Ruan Chen glanced at Duan Jingfu, who remained calm and collected, seemingly unaware that he was causing Ruan Chen trouble.

So Ruan Chen laughed too, a laugh that was somewhat cold and flippant, as she never liked being passively provoked.

Although it's unclear what Duan Jingfu is planning, and although Ruan Chen has always been a respectful and good student, it doesn't mean that Ruan Chen has no temper at all.

She didn't mind if Duan Jing used her as a tool when necessary, but she minded being used without even realizing it.

Ruan Chen twirled a slightly curled strand of hair with her little finger. "Professor Duan, you're joking. I'm the weakest student in this summer camp. Firstly, I can't sense how many intelligence cores are in the room, and secondly, I can't connect with any of them. How am I qualified to comment on the other students? Please don't think I'm holding you back. Please take good care of me in the upcoming teaching activities."

At this point, she stood up, bowed slightly to the others, and shook hands with each of them.

His manners and demeanor were impeccable, and his words were perfectly tactful.

She even gently shook hands with Wei Feng.

The topic ended there. Duan Jingfu's eyes became meaningful. Seeing that Ruan Chen was not responding, he seemed to have no need to stay any longer. He stood up and said to the director, "I just remembered that there are still some instruments in the lab running data. I'll go take a look. I'll take my leave now."

Fu Jianzhi was already waiting in his