Evolving infinitely from ground zero

At this moment, a female leader standing nearby, who was also the Deputy City Lord surnamed Shangguan, spoke indifferently, "Don't underestimate others. My little grandson, Nangong Liuyun, is not inferior to either of your grandsons."

Upon hearing this, the leader surnamed Qian, smiled and asked, "Does City Lord Shangguan want to place a bet as well?"

Deputy City Lord Shangguan smiled and said, "Since I've spoken up, naturally I'll take the bet. I can't afford a large amount of Source Crystals, but I can still come up with 100 grams."

"..."

While these three individuals, the leader surnamed Qian, the Deputy City Lord surnamed Bai, and the Deputy City Lord surnamed Shangguan, were making their bets,

Qin Chuan, who was the City Lord, suddenly noticed two unfamiliar faces in the forest and turned to ask Lan Tianyun, "Who are the two young people in the forest that I don't recognize?"

Upon hearing this, everyone followed Qin Chuan's gaze, and then saw a young man and woman with exceptionally good looks on the projection screen, prompting a wave of confusion in their minds— who were these two, and why did they seem so unfamiliar?

In response to the leaders' curiosity, Lan Tianyun respectfully answered, "Replying to the City Lord, these two are precisely the geniuses that Lord Ye had previously named to join the Alien Human Level Genius team."

"The two geniuses mentioned by Lord Ye?"

Qin Chuan muttered to himself in a low voice, then continued to ask, "Are they from Shanhai University?"

Lan Tianyun: "Yes."

Qin Chuan nodded and said nothing, his gaze fixed on Lin Zichen and Shen Qinghan in the projection.

He was intrigued by these two geniuses whom Ye Yongsheng had nominated to join the Alien Human Level Genius team, curious about what made them so extraordinary that Ye Yongsheng paid them such great attention.

Unlike his interest, the other leaders were dismissive.

Especially the leader surnamed Qian and the Deputy City Lord surnamed Bai, who held deep-seated prejudices against talents who grew up on Earth, now looked down on Lin Zichen and Shen Qinghan with contempt.

The leader surnamed Qian said dismissively, "These geniuses who have grown up comfortably on Earth are like flowers in a greenhouse, the product of a monkey ruling the mountains where there are no tigers."

"Having entered the Origin Land, they are bound to face setbacks one hundred percent. "

"Let's hope they don't become so dispirited from the blow that they start doubting life itself; instead, they must learn from their shame and turn it into strength, striving to better themselves."

"..."

The Deputy City Lord surnamed Bai chuckled and said, "They're not likely to get knocked down so easily; any talent Lord Ye takes notice of must surely have the right disposition. If they get struck down, they will certainly be able to learn from their shame and press on."

"However, having reigned supreme on Earth and receiving countless accolades, they'll probably take quite a hit emotionally when they witness the power of geniuses who have grown and trained in the Origin Land since their childhood."

"Not to mention, they are likely to be at the bottom of the group for a year or two before they can slowly get accustomed and understand their own position."

"..."

When discussing Lin Zichen and Shen Qinghan, besides City Lord Qin Chuan, all the other leaders unanimously looked down on these two geniuses who had grown up on Earth.

It was not an unfounded contempt.

But rather, a contempt based on reason and evidence.

Firstly, top-tier geniuses normally start displaying their astounding talents from a young age and are then selected by the human elite to be sent to the Origin Land for training early on.

Those who were not chosen simply lacked outstanding Evolutionary Talent.

From this perspective, the talents from Earth were already at a disadvantage from the starting line.

Secondly, the Origin Land is a highly enhanced version of Earth, where the opportunities and risks far surpass those of Earth. This gives the geniuses who grow up in the Origin Land a further advantage over those who grow up on Earth.

Simply put,

The geniuses who grow up on Earth are the top students of a regular class.

The geniuses who grow up in the Origin Land are the top students of an elite class like Tsinghua or Peking University.

The difference between the two is as vast as heaven and earth, with no grounds for comparison.

...

On the other side.

At the edge of the forest.

Lin Zichen analyzed some traces in front of him to determine which directions had been traversed by people.

