Hey! Control Yourself! - Chapter 8

Chapter 8: Seizing the Gene

“What is his name?” Shen Yi asked.

“His name is Shen Ji. Do you know him?” The Chief asked cautiously.

A meaningful smile appeared on Minister Shen’s originally stern face. “It really is him.”

The old Chief was surprised. “Oh? So you do know him? Is he truly your friend?”

“I must see him.”

“Of course, of course.” The Chief hurried to turn around and ordered his men to fetch him from the waiting room.

Two officers ran off excitedly, only to return in a panic: “Chief, he’s gone!”

“What?!”

The Chief whipped his head around, only to find that Royce and the others, who had been standing there just moments ago, had also vanished.

“Where are they?”

“They were right here just a second ago,” an officer whispered into his ear. “It seems… they ran away.”

The Chief was dumbfounded. He looked back at Minister Shen, feeling utterly humiliated. His face flushed a deep red; he felt as though he were on the verge of being sent back to the emergency room. In front of a high-ranking International Union Minister, he had managed to manifest the very definition of “disgrace,” dragging the reputation of Country D down with him.

Shen Yi understood. He stepped in to de-escalate: “An ordinary police station cannot contain a powerful mental energy user. Furthermore, Shen Ji’s mental energy is not inferior to mine. I will handle his bail; you needn’t worry too much.”

Those last words finally relieved the Chief’s pressure. “Well… that is truly wonderful then.”

The land of Gaya was largely dominated by vast, deep forests, with towns of various sizes scattered along the perimeters. The reproductive progress of the Gaya race had always been slow; they avoided excessive logging and preferred space exploration over underground resource extraction. Consequently, after the apocalypse, Gaya’s crust still held a massive amount of crystal energy for the New Humans to mine ten thousand years later.

Several fleeing youths came to a halt in the forest. Shen Ji stood beneath the towering, ancient trees, looking up to find the stars obscured by the canopy.

While everyone at the station was distracted by Shen Yi, Royce and the others had taken the opportunity to slip away. Shen Ji, unaware of the call, had followed closely behind Sheng Lu when the latter departed.

Sha Mo panted, “I feel like we didn’t even need to run. Out of respect for Shen Yi, the Chief wouldn’t have dared to detain us.”

“Yeah, I heard it too,” Royce added. “Shen Yi at least knows someone with the same name as Shen Ji.”

Lei Yi rubbed his chin. “Why do I feel like Shen Ji really is related to Shen Yi?”

They all looked at him. Since arriving in Gaya, they had discovered that Shen Ji held many secrets. The things Shen Ji cared about were entirely different from their own concerns. In Gaya, Shen Ji always carried a sense of impending doom—an urgency that he had to break through something.

Sha Mo asked, “Shen Ji, are you hiding some kind of hardship?”

“We’re curious, but if you won’t say, we have no right to ask.”

Despite saying that, the three of them stared at Shen Ji with wide, unblinking eyes, their gaze unabashedly pleading for knowledge: Please tell us!

“What are you waiting for? Did you think I was going to have a heart-to-heart with you?” Shen Ji indicated they were overthinking.

“Ha, well, not really…” Lei Yi let out a disappointed sigh.

“At least I didn’t use lies to brush you off, did I?” Shen Ji sat down against a tree.

Lei Yi looked enlightened. “True! As expected of Master Shen Ji—always making people feel so secure.”

Lei Yi lunged forward in his usual dramatic fashion, but Shen Ji tilted away and raised a hand to block him. In that moment, he caught sight of the back of his hand and remembered Sheng Lu’s kiss. Do Gaya people have a hand-kissing etiquette?

Suddenly, Royce’s light-brain, which had been without a signal, unexpectedly rang. It was a video call from their mentor. Royce answered immediately; a flickering image and distorted voice came through.

“Finally connected… Royce… how is… your situation…”

“We’re fine for now,” Lei Yi and the others crowded in.

