Neurons (Part 1)

Oh, oh, bullseye!

Seeing Ronan's intense reaction, Xie Junping nearly wept with joy. Had it been easy for Brother MB to hold it in all the way here? Wasn't this exactly the expression he'd wanted to see on the kid's face?

This instant alone made Xie Junping feel that all his homework had not gone to waste. Even someone as dull and reserved as Ronan would lose his composure when facing his family's great enemy. His level of engagement had clearly risen several notches as well.

At this rate, there was no way Ronan would not appreciate his favor!

Xie Junping felt that things had finally gotten on the right track. Relaxing inwardly, he felt his acting was also on point. He blinked innocently.

"Which one?"

Ronan stared at him. "You said Yan Hong... which Yan Hong?"

Facing Ronan's gaze directly, Xie Junping inexplicably felt a little shaky, but he still answered step by step. "The one who used to be a professor at the academy and got caught in an academic scandal in '90..."

Xie Junping circled around the point, but Ronan went straight to the heart of it. "The one behind Prototype Format Theory? His laboratory was located here?"

"Yeah. He'd been here ever since he was hired as a professor in '83, until '90." Having just gathered the information, Xie Junping knew it backward and forward.

If Ronan remembered correctly, these were precisely the two most important years that Zhang Yingying had identified as turning points that had impacted his life.

Ronan was silent for several seconds before stepping aside, no longer blocking the elevator entrance. Xie Junping slipped in and selected a floor. The direct elevator began descending.

In a confined space like an elevator, where there was nothing to do, silence was the most awkward thing. Xie Junping tried to liven things up, but Ronan spoke first.

"Senior... it seems you did quite a bit of homework."

There it was, there it was. This was exactly it. Xie Junping had no desire to be some idiot who did good deeds without leaving his name behind. Talking to smart people really did save a lot of breath.

He grinned. "Not bad, not bad. Helping you out, Nan Di—uh, it also eases my guilt. Naturally, I had to put my heart into it."

Calling it "putting his heart into it" was not an exaggeration in the slightest. Xie Junping had practically scratched his scalp raw to come up with this idea.

Ronan's club crisis, Yan Hong's suspected theft of Ronan's grandfather's research results, the Mystic Studies Society's development plans... In the end, it was only through a fortunate coincidence that he had found such a perfect explosive point where all those factors converged.

Still, Xie Junping worried that his private investigation might displease Ronan, so he hurried to patch things up. "Nan Di, it wasn't like I deliberately dug into your past. These days, one piece of information leads to a whole string of others... I just can't stand that bastard Yan Hong. Damn it, he's just too infuriating. Nan Di, you've had it rough all these years!"

Ronan turned to look at him. "Senior knows quite a lot."

"Uh, that's about all I know." Xie Junping gave an awkward smile. He began to feel uncertain again. Ronan's thoughts ran far too deep. His intense emotions had only flashed by, and now he had returned to his usual state of revealing neither joy nor anger—hard to deal with!

At that moment, the elevator reached the fourth basement level, roughly fifteen meters underground. The doors opened, and the view abruptly widened.

"This whole level has been completely opened up. It belongs to Gear's Central Control Room. The basic layout of this building is probably four floors aboveground for club activities and seven floors underground for the Experimental Zone. The underground space exceeds the aboveground space. Among North Shore's buildings, it's naturally one of a kind."

Xie Junping forced himself to perk up and introduced the place to Ronan. "Right now, the central Smart Brain is operating at low power. Once I activate it later, we'll be able to find out how many usable resources are still in this building..."

But Ronan was focused on something else. "Can Yan Hong's old experimental data still be found?"

"That really won't be easy." Xie Junping scratched his head. "When Yan Hong's academic scandal was exposed back then, it was said that he deliberately engineered an Experimental Accident and destroyed many key areas to eliminate the evidence. Later, Quantum Corporation took over all his experimental assets and pretty much cleared this place out too... Uh, but if we look carefully, maybe we'll find something?"

