A Master's Degree, but in a Superhero World

[Scheduled to switch to paid chapters starting with Chapter 24 on March 12. If you've already read it, please don't buy it again!]

Shi Mao woke up one morning to find that the whole world had changed.

Bad news: She had transmigrated.

Good news: She was still a graduate student.

Before she could figure out what this world of superheroes was like, her supervisor assigned her an important task: take several nearly wilted plants from the lab to Gotham and find a plant expert to treat them.

It was worth noting that the plants were crucial to her supervisor's research and Shi Mao's graduation.

Her senior: So that's why you went to Gotham to get yourself killed? And you really didn't notice that this flower has superpowers?

Shi Mao yanked at a withered vine, nearly pulling off its last remaining leaf. "What superpowers? All I know is that this plant is the most important thing in the world when it comes to me graduating."

The actual mutant superpowered plant, a prospective supervillain: Are you okay?

*

In the world of superheroes, even a dog with superpowers has to choose between fighting evil and doing evil. Plants are no exception.

The plant, chosen by purple kryptonite and granted superpowers, roared, "I'm going to destroy the world!"

Shi Mao yanked hard on its leaves. "No, you don't. You just want to devote yourself to science."

Desperate to graduate, Shi Mao went to great lengths to fool herself:

The plant could talk? Just a hallucination. Less coffee, more sleep.

The plant could move? Just an ordinary illusion.

The plant could shoot electricity? An illusion. A short circuit.

She did her best to keep the mutant plant, which was bent on destroying the world, under control until her paper was published.

Her senior: You also never said you were going to debut as a supervillain.

Shi Mao: I didn't! This is all for science (and my paper).

Her senior: Then what was that photo of you with your arm around Harley Quinn? And you actually survived without getting killed by a superhero. Impressive.

*

Arkham Asylum had a visitor for the first time in ages.

On the first visit, the visitor asked to see Poison Ivy, but was turned away because she didn't have permission.

On the second visit, the visitor tried to help a criminal escape and was questioned by the Gotham police.

On the third visit, the visitor managed to get herself admitted to the asylum, but Killer Croc dug through a wall that very day, and all the criminals escaped.

Arkham security guard: What happened to her after that? Which room is she in here?

The senior shook her head, seemingly meaning... she was dead.

Shi Mao: What? First of all, I went back to work on my paper. I didn't die!

Note:

1. Although the title calls it a "water master's degree," this absolutely doesn't mean that all master's degrees are worthless. The protagonist's degree isn't worthless either, though it doesn't actually do her much good.

2. The purple kryptonite is an original addition based on orange kryptonite.

3. Romance should either appear very late or possibly in an extra chapter. (I'm terrible at writing romance.)

Theme: Keep learning and keep striving.