“Buzz, buzz...”

What’s that sound? Shen Xingkong opened his eyes groggily and was startled to find himself high in the air, hovering dozens of meters above the ground. Below him were green mountains, forests, and rivers.

“Whoa, this is bad…” Shen Xingkong’s heart nearly stopped. Falling from this height would be fatal.

However, after a moment, he realized he wasn’t plummeting. Instead, he was floating steadily in the air. The buzzing sound continued near his ears, sounding very familiar. After a brief moment of recollection, he suddenly remembered—it was the sound of the giant bee's wings flapping, the one he had encountered in the forest!

Oh no, could that giant bee still be alive? Has it found me again?

Shen Xingkong's mind went blank. Last time, he had barely survived the encounter with the giant bee. If he met it again, could he escape this time? He frantically looked in all directions, trying to locate the giant bee, as the buzzing sounded so close, seemingly right by his ear.

At that moment, Shen Xingkong noticed something strange. His field of vision was a full 360 degrees, meaning he didn’t need to turn his head to see everything around him from any angle.

Humans usually have a field of vision of about 130 degrees; looking forward means not being able to see what’s behind. Yet, Shen Xingkong could clearly see the insect body covered in golden-yellow fuzz behind him and the four translucent wings above him, flapping rapidly. Slowly, Shen Xingkong began to understand.

He cautiously raised one of his hands and waved it. But instead of seeing a human hand, he saw an insect leg moving in his line of sight. He raised the other hand—again, an insect leg. He then raised all his "hands," and six insect legs appeared in his view, waving.

“I… I’ve turned into… a giant bee…” Shen Xingkong muttered to himself, overwhelmed by the shock of this reality.

Suddenly, Shen Xingkong’s wings stopped moving, and he began to fall like a kite with a broken string. He had no time to think and desperately tried to make his wings move again, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t control the four delicate wings on his back. He was getting closer and closer to the ground.

“Ahhh...”

Shen Xingkong screamed as he jolted awake from the dream, cold sweat soaking through his T-shirt.

“Shen Xingkong, what’s wrong?” An elderly voice suddenly sounded next to him. The old man grabbed his wrist to check his pulse and handed him a glass of cold water.

“Professor Shi?” Shen Xingkong wiped the sweat from his forehead and realized he was lying in the doctor’s lounge, the night outside as dark as pitch.

“Yes, you’re fine. You must have had a nightmare. You fainted outside the emergency room today, and I was worried something was seriously wrong. But it turned out you were just exhausted, so I had the nurse bring you here to rest,” Professor Shi said, his face full of concern and kindness as he gently released Shen Xingkong’s wrist.

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“Oh, well… thank you, Professor Shi.” Shen Xingkong checked the time and saw that it was already past 10 p.m.

“Hehe, you did a great thing today, saving a life. You should rest here tonight; I should be getting home myself,” Professor Shi said with a smile, getting ready to leave, as his wife would worry if he stayed out too late.

“No, I don’t need to rest.” Shen Xingkong had no intention of lying down again; his mind was full of questions. “Professor Shi, there’s something I’d like to ask for your help with.”

“What is it?” Professor Shi looked puzzled.

At midnight, Shen Xingkong returned to his school, Z City Medical College.

He carried a note with Professor Shi’s signature, which allowed him easy access through the school gate and directly to the biology lab.

The last time he was here, Shen Xingkong had pretended to be a responsible student to take a microscopic photo of the golden needle, uncovering the secret behind his abilities. This time, he was here to uncover his secret.

The security guard, who was woken up from his sleep by Shen Xingkong’s arrival, was annoyed and ready to scold him. But when he saw the note with Professor Shi’s signature stating “Scientific research, please cooperate,” he had no choice but to swallow his words and reluctantly let Shen Xingkong in.

Shen Xingkong entered the biology lab, turned on the equipment and lights, and went straight to the electron microscope. He took out a regular golden needle from his pouch, sterilized it, and, suppressing the pain, pricked his finger with it.

A drop of blood fell onto a glass slide. He sucked on his pricked finger and placed the slide under the microscope, adjusting the focus and magnification. Soon, a highly magnified image of his blood appeared before him. Blood mainly consists of water, along with red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets. Shen Xingkong took a micrograph of the image and printed it out using the color laser printer, then compared it to an existing micrograph of normal human blood in the lab.

Looking at the two photos in his hand, Shen Xingkong broke out in cold sweat again. The red and white blood cells in his sample were noticeably smaller than those of a normal person, but there were many more of them, and their shapes were different, with sharp protrusions resembling a curled-up hedgehog.

Shen Xingkong had seen some sci-fi movies where the protagonist undergoes a physiological mutation after a certain incident, eventually transforming into something terrifying, like growing a tail or turning into an alien. Was he headed down the same path? Shen Xingkong shuddered at the thought. While the idea of becoming a superhuman was appealing, he had no desire to become a monster.

Back when he was stung by the giant bee in the forest, its venom must have entered his body and started secretly altering him. The abilities he gained were likely a result of the bee venom, although he hadn’t considered that the venom might also have side effects—it was, after all, poison.

However, after some careful consideration, Shen Xingkong realized that despite gaining these abilities, he hadn’t noticed any physiological abnormalities. He still had two arms, two legs, two eyes, and a mouth, looking just like any other person. There were no signs of growing hair or wings on his back.

“Darling, you have a call... Darling, you have a call...” Out of nowhere, the ringtone of his phone snapped Shen Xingkong out of his deep thoughts. He put down the photos and took out his phone, seeing that it was a call from Chang Le.

“Scared the hell out of me! What are you calling for in the middle of the night?” He answered the call and immediately started scolding Chang Le before he could say anything.

“Oh, you’re so mean…” Chang Le teased, putting on a flirtatious tone that gave Shen Xingkong goosebumps. “I called several times, but you didn’t pick up. Have you found someone new?”