Xie Junping was afraid of killing Ronan's interest, so he forcibly changed his tune at the end.

Ronan understood his intentions perfectly. He knew that if he did not clearly show that he appreciated it, this man had no idea how long he would keep worrying himself sick.

But then there was a problem. Even if Xie Junping had saved his life, even if Ronan held a minor piece of leverage over him, was a rich second-generation heir with access to vast resources really so afraid that he had become almost pathological at times?

Was it because of the Burning Demon Shadow? One was scared to death, while the other hated him to death. They were two extremes, much like Li Xuecheng.

Hm?

The abrupt association with Li Xuecheng stirred something in Ronan's heart. It seemed the news from this morning should have spread by now. Especially in small circles, where rumors flew the fastest.

He fixed Xie Junping with a thoughtful gaze.

Xie Junping felt uncomfortable all over. Just as he was about to speak again, Ronan beat him to it. "I heard Li Xuecheng is one of Senior's diehard friends?"

Xie Junping jumped in fright—he actually staggered half a step back. His reaction was extremely intense. "That's not true. You mustn't misunderstand..."

"Misunderstand what? And what if I do?"

Xie Junping's face was filled with embarrassment, nervousness, and even a trace of fear. He became increasingly cautious with his words. "Nan Di, I mean, my relationship with Li Xuecheng is very ordinary. This matter—I mean, what happened yesterday..."

"What difference is there between yesterday and today?"

Ronan's consecutive questions cornered Xie Junping to the brink of collapse. At that point, Ronan stopped pressing him, having merely confirmed one fact.

It seemed Xie Junping was the one who had misunderstood something.

As several clues converged in his mind, like a sketch taking shape from thin air, the thought suddenly dawned on him and Ronan blurted out, "Senior was at the Medical Department this morning too?"

The moment the words left his mouth, he realized that conclusion had been an enormous leap. Yet the effect was astonishing.

Xie Junping stumbled and nearly fell flat on his face. Ronan grabbed his shoulder, sparing him the humiliation, but Xie Junping's reaction was absurd to the extreme. He let out a hoarse scream.

"I didn't see anything!"

All right, the matter was finally clear.

Xie Junping really had been at the Medical Department that morning. He and Li Xuecheng had been hospitalized together after fighting over a woman.

When the earthquake struck, Li Xuecheng ran quickly, while Xie Junping fell behind.

Li Xuecheng's group had hurried past without noticing Ronan among the crowd, but Xie Junping had spotted him.

What was more, he had personally seen Li Xuecheng collapse into unconsciousness and shock mere seconds after crossing paths with Ronan. He was still in intensive care now.

Someone else might not have thought much of it, but Xie Junping knew about the conflict between Ronan and Li Xuecheng. He had also gotten some details from Lian Yu and the others.

More importantly, when his life had hung by a thread yesterday morning, Ronan's strange gaze had intimidated him. The more he thought about it afterward, the more miraculous it seemed, and he unconsciously began drifting toward increasingly bizarre explanations.

He had originally intended to discuss it with Zhang Yingying, but for some reason he had been unable to contact her all day. Youlan Agency seemed as though it had gone out of business, leaving him no choice but to take matters into his own hands. On one hand, he wanted to build a good relationship with Ronan; on the other, he harbored the intention of recruiting a "remarkable talent."

Xie Junping was in no condition to withstand a scare now. With only a little pressure, he spilled everything like beans pouring from a bamboo tube.

Ronan sighed and patted his shoulder. After saying so much, Xie Junping had actually missed the most crucial reason.

Of course, Xie Junping himself remained completely unaware of it.

Using the motion of patting his shoulder, Ronan made the Dark Heavy Chains rattle and tremble. They emerged from between his brows, the Demon Rune at their tip flashing red as they instantly pierced in and out of Xie Junping's body.

Xie Junping shivered for no reason. Yet on a level beyond his reach, a mass of dark-red mist fled from his body, only to be intercepted by the Dark Heavy Chains and scattered with a single sweep.