Why is it like this!
Shen Ning couldn’t comprehend the current situation, because she remembered very clearly back then, deep beneath the mine, she personally pulled more than twenty familiar elders, who would remain there forever, with a single iron pickaxe.
This scene had stayed in her mind for over three years, haunting every noon and night in her dreams.
But why was Liu Shu’s voice here?!
Before, Ránrán had also heard it in the barrel, but voices heard in dreams were like one’s own reflection; Shen Jia could accept such a special form of existence.
But this was reality. If there wasn’t a metal door in front of her, she could even see the other side!
“Uncle Liu, why are you here? What happened? Why are you here?!”
The girl’s heart was a mess as she kept asking the metal door questions, her words gradually becoming incoherent.
Behind the door, that voice grew more frantic:
“Shi Shenchai! Little Shen Ning!! Little Shen Ning!!”
Behind the glass window, watching the spiritual energy waveforms on the detector growing increasingly intense, the chubby Fort supervisor broke into a cold sweat.
“I remember the internal storage at the research facility isn’t much, right? How many can they convert out? Could it cause the building’s structure to collapse?”
Most of the research facility was underground; if structural problems occurred, it wouldn’t be easy to escape.
Svina still looked lazy: “Calm down, the research facility’s reserves are limited. Didn’t I suggest a year ago, to avoid domino-like risks, to store X Crystals dispersedly? Most are sealed in various parts of the city.”
Upon hearing this, the Fort supervisor’s face improved a bit, but quickly his expression turned strange: “The suggestion you gave back then… isn’t it just so you could carry out this dangerous operation now?”
What’s this? Buying a bunch of fire extinguishers a year ago was just to play with fire at home a year later?
“You’re overthinking it, Fort supervisor. Just keep watching.”
Inside the room, the girl’s questions grew more urgent, and the replies became wilder.
“Uncle Liu, why?”
“Shi Shencha!”
“Why?!”
“Tap!”
The conversation on both sides seemed to have stepped into an endless vicious circle; the more urgent they were, the less fluent the words became, and the less fluent, the more urgent.
Until a sharp voice rang in the girl’s ear—
“Shen Liu! Calm down!”
The Milky Ning Reflection raised a small handkerchief: “Chuyao said, we should think more and act cautiously; yelling loudly is not cautious at all.”
Facing such a situation, was it even necessary to say that?
“Of course it is. Anyway, calm down first, take a deep breath.”
It turns out that when someone speaks in your ear, even if you don’t fully agree, you’ll subconsciously follow the advice.
And just as the girl took a deep breath, the voice on the other side of the room quieted down; both sides seemed to be doused with cold water.
Shen Ning really listened to the Milky Ning Reflection and took several deep breaths before reopening her eyes and looking toward the metal door.
“Uncle Liu, you…”
Beep beep beep.
The sliding panel moved. No matter who or what was behind the door, it had already been transferred away, just like the previous process.
Through the broadcast, Svina informed her that the operation was over.
“Over?” The girl sat in the chair, incredulous. “You want me to communicate with it, but we’ve only just started.”
Svina glanced at the detector’s smooth curve that had lasted for several minutes and shook his head: “That’s why today’s work was special, different from before. Go rest.”
The Fort supervisor beside him also watched the detector and sighed: “The girl’s psychological quality is pretty strong, she calmed down so quickly. By the way, what do you think was in that segment just now? Nervousness? Fear? Anger? Well, it’s definitely not something passable. I feel like we wasted our effort.”
Wasted effort?
From a perspective invisible to colleagues, Svina revealed a mysterious smile.
But just as they were about to leave, they found the girl blocking the doorway.
“I thought you had left.” Svina said, “It’s lunch break now.”
Shen Jia stood there staring at him with a teasing smile. Don’t talk about lunch break—even if it were midnight, with something like this happening, no one would just go back and sleep as if nothing happened.
“What exactly is going on? The person behind the door looks like someone I know.”
The girl questioned, “But he died years ago, far away from here.”
“Don’t rush. You follow me somewhere, and we’ll talk slowly.”
Svina led her to the common area and introduced: “This is the regular staff dining area and the canteen.”
Compared to the exclusive individual tables of the high-level dining area, the ordinary dining area felt similar to a school canteen to Shen Ning—people in various employee uniforms coming and going, cautiously carrying meal boxes to avoid spilling.
They only removed their masks while eating, but with heads down, faces were hard to see.
“Hello, Supervisor!”
“Good noon, Supervisor!”
Employees greeted him along the way, and Svina smiled in return, then arrived at the canteen’s food counter.
