Ch. 291 - Sorry, Senior, Our Genders Are Incompatible

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"Seniors, your judgment is spot-on. I really haven't personally killed a fierce beast."

Chen Shu cracked a grin and scratched his head. "Personally speaking, I feel nukes are a lot more satisfying..."

"??"

The three of them stared blankly, completely lost.

What? Nukes?

"Alright, let's head to the Beast Taming Arena!"

Fang Si shook her head. To actually think Chen Shu was a harmless citizen — her three teammates were way too naive...

The five chatted and laughed their way out of the teaching building, heading toward the Beast Taming Arena.

Qiao Yue blinked and asked, "Junior Chen Shu, you really just graduated from senior year?"

Ning Qingyi sized him up repeatedly and couldn't help but exclaim:

"Incredible. A pre-college Black Iron — practically a national treasure."

"Sis Fang Si, you didn't give him a spot in the school's cultivation chamber, did you? It's been years since anyone managed to break through purely on their own as a senior-year student."

All three turned to look at Fang Si, doubt in their eyes.

Fang Si rubbed her forehead. "Are you three stupid? That's illegal. I don't want to get expelled."

These days, there were generally two ways to break through to Black Iron: one was using a university's special cultivation chamber, the other was doing it on your own.

College students almost all used the cultivation chambers, even though it created bottlenecks for future breakthroughs.

But if you delayed breaking through until you were too old, the path of beast taming would only become harder.

After weighing the pros and cons, they naturally all chose the special cultivation chamber.

Those who broke through on their own were the social beast tamers — they couldn't use university chambers. They might only reach Black Iron in their thirties or forties, and their lifelong achievements would stop right there.

As for why university special cultivation chambers weren't opened to middle and high school students —

The primary reason was to ensure the fairness of the gaokao.

If the descendant of some powerhouse had no beast taming talent but forcibly broke through to Black Iron using a cultivation chamber...

Then no matter how genius a foundational beast tamer was, they'd never be able to beat them.

The gaokao practical combat exam would descend into utter chaos, making it impossible to screen for true geniuses.

Ning Qingyi giggled. "We were just joking. It's just... we've never seen a real genius before."

Qiao Yue nodded in agreement. "I'll bet Junior Chen Shu is way stronger than that compulsive poser!"

"Compulsive poser?"

Chen Shu paused briefly, then asked.

Fang Si explained, "That's Ling Chen. Struts around with that red hair every day — if he's not showing off, he's on his way to show off."

"..."

Chen Shu rubbed his chin. Looked like he'd need to find an opportunity to seek some pointers.

Just then, Lu Zhining — the one with the beauty mark — sidled up to him with a smile. "Junior Chen Shu, you don't have a girlfriend yet, do you?"

"What do you think of your senior here?"

"?"

Fang Si was about to speak when Chen Shu beat her to it.

"Senior, could I see your ID card?"

"Huh? What ID card?"

Lu Zhining blinked, her brain completely failing to process the turn.

Instinctively, she pulled out her ID card and handed it to Chen Shu.

Even though it was an ID photo, she still had willow-leaf brows and almond eyes — especially that beauty mark at the corner of her mouth, which made the heart skip a beat.

Chen Shu gave it a quick glance and said with perfect seriousness:

"Sorry, Senior. The last digit of your ID number is even. Mine's odd. We're incompatible!"[1]

"???"

All four of them whipped their heads around, instantly stupefied. What kind of reasoning was that?!

A moment later.

"Give me a break!"

Lu Zhining's mouth twitched as she snatched back her ID card. If someone's female, wouldn't the last digit of their ID always be even?

Other people rejected someone by saying their personalities weren't compatible.

But this guy? He went straight for incompatible genders!

Qiao Yue asked with a strange expression, "You... you wouldn't happen to like men, would you..."

"Bull! That was just a joke."

Chen Shu remained perfectly calm, shrugging. "Honestly, my requirements are simple. Whoever can bag my head with a urea sack — that's who I'll fall for."[2]

If you can't even bag my head, how could you ever bag my heart?!

"What the hell? A urea sack?"

