AEKMEM chapter 75

The competition began. The other participants on stage immediately used their plant-based or healing abilities to soothe the mutated sunflowers in front of them. After all, they only had ten minutes, and they couldn’t afford to waste any of it.

An Qiao was the only exception.

Even after the competition started, he calmly exchanged a few glances with Chu Heng below the stage before looking away. He seemed neither nervous nor concerned about the competition.

Audience members who noticed them were speechless.

They seriously suspected these two were just there to show off their affection!

An Qiao, do you even remember that you’re in the middle of a competition?

When An Qiao finally turned his attention back to the match, the audience watched intently, eager to see how he would handle the situation. He had no healing abilities or plant-based powers. Was he just going to stand there on the stage and wait for the match time to run out?

Just as they were wondering, everyone in the arena suddenly stared in astonishment.

The mutated sunflower in front of An Qiao bent down its large flowerpot. “Whoosh—” All the sunflower seeds in the pot were dumped in front of An Qiao, leaving not a single one behind.

The mutated sunflowers in front of the other contestants became even more frenzied, hopping and bouncing towards An Qiao as if possessed.

Had An Qiao not stopped them in time, the sunflowers would have probably swarmed forward, rushing toward him.

Everyone: “… ”

Is this really not an illusion?

In the previous five rounds, the best a contestant could do was receive half a sunflower seed from a mutated sunflower. That was considered an excellent performance, as the second-best performer only managed to get a few dozen sunflower seeds.

And now, An Qiao hadn’t even used his special ability to appease the mutated sunflowers, yet he had already received all of their sunflower seeds!

If An Qiao hadn’t stopped them, he probably would have wiped out all the other mutated sunflowers in the field.

How did he do that? Do mutated plants judge by appearance?

Or is it because he looks like an elf? More importantly, is his elven bloodline 99% pure, almost at the level of a reverted elf? Elves are naturally favored by plants, so does An Qiao, who “looks” like an elf, also have an exceptional affinity with plants?

An Qiao: “… ”

He was actually a little surprised.

He hadn’t done anything yet, and the mutated sunflowers were already showing him favor.

If he were in his elf form, he would have no doubt. But he was in human form and hadn’t released any elf aura or light magic deliberately.

Maybe it was because his strength was gradually recovering and his light magic was abundant. Combined with his natural elf affinity for plants, the mutated sunflower showed him kindness.

“Thank you,” An Qiao said as he touched the leaves of the sunflower in front of him.

The sunflower shook its leaves and head, seemingly shy and surprised.

The other mutated sunflowers stared at him expectantly, looking quite envious. Had An Qiao not forbidden it, they probably would have rushed over to fawn over him.

The audience, almost all of whom were wide-eyed, exchanged bewildered glances. Some were still in disbelief, stunned.

Initially, they thought An Qiao, the oblivious “parasitic vine,” would be humiliated by the mutated sunflower’s seed attack. But, surprisingly, An Qiao remained unscathed and actually shone brightly. The mutated sunflower was incredibly obedient and attentive in his presence.

The vice-director of the Imperial Eccentric Plant Research Institute, sitting on the judges’ panel, remarked with interest to Chu Heng beside him after his initial astonishment, “It seems the Crown Princess is truly hiding his abilities.”

Previously, when Chu Heng said, “My Crown Princess is naturally the best,” the vice-director had assumed he was overly idealistic. However, it turned out to be true.

An Qiao’s elven bloodline concentration is ninety-nine percent—he’s truly different from ordinary people and capable of influencing exotic plants to such an extent! No wonder Chu Heng agreed to let An Qiao participate in the competition without worrying about his safety—he was already confident!

The vice dean couldn’t help but appreciate his talent and asked, “Would the Crown Princess be interested in joining the Imperial Exotic Plant Research Institute?”

He believes that An Qiao has this ability and that the research at the Exotic Plant Research Institute will advance even further with his involvement.

Chu Heng’s expression showed pride at being praised.

His Qiao Qiao was, of course, the best!

However, regarding the vice dean’s suggestion, he shook his head slightly. “Qiao Qiao might not be very interested.”

“That’s a pity.” The vice dean said regretfully.

The Mo family member in the VIP section looked grim. In previous rounds of the competition, their researcher, Fan Weixin, had performed the best. The Mo family member had been particularly proud of this, secretly mocking Crown Princess An Qiao for his misfortune. He never expected the final result to be like this!

However, it’s too early to draw conclusions. This is only the first match, against a relatively less ferocious and easier-to-appease B-grade mutated sunflower. The next two matches, however, will feature an A-grade stinky fruit and an S-grade ghost flower, which will be far more ferocious.

Even if An Qiao relied on his elf bloodline to have an unusual affinity that made the B-level mutated sunflowers submit, the A-level Stinky Fruit and S-level Ghost Flower could not be subdued so easily. After all, he wasn’t an elf. This kind of vague “affinity” might have fooled the relatively low-level, immature mutated sunflowers, but it was absolutely impossible for it to work against higher-level, more intelligent exotic plants!

An Qiao sensed a deeply malicious gaze from below the stage.

