Seeing that Hua refused to tell him, Xianyu closed the chat window and turned to Teng Xiao instead.
[Teng Xiao: Since you asked...]
Teng Xiao sent him an image and a report.
The image was the Former Marshal's obituary.
It gave neither the time nor the cause of death, merely announcing his passing and inviting guests from elsewhere to attend the funeral on Xuling.
There was also a report from the Cangcheng Laboratory.
Xianyu skimmed the report, finishing it in moments.
Over a hundred researchers had died.
Their date of death was the very day the obituary had been issued.
Xianyu bit down on his fork without thinking, then slowly turned off his Jade Abacus.
He did not know how to describe what he felt at that moment.
All his earlier questions suddenly had answers when he saw those matching dates.
No wonder. No wonder Cangcheng's progress had been delayed again and again.
But why?
Xianyu did not pursue that question.
The last time he had answered a question incorrectly, it had taken him several hundred years to understand the right answer.
He lowered his eyes, fork in hand, and began eating from the fruit platter.
"Do you want to leave early?"
Jingliu leaned closer and asked in a low voice.
Xianyu instinctively turned his head to look at her.
Normally so mindful of personal boundaries, Xianyu momentarily forgot how close they were.
At that moment, they could clearly feel each other's breath.
Jingliu froze for a moment. She bit her lip, then quickly drew away.
Suppressing her embarrassment for the moment, she looked straight into Xianyu's eyes and repeated:
"Do you want to go?"
She knew he was in a bad mood.
Although Jingliu did not understand why... perhaps taking Xianyu away from here would help?
Xianyu