Ch 125: TGCIR

Shen Cheng pointed to her throat, coughed twice, and then fell silent, turning her back towards him, clearly indicating a desire for him to leave.

However, Xia Jinshi just nodded, his gaze deep as he glanced at her back, then found a seat on the only sofa bed in the office.

Shen Cheng was somewhat surprised that her gesture of being unable to speak didn’t prompt him to leave, or that he didn’t seem to think he was wasting time. What was he up to?

While Shen Cheng felt uneasy, Xia Jinshi had already seated himself on the worn-out sofa, pressing on the sofa and the blanket placed on it. “Teacher.”

Shen Cheng widened her eyes in shock at his address.

Xia Jinshi sighed. “Teacher, are you still blaming me?”

How was she supposed to respond to that? Blame for what?

Shen Cheng speculated that Xia Jinshi’s mention of “still” meant he wasn’t referring to recent events. If it was just about the job transfer, it hadn’t happened yet, so there was nothing to blame. From what she had seen at Dr. Wei’s house, could it be related to his family?

She couldn’t figure it out, so she controlled her avatar to remain silent, her gaze falling on the clock hanging in the lab, showing only three minutes until the bomb exploded.

Xia Jinshi didn’t seem to need his response.

“Teacher, we must look forward,” Xia Jinshi said, watching Dr. Wei’s back and sighing. “The dead cannot be brought back to life. I know you hope to create a cure for the zombie virus one day, in the hope that Yan Yan and your wife can return to the world. But now we clearly have a better way to end this apocalyptic world. Why insist on a difficult and time-consuming path? Every second we argue here, perhaps one less living person remains outside. Teacher, since you compromised back then, why oppose me now when the dawn is right before us? When you came to see me today, seeing this tree, I already knew what you wanted to say. But once the arrow is shot, it cannot be retrieved. Teacher, give me a little more time, and my path will be clear. If you are willing to devote the time you spent on these experiments to me, we can accomplish it faster.”

Xia Jinshi’s last two sentences did not receive the response he hoped for.

His respected teacher remained silent from start to finish, head slightly lowered, without any response to their shared ideals.

Disappointment appeared on Xia Jinshi’s face.

He didn’t even bother to conceal his expression too much.

He knew that the path he was taking wouldn’t garner much support.

This path would only get narrower and quieter as he progressed. Eventually, he would walk alone.

But since his teacher had given him full support in the past, out of respect for that support, he still hoped they wouldn’t part ways like this.

Shen Cheng’s heart shook at the words “my path will be clear.”

Did that mean he did something to Fu Yanzhou? And Fu Yanzhou compromised?

Oh my god.

As he looked at the teacher who remained silent throughout, he sighed deeply. “Teacher, we can’t provide the research resources you need now. If you don’t want to participate, I won’t force you. But I’ll have to find someone to take over your position. Your living conditions won’t change, but in terms of research—”

Shen Cheng felt angry at Xia Jinshi’s words. This was so infuriating! Dr. Wei was all alone, seemed to have lost his family, what good was a good living condition if you didn’t have anyone? He’s still your teacher even if the research resources are lacking. How could you treat your teacher like this?

Even if their paths diverged, this was too—

Her gaze fell on the clock. The second hand overlapped with the minute hand, and with a loud “bang,” Xia Jinshi’s expression—

Translated on ho lo lo novels dot com.

Abruptly, dust began to fall like snow, and several chunks of the ceiling above came crashing down with a “bang,” causing the entire building to shake violently.

“Teacher!” Xia Jinshi saw a brick falling from above, about to land on Dr. Wei’s head. Without hesitation, he rushed over to block it and push Dr. Wei out of harm’s way. However, Dr. Wei firmly pushed his arm out, preferring to stand unsteadily and be hit by debris on his forehead rather than accept his help.

Watching the blood trickle down his teacher’s forehead, Xia Jinshi’s body swayed slightly with the trembling of the building. His voice carried a sigh of sadness, “Are you really going to part ways with me?” You won’t even look at me, let alone accept any help or kindness from me.

Shen Cheng couldn’t help but lament inwardly, wondering why he hadn’t left yet. This wasn’t some romance drama. She had already made it abundantly clear she wanted nothing to do with him. With the building starting to descend into chaos due to the explosion of the mini-bomb, why was he still here? If he didn’t leave, how could she proceed with her plans?

“Hurry up and leave! Can’t you see Dr. Wei doesn’t want anything to do with you?” she thought.

A flash of coldness crossed Xia Jinshi’s eyes. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but the shrill sound of the building’s alarm reverberated throughout the space, causing Xia Jinshi’s face to change slightly. Finally, gritting his teeth, he took two steps back, watching as the ceiling collapsed with a loud “boom,” engulfing the figure that had been standing unsteadily in a cloud of smoke and dust. He sighed softly, muttering to himself, “Doctor, take care.”

