The sudden blaring of the alarm startled everyone in the research institute—
“What’s going on? Are we under attack?”
“Who would attack our Reproduction Research Institute? This alarm sounds different from the others.”
“That sound… I think it’s coming from the monitoring room.”
…
As everyone buzzed with discussion, Link, who was on duty in the monitoring room today, rushed like a madman into the office of the institute’s director, Samson. He even forgot to knock, pushing the door open and bursting inside. “Director, I need to report something!”
“Report what? And what’s that noise outside?” As the closed door swung open, the gradually fading alarm blared into the room, prompting Samson to stand up and furrow his brow.
“Director, I was on duty in the monitoring room today. Data just came in—the Natural Conception monitoring system has detected something. That alarm was alerting us.”
Samson’s stern expression cracked, unable to hold back his disbelief. He stared wide-eyed at Link, his voice suddenly tight. “What did you just say?”
He hadn’t even noticed the tremor in his own voice.
Though Link had already recovered from the initial shock, his heart was still pounding. He quickly repeated what he had just said.
Natural Conception!
He hadn’t misheard. Samson pinched his thigh hard, confirming this wasn’t some wild dream.
“Hurry, immediately retrieve the identity information of the subject. We must find them as soon as possible!”
Samson had snapped out of his earlier shock, unable to suppress the excitement bubbling within him.
My God, Natural Conception!
After centuries of emptiness, the Empire had finally welcomed Natural Conception again!
However, Link, who should have left after Samson’s order, remained standing in place. Samson couldn’t help but ask, “Why aren’t you going?”
Now calmer, Link’s mind began to work. “Director, the Natural Conception monitoring system hasn’t been updated. Even if we receive a signal feedback, we can’t capture or record the subject’s identity information. In other words, we now only know that a Female in the Empire has successfully conceived naturally, but we have no way of finding out who it is.”
It was like seeing money on the ground, only to realize it was behind a pane of glass when reaching for it—utterly frustrating.
Upon hearing this, Samson immediately recalled something. A few years ago, all systems in the institute had undergone a major upgrade, except for the Natural Conception monitoring system, which remained untouched. At the time, many had even opposed keeping the system, arguing that since no Female in the Empire had conceived naturally for centuries, it was even less likely to happen in the future.
Keeping the system was nothing but a waste of the institute’s funds.
On the other hand, the conservative faction believed that Natural Conception was the hope of beast-humans. Even if the system served no practical purpose, it should remain as a reminder, constantly motivating researchers to explore further.
In the end, the system was kept but never upgraded.
As a result, when something like this happened today, they were powerless.
Realizing this, Samson slammed his fist heavily on the table—a blow powerful enough to convey the deep-seated resentment in his heart!
Natural Conception!
It was Natural Conception!
If they had been able to locate the individual immediately, they could have obtained firsthand data. But now, because of the opposition from certain people back then, they had missed such a golden opportunity!
This would become an obstacle to the entire Empire’s reproductive evolution.
Indeed, countless scientists had once believed that the issue hindering Gene Fusion lay in reproduction. The inability to achieve Natural Conception meant that a perfect Gene Fusionist could never emerge.
Humanity could not achieve true evolution.
“Now, summon everyone to the conference room.”
Lu Xia was unaware that the Empire’s research institute responsible for overseeing reproduction was convening a major meeting over her situation. Even if she knew, she wouldn’t have cared much.
Because she had discovered that the entire Empire did not sell pregnancy test strips.
Perhaps no one had the need or faced such concerns, so such items simply didn’t exist. But for her, this was a real problem.
If she went to a hospital for a checkup now, she would surely become a rare specimen and get entangled in complications, wouldn’t she?
To this day, she couldn’t understand how she could have gotten pregnant.
She and Grace had only been intimate that first night. Although the process had been repeated multiple times, wasn’t Grace a ‘defective product’ without reproductive abilities?
The reasons she had engaged in relations with him were, first, to establish a submission contract, and second, precisely because he couldn’t reproduce!
So what was happening now?
She lowered her head to look at her flat abdomen, still unable to accept reality.
In truth, not only was Lu Xia struggling to accept reality, but even the old butler driving the hovercar was questioning his own understanding of life at that moment!
Duke Lu Xia was pregnant!
Natural Conception!
Good heavens, who would believe it if this were spoken aloud?
Yet, all of this was undeniably real, and he had witnessed it with his own eyes.
Although he had faced many shocks these days, none had been as staggering as this one!
Wasn’t it said that the genes capable of Natural Conception had completely disappeared from the human body?
How could Natural Conception still occur?
Moreover, wasn’t Grace a ‘defective product’ male from Duke Leslie’s household?
If he was a ‘defective product,’ how could he have impregnated someone?
He didn’t understand!
Utterly bewildered!
At that moment, the master and servant sitting in the same hovercar were, quite consistently, troubled by the same matter.
As a result, when Grace returned home from work in the evening, he sensed that the atmosphere was somewhat unusual. Whether it was the old butler or Lu Xia, their gazes held an indescribable, peculiar strangeness when they looked at him.
“Grace, do you have time tomorrow to undergo a physical examination?” Lu Xia finally spoke up first. She didn’t believe this was her problem, so the issue must lie with Grace.
Grace was taken aback. Although he didn’t understand why Lu Xia wanted him to undergo a physical checkup, he didn’t refuse and nodded. “Sure, what items need to be examined?”
“Just those related to genes,” she replied. She suspected that this guy might not be a so-called ‘defective product’ at all—perhaps he was a highly skilled individual with an extremely high gene fusion rate. They had all been deceived!
Hearing this, Grace pursed his lips slightly. “May I ask why you want this type of examination?”
Lu Xia did not answer directly. Instead, he said, “Let’s wait until the results come out. Butler, you go with him tomorrow.”
The implication was clear—he wanted the old butler to keep an eye on things and not give the man any chance to falsify the results!
The old butler gave Lu Xia a look that said he understood.