True and False Daughters 16
Jin Li was a huge problem, one they definitely could not deal with for the time being.
He Chunxi and the others reached a silent consensus. Gao Wen watched Jin Li get into the car and disappear from sight, then started his own car and headed back to Capital University.
None of the three said a word on the way back. Even the four bodyguards in the car behind, though they could sense something was off, didn’t voice any objections.
Qin Jingzhou finished his report, checked it over, and printed it out for the on-duty bodyguard to deliver. Then, he took a smoke and drank tea in his spacious office, basking in the sun.
Since the original host smoked and liked tea, those habits had stayed with Qin Jingzhou since transmigrating.
Slightly after six in the evening, the trio returned sooner than he expected. Though their reactions varied, it was clear they were all shaken.
He Chunxi burst through the door and rushed to her father. “Dad, can you see what’s hanging on the back of Jin Li’s head?”
Qin Jingzhou stubbed out his cigarette. “Yes. It’s an unordered fusion of meatballs, each with a different number of tentacles, and at the end of each tentacle is a human hand of varying size. Strange eyeballs appear and disappear across the meatballs and the tentacles.”
He Chunxi was silent. So her gut feeling had been right. From that description, there was no way whatever that thing was could be trusted!
Shang Xi could only force a laugh. “That’s… quite unique…” But after laughing, his expression grew even more serious.
Qin Jingzhou looked at Gao Wen, who basically had “Boss, what are we going to do?” written all over his face. “Write up a report and submit it as soon as possible. Tell your old man, too.”
Gao Wen nodded solemnly.
There were more than eight hundred academicians in Huaguo Academy of Sciences and over nine hundred in the Academy of Engineering; removing the ones counted in both, that’s still a massive number. And with the current production of intelligence potion, even just providing one bottle per academician would take two years.
That didn’t even include the precious experts working incognito on key confidential projects.
So far, a little over three hundred bottles of intelligence potion had been produced.
Which meant, even just supplying the experts and academicians would take at least three years, and Jin Li wouldn’t get anywhere near these experts or those among the top brass who’d taken the potion within the next five years. In short, Jin Li’s anomaly could have gone undetected for a long time.
Gao Wen went home feeling a heavy weight on his mind.
As the head honcho in charge of research, Gao Wen’s grandfather happened to come home early tonight. Seeing his grandson, he pushed his glasses up with satisfaction. “Xiao He really thinks highly of you.”
Having taken the intelligence potion himself, the elder immediately realized his grandson must have received a spiked public version. The genuine potion’s effect was far superior; otherwise, his grandson’s spiritual power wouldn’t look so half-baked.
He owed Xiao He a favor: sending the intelligence potion directly was a bold move, but his grandson wouldn’t have dared accept since it violated regulations. Still, by next autumn, the public version would be approved as a health supplement. Xiao He skirted the line, and even if someone found out, there’d be nothing they could say.
Gao Wen didn’t hide a thing from his grandfather. “Today was… a mix of anxiety and excitement!”
After hearing his grandson’s unaffected recounting, Old Master Gao was shocked as well. “There’s something like this?!”
Gao Wen looked helpless. “If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn’t have believed it either.”
Old Master Gao made a decisive call. “Looks like I ought to see it for myself.”
So the old man took his grandson, called up Academician Qin and a couple of other old colleagues—back in grad school, he’d been Qin’s classmate—and together they went to observe Jin Li.
Whereas He Chunxi and the others had noticed something strange just from across the street, the elders chose a vantage point to watch Jin Li from above… All of them with intelligence scores over 25, these heavyweight bigwigs could “see” the meatball amalgamation, and could vaguely sense the shifting, wandering eyeballs as well.
Then they watched a dozen spoiled rich boys mooning over Jin Li, hanging on her every word, claiming the thing on the back of her head was “kindhearted”… It totally failed to persuade.
Academician Qin stated directly, “This is the culprit that put Xiao He into a coma.”
Old Master Gao was thoughtful. “We’re standing before a brand new doorway—things that were once unseen and unknown are coming to light. Clearly, this is not an isolated case.”
He hadn’t quite finished before the gathered elders started exchanging glances and laughing. This thing right before them would certainly let them see more of the truth of the world.
After a good look, they went straight back to the office—time for a meeting.
Naturally, Qin Jingzhou had to attend as well. With Jin Li and her attached system now discovered, she’d shifted from a hunter of fate to a research subject. He, too, was curious: how would Jin Li’s system respond?
The attending academicians and experts all found it incredible, but they trusted no one would make something like this up. Besides, Jin Li was right there in Capital City—any doubters could just go see for themselves.
Three days later, Old Master Gao presided over another meeting. The “show-me-proof” academicians and experts quickly changed their tune: first, ascertain the thing’s nature, then start detailed research.
