Perhaps due to the amendment of the Enlistment Act, an unusually large number of people enlisted this year; Qin Fen waited in line for half the morning before it was his turn for the physical examination.

Standing beneath the examination scanner, a rapid sweep was conducted, and a string of excellent data was instantly sent to the examiner's screen.

Looking at the transmitted data, the examiner was slightly astonished. This level of physical conditioning was something only seasoned soldiers, already rigorously trained, typically possessed. How had this young man trained? Could he come from a military family?

He gently adjusted the gold-rimmed spectacles on the bridge of his nose, immediately dismissing that assumption. Qin Fen’s arrival vehicle had been far too conspicuous; even the examiner in this room had already heard others discussing the magnificent sight of Qin Fen’s entrance.

“Report to the enlistment office tomorrow morning,” the examiner stamped the word 【QUALIFIED】 in bright red ink onto Qin Fen’s paperwork.

Leaving the examination room, Song Jia, seated in the vehicle, waved enthusiastically at Qin Fen.

“Qiangzi and Bingren called just now; they want to see you off. We’re heading over now,” Song Jia informed Qin Fen as he settled in. With a flick of the control stick, the sports car immediately ascended, vanishing into the skyline at high speed.

The Examination Room

“Old Zhang, have a cup of tea first. Wait until I finish this last bit of work, and then we’ll find a place to properly share a drink! Since you were injured and discharged, the brothers haven't had a proper drink together.” The examiner greeted the man who had just walked in beside him, then returned to his examination duties.

The man called Old Zhang was precisely Manager Zhang, whom Qin Fen had beaten at the construction site, resulting in his hospitalization.

After recuperating in the hospital for over half a month, his body had just recovered. Upon hearing that his old comrade was in charge of this enlistment examination process, he had rushed over happily.

“You focus on your work. I’ll see if there’s any decent material among these recruits you’re processing,” Manager Zhang remarked with the tone of a seasoned veteran. He picked up a stack of physical reports and began reviewing them.

“I can’t speak for the other examination stations, but we really do have one standout here.” The examiner’s memory of Qin Fen’s report—where every single data point was an 'A'—was too vivid. This was the first time he had encountered such a situation. “I think his name was something like Qin Fen…”

“Qin Fen?” Manager Zhang’s expression shifted instantly. He rapidly flipped through the documents in his hand.

“It really is him!” Manager Zhang stared fiercely at Qin Fen’s file, his teeth gritted.

The examiner looked surprised, sensing existing animosity between them. “What? You know him?”

“Brother, I’ve never asked anyone for a favor before. Help me out this one time.” Manager Zhang pulled out Qin Fen’s file and sneered.

“Go ahead and ask. We don’t need formalities between us,” the examiner smiled. “If it weren’t for you, I’d likely have died on the battlefield already.”

“This kid. Take good ‘care’ of him,” Manager Zhang said with chilling malice. “You have some say in the new recruit assignments, don’t you? Places like the Snow Domain, the Plateau, the Desert—they always need more fresh troops, right?”

“Naturally,” the examiner replied, taking Qin Fen’s file from Manager Zhang’s hand and placing it separately into a dedicated folder.

Hilton Grand Hotel, VIP Suite

Qin Fen pushed the door open with a pang of guilt. How much money would a suite like this cost? Lin Liqiang, that profligate son of a gun, why was he hosting a banquet here? He might as well have just given me the money directly, and we could all eat McDonald's.

“Old Qin, why so late?” Lin Liqiang tapped his fingers on the table. “Were you getting charmed by the nurses at the physical?”

After not seeing him for a while, Lin Liqiang’s ferocious gift for language showed no signs of decline.

“Song Jia was driving,” Qin Fen immediately shifted the blame for his tardiness onto the driver.

“What? Qiangzi? You’re not satisfied with my speed?” Song Jia pulled out a chair for herself, sat down, and eyed her childhood playmate provocatively. “Want to take a spin in my car later?”

“No need,” Lin Liqiang waved his hands dismissively. “I value my life highly. Five major planets and countless maidens await my love; if I must die, it will be a glorious death. Accidental traffic fatalities just don't suit my style.”

“Scaredy-cat,” Song Jia shot Lin Liqiang a look and began sipping her ice water.

“Seriously, you didn’t get groped by any little sisters at the physical?” Lin Liqiang hadn’t forgotten his earlier question.

“It’s electronic scanning now,” Qin Fen added after a moment’s thought. “We were wearing clothes.”

“Sigh,” Lin Liqiang lamented. “I was planning to show off my sexy physique in front of the little sisters during my own physical examination. Guess I won't get the chance now.”

As the group talked, food materialized on the previously empty table in an incredibly short span of time. Faced with such rapid service, Qin Fen couldn't help but marvel—you certainly got what you paid for, even the dish delivery required no waiting from the guests.

“Don’t rush to eat just yet,” Lin Liqiang said with a smile, taking a wooden box about the size of a fist from a bag beside him. With a gentle flick of his finger, the box traced a beautiful arc through the air before landing neatly in Qin Fen’s hands.

“You’re going into the army. Who knows if you’ll be unlucky enough to be assigned to bandit suppression or some similar mission.” Lin Liqiang gestured toward the box in Qin Fen’s hand. “Your buddy doesn’t have much to give, but this is a little fancy item I made myself. Open it and see…”

As the wooden box opened, the usually expressionless Inzarota’s eyes quickly registered a flicker of shock: a Bio-Beast Egg!

The Bio-Beast was a type of military auxiliary product, an artificial organism developed by humanity after acquiring the Atlantean civilization’s knowledge, utilizing advanced technology to create various forms with different functions. They were products engineered to adapt to the harsh, varied environments of different planets. Normally, they manifested as a tattoo-like presence clinging to the host, sustaining themselves by absorbing the host’s energy. During combat, they could materialize into solid objects, or transform into partial armor or weapons, aiding the host in defense and combat, and even enabling a lower-star warrior the chance to defeat a higher-star warrior in combat.

Currently, the Federation’s bio-beast development was still in its preliminary stages, with manufacturing capacity severely limited, preventing widespread adoption. Except for equipping certain special forces units or military officers who had reached a certain rank, only the truly wealthy could afford one; an ordinary middle-class family would likely have to bankrupt themselves for even a slim chance of acquiring one. Given Qin Fen’s own financial standing, possessing a Bio-Beast was something that usually only happened in his dreams.

Now, holding the Bio-Beast in his hand, even Qin Fen’s formidable composure faltered for a moment.

“Heh heh…” Lin Liqiang scratched his head with a grin. “To be honest, I wasn’t entirely confident about the stuff they sell in the shops. So, I made one myself. It has a bunch of new functions! The most special one is the growth function…”

“Growth function?” Song Jia was also astonished this time. “Didn’t they say that feature was still under development?”

ps: It’s Monday! Pushing for the new book charts~~~ Brothers and sisters, recommendation tickets, we need the firepower of recommendation tickets! For the sake of the nation, for the sake of Gao Lou updating at midnight, for the sake of the novel’s decent quality—send those recommendation tickets!

For more novels, visit storyread.net.