Like a pebble thrown into water, it splashed ripples across the surface, but these waves continued to propagate deeper.
Amid the seemingly calm daily routine, certain details carelessly omitted stirred up monstrous waves in hidden corners.
Browsing through the latest research reports as usual, the moment Yan Qianyu laid eyes on a certain paper, his heart pounded wildly.
This paper published in Genes was practically identical to several unpublished research hypotheses of his own!
The problem was that no one had previously published papers related to this viewpoint. Furthermore, the publisher’s previous research direction contained nothing of this sort. Could it just be a mere coincidence?
Yan Qianyu checked the research institute associated with this individual. The paper was published under his personal name, but…
Yan Qianyu furrowed his brows tightly, feelings of anger continuously escalating.
Even if there were coincidences in inspiration, it was impossible for even the details of the experimental design steps to match completely. It was proceeding in the exact order he had envisioned, and they even completed the experiment ahead of him. It was practically a blatant slap to his face!
The clenched fists caused his fingernails to dig into his flesh, leaving deep scratches, yet Yan Qianyu felt none of it.
At such a speed, this was clearly a premeditated team collaboration.
How on earth did they get hold of his drafts and find out about his research progress?
His memories began to retrace backwards continuously, reviewing every person he had come into contact with, every event, what these people had said, weeding out the times when crimes could have been committed, and their degree of understanding regarding his research content.
Those incongruous and abrupt memory points flickered through his mind like a slide show, but the more he thought about it, the colder his heart grew, giving rise mostly to feelings of pain and bewilderment. Yan Qianyu had guessed who it was.
“Jiran… Why?”
Shi Yi’s sudden appearance and his undeniable presence had stolen too much of Yan Qianyu’s attention and guard, causing all his suspicions to be misdirected, which led to this negligence.
Forget it. Regretting the past did not carry much meaning. However, Yan Qianyu understood that this matter was probably just a comma and was far from over.
The sky grew completely dark. By the time Yan Qianyu left the laboratory, there were not many people left. It felt as though he had done something all day, yet he could not remember a single thing, having no impression whatsoever of even how he walked to the door.
The figure at the entrance immediately came forward to greet him as he emerged, but Yan Qianyu walked mechanically until his path was blocked.
Shi Yi was waiting for him. That concerned gaze projected onto him, but Yan Qianyu was completely in no mood to entertain it. His eyes lost their luster, covered under the shadow of his bangs. Keeping his head down, he looked mentally dazed.
Having never seen him in such a state before, Shi Yi’s brows immediately locked together the moment he saw Yan Qianyu walk out. However, expressing worry or concern directly would probably backfire, so after a moment of thought, he adopted the most casual tone possible.
“You look like you are in such a terrible mood.”
There was no response. Yan Qianyu was immersed in his own world and entirely lacked any desire to speak.
Seeing that he was about to ignore him and walk forward, even though his whole body was already swaying and seemed ready to collapse at a gust of wind without any willingness to seek help from others, Shi Yi reached out to wrap an arm around his shoulder, using his own body to support his weight.
“Want to go clear your mind? I recently bought a new car; let us go for a drive.”
The sudden intimate contact cleared his wits a bit. The body temperature and the somewhat unfamiliar scent of Shi Yi occupied his senses, and Yan Qianyu finally reacted, forcefully pushing Shi Yi away.
“Let go. I am not in the mood to mess around with you.”
Shi Yi was not annoyed at being pushed away and continued based on his current state. “Sigh, fine. I know, it is about the paper, right?”
“What on earth do you know?”
Yan Qianyu turned his head to look at him, incredulous as to why he would know the inside story. That gaze was terrifying enough to pierce right through him.
Could it be? Yan Qianyu could not stop his imagination running wild.
Shi Yi remained quite calm, slowly recounting the information he knew. “I only know that Deintz Company recently tried to recruit you and you turned them down, and that someone in their team recently came out with some new results.”
“It is probably related to you, and since nothing major has happened lately, the only thing that could shake you up is matters in the scientific field. How is it? Did I guess right?” Shi Yi reported this speculation to him as if claiming credit, though judging by Yan Qianyu’s expression, his guess was probably quite accurate.
Yan Qianyu still maintained a look of astonishment, his lips parted slightly as if he were spacing out, looking somewhat cute.
He had known beforehand that Shi Yi would investigate his schedule and related information, but he never expected his information integration ability to reach this level! Merely from some trivial details, he could deduce the general situation. Just how much effort did he spend to understand this matter? This kind of dedication and profound understanding of his personality…
How could one not be surprised, and how could one not be touched, as if meeting this person for the very first time.
Yan Qianyu smiled, light returning to his eyes. The smile was mixed with a bit of helplessness and a rare tenderness, and his tone of voice melted like snow, carrying many fluctuations of emotion.
This smile was deeply imprinted in Shi Yi’s mind; perhaps all his efforts for so long had found a home at this moment.
