Chapter 60 Professional Talent

Chen Houyan’s face broke into a broad smile, his eyes narrowing into slits as he said, "Miss Du, look, your scream scared it into a ball. If you can manage to tame it, that would be extraordinary. You could instantly become the chief animal trainer for our Dinosaur Park's *Beauty and the Beast* production and turn into a globally celebrated superstar!"

With that, he glanced at Chairman Yao and added, "I reckon the Chairman will surely invest a massive fortune in this project!"

Upon hearing this, Du Yanxiang spat in disgust and said with utter contempt, "You want me to perform with this monster? In your dreams!"

Yet, Yao奎 was mentally calculating an entirely different prospect. He thought that if this monster could truly be tamed and the God Gene successfully cultivated, it would be magnificent. Not only would it boost the Dinosaur Park's revenue, but it might actually cure his illness. Furthermore, possessing superpowers would make his future days infinitely more glorious.

At this thought, he turned to Du Yanxiang, nodded solemnly, and said, "I will invest a huge sum of money to custom-tailor the *Beauty and the Beast* project specifically for you."

Even though Du Yanxiang felt ten thousand reservations, hearing the Chairman put it that way made her reflect that life is a struggle after all. Besides, terrifying as the monster looked, it might just be a turning point to change her destiny. Gritting her teeth, she said, "Since the Chairman has said so, I'll give it a try."

Seeing that Du Yanxiang had finally agreed to become the animal trainer, Chen Houyan was overjoyed, his smile practically spilling off his face.

Gazing at the monster in the cage, Du Yanxiang asked Chen Houyan with absolute disdain, "Why is this monster so hideous? Whose offspring is it anyway? And what is its name?"

Faced with these questions, Chen Houyan stammered, unable to give a coherent answer for a good while. Seeing this, Yao Kui glanced at him and said, "If you want Yanxiang to help you, stop hiding things and tell the truth."

Left with no choice, Chen Houyan took out the experimental report and said honestly, "Chairman, Miss Du, this creature is something I synthesized using the genes of pythons, lizards, and crustaceans. It doesn't have a name yet."

Du Yanxiang offhandedly remarked, "Then let's call it Python-Shell."

Hearing this, Chen Houyan’s eyes lit up, and he quickly clapped in approval, shouting, "Python-Shell is great! Python-Shell is great! What a wonderful name!" In his heart, he thought that as long as she agreed to be the trainer, what the creature was called didn't matter at all.

Strangely enough, at that moment, Python-Shell seemed to understand its new name. The huge scales that had previously resembled hard armor suddenly emitted a soft, gentle sheen, losing their bone-chilling, standoffish coldness. Its thick body stretched out comfortably, every muscle relaxing instead of remaining tense.

It raised its head high, its eyes half-closed, and the vertical slits within them no longer flickered with bloodthirsty, eerie light. Instead, they were replaced by a faint, almost lazy satisfaction. Occasionally, it would slowly flick its forked tongue—not in an aggressive probing motion, but rather as if leisurely savoring the aura of contentment hanging in the air.

Seeing Python-Shell acting like this, Du Yanxiang felt a surge of smugness. She shot a contemptuous glance at Chen Houyan, thinking to herself that he called himself an expert yet couldn't even pick a decent name. Straightening her posture, she laid down her demand: "If you want me to train it, everything must go my way."

Chen Houyan nodded profusely and agreed without hesitation, "Everything will be up to Sister Xiang. Whatever you say goes."

Yao Kui looked at Chen Houyan and asked, "Are there any other problems?"

***

In truth, Chen Houyan knew very well that after this period of experimentation, he always felt that the integration of ancient cold-blooded animal genes with the human body still lacked a certain refinement, given they were not the same species. However, he didn't dare voice this aloud. Hesitating for a moment, he said, "Chairman, there are no major problems left. But Sister Xiang is right; we shouldn't put all our eggs in Bao Tianxi's basket. We still need to find a way to obtain the information regarding the Southwest Academy of Sciences' cryogenic experimental station."

Yao Kui frowned and asked, "Who should we send to handle this matter?"

Leaning in mysteriously close to Yao Kui's ear, Chen Houyan whispered, "Have you forgotten? Don't we have an acquaintance inside the Southwest Academy of Sciences? Can we put them to use?" Lowering his voice further, he muttered a few words. As Yao Kui listened, a knowing and profound smile gradually spread across his face...

Early the next morning, He Yunfei arrived at the Southwest Academy of Sciences and immediately saw that the glacier hydrology expert, the Tibetan Baima Duoji, had already arrived. He had been dispatched by Ding Bonian to conduct glacier explorations alongside He Yunfei.

As the head of the Chinese Academy of Sciences New Energy Exploration Team, He Yunfei and Baima Duoji were not collaborating for the first time. Three years ago, they had joined He Yunfei's mentor, Ding Bonian, in launching a comprehensive survey of the Himalayan glaciers.

