Chapter 85: Some Girlfriends Lack Professional Ethics

“I heard you abruptly stopped the operation and left just like that, saying it was because a team member had a psychological episode?”

Long Jun’s voice came through the satellite phone, clearly confused and not knowing what excuse Xu Chuyao had come up with.

“That’s right, of course. You asked me to investigate the Ya Ha City High Tower battle, so I went to look into it.”

Xu Chuyao let out a small sigh.

“I found out that the High Tower was sealed off, then discovered that Shengling Academy was hiding the casualty details of ordinary people. I walked around a bit more and found out that someone who got close to the tower that day developed radiation sickness and has been itching all over for half a month. In the end, the people from Shengling Academy told me to go up the High Tower alone. How could I dare? I ran away on the spot.”

The girl’s sweet and soft voice rattled off all at once, and Long Jun didn’t quite catch everything. “What exactly are you trying to say?”

“What I want to say is, the High Tower battle report is just too strange. How could both sides just conveniently perish simultaneously? The final assassination was just a simple attack from both sides at the same time, bullets flying through the air killing everyone? Could there be a third party involved? Like some kind of deliberate concealment of data that was mistaken as strategy?”

There was silence from Long Jun’s end.

After a few quiet seconds, Xu Chuyao added softly, “I think maybe I shouldn’t know about this, so I don’t really know how to report it.”

Upon hearing this, Long Jun couldn’t help but say, “You really shouldn’t know.”

In theory, Yao Yao shouldn’t have had the chance to know about this matter, but Long Jun had seen the live broadcast video of that concert — it was Principal Lü who sent it to him.

“Come back first.”

“Alright.”

Shen Ning sat quietly in a corner, tilting her head as she watched the distorted shadow twisting on the windowpane, recalling the series of events from waking up this morning to boarding the plane.

Right after waking from the dream, it felt as if some kind of buff had been applied to her body—her mind clear and her thoughts sharp. She didn’t consider anything else, only the thought, “Stop Xu Chuyao.”

Now sitting in the airplane seat, listening to the white noise of the engine’s roar, her mind gradually calmed, only to be suddenly filled with a wave of fear.

If it weren’t for that dream, would I have… lost something?

“Yes,” the Sexually Repressed Shadow said, “You almost became like Broken Shadow.”

The Broken Shadow, wounded and salty as if salt were thrown into the wound, said nothing but hung on the window, shedding tears.

At first glance, it almost looked like the outside had fogged up.

Broken, really broken.

Shen Ning didn’t know if she would become like that if she lost Xu Chuyao, but she really didn’t want to imagine it—not even a little. The suffocating feeling from the dream, like drowning, rose up again.

To put the thought aside, she asked the shadows another question — “Did you also go through this?”

“No,” said the Sexually Repressed Shadow. “Back in third grade, I was still playing hide-and-seek with Yaoqiong at school, the kind where you catch each other roughly. You chase me, I chase you, Shengling Academy was so sweet back then.”

That must have been a beautiful memory; the shadows almost started singing.

The girl’s eyes flickered with a trace of bewilderment. Could it be that she blamed herself for moving too fast? Is pursuing strength not necessarily the right choice?

“Not at all,” came a sigh from the Broken Shadow on the window. “For people like us, as long as we keep walking in this world, unavoidable troubles will find us. Moving too fast might lead to stumbling over more issues sooner, but if you move too slow, when the problems come knocking, you won’t be able to protect the things you cherish.”

Hearing this, the Sexually Repressed Shadow also got a bit sentimental: “Yeah, why does it have to be us? Is there really an original sin?”

If Xu Chuyao knew they were talking about this, she’d probably say it was perfectly normal. After all, you’re the female lead—if the main storyline doesn’t seek you out, then who else but her, the antagonist?

But Yao Yao didn’t understand the girl’s thoughts, nor did Shen Ning understand why fate always seemed to follow her.

She tilted her head slightly, glancing at the uneasy girl sitting on the other side, quietly clenching her fists.

“Keep moving forward,” said the Broken Shadow. “Once we lift that pickaxe, there’s no turning back, and no stopping either.”

“That’s right,” said the Sexually Repressed Shadow, making strange movements on the window, “There are three things Shen Ning must protect in this lifetime.”

She was still humming some old song from the Lingqian era.

After some time, the plane smoothly landed at Center City Airport.

Only when stepping out of the cabin and boarding the academy’s shuttle bus did Xu Chuyao finally relax, letting out a heavy sigh.

Those handling things in Ya Ha City weren’t sure whether they knew the truth and didn’t take the risk to intervene. In reality, Yao Yao had already quietly completed the mission and submitted the report.

As for how the Ya Ha High Tower would be dealt with, how accountability would be assigned, and who would step forward to take responsibility—that was a matter for Long Jun and the other elders to consider. Yao Yao just wanted to go back to the dorm and get a good sleep, and maybe find someone to help her bear the psychological burden this matter had brought.

“Dismissed. Everyone’s outstanding contribution to this mission will be settled later. Now, continue your vacation.”

Back at Shengling Academy, the moment Xu Chuyao got off the bus, she announced the news to the team.

She was confident that after being unexpectedly dragged into such a high-level affair, Director Long would definitely grant the Crisis Response team some time off to recover.

The few classmates who had just been along for the trip exchanged confused looks.

At least Shi Qing had been the driver and had witnessed the “life-or-death” performance firsthand. The others had basically taken a joyride, watched another school’s flag-raising ceremony, sampled local delicacies, then returned.

Xu Chuyao didn’t give them time to object. After dismissing the team, she went straight to the dorm, kicked off her shoes and socks, washed up, changed clothes, crawled into bed, and pulled the blanket over herself in one go.

