There were many people eating at the dining hall. Xia Lei sat alone at a table and no one dared to disturb him. He was practically a king to the Thunder Horse Military Factory workers. In addition, this king appeared very angry.
XIa Lei’s angry appearance was all a show for Song Baicheng and Fan Yiming who were also eating in the dining hall. Fan Fan was also in the dining hall, eating at the same table as Song Baicheng and Fan Yiming. Actually, Fan Fan really wanted to eat at the same table as Xia Lei but she couldn’t let Song Baicheng and her grandfather discover their relationship. Moreover, her relationship with Xia Lei would have to remain secret for a long time in the future and they couldn’t make it public. Even still, she had no regrets.
“He seems very angry,” Fan Yiming whispered. “Mr Song, have we pressed him too much?”
“I’m also handling this under orders. Whether he’s happy or unhappy, you guys have to give me a satisfactory response within the week.”
Xia Lei continued to monitor their conversation out of the corner of his eye with his lip-reading.
“All right then.” Fan Yiming looked at Fan Fan and said, “Did you hear that? You need to make more of your time.”
“All right, then I will conduct another project today to gather his bodily fluids. One week. I can hand in a practical and realistic research report in a week.”
“Very good. You are the best bioengineering expert in the country. I believe in you,” said Song Baicheng.
“However, you’ll need to turn the surveillance camera in my laboratory off. Mr Xia dislikes the surveillance camera a lot and he’s said before that this is a violation of his rights,” said Fan Fan.
“Did he request this?” Song Baicheng frowned.
“No, I brought it up, but only for tonight. You can’t make him give that kind of a sample under the surveillance camera, can you? If you want to insist, then you convince him,” said Fan Fan.
Song Baicheng thought for a moment and said, “All right, but only for tonight.”
None of these words escaped Xia Lei’s eyes. He was liking Fan Fan more and more.
Ring ring ring…
Xia Lei’s mobile phone suddenly rang.
Xia Lei took out his phone and glanced at it, but the contact display made him stare blankly.
The screen displayed the word “Wifey”.
Shentu Tianyin was calling. Even though he had divorced Shentu Tianyin, his phone contact remained “Wifey”, and he hadn’t changed it.
‘What is she calling for?’ Xia Lei was curious. After some hesitation, he accepted the call.
“Hubby…” It was Shentu Tianyin’s voice.
“You,” responded Xia Lei. Shentu Tianyin still called him “Hubby” but he didn’t know what to say.
“Oh, I’m wrong,” came Shentu Tianyin’s voice. “We’ve divorced already so I can’t call you Hubby anymore. However, I got used to it so you won’t mind, right?”
Xia Lei laughed bitterly. “No. How have you been doing?”
“Not good,” said Shentu Tianyin.
Xia Lei didn’t know what to say again.
“Has Liang Siyao come back?” came Shentu Tianyin’s voice.
“She’s back. How did you know?” Xia Lei was shocked because Liang Siyao’s current identity was an agent at Bureau 101, with the same rank as Tang Yuyan and Long Bing. As a businessperson, Shentu Tianyin shouldn’t have any information channels to know this.
“Liu Zhengnan and Xue bought a house for Liang Siyao. That building just happened to belong to Vientiane Group. Xue specially indicated that Liang Siyao and Liang Zhenchun signed the property rights portion of the Purchasing House Contract, so I guessed that Liang Siyao returned,” said Shentu Tianyin.
‘Why would Xia Xue and Zhengnan buy a house from Vientiane Group’s real estate section? Seriously, aren’t they just causing trouble?’ Xia Lei felt depressed but said, “Liang Zhengchun is my Master. You know this. When he came back, he was renting a place... and since he’s my Master, I have to do my filial duty.”
“I know, so...I told my real estate person in charge to choose the best villa among the commercial properties for your Master and Liang Siyao. I only accepted one yuan and I already had Xia Xue pay me with WeChat red envelopes,” said Shentu Tianyin.
“How is that okay? Tell me how much the villa costs and I’ll give you the balance.”
“Are you going to talk money with me? Then all right, come over and we’ll calculate how much I owe you. I’ll give you the balance and if that isn’t enough, I’ll give you collateral.”
Xia Lei was speechless.
“When will you come see my father? He really wants to see you and talk to you.”
Xia Lei was silent for a moment before he said, “Maybe later. Thunder Horse Military Factory is currently in a state of upgrading so I can’t leave.”
Shentu Tianyin sighed. “Then all right, we’ll just leave it like this. You can hang up first.”
“Oh, then… Bye.” Xia Lei hung up. He felt depressed yet relaxed, like a rock had been lifted off his heart.
At this time, Song Baicheng, Fan Yiming and Fan Fan finished their meal and passed by Xia Lei’s table.
“Mr Xia, please take your time,” greeted Fan Yiming.
“Take care,” said Xia Lei indifferently.
“Mr Xia, please come to my laboratory later,” said Fan Fan.
“I’ve been working the whole day, so can’t I just get a good night’s rest?” Xia Lei immediately frowned.
“Mr Xia, it won’t take up too much of your time. It will only take a moment,” said Fan Fan.
Xia Lei didn’t speak. He acted like he was very unhappy.
“Mr Xia, just cooperate for a bit. I think you want to finish this up as soon as possible too,” said Song Baicheng.
