After her visit with Jay through the tour craft, she fell into an unconscious fever.

Initially, many people thought her faint spell was because of her heartbreak from her inability to continue staying with Jay. Even Yao Yuan was under that impression. He only ordered the medical crew to look after her and bring her to the captain’s room when she woke up. He didn’t have any other orders.

But the later development shocked everyone. Xiao Chen’s body temperature continued to rise, and she had been unconscious for one whole day and night. The medical crew gave her all sorts of fever medicine, including the latest trial supermagnetic procedures, but her condition wouldn’t improve.

The next day, the medical crew started to worry because they knew Xiao Chen was a person of special importance. Her connection to Jay aside, the fact that Captain Yao Yuan had personally inquired about her condition told them that Xiao Chen must be kept alive. After a rushed discussion with the Academy, they came to a conclusion…

Xiao Chen was evolving into a h.o.m.o Evolutis!

This came as no surprise to Yao Yuan. He realized her symptoms were way too similar to the mysterious fever. Thus far, many medical workers still believed that the fever was caused by the currently unidentified Virus X. There was no need to quarantine Xiao Chen because if the virus was contagious, many young people wished desperately to contract it. A fever to trade for the possibility of superpowers? Yes, please. A chance to walk on the new planet was an added bonus as well.

It’s just that… Why did Xiao Chen choose such a time to evolve into a h.o.m.o Evolutis?

Her timing was simply too weird. There had been two awakenings of h.o.m.o Evolutis thus far. The first was when they first left Earth, about 100 people evolved into h.o.m.o Evolutis. A sad fact was that about 80 percent of the fever patients perished due to mankind’s backwards state of medical technology at the time. This was a point of regret for those who were in the know later, because who knew how many All-Rounders, Deceivers, or some other new type of h.o.m.o Evolutis could be among those that had died?

The second awakening occurred moments after they were warped into this planet.

For both awakenings, the scales were ma.s.sive. At least 100 people had fallen ill. According to the research by the h.o.m.o Evolutis Faction, this meant that the awakening could be tied to life-preserving planets. For example, the first ma.s.s awakening happened when the Hope left Earth, a life-preserving planet. The second was when the Hope warped into this new home planet, another life-preserving planet. It was also worth noting that both awakenings happened around the time of warping.

Xiao Chen’s case was an anomaly. Why did it happen half a year after the latest warp, and why did it only affect her alone?

It was begging to be studied.

Until now, the h.o.m.o Evolutis Faction’s research hadn’t really reached a breakthrough. Research topics, like awakening triggers, in-depth research of h.o.m.o Evolutis powers, side effects from overexertion of power, and training regimes to enhance the powers, all hit a wall. Among all of these, the most important was definitely the h.o.m.o Evolutis awakening trigger. If they discovered the trigger, it was entirely possible to transform the entirety of mankind into h.o.m.o Evolutis! Mankind would be a perfect race. How impactful that would be for mankind’s future!?

But that was impossible because even the more advanced junkyard civilization hadn’t accomplished it.

But Xiao Chen’s awakening might prove to be a crucial anomaly that could lead to a breakthrough. Why was the timing of her awakening so different? Why weren’t there the usual symptoms before her awakening? Why was only she alone affected?

And most importantly, could her situation be duplicated on other people?

Regardless, Xiao Chen’s itinerary for 1 week prior to her awakening was brought up for discussion. Her more personal activities aside, the basic timeline was as follows: separation from Jay, visitation of Jay on the new planet, and then h.o.m.o Evolutis awakening.

From this, the expert tried to extrapolate the possible awakening triggers.

The first was a great fluctuation of emotions, but the possibility of this was low. There was a series of stirring events affecting mankind ever since they escaped into s.p.a.ce, and this was also common when they were back on Earth, so why hadn’t they heard of the presence of h.o.m.o Evolutis then?

Of course, it was possible that it had to be coupled with the element of s.p.a.ce-warping. Then again, there were at least ten thousand people on the Hope that experienced s.p.a.ce-warping, and there wasn’t a lack of people being stirred by emotions among them, so why hadn’t there been more h.o.m.o Evolutis?

