Recently, while Lu Xia was busy with her research at the No. 1 Institute, things were anything but idle inside the Fertility Research Institute. Ever since they received the "natural conception" signal, the entire institute had convened for an emergency meeting.

At the meeting, they immediately split into two factions, sparking a heated debate.

One faction believed the event wasn’t real, arguing it was a false positive caused by a system malfunction.

The other faction, however, was adamant that there was nothing wrong with the monitoring system.

However, they did reach a consensus on one point: the monitoring system needed to be upgraded.

Samson took this matter very seriously, personally supervising the engineers as they upgraded the monitoring system, hoping that after the upgrade, they could receive the signal again and analyze its source.

’Natural conception’ was simply too important to them.

Unfortunately, even after the upgrade, the monitoring system remained completely silent. It reached the point where even Samson began to wonder, ’Was my initial judgment really wrong?’

Lu Xia was unaware of the events unfolding at the Fertility Research Institute. She was busy sifting through the volunteer applications the old butler had screened for her.

All of these volunteers had scars of varying severity.

They ranged from large to small, minor to severe.

Selecting the right candidates from several thousand photographs was no easy task, but thankfully, Lu Xia had never been short on patience.

Once the right volunteers were chosen, Lu Xia would send them the product along with a stipend for their participation. In return, they were required to document the daily progress of their scar’s fading.

This also meant it would be some time before the beauty cream could be released to the general public.

Lu Xia wasn’t worried, though. She knew this step was absolutely essential.

*

Mai Lun was a former firefighter. He had been badly burned during a fire rescue, leaving half his face disfigured. Now, he never left home without a mask and a hat. He didn’t want to be seen, didn’t want to frighten anyone, and most of all, he couldn’t bear the disgusted stares.

His family had tried countless remedies for his condition. They had exhausted every technology currently available in the Empire, but the degree of restoration remained limited.

His face could not be restored to how it once was.

Given his situation, he wasn’t interested when he first saw the No. 1 Institute’s call for volunteers for a new beauty cream. That is, until he saw its stated function: scar removal.

The claim that it could "restore skin to its original state" made his heart skip a beat, if only for a moment.

But deep down, he knew it wouldn’t work. After all, he’d tried countless scar removal products from various companies over the years. He’d used enough of them to know that "scar removal" was just a marketing gimmick.

Sometimes, the more you can’t have something, the more you want it. He knew this was likely another scam that would end in disappointment, but he couldn’t stop himself from trying. He couldn’t stop himself from holding on to a sliver of unrealistic hope, only to be plunged back into despair.

He’d been let down too many times. This time, Mai Lun didn’t tell his family. He secretly signed up online and submitted his photo.

His application was approved quickly. They sent him the trial product along with the first month’s stipend for volunteers. It wasn’t a lot—just the standard market rate for such trials in the Empire.

The money held little appeal for Mai Lun. He was far more interested in the beauty cream.

So, the moment the package arrived, he tore it open. He found that the No.1 Institute Beauty Cream was jet black and had a light, pleasant fragrance.

Filled with a mix of curiosity and apprehension, Mai Lun scooped some out and applied it to his scars.

The instructions said to leave it on for twenty minutes before washing it off with warm water.

During those twenty minutes, Mai Lun felt no discomfort at all. In fact, there was a cool, refreshing sensation that was indescribably pleasant.

When the twenty minutes were up, Mai Lun looked in the mirror and was surprised to find that the once ink-black cream had gradually turned transparent.

After he washed the cream from his face, he couldn’t tell if it was just his mind playing tricks on him, but the scarred area seemed to have lightened slightly.

He couldn’t help but laugh at himself. ’I must be going crazy,’ he thought. ’Even if it works, how could it be this fast? I’ve only used it once.’

Suppressing the flicker of hope in his heart, Mai Lun uploaded his photo, turned off the light, and went to sleep.

The next morning, when he looked in the mirror, he again felt that the area truly seemed a little smoother. Moreover, the constant discomfort he’d felt ever since the burn seemed to have lessened.

A real sense of expectation began to build within him. ’This might not be my imagination. Could this stuff actually work?’

He picked up the small bottle from the counter and stared at it. ’I’m probably losing my mind,’ he thought.

There were many other volunteers just like Mai Lun. Most of them used the sample the moment they received it and uploaded before-and-after comparison photos.

Lu Xia calculated the timeline in her head. ’Volunteers with minor scars should see initial results in about three days. Those with more severe cases will see results in a month. Within three months, it should be able to heal virtually any scar.’

And that’s exactly what happened. Three days later, when the volunteers with minor scars posted their latest comparison photos, the once-clear marks had faded significantly. It looked as though they would vanish completely within a week.

Lu Xia was very pleased with the volunteers’ results.

Meanwhile, as time passed, every volunteer using the No.1 Institute Beauty Cream was witnessing the results with their own eyes.

News about it also began to surface online, at first just within a few patient support groups—

"Dear fam, I have some great news to share with everyone. You know how I recently signed up as a volunteer for the No.1 Institute Beauty Cream? Well, I discovered their stuff is actually amazing. This is seriously not an ad, not an ad, not an ad! This is my own personal experience. A lot of you in this group probably know I have a scar on my face that’s bothered me for years. I have to wear a mask to go out, and I’ve tried so many things to get rid of it with no luck. I honestly just signed up for this volunteer thing for my own peace of mind, but I never expected... this stuff actually works!"

"Picture, picture, picture! Everyone, look at my before-and-after pics. This is after three days—you can already see the scar has faded a lot. Picture, picture, picture! And this is after a week. It’s gone now. Completely gone! I’m healed, fam! My hands are shaking as I’m typing this to you all. I seriously can’t control my excitement. I want to recommend this beauty cream to everyone in the world who has the same problem. I don’t think it’s on sale yet, but my dear fam, as soon as it’s released, please, believe me: BUY IT, BUY IT, BUY IT! No matter how much it costs, you have to buy it. It really works!"

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