Chapter 9: A Sudden Clue
“What happened?”
The considerable commotion inside the tent naturally attracted attention from outside.
A stern female voice entered the tense atmosphere of the tent, followed closely by a beautiful figure who parted the tent flap and walked in, the gust of wind she brought with her faintly making Zhong Jing seem to smell the light fragrance of camellia in the air.
And her arrival also resolved the predicament Zhong Jing was currently facing.
“Do you know how valuable the instruments here are? Put your guns away!”
“Yes!”
As soon as her command fell, the two soldiers quickly lowered their guns and turned to salute the woman who had walked into the tent behind them.
No longer being pointed at by a gun, Zhong Jing’s heart, which had been hanging in mid-air, finally settled a bit.
While feeling relieved, she also began to curiously observe this woman through the gap created by the two soldiers stepping aside.
Her long, wavy, tea-colored hair was a rare sight in the entire Chu Sheng City.
Her beautiful face was very young, not much older than Sister Shang Shu, probably around twenty.
Although she wore the same white coat as the researchers present, she was definitely not ordinary.
From the respectful demeanor of the two soldiers and the cautious gazes of the other researchers, it was clear that this person’s status was extraordinary, most likely a high-level researcher of B-grade or above in the Chu Sheng City Research Institute.
This kind of status already placed her among the upper echelons of Chu Sheng City.
For a mere second-class mercenary like her, this was definitely an existence to be looked up to.
“You two go out first. What happened, who can explain?”
Waving her hand to dismiss the two soldiers from the tent, the young woman’s gaze swept over the crowd of researchers.
Neither her gaze nor her expression showed any obvious emotion, yet it made Zhong Jing feel a strong sense of authority.
“Re… Report, Researcher Han…”
The male researcher who had previously shouted and attracted the soldiers tremblingly raised his hand.
Zhong Jing also looked over.
The crisis was temporarily set aside; she was also very curious to know what had caused her to be suddenly stopped.
“That… Your permission to upload to the primary database of the institute has been locked. Because it was very sudden… so a lot of data was lost before it could be recorded…”
What?!
Zhong Jing was stunned.
When she came to her senses and understood what the male researcher meant, she realized—this had nothing to do with her at all.
Her earlier encounter was merely being caught in the crossfire.
Then why was she being pointed at with a gun? What was all that worry and fear for just now? Why didn’t this guy explain in time? This was too much of a frustrating situation!
At this moment, no one cared about the intensity of Zhong Jing’s inner turmoil.
The male researcher’s words made the expression of the woman called Researcher Han change slightly.
She quickly walked towards the terminal in front of him.
Before being forcibly pushed aside, that male researcher had already very consciously moved out of the way.
He wasn’t lying.
On the terminal screen, which glowed with a faint blue light, a line of text displayed in red font entered her eyes: ‘Your permission has been restricted.
Please consult the database administrator for details.’
Researcher Han’s eyes narrowed slightly.
With her status, exercising this level of permission should have been no problem at all, yet she had actually encountered such a thing now.
There must be someone causing trouble behind the scenes.
“How much data was lost?”
“Probably… probably about two hundred or so people before this young lady…”
“Two hundred or so?”
She certainly knew this wasn't an accurate figure; the real number was much larger.
But regardless, whether it was two hundred or two thousand, it made no difference.
The loss of this data represented one problem: the meaning of their entire day's hard work had vanished into thin air.
Her face was grim, her brow slightly furrowed.
Although the change in her expression was slight, the anger gradually rising in her heart was not small at all.
Persuading the Research Institute, deploying the standing army, applying for database access qualifications, sealing off the No. 3 resettlement area for phased inspections… she had expended enormous effort to reach this point, only to have something like this happen at the final juncture…
“Hoo…”
Taking a deep breath and suppressing the impulse in her heart, Researcher Han’s gaze fell on the three words ‘administrator’.
She said expressionlessly: “Immediately contact Researcher Chen Fang of the Research Institute. I have some things I need to understand clearly…”
“There’s no need to trouble Researcher Han Nianling with this extra step. I’ve already arrived. If you have any questions, I’ll do my best to answer them.”
Before the words had even fallen, footsteps could be heard outside the tent, and along with this sentence, a tall, thin man burst into the tent.
His appearance was not outstanding, his jet-black, oily hair was meticulously groomed, and there was a bit of stubble on his chin.
He also wore a white coat identical in style to the others, but on his left chest was not the red cross symbol of the medical center, but a simplified blue conical flask.
Zhong Jing recognized it: this was the symbol of the Research Institute.
From his words, it wasn't hard to tell that he was the Researcher Chen Fang mentioned by this Researcher Han just now.
His rank was no lower than this Researcher Han's.
Anyone with discerning eyes could see that he and that Researcher Han had some conflict… but what did any of this have to do with her, Zhong Jing? Zhong Jing just wanted to go home as soon as possible, not watch these two researchers stage a sitcom in front of her.
Of course, these were just thoughts.
Zhong Jing’s only option at the moment was to stand obediently in place and wait for arrangements, not to act rashly.
“Researcher Chen, what do you mean by this?” Staring directly at Chen Fang who had walked into the tent, the female researcher called Han Nianling did not show the anger she should have felt at this moment on her face, her calm questioning still maintaining composure and rationality.
