On the way into the park.
Lin Zichen felt that the rotten meat he was carrying was becoming a nuisance, so he opened the bag and threw the meat into a bush by the roadside.
This rotten Phantom Squid Meat was emitting an increasingly heavy and pungent smell. Just smelling it was enough to make one feel nauseous, and there was no need to keep it any longer.
It could only be used as waste, given back to nature that nurtured everything, to feed the scavengers of the natural world.
As for how to explain it to his parents when he got home, he would just say that he encountered some Heretic Believers causing trouble and accidentally lost the meat in the chaos.
Moreover, to avoid unnecessary trouble in the future, he would need to find someone to help purchase Exotic Beast Meat...
While thinking, Lin Zichen had already followed the security team into the park.
At a glance, there was still a purplish-blue smoke lingering in the air, but it had mostly dissipated, barely revealing large patches of scorched earth still smoking.
Moving a bit closer, he could see a pit with a radius of about one meter at the center.
Moving even closer to inspect the pit, what caught his eye was a completely charred corpse.
It was that Heretic Believer who had transformed from the Giant Mutant Rat.
Lin Zichen was somewhat surprised.
Such a powerful laser cannon had not completely obliterated this rat person, but only turned him into a charred body?
It seemed, Genetic Fusion was still powerful.
"Unauthorized personnel do not come near; please leave this area quickly, young man!"
At the edge of the pit, a security officer saw Lin Zichen standing nearby and immediately urged him away.
No sooner had he spoken than the security team's captain said, "Let him stay. We'll need to take him back to the station to give a statement anyway."
"A statement?"
The security officer was a bit confused, not understanding why Lin Zichen needed to go back to the station to make a statement.
He was unaware that the hostages had escaped from the Heretic Believers thanks to Lin Zichen's covert actions.
Just then, Lin Zichen's phone rang; it was a call from Shen Qinghan.
As soon as the call was answered, Shen Qinghan's voice full of concern came through.
"Xiao Chen, it's been over ten minutes, is there something wrong on your way back?"
"No worries, the rat person has been taken care of by the Mechanically Modified Human. I stayed to check out the scene; just sit at the convenience store, I'll be back soon."
"Should I come look for you?"
"No, it doesn't feel safe. I'm coming to pick you up now, wait for me, I'll be there soon."
Lin Zichen quickly hung up the phone and ran to meet Shen Qinghan.
In a short while, he had brought Shen Qinghan to the park.
Shen Qinghan looked at the scorched ground before her, her face full of astonishment.
She could hardly imagine what had just happened here to cause such a transformation.
By then, the security team had already removed the body from the pit, placing it on a stretcher and loading it into the trunk of the security vehicle.
Luckily, the trunk of the security vehicle was often used for various large tools and was designed large enough, or else it would not have been possible to fit the stretcher.
Lin Zichen looked at the fully charred body, recalling that when the captain had previously requested backup, he seemed to mention something about the Rat King gene.
It was said that this charred Heretic Believer likely had the Rat King gene fused within him.
And the Rat King gene was definitely a type of Exotic Beast Gene.
So... could I absorb the Rat King gene from the body?
Suddenly, Lin Zichen thought of this possibility.
He thought it might be feasible and decided to find an opportunity to touch the body when he got off at the station to test his theory.
Soon, everything at the scene was handled.
The captain of the security team looked at Lin Zichen and asked, "We are heading back to the security station now. Do you two know where it is, can you come there on your own bikes?"
"Our bike chain broke, so we can't ride."
"In that case, ride the security vehicle back with us."
"Can you also take our bikes with us?"
"Sure, bring it over here."
"Thank you."
After a brief exchange, Lin Zichen went outside to push the broken bike over.
Since there was no space left in the trunk, a tall security officer helped tie the bike to the roof using ropes.
Afterward, everyone boarded the vehicle and headed to the security station.
In the vehicle, Lin Zichen did not see Teacher Strawberry; he assumed she had already been taken to the hospital by the security personnel to treat her injuries.
