Chapter 143: The Awakening of Hidden Genius

Three days later.

Ten volunteers—half men, half women, and spanning several age groups—had been chosen.

Right now, they were seated in a makeshift laboratory, receiving injections of the Gene Enhancer.

They’d all been warned about the risks beforehand, but the excitement on their faces far outweighed any fear.

This was, after all, the Gene Enhancer!

According to the researchers, it could dramatically boost physical abilities, and maybe even extend a person’s lifespan to around 500 years.

That kind of temptation…

Even with some risks, no one could turn it down.

It didn’t take long for everyone to finish their injections.

Now all that was left was to wait…

“How long does it usually take to see the effects?”

“It varies from person to person, but generally it shows up within three to five hours.”

Lin Yun answered.

She’d shifted into full work mode, her usual playful side tucked away. Compared to before…

It was like she’d become a different person.

But this was the Lin Yun the research staff all recognized.

Some of them even sighed in quiet relief.

Thank goodness…

The team leader was still herself—not possessed by someone else…

——

Three hours passed quickly.

All the while, everyone kept a close eye on the volunteers’ data, nerves stretched tight.

Then at last, the first volunteer began to wake up.

She was a female soldier—Su He, a Captain from the 92nd Mech Battalion under the 107th Mech Regiment.

“Get me her file!”

Seeing Su He wake up first, Lin Yu called out.

Someone next to him immediately pulled up the record and brought it over.

Lin Yun had told him before—the stronger a person’s innate brain development, the more sensitive their body is to X Particle, and the faster they evolve.

So the amount of time someone needs for evolution pretty much reflects their innate potential.

After all…

Innate Brain Development is tied directly to a person’s ceiling.

Even Lin Yu had no counter for that.

Of course, potential was just that—potential. Whether someone reached it depended on their own efforts.

But as soon as he saw Su He’s data,

Lin Yu frowned.

Because…

According to her record, Su He had enlisted five years ago as a Second Lieutenant—the minimum rank for Mech pilots, since there’s no such thing as a ‘grunt’ in that field.

Nothing odd about that.

And making Captain in five years was normal enough, a typical promotion assuming you kept out of trouble.

After all, the Federation hadn’t been at war for more than a decade. Unless you were a prodigy, promotions were always slow—hadn’t Lin Yu himself stayed a Major General for years?

If this was back during the Three Years’ War, he’d have been a Lieutenant General by now.

Still, with this Xitoris Kingdom operation wrapping up smoothly, Lin Yu was probably looking at a promotion soon.

The only regret was that Mu Qingxue, who’d contributed so much to the mission…

She wouldn’t be seeing any promotion at all.

From the start, everyone knew that for Mu Qingxue, the highest she could ever go in politics was District Governor…

There’d be no moving up past that.

Anyway, back to the point.

Su He’s experience was perfectly normal.

But in Lin Yu’s eyes, that was the problem.

Out of everyone in the experiment, Su He’s innate brain development was the lowest—just 18.5%.

Three others didn’t clear 20%, but they were all above 19%. The rest all had numbers well past 20%.

Honestly, if Su He’s innate brain development weren’t at 18%, she probably wouldn’t have been chosen at all.

Lin Yun and her team needed a range of data, so they’d picked people with different innate brain levels.

And yet…

The one with the lowest innate brain development—Su He—was the first to complete the evolution and wake up.

“Lin Yun, do we have equipment to check brain development here?”

“We do. After all, we need to record everyone’s brain development changes after the Gene Enhancer. Wait—Dad, are you thinking—”

“Yeah. Don’t you think it’s strange?”

“True… Alright, I’ll have her tested right now. Our latest device can check not just the current development but even estimate someone’s original innate level.”

Lin Yun nodded.

She immediately sent someone to handle it.

In fact, even without asking, they’d planned to do it later anyway.

Like Lin Yun had said, measuring brain development was already scheduled.

Just five minutes later,

The results were in.

The equipment Lin Yun’s team brought was far more advanced than what Mu Qingxue had used years back.

It could gather far more detailed data, and even had the latest function: detecting innate brain development.

Put simply, even if you’d never tested at 18, this could tell what your innate level had been at that age—even if you were now thirty.

“Just as I thought…”

Staring at the data, Lin Yu muttered.

Lin Yun saw the results too, her eyebrows raised in surprise.

According to the numbers…

Su He’s current brain development stood at 27.5%, and her innate brain development was 26.8%. That meant she’d passed the 25% threshold—second only to Mu Qingxue.

She was now the third person in the entire Federation with an innate brain development above 25%.

But the funny thing was, out of the three people with that level in Federation history, two had their results tampered with.

And yet again…

Brain development testing was supposed to be the Federation’s strictest field.

After Lin Yu’s own experience back in the day, the Federation had tightened its controls even more. And still—

Incidents like this kept happening.

But what was even more shocking was…

Su He had graduated from Mars Advanced Military Academy.

Just like Lin Yu, she’d had her innate brain development tested at the Academy.

Both of these incidents—the only two of the Federation’s three highest-tier new humans—were tied to Mars Advanced Military Academy.

No one knew who was behind it yet.

But this time…

There’s going to be a real storm brewing over there.