“Two ordinary staff meals, please.”
Though called ordinary meals, the woman serving the food clearly recognized him and didn’t dare slack off—dishing out extra portions of the best dishes.
Shen Jia followed slowly, glancing at the woman serving food and suddenly noticing something familiar about her eyes.
“You—” Svina suddenly pointed at the woman, “Take off your mask.”
She hesitated but didn’t dare refuse and quickly removed her mask.
Seeing her face, Shen Ning raised an eyebrow: “Dr. Helena?”
Wasn’t she the one who had been evaluating her at school for the past three years? Why was she here serving meals?
Helena’s gaze dodged. After Svina turned away, she immediately put her mask back on.
“Miss Shen Jia, let’s find a place to eat and talk.”
Svina found a corner to put down the lunch, and several employees nearby wisely left with their meal boxes.
No sooner had Shen Jia sat down than he said:
“Unexpected to meet an old acquaintance here, right? I mean the woman.”
Svina looked at the knife and fork in his hands absentmindedly and said, “Helena used to interact with you at Shengling Academy. Her work had no value and was useless here, but she knew quite a bit, so she had to stay here doing menial tasks.”
It took Shen Ning half a minute to understand.
“You mean, if I know what I want to know, I’ll be kept here forever?”
“Not sure, that depends on the family’s will. I’m just a worker. But if you’re willing to cooperate with the work, maybe you can go back sooner.”
Hearing this, Shen Ning sneered coldly: “You bring someone in front of me to say a few words but tell me nothing, and now you want me to cooperate?”
“Then how about this: actually, we’re also eager to know your questions. Why not let you solve the mystery yourself?” Svina turned conciliatory. “We’ll arrange a meeting this afternoon. I mean a real meeting, without that door.”
Shen Ning clenched her chopsticks tightly.
A real meeting…
“Of course there’s a catch,” said the Milky Ning Reflection, “Chuyao said they all want to PUA you!”
Did she say that? It seemed so, but that was early on, maybe even including these people now.
Shen Ning agreed with the Milky Ning Reflection, but no matter what, she had to meet the real Liu Shu.
“By the way, Miss Shen Ning, do you remember the questions I asked on your first workday?”
Svina looked around: “When you see so many ordinary people here, turned into monsters like the elders you once knew, how do you feel inside?”
Shen Ning retorted: “How do you think I’d feel?”
Kill all of you, then run out to the school and sleep with my girlfriend.
If she could have done that, she would have thought that way a long time ago.
“Just curious because you’re still in school. They don’t teach you this, right?” Svina put down his fork, recalling the past. “The school tells you how much we protect ordinary people, respect everyone’s human rights. Now seeing a different scene, don’t you feel confused?”
Going around in circles just to ask that?
Shen Jia looked at him like he was an idiot: “I grew up in the mining area and only entered school at 15. Before that, I was an ordinary person.”
How could she not know what really happened?
Svina suddenly realized: “Oh, so that’s it. I didn’t think of that.”
He seemed a bit ashamed, rubbing his head and talking to himself:
“I also used to study at the academy, the Freiden Academy in the city. I was always a model student, believed what the school said, that leading human progress and protecting ordinary people was our mission. I once punished a friend who hurt ordinary people and stood on the award stage as the best in the grade, receiving praise from teachers and leaders. Later, when I recalled this scene, tell me, what do you think the teachers and leaders who knew the truth then thought when they looked at proud me on the stage?”
His emotions seemed a bit off, but Shen Ning remained expressionless: “Don’t know.”
No mercy; the only reason he sat here talking to her was that he couldn’t beat her yet.
After half a minute of silence, Svina lifted his head again, revealing his usual friendly smile.
“Rest well. I’ll notify you when we arrange the afternoon work.”
Principal Lü personally came downstairs at the office building to pick up his student and saw the child carrying a huge pile of things, running over full of energy. He couldn’t help but twitch his eyelid.
“What’s this? You really want to bring trouble to that professor?”
“I’m not looking for trouble, it’s solid evidence!” Xu Chuyao declared confidently. “I have sufficient proof to prove…”
“Alright, alright, if you don’t have enough, don’t tell me. Hurry inside.”
Principal Lü had no way with his clever, outstanding, and spoiled child, but thankfully he didn’t have to make the decision on this matter.
Xu Chuyao carried her things into the meeting room. The video was already connected. Long Jun was sitting there wearing a big coat, with a box of cigars beside him.
“I have good news for you. The position you applied for has been approved. Now you’re a member of the High Tower Problem Advisory Group and can watch the internal footage from that day.”
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