The young William Carter didn’t know what was special about white mice, but he did know that mice were something he was afraid of. When he finally had the chance to see real white mice at his father’s research institute, and then learned from his father and the other uncles and aunts about the purpose of these white mice—and witnessed with his own eyes an unfortunate white mouse being dissected right in front of him—he completely understood what white mice meant.

Geniuses are all white mice. This saying might sound a bit frightening, but William Carter knew his father would never speak without reason. From the moment he understood the meaning of this term, he knew it was all true.

With society having developed to this point, how to improve the overall quality of humanity had already become the primary goal for many scientific workers. How to improve the quality of all humanity? Of course, by studying those whose qualities are above average—those people are generally called geniuses.

Because of this, William Carter developed an almost instinctive fear of the word “genius,” which was equated with white mice. At least in William Carter’s mind, white mice were kept in captivity and then dissected by people. When he grew up and truly understood what white mice represented, William Carter became extremely averse to being a genius.

Unfortunately, a genius is a genius, and it doesn’t change just because William Carter doesn’t want to be one. No matter how much William Carter resisted or was unwilling in his heart, it still happened. The first time he realized he was different from others was during his first internal energy class in his first year of high school.

“Cultivation speed, 1.1, normal. Looks like you didn’t waste your week. You passed, kid!” The physical training instructor gave William Carter a heavy pat on the shoulder. “Alright, my whole class passed.”

William Carter let out a long breath and secretly wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. The first week’s assignment required two hours of cultivation every night, but last week, due to other reasons, William Carter only practiced once each on Wednesday and Thursday—just two days in total. The rest of the time, he was busy with other things.

Being able to pass this time, William Carter was also sweating bullets inside. Luckily, he managed to muddle through; otherwise, who knows what special treatment this tough instructor would have given him. Everyone at this school knew that this “gorilla man” was known as the “super strict enforcer”—if anyone failed to meet his standards, they’d be in for a rough time.

“Hey, William Carter, did you know?” Johnny, a classmate, patted the distracted William Carter from behind, using an exaggeratedly cheerful tone to get his attention.

“What’s up? What happened?” Looking around and still not finding the familiar figure, he couldn’t help but turn back to respond to Johnny.

“Don’t bother looking, Emily Thompson isn’t here, and there won’t be any more chances in the future.” Johnny knew exactly who he was searching for and didn’t hesitate to burst his bubble.

“Why? Did something happen to her? Did she transfer?” William Carter panicked, turning around and grabbing Johnny by the collar. “How do you know?”

“You weren’t here yesterday. Emily Thompson was directly recommended by the school to the military’s genius academy.” Johnny knew William Carter hadn’t come yesterday, so he came early to tell him: “After class yesterday morning, someone came to handle the paperwork, and she left in the afternoon.”

“Genius academy? The military? Why?” William Carter didn’t understand. A girl who had been his classmate for almost ten years—other than being a bit likable, he hadn’t noticed anything special about her. How could she be admitted to a genius academy?

“Ha, you really don’t know.” Johnny put on a smug look, waiting for William Carter to beg him.

“Forget it if you don’t want to say.” Although he cared about Emily Thompson, he could find out the reason from others, so there was no need to put up with Johnny’s smug face.

“That’s no fun. After all, she was your unrequited crush.” Johnny had just said this when he saw William Carter’s face getting worse and quickly corrected himself: “Girlfriend, girlfriend, alright? Seriously.”

“Tell me, what exactly happened to her?” At this point, he couldn’t be bothered to figure out if Johnny was playing hard to get—William Carter was already a bit anxious. “Two of the latest comics, now spill.” Although he could find out from others, Johnny had been his childhood playmate, and they often bargained with things like this.

“Yesterday’s cultivation speed test—Emily Thompson’s cultivation speed was 2.3, unprecedented, truly one of a kind. Even the city government was alarmed, and the military sent people in less than an hour, promised a bunch of conditions, and admitted her on the spot.” Johnny was straightforward, and hearing William Carter offer the deal, he didn’t haggle and immediately revealed the key reason.

“Cultivation speed 2.3?” Letting go of Johnny’s collar, William Carter was momentarily dazed, his heart suddenly empty, his face pale, standing motionless.

“Hey, are you alright? Your secret crush getting into the military’s genius academy is a good thing.” Johnny tried to comfort him, thinking William Carter was upset because he wouldn’t be able to see Emily Thompson anymore.

“I’m fine!” William Carter’s mind was blank as he was pulled back to his seat by Johnny.