The Alluring Boss O's Slacker A (Transmigration GL) - Chapter 7

“Hello, is this Wen Jin?”

Wen Jin had to move dormitories that afternoon. Her heel crushed a ginkgo leaf the size of a lotus leaf underfoot.

The sizzling, crackling crunch almost drowned out the voice on the other end of the phone.

“That’s me.”

Wen Jin grabbed a passing female student, held the phone between her jaw and shoulder, and asked her, “Friend, do you know where I can find a cheap local courier on campus? The kind that helps transport luggage. Of course, I wouldn’t mind forklift delivery either.”

In the botanical garden, inside the office of a Federal University Botany Department professor, Pang Xuan pushed her glasses up with the back of her hand. For a moment, she suspected she might have dialed the wrong number.

She checked the phone number again. After confirming that the student’s mobile number on the StarNet recruitment acceptance application was correct, her tone turned serious. “I am Pang Xuan, the person in charge of the botanical garden.”

Wen Jin withdrew the laziness from her eyes. “Hello, Teacher.”

“I found that you passed the botanical garden’s part-time task for cultivating prickly balls three days ago. However, something went wrong on our end. Your start date needs to be postponed.”

Wen Jin frowned.

“Postponed” was an official way of putting it. At Federal University, the review standards for Ancient Earth plant cultivators were usually extremely strict, and the observation period required one month.

If a cultivator in the observation period did not even touch the plant within that month, it was equivalent to having no work performance. The recruitment office could use that as an excuse to automatically terminate the contract.

This was like getting a piece of cake, only for someone to tell her right afterward that it might soon be taken back.

In truth, this job was very competitive. All one had to do was carry a cactus outside to bask in the sun, and the monthly salary was ten thousand Federation coins. The only thing between Wen Jin and her retirement goal was a quiet villa district.

Of course, at her current stage, when she had nothing and was only just starting her retirement plan, she was poor, delicate, soft-bodied, and unwilling to bend for Federation coins by throwing herself into the fighting ranks.

For a gardener job that did not require brainpower or physical labor to fall into Wen Jin’s lap was already an incredible thing.

But no matter how incredible it was, it had already fallen into her lap.

Wen Jin’s first reaction was that someone had snatched it from her.

“Is it convenient to tell me the reason?”

Wen Jin’s current situation could not exactly be called good. Before Wen Zheng Qing found her, Wen Jin temporarily had no money.

Even the original owner’s adoptive father, Wen Chang Rong, might very well come looking for her after this.

There was nothing in the world money could not solve. If it could not be solved, that only meant there was not enough money.

In order to avoid noise, this job at the botanical garden was worth fighting for.

On the other end of the phone, Pang Xuan furrowed her brows. Originally, she had not intended to say much.

But her mood today was truly stifled. The prickly ball had withered in her hands.

For a professor over forty who had poured all her heart into her career in cultivation and worked with meticulous care, this created a sense of self-doubt about her own ability.

Last night, all the experts at Federal University gathered together and carried out plant testing on the prickly ball. For now, the cause was unknown. More seriously, there were currently only ten pots of prickly balls excavated from Ancient Earth across the entire interstellar world.

All of them were facing withering. Some experts suggested immediately placing the prickly balls into sterile isolation rooms and assigning specialized botany professors to cultivate them personally.

But Pang Xuan was unwilling to do that, because plants taken into sterile isolation rooms usually had a ninety percent chance of never turning around and surviving.

Pang Xuan had poured a great deal of effort into the prickly ball. Also, after the family head’s pheromone differentiation this time, the pollution was more serious than that of all previous Ruan family members.

Pang Xuan had to cooperate with Professor Cui from the neighboring Pharmacy Department and cultivate more Ancient Earth plants.

Only then could they find raw medicinal materials for potions that might relieve the family head’s pheromone mutation.

Although she had already experienced plants withering and going extinct in her career and had long since become still as water, Pang Xuan’s mood at this moment was still terrible.

The professional skills she excelled in could not turn the tide. She could only watch helplessly as the Ancient Earth plant she had poured her heart into cultivating, the prickly ball, walked toward extinction.

Grief filled her heart. Pang Xuan put down the small iron pestle in her hand.

