Crystallization Alchemy!
Supervisor Frank and Eco exchanged a glance, utterly stunned.
They couldn't believe that Feng Lin, on his very first attempt at studying this ancient divine medicine, had actually achieved results. How was that possible?
But looking at the crystalline powder in Feng Lin's hand, the evidence was right before their eyes, and they had no choice but to believe it.
"Is this so-called crystallization alchemy really as miraculous as you claim?" Frank pondered for a moment, then asked solemnly.
"I'm not entirely sure either!" Feng Lin didn't make any guarantees. Being too confident would only arouse suspicion.
"Through mental detection, I found that this ancient divine medicine is composed of countless tiny crystal particles, tightly structured with no gaps, perfectly sealing in the medicinal power. That's why I thought of using crystallization alchemy to replicate this process, to see if I could produce a similar effect!" Feng Lin said with a hint of hesitation, voicing his speculation.
He appeared candid, but his words were half-truths, subtly shifting concepts by calling the crystalline lifeform "tiny particles" and not revealing it was a pill, still referring to it as ancient divine medicine, preventing the two from spotting any flaws in his speech.
The alchemy inheritance of this ancient divine medicine had already been obtained by Feng Lin; no one else could ever get it. Wasn't it up to him to say whatever he wanted?
Frank and Eco exchanged another glance, showing no suspicion at all.
Unlike Eco's wariness, Frank was pleasantly surprised, finding no reason to doubt, and thought Feng Lin's speculation was quite reasonable. "This is indeed a new approach!"
After all, this was an ancient divine medicine, containing unsolved mysteries from a million years ago, which countless geneticists and gene scholars had failed to crack.
That Feng Lin, a newcomer, had achieved so much on his first look already delighted them; they didn't overthink it.
But if they knew that Feng Lin had made a major breakthrough, even obtaining the complete alchemy inheritance, who knows how shocked they'd be?
Heh...
Feng Lin certainly wasn't about to tell them.
"This is an approach we haven't tested! Are these the drugs you've concocted?" Supervisor Frank turned his gaze to the crystalline drug in Feng Lin's hand, his voice deep.
"Yes, these are my attempts at crystallizing adrenaline agents. I'm just not sure of their efficacy," Feng Lin said calmly.
Supervisor Frank picked up the bottle of crystalline drug, examining it repeatedly with deep-set eyes, then made a snap decision. "Let's test it!"
As for how to test it, it was simple!
There was no reason not to use the readily available human subjects.
Frank led the two out of the sealed lab and approached a listless test subject.
"Inject him with this," Frank ordered coldly.
A researcher nodded and injected the crystalline powder into the test subject's body through a thin tube.
Feng Lin suppressed his inner discomfort, showing no change in expression, and observed carefully.
As the crystalline drug entered the body, the test subject went completely rigid, motionless like a lump of flesh, with no reaction from the instruments for a long time.
Frank and Eco were puzzled.
If it worked, shouldn't the person have reacted immediately?
If it didn't work, the immense potency of the drug should have burst the person apart, not left them unaffected.
Based on their experience, they couldn't tell at all whether the crystallized drug had any effect.
Beep, beep, beep!
After another five minutes, the heart rate monitor on the glass chamber suddenly began to spike.
"Supervisor, look!" Eco was the first to notice, and both turned to see.
The heart rate fluctuated violently—a clear sign of rapidly increasing vitality.
The test subject in the glass chamber suddenly stirred, opening his eyes with a piercing gaze, muscles twitching like mice under his skin. The vitality reading on the instruments shot up sharply, quickly rising from a normal person's 0.1 straight past the 1 mark, finally stopping at 3.
Frank and Eco's eyelids twitched. This was clearly a sign of gene awakening and ongoing enhancement.
Could this lab rat have awakened the adrenaline gene?
The crystallized drug really worked!
The reason it hadn't taken effect immediately was that the drug's power was suppressed, slowly being released.
Just then, the test subject's face twisted in pain, summoning all his strength. His arms swelled to the size of pillars, and the immense force was unleashed on the glass chamber.
