Chapter 107: Explosive Start

Chapter 107: Explosive Start

Chen Feng’s attention returned to Ding Hu. “Brother Hu really held back this time. He actually lasted five minutes before blowing up?”

Ding Hu glared furiously. “You…”

Before he could finish speaking, Chen Feng had already turned and started running to the side. “Running laps, I know. Piece of cake.”

Stung by the provocation, Ding Hu roared, “Originally, you only had to run ten laps. Now you need to run twenty! And you must finish them within twenty minutes, or you’re finished.”

Chen Feng raised an eyebrow lightly. “Whoa, twenty minutes? Is the baseline that high now? Everyone’s so strong! Has Coagulation Serum become a common item? Injected every day? How long can it last?”

Ding Hu looked at him as if he were an idiot. “What nonsense are you talking about? What’s wrong with you today? Is your brain fried? Coagulation Serum was phased out a hundred years ago, okay?”

Chen Feng smiled again.

Phasing out a technology must mean a new and better technology had appeared.

“That’s really good news. Thanks, Brother Hu.”

“Shut up! Go run laps! Or I’ll kick your eggs!”

Just then, another recruit nearby spoke up. “Instructor, I have to explain for Chen Feng. He had a slight fever last night, so he’s not in a great mental state.”

Chen Feng looked at the person. It was Pang De.

This new Timeline was off to a pretty good start; he and Pang De seemed to be friends.

“Fever? Are you crazy, Pang De? Do you know what you’re saying? Fevers have become rare diseases since the World Government started popularizing Gene Fluid modification technology.” Ding Hu was both shocked and angry. “As the new recruit squad leader, Pang De, why didn’t you report this to me earlier?”

Pang De said nervously, “I was startled too at the time, but after I accompanied him to the medical room, the medical staff said it was just an occasional phenomenon and wouldn’t leave any aftereffects. I just… I just didn’t want him to lose his chance to join the military because of a one-off thing.”

“Fine. Since you have such deep camaraderie. Then you go run laps with him. If the average time for the two of you can’t be controlled within seventeen minutes! Then you both go back to the Slums.”

Even more recruits stepped forward to protest, trying to speak up for Pang De.

Pang De’s limit was about seventeen minutes, but with Chen Feng, who would definitely drag them down, Pang De would have to finish within fourteen minutes. That was simply impossible.

However, Ding Hu threatened that anyone who sympathized with these two would join their “game,” and everyone quickly shut up.

Chen Feng watched Ding Hu the whole time, thinking to himself, Brother Hu’s personality this time didn’t seem very likable.

Even knowing he was just trying to scare people, threatening to discharge someone from the military at every turn was a bit too much.

Had Brother Hu been too stimulated in this new Timeline? Had his brain gone bad?

Or had the ideological environment of this era changed again, moving further toward a purely rational military system lacking empathy?

Chen Feng didn’t know whether this was good or bad, but his rapidly spinning brain quickly made a judgment and reached a conclusion.

This might be good for him personally at the moment.

After all, the more militarized things were, the more merit-based they would be.

This era existed for his talent.

Because while Chen Feng might be average in other aspects, in armor combat, he was a uniquely outstanding ultimate genius.

Chen Feng took a deep breath. There was no need to keep a low profile. Release his abilities recklessly.

“Instructor, I have one last question.”

“Speak.”

“What’s the limit for those people running this lap?”

Ding Hu turned to look at the elites wearing Bio-Armor over there. “The minimum standard is twelve minutes.”

“Okay.”

“Okay what. Run, now!”

Chen Feng and Pang De took off running forward. From far away, Chen Feng’s slightly arrogant shout came back.

“Remember to time us!”

As soon as the two started running, the green recruits gathered again to plead for them.

Ding Hu looked around expressionlessly. “Don’t you all have your own things to do? Believe me, I’ll make you all get lost!”

“Instructor, you can’t do this.”

“Yeah!”

“Shut up! That’s an order! Final warning. Anyone who pleads for these two again is disobeying orders! You know the consequences.”

The recruits finally shut their mouths, but their eyes still showed defiance, thinking he was making a big deal over nothing.

Ding Hu looked serious, appearing ready to eat someone alive at any moment.

But only he himself knew that seeing these green recruits, who had only known each other for a few days, being so united and even daring to challenge his authority as a tough instructor, made him feel gratified.

He looked back at the two running laps.

Discharge from the Military Camp?

Of course it was a joke. How could he bear to do that?

Ding Hu thought to himself that it would be one thing if Chen Feng had no potential, but since Pang De had helped Chen Feng shoulder the blame this time, his prestige among the recruits would rise a bit. He should arrange for Pang De’s formal transfer as soon as possible.

Come to think of it, those two were running really fast, especially the one in front, Pang De.

Wait, that wasn’t Pang De in front.

Too fast!

Unbelievable!

Ding Hu’s feigned indifference shattered instantly. He subconsciously covered his mouth.

“Holy crap!”

A muffled sound came from under his hand.

He couldn’t hold it in.

Nine minutes later, looking at Chen Feng, who had his hands in his pockets and was back in front of him, and then at Pang De, who was still huffing and puffing at a rapid pace, obviously about to break his own record and finish under sixteen minutes, Ding Hu’s mouth hung open, speechless for a long moment.

“Brother Hu, how about that?”

Chen Feng asked with a smile, his face not red nor his breath short.

Ding Hu felt a twist in his heart.