The second was the pain of separation. This had a higher possibility. After all, the first awakening could be caused by the pain of separating from Earth. The intensity for pain of separation for Xiao Chen could be similar to that.

However, the refutation was that there were many others whose friends and families died on the battlefield that survived. Wasn’t their pain equally intense? So why hadn’t they undergone the evolution? Why was Xiao Chen’s case so unique?

This possibility was thus rejected.

The third possibility was the one offered by Ren Tao and Xiao Niao after they were briefed on the issue… it had to do with Jay.

This hypothesis was hard to understand, so Yao Yuan called over the both of them to come explain it to him.

Ren Tao scratched behind his ears and said with a shrug, "Because that’s the last possibility. After you’ve ruled out the other 2 possibilities, this is the one you’re left with. The last awakening wasn’t so long ago, so why didn’t she fall victim to the fever then? "

Xiao Niao nodded his head and picked up Ren Tao’s argument. "That’s because her situation is unique. Xiao Chen has experienced the same thing as everyone else, the s.p.a.ce-warp, the giant sway in emotions, discovery of a life-preserving planet; she was there to experience them all. But she didn’t contract the fever alongside the two ma.s.s awakenings; her awakening is uniquely isolated. That’s why instead of looking at the big picture, we should focus on what’s different in her situation. After you remove all the rejected possibilities, the remaining one, no matter how ludicrous it is, is the truth."

The three of them were at the h.o.m.o Evolutis Faction. Quarantined within was Xiao Chen, and outside of it were Yao Yuan, Ren Tao, Xiao Niao, and other scientists. Yao Yuan too entered his Thinker’s state as he deliberated Ren Tao and Xiao Niao’s arguments. He added, "I see what the both of you are getting at… Jay, indeed, is the key to the Xiao Chen’s awakening. He’s the only possible hypothesis left. In fact, video from inside the tour craft did reveal Xiao Chen saying she wanted to be a h.o.m.o Evolutis to be beside Jay."

Ren Tao and Xiao Niao snuck a look at one another. There was surprise and confirmation reflected in their eyes. Ren Tao asked immediately, "This proves the validity of our next, bigger hypothesis… Yao Yuan, do you remember our discussion about why the Deceiver was at the same level as the All-Rounder with a super S grade?"

Yao Yuan reared his head in shock and nodded. "I do, but the discussion, as I remember, had no conclusion…"

Xiao Niao interjected, "That was because we had nothing else to go on. We had no materials to pinpoint the Deceiver’s functionality, other than it being a more powerful Anima… Before that, Yao Yuan, I want to ask you something. Can you still remember the sensation you felt during the fever that made you a h.o.m.o Evolutis?"

Yao Yuan nodded after some thoughts, saying, "I felt dropped into the wide cosmos. I realized then how small life really is against the background of the wide cosmos. I fully understood the meaning of 'life’s a brief candle.' It was incredibly lonely and helpless, and after that, I woke up."

Ren Tao confirmed, "It was the same for me and my sister, Chou Yue. Everything you just described we experienced as well… So we came up with a wild thought. What if the Deceiver could trick other people into this particular sensation? Yao Yuan, what do you think would entail?"

Yao Yuan’s expression changed. He stood up and paced around the room. "Then it is entirely possible that the Deceiver could induce the awakening in other normal human beings, but this is just a hypothesis, a very crazy one at that. Our current research on h.o.m.o Evolutis is still too surface-level; who could really tell if this is or isn’t the trigger? Then again, everyone in s.p.a.ce must have felt the same sensation of loneliness and helplessness before, so why haven’t these people been affected by the evolution?"

Xiao Niao waved his hands dismissively, adding, "Who knows? Maybe the intensity wasn’t enough, or their minds have already gotten used to life in s.p.a.ce, or they are somehow suppressed by society? Regardless, we aren’t sure about this hypothesis either, but at least one thing’s certain: Xiao Chen’s awakening is deeply linked to Jay. And if this relations.h.i.+p could affirm our other more fantastical hypothesis, then the reason why the Deceiver is on the same level as the All-Rounder as super S grade cosmic adapter is because…

"He can create an entire civilization of h.o.m.o Evolutis!"