Ye Lan pressed a button on what appeared to be a high-tech keyboard, and immediately, a massive screen lit up, fshing with unfamiliar characters.
[Insertion of the 'Chick' gene detected. This does not match the original pn. Do you wish to proceed with execution?][Default execution: proceed. The genetic super-soldier ‘Z’ is about to awaken.][Proceed with caution!][Proceed with caution!]
"Huh? What’s going on? I just pressed a button, isn’t this a bit over the top?" Ye Lan turned toward the rge liquid tank behind her. The tank began to open slowly, releasing a strange, viscous liquid. Inside, a bck-haired girl stirred, her previously lifeless eyes starting to show signs of consciousness.
The girl rubbed her eyes, then knelt on the floor, looking around in a daze. Ye Lan, now completely flustered, quickly turned away, covering her face with her hands.Damn it! Was the researcher who designed this a pervert? They didn’t even bother to put clothes on her! **! This is **!!!
The bck-haired girl turned her attention toward Ye Lan, and, suddenly, with visible excitement, began crawling toward her.
The girl grabbed onto Ye Lan’s clothes and moved her lips slightly. "Mom! Mom!"
What?! Did this brat just call me Mom?! Mom?! Do I look old enough for that?! Wait, no… I’m a man!
Ye Lan couldn’t help but slowly move his hands away from his face, only to meet the girl’s big, bright, watery eyes staring at him intently. Not knowing what to do, she quickly covered his face again.
"Clothes, clothes! That’s it!" Ye Lan waved her hand instinctively. A still-damp dress materialized out of thin air and nded directly on the bck-haired girl’s head.
"You, put it on!" Ye Lan commanded, keeping her eyes tightly covered with one hand while pointing toward the dress with the other.
The bck-haired girl, still disoriented, gnced at the garment draped over her head. After a brief pause, she nodded and, guided by some instinctual memory, began to clumsily dress herself.
When the girl finally finished putting on the dress, Ye Lan let out a relieved sigh and cautiously opened her eyes. She was met with the sight of the girl standing before her, fully dressed, staring at her with wide, blinking while softly murmuring. "Mom... Mom..."
"I'm not a mom!" Ye Lan frantically rubbed her head with both hands. Why did this girl have to call her mom? If she had at least said dad, maybe she could accept it. But mom?! What kind of joke was this?
Her gaze drifted to the nearby technological panel, and the words 'Chick Gene' immediately caught her attention.
She had heard that chicks consider the first being they see upon hatching as their mother. Damn it! Of all the possible genes, it had to inject the chick gene?!
The bck-haired girl’s rge, watery eyes filled with tears as she gazed at Ye Lan. "Mom? Don’t you love me? Sniff... sniff... waaaaaaah!"
Her eyes filled with tears that soon rolled down her cheeks, and she began to cry uncontrolbly. Ye Lan was utterly dumbfounded. What the hell is this?! You look older than me, how is it possible for you to have the [Instant Crying] ability of a baby?!
Ye Lan, as a beastkin gi... bah! As a beastkin priestess, her appearance and body were fixed at a level equivalent to that of a 10-year-old human.
In contrast, the bck-haired girl before her, though she didn’t look much older either, appeared to be around 13 or 14 years old.
Faced with the tears of such a beautiful girl... Ye Lan simply couldn’t resist. Ah!
"It’s not that I don’t love you! You... you don’t cry. I’m your mom. I’m your mom, okay?" she blurted out in desperation.
The instant those words left her mouth, the bck-haired girl stopped crying. Her face transformed, lighting up with a radiant smile full of joy.
"How wonderful! Mom! Mom! Mom!" she excimed with glee, clutching Ye Lan’s clothes as she slowly stood up.
Oh no... Now that she’s standing, she’s taller than me!
