Lu Xun stepped out of the house and went downstairs.
He unexpectedly bumped into Xie Manyu climbing the stairs with her backpack.
"Brother?" She was a bit surprised, "As a chronic lazybones, you actually showed up in the stairwell in the morning? Tsk tsk, what a rare sight! Where's my mom? I've been waiting downstairs for about ten minutes, and she still hasn't come down."
"I'm a lazybones, and you're a little troublemaker!" Lu Xun pinched her cheek as a form of punishment, then said, "Aunt forgot where she put her handbag, and she can't find it at the moment. I'm about to go out, so I'll drop you off at school on my way."
"What?" Xie Manyu was stunned, then a gleam of surprise appeared on her pretty face. She hurriedly clung to her brother's arm enthusiastically, "That's great! Let's go, let's take a cab."
Feeling the full sensation on his arm, Lu Xun gave her a meaningful look.
Time flies so quickly.
The little kid who used to cry all the time is now almost a grown-up.
Thinking back to the scene that just occurred.
If Lu Xun hadn't woken up from needing to pee, he wouldn't have caught his aunt and uncle plotting the "tube removal."
Had he slept until noon, he would have woken up to find that the decision was already made.
Aunt would become a single mother, and Xiao Yu would lose her father.
Aunt might be fine, as an adult she's no stranger to life's partings.
But could 15-year-old Xiao Yu bear the weight of losing a close family member?
Probably not.
"Though you've grown up a bit, it's not enough yet." Lu Xun patted her head, "Grow up a bit more, girl."
"Brother, you're only two years older than me. We're both high school students, so stop looking at me with that older person looking at a younger person kind of gaze." Her almond eyes widened in dissatisfaction, "You're just a kid too!!"
...
The siblings walked side by side out of the residential area.
They hailed a cab on the roadside, heading to Jinghai Ninth Middle School where Xiao Yu studied.
Along the way, she kept chattering non-stop, seemingly with endless things to talk about.
The siblings kept talking, and soon reached their destination.
"Brother, do you want to take a stroll around our school?"
"Maybe another day, I have things to do."
"Oh... okay."
Reluctantly, she let go of her brother's arm, waved her hand, and said goodbye, "Then I'll head in, bye-bye."
Lu Xun watched Xie Manyu walk into the school.
Only then did he turn to the driver and say, "To the entrance of Underground City 785, I'll settle the fare all at once."
"Sure!" The driver responded cheerfully.
The car started and drove smoothly.
He was left alone in the back seat.
His expression was very calm, thoughts racing through his mind, slowly organizing the threads of his plan.
The reason he didn't agree to the deal last night.
It wasn't because Lu Xun didn't want to make money, but he considered the risks and consequences, deciding it was wiser to forgo it.
Even though he was really, really tempted.
Even if they didn't pay him a dime, Lu Xun had plenty of reasons to perform the surgery.
A War Ghost Type-8 Military-grade Exoskeleton, a complete Special-Level Orge Race Spine.
It tempted him more than money.
'Though only Old Octopus knows my identity in the whole world.'
'But that means, as long as Old Octopus betrays me, I'm finished.'
'I can't rely on others for my safety. If I can't manage Old Octopus, this deal is absolutely out of the question.'
Lu Xun pondered in his heart.
How to handle Old Octopus?
The simplest and most efficient method: eliminate him!
But Lu Xun wasn't that heartless, and killing wasn't the only extreme solution to problems.
He thought of a very reliable method.
...
"Young man, after turning this corner, we're there. Where do you want to get off?"
Suddenly, a large crocodile head turned back, looking at Lu Xun in the rear seat.
The driver was actually an immigrant from the Red Crocodile Race.
Such a race was rare to come across.
He'd been so lost in thought.
Almost arrived at the destination, Lu Xun realized.
He hadn't recorded the Red Crocodile Race in his guide yet!
Unexpectedly, there was an unexpected gain too.
"Ah yes, from here, that way, that way."
Lu Xun leaned forward naturally, placing his right hand on the driver's shoulder, pretending to point the direction: "It's this entrance... go a little further, sir."
