Super Gene Ⅱ: Evolution

"Duo, you remember the way out, right?" Lin Shen asked naturally as he walked alongside Duo.

"Don't you know the way out?" Duo stopped and stared at Lin Shen inquiringly.

"I've been lost for quite some time, otherwise I wouldn't have stayed here for so many days," Lin Shen replied with sincerity that bordered on the absolute truth.

"I'll try, but my memory isn't very clear. Let's just go by feeling," Duo said, withdrawing her gaze as she tried to discern the correct path.

Of course, she knew the way out. Nobody knew these pathways better than she did; it's just that she didn't want to reveal that fact.

Lin Shen frowned upon hearing this but had no other choice than to follow Duo's instincts.

Under Duo's lead, after several wrong turns and many days, they finally found the exit to the underground cave, albeit not the same one through which Lin Shen had entered.

The purple light outside had long since vanished. Upon exiting the cave, Lin Shen found himself amongst rows of immensely large volcanoes, neatly aligned and extending to the horizon, their number indiscernible.

Lin Shen wondered to himself how, under such strong gravitational forces, such protruding volcanoes could exist. This science didn't seem right.

What's even more peculiar was the orderly arrangement of these volcanoes. Natural volcanoes wouldn't be so precisely aligned, even the distances between them seemed uniform.

While Lin Shen was pondering, he saw Duo walking towards a strange device parked nearby.

Lin Shen thought it to be a device, not a starship or anything of that sort, because it looked nothing like any ship or battle cruiser he'd known.

The device's main body was an upright oval-shaped black metallic structure, encircled by a massive blue crystal ring.

Seeing Duo moving towards it, Lin Shen hurriedly called for Little Tiger and the four cubs to follow.

Duo reached the device, which she knew to be the starship they'd arrived in, but had no idea how to activate it.

She thought of asking Lin Shen for help, yet felt it might be too much if even this had slipped her mind.

Advanced technology saved her the trouble. The device had already sensed her approach, automatically activating, opening the hatch, and extending a ladder.

Duo ascended with composure, while a voice within the ship greeted her, "Master, welcome back aboard the Chrysanthemum."

Following Duo to the steps, Lin Shen's expression turned slightly odd upon hearing the device's name.

He stepped forward to ascend the steps but was blocked by a sudden appearance of a light screen.

"Master, a lifeform is attempting to intrude into the Chrysanthemum. Shall I launch an attack to eliminate the intruder?" Smart Brain's voice rang out again.

"They are my friends, let them board," said Duo.

"Understood," Smart Brain acknowledged, and the light screen impeding Lin Shen instantly vanished.

Lin Shen couldn't help but marvel at the advanced technology of the Divine Being Clan, indeed superior to that of the Ancient Realm.

Once on board the starship, Lin Shen looked around and saw a hologram presenting a poised butler image before Duo.

"Master, where shall we head to now?" asked the butler hologram.

"Home," Duo responded, though in reality, she wasn't eager to return just yet. Her understanding of the intricacies of the Divine Being Clan was still too limited.

But under the current circumstances, if she didn't head straight home but instead went to another planet, it would only make Duo's family even more suspicious.

Uncle Xue has died, and she herself suffered injuries and amnesia, yet she doesn't rush home immediately, which would make anyone doubt her intentions.

"Alright, Master. Please drive carefully," the butler replied, and then a pilot seat emerged ahead.

Duo looked at the pilot seat, feeling somewhat troubled in her heart.

She didn't know how to pilot such a device at all; if she were truly human—even if not actually Duo—she should have known to tell the butler to switch to autopilot mode by now.

Unfortunately, she was neither human nor familiar with such devices.

Although Duo knew nothing, she had her own ways. She cast her gaze on Lin Shen and said, "I'm feeling a little unwell. You drive."

Lin Shen was bewildered. He had no idea how to operate such a contraption.

But since Duo had asked him to pilot it, Lin Shen instinctively assumed that every Divine Being should know how to, otherwise why would Duo let him do it without even asking if he knew how?

Now, if Lin Shen admitted he couldn't pilot or requested autopilot, he was worried that might arouse Duo's suspicions.

Both novices thought the other must know a lot, not realizing they were equally ignorant.

Just as Lin Shen was pondering how not to give himself away, to his astonishment, he saw Little Tiger sit down and expertly start the piloting sequence.

Lin Shen felt both alarmed and delighted—thankful that Little Tiger had diffused the moment for him, yet puzzled as to how he knew how to pilot the ship and so deftly at that.

Seeing Little Tiger pilot the ship so proficiently, Duo became even more convinced that she could obtain a lot of information about the Divine Being Clan from Lin Shen.

Taking advantage of the moment when Duo wasn't paying attention to him, Little Tiger winked at Lin Shen and then issued a series of commands to the butler.

After obtaining Duo's authorization, the butler followed Little Tiger's instructions, and the Chrysanthemum began to start up.

The Crystal Ring outside split into three intersecting Crystal Rings, which then began to spin slowly, accelerating rapidly.

The speed of the Crystal Rings became faster and faster, the blue light intensifying, eventually forming a white orb of light, reminiscent of a vortex.

In the next second, the Chrysanthemum vanished as if it had teleported, leaving behind bizarre spatial ripples on the planet.

"We will need over six hundred hours to return to Duo's home. You can rest for now," Little Tiger said while piloting the Chrysanthemum, addressing both Duo and Lin Shen.

"Duo, since you're not feeling well, go and rest first. I'm here," Lin Shen said.

Duo nodded her head and said to the butler, "Come with me; I need your help with some inquiries."

She had no idea where she should rest and could only have the butler lead the way.

After Duo and the butler left, Lin Shen approached Little Tiger without speaking.

He suspected there was panoramic surveillance inside the Chrysanthemum, that every move he made was being watched. He couldn't afford to make any slip-ups.

Little Tiger smiled and said, "Piloting is quite boring. Let's browse the news online."

Saying so, Little Tiger called out to the butler, and another hologram of the butler appeared beside him, accepting his commands and opening the Chrysanthemum's network.

Lin Shen's face was expressionless, but inwardly he was overjoyed: "Little Tiger, this lad, really is thoughtful and understanding, not letting me down... Hmm... Not too shabby at least..."