Her tone carried a bit of personal emotion as she said to the student on the other end of the line, “Are you suspecting that Teacher deliberately brushed you off? Then let me tell you. Teacher’s daily work is very busy. I have scientific research to conduct, meetings to attend, and I’m forced to spend time at dinner tables discussing cooperation every day. Even when the rare plants I’m responsible for encounter survival problems, even when they show signs of withering right before my eyes, I have no solution at all. What can I do? All I can do is hope they wither a little later and give me enough time to understand the prickly ball more deeply.”

Professor Pang’s enunciation was clear and her tone was steady, but her mentality had obviously collapsed.

Wen Jin could understand this state very well. As a corporate slave, one originally shone brightly at one’s post, only to later discover that one’s ability was insufficient and that one had been pressed breathless by all kinds of vulgar matters.

An adult’s collapse always happened in a single instant.

Wen Jin’s steps paused. She cast an apologetic glance at the young lady ahead who had been helping her look for a local courier.

Slowing her speech, she advised, “Problems can be solved slowly. The outcome probably isn’t as bad as you imagine.”

Cacti were the easiest plants to keep alive. They did not have high environmental requirements. Even in the desert, with good luck, a whole row of festive little balls could grow.

So…

Wen Jin could not share Professor Pang’s sky-is-falling distress.

There had to be a reason for such an easy-to-grow plant to wither.

Unable to hold back, Wen Jin asked, “Professor, can I come over and take a look?”

She actually still wanted to fight for her part-time job worth ten thousand Federation coins a month.

After Pang Xuan finished venting, she regretted it very much. In a moment of impulse, she had lost her temper at a young girl who had not yet stepped into society.

Although she knew very clearly in her heart that a field even she could not enter was naturally even more impossible for a student.

However, some botany professors did not become professors because they possessed profound cultivation techniques. Usually, when they released their mental power and wrapped it around plants, if they were lucky and had a high compatibility with the plant’s attributes, they could make the plant grow very well.

Of course, everyone’s mental power and pheromones were different. People who possessed this kind of mental power that could promote plant growth were almost all recruited by the Capital Star Institute of Animals and Plants.

Among Pang Xuan’s classmates, there was one such gifted botany professor. The other party’s pheromones were close to gardenias. Pang Xuan had once personally seen that classmate release mental power and bring a nearly withered gardenia back to life.

Perhaps it was because she was reluctant to let go of the prickly ball and powerless to save it, or perhaps it was because she felt sorry for suddenly spewing such negativity.

At middle age, Pang Xuan was reckless for once and placed her hope on luck.

She did not even ask Wen Jin’s mental strength rank or pheromone attribute. In a daze, she agreed.

On Wen Jin’s side, she had two judgments regarding this delayed employment. First, someone had intercepted her job. The possibility was relatively low.

The professor had expressed her frustration sincerely.

Golden barrel cacti were not difficult to plant, and the probability of planting one to death was very, very low.

Judging by this professor’s tone, the situation was already beyond saving. Wen Jin roughly had a guess. There was a high chance this person had been specially recruited into Federal University as a professor.

After that, she had accumulated seniority and reached her current position.

However, her strength was insufficient, her decision-making was weak, and her professional ability was not up to standard, which resulted in poor work performance.

But the professor herself was not wrong either. In the interstellar world, martial strength and wealth determined social status.

For nobles like Luo Xi, if their strength was poor, their mental power was low, and they were unable to cultivate ancient martial arts, then idle departments at major universities without strong technical or guiding requirements usually became the destination of these noble children after graduation.

The botanical garden was right next to the Pharmacy College, and the plants inside were generally very rare.

Unless it was a specific open day, the doors were usually closed to visitors.

The autumn wind was bleak, and dense rain had just fallen a few days ago.

The scenery should have been scattered and desolate, with withered leaves fluttering everywhere. But inside the garden, it was an entirely different scene.

Birdsong and flower fragrance filled the air. Bees gathered nectar. Dragonflies and butterflies danced among the flowers and trees.

“Watch your step.” The junior guiding Wen Jin to the greenhouse cultivation room was a third-year Botany student.

She had two extremely old-fashioned thick braids and kept looking Wen Jin up and down with the eyes of a romantic rival.

