"Ren Kurogane! Please go out with me!"
"Sorry, we aren't a good match."
Under the rustling shade of the trees, the man refused with chilling decisiveness.
The girl who had been rejected bit her lip, huffing in dissatisfaction. "Give me a reason! I've confessed so many times and you always say no. If you don't give me a real reason this time, I'll arrest you!"
Ren looked at the woman before him. The breeze brushed her bangs against her face, her hair fluttering softly. Dressed in her police uniform, she radiated a sharp, capable aura, yet right now she was looking at him with a face full of grievance.
Seeing that she had actually pulled out her handcuffs, Ren let out a helpless sigh. "Because I can't guarantee that I'll only love you in this lifetime."
"Huh?" A giant question mark practically manifested over Qi Lin's head.
"Yeah. My dream is to have three wives and four concubines, to have one on each arm. I even plan on changing my nationality later. So, we really aren't a good match."
Clink—
The silver handcuffs in Qi Lin's hand made a soft sound, betraying the tremble in her grip. Ren didn't spare another glance; he turned and walked away from the tree, heading back to the library to continue his studies.
Qi Lin stood dazed for a long time before letting out a heavy sigh, muttering under her breath, "My love life... it ended before it even began."
She left the area dejectedly. As Ren had said, she couldn't accept a man who was half-hearted. If Ren had agreed today only to fool around later, they would have ended up as enemies.
In the distance, Wei Lan saw her best friend's state and came running over furiously. "Qi Lin! What did that brat say? Did he bully you? I'll go teach him a lesson!"
"No, no, no!" Qi Lin quickly pulled her back. "He didn't bully me. He made his reasons very clear. I know I can't accept that side of him, so I chose to give up."
Wei Lan stopped, her expression shifting to one of intense gossip. "What exactly did he say to make you this depressed?"
Qi Lin repeated Ren's words listlessly. Wei Lan's mouth hung open in shock. "What?! He... he really..."
After a moment of internal chaos, Wei Lan sighed. "Well, I guess he's a real man at least. At least he didn't play with your feelings."
Qi Lin nodded and left with her friend. "I'm in a bad mood. Let's go on a shopping spree!"
"Huh? We have patrol this afternoon."
"I'm taking leave! It's not like anything ever happens anyway!"
Upstairs, Ren watched Qi Lin leave and felt a small pang of regret. Did he like Qi Lin? It would be a lie to say no.
But there were too many beauties in the Superbrain (Super Gene) universe. Between Rui Mengmeng and Su Xiaoli—whom he was already looking after—he already had two. Qi Lin would never accept that. He might find even more in the future; better to not start at all than to leave a permanent scar in her heart later.
As for Mengmeng and Xiaoli, Xiaoli didn't mind the arrangement, and Mengmeng had long been talked into circles by Ren's "guidance."
Ren shifted his gaze upward toward the wormhole in the sky, a trace of gloom flickering in his eyes. "The shelter in North Star (Beijing) is complete, but the other cities..."
The other cities didn't listen to him at all. Only a few tycoons in the capital believed him and built shelters in the outskirts. Their reason for believing him was simple: they thought it was fun.
The people investing in him were mostly "rich second-generation" types with more money than sense. Hearing that Ren wanted to build a super underground shelter for a million people, they diverted a "tiny bit" of cash flow from their family companies to splurge. The shelter finished last month, and their elders had actually locked them inside, telling them they weren't allowed out until they finished the food stockpiles.
Ren had been fired from his company because of this project and was currently an "unemployed wanderer." Fortunately, he'd saved enough to support Xiaoli and Mengmeng.
Back in his apartment, Su Xiaoli was playing games while Rui Mengmeng was buried in a programming textbook, looking adorable as she scratched her head in confusion. Ren didn't disturb them; he sat down and began reading his own books.
To prepare for the coming disaster, he had been studying programming for twelve years! He was on the verge of creating his own Artificial Intelligence.
As for Super Genes, he had two paths. One: ask Rui Mengmeng to put in a good word with the Superbrain Academy to get him any basic gene set. He'd figure out the upgrades later. Two: join Morgana. Kneel and call her "Queen." If she was in a good mood, she might give him a top-tier gene set.
...Maybe.
Ren felt it was more likely he'd die at Morgana's hands first. Unless he was truly cornered, he didn't want to deal with her. As for the Angels, he never considered them. He was a man who wanted one on each arm; in Angelic philosophy, he'd be classified as the same species as a "Heavenly Scumbag."
Developing his own Super Gene was out of the question. That wasn't something one could achieve through simple "effort." Super Genes were products far beyond Earth's current era. Even with another three thousand years of development, Earth was more likely to pursue Star-Killer Cannons and dark matter bombs than biological godhood.
Time flew, and night fell. Just as Ren was about to "start dinner" with the girls, several streaks of fire suddenly tore across the sky!
"That's...?!" Ren's expression turned grim. He caught Su Xiaoli's restless foot and said, "The era of chaos has arrived."
"What? Are the aliens here?"
Both girls were startled. Su Xiaoli stopped her teasing, and both she and Mengmeng threw on their jackets to look out the window. In the distance, firelight illuminated half the sky. Police sirens and gunfire merged into a chaotic mess.
Ren used a pair of binoculars to observe the situation. Two blue robots were slaughtering people on the streets. Police weapons were completely useless, the bullets merely making a ting-ting-ting sound against their steel bodies.
Suddenly, a Taotie soldier in the distance turned its gaze toward Ren's direction. Even from that distance, Ren felt his scalp go numb!
"Quick! We have to leave!"
The three of them rushed downstairs, fleeing the battlefield as fast as possible. The Taotie soldier didn't pursue them, however—he had just been intercepted by Du Qiangwei!
Follow-up Question:
Since Ren has spent 12 years studying programming and is close to finishing an AI, should he try to hack into the Superbrain Academy's database to "borrow" a gene template for himself, or should he focus on getting Rui Mengmeng and Su Xiaoli to the North Star shelter first?