Lu Zhining and the other two were completely baffled. They'd never heard of such a thing.

"Cut the crap!"

Fang Si glared. With your bandit instincts, no one in the entire world could ever get a urea sack over your head.

...

The five continued chatting and laughing as they arrived at Huaxia Academy's enormous Beast Taming Arena.

Fang Si's beast taming squad had their own exclusive competition platform — only they could use it.

"Let's go over this hunting operation!"

The five sat cross-legged on the floor, everyone's expressions turning dead serious.

Qiao Yue pulled out a handheld tablet, only about a decimeter in size — it looked exquisitely crafted.

"How am I supposed to see anything?!"

Chen Shu's mouth fell open. His eyes narrowed to slits. Even with Black Iron-level vision, he could barely make out the general outlines.

"You're an idiot!"

Fang Si shook her head and pointed ahead.

Hanging in the air, a holographic screen had appeared, displaying the information from the tablet.

"Holy crap, this is high-end?!"

Chen Shu's eyes bugged out, wearing the expression of someone who'd never seen the world.

Qiao Yue's right hand kept sliding, manipulating the holographic screen — the whole thing radiated sci-fi energy.

Fang Si explained, "Huaxia Academy's research product. If you want one, you can exchange Academic Credits for it."

"Alright, Xiao Qiao, brief us on this dimensional space."

Qiao Yue nodded. Her fingers swiped, and the holographic screen before them displayed the relevant dimensional space information.

"Dimensional Space: Living Wood Swamp."

"Classification: Dangerous-level."

"Inhabiting Fierce Beasts: Venom Scorpion, Emerald Giant Frog, Thousand Vine Poison Tree..."

"Space Treasures: Heavenly Poison Flower, Seven Star Grass, Wood Green Seed..."

"King-rank Beast: Unknown! Suspected wood-poison dual-attribute, carrying related True Treasures!"

"Precautions: The internal environment is harsh, filled with miasma. Marshes are everywhere. Black Iron and below are prohibited from entry! Beast tamers without flying-type contract spirits are prohibited from entry!"

"Dimensional Space History: Revival Era Year 583..."

"..."

All five were completely focused, continuously reading through the dimensional space information.

Chen Shu furrowed his brow. Just the name of this dimensional space was enough to tell him it wasn't simple.

The gap between Dangerous-level and Common-level dimensional spaces wasn't just about beast rank and strength.

The harsh environment was an equally significant factor that couldn't be ignored.

Lu Zhining's expression was grave as she asked, "Sis Fang Si, are we really hunting in this dimensional space?"

[Living Wood Swamp] was mid-to-upper-tier difficulty even among Dangerous-level dimensional spaces.

Especially its plant-type fierce beasts — they were practically the nightmare of countless beast taming squads.

One moment of carelessness, and the result was a total party wipe.

Ning Qingyi also spoke up. "Especially with A'Ling not here right now, the team..."

Only Fang Si and Qiao Yue had known the details in advance. Even they hadn't expected it to be this dimensional space.

Ning Qingyi hadn't said it outright, but she clearly thought Chen Shu wasn't a match for their original teammate.

Of course, that didn't just mean strength — it included dimensional space experience, team coordination, combat awareness, and every other aspect.

[1] 身份证奇偶数 (ID number odd/even): In China's 18-digit citizen ID number system, the 17th digit (second-to-last) encodes gender: odd for male, even for female. Chen Shu weaponizes this into a comedic rejection — he already knows all women have even digits, so his "incompatibility" reasoning is deliberately absurd. It's his way of rejecting Lu Zhining's flirtation without a conventional excuse.

[2] 尿素袋子 / 罩 (urea bag / "bag" pun): Chen Shu's signature weapon and running gag. The Chinese verb 罩 (zhào) means both "to cover/envelop physically" and "to have someone's back / capture someone's heart." Chen Shu's line "You can't even bag my head, how could you bag my heart?" weaponizes this double meaning: the urea bag (physical covering) doubles as a romantic test (emotional capturing). This is peak Bandit Logic — turning an improvised assault weapon into a courtship ritual, and his own paranoid combat reflexes into a romantic filter.