There was no excessive hostility, and the other party had not spoken much.

Yet Wen Jin still unconsciously furrowed her brows. The irritation she had felt in the restaurant when people stared at her had returned.

Suddenly, the braided girl crouched down and reacted quickly, hugging Wen Jin’s foot just as it was about to land.

The agitation at the ends of Wen Jin’s nerves seemed to spread through her entire body in an instant. It was as if every cell was resisting and wanted to hit someone.

Wen Jin lifted half an eyelid. There was not a trace of a smile at the corner of her lips. Her calm, restrained, glazed eyes carried their own indifference and chill.

It was only that those eyes were often half-asleep and half-awake, covered in mist. Now that her aura descended, it seemed extremely out of place.

The thick-braided girl still had not sensed the danger. Although she felt a chill at the back of her neck, what could she possibly have done wrong when all she wanted was to protect flowers and plants? Protecting the animals and plants inside the botanical garden had been her duty since taking the job.

She held Wen Jin’s descending foot tightly until an ant beneath the moist soil passed under Wen Jin’s foot. Only then did the thick-braided girl let go.

At the same time, Wen Jin finally discovered the unremarkable ant beneath her foot, rolling in the damp soil.

She herself was also rather confused. She withdrew the coldness that had been ready to strike.

In order to cover up the aura she had released just now, the corners of her lips pressed into a fairly amiable smile.

She bent down and said to the braided girl, “Were you trying to save this ant just now?”

As she spoke, that fragrant head of long curls fell down. Her soft waist bent, the sky was glazed-bright, and the color of her eyes was pale and shallow, holding a full smile.

For some reason, the braided girl blushed.

Unable to stay calm, she jumped back a step, but failed to notice what was underfoot. With a squelch, she stepped on and crushed the ant that had just been rescued with great difficulty.

Then something strange happened. Lying on the soil was not an ant corpse, but several pieces of titanium-black-gold material visibly joined together.

Wen Jin subconsciously glanced at the room full of butterflies and dragonflies in the botanical garden.

“They are…”

The blush on the braided girl’s cheeks had not faded. She nodded affirmatively. “Robot animals sent by the research institute. Professor Pang said she hoped these robot animals could help the plants carry out photosynthesis. Our botanical garden is still in the trial stage right now.”

Wen Jin looked slightly hesitant. She raised a finger and pointed at the bright yellow sun overhead that looked like a sunny-side-up egg.

The braided girl immediately understood and nodded. “That is the latest super sun lamp invented by the Kexi family. It simulates a solar halo while also eliminating ultraviolet rays, removing the harm that strong light causes to skin, animals, and plants.”

Only after a long while did Wen Jin manage to find a sliver of rationality that was not disdainful amid this whole pile of flashy operations.

She gave an “oh.” No wonder the cactus was dying.

Before her eyes, even the sunlight plants used for photosynthesis was a counterfeit product. Thinking about it, the cactus known as prickly ball was rather pitiful too.

Everything here was fake and shoddy.

Wen Jin felt a trace of sympathy for that professor who had turned a good hand of cards into tofu dregs and was now heartbroken.

So she entered the office.

Wen Jin pulled out the mahogany chair across from the old professor’s desk. She unscrewed a bottle of functional water and moistened her throat first.

“First, tell me your thoughts on prickly balls.” After acting on impulse and calling her over, Pang Xuan had regretted it.

But since the person had already been brought here, Pang Xuan put on a stern face and planned to examine her according to the rules first.

Professor Pang wore a three-piece iron-gray suit and looked around forty-five or forty-six. The crow’s feet at the corners of her eyes stretched into her temples.

At first glance, she looked like a successful person who was knowledgeable, elegant, and serious.

After Wen Jin finished sizing her up, she had originally been a little worried. If she accidentally spoke without thinking, ended up saving the golden barrel cactus, and said some common sense that did not exist in the interstellar world, would she, like in novels, attract attention from all sides because her ability stood out too much and then rise smoothly through the ranks?

The key point was that she did not have a power-fantasy script. She was here to retire. Any accident that affected her later salted-fish lying-flat life had to be firmly eliminated.

In the end, facts proved that she had overthought it.