“Good… Federation… crossing… through, you must be careful… do not… get the… gene as much as possible…”

Intermittent static and electrical noise drowned out the mentor’s words, making it hard to understand. After a brief exchange, the call was forced to disconnect.

From the scant information remaining, Royce caught a few keywords: “Enigma Gene” and “Federation Travelers.”

“It looks like it’s time to complete the mission.”

“The Enigma gene? That task was mentioned before the crossing. The problem is, where do we find an Enigma?”

At this, Sha Mo pulled out his strategy guide. It was filled with information on various figures—Enigmas recorded in Gaya civilization.

“Nice one, Sha Mo,” Lei Yi praised upon seeing it.

Royce pointed to the first one.

Shen Yue: “Gaya’s authoritative Divine Healer. Legend has it he is the Enigma with the #1 mental energy in Gaya. During the Gaya apocalypse, he remained on the home planet as a ‘seed.’ After waking in the Interstellar Era, he posed a severe threat to the Federation before disappearing.”

Royce and Lei Yi instinctively swiped past it. This man’s existence was still a source of trauma for both the Federation and the Empire. Just thinking about it made their scalps tingle. He was not an option.

Sha Mo clicked the second one.

Shen Yi: “Father of Space Frigates in the Gaya Era…”

This time, before they even finished the bio, they swiped away. “Away with anyone named Shen,” Lei Yi said.

The moment he said it, they all turned in unison to look at Shen Ji. The latter had already fallen asleep against the tree.

“…” They swiped back and forth through the guide but couldn’t find a suitable target.

One had to understand that the Enigma gender guaranteed social dominance; an Enigma could never be an ordinary person. They were either mental energy powerhouses, royalty, or high-ranking officials. Finally, among a crowd of untouchable figures, they found the most vulnerable target with the most flaws.

Bruton Wei-Yi: “Third Prince of Country D. Lived a life of indulgence and debauchery. Experts speculate he died of a certain illness in the year Gaya 4222 at the age of 25.”

A guy who dies at 25 must be very weak. Furthermore, his mental energy was rumored to be nearly zero.

And so, the group rested for a while (actually, they stayed nearby to guard Shen Ji so he wouldn’t be carried off by wild beasts) while studying the guide. Lei Yi bought a device in a nearby urban area that could be used to look up data—a device Gaya humans used similar to a phone.

Royce mapped out the location of the Country D palace and downloaded data on the Third Prince. After making all preparations, everyone except Shen Ji took turns standing guard and sleeping through a night of howling winds and wild beast cries.

Once Shen Ji woke up, Royce explained their goal and plan.

“Bruton’s private frigate frequently passes through this main road to travel between the Left and Right Cities.”

“What are the Left and Right Cities?” Sha Mo asked.

“Probably some high-end royal club,” Royce wasn’t sure. “We’ll cause a commotion at this spot to draw away his guards. If we can grab a strand of Bruton’s hair in the chaos, that’s all we need.”

“Is all this trouble necessary? Could we find some in a trash bin?”

Royce shook his head. “As a protected class, not even a strand of an Enigma’s hair would be allowed to leak out—especially since he’s a prince.”

“Wait, have we planned our escape route?” Lei Yi didn’t want to be detained again.

“Just wear masks and hats,” Shen Ji suggested, drawing from experience.

The Gaya high-speed maglev train took only twenty minutes to carry them across two major cities and a vast forest toward the palace. After disembarking and taking a hovering bus, the sounds of whistling wind and speeding engines filled the air as shuttles and hovering frigates streaked overhead.

In the distance, the magnificent palace sat atop a mountain. A massive hovering flight road appeared in their sight, like a white silk ribbon cutting through the sky.

At this moment, a terrestrial hovering frigate passed smoothly and quickly through the flight track, its interior decorated like a mobile palace. Inside, Bruton sat on a luxurious sofa, leaning down to bite the gland of an Omega. Two other beautiful youths knelt beside him, trembling.