Glancing casually to the side, he saw a balding, middle-aged man in the front row of the VIP seats. The name on the table in front of him was “Mo.”

The surname Mo? From the Second Prince’s mother’s family? No wonder the look was so malicious.

Shifting his gaze slightly, An Qiao glanced at Chu Heng, who was not far away.

The vice president of the Imperial Plant Research Institute was speechless when he noticed An Qiao and Chu Heng’s gazes meeting again.

The stench of romance!

He suddenly had a bad feeling, a premonition that he was about to witness several more displays of affection today.

The ten-minute competition time was up.

Besides An Qiao—the contestant who cheated his way through and received a complimentary sunflower seed from the Mutant Sunflower to advance—over a dozen other contestants passed the sixth round. This was far more than the seven or eight contestants who passed in the previous five rounds.

Initially, the other contestants on the same stage were both surprised and panicked when they saw how popular An Qiao was with the Mutant Sunflower. They secretly felt incredibly unlucky to have encountered someone as lucky as An Qiao. But afterwards, they couldn’t help but feel fortunate that An Qiao was there. Though initially disdainful of them, the mutated sunflowers that needed to be appeased were much easier to soothe and less resistant to human attempts at appeasement.

After the first six rounds of competition, about sixty participants advanced.

They would compete against A-grade Stinky Fruits on the same stage in the second round, with a twenty-minute challenge time.

As the name suggests, the Stinky Fruits bore fruit that stank. However, as long as the fruit didn’t explode, the smell couldn’t be detected. Unexploded Stinky Fruit had extremely high medicinal value and was difficult to obtain. Exploded Stinky Fruit, however, was both smelly and useless.

Obtaining unburdened Stinky Fruits is very difficult. The Gloomy Fruit is highly aggressive and loves to play pranks. Unlike the Mutant Sunflower, which mostly attacks only when offended, it will attack people proactively.

Compared to the mutated sunflowers, the Stinky Fruit had a nasty disposition. As long as they saw a person, they would hurl fruit without hesitation. Once they leave the branch, the fruit explodes, releasing an extremely intense odor along with red liquid. However, if the fruit did not leave the branch, it would not ripen. Unripe Stinky Fruit had greatly reduced medicinal value. Therefore, only the fruit willingly provided by Stinky Fruit—those that did not explode—had precious medicinal value.

To pass the second qualifying round, you must obtain a fruit willingly provided by the Stinky Fruit plant.

Before the competition began, the organizers encased the stinky fruit plants in a special energy shield to put them in a dormant state; otherwise, they would actively attack. Additionally, each participant was surrounded by an energy shield to protect them from attacks and smells and prevent accidental injury to other participants or spectators.

This second qualifying round sounded much more interesting. The audience eagerly awaited the outcome, especially An Qiao’s performance. Would he continue his effortless advancement, or would he suffer a humiliating elimination?

But, unexpectedly, An Qiao advanced again.

He was completely unharmed and did nothing but stand there, yet he easily received all the fruits the Stinky Fruit plant offered with great enthusiasm.

Only five people advanced in this round. Three of them advanced by sheer luck. Although they received the stinky fruit as a gift, they were attacked and their clothes were covered in the fruit’s juice and stench. They needed to clean up and change before participating in the third qualifying round.

An Qiao and Fan Weixin from the Mo family’s research institute were the only ones to escape the attack. Fan Weixin had a slight sheen of sweat on his forehead, however, clearly having struggled to calm the Stink Fruit.

Compared to the vast majority of the other participants, who were covered in the stench and red juice of the Stink Fruit and looked disheveled and embarrassed, An Qiao stood out in his pristine white robe. He looked elegant and composed.

The audience: “…”

Advancing was a matter of luck or accident. Advancing to the next two rounds was no ordinary stroke of luck.

The audience couldn’t help but whisper to each other:

“I didn’t expect An Qiao to be so amazing. It’s truly unexpected.”

“Not entirely unexpected. He hasn’t awakened yet, but his elven bloodline concentration is ninety-nine percent, almost elf-like. His affinity for exotic plants makes sense.”

“No wonder An Qiao dared to participate in the competition and His Highness the Crown Prince agreed. He was confident all along.”

…

Chu Heng was watching An Qiao on stage when he received a message on his personal terminal from his adjutant, Jiang Qi. The message said that the principal of the Empire’s First Military Academy had urgent business with Chu Heng regarding the Zerg.

At the same time, he received a message from Shen You.

Shen You must have seen An Qiao’s performance in the competition and wanted to ask him to act as an intermediary and ask An Qiao for a small favor: to help tend to a rare plant with special medicinal value.

An Qiao’s attitude has been very good lately, and Chu Heng probably got carried away by replying directly: [No problem. Just bring the plant over.]

An Qiao is actually quite easy to talk to, so he should agree. He previously agreed to help treat Jiang Qi’s cousin’s insect poison.

Shen You: [Don’t you need to tell your Crown Princess first and ask for his opinion?]

Chu Heng: “…”

Chu Heng replied very firmly: [I’m the head of the family, and my Qiao Qiao listens to me!]

Shen You: “…”

This henpecked husband actually dares to call himself the head of the family.

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