The sharp, cold needle pierced into the blood vessel of Ming Jiao’s arm, and the dark red blood flowed through the tube into the collection vials. Each collection vial held 2ml, and Ming Jiao had already had about ten vials of blood drawn.
The temperature inside the laboratory was constant. Even though Ming Jiao was wearing only a thin hospital gown, she didn’t feel the slightest bit of cold. With her arm exposed, a mix of old and new scars could be seen on it.
Lin Wanshuang’s gaze fell upon them. Noticing a small patch of goosebumps rising on the skin, she asked, “Are you cold?”
Ming Jiao shook her head. “Not cold.”
Perplexed, Lin Wanshuang reached out and pressed her hand against that patch of skin. “If you’re cold, just say so. The temperature of each laboratory can be adjusted individually, it’s not centrally controlled.”
“I’m really not cold.” Ming Jiao let out a breath, her voice carrying a hint of a smile. “I’m just not used to talking to someone at such a close distance.”
Ming Jiao wasn’t lying. Except for her time at the military academy, she rarely had moments in her daily life where she spoke so close to someone, head to head, so close that they could even feel each other’s breathing and heartbeat. This sensation made her a bit uncomfortable, though it wasn’t unbearable.
Hearing this, Lin Wanshuang also realized that the distance between the two of them seemed to exceed normal social boundaries. She sat up straight, yet her movements remained perfectly steady without the slightest tremor.
As the two pulled apart a bit, Lin Wanshuang could instead see the wounds on Ming Jiao’s arm more clearly. Across the slightly bulging muscles, scars of varying ages were scattered, some of the flesh was still a faint pink, showing that it had only recently healed.
“Did you get these injuries from fighting?” Lin Wanshuang’s impression of Alphas was that they were aggressive and fond of fighting. Even if there was a small minority of Alphas in the research institute who were different, she still held onto her perspective, the vast majority of Alphas loved to fight, and Ming Jiao was no exception.
Ming Jiao lowered her eyes to look at her arm. The array of old and new scars on it were mostly left behind from various combat training sessions back at school, while a few new injuries were from fighting in underground boxing matches before.
“No, it was because of studying and work.” Ming Jiao looked at her and blinked. “I am not the kind of Alpha who fights randomly.”
Casting a suspicious look at Ming Jiao, Lin Wanshuang asked with a touch of curiosity, “Work? What kind of work requires you to fight?”
Ming Jiao asked, “Didn’t the Eldest Miss investigate my profile? You didn’t find anything?”
Lin Wanshuang looked at her with a strange expression. “Have you been watching too many TV dramas? I only pulled your medical records.”
After thinking for two seconds, she added, “However, my mother did check your background and criminal record. After all, you are still my personal bodyguard and ‘fiancée’.”
Ming Jiao looked understanding. “It was petty of me to think that way.”
Lin Wanshuang let out a soft snort and didn’t reply.
Of course she knew Ming Jiao had secrets. Who didn’t have a few secrets? Not to mention someone who could produce three million just to go to the black market to buy a bottle of mimetic pheromones. To an ordinary person, three million was not a small sum.
However, these were all Ming Jiao’s own affairs and had absolutely nothing to do with Lin Wanshuang, so she had no need to pry.
After drawing the last vial of blood, Lin Wanshuang stood up with the tray. “Rest here for a bit. I’ll have Xiao Ba bring you something to eat.”
Instead of listening obediently, Ming Jiao asked, “Can Xiao Ba show me around?”
Lin Wanshuang scanned the laboratory. There were no high-risk or highly confidential experiments in progress, so she nodded in agreement.
Lin Wanshuang took Ming Jiao’s blood to run the preliminary tests, while Xiao Ba brought some snacks to find Ming Jiao.
“Miss Ming, I only found these snacks in the laboratory storage locker. If you don’t want to eat these, I can borrow some from other laboratories.”
Ming Jiao wasn’t that picky. Besides, she had only drawn less than 30ml of blood, which was less than what she used to bleed when she got injured fighting underground boxing. She wasn’t that fragile.
Ming Jiao tore open a small bag of nuts and popped them into her mouth one by one, casually asking Xiao Ba, “I can’t believe there are snacks in the laboratory. Did you prepare all of these?”
“Of course not! These snacks were all prepared by Director Xin’s wife. Director Xin works overtime very often, so these snacks belong to him. But Director Lin steals some to eat occasionally. Actually, Director Xin knows all about it.”
The corners of Ming Jiao’s lips curved into a smile. She could even picture a starving Lin Wanshuang stealthily stealing her mentor’s snacks, thinking she was being sneaky. Perhaps when she put the snacks into her mouth, they would taste so good that her eyes would narrow, and maybe she would even make a purring sound like that calico cat, thoroughly enjoying herself.
Ming Jiao’s expression froze. She didn’t know since when her imagination had become so vivid. What was there to fantasize about the image of Lin Wanshuang stealing snacks?
She let out a breath to shake the images from her mind and began wandering around the laboratory with Xiao Ba.