Ji Yanzhi's pupils abruptly contracted, and the blood in his body froze. After a suffocating pause, his heart hammered heavily and wildly against his throat, bringing waves of nauseating spasms.
"I... Ji Ear... I..." His lips moved, but his throat seemed sealed shut. Countless explanations and pleas crowded his chest, yet his mind was a blank swept clean by a hurricane, leaving only a piercing buzz and overwhelming panic.
Ji Ting withdrew his gaze. There was no anger in his voice, only an icy distance. "There's no hurry. You have plenty of time. Think it through before you explain."
It wasn't just Ji Yanzhi.
In the corridor outside the Main Building's guest rooms, when Lu Yanchu heard the inner thoughts and opened his door, Qin Zaiye was already standing in the shadows.
Their gazes briefly met in midair before both quickly looked away. An unspoken gravity hung in the air.
This time, it was Ji Yanzhi's turn.
Lu Yanchu had once been deeply puzzled. Whether measured by intimacy or physical proximity, Ji Yanzhi should have been the first person Ji Ting questioned, not the two outsiders.
Later, he had thought that perhaps Ji Ting couldn't bear to pierce the thin veil holding their relationship together. As long as he found a way to block it, the two of them could tacitly bury the "inner thoughts" and pretend they had never existed.
Only now did Lu Yanchu truly see-Ji Ting had never intended to bury his head in the sand. His way of tearing open the truth was far more direct than anyone had imagined, even carrying an almost cruel edge of rationality.
Inside the laboratory, time seemed to freeze. Suffocating silence pressed down on every inch of space.
Ji Yanzhi had never been so panicked. That panic wound around his