“I have already obtained the Dean’s approval for the database application. Less than half of the twelve-hour validity period has passed, right? You have no right to block my access. You should know the consequences of privately using authority to interfere with a permitted project.”
Chen Fang maintained a faint smile on his face from beginning to end, and did not interrupt Han Nianling’s words, which made her realize that the other party had also come prepared.
“Has Researcher Han finished speaking? Then it’s my turn.”
Chen Fang said as he took out a notice from his pocket.
In the lower right corner of this notice was the red seal of the Research Council.
“I am here on behalf of the Council, ordering you to immediately terminate this meaningless inspection. These are the signatures of the Council leaders. Does Researcher Han wish to confirm?”
“Are you playing tricks?”
Han Nianling didn’t even look at the notice, but stared fixedly at Chen Fang’s eyes and asked word by word.
“Playing tricks?” Chen Fang sneered, dismissive of Han Nianling’s accusation.
“You’re the one playing tricks. All my actions are responsible to the entire Research Institute, the entire Chu Sheng City base government. On the contrary, you are wasting Chu Sheng City’s limited resources on such meaningless things. Don’t be so unscrupulous just because of the Dean’s indulgence…”
“I’ve already said, the monitoring instrument detected a sudden burst of dark energy band in the No. 3 resettlement area at eight o’clock this morning…”
“Then why didn’t the monitoring instrument record the clear data?”
“Because that energy exceeded the monitoring instrument’s maximum detection range. At that time, I was the only one in the monitoring room…”
“Enough! Han Nianling!” Chen Fang loudly cut off Han Nianling’s rebuttal.
He shook his head, folded the notice, and put it back in his pocket.
“If there really was such a strong energy fluctuation, even for just one millisecond… Do you think Chu Sheng City could still be so safe and sound?”
“I cannot be convinced by your one-sided account. If you have any problems, explain them to the Council. If the Council permits the inspection to resume, I will have nothing more to say… Also, a piece of advice for you: stop wasting time and resources on the JD Ruined City Nuclear Wasteland Area.”
After saying this, Chen Fang strode out.
The tent returned to a deathly silence, so heavy and oppressive that it was hard to breathe.
This silence lasted for several tens of seconds, until a researcher beside Han Nianling spoke up, breaking it.
“Researcher Han… what should we… do?”
What to do?
Han Nianling stared at the entrance of the tent, seemingly lost in thought, her quiet demeanor suggesting she hadn’t heard the question.
Finally, just as the researcher couldn’t resist asking a second time, she let out a soft sigh: “Terminate the inspection. Withdraw the instruments… Let’s go.”
As if they had been waiting for this sentence for a long time, as soon as she finished speaking, the several researchers behind her quickly began to move.
It was clear that a whole day of fruitless and tedious inspection had exhausted their patience as well.
Glancing at the researchers behind her, who seemed unwilling to stay here any longer, Han Nianling also followed them out of the tent.
The argument had ended, the inspection paused… but Zhong Jing, standing dumbfounded in place, didn’t know what to do.
From beginning to end, she had been like an invisible person, no one paid her any attention, no one even glanced at her… Has she forgotten?!
“Um… I… can I go?”
“Huh? You are… Oh! It’s alright, the project has been suspended. You can go back.”
Her weak question attracted the attention of the male researcher wearing glasses, but his reaction left Zhong Jing speechless.
It took him a few seconds to remember her.
She really had been forgotten!!!
Leaving the tent and retrieving her personal belongings, she headed towards her home.
The wire mesh fence had already been removed, and the queuing poor people had almost all left.
She, who had been stuck in the tent and forced to watch a debate, was undoubtedly the unluckiest.
However, it was not entirely without gain.
The argument between the two researchers had revealed a lot of information.
Walking on the road, Zhong Jing recalled the debate between the two high-level researchers, carefully sifting through the valuable information.
Such as the so-called energy fluctuation in the No. 3 resettlement area, it seemed that this ‘epidemic prevention inspection’ was due to this reason.
It seemed to have been initiated by that researcher named Han Nianling alone, and had to be stopped because she couldn't produce any substantial evidence.
Whether it was true or false, it was hard to say what was right or wrong.
Zhong Jing didn’t know the details and couldn’t make any judgment.
But that Chen Fang’s approach seemed somewhat problematic to Zhong Jing.
He spoke very impolitely, as if he was specifically targeting the other party.
In contrast, that Han Nianling maintained her rationality and calmness throughout.
Moreover, he kept saying it was to avoid wasting resources and to be responsible for Chu Sheng City, but thinking about it carefully, this inspection had lasted for a whole day.
Why not stop it sooner? To suddenly pull such a stunt at the very end of the inspection made it hard to believe that this Chen Fang wasn't doing it intentionally.
As a mercenary, Zhong Jing hated this kind of person who secretly tripped others up the most.
Such people were even more disgusting than monsters and enemies on the battlefield… Wait!
The emergence of a certain memory fragment suddenly made Zhong Jing stop in her tracks.
She stood motionless like a statue, but deep inside, an excited emotion was already stirring up a monstrous wave in her heart.
Did he just… say JD Ruined City Nuclear Wasteland Area?!