This place was not lacking common sense. What it lacked was a conversation to jolt awake a weak-chicken leader.

Although her inner complaints continued without stopping, whether it was her relaxed sitting posture or her calm facial expression, both displayed Wen Jin’s stance of not showing timidity at all and arguing with reason.

She considered her words. After thinking for a moment, she took out a set of phrasing that was both tactful and allowed her to show only one point of brilliance, then briefly discussed the flaws in cactus cultivation methods with the professor before her.

“I think you may need to remove those high-tech products.”

Professor Pang’s face sank. She felt there was no need to waste each other’s time talking anymore. This student perhaps did not even understand basic planting common sense.

However, before she could speak, Wen Jin spoke again. “As everyone knows, cactus-type plants like sunlight, tolerate drought, and are suitable for taking root in neutral to slightly alkaline soil.”

“Teacher, when you transplanted the golden barrel cactus… the prickly ball, did you check the soil pH?”

“Have you checked whether the ultraviolet rays missing from the artificial sunlight halo have any side effects on the prickly ball’s photosynthesis?”

“Could there be a possibility that the prickly ball itself simply likes sunlight?”

“Science requires the courage to try. We have to conduct experiments from multiple angles in order to find the optimal planting method.”

Professor Pang’s sitting posture had initially been standard, with both feet together. As Wen Jin’s series of questions came crashing down, she began supporting herself against the desk, the veins beneath her slightly loose skin bulging faintly.

Then Wen Jin could not continue speaking, because she saw that Professor Pang’s pheromones had gone out of order due to excitement, causing the blocking patch on her neck to fail.

That pheromone smelled like oilseed lettuce. It rushed into Wen Jin’s nose, and her hand hidden beneath the desk abruptly tightened.

Different from the irritation of being watched by everyone in the restaurant, and also different from the alert resistance when the braided girl had touched her earlier, this time it was even clearer. Wen Jin even wanted to hit someone immediately.

But the original owner was one hundred percent Beta and should not be affected by pheromones. Since transmigrating, most of the time, Wen Jin had walked in less crowded places and nothing had happened.

Perhaps she needed to go to the hospital for an examination in a few days, though Wen Jin thought it was most likely a lingering aftereffect caused by all the knowledge she had received across major planes stuffing her nerves full.

Meanwhile, on the other side, Professor Pang reacted quickly and took a tube of suppressant from her pocket.

Wen Jin politely stood up, intending to avoid the scene for the time being.

After all, it was extremely disrespectful for a student to witness a teacher sticking out her butt to inject herself.

However…

With a squelch, Professor Pang skillfully stabbed the needle into the gland on her neck that was about to bulge out.

Wen Jin’s body froze there. Her lifeless eyes moved back and forth toward Professor Pang’s neck.

Oh. So suppressants did not need to be injected into the butt.

Then that day, when she had… pulled down Ruan Ting Zhi’s pants, hm?

Recalling the poor little thing’s stubborn, bewildered eyes, Wen Jin suddenly felt as if her brain had been stabbed. For a moment, she did not know what expression to make. Fortunately, she no longer needed to actively participate in the scummy A plot.

Wen Jin did not want to speak.

But Professor Pang was extremely excited.

Her expression no longer held the seriousness from their first meeting. She even said to Wen Jin enthusiastically, “Student Wen Jin, regarding the prickly ball, do you have any other suggestions you would like to tell Teacher?”

Wen Jin numbly shook her head.

“It doesn’t matter. The suggestions you raised are very thoughtful.”

Professor Pang understood very well. In the Federation, there were not many naturally gifted plant cultivators, and they could only get close to and affect individual plants that matched their pheromones.

So technical cultivators were often more important than talent.

Wen Jin had no pheromone fluctuation. She was undoubtedly a Beta.

A Beta’s mental strength, brainpower, and intelligence were mostly lower than those of Alphas and Omegas. For her to have so many unique insights into plants, she must have studied and read day and night.

Professor Pang had originally tried her luck, wanting to find a gifted cultivator. She had not expected to find a practical combat type instead. The other party was the same as her, even younger than her, more hardworking and able to endure hardship, did not talk nonsense, and used a questioning and critical spirit to do scientific research.

