Chapter 30: Door-to-Door Picking

At the Imperial Research Institute, in Building A, a tall, cold-faced man, wearing imperial researcher’s silver and white research clothes, strode down the corridor. The researchers in the corridor greeted him with, “Professor Yan.”

One of the researchers greeted him, “Professor Yan, the fourth generation micro and nano ballistic testing has completed the second round of testing, the test data has been cleaned and analyzed, here are the results.”

After receiving the report, Yan Siyu stopped and was about to take a cursory glance at it when he suddenly received a message on his terminal. When he saw the contact, he stopped turning the pages and put the report under his arm, “I’ll see you guys later after the meeting, you go back first.”

“Yes, Professor Yan.”

Activating the headset, Yan Siyu strode towards his office while asking, “Yes?”

The automatic door of the office locked behind him, and the voice on the other end of the communication rang out soon after, “Has your Imperial Research Institute worked with Yan Bai before?”

The voice was magnetic, low but not dull. It was Ji Cheying’s voice.

Listening to his childhood friend’s question, Yan Siyu sat down on his sofa chair, took off his glasses and had a headache. “Why are you asking this?” He has been asking questions lately, none of which with good answers, all of which were taboo that no one could mention.

“What the hell are you doing these days?” Yan Siyu asked again.

Ji Cheying was silent for a second and then answered succinctly, “It’s related to the case, Yan Bai is one of our suspects and I want to know more.”

Yan Siyu sighed and said flatly, “He did cooperate with the Imperial Research Institute. Three years ago, he suddenly came to the door with the second generation inhibitor program, asking for cooperation, but rather than cooperation, he gave up the formula and did not ask for any substantial compensation, only put forward a condition—the Imperial government must not bother him.”

After saying that, Yan Siyu expressionlessly added, “That’s all I know.”

Ji Cheying listened to the content that was said, as much as what was not said, and frowned, “That’s all?”

“That’s it.” Ji Siyu’s voice was decisive.

“…” Ji Cheying was not deterred, and asked, “There is no other information? You worked together, he didn’t appear? How did you communicate?”

Although the room was empty, Yan Siyu was still sitting with his back straight and not sloppy. He also answered, “If he had shown up, no one would know who he is now. The initial communication was all remote communication, his voice went through multiple encryptions, analysis could not be done, and we also could not track the location. But…”

“But what?”

“I’m not surprised that you said he was a suspect in the gland case.” Yan Siyu said thoughtfully.

“How so?”

“Yan Bai is obsessed with glandular research.” Yan Siyu put his glasses back on as he slowly said, “And in the design of the second generation inhibitor, his thinking is bold and aggressive, several of the components are saber-rattling.”

He had studied Yan Bai’s initial design for the second-generation inhibitor many times, and everyone thinks differently, resulting in different entry points for a problem and very different solutions. Yan Bai’s design clearly showed that the other had an atypical academy origin, and was tricky, eccentric, rough, and ruthless.

Yan Siyu’s eyes darkened. “These are my own judgments, including this next one as well.” After reminding his childhood playmate not to be too trusting of what he said, Yan Siyu said, “Actually, Yan Bai’s second generation inhibitor design reminds me of a person.”

“Who?”

“The director of the Imperial Research Institute back then, Gresham Andy.”

Gresham Andy, as the former director of Imperial Research Institute, had a very obvious style in research, was tricky, eccentric, brutal, and ruthless. It was almost identical to Yan Bai.

Ji Cheying heard this name and his heart sank. “I remember in the information you gave me, Gresham Andy died.”

Ji Cheying nodded. “Yes, he’s dead. Back then, he was the main person in charge of the research topic of ‘beta redifferentiation’, and after the fall of the third prince, he was exiled to the border, and then died on the way to exile.”

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After Xie Yi left, Xie Quan retreated back into his apartment. Since he had submitted a request to move, he needed to make other preparations. For example, packing his things, and finding out where to move afterwards.

Having just finished his medication, Xie Quan lay on his bed, tired.

So much had happened recently that he now had a feeling of physical and mental exhaustion when he was alone. He wanted to retreat to a corner of the world where no one could find him. However, the sky was not as it should be, the flag dared to fall, and fell ridiculously fast.

Just as Xie Quan thought so, his door was knocked on vigorously, and the knocking force was aggressive, as if there was a huge beast on that side of the door, and at any time wanted to break through the door to come in and eat him.

Even the dust and ash on the door crack were shaken down.

“…” Xie Quan looked at the door that kept vibrating as if it was going to be scrapped in the next second and wondered if he should also learn from the general public to use the law to protect themselves at such times. For example, call the police.

He was a good citizen who paid taxes properly even though he made money through black market auctions. Probably because Xie Quan did not move, the person on the other side of the door became impatient and started shouting, “Xie Quan! I know you’re home!”

The sharp female voice was Janice’s. What happened? What’s going on? Is this family taking turns to come to him? But Janice’s appearance was not good, not the same as Xie Yi’s.