Ye Lan froze, slightly tilting her head up to look at the girl. Standing at 1.50 meters herself, she estimated the bck-haired girl to be around 1.55 meters tall. That five-centimeter difference felt like a sp in the face, and before she realized it, she instinctively stood on her tiptoes.
"Five centimeters... the bane of heroes! Now I finally understand why a certain gactic emperor went to Earth looking for dragon balls just to gain a few centimeters" she muttered under her breath.
She looked at the bck-haired girl’s innocent, pitiful expression. Damn it! Why, back when I was a man, did I never encounter something this wonderful?!
"Uh… this… that… By the way, what’s your name?" Ye Lan asked, scratching her cheek awkwardly.
"Name? I don’t have one, Mom. Name! Name! I want a name!" the bck-haired girl responded enthusiastically, raising both arms in excitement.
What the hell?! You don’t even have a name? Are you really fully initialized like some kind of program?
Ye Lan sighed, running her hand through her hair in frustration. She wasn’t one of those prepared people who had names ready for their kids. What kind of name would suit her? I can’t just call her ‘daughter’, can I?
"Chuu… Chuu… You’ll be called Chuyue!" After an excessive mental effort, those two words finally left her mouth with difficulty.
'Chuu', inspired by 'chick', a nod to her bird gene, and 'yue', meaning 'moon', reflecting her jet-bck hair and serene, moonlit-like beauty.
Chuyue’s face lit up with delight. She threw her arms around Ye Lan in an enthusiastic hug and pnted a kiss on her cheek without hesitation.
"Thank you, Mom! Chuyue loves her name!" she excimed, continuing to kiss Ye Lan's cheek repeatedly. Ye Lan’s face immediately turned a deep shade of red.
"Chuyue, could you stop calling me Mom? Just Ye Lan is fine…" she muttered weakly, only to see tears welling up in Chuyue’s big, bright eyes once again.
"Waaa! Mom doesn’t love me anymore!"
"Huh? When did I say I didn’t love you? This is too much for me!" Ye Lan sighed in resignation, feeling as if she had truly become the mother of this peculiar girl. Gently, she extended a hand and patted Chuyue on the back to comfort her.
Before the situation could settle, the high-tech floor beneath them began to crack. A sharp, spiral-shaped horn suddenly broke through the ground.
One horn appeared, then another, followed by a third. Soon, multiple spiral horns emerged, tearing through the floor until the entire surface colpsed with a deafening crash.
Ye Lan instinctively raised an arm to shield her eyes from the dust and debris swirling in the air. As the dust settled, her gaze shifted forward, and what she saw left her utterly stunned.
Standing before her were creatures resembling pangolins, but with spiral horns jutting from their heads. These creatures were far rger than any ordinary pangolin, at least five times bigger. Two or three stacked together would still tower over Ye Lan’s modest height.
"Oh my god! Can animals really mutate like this?" Ye Lan muttered in disbelief. However, she kept her composure as the system immediately provided information about the creatures.
[Mutated species: Drilling Rat. Level: 8. Possesses exceptional digging ability. Its horns can pierce level 15 armor.]
Level 8... chicks?1If anyone has a better term, please let me know (I’m not too fond of this one) She didn’t see these intruders as a significant threat and prepared to deal with them swiftly. However, just as Ye Lan moved, Chuyue stepped forward, standing protectively by her side.
The young girl opened her small mouth, her voice soft yet resolute as she decred "I won’t let them hurt Mom! I’ll protect Mom!"
Chuyue extended her hand into the air, and a bck sword, previously stored in the room, flew directly into her palm.
Ye Lan, curious and slightly concerned, instinctively activated her detection ability to analyze Chuyue. However, the results that appeared before her left her completely dumbfounded.
Name: ChuyueGender: FemaleRace: HumanLevel: 1Attack: 100Defense: 100Agility: 100Magic: 5Equipment: NoneAbilities: Leopard, Falcon, Rhinoceros, Buffalo, Lion, Chick.……………
Suvn