En route, because both Lin Zichen and Shen Qinghan were minors, the captain had them notify their parents to come to the security station.
Both of them called their parents to inform them.
…
About ten minutes passed.
The car finally arrived at the security station.
After getting out, Lin Zichen took the initiative to go to the back of the car to help lift out the body of the Heretic Believer.
Taking advantage of the moment the security officers were not paying attention, he suppressed his nausea and reached out to touch the body, wondering if he could devour the Rat King Gene inside.
To his surprise, he found that he indeed could devour it!
Genes are a sort of Life Origin, or rather, they represent one form of Life Origin!
Without a second thought, he decisively chose to devour it.
[You have devoured a trace of the "Giant Mutant Rat's" Life Origin]
[Giant Mutant Rat Manual: 5%]
5%? That much?
Looking at the progress bar behind the manual, Lin Zichen felt somewhat surprised.
However, more than the progress bar, he was concerned about what abilities he could gain after unlocking the Giant Mutant Rat's manual.
After careful thought, besides having eight eyes and being rather tough-skinned and fleshed, the Giant Mutant Rat didn't seem to have any other remarkable abilities.
Of course, it might also be due to humans' insufficient knowledge about the Giant Mutant Rat.
After all, the Giant Mutant Rat had only recently appeared in human society and still carried a lot of unknowns.
"Forget it, there's no use thinking about it. Once the manual's progress bar is full, I'll know everything there is to know."
Thinking this, Lin Zichen specifically glanced at the body on the stretcher.
Seeing no apparent changes, it seemed that losing the Rat King Gene hadn't caused any impact.
Of course, it might also be like the previous Phantom Squid Meat, having some delay.
...
In the time that followed,
Lin Zichen and Shen Qinghan sat together for the report.
The security team captain was very interested in Lin Zichen's heroic act, wanting to know how he managed to injure the Heretic Believer with a stone.
After all, the distance was quite long, and the visibility at night wasn't very good.
Under such conditions, to precisely hit the Heretic Believer's knife-wielding hand with a stone was not something a middle schooler should be able to do.
Not wanting to reveal too much of his abilities, Lin Zichen recited his well-prepared explanation, claiming he had used a slingshot.
"Where is that slingshot?"
The security team captain did not believe him and asked Lin Zichen this question.
Lin Zichen, without even so much as blinking and maintaining a calm face, replied, "I accidentally lost it while escaping the scene."
"Are you sure?"
"I'm very sure,"
Lin Zichen responded without hesitation.
The security team captain nodded, not asking further.
Soon, the report was completed.
At that time, the parents of Lin Zichen and Shen Qinghan had also arrived at the security station.
The faces of both sets of parents were filled with anxiety; they had not expected that their children, just by going out in the evening, would encounter trouble with the Heretic Believers.
Fortunately, the outcome was fortunate, and neither child suffered any harm.
Otherwise, the parents would not have been able to bear it.
Lin Zichen spoke briefly with his parents, then looked at the security team captain and asked:
"Hello, I wanted to ask when I can apply for the reward for my act of bravery?"
"Do a fingerprint comparison now, and once the results are confirmed as accurate, I can apply for your reward in the system,"
the security team captain answered.
After understanding the process, Lin Zichen followed a young security officer to do the fingerprint comparison.
Seeing this scene, both sets of parents were somewhat dumbfounded.
Reward for bravery?
What is that?
Both sets of parents only knew that their children had encountered trouble with the Heretic Believers and were unaware that Lin Zichen had acted bravely to save someone.
Not until they asked the security team captain and reviewed the report did they understand the full story.
"Your son is truly remarkable, having the courage and composure to face a crisis at such a young age, a real little hero,"
a passing female security officer commented.
Zhang Wanxin merely smiled politely in response, feeling no joy in her heart.
She didn't want Lin Zichen to be a hero; she just wanted him to grow up safely.
...
PS: Bowing down, asking for Monthly Pass and Recommendation Tickets!