only wants to rigorously study this for a bit."

"Rigorous my fart!"

"This type of gene needs to be rigorously studied?"

Professor Tao angrily rebuked, "Was the guide I wrote not comprehensive enough about the lumberbear gene? Students nowadays are going insane from wanting to be popular."

"Very well. You want to be popular, right?"

Professor Tao sneered endlessly.

Currently, Chen Feng was seriously looking over everyone’s answers.

Although his question had not been answered, he couldn’t deny that, with the ideas from fellow online friends, a lot of distinct trains of thought were provided to Chen Feng.

He benefited greatly.

However, due to this question being something related to the lumberbear gene, a lot of people started to tag Professor Tao. This caused Chen Feng to frown. However, he wasn’t too bothered with it. Chen Feng thought that, with Professor Tao’s identity and status, he wouldn’t be so bored as to come here and create trouble, right?

However.

Shortly, a reply was quickly upvoted to the top by a lot of people. Chen Feng glanced at it and the smile on his face immediately vanished. A faint cold light appeared in that pair of eyes that were usually tranquil.