As a senior instructor known for his strictness, Ding Hu was usually unsmiling, earning him the nickname Steel-Faced Tiger at the Base.

He absolutely could not tolerate his soldiers being all laughs and giggles.

That’s why he had been easily provoked earlier and then deliberately made things difficult for Pang De and Chen Feng.

But now he roughly understood why Chen Feng’s behavior was so unconventional.

Perhaps the rare high fever last night had allowed him to complete an extremely rare secondary Gene Awakening, greatly improving his physique while also changing his personality, making him more energetic.

In this era, everyone could only be injected with Gene Fluid once in their lifetime, right after birth.

Surviving the stage where the Gene Fluid fused with one’s own genes, gaining sufficient intelligence and physical ability to survive in this era, becoming a useful person, a legal citizen.

If you didn’t survive, you died from gene collapse. The chance of that happening was one in three, very high.

Among all legal citizens, about one in a million would face a second mutation after reaching adulthood, called Gene Awakening.

The current global population was ten billion. About ten thousand people would face Gene Awakening.

The manifestations during Gene Awakening varied. Some people simply woke up from sleep and it was done. Some spontaneously combusted in their dreams. Others shattered into meat paste while walking down the street.

The survival rate for Gene Awakening was one in ten.

Gene Awakening was not the same as unlocking genetic locks often written about in novels.

Human genes were never locked; they simply chose to sleep on their own.

There was an essential difference between choosing to sleep and being passively locked.

Around the 21st Century, when humans first stepped into the field of genetics, theoretical research suggested that 75% of human genes had no function. These parts were called “Junk.”

But later research and facts showed that not a single base pair in human genes was junk; all of them were useful.

It was just that the level of human technology limited the necessity for gene expression. Humans in the 21st Century did not need to release all genetic information to complete normal learning and work.

To put it simply, the remaining 75% of genes were too lazy to move.

As time passed and technology advanced, when humans needed to face increasingly vast amounts of knowledge and more profound technology, merely releasing 25% of genetic expression information was no longer enough to complete basic learning. More genes proactively unlocked themselves.

In 2764, Dr. Yang Guoding verified a group of genes that had always been considered silent. Their only function was to prompt the human brain to secrete a highly complex amino acid. This amino acid suppressed human emotions and greatly increased human concentration.

This amino acid was named Guoding Amino Acid, and its effects were astonishing. Just a single molecule could have a comprehensive impact on the human brain. It had actually appeared as early as the beginning of the 25th Century but had never been discovered.

By the time Dr. Yang proposed this theory in 2764, everyone’s brain already contained at least dozens, and at most thousands, of Guoding Amino Acid molecules.

Therefore, in the 27th Century, it was widely believed that the completion of human gene development had increased from 25% to 25.7%.

Hmm, a stunningly encouraging advancement.

Time moved to 2913. A gene fluid successfully developed by Dr. Watson Gaislav could raise that 25.7% to 26.8%.

So-called Gene Awakening was another proactive revival of genes, turning 26.8% into a figure ranging from 28% to 30%.

But this did not mean humans had mutated, because the essence of the human DNA chain never changed.

In fact, people born and raised after the year 3000 had no genetic difference from those born and raised in the year 2000. There was no absolute Reproductive Isolation.

Two DNA single strands separated by a thousand years could still pair successfully.

Ding Hu understood Gene Awakening and quickly became certain that this phenomenon had indeed happened to Chen Feng.

What truly shocked him to the point of leaving his mouth agape was the degree of Gene Awakening that Chen Feng displayed.

Chen Feng ran twenty laps in just nine minutes, and he clearly did not give it his all.

Inside the Great Snow Mountain Base, there were two terrifying beings who had completed Gene Awakening.

One of them was the ace warrior of Great Snow Mountain, but even he needed ten minutes to run those twenty laps!

The passing time was twelve minutes; ten minutes was ace-level.

A two-minute gap might not seem large, but everyone knew that the closer one gets to the limit, the harder it is to take another step forward.

Apart from that ten-minute ace warrior, the best among other ordinary warriors only managed ten minutes and forty-seven seconds!

But Chen Feng…

He did not just break the record of the Great Snow Mountain Base; he broke the global record!

Seeing Ding Hu still silent, Chen Feng urged, “Brother Hu, say something.”

Ding Hu regained his senses and said expressionlessly, “It’s okay.”

“Just okay?”

Chen Feng gave a hollow smile, secretly pleased inside.

Many things had changed, but Brother Hu’s typical stubbornness and hard-to-admit attitude remained deeply rooted.

“Fine, you’re excellent, more excellent than I imagined. The others continue self-training. Chen Feng, come with me.”

Ding Hu turned and walked out of the training ground.

Chen Feng followed closely behind.

He was very satisfied with his performance this time.

It seemed like he had gotten off to a good start, instantly making Brother Hu recognize his genius. That could save a lot of time compared to the gradual approach from last time.

But this was just the beginning. Chen Feng knew that in the coming days, Brother Hu’s shock would come wave after wave, one after another.

He hoped Brother Hu could handle it.

Chen Feng looked back, his gaze falling on the two warriors wearing form-fitting black armor.

One of them had just used a trick, suddenly changing his move. He was fully controlling a missile-launching aircraft, breaking through the opponent’s multiple layers of defense and hitting the other black-armored warrior’s main body.

“Chen Feng, hurry! Dr. Ouyang is waiting for you!”