"Alright, stopping at that utility pole up ahead? Got it."
The driver from the Red Crocodile Race had no clue that his body had been thoroughly "seen" by the little thief behind him.
In just a few dozen seconds, Lu Xun, through his All-Knowing Right Hand, analyzed every inch of the driver's flesh and blood.
Even knew what he had for breakfast, how many tapeworms were in his stomach, and the shape of his hemorrhoids—everything was crystal clear.
No secrets whatsoever.
Lu Xun understood that body better than its owner.
[Biological Illustrated Guide successfully recorded!]
[Trait Points +45]
[Illustrated Guide: Crocodile Race - Inferior, completeness 100%. Branch: Red Crocodile Race. Life Level: Inferior. Racial Talent: Unawakened. Lifebound Talent: None. Biological Age: 39...]
[Detected Inferior Level Red Crocodile Race Gene.]
[Gene Compatibility 42.78%, does not meet Projection conditions.]
...
Analyzing a complete Inferior Life Form, the Trait Points obtained are actually less than a vertebra bone of a Special-Level creature?
After Blue Star had gone through five Celestial Convergences, over ten thousand Otherworldly intelligent races had appeared.
But 99% of those races have gone extinct.
Take the once-dominant Dragon Race, for instance, they've turned into ancient fossils now.
This shows how lucky the human natives of Blue Star are, having survived until the end.
Nowadays, there are probably over a hundred Otherworldly races still active in the world.
Apart from humans, each race has its Realm classifications, and even within the same Life Level, there are hundreds of names, making it quite chaotic.
So the Human Federation, for the sake of convenience, simplified and unified the messy realm names of hundreds of races to levels like Inferior, Low, Medium, High, Special, Lord, King, etc.
Inferior Life Forms are four levels below Special Level ones.
Each level represents a huge Life Level gap.
Thus, the Trait Points acquired from analysis are naturally much fewer.
Lu Xun casually retracted his hand.
"Young man, we've arrived." It glanced at the meter, and the huge crocodile head looked back, bearing a seemingly innocent but actually terrifying smile: "42 bucks."
Lu Xun handed him a fifty-dollar bill: "Keep the change."
It was taken aback, quickly accepting the money: "Thank you."
"By the way, take some time to visit the prosthetic hospital and get a new lung; the situation is quite serious." The young man left with this inexplicable remark and then opened the door to leave.
His crocodile face was full of question marks.
His first reaction was that the other was talking nonsense, making things up.
However, looking at the bill in his hand and then at the silhouette disappearing into the distance, a tone of hesitation appeared in his crocodile eyes: "...I seemingly haven't had a checkup in years either... "
...
He analyzed someone's body without permission.
Performed an ultra-detailed full body check-up for him.
This method of acquiring Trait Points is not honorable.
So Lu Xun truthfully told the driver about his lung condition as a small compensation.
Actually, he had principles when it came to analyzing living subjects.
He only conducted analyses indiscriminately when receiving customers in Old Octopus's clinic.
Other times, if Lu Xun wanted to analyze live, humanoid or semi-humanoid, intelligent races with clear gender distinctions, he usually targeted males.
Analyzing females would be too disrespectful…
It's a hundred times worse than just peeping at someone taking a bath, seeing everything inside and out.
'Directly merging Special-level genes might consume an enormous amount of Trait Points.'
'After saving for thirteen years, I wonder how much I have.'
As Lu Xun walked towards the entrance of the underground city, he focused his thoughts on his right hand.
Information feedback immediately appeared in his mind——
[Total Illustrated Guide entries recorded: 248451]
(Note ①: Biological Illustrated Guide accounts for 12.6%, Non-Biological Illustrated Guide accounts for 87.4%.)
(Note ②: Complete Illustrated Guide accounts for 64.2%, Incomplete Illustrated Guide accounts for 35.8%.)
[Available Trait Points: 75,040]
"Seventy-five thousand, huh? Thirteen years of accumulation, I wonder if it's enough to let me soar?"
Lu Xun murmured softly, lifting his foot as he stepped into the elevator.