Janice saw Xie Quan did not open the door and sneered. She rushed to her hired helpers who were knocking on the door and said, “Don’t knock, since he won’t open the door, pry the door open.”

When Xie Quan first moved in not long ago, the locks were changed, and the only way to force the door open was to pick the lock.

“Yes, Madam Boss.”

Probably they had already thought of this trick, they even brought professional equipment to pry the door, and were about to do it when the door suddenly opened from the inside.

Xie Quan stood in the doorway with a slightly pale face, looked at their group, and then walked out, closing the door behind him. He still smiled politely and greeted, “Hello, Auntie, what can I do for you?”

Although he said his things were well packed, it was still inconvenient for others to see.

Janice froze for a bit when she saw the wound on Xie Quan’s face, but then a feeling of pleasure rose in her heart. Hearing Xie Quan’s words, she sneered, “I thought you weren’t going to come out and open the door.”

He was not ready to open the door, but she wasn’t ready to give up, was she?

Xie Quan smiled gently, a temperless look. “Why is Auntie looking for me for something?” He looked at the three big guys standing next to Janice, all beta but all very fit, this already narrow corridor seemed even more crowded.

Janice was not prepared to be polite with Xie Quan, they had already torn their faces, and there was nothing to pretend. She clasped her hands and said in a mean tone, “I want you to move out of here now.”

Xie Quan blinked as he stated, “I paid the rent and the lease is not over.”

Yes, the house was not offered to him for free from the beginning. Xie Quan had to pay the rent all along. But even so, Janice always saw him as a bloodsucker who took advantage of the family.

Janice didn’t take Xie Quan’s words seriously, she said arrogantly, “If I don’t want to rent, you’ll have to move out, and right away.”

Because of his injuries, Xie Quan was reluctant to confront Janice, and because he had the intention of moving, he said, “I will move out as soon as possible.”

However, Janice did not have any intention of giving in, and perhaps she did not really want Xie Quan to move out, but to humiliate him. She wanted to humiliate him first.

“Don’t you understand human language? I’m talking about now.” Janice gestured at the three big men that she brought. “Since you don’t want to, then I’ll have to kick you out.”

The three big men received the gesture and moved their muscles, then stepped forward and approached, “Kid, open the door, okay?”

“Be good, we don’t want to accidentally hurt you.”

Xie Quan could not let them in, he had all kinds of mechanical design draft materials and so on inside. Not to mention that letting them in would raise suspicion about his identity, those things were his treasures, and no one could touch them but him.

Xie Quan showed a cold face, and he stood in front of his door. “I said I would move out, you do not have to be so aggressive.”

Janice sneered, “And I said, I want you to move immediately.”

Xie Quan’s eyebrows were pressed and his eyes were stern. “I have no hatred for you, but if you continue, then I won’t be polite.”

His cold voice was wrapped in a stinging coldness and killing intent, and everyone in the room was scared.

Janice was the fastest to react, and she was even angrier for that momentary fear. “You’re a little kid, who are you threatening here? Quickly, get him out of my way and pry the door open.”

Xie Quan stood in front of the door and did not budge a step. One of them went forward to push him, but he still did not move, and did not show a trace of fear, but only stared at them with a frightening gaze.

“This kid, the chassis is quite stable.” The man set aside the inexplicable chill in his heart, deliberately snickered, then directly reached out and grabbed Xie Quan’s wrist. He pull him vigorously to the side while another person, in order to go forward to pry open the door, used their strong body to squeeze him over and then ruthlessly slammed into Xie Quan’s body from the side—

In such a pinch, Xie Quan hit the corridor wall with a bang.

Xie Quan had a slight organ rupture in his liver due to the previous kick, and was supposed to be recuperating in bed, but such a strong impact directly onto his wounds caused sharp pain to rush up, and Xie Quan sucked in a breath of cold air.

Thrown away and hitting the wall, half lying on the ground, Xie Quan could not stand up because of the pain in his abdomen.

Covering his abdomen, he gritted his teeth and sat up by the wall. Sitting against the wall, Xie Quan stiffened his cheeks to endure the pain, and then looked at them with fierce eyes. Janice was looking at him with a smug face, and one of them was already starting to pick the lock.

Xie Quan tilted his head slightly and leaned up against the wall, he looked at the group with disgust and hostility in his eyes. He raised his wrist and said to his terminal, “Xiao Bai, put Q-167 gas in the room.”

Xiao Bai was not like usual at this moment, its voice was flat and decisive. “Begun to release, measured according to the volume of the room, 5ppm can make people unconscious, 15ppm can…”

Not waiting for Xiao Bai to finish, Xie Quan looked at these people with half-squinted eyes. Because of the pain, cold sweat on his forehead stained his forehead hair, and he said in a soft but firm voice, “30ppm, don’t leave anyone behind.”

Xiao Bai hesitated. “According to your current position, you will be at risk of being affected.”

Xie Quan’s icy voice did not have a trace of hesitation. “Release.”