“You should be grateful that this time your project has enough profit to make your senior brother vouch for you. But there won’t be a next time.”
As the voice finished, the projection of the Saint Judge vanished instantly, leaving only Dr. Forefinger, lost in thought.
What exactly did the Saint Judge mean by that second-to-last sentence?
His senior brother must be Dr. Middle Finger, but as for the project…
He still had over thirty projects in progress and more than a hundred in the research phase… Which one was the one with enough profit?
Psychic strengthening modification?
Wide-area gradual brainwashing?
Or the development of star energy firearms?
No, none of those!
Though those projects had promising prospects and involved significant interests, they’d all been underway for a year or two.
If the profit were enough to make the Saint Judge turn a blind eye, the organization would have valued them long ago and allocated more resources. Which one? Which one, exactly?
Dr. Forefinger’s super-developed brain churned wildly, and in an instant, it seized upon a crucial detail.
Ye Lan!
The Saint Judge spoke those words during Ye Lan’s survival test, so this project must be related to her.
If it was related to Ye Lan…
Could it be Ye Lan herself?
No, that shouldn’t be it either.
Though Ye Lan’s talent was terrifying, it wasn’t terrifying enough to make the Saint Judge take notice.
After all, the Saints’ Hand Society had been planning for five thousand years, setting the stage over a thousand years ago when star energy users first appeared. In that time, what prodigies hadn’t they seen?
Even true monsters far surpassing Ye Lan in talent, growth rate, and combat power at the same period had appeared in the battle camps. The Overlord was one of them.
Besides, though Ye Lan was incredibly beautiful, beauty itself was the most insignificant thing in interstellar society.
With cosmetic surgery and gene editing technology so highly advanced now, in any slightly developed Starfield, finding an ugly person was a challenge.
If even Ye Lan herself was ruled out…
There seemed to be only one possibility left!
Dr. Forefinger’s eyes sharpened. He abruptly raised his hand, summoned a virtual keyboard, typed a few strokes, entered the Saints’ Hand Society’s internal network, and directly searched for a name.
Lin Zhen.
The Saints’ Hand Society firmly parasitized the Empire’s shadows, possessing an enormous information-gathering network. Nothing happening within the Empire’s borders could escape their surveillance.
Of course, the Empire’s territory was too vast.
The society couldn’t possibly record and collect every single event in the Empire in detail. They generally only focused on major events that could affect an entire Starfield and on individuals or objects they had their eyes on.
And Lin Zhen and his group, who had escaped from the Saints’ Hand Society, were undoubtedly among those they were tracking.
Especially in the past three years, Dr. Forefinger had used his authority to increase his efforts in collecting information on Lin Zhen.
As Dr. Forefinger conducted the search.
From Lin Zhen returning to the Junk Star, taking his family away, and surviving the society’s first wave of pursuit.
To Lin Zhen settling his family, changing his name.
Joining the Imperial Institute of Technology, one of the top ten Cosmic Academies, under the alias Lin Yun.
Lin Zhen’s every achievement in the positive universe appeared before Dr. Forefinger’s eyes in clear chronological order.
The records were so detailed they even included what Lin Zhen did every day at the Imperial Academy, what he ate, and who he met.
If Lin Zhen himself saw this, he would undoubtedly feel a deep chill from the bottom of his heart.
Dr. Forefinger had been keeping tabs on Lin Zhen for three years, but recently, due to tight project schedules and being busy handling Yun Ruoxi’s matters, he’d neglected Lin Zhen a bit.
His gaze moved downward, landing squarely on Lin Zhen’s latest activity, and his pupils instantly contracted.
It was an inconspicuous report recently published on the tenth page of the Imperial Science and Technology News.
[Imperial Institute of Technology freshman Lin Yun successfully restores level 5 bio-alloy manufacturing process, awarded a Nova Bronze Medal]
[It is reported that this restoration of the level 5 bio-alloy manufacturing process is expected to significantly reduce the cost and time of manufacturing level 5 cyborgs…]
“Level 5 bio-alloy? Nova Bronze Medal?”
Staring at the red-highlighted words in the report, Dr. Forefinger muttered to himself, a flash of anger in his eyes.
He was the one who taught Lin Zhen how to use and develop his supernatural power!
He was the one who told Lin Zhen about the development prospects of his own ability!
And it was obviously him who explained most of the molecular formulas for bio-alloys and star energy alloys to Lin Zhen!
So this should all have been his achievement!
Damn it!
And now, someone else was reaping the rewards?
Dr. Forefinger clenched his fist tightly, his face flushed red with frustration.
“Lin Zhen, this guy, he’s actually made a name for himself in the Cosmic Academy? That surprises me a bit.”
Behemoth leaned in to look, his face full of astonishment. He hadn’t expected the youth, who didn’t stand out compared to Yun Ruoxi and Mo Yuan, to have already made it into the Imperial Science and Technology News.
Even if it was just the tenth page.
The significance was still terrifyingly high.
After all, one had to understand that the Empire’s scientific researchers were as numerous as stars, impossible to count.
Almost every day, new technologies were broken through and old ones were successfully restored. Only results that stood out from these and held enough value could make it into the Imperial Science and Technology News.
So even the last page, the fiftieth, was an incredible achievement, let alone the tenth.
Not to mention Lin Zhen’s age. He was only eighteen!
An eighteen-year-old freshman making the science news?
This was beyond something like “a dragon among men.” Had such a figure appeared in the last hundred years?
Wait, no wonder the Saint Judge had spoken like that just now!
It seemed even the Saints’ Hand Society now recognized Lin Zhen’s talent, deeming him a young scholar worth recruiting.
That was why, with Dr. Forefinger’s senior brother’s backing, they decided to let him continue his plan to bring Lin Zhen back to the society.
Behemoth nodded in sudden understanding, then cast a meaningful glance at Dr. Forefinger, inwardly laughing.
This guy had a sharp eye, discovering several talents among the trainees.
Too bad he couldn’t hold on to a single one.
Whoosh!
Having enjoyed the drama, Behemoth ended the projection.
Dr. Forefinger slammed his fist onto the console.
“Lin Zhen! You showed no mercy first, so don’t blame me for showing none either! My achievements will always belong only to me!!”
He roared, lifting his head. The whites of his eyes were nearly bloodshot, his gaze so sinister it sent chills down one’s spine.
Gasping heavily, Dr. Forefinger strode over to the subconscious manifestor that had stopped.
Staring at the blue-haired girl, her face contorted in pain.
He slowly pressed his right hand against the glass tank, caressing her cheek through the barrier.
“Ye Lan, your dear brother betrayed me. So now it’s your turn to help me punish him! The organization wants me to bring him back? As a researcher…”