The moment the two men met, they embraced tightly with great emotion, memories of fighting side by side rushing back to their minds.

He Yunfei still vividly remembered the occasion when they deployed geomagnetic remote sensing detectors in the Himalayan region. The subsequent precise data acquired regarding the Himalayas' glacial geology, hydrology, and climate had been unprecedented, allowing China to achieve major breakthroughs in field glacier exploration and theoretical research. It was hailed by the global glaciology community as yet another peak in the history of glacial geology.

In the lobby corridor of the academy, a technician named Han Gui was chatting animatedly with a yellow-haired girl. Han Gui was of medium height, with a dark complexion and a sharp-mouthed, monkey-faced appearance, making him the spitting image of the "man in a case" from Chekhov's stories.

At that moment, Lin Yizhou and others were walking down the corridor from the far end. Spotting them, Han Gui immediately put on a smiling face and obsequiously stepped forward to greet them.

Furrowing his brow with a stern expression, Lin Yizhou said, "Han Gui, I was just looking for you! How are the preparations coming along for the glacier exploration equipment?"

Hesitating for a moment, Han Gui stammered, "St-still not ready yet, it's just that..."

Without letting him finish, Lin Yizhou coldly interrupted, "It's been this long and still not ready? No matter how great the difficulties are, I demand that you have all the supplies for this glacier expedition fully prepared right now..."

Han Gui hurriedly replied, "Alright, alright!! It's just that some backup materials haven't..."

Before he could finish his sentence, a voice suddenly echoed from behind them: "Weren't those things prepared long ago? You're supposed to apply for them according to the multi-functional intelligent remote sensing detectors and spacetime locators. How could you not even know to ask about that?"

Looking back, the crowd saw Wu Xiong, the head of logistics at the Southwest Academy of Sciences. With a rigid and furious expression, he angrily said, "Dean Lin, you tell me—these backup materials were prepared ages ago, yet they simply refuse to go pick them up! How is work supposed to get done like this?"

Hearing this, Lin Yizhou adopted a cold and unquestionable tone: "Since that's the case, go collect the materials immediately. Don't delay important business."

Seeing that Dean Lin had issued an order, Han Gui immediately bowed and scraped, meekly responding, "Okay, okay, I'll go right now, right away..." With that, he and the girl hurriedly left the lobby, their figures quickly vanishing behind the door.

***

Watching them leave, He Yunfei felt an inexpressible sense of strangeness well up inside him. Just at that moment, his phone suddenly rang. Seeing it was a call from Bao Tianxi, he answered it.

As soon as the line connected, Bao Tianxi's slightly reproachful voice came through: "Yunfei, you brat, you arrive in Yunnan and don't contact me first? Do you still consider me your elder brother or not?"

He Yunfei quickly apologized, "I'm truly sorry, Big Brother. As soon as I arrived, I was dragged into meetings and couldn't break away. But Xiaotong knew about my coming to Yunnan—didn't that girl tell you?"

Bao Tianxi laughed and said, "She was the one who told me, said you were extremely busy. She also had me pass along a message: you must show your face, otherwise she's going to strip you of your 'global citizenship,' hahaha..." Because they were childhood friends who had grown up together, they spoke very casually without holding back.

He Yunfei laughed along and said, "Alright, once I finish my task today, I'll come look for you tonight." They agreed to meet up that evening without fail.

Seeing He Yunfei, Lin Yizhou hurried over to ask, "Yunfei, have you and Professor Su's side made contact?"

He Yunfei replied, "We've already made the arrangements."

Nodding, Dean Lin instructed, "It's getting late, you should head to the airport first. I'll take care of things here. Be sure to stay safe along the way!"

Acknowledging the order, He Yunfei set off together with Baima Duoji. Riding to a certain air force plateau base, Yunfei immediately spotted the Divine Eagle electromagnetic aircraft bearing the logo "Hang CX."

This aircraft possessed a unique appearance resembling a flying saucer, boldly revolutionizing design concepts and representing an entirely new philosophy of aerospace engineering.

He Yunfei had previously heard that this aircraft was not only lightweight, energy-efficient, and eco-safe, but it didn't even require a runway, relying instead on electromagnetic energy to launch into the air. Utilizing this electromagnetic launching device required placing the aircraft onto two parallel guide rails within a strong magnetic field launch well; then, aided by the magnetic field generated by a strong pulse current, it could be shot out like a cannonball at extreme speeds.

Although this launch method sounded somewhat frightening, the technology behind the Divine Eagle electromagnetic aircraft was already quite mature, boasting a safety factor even higher than that of ordinary airplanes.

A decade or so ago, this technology was primarily used in military projects. However, following restrictions on warfare factors imposed by the Global Security Management Committee, such weapons had long been banned. Fortunately, due to the significant advantages of its powerful electromagnetic capabilities, people repurposed it for aerospace scientific exploration and the exploration of unknown hazardous regions.