“Bah! What kind of rotten fruit impurity is this pheromone!” Bruton pushed the Omega away in disgust. “I need more Omegas and Alphas. I need pure pheromones—delicious ones like the Merfolk. Why can’t they be found?” His veins bulged as he glared at the butler.

The butler replied calmly, “Your Highness, the Merfolk are extinct. It is very difficult to find Merfolk pheromones now.”

“Then what about the test subjects? Why hasn’t the church sent new ones?”

“As you know, the Shaxing organization has been active in Country D lately, and the elders of the Giant God Cult are dead.”

Just then, the hovering frigate suddenly shuddered. A jolt occurred. Such a thing almost never happened since the hovering tracks were established. The captain of the guard ordered the vehicle to slow down and used a holographic scanner to check the hull.

“No specific cause found. For safety, it’s best to pause and investigate.”

Bruton glared at him. “The auction at the Left and Right Cities is about to start. We can’t stop here.”

The captain tried to persuade him: “Your Highness, it’s better to…”

Suddenly, a thick wave of Enigma Deterrence Pheromones violently assaulted his nerves. The tall Alpha captain’s face paled, and several other guards nearly collapsed.

The Third Prince said coldly, “Don’t make me say it twice.”

The deterrence pheromones of an Enigma naturally suppressed Omegas and Alphas. Even if the Enigma had zero mental energy, Alpha mental energy experts would still be ruthlessly suppressed. Despite his reluctance, the captain could only order the ship to proceed.

The frigate didn’t stop, restarting its engines on the track.

The Baibao team, hiding in the shadows, was somewhat surprised. The previous jolt was caused by them using mental energy to snag one of the side wings. They had expected the guards to come down and check.

“It looks like we have to try again.”

The city scenery blurred past the window when suddenly, a blob of slimy substance splashed onto the windshield. The Third Prince felt another strong jolt.

The pilot said nervously, “Something has jammed the levitation sensors.”

“Go see what’s going on!” The Third Prince kicked a guard in the face.

The guards, fearing the prince’s wrath, quickly boarded individual shuttles to fly beneath the track and check the sensors. As the heavy frigate doors opened, several figures flashed past, unnoticed.

Inside the vessel, Bruton looked at the few individuals who had appeared out of thin air. He spread his hands, looking intrigued. “Excellent. It seems the Left and Right Cities have added new tricks lately.”

The group had already surrounded the sofa-bound prince in a fan formation. The captain raised a mental shield and stood before him, warning Bruton: “These are assassins, Your Highness.”

“Hmph, assassins… just a few lowly, crude Alphas? Once I release my pheromones, they’ll be kneeling obediently.” The Third Prince smiled lazily, showing no tension. After all, he was one of the 0.00001% of Enigmas in the human race; the remaining 999,999 people were meant to be his subjects.

From the start, the captain sensed that the mental energy of these people was unusual—especially the one with black eyes; his energy was completely unpredictable. But so what? Once the prince released his deterrence, they would only be able to submit in humiliation. At this thought, the captain felt a touch of pity and tragedy for them.

Lei Yi looked at the arrogant prince and suddenly sighed. “Maybe we should change targets?”

“What’s wrong?” Sha Mo asked.

Lei Yi pointed at the Third Prince and said in broken Gaya: “Just looking at him… this guy looks like a pig. Is there anything worth seizing here?”

The Third Prince suddenly crushed his wine glass, his eyes bulging. “What did you say?”

“Good point. It might actually lower the gene quality of the New Humans,” Sha Mo agreed seriously.

Royce pulled out the guide and pointed at the Third Prince, telling them, “Fine then. You pick a new one. Find someone easier to deal with than this guy.”

“…Ah, forget it, it’s too much trouble. Our mentor didn’t explicitly require it anyway,” Lei Yi waved a hand dismissively.