Lu Chuan spoke with regret: “The prerequisites for measuring radioactive factors are quite complex. To create a compact household version, continuous research and testing are required. Unfortunately, the current environment no longer allows for experiments…”
Once everything to be taken was organized, Lu Chuan directed Chen Moxin to help with the transport. It was time for him to say goodbye to this place.
Space inside the safety boat was limited. The Central Research Institute in the capital had even more experimental equipment than Qing University, and of higher quality and precision.
Thus, the instruments and tools within the laboratory remained in their original places. Watching their departing figures, Shen Ruoran revealed a satisfied smile.
Although Lu Chuan—the person she originally wanted to take—had been intercepted, this trip was not entirely without gain.
Next came the harvest.
As long as an item was inside the laboratory, Shen Ruoran placed it into the first sector of her portable space.
Then she went to the sixth floor, and after that, the fifth.
Having tasted the sweetness of her success, Shen Ruoran sat on the empty floor of the fifth level, contemplating her next move.
Tables, chairs, and everything else had been collected by her; the Qing University Experimental Building had been transformed into a bare-bones shell with nothing left.
It was completely hollow.
[A stranger has entered the building. Would you like to expel them?]
the corridor surveillance Shen Ruoran had previously installed in the building proved useful. Along with the system prompt, she could clearly see the building’s surveillance footage.
A woman in a swimsuit, drenched from head to toe, swam in through the open doors on the first floor. She collapsed weakly on the ground, desperately coughing up the water that had choked her throat.
After lying there for a few minutes of rest, the woman finally looked up to observe her surroundings. When she realized the floodwaters were blocked by a transparent boundary, her eyes filled with terror.
With her wet, long hair draped over her back, Jia Feifei reached out with her left hand and used what strength she had left to pinch her other arm hard.
“Hiss… it hurts…”
She was still alive?
Jia Feifei coughed painfully. She had never swum such a long distance in her life; holding her breath had brought her to the verge of suffocation.
Watching remotely, Shen Ruoran informed Bo Zhiya of the situation via the system panel and instructed him to go to the first floor to investigate.
This was the benefit of hiring a general worker: she could use her authority to issue tasks and maintain one-way contact with Bo Zhiya.
Seated at a computer desk without internet access, Bo Zhiya was busy registering the building’s room conditions. His middle finger tapped the keyboard rhythmically as he looked up occasionally to cross-reference his data, terrified of making a single mistake.
[You have received a new work assignment notification. Please check it immediately.]
The familiar work alert rang out. Bo Zhiya did not dare to slack off and immediately clicked in to read.
[Call Zhou Qing now and go to the first-floor entrance with her. A stranger has entered; inquire about her situation.]
Bo Zhiya happened to be in the first-floor office already. He took out his walkie-talkie, called for Zhou Qing to come downstairs, and hid himself in Jia Feifei’s blind spot, peeking while waiting for Zhou Qing to arrive.
He cherished his job as a general worker immensely and possessed a good deal of self-awareness; he was afraid of saying the wrong thing and messing up the assignment.
The exhausted Jia Feifei forced herself to move toward the wall, sitting half-upright against it. She rubbed her chest, trying to soothe her frantically pounding heart.
Ultimately, an unfamiliar environment offered no sense of security. Jia Feifei exhaled a long breath and struggled to stand, wanting to see the specific conditions of this building.
The elevator opened, and the sound of hurried footsteps approached. Zhou Qing knew that Bo Zhiya was usually reluctant to speak with strangers and worried that something might happen to him, so she had run over in a great hurry.
“Young… Xiao Ya, where are you?” Zhou Qing saw Jia Feifei but didn’t see Bo Zhiya, causing a surge of anxiety in her heart.
The habitual “Young Master” had almost slipped out, but remembering that Bo Zhiya had told her to change how she addressed him, her tongue tied for a moment before she corrected herself.
Bo Zhiya walked out from the other side, keeping a wary distance from Jia Feifei. “Auntie, I’m over here. You go ahead and ask.”
Seeing that Bo Zhiya looked fine, Zhou Qing was instantly relieved. Only then did she turn her attention to Jia Feifei, her eyes full of pity.
This building in Xinju Garden was quite special; it was the building on the highest ground in the entire community. Due to its location, it was exceptionally isolated, with a large distance between it and other residential buildings.
To have swum all the way here, she must have suffered a great deal.
“Young lady, where did you come from?”
There was no one around the laboratory, so Shen Ruoran turned the surveillance volume to the maximum, listening intently.
Jia Feifei was startled by the sight of living people. Sensing that Zhou Qing and Bo Zhiya bore no ill will toward her, she tried to speak:
“I am a resident of the villas in Xinju Garden. My name is Jia Feifei, and I live near the West Gate. The third floor was flooded, so to save myself, I put on a swimsuit and swam over.”
Hearing “West Gate,” Zhou Qing gasped. The West Gate was over two thousand meters away from here. To think such a thin, small young girl could swim that far in one go.
In his heart, Bo Zhiya silently gave Jia Feifei a thumbs-up.
Zhou Qing spoke with genuine admiration: “Young lady, you are truly amazing.”
Jia Feifei tugged at the corners of her mouth in a smile; it was nothing more than a desperate burst of survival instinct in the face of death.
Fortunately, she had specifically learned how to swim and could open her eyes underwater. It was also a stroke of luck that she saw an open door and thought of swimming inside to hide on the higher floors.
Witnessing the strange phenomena of this building, Jia Feifei hesitated. Studying Zhou Qing’s expression, she asked cautiously:
“I wanted to ask… is there something special about this building? Are you two the owners of this building?”
If it weren’t for the physical pain she felt, Jia Feifei would have almost thought she had died and gone to heaven.
Zhou Qing smiled. “We are tenants of this building. As for the rest, we aren’t particularly sure.”
[Ask her if she is willing to live in the building. If she is, ask what her specialties are and what kind of work she can handle.]
Standing to the side as a background character, Bo Zhiya received the “work task” sent by Shen Ruoran. He immediately perked up and began to question Jia Feifei in detail.
Being kicked out meant drowning; staying in this strange building meant she might live.
Jia Feifei nodded frantically, expressing her willingness. But when Bo Zhiya asked about her specialties, her entire body slumped. Her mouth opened and closed, but she didn’t know what to say.
From childhood to adulthood, the “specialties” column had always been the most headache-inducing section for Jia Feifei to fill out. She habitually wrote “none.” Perhaps because her parents had never enrolled her in interest classes when she was young, she truly had no special talents.
Furthermore, she had never held a job and had no work experience.
[Can you cook or wash dishes?]
Bo Zhiya continued to ask, following Shen Ruoran’s instructions.
Having been in a relationship with her wealthy second-generation husband since university and marrying right after graduation, all her meals had been handled by a nanny. Consequently, Jia Feifei had never touched a pot or pan in her life; she couldn’t cook or wash dishes at all.
Her face flushed deep red with shame. Worried they wouldn’t want her, she promised nervously: “I will definitely work hard to learn how to cook and wash dishes. Please believe me, I will definitely do a good job.”
The indifference Bo Zhiya showed after his questioning made Jia Feifei’s heart turn cold. She glanced helplessly at the oceanic world outside, and tears began to fall uncontrollably.