Ninth class citizen

Chapter 359 Reason Before Force
“I think so too,” said Hei Mukan, a sixth-tier gene optimizer. “Although Ms. Nan was once Melissa’s disciple and received the full support of the Campbell family, even if it were any other member of the Campbell family, it would be impossible for her to get the maximum score of three thousand points, right?”

As he spoke, his gaze swept over Ms. Patricia and the other two members of the Campbell family present, a hint of provocation in his eyes.

The other gene optimizers were already used to this. The Kuroki family had been envious of the Campbell family's position for a long time, and this kind of sarcastic talk was nothing new.

Previously, they had the backing of His Excellency Wu Hsing-kuo, a former first-class citizen. After the Wu family lost power, they quickly turned to the Childe family.

If we're talking about the luckiest family this year, the Childe family would be second to none.

Because they had previously held a stable fourth place among the nine great families, but after the Wu family's incident, they automatically rose to the top three. Now, the Holmes family, which was standing in their way, is also facing annihilation.

In other words, the Childe family did nothing, yet within just a few months, they rose to become the second largest family in the Federation, second only to the Celestials.

Many small and medium-sized families have successively pledged allegiance to the Childe family, while the Blackwood family, which had already become their disciple, is even more arrogant and does not take the Campbell family seriously.

Although the young master of the Kuroki family died an unnatural death, he had several older brothers. In the eyes of the Kuroki family, who placed extreme importance on bloodline continuity, this alone made them far superior to the Campbell family, whose direct line had been extinguished.

One day, the Kuroki family will replace the Campbell family and rise to become one of the nine great families, becoming the undisputed number one gene optimization family in the Federation.

But before that, they will seize every opportunity to smear the Campbell family and cause them all sorts of trouble.

Patricia had some doubts about Nan Rong's achievements, but she was mostly proud of her.

After losing Melissa, she has transferred her affection to her disciple and cannot tolerate anyone belittling or slandering her.

She turned cold and was about to speak when Chairman Greg spoke first.

“There is absolutely no problem with the questions,” he said. “Today’s Level 5 exam questions were selected by the central AI at my instruction and monitored throughout the entire process. There is absolutely no possibility of cheating.”

Hei Mukan simply did not believe these words.

To be honest, he didn't really take this little old man seriously.

The association's higher-ups were well aware that Greg's family background was quite ordinary, and the only reason he was able to hold onto his position was because he had a good mentor.

Colin Porter, an eighth-order gene optimization master, was once Greg's teacher.

With this connection, those who had benefited from Master Potter would more or less take care of Greg, but that was all.

With Master Potter gone for many years, this bond will only grow weaker. And Greg's age means there's no possibility of him taking things any further.

Therefore, when facing him, the new generation of gene optimizers like Heimukan only had a few traces of hypocritical respect.

“Your Excellency Chairman,” Hei Mukan said, “I have no intention of criticizing you, nor do I believe there is anything wrong with the questions themselves. I simply think that the scoring criteria might have some errors?”

“You mean, the central AI malfunctioned?” Patricia asked coldly. “Anything is possible.” Blackwood spread his hands: “A simple example is the first challenging question just now. Even the central AI doesn’t know the standard answer to that question, right? Otherwise, our potion synthesis process would have been universally optimized long ago.”

“But the central AI will perform calculations and verifications in the background based on the answer submitted by Nan Rong. Only after proving its feasibility will it give the most reasonable score,” Patricia argued.

Greg nodded in agreement, "That's right, this is indeed the working mechanism of the Central Intelligence in the certification exam—do you have any other questions?"

"Hehehe." Hei Mukan chuckled softly, shaking his head at the two of them. "Of course there are problems, and they're not small."

“Think about it.” He turned around and faced all the high-level gene optimization engineers present. “Everyone saw that answer. It was obviously nonsense, violating the basic principles and common sense of gene optimization—but a miracle happened. The central AI actually gave such an answer a perfect score! Isn’t this misjudgment itself the biggest problem?”

It must be admitted that Heimukan has an exceptional talent for public speaking. With just a few words, he made the gene optimization specialists thoughtful, whispering and exchanging pleasantries.

Greg and Patricia exchanged a glance.

Advancing as a gene optimizer becomes increasingly difficult, and most of the sixth-tier gene optimizers present may never be able to reach the seventh tier, even if they dedicate their entire lives to it.

Therefore, their understanding of potion synthesis is exactly the same as that of the two people who have been at the seventh rank for many years.

Actually, when they first saw the answer, both Greg and Greg had a flash of inspiration, but they were quickly swayed by the comments of others.

After all, no one could have imagined that Nan Rong would accomplish in such a short time what most people could not do even in their entire lives.

However, after the central AI determined it to be correct and they reflected on it, they suddenly felt that this modification did indeed have some merits.

However, the exact benefits and the reasons for this change need to be thoroughly understood through a series of practical verifications.

Arguing without substance is meaningless and can easily be exploited by those with ulterior motives.

“During my years as president of the Gene Optimizers Association, I have personally presided over quite a few certification exams. You are not the only one questioning the Central Intelligence's assessment.” Greg looked up at Blackwood.
"Unfortunately, every time, the ultimate winner is the central AI."

“But that was in the past, and that doesn’t mean it will be the same this time,” Hei Mukan insisted.

In front of him, Sharp Jose and the others nodded solemnly, looking on with expressions of deep agreement.

"So what do you think should be done?" Patricia asked. "Should we send the results back to the Central Intelligence Administration for manual review, as is customary?"

“Of course not.” Hei Mukan smiled faintly. “The people standing here today are the real experts in gene optimization. Those so-called review teams are just laymen; they can’t even review such advanced issues.”

“Then tell me your thoughts,” Greg said. “I’ll support anything that can truly solve the problem.”

"Thank you for your trust, Your Excellency Chairman." Hei Mukan bowed slightly. "Then I will speak frankly. My suggestion is to reason with them first, then resort to force."

"First, Ms. Nan, please verify the points she made in her answer."