“I am really looking at you in a new light. Turns out you are not just a simple spendthrift.”
Hearing his praise, Shi Yi felt rather aggrieved. “Just what kind of image do I have in your eyes…”
However, Yan Qianyu’s mood did not improve much. His brows and eyes drooped again, maintaining an absent-minded demeanor.
It seemed the problem he encountered this time was truly extraordinary.
“So, what on earth is causing you this much pain?” Shi Yi gripped Yan Qianyu’s shoulders with both hands, shaking him a bit anxiously, wanting him to tell him the details.
Yan Qianyu raised his head again, wearing an expression as if he were about to cry, looking as though a little bit of force would shatter him. Under Shi Yi’s persistent questioning, he ultimately failed to suppress his feelings, displaying his true self before him.
Shi Yi’s mind went completely blank, his heart gripped as if being squeezed fiercely.
“Let us talk somewhere else.”
They arrived at the hillside behind the school. The night was now deep, the surroundings pitch black, with only distant pathway streetlights providing a faint glimmer. The extremely deep night sky made the starry canopy overhead exceptionally dazzling. Yan Qianyu looked up, gazing at the starry sky, and his mood calmed down quite a bit.
“They bribed a junior, stole the experimental plan and research drafts from my laptop, and completed the experiment and published it ahead of me.”
He calmly narrated everything that had just happened, his articulation very soft, boding the ripples in his heart.
Shi Yi found this behavior somewhat strange and asked in confusion, “I do not quite understand one thing. Why would they target you like this?” Stealing research results definitely happened, but it usually followed the principle of proximity. This behavior having such obvious targeting was still quite abnormal.
“Does their team lack talent? To go to such great lengths…”
“Heh, the most expensive part of scientific research is always finding the direction. You invest in 100 projects and only a few bear results.” Yan Qianyu sneered. He met Shi Yi’s gaze, calm eyes hiding profundity and coldness.
“If you knew there was a very high probability of a successful method, what would you do?”
“I see… As expected of a genius! Indeed, these people will do anything for money.” Shi Yi smiled knowingly.
Hearing this, Yan Qianyu frowned in pain, his eyelashes fluttering slightly as he lowered his voice. “They could have pretended it was a pure coincidence, but they deliberately let me know through the details that they took my things. It is just meant to threaten me; without the protection of power, the environment around me is destined to be unsafe.”
What he had endured was far beyond Shi Yi’s expectations. Feeling as though his lips were sealed with wax, Shi Yi could not utter a single sound, and comforting words appeared so pale at this moment.
Have you always been alone, facing things like this?
He only felt his chest grow heavy and hard to breathe, bitter and weighty, a feeling called heartache growing wildly in his chest cavity, yet the pain Yan Qianyu bore was certainly far beyond this.
Yan Qianyu still stood straight, letting the wind disarray his strands of hair. Daylight seemed to reflect upon him, dazzlingly bright. In the dark night, his silhouette grew clearer and clearer.
“Even if they mock my naivety and recklessness, even if it is proven that the path I want to take is a dead end, I will never give up.”
Yan Qianyu clearly spoke with hidden meaning, obscurely revealing a part of his hidden intentions to Shi Yi. This was the first time he had described his purpose to someone else.
Pouring his heart out to Shi Yi instead made his conviction even firmer.
Shi Yi also vaguely sensed the uniqueness of this sentence, yet could not grasp its deeper meaning, only catching a blurred point of light amidst the fog.
“Are you planning to do something? Well… anyway, life is so short, just do not let yourself have any regrets.”
He tried to comfort him, and of course, this sentence was also Shi Yi’s true thought. Yan Qianyu was mostly satisfied with this reply. Smiling in a very relaxed tone, he said, “It is getting late. Let us head back; we have to wake up early tomorrow.”
Yan Qianyu walked down the hillside a step ahead, his pace much lighter than when they arrived. However, Shi Yi’s mind was stirred into a tangled mess, still pondering every single word he had just spoken.
Returning to his room, Shi Yi immersed himself in the bathtub. The warm water smoothed away the fatigue of his body, but his mind was filled with every move Yan Qianyu made today.
That sentence of his seemed to have a double meaning… Judging by his tone, it felt like he was about to make some major news.
Still, to think he would also show that kind of expression, just like an injured kitten. So cute.
Shi Yi changed into a bathrobe, his dampened dark hair clinging smoothly against his ears, the flamboyant temperament restraining itself accordingly. The floor-to-ceiling window reflected his perfect physique, with firm abdominal muscles and smooth lines forming a standard inverted triangle.
His gaze grew cold. Ever since hearing the reason behind this matter, he had been suppressing his anger. To let such a thing happen right under his nose, he had truly been too careless!
The things he had thrown away in the past, it seemed, needed to be picked up again.
This matter could not just be left at that.