Only then did Xia Lei say, “All right, I’ll come over later.”
Fan Fan only glanced at Xia Lei with a cold expression, but her eyes contained tenderness and warmth. She left with Fan Yiming and Song Baicheng.
Xia Lei was a little happy as he secretly thought, ‘Her acting is not bad. She has the potential to work in as an agent.’
After all, she was a woman with a high IQ. Xia Lei didn’t need to teach her much, as she already knew what to do.
After Song Baicheng, Fan Yiming, and Fan Fan left the dining hall, Xia Lei got up to leave as well. He chose a different path to return to the villa located behind the workshop area. He hadn’t walked far when he spotted Song Baicheng, Fan Yiming, and Fan Fan on another path. They weren’t walking that fast. Song Baicheng and Fan Yiming were talking about something while Fan Fan walked at the very back, occasionally looking back at the dining hall.
Xia Lei’s vision locked on to Song Baicheng. Right when he was about to use his lip-reading ability to decipher Song Baicheng and Fan Yiming’s conversation, Song Baicheng suddenly took out his phone, said something to Fan Yiming, and then walked towards the kerb to pick up his call.
Xia Lei’s heart thumped, and his left eye locked in on Song Baicheng’s lips as he used lip-reading to decipher Song Baicheng’s words.
“Yes, yes… Xia Lei is pretty cooperative, he just has some conflicting moods… I won’t mind his moods since this isn’t up to him… Yes, he still doesn’t know my identity but he’s a very smart person. I think he will probably have some guesses...Yes yes, I will pay attention to that. He won’t know that Bureau ZN exists… Right, today he argued with me, as if giving me a hint. He said if his tolerance limit is crossed, he may immigrate… Closely monitor his every move? No problem. Also, freeze his passport. If he leaves the country before the results came out, that would be bad…”
Even though he couldn’t hear the voice in the cell phone, Xia Lei had guessed that the person who was calling Song Baicheng didn’t have a small influence because Song Baicheng’s current expression seemed like he was a lower level to the other person.
Could it be the leader of Bureau ZN?
“Fan Fan and Fan Yiming? No problem, they’re both fine. Fan Yiming is the number one materials scientist and Fan Fan is the best bioengineering scholar. Fan Fan is in charge of the part with Xia Lei while Fan Yiming will be in charge of the later stage in the Alloy X Project. This is my plan. It’s been pretty smooth so far...Results? The results will only come out in a week. From the parts we’ve already completed, Xia Lei’s body is stronger than the normal person but even that’s pretty normal and there hasn’t been any special areas… Of course, the most important gene chain data hasn’t come out yet. These two projects will require some time, but I will urge Fan Fan to hurry up and deliver the results…”
Gene chain was a common term for DNA. Its primary function was long-term information storage and it constituted the blueprints of life. One of the commands it had was to construct other chemical compounds within cells such as the necessary proteins and RNA. DNA portions that had inheritable information were called genes. Of the rest of the DNA sequence, some directly acted on one’s composition and some helped control the expression of inherited traits. Obviously, it plays a big role. In Fan Fan’s research, this project was certainly the most important one and it was also the most difficult hurdle for Xia Lei to get over.
Due to the many roles gene chains played, Xia Lei’s gene chains would leave some information pertaining to his evolution. The moment this information was read, the secret of his body’s evolutionary condition wouldn’t be a secret any longer. Ordinary doctors didn’t have a way to extract the information stored in gene chains but the person in charge of this was the best bioengineering scholar in all of China, Fan Fan. This wouldn’t be that hard for her to handle.
“I’m not that surprised that a few people in the military are pressuring us. Xia Lei is supplying the best equipment for them so that they can blow off some steam on the international stage, but they are military men afterall, so they have a lot of limitations. They don’t realize how important our work is. Our goal is the future… Mr Z, no matter what, I will accomplish this mission. Goodbye.”
Mr Z?
Xia Lei was shocked. This was the first time he had received information on an upper level staff member of Bureau ZN! Even though this was most likely only a code name, this was significant to him!
Song Baicheng put his phone away and walked off towards the villa.
Xia Lei stopped using his ability and walked towards the villa as well.
This wasn’t a fair and honorable confrontation. Bureau ZN was in secret while he was out in the open. He needed to gain more information on Bureau ZN and Song Baicheng was his only way to this information.
Xia Lei spoke on his phone as he walked. “Hello, Yuyan, could you help me look into a person named Song Baicheng? I want all his information.”
Tang Yuyan’s voice came from the phone, “How strange. You actually didn’t ask Long Bing for help, but asked me instead?”
“Are you going to help out? Yes or no.”
“You only know how to get fierce with me. Did I say I wouldn’t help you?”
“Then thank you.”
“A simple thank you isn’t enough. Treat me to a meal and watch a movie with me.”
“No problem, after you settle it, call me and I’ll treat you to a meal and watch a movie with you.”
“All right, wait for my news.”
Xia Lei smiled faintly as he put away his phone.
The only reason why he hadn’t gotten Long Bing to do this but rather Tang Yuyan was because Long Bing didn’t have anyone behind her while Tang Yuyan had the huge Tang family behind her. Whoever wanted to touch Tang Yuyan would have to weigh the odds first.