The hardened glass, as tough as alloy, shattered into dust under that single punch.
Glass shards exploded like water droplets, scattering everywhere like bullets, mowing down a row of researchers who had crowded too close.
"Damn it, the test subject has gone berserk!"
"Grab him, don't let him escape!"
"What kind of drug is that?"
...
The R&D department descended into chaos, researchers scattering in all directions.
Feng Lin instinctively moved to act but quickly suppressed the urge, feigning fear and stepping back.
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!...
Dense beams of heat shot out. Eco reacted swiftly, pulling out a beam gun and firing at the rampaging test subject.
The test subject dodged, narrowly avoiding the shots at the last moment, as if time had slowed down for him, allowing him to evade even lightning-fast beam bullets.
"Bullet time—he's awakened the adrenaline gene!" The R&D department was full of gene experts; they could easily tell the man had awakened the adrenaline gene and mastered the bullet-time ability.
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!
Eco's face twisted in fury as he kept firing the beam gun.
The test subject, in bullet-time mode, nimbly dodged each shot, his bloodshot eyes fixed on Frank, face contorted with hatred and vengeance.
He recognized this man as the culprit behind his people's suffering and lunged at him wildly.
"Supervisor, watch out!" Eco shouted.
Frank stood still, raising both hands and pressing down sharply into the air.
Boom!
The air shook with a thunderous roar, and an invisible pressure crashed down like a mountain.
The R&D staff, caught off guard by the indiscriminate attack, were all flattened to the ground, sprawled like frogs, pressed against the floor.
Feng Lin braced himself to resist but, seeing everyone else down, instantly relaxed his strength and let himself be pressed down too.
But it wasn't out of cowardice—it was to keep a low profile.
Feng Lin didn't want anyone to discover he was already an interstellar cultivator, revealing his biggest trump card.
The test subject, once ferocious, was now pinned down and helpless, like a lamb to the slaughter.
Feng Lin's heart sank. He hadn't expected Supervisor Frank, who usually kept a low profile, to be a hidden gene cultivator.
This invisible pressure made the body feel three to four times heavier!
It was gravity!
Had he awakened the gravity gene?
Feng Lin speculated silently, his mind already working.
If he ever faced this gravity gene, how should he deal with it?
Meanwhile, Supervisor Frank, without moving a muscle, had easily subdued the berserk test subject, earning looks of awe from everyone around.
"Secure him—he's a valuable specimen!" Frank barked. "After taking that crystalline drug, a normal-bodied test subject is still alive and has awakened the adrenaline gene. We must record the data carefully! This could be the key to cracking the ancient divine medicine's secret."
Seeing the berserk test subject subdued, the researchers who had been fleeing now grinned viciously and pounced on him like wolves.
The test subject glared at Frank with blood-red eyes, full of defiance and rage, then suddenly showed terror. His mouth opened wide as he inhaled, and his body swelled like a balloon, rapidly inflating and convulsing. When it reached its limit, it exploded instantly, showering everything with a rain of blood and flesh.
The researchers, unable to dodge in time, were drenched in the bloody rain, screaming in shock.
Failure!
Seeing this, Eco breathed a deep sigh of relief.
Feng Lin's breakthrough with crystallization alchemy from the ancient divine medicine had put too much pressure on him.
If this kept up, wouldn't he end up beneath this kid?
Even goodwill vanished in the face of competitive interests.
He looked at Feng Lin with cold, emotionless eyes. This outcome was exactly what he wanted to see.
The test subject's body bursting apart clearly meant he couldn't withstand the drug's power. While the crystallization alchemy had some effect, failure was still failure—this kid would struggle to threaten his position.
But the next words from Frank made his face turn ashen, dark as a ghost.
The crystallized drug had failed, yes, but Frank saw immense potential for success in it. He made a decision on the spot, turning to Feng Lin and announcing solemnly.
"Feng Lin, I'm appointing you as the new project lead, specifically to perfect this crystallization alchemy!"