Just then, Mi Xiaolu, who had just finished her nap, rubbed her eyes a few times.

“Xu Chuyao, is that really you? I thought I was mistaken. Didn’t you say earlier that you were going to be out for at least a week?”

“The plan changed. Something big happened.”

Xu Chuyao propped herself up, drew the curtains closed, lay back down, and looked at Mi Xiaolu in a (:з」∠) pose, mysteriously saying:

“Hey, do you remember the story I told you before about Shen Ning?”

Mi Xiaolu, just waking up from her nap and feeling a bit hypoglycemic, hadn’t reacted at first but nodded subconsciously. “I remember.”

“Well then, you must remember the X Crystal Stone—the thing that caused all of Shen Ning’s coworkers to mutate and also triggered her awakening.”

No way!

As soon as she heard such a mysterious term, Mi Xiaolu snapped to attention. This bad Yaoqi was definitely going to tell a story.

But it was too late. Xu Chuyao began speaking in a low voice:

“Since the spirit mineral was born during the spiritual energy explosion, humans have known of and exploited dozens of spirit minerals. The X Crystal Stone is one of the rarest and most mysterious. Before the mutation incident at mining zone 13, no one even knew such a mineral existed, one with both powerful functions and dangers.”

“And because Shen Ning is a successful case, the higher-ups allowed the Rockmorgan Family limited research rights on the X Crystal Stone to explore the secrets of postnatal awakening. However, whether the research is truly focused on awakening is another matter, especially given the poor success rate of experiments in that field.”

Mi Xiaolu listened cautiously, then exhaled in relief.

Seems okay. She’d already heard about the existence of the X Crystal Stone before, and with such powerful capabilities, research was understandable.

Seeing Mi Xiaolu wasn’t frightened, Xu Chuyao smiled faintly. “But you should know, although Rockmorgan is the most advanced in scientific research among the three mining giants, the largest producer of raw materials is the Ya Ha Financial Group. Only the Rockmorgan Family is authorized to research the X Crystal Stone, so anything Ya Ha Financial Group mines has to be sent over. Do you think they’re okay with that?”

Mi Xiaolu had a slight understanding: “They’d secretly study it themselves.”

“I don’t know, but I do know that a batch of raw materials ended up in the hands of the Clown Gang, a bunch of ignorant fools who released it at the Ya Ha High Tower. Ordinary people inside the entire tower were transformed into monsters, then killed dozens of students and clowns trapped there.”

Xu Chuyao spread her hands. “Think carefully—was this mineral carelessly stolen by the Clown Gang, or was there an insider who took it? Or… someone intentionally let it be stolen, turning a blind eye as part of some experiment?”

Mi Xiaolu was dumbfounded this time.

Wow, she had been listening calmly before, but it turned out all the scary stuff was right here waiting.

“I… I don’t know…”

Xu Chuyao laughed happily. “Neither do I, but one thing’s for sure—they definitely don’t want this to be known, because if Ya Ha Financial Group can’t continue their secret research anymore…”

Thinking of this, Yao Yao was filled with dread, patting her chest to soothe her little heart.

“When I was investigating, they realized they couldn’t keep the secret and tried to trick me into going up the High Tower alone to kill me and cover it up. Luckily, Shen Ning stopped me, and I played along, pretending not to know anything, then quickly called someone to get on the plane and fly back.”

Recalling those two intense hours this morning, her heart still pounded wildly.

“Shen Ning stopped you?” Mi Xiaolu caught the key point. “How did she know?”

“I don’t know. Maybe she has a special connection with the X Crystal Stone. Anyway, she just came.”

Xu Chuyao shifted to lying flat again, staring up at the ceiling as a scene of the girl standing in the middle of the road to intercept her appeared in her mind. White hair danced wildly in the wind, even the Grim Reaper stopped behind her.

“Xiaoshuang, you gotta admit,” Mi Xiaolu murmured, “the moment she came to find me was pretty cool.”

“That was pretty cool,” Mi Xiaolu said. “You bully her so much usually, and she still saved you like that. Repaying evil with kindness, for sure.”

“How can you say that? I am her girlfriend, okay?” Xu Chuyao tugged at the corner of her mouth. “We often tease each other, but a girlfriend should fulfill her duties, and I’ve done all that, right?”

No matter how Yao Yao flopped onto the bed, just say whether Shen Ning had sex or not.

Mi Xiaolu lay on her stomach looking at her. “So does this mean you’re smitten? Ready to give up your previous self-interested ways and be a proper girlfriend?”

Of course, Xiaoshuang didn’t know what the villain value was, but she did know Xu Chuyao agreed to be Shen Ning’s girlfriend precisely to conveniently get things out of the girl.

Maybe what she wanted to extract was emotional value.

“Infatuated? Maybe a little…” Xu Chuyao said subconsciously, then suddenly snapped out of it, “No, you’re leading me astray. I’ve always been a genuine girlfriend.”

Yao Yao felt she had plenty of professional ethics. Everything a girlfriend should do, she hadn’t skipped.

But Mi Xiaolu wasn’t convinced. “Have you ever taken her out to eat?”

“No.”

“Have you ever given her a gift?”

“Nope.”

“What else have you done besides lying there letting her do all the work a girlfriend should do?”

Her roommate’s words stumped Xu Chuyao because she really hadn’t done those things. More importantly, Shen Ning had already done them.

The jade rabbit figurine was still on the bedside table.

“I… I didn’t have time before, didn’t get to do those things. But since we’re on break now, I’ll get right to it.”

Xu Chuyao had made up her mind—to start being a girlfriend with professional ethics from tomorrow.

“Taking her out to eat isn’t enough; I’ll invite her over to our dorm and personally cook for her. As for gifts, I’ll make one with my own hands!”