[This Chapter Is Sponsored by Cade Atkinson! Everyone, please thank him in the comment!]
As the smoke and dust gradually dispersed, the Ground Dragon before my eyes had completely transformed into a fair-skinned young girl.
Indeed, a young girl. Previously, the Ground Dragon was thoroughly a synthetic beast, somewhat resembling a giant mole capable of walking upright.
But now, after consuming Chemical X, this creature underwent an outright species transformation.
At the dining table, where the Ground Dragon originally sat, now sat a slightly slender girl with fluffy, grey short hair, small round ears atop her head, and a fair, tender face filled with a panic-stricken expression.
"Doc… Doctor…"
The Ground Dragon was visibly panicked: "What exactly is going on?"
"Nani!?"
Not just the doctor, but everyone present was stunned, especially the armored gorilla, who was literally sweating bullets.
"This…"
After a brief moment of shock, Doctor Genus quickly recovered, turning to look at Fang Mo nearby: "Fang Mo, the solution you gave me was indeed for genetic modification... right?"
"Of course."
Fang Mo nodded immediately: "I mean..."
"Heh."
Before he could finish, the mischievous demon next to him suddenly interrupted with a cold laugh: "I think it's more like a cute-animal drug."
"…"
An awkward silence fell over the scene.
"Hey, why do you always have to roast me?" In the end, it was Fang Mo who broke the silence, laughing and spreading his hands, turning to others: "That, Ancient One, stop eating your porridge for a moment and say something nice for me."
"Transforming other creatures into beautiful girls sounds indeed quite absurd."
Ancient One put down her spoon and silently glanced at the nether star-studded toast half-eaten in Fang Mo's hand: "But coming from you, it actually seems normal."
"Damn it."
Upon hearing this, Fang Mo was immediately displeased: "So you're saying I eat crap and curse with a spoon in my hand?"
"Do you want to hear what I really eat?"
"I…"
"Come on, don't fight."
In the end, it was Doctor Genus who spoke up, quickly taking off his white shirt and draping it over the Ground Dragon beside him: "I believe you didn't mean any harm, Fang Mo, and besides, her current appearance… isn't bad at all."
"What?"
Just as the shirt was put on, the Ground Dragon hurriedly tried to speak: "Doctor! I…"
However, before she could finish, the doctor gently placed his hand on her head with a smile: "Alright, I know what you mean, but you do look adorable now."
"So, we're accepting this then?"
Fang Mo, somewhat surprised, thought to himself.
Logically, to coax Doctor Genus into accepting this setup, he had prepared a series of excuses, but it turned out they were completely unnecessary.
Could it be because of his madness... that his acceptance has greatly increased?
And as he pondered.
Doctor Genus also chuckled and pushed his glasses up.
"You see... Don't think I'm always so casual, but occasionally I do think things through."
Doctor Genus smiled briefly before continuing slowly: "Actually, I've been aware of this issue since the time I registered at the Hero Association... Ground Dragon and the Gorilla, as they are now, are indeed treated differently by others."
"They are life forms I created myself."
"To me, they are like my family, and I never want others to look at them as they would monsters."
Hearing this, both Ground Dragon and the Gorilla were somewhat surprised.
Honestly, since the doctor lost his memory, he has been a bit crazy, and most of the time, the Armored Gorilla and Ground Dragon were just humoring him, like accompanying a child.
Of course, they did so mainly because they were afraid of being punished by Fang Mo for disobedience.
But similarly… they were genuinely worried about Doctor Genus after his memory loss, as after all, it was he who had created them, otherwise, they wouldn't have tried so hard to think of ways to escape with him.
But hearing him say these words...
Ground Dragon and the Gorilla suddenly felt indescribably moved.
After all, if it had been the doctor from before, despite possibly being more calm and decisive, he definitely wouldn't have said such words.
In a daze.
The two even had the illusion...
If the doctor could always be like this... maybe it wouldn't be such a bad thing?