He then said to Shen Qinghan beside him, "No one's passed through here; you enter the forest from this side, and I'll go alongside you."

Shen Qinghan obediently nodded and said, "Okay, I got it."

Lin Zichen: "Then, let's go in now."

Shen Qinghan: "Alright."

The two of them did not engage in idle chatter and quickly separated, each entering the forest to join the test.

After entering,

Lin Zichen immediately spread out his spiritual power to sense the situation within the forest.

Every flower, blade of grass, and tree, including Shen Qinghan not far away, and the seven Alien Human Level geniuses who had entered the forest earlier, were all within his range of perception.

"4396 meters."

"3348 meters."

"2800 meters."

"2209 meters."

"2200 meters."

"1557 meters."

"1024 meters..."

Lin Zichen murmured, reciting the distance between himself and those seven Alien Human Level geniuses ahead.

The numbers were accurate to each meter.

"Hmm?"

Suddenly, Lin Zichen frowned.

He realized he was being watched.

The source of the surveillance was the rooftop of the Special Training Building behind him.

"It's not the instructor from just now who is watching..."

"The watcher is very powerful..."

"There's someone else watching..."

Thinking this, Lin Zichen turned to look at the rooftop of the Special Training Building behind him, focused his spiritual power there, and quickly sensed the watcher—Qin Chuan.

Upon sensing this watcher for the first time,

Lin Zichen immediately employed "Danger Perception," attempting to pry into Qin Chuan's biometric information.

But after a while, he couldn't make anything out.

The gap in Biological Levels between them was too great.

Lin Zichen's "Danger Perception" was ineffective against Qin Chuan.

...

At the same time,

Qin Chuan, who was on the rooftop of the Special Training Building, was deeply shocked.

As the City Lord of No. 1 City, his strength was immense, able to shield against most perception methods.

Yet, just now, the spiritual power he dispersed was actually sensed by Lin Zichen.

This was somewhat unbelievable to him.

"A spiritual series genius, huh?"

"Interesting."

"He truly has some skills, as expected of the genius Ye Yongsheng noticed..."

Qin Chuan thought, quickly shifting his attention to Shen Qinghan on the other side.

After witnessing Lin Zichen's strong Spiritual Perception Ability, he now wanted to assess Shen Qinghan's capabilities.

After observing for about several minutes.

Qin Chuan thought to himself, "Is that young lady also a spiritual series genius?"

"Yet her spiritual power doesn't seem particularly strong, not enough to be selected for the Alien Human Level genius team."

"There must be some other unique aspect to her, I'll observe a bit longer and see."

"..."

Inside the forest,

Lin Zichen withdrew his spiritual power from the rooftop of the Special Training Building and started to concentrate on clearing the level.

The first level was the Plant Level.

Wherever his gaze landed, there were all sorts of bizarre and exotic plants.

There were towering Exotic Trees with vines entangled around them.

There were Exotic Flowers with gaping maws.

And there were Exotic Herbs bristling with poison spikes.

These aggressive exotic plants, now like tigers blocking the way, grew wildly on every inch of the ground, tightly clogging the path ahead.

Facing these troublesome exotic plants, Lin Zichen had a thought and used both "Advanced Spirit" and "Forest Lord" Biometric Attributes simultaneously, instantly bringing all the exotic plants within a hundred meters radius under control.

Then, he activated Fast Pass mode, taking the shortest straight path and rushing toward the depths of the forest at high speed.

As Lin Zichen approached,

The exotic plants, which had acted as obstacles, uprooted themselves one after another to clear a wide path, allowing Lin Zichen to pass smoothly.

"4000 meters."

"3000 meters."

"2000 meters."

"1000 meters..."

While sprinting at high speed, Lin Zichen silently counted the distance between him and the first place in his mind.

In just under a minute, he had closed the gap from the initial 4396 meters to the current 1000 meters.

At this rate of closing the distance,

In another 20 seconds, he would overtake the current first place, becoming the first to enter the second level.

...

PS: I'm putting out my bowl, asking for Monthly Passes and recommendation tickets!