11: Tests and honey traps

Chen Jun was like a rare animal raised with great care, his range of activity limited to this gilded cage.

His greatest comfort was his regular meetings with his three daughters.

Watching Chen Xi become increasingly steady, Chen Yao lively and spirited, and Chen Lu adorable and naive, he was filled with pride.

Qin Qingxuan was extremely patient.

With genetic research at a stalemate, she turned her gaze toward more circuitous methods.

She firmly believed that as long as a secret existed, it would leave traces.

The probing began, as silent and dense as spring rain.

Sometimes, it was the living assistant, Xiao Liu—who was responsible for "caring" for their daily lives, always smiling and well-mannered—who, while helping Lin Wei arrange flowers, would chat as if unintentionally:

"Ms. Lin, you are truly blessed; all three young ladies are so outstanding. I heard their Innate Aptitude is one in a million. You and Mr. Chen are truly... gifted. Has anyone special ever appeared in your family's ancestry? Like hidden practitioners or something similar?"

Lin Wei would usually laugh and shake her head, with a bit of small pride and confusion:

"Not at all, we are just ordinary people. Our ancestors for generations were workers and farmers. Who knows how it happened with Xi Xi and the others..."

Sometimes, it was Dr. Zhang from the medical department, who had a scholarly demeanor and came for "regular check-ups," pushing up his glasses while drawing blood, and saying to Chen Jun in a conversational tone:

"Mr. Chen, your physical condition is somewhat special. Although your energy affinity is F-rank, your cell activity and mitochondrial function seem to have undergone some... unconventional metabolism, leading to accelerated loss of vitality, which might explain why you look old. Have you come into contact with anything special? Or... experienced any unusual events?"

Alarm bells rang in Chen Jun's heart; the loss of vitality brought by the System was real! Yet, he could only force a bitter smile and mumble along with the other person's words:

"Maybe... I was too tired in the shantytown before, doing all kinds of work, and I overdrawn myself."

The most frequent probing came from a newly "transferred" psychological counselor, Ms. Wang.

She visited regularly, under the pretext of "ensuring the mental health of family members to better support the growth of Genius children."

Her tactics were even more superb, often mixing carefully designed questions into gentle small talk.

"Mr. Chen, Ms. Lin, the pressure of raising Genius children must be great, right? Especially two in a row. I have encountered many cases where some parents had some very special 'prenatal dreams' before their children showed extraordinary talent, or encountered some strange people or events, feeling in the dark that the children would be extraordinary? Have you had similar experiences?"

"Mr. Chen, looking at your vital signs data, it seems there is a... peculiar consumptive characteristic. In some ancient records, this is considered the price of 'sacrifice' or 'blessing'? Of course, this is just folklore, just listen to it as a story..."

...

Every time, Lin Wei only felt that the other party was overly concerned or the topic was interesting, and she would think back carefully and deny it. She was completely immersed in the glory brought by her daughters and the affluent life she had now, completely unaware of the deep meaning behind these probes.

But Chen Jun was different!

The existence of the System was his greatest secret and source of fear; he was as sensitive as a frightened rabbit to any probing.

He could not reveal the System, nor could he let Lin Wei get involved in this dangerous suspicion.

He had to let her continue to think it was all just good luck.

One night, taking advantage of Lin Wei's good mood, Chen Jun put his arm around her shoulder, looked at the brilliant galaxy outside the window, and said in an extremely emotional yet mysterious tone:

"Wei Wei, sometimes I feel that God is fair. It gave us such precious daughters as Xi Xi, Yao Yao, and Lu Lu, maybe... it also took something away from me."

Lin Wei turned her head in confusion: "Took what away?"

Chen Jun pointed to his graying hair and the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes, gave a bitter smile, and said half-truthfully:

"Look at me, aging prematurely. I used to always say it was because I was tired, but actually... I secretly thought about it myself, maybe my Physique is a bit special. Just like the old saying goes, there is a gain for every loss. Having three such good daughters may have consumed a lot of my... um... 'Origin' or something. Every time... especially after the times you got pregnant, I felt particularly weak and aged particularly fast."

He tried his best to use terms Lin Wei could understand—slightly mystical ones—to vaguely attribute the cost of the System to his own "special Physique" and "vitality consumption."

Lin Wei was stunned, carefully looking at her husband's face, which was indeed much older than his peers, and recalling the abnormal fatigue he had experienced for a period of time after each of her pregnancies in the past few years, her heart suddenly tightened!

A brand new emotion, mixed with heartbreak and sudden realization, surged into her heart.

"You... are you saying..."

Her voice trembled slightly,

"Is it because of me... because of the children, that you..."

"No, no, no!"