And as they pondered this, Fang Mo nearby suddenly laughed.
"Haha, your level of enlightenment is quite good."
Fang Mo quickly stuffed a piece of star-studded toast into his mouth, then clapped his hands: "I definitely support you, doctor, but now there's a problem... Have you thought about their debut style design?"
"…Style design?"
"Yeah."
Fang Mo assuredly said: "You want to become heroes fighting side by side, protecting the world, right? How could you do that without flashy styles and hero settings?"
"Ah?"
Doctor Genus instinctively touched his head: "Do heroes need that sort of thing?"
"Yeah, indeed."
Fang Mo immediately nodded persuasively: "Look at A-class Hero Sweet Mask, how popular he is, all thanks to the star-making company behind him."
"Oh, I see."
Doctor Genus said somewhat blankly: "So we need to hire a company too? But I don't have much money…"
"Ah, that's where you are wrong."
Hearing this, a mischievous smile appeared on Fang Mo's face: "You are one of my best friends, so of course, I will help you."
"You would help with this kind of thing?"
Doctor Genus was visibly moved but then felt a bit down: "That's great, alas, I've already lost my memory, I can't remember many things between us… I don't even know who your other friends are."
"No problem, I can reintroduce them to you anytime."
Fang Mo cheerfully waved his hand: "Listen well, they are S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Nick Fury, X-Men's Hugh Jack... Logan, Special Squad Hayakawa Aki, Soul Society Division's African Branch Captain Kaname Tosen, and your side's Ancient One who eats crap as if it were porridge."
"It doesn't sound like that many."
Doctor Genus unconsciously nodded: "I thought a good person like you, Fang Mo, would have many close friends."
"Hey, mainly because they are durable, quite resistant to pitfalls."
Fang Mo replied with a smile, then pointed at Ancient One setting down her spoon: "Take her for example, I've even completed the seventh-day ritual for her, and she's still alive... don't you think she's especially durable?"
"This…"
Doctor Genus hesitated: "Forgive my bluntness, but shouldn't the word 'pitfall' not be used among friends?"
"Hey, you just don't understand, do you?"
Fang Mo laughed casually: "I prank them, and in the end, they still have to thank me."
"That's true, I can vouch for that."
Just as Fang Mo finished speaking, Ancient One couldn't help but calmly speak up: "Being friends with Fang Mo is indeed a good thing, I usually eat very light meals and occasionally suffer from low blood pressure, but ever since meeting him, my blood pressure has never been low."
"Pfft…"
Before Doctor Genus could respond, nearby Ah Xue couldn't help but cover her mouth and giggle.
"That's indeed true."
Meanwhile, Xiao Yao folded her arms and coldly chuckled: "When you have time, go to the underworld... uh, the Yellow River and ask around, nine out of ten were angered to death by him."
"Hey hey, why are you two teaming up to sabotage me…"
Fang Mo touched his forehead, then directly addressed Doctor Genus: "Forget it, doctor, don't listen to their nonsense. As for operations, just leave it to me. You might not believe this, but I once managed a star-making company... I have a lot of experience in making stars."
"What happened to that company later?"
"Oh, due to a mistake, all my artists imploded into black holes…"
"…"
Even the usually cheerful Doctor Genus couldn't keep his composure.
"Hey, think positively, doctor." Fang Mo waved his hand carelessly: "At least after my management, they can be said to attract a lot of attention."
"I think they might attract more than just attention…"
Doctor Genus couldn't help but touch his forehead.
But jokes aside, Doctor Genus still trusted Fang Mo, so in the end, he decided to accept Fang Mo's proposal.
Which was to help design an image for Ground Dragon.
And of course, Fang Mo was very dedicated to this.
He even made a special trip to the Pure White Dimension, found the supreme intelligence responsible for maintaining city operations, and personally designed a set of clothes, then used nanotechnology to print them out.
As for the style of this set of clothes…
It also quite matched Fang Mo's expectations.