Science needed her. Botany needed this kind of talent.

Pang Xuan liked hardworking students. The way she looked at Wen Jin was even gentler than when she looked at the soft, cute little family head Ruan Ting Zhi as a child.

Her bad temper faded completely, and her eyes were full of affection. “Are there any difficulties in your life? I heard on the phone earlier that you were looking for a cheap house.”

The corner of Wen Jin’s mouth twitched. She was looking for a cheap forklift.

“The work of a cultivator itself is very hard, so your life must be taken care of.”

“Teacher heard that you advanced your observation-period salary earlier. You have ideas, and you’re willing to work hard and study. Teacher is willing to hand the prickly ball’s cultivation over to you. However, if there is still no improvement after one month, it will still be sent into the Capital Star cultivation room.”

Professor Pang’s tone dimmed, but she did not show another bout of dejection in front of the student. She encouraged her. “Student Wen Jin, I hope you do your utmost to save the prickly ball. During this period, if you have difficulties in life, the botanical garden can help resolve them.”

Wen Jin: “…”

There was no need, truly no need. Had she said anything? Just now, she had almost said to just find any random pot and let the cactus grow sneakily on its own. Her words had been that shallow.

How had she become a diligent, hardworking, promising seedling in Teacher’s eyes? Wasn’t this development wrong?

Wen Jin was shocked.

Then in the next second, she heard Teacher Pang call over the braided girl from earlier and, acting on her own, advance three months of salary to Wen Jin’s account.

Looking at Old Pang’s expression, Wen Jin suspected that if interstellar part-time jobs allowed ten years of salary to be advanced, Pang Xuan might have advanced ten years of wages to her and then had her graduate and die in the botanical garden for life.

Terrifying!

Soon, Pang Xuan was the only person left in the office. She took out her private communicator.

She connected to a voice call with the little family head of the Ruan family on the other side.

“Aunt Pang.”

Ruan Ting Zhi had just come down from an arena match. Sweat trickled down her beautiful swan-like neck. It was an ordinary action, simple to the point of being plain, yet a trace of her lavender wrapped in iced tequila pheromone fragrance spread out from her sweat.

Behind Ruan Ting Zhi, the Alphas and Omegas watching the arena match all showed wild infatuation in their eyes at the same time.

“Looks like I don’t need to keep arranging arena matches for the second half of this year.” A layer of disgust swept through Ruan Ting Zhi’s eyes. She said this seemingly casually, but Pang Xuan quickly understood the meaning behind her words.

She was going to enter a legion.

The children of the Ruan family had always acted low-key. The first family head, Ruan Lü, had been plotted against by enemies during the war to unify the interstellar world.

His pheromones had suffered particle radiation. Afterward, the pheromones of all his descendants were more or less contaminated to some extent. Some pheromones smelled like durian, others like bitter coptis, giving off unpleasant odors. But there were also some pheromones that were too rich and exceeded the standard, always drawing varying degrees of attention from the outside world.

Therefore, although the talent and strength of the Ruan family’s descendants surpassed the four great ancient martial arts families, they acted low-key and cautious everywhere.

Especially in the past seven years.

Ruan Xing Yao’s life or death was unknown.

Ruan Ting Zhi had delayed differentiation for a long time. When differentiation finally came, the result was even worse. Because she had developed a fever while differentiating, her pheromones were heavily affected by radiation. Even the family’s special medicine could not conceal them.

Most importantly, this was not even her heat period.

An Omega would experience a heat period once a month. Pang Xuan could almost imagine the terrible situation that would occur when Ruan Ting Zhi’s pheromones leaked in public at that time.

Pang Xuan said with a bit of a headache, “Zhi Zhi, regarding Xing Yao’s matter, it’s enough to leave Shao Lan, Shi Shi, and Xie Ning to investigate. Come back to the main family.”

Ruan Ting Zhi shook her head. “Their strength is still a large step behind. They have no way to infiltrate the upper levels of the legion.”

Ruan Xing Yao was Ruan Ting Zhi’s older brother, once one of the three youngest marshals in the interstellar world. Seven years ago, when Ruan Xing Yao was developing Senade Planet, his aircraft crashed. From then on, whether he lived or died was unknown.

