Chapter 1: Strong Gene

Luo Bi had just arrived at the Wu Family Apothecary. After parking her sports car, she took her keys and entered through the front door. She was late again; there were already several customers in the shop picking out medicinal plants.

The manager, Wu Yue, was introducing medicinal plants to the customers. Wu Yue was a direct descendant of the Wu family. Judging by his appearance, he was a young man, but in reality, he was already over forty. In this interstellar era where the average human lifespan was 300 years, forty was still considered the prime of youth.

Wu Yue looked up and saw that Luo Bi had finally arrived. "Hurry to the back," he said. "A lot of medicinal plants were delivered this morning, including a few low-level spirit plants. Be careful when sorting and processing them."

The customers followed the sound of his voice and looked at Luo Bi. Luo Bi acted as if she hadn't seen them, gave a quick acknowledgment, and headed to the workshop in the back.

"You're finally here." Jiang Zhu, Luo Bi's only colleague, breathed a sigh of relief when she saw her. Her skills weren't as good as Luo Bi's, and her speed was lacking, so the processing of medicinal plants in the workshop relied mainly on Luo Bi—especially the spirit plants. As long as they were processed by Luo Bi’s small hands, only a minimal amount of spiritual energy was lost.

Luo Bi raised her hands and began processing the spirit plants, her mouth not idle as she chatted with Jiang Zhu. Luo Bi wasn't one to be easily managed, and since Jiang Zhu was the cousin of the manager, Wu Yue, the workshop was essentially their domain. As long as they didn't fall behind on their work, they could chatter away as they pleased.

"How is Hua Ran’s manic syndrome? Are you really going to take out your own savings to buy him calming powder?" Jiang Zhu suddenly remembered to ask. Hua Ran was Luo Bi’s stepbrother who had moved into the Luo family after his mother remarried. He was a strong-gene Thunder Flame Warrior serving in the military. A month ago, he had an accident while on a mission, and after his strong genes were damaged, he was sent home.

Treating damaged strong genes required spirit medicine. Although the Third Legion, where Hua Ran served, provided some, the price of spirit medicine was exorbitant. The Luo family simply couldn't afford the long-term cost of Hua Ran’s medication. It hadn't even been that long, and the Luo family’s savings had already been hollowed out.

Seeing that Hua Ran’s strong-gene mania couldn't be suppressed, Luo Bi had a moment of madness. For the past few days, she had been obsessing over her private savings, constantly rambling to Jiang Zhu about it.

"I don't know. Do you think I should take it out?" Luo Bi frowned. She had been struggling with this for several days.

Luo Bi was a transmigrator. It wasn't a soul-possession of someone else's body, but rather a reincarnation with the memories of her past life. She had a habit: she liked to hear other people's opinions on everything. Whether she adopted them or not was one thing, but she just wanted to hear them—especially regarding the matter of whether or not to use her private savings; she really wanted to hear what others thought.

"That depends on how you feel. If you really can't stand to see him like that, take out a portion of your interstellar coins to buy him spirit medicine, but don't take it all out. Your family has huge expenses ahead," Jiang Zhu said. Being older than Luo Bi, she thought more long-term.

Luo Bi quickly finished processing a level-two spirit plant and thought for a moment. "Hua Ran is the child my stepmother brought with her; he’s not my biological brother. I’m just worried that if I take out my own savings, others will think I’m stupid."

"Oh my! You’ve already finished processing a spirit plant?" Only then did Jiang Zhu notice the finished spirit plant on the workbench in front of Luo Bi. She realized her own speed had slowed down without her noticing and immediately picked up her pace. "That’s called being loyal and righteous."

Jiang Zhu was a tactful person who was used to saying what people wanted to hear, but that didn't work on Luo Bi.

"Speak like a human," Luo Bi retorted immediately, smashing Jiang Zhu’s flattery into the mud.

Luo Bi was asking for sincere advice and wouldn't tolerate anything superficial.