Chen Jun quickly interrupted her, hugging her tightly,

"It's not because of you, nor because of the children! It's because of my own Physique! I'm willing! I'm willing to be drained dry to have them! I just... I just don't want you to be sad because my broken body isn't up to it anymore."

He cleverly transformed "dare not" into "cannot," disguising the limitations of the System as the sequelae of physical depletion.

These words were like a key, instantly unlocking a knot in Lin Wei's heart.

So that was it!

So her husband didn't stop loving her, didn't have an affair, but his body had paid a huge price for the children!

That was why he resisted intimacy so much; it wasn't that he didn't want to, but that he couldn't!

All his clumsy excuses before were just to keep her from worrying!

Huge heartbreak and guilt instantly engulfed Lin Wei; she reached back and hugged Chen Jun tightly, tears streaming down:

"You fool! Why didn't you tell me earlier! I thought... I kept forcing you... I'm sorry, Brother Jun, I'm sorry... Don't do it anymore, we won't have any more children, just take good care of your health, okay?"

Chen Jun breathed a sigh of relief in his heart, finally temporarily appeasing his wife and building a relatively safe cognitive barrier for her.

He patted her back and said softly: "Okay, okay, we'll just raise Xi Xi and the others well."

However, Qin Qingxuan's probing did not stop.

With no results from genetic and metaphysical inquiries, she began another offensive: the honey trap.

She didn't believe there was a cat that didn't steal fish, or a man who could resist the most primitive temptation.

Perhaps when the other party's will was weak and desire clouded their judgment, some information would be revealed.

Thus, Chen Jun found that the frequency of his "accidental encounters" with high-quality women increased sharply.

When dining at the top restaurant inside the headquarters, a beautiful, shapely female executive dressed in sexy clothing would "happen" to sit at the next table, casting interested glances at him—a man who looked like an old man—and even taking the initiative to strike up a conversation, her words full of flirtation.

"This gentleman looks very unfamiliar? I'm Li Man, the director of the Group's Strategic Investment Department. Dining alone? If you don't mind, shall we join together? I'm very curious about you..."

When taking a walk in the park that simulated natural ecology, a "female trainee" wearing a sports vest and hot pants, with a hot figure and dripping with sweat, would run by, "accidentally" bump into him, panting and apologizing, while her eyes were bold and seductive.

"Oh, sorry sir! Did I bump into you? You look... like you have a lot of stories, my name is Sha Sha, and I'm a trainee at the Combat Academy..."

Once, a dancer who claimed to be from the headquarters' art troupe even knocked on the door of their apartment under the pretext of "delivering the wrong performance ticket," wearing an extremely revealing performance costume, winking at Chen Jun who opened the door, and handing him a room key.

"Sir, this is a VIP ticket for our next internal performance, you must come, okay... Perhaps, after the performance, we can talk about the mysteries of 'life'?"

The hints in her words were extremely explicit.

Every time, Chen Jun was scared as if he had seen a ghost, ten times more panicked than when dealing with Lin Wei! He almost scrambled away, refusing with incoherent words, and once was almost forced by that "female trainee" to jump into an artificial lake.

Every one of these women was a beauty, full of charm; if he had encountered them in his previous life as a shut-in, his nose might have bled.

But now, these vivid beauties were, in his eyes, no different from beautiful yet deadly vipers!

Every contact made him feel as if that cold system interface was about to pop up again, deducting his remaining lifespan!

"No, no! Thanks! My wife is calling me home for dinner!"

"Young lady, please have some self-respect! I'm in poor health! The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak!"

"Take your ticket! Goodbye! No, goodbye forever!"

...

His wretched escape made the female agents who came on orders feel stunned and amused; when reporting to Qin Qingxuan, they couldn't help but add:

"The target's vigilance is extremely high, and he seems to... have some unspeakable hidden illness, showing extreme panic at the approach of women."

Qin Qingxuan listened to the report, her beautiful eyebrows slightly furrowed.

The honey trap had actually failed?

And the other party's performance was not a disguise; it looked more like some kind of real... fear?

Was it a fear of women?

Or a fear of the "procreation" act itself?

This made her even more curious, but also more cautious.

Federal law provided extremely strict protection for the basic rights of a Martial Artist's relatives, especially the father of Chen Xi and Chen Yao, two registered and highly anticipated Innate Martial Body individuals.

Without conclusive evidence and absolute certainty, she dared not use forced means to make Chen Jun procreate with other women; once that was exposed, it would be a monstrous crime, and even Star Rail Group could not protect her.

Thus, the situation fell into a strange stalemate.

Qin Qingxuan continued to observe and probe in the dark using various methods, looking for a Breakthrough.

Chen Jun, on the other hand, while guarding the secret of the System, continued to struggle and walk on thin ice amidst his wife's complex gaze—sometimes heartbroken, sometimes still inadvertently revealing longing—and the endless temptation and fright from the outside world.