At the meeting, Qin Jingzhou said, “My daughter will be taking part in a domestic travel reality show in half a month. Check the investors behind the show, you’ll find a nice surprise.”
Academician Qin took a sip of tea. “Just spit it out.”
Qin Jingzhou smiled. “I’ve listed the young people who’ve always stuck around Jin Li these past two years—including those who seemed to notice something was wrong and struggled inwardly, like Shang Xi and Ji Chun. Let’s give public version intelligence potion to a few of them and their fathers, see what happens?”
The genuine intelligence potion was a national treasure, tightly kept under wraps. But once the public version was proven effective, the upper echelons had already agreed: after launching domestically and building a reputation, they’d just dilute it and export it, making a killing off foreign capitalists.
After brief discussion, the attending experts unanimously agreed: this was worth trying.
Candidates like Shang Xi and Ji Chun—those rich heirs who’d shown resistance—were selected along with their fathers by the official action team, after careful observation and assessment. Shang Xi’s father and Ji Chun and his father both made the cut.
In the eyes of Jin Li and her center-of-attention system, Shang Xi’s father was the male lead’s dad, so the duration of the skill card Jin Li had used on him lasted much longer than what she’d used on Ji Chun.
When Shang Xi’s father was dragged before Qin Jingzhou, he still wasn’t fully awake. He still thought he ought to divorce his wife, still believed Jin Li was the best possible daughter-in-law—the difference from six months ago was only that he wasn’t quite so adamant.
Shang Xi’s father sized up Qin Jingzhou for a while. “You woke up and didn’t even tell me. Guess you don’t see me as a friend.” His son was obediently sitting next to He Chunxi, which made him inexplicably furious. “How could you lot just move on? How could you do this to Xiao Li?”
Gao Wen, seated at Qin Jingzhou’s side, hurriedly jotted notes: BT001 may cause loss of intelligence.
BT001 was the official code for the thing on the back of Jin Li’s head.
Qin Jingzhou ignored Shang Xi’s father and handed the personally-prepared public version intelligence potion to Shang Xi.
Shang Xi stood, moved behind his father, and without hesitation performed a clean over-the-shoulder throw. As his father hit the floor with a heavy thud, Shang Xi swiftly forced the potion into his mouth before he could recover.
Shang Xi’s father wanted to curse him, but had to swallow the lemon-flavored liquid first.
Since the potion was prepared by Qin Jingzhou himself, it worked instantly. Shang Xi’s father lay on the ground for about a minute, then slowly sat up, gazing at his son with fatherly warmth. “You’re a good boy!” Then he shot Qin Jingzhou a thumbs up. “Brother, you’re the best.”
He Chunxi: …
Judging from that crash, Uncle Shang’s back must be bruised. She glanced at Shang Xi, who sat beside her with a look of triumph, and thought: that’s quite an act of filial piety.
To put it simply, when someone’s intelligence increased by three or more points in one go, it also refreshed their “status bar” a bit—that is, the system’s skill card lost effect on Shang Xi’s father after he took this potion.
Unfortunately, after taking the potion, Shang Xi’s father’s intelligence landed squarely at 19.
But just one bottle restored him to himself, something that took months to fix before. Ji Chun was thrilled. He got the potion from Professor He, gave one bottle to his dad, and the two toasted each other.
Ji Chun’s intelligence was only 12, and after the potion just 15, lower even than Shang Xi’s before the drug. But Ji Chun’s natural sensitivity made up for his low intelligence. Looking at his empty bottle in shock, he blurted out, “Is this Foundation Establishment… liquid?! Drink this and awaken? Damn!”
Qin Jingzhou said deadpan, “No, it’s not called awakening potion. I’ve already picked the commercial name—Brain Gold.”
Ji Chun’s father, not as daft as his son, savored it for a moment and then sincerely praised, “What a fitting name!”
System: …can’t hold it in.
Even though Ji Chun and his father, like Shang Xi’s dad, hadn’t reached an intelligence of 20, the “refreshed status” restored their sanity and to some extent shielded them from the center-of-attention system's skill card effect.
No need to guess, it was obvious the same skill card would have very different effects on people of different capabilities.
With the intelligence of Ji Chun and his father, as well as Shang Xi’s dad, Jin Li’s skills for controlling her suitors basically did not work on them anymore.
With the first round of testing a complete success, and “Brain Gold” restoring the next two rounds of powerful father-son duos to clarity, the variety show was about to begin filming.
Just as He Chunxi packed her luggage for departure, Gao Wen came specially to remind her, “Of the twelve total show guests, two were swapped last minute—now it’s Du Jiaying and Jin Li. The show’s biggest investor? Father and son, both fell head over heels for Jin Li in a single day.”
Qin Jingzhou instructed Gao Wen, “Looks like I’ll have to appear in person. I want to know exactly how that neurotoxin that took me out was made.”
Gao Wen grinned, “I’ll make the arrangements.”