Have you ever seen a strange journey where a princess drives a carriage while the prince hides inside?
At this moment, that’s exactly how Aisha felt. Driving through a snowstorm wasn’t a pleasant task for Aisha, let alone driving personally, and what’s more, her "male companion" on the passenger seat didn’t seem the least bit embarrassed, having not initiated a single conversation the entire way.
Before departure, Aisha had mentioned that the person capable of solving Zhou Ziang’s questions was a Senior Researcher from Mengshan Company, who was different from other researchers and had a peculiar personality.
His residence was located at a Life Sciences Research Center some two hundred kilometers from Cornell University. The researcher’s name was Professor Kevin.
After driving for roughly two hours, the snowstorm did not let up but seemed to be growing even more intense. The sky was gloomy and heavy, with thick layers of snow covering both sides of the road, and the trees emitted creaking sounds under the weight of the heavy snow.
Finally, Aisha’s black Maybach stopped in front of an oval, egg-shaped building.
Unlike the surrounding snow-covered scenery, the giant dome-shaped building was covered with ancient vine plants which, despite the Fahrenheit teens, stubbornly grew. They spread into every corner of the research center, leaving only a two-meter high door at the entrance.
Aisha parked the car and was pleased to see Zhou Ziang open the door for her. She quickly took off her coat and draped it over her arm to accentuate her alluring figure since the research center’s entrance was just a short distance away and she wouldn’t be in the cold for long.
But Aisha was mistaken once again; she didn’t receive any warm welcome and could only stand awkwardly at the "entrance" of the research center.
The vines seemed to be alive, immediately spreading and growing after she got out of the car, blocking the doorway completely.
"It seems we’re not welcome," Zhou Ziang commented, peering through the layers of vines, seeing a silhouette inside the research center bustling about energetically.
Aisha tugged at the vines with her hands; there was no place in Mengshan Company that she couldn’t enter. What was irritating was that in this snowy and icy weather, she couldn’t find an "assistant," or otherwise, Professor Kevin wouldn’t be able to show off in front of her .
"Aisha, you can’t break through my Gene #1 vines," from beneath the vines or rather, from inside the research center, a cheerful voice sounded. The voice seemed young, very different from the aged tone of Dr. Shangsel.
"Got a lighter?" Zhou Ziang suddenly asked. Aisha gave him a sidelong glance and fished out a platinum lighter from her wallet, not expecting him to be in the mood for a smoke at this time.
Zhou Ziang didn’t light a cigarette; in fact, he had yet to pick up the modern habit of smoking. He stepped back a few paces, walked around the research center, which turned out to be larger than he had imagined.
"Hey, don’t go too far. There are plenty of deadly things around here, more threatening than the Amazon rainforest," Aisha hurriedly put her coat back on, but Zhou Ziang was no longer anywhere to be seen. Could he have flown away?
Hanging like a bat at the top of the ten-meter-high research center, Zhou Ziang saw that the center was a nearly seamless spherical structure, but its upper end had two holes, one larger and one smaller, looking like vents.
Zhou Ziang had just checked; the base of the vine was not under the snow-covered ground, so he surmised the roots must be at the top of the building. As expected, the growth spot of the vine was in the smaller vent.
With a gentle click of the lighter, the vine shuddered violently, and in an instant, vines that had spread everywhere disappeared.
Warm air continuously flowed out from the larger vent. Vines were afraid of fire; even genetically modified vines could not avoid this innate disadvantage.
The doors of the research center opened, and Professor Kevin with his "broccoli" hairstyle burst out like a tornado, babbling noisily.
After meeting white-bearded Dr. Shangsel, Zhou Ziang fully expected to meet an old academic of a similar age to Shangsel, but the reality proved his assumption wrong.
Professor Kevin was a strong, young man in his thirties. Behind the wide-open door of the center, the moist and warm plant atmosphere opened up a new world for Zhou Ziang.
Grapevines several meters high were hanging, but with tomatoes colored grapes; orchid trees bearing hanging flowers, pink jasmines, and what shocked Zhou Ziang the most was that his space was like a starving infant searching for the plentiful juice of a wet nurse, with a massive influx of Spiritual Power pouring into his space.