The police investigation office all said it was an accident. But before the cabin disintegrated, Ruan Xing Yao had sent the family the final video from inside the cabin, showing that he had been betrayed by his deputy.

That had not been an accident. It had been man-made.

Because of Ruan Xing Yao’s matter, all the Ruan family’s collateral branches had tucked away their feathers.

In her previous life, Ruan Ting Zhi had understood what she wanted and chose to stay hidden before rising later.

But she had not expected to be affected by her pheromones, later go through countless hardships, and be exiled. After finally cultivating ancient martial arts to Heaven-rank in a harsh environment and returning to the Ruan family, many arrangements were already set. When she went back to investigate the flight accident from seven years ago, there was nowhere to begin.

Therefore, in this life, after starting over, she had two goals.

First, to find the cause of Ruan Xing Yao’s accident.

Second, to find the god-level pharmacist Salted Fish Jin. The younger generation of the entire Ruan family needed this person to refine potions for them.

Before her rebirth, there had been a report. Salted Fish Jin’s whereabouts were unknown, and the location where the first bottle of “Mandosawa,” a potion that could suppress mental strength riots, appeared and circulated was the Pharmacy Department laboratory at Federal University.

There was still half a year left in university, so Ruan Ting Zhi’s time was not urgent.

She could prepare to participate in the legion leader selection while investigating Salted Fish Jin’s whereabouts.

As for the problem of pheromones leaking during her heat period, she could only hurry to regain the cultivation from her previous life and use acquired-realm strength to suppress the leaking pheromones.

For now, this was the only plan she could carry out, even if the consequence was dying before thirty.

Pang Xuan sighed. The atmosphere around the topic of life and death was too heavy, so she stiffly changed the subject and casually mentioned the promising seedling she had found today.

“She is a very hardworking child. She has sharp sensitivity toward plants, is willing to work hard and study deeply, and maintains a questioning attitude toward science. If cultivated properly, the planting methods she proposed earlier may indeed be worth trying.”

Ruan Ting Zhi said, “It’s been a long time since I heard you praise someone so highly. The last time you praised someone was the eldest young lady of the Wen family, the one with very strong pharmacy talent.”

“Wen Ning? She’s not bad either.” Thinking of the Wen family’s strict family style, Pang Xuan praised her. However, Wen Ning’s potions would only be supplied to her own family.

In the end, she was not as reassuring as a trusted personal disciple.

“She’s a student in your Ancient Martial Arts Department.” Pang Xuan sighed. “If she graduates and goes to a legion internship, or if she doesn’t like staying in the botanical garden, that would be a pity.”

There was not even a single stroke of the eight characters yet, but she was already thinking about taking her as a disciple.

Ruan Ting Zhi raised her brows and good-temperedly followed Pang Xuan’s tone. “The Ancient Martial Arts Department is easy enough. Should I help you test the waters?”

“Zhi Zhi, if you don’t find it troublesome.” Pang Xuan was tempted, her old face flushing. “You have good relations with others. Help me keep an eye on her. She is currently a fourth-year student in Class 3033 of the Ancient Martial Arts Department. Her name is Wen Jin.”

The phone strangely fell silent.

“Zhi Zhi?”

“Are you listening?”

Ruan Ting Zhi asked, “What did you say her name was?”

“Wen Jin. The Jin from ‘brocade-like blossoms.’”

Ruan Ting Zhi finished wiping the fragrant sweat from her body and tossed the white towel into the laundry basket. Her steps paused slightly as she stared at the dormitory door. Suddenly, without warning, she revealed an extremely rich smile.

She lowered her voice and said, “Mm. Wen Jin.”

“Aunt Pang, please greet Ji Lan for me. Later, I’ll have some serum that needs her to use the laboratory for testing.”

After that, Ruan Ting Zhi did not hear much of what Professor Pang said. She hung up the phone and thought for a moment.

A female Beta with low talent, unwilling to work hard, and an average family environment, yet she seemed to know a little bit of everything.

First potions, then plants. She was also indifferent to Ruan Ting Zhi’s mutated pheromones.

A rare trace of interest swept through Ruan Ting Zhi’s doe eyes. She edited a message to her new roommate:

When are you coming over? Do you need me to help you move?