The alarm indicated the escape of an important experimental subject from the laboratory. Xia Jinshi couldn’t delay any longer. Only three experimental subjects escaping would trigger such an alarm, and regardless of which one it was, if he didn’t intervene, the entire research institute would descend into chaos. Although his teacher adamantly rejected his goodwill, leaving him unprepared, for Xia Jinshi, there were still priorities.

Just as he turned to leave, a question flashed in his mind: how did the bomb that exploded in the research institute get in?

The entrance to the institute was subject to security checks, and everyone entering had to pass through them. Additionally, researchers were usually paired and restricted to their respective floors, with mutual surveillance to prevent any loopholes. The only exception was—

His eyes flashed, and he suddenly stopped his steps toward the elevator, turning hastily back towards the interior of the building.

As smoke filled the room, he coughed and scanned his surroundings, suddenly freezing. There was a large hole above the location of the jar containing the research specimen, another hole where the plant with small white fruits had been, and both were missing. Along with the disappearance of the plant, there lay on the ground the figure of the doctor who had remained silent throughout, now covered in a pool of red blood.

A muscle twitched at the corner of Xia Jinshi’s mouth. He pressed a device on his wrist and immediately ordered, “Revoke all of Dr. Wei’s privileges. Find Dr. Wei’s whereabouts throughout the institute.”

He looked up at the hole in the ceiling, pondering for a few seconds before issuing another command. “Send someone to Lab 1 immediately. I’ll be there shortly.”

As Xia Jinshi left, Shen Cheng immediately directed her character to open the jar, placing the plant with the zombie into Li Weilan’s space. She then jumped up to the floor above through the hole in the ceiling.

The timed bombs available in the store were all miniaturized, sacrificing explosion power for stealth, only capable of causing chaos and panic. In terms of actual power, it seemed they hadn’t even damaged the main structure of the building.

In reality, even if there were bombs with massive power available in the store, Shen Cheng wouldn’t dare to use them. If this underground research institute suddenly collapsed…

Who knows if Fu Yanzhou will be buried underground along with it?

Besides, if the building collapses, and if there’s some high-tech-controlled cage within this research institute that breaks, letting out the highly dangerous experimental subjects that were securely contained within, that would go against Shen Cheng’s intentions.

At this moment, she skillfully manipulated her character to run outside. Suddenly, she heard the piercing sound of sirens.

While she was still wondering what was happening, she suddenly heard the mechanical voice of the system broadcasting, “Lab 1 requests backup. Lab 1 requests backup.”

Lab 1.

Shen Cheng had just searched through Dr. Wei’s laboratory map. According to her memory, Lab 1 was located on the 10th floor.

It seemed that the 18th floor was already empty due to the tremors. Shen Cheng swiped her card to open the door, but she only heard a “beep” sound. The password lock at the door flashed red twice and displayed “No access” before the alarm blared.

Damn it.

Shen Cheng had no idea where she had slipped up. She glanced around and saw a surveillance camera hanging in the corner. Without hesitation, Dr. Wei, with his old arms and legs, jumped up and smashed the camera with a heavy fist, shattering it into pieces before calmly landing on the ground.

The person who had received the alarm in the monitoring room and witnessed this scene gasped in disbelief. Even if they had been skeptical about Professor Wei being replaced before, now they were fully convinced. Professor Wei, with his agile movements, could never have been Professor Wei.

“Dammit,” Shen Cheng muttered silently in front of her phone. There was no need to dwell on how she had slipped up now. The key was that the door was clearly impassable. What to do now?

Shen Cheng found the ventilation duct on this floor and transformed herself into a black crow. Her dot-like eyes blinked humanely as she flapped her wings and flew into the hole.

As soon as she entered the ventilation duct, Shen Cheng suddenly saw three more heads above her, and her evaluation of this was “smells good.”

A crow’s sense of smell was much sharper than that of humans, and being a scavenger, Shen Cheng’s mind raced as she cautiously flew towards the source of the smell.

As the crow flew out, not far below, there suddenly came a flurry of chaotic footsteps. Shen Cheng leaned towards the nearest ventilation opening and peered down, only to be startled. A zombie jumped high, with a piece of bloody flesh in its mouth.

One researcher was tackled to the ground by it, and a pool of blood flowed out, while a dozen or so other researchers were scrambling to escape, regretting not running faster.

The zombie possessed extremely agile speed. It only took it a few seconds to dash from one end of the corridor to the other. Faced with it, the researchers, who were probably not particularly athletic to begin with, could barely keep up. Several stumbled and fell along the way, with large chunks of flesh torn from their backs, lying face down on the ground.

Shen Cheng glanced at the wall on the 11th floor beside her.

There was a huge hole in the middle of the wall between the two floors, indicating that this zombie must have escaped from Lab 1 on the 10th floor.

🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