Three days later, the press conference announcing Sunkern’s debut was held as scheduled.
To maximize publicity, Jiang Ming had specifically rented a rather spacious venue measuring a full four hundred square meters.
Yet when he drove up, he discovered that even a venue of that size was insufficient to accommodate the enormous crowd gathered outside.
Hundreds of people had already assembled at the entrance, and there were likely several hundred more.
There was little that could be done about it.
Both Jiang Ming’s identity and the emergence of an entirely new genetic organism were major talking points in Coastal City.
Now, with these two sensational developments combined, no one in the city with the right connections would want to miss such an event.
Unfortunately, the crowd was far too large for the handful of security personnel Zhengming Company had initially arranged to keep under control.
Fortunately, this was hardly a challenge for Xue Wenhui.
With a single phone call, he managed to recruit several off-duty City Guard members to help out in their spare time.
With the City Guard’s authority backing them, order outside the venue was quickly restored.
Backstage, Jiang Ming was busy preparing Sunkern for its public appearance when he suddenly saw Xue Wenhui enter with a muscular man.
“Uncle Xue! Brother Liu!”
Jiang Ming hurried over to greet them.
Liu Haoyun was a Tier Four Evolver serving in the City Guard’s Second Battalion—the unit commanded by Jiang Zheng.
He held the rank of squad leader.
Xue Wenhui had called him earlier, and Liu Haoyun had subsequently organized a group of personnel to help maintain order.
Jiang Ming was actually quite surprised to see Liu Haoyun in person.
As an Evolver, Liu could easily have sent someone else to handle such a minor matter.
There was no obvious reason for him to come himself.
“Xiao Ming, why aren’t you saying anything? Don’t tell me you’re not happy to see your Brother Liu!” Liu Haoyun said, pretending to be offended.
Jiang Ming hurriedly replied, “How could I possibly dare to say that? I’m more than happy to see you here, Brother Liu!”
“That’s more like it!”
Since Liu Haoyun had come all this way, Jiang Ming naturally took the opportunity to show him Sunkern.
“So this is the genetic organism you cultivated, Xiao Ming?”
Liu Haoyun curiously examined Sunkern, which was resting in its flowerpot with its eyes closed.
“Not bad at all! Even if it’s only a plant-based genetic organism, someone your age who can accomplish something like this definitely deserves to be called a genius!”
Jiang Ming smiled faintly at the compliment and immediately called out, “Sunkern, come here!”
To Liu Haoyun’s utter disbelief, Sunkern opened its eyes, sprang out of the flowerpot, and landed in Jiang Ming’s arms.
“Holy crap! It can move?!”
Liu Haoyun was completely stunned.
Jiang Ming gently stroked the leaves atop Sunkern’s head.
“Little guy, say hello to Brother Liu.”
Sunkern turned toward Liu Haoyun, its leaves swaying slightly as it let out a cheerful cry.
“Sunke~!”
Liu Haoyun was now utterly dumbfounded.
He raised a trembling hand and pointed at Sunkern.
“It… it can understand human speech?”
“That’s right. Sunkern’s intelligence is roughly comparable to that of a young child.”
Pokémon generally matured quickly, and plant-based Pokémon like Sunkern were particularly remarkable in this regard.
In just a few days, it had grown from a newly hatched Level One Pokémon to Level Seven.
And that was without Jiang Ming having any Berries to feed it.
If he had, Sunkern might already have reached Level Ten!
Jiang Ming then had Sunkern demonstrate several more moves, finally winning Liu Haoyun over completely.
“Xiao Ming, you really are something!”
Liu Haoyun gave him a heartfelt thumbs-up.
“You’ve certainly done your older brother proud!”
Jiang Ming accepted the compliment with a smile.
Thirty minutes later, the press conference officially began.
Whoosh!
As the venue’s doors opened, a steady stream of people surged inside.
The previously spacious hall quickly became packed, and the entire venue filled with a cacophony of voices.
“Silence!”
A thunderous shout rang out.
Liu Haoyun strode toward the stage, electricity crackling around his body in a frightening display.
He was releasing his ability.
An Evolver!
The entire hall fell silent in an instant.
As members of a special social class in the post-revival era, Evolvers serving in the City Guard commanded unquestionable authority in Coastal City.
Satisfied that order had been restored, Liu Haoyun stepped aside and yielded the stage to the main attraction of the day: Jiang Ming.
“Ahem!”
Jiang Ming cleared his throat.
Looking out at the audience, he saw pairs of eyes filled with curiosity, anticipation, and scrutiny.
After steadying himself, he began to speak.
With that, Jiang Ming gestured behind him.
Sunkern, which had been placed on the display platform, was brought over to his side.
“This is the newest plant-based genetic organism developed by Zhengming Company: Sunkern.”
After a brief introduction, Jiang Ming demonstrated Sunkern’s various abilities using the same sequence he had practiced earlier.
Each demonstration drew another wave of astonished exclamations from the audience.
“My goodness! Look at how agile it is! How can that possibly be a plant-based genetic organism?”
“Wow! It’s adorable! I want one!”
These were mostly ordinary spectators who had come to see the spectacle.
However, some knowledgeable observers had noticed something far more significant: Sunkern’s extraordinary intelligence and its unusual abilities.
Its special abilities might seem modest.
It could grow quickly through moves such as Ingrain and Growth, and it could release a pleasant fragrance through Sweet Scent.
Nevertheless, these capabilities already met the minimum requirements for an artificially created mutant beast.
Under the current classification system, any organism produced through genetic editing or genetic modification could be called a genetic organism.
Among such organisms, artificially created mutant beasts capable of wielding stable special abilities represented the ultimate goal pursued by professionals in genetic engineering.
Everyone knew that humans were at a tremendous disadvantage compared with mutant beasts when it came to absorbing spiritual energy.
Although humanity had used its ingenuity to develop equipment, potions, and other external aids, these technologies had only allowed humans to hold their own against mutant beasts with considerable difficulty.
The problem was that these methods remained reasonably effective at the Awakened and Evolver stages.
Once someone reached the Transcendent level, however, the contribution of existing technological equipment and products became far less significant.
There was little that could be done about this.
Technological development was inherently a process of tackling easier problems before moving on to more difficult ones.
With equipment and potion technologies reaching a bottleneck, humanity had no choice but to explore an entirely new avenue.
That avenue was biotechnology—or, more precisely, the creation of artificial mutant beasts.
Unlike equipment and potions, artificial mutant beasts might develop slowly at first for a variety of reasons.
But if humans could truly cultivate mutant beasts that obeyed commands, then once those creatures successfully advanced to Tier Seven, Tier Eight, or even Tier Nine, humanity’s return to its former glory would be within reach!
Of course, such ambitions remained largely theoretical for now.
The strongest genetic organisms humanity could currently cultivate had only reached the Evolver level, and producing them came at an enormous cost.
Returning to the matter at hand, Zhengming Company’s newly demonstrated ability to cultivate artificial mutant beasts meant that it had finally earned the right to compete in this emerging field.
“The Jiang family’s second young master…”
“Exactly. With an older brother like Jiang Zheng, how could Jiang Ming really be nothing more than a figurehead? It seems his talent simply doesn’t lie in cultivation…”
“Coastal City’s entire landscape is about to change…”