After all, to design this set of clothes, he had spent an entire day squatting in the Pure White Dimension.
As everyone knows, a big part of why Fang Mo brainwashed Doctor Genus was just to play with the 'doctor' gag, and how could a doctor lack agents?
And speaking of this famous Ex Astris mobile game, its agent characters are quite special, at least unlike those two from Azure Lane, big and small. Its character clothing in the industry is definitely not considered revealing, and the game itself is not known for selling flesh, but to be honest, some agents look... a bit risque.
According to Fang Mo, this is actually a new ability autonomously evolved by the terminal country's artists after years of grinding under brain-dead auditors.
They managed to create characters with an air of allure while circumventing strict audit judgments.
For these artists.
This might be an instinctual means of livelihood.
But Fang Mo couldn't do it, he felt like his brain was burning just to design similar outfits, in the end, he had to try thinking with his lower half, and only then did he manage to barely calculate a few sets of nicely styled clothing.
Of course.
Fang Mo was designing appearances.
Doctor Genus was also not idle on his end.
Although he didn't have instruments and equipment, he still tested Ground Dragon's current strength a bit.
It turns out Chemical X is indeed powerful, after all, this was an evolution on a whole different level of life, so Ground Dragon's strength also reached the level of a Demon.
You should know, her original strength was probably only at the level of a Tiger.
However, even though her appearance changed, Ground Dragon's abilities seemed unaffected; she was still very skilled at burrowing, and her muscle strength, endurance, and various sensory abilities also saw a significant enhancement.
Doctor Genus quickly passed this data on to Fang Mo.
And Fang Mo finally completed the final draft.
The finalized Ground Dragon had a style leaning towards a miner, wearing an ear-exposed safety helmet on her head, an upper body dressed in a wear-resistant gray uniform, with a netherite pickaxe tied behind her, and a cobalt alloy shovel in her hand.
As for the lower body… It was paired with black hot pants, gray knee pads, and knee-high sturdy, thick boots.
It must be said, Ground Dragon unexpectedly matched this set of equipment quite well, after a brief test, everyone found that her burrowing ability seemed to have become even stronger.
However, just as Fang Mo was indulging in the joy of nurturing a new agent.
On the other side, Saitama also came to visit, of course, this time he wasn't here to freeload a meal, but because it was time for the Hero Association's exam.
Hearing that the time for the association's assessment had arrived.
Both Fang Mo and Doctor Genus set aside what they were doing.
So early that day, they went together to the hero exam venue, of course, Ancient One went along too, as she had previously mentioned wanting to become a hero as well.
It's just that she hadn't been to that so-called sixth venue.
Otherwise, she would have just opened a door and been done with it.
But even so, they arrived at the exam venue not too late, and they even waited outside for almost half an hour before the venue's broadcast just barely started.
And when the Hero Association announced that candidates could enter for testing.
Fang Mo looked around the venue and found that this time there were only a few dozen people taking the exam, honestly, there were far fewer people than there were at his driving school exam in his previous life, and most of them were muscular men, wearing some unintelligible costumes.
Before long.
Everyone entered the assessment scene together.
As for Saitama, he was very enthusiastic and said to Fang Mo: "Looks like we're about to become heroes, let's do our best!"
"Yeah, don't worry, I'll try my best to make things lively."
Fang Mo responded cheerfully to Saitama with a thumbs up: "Just wait, once the exam is over, there won't be a single normal examiner here."
"…Huh?"
Saitama seemed a bit stunned: "What do you mean?"
"It doesn't mean anything."
Fang Mo smiled, then summoned his stand Steve, and commanded him to hand him a statue of Cthulhu, which materialized with a flash of white light.
"I heard that the first part of the hero exam is a written test."
As he spoke, Fang Mo hugged the strange statue in his arms: "Unfortunately, I don't have a habit of reviewing, so I plan to pray to the gods on the spot, pray while taking the exam or something…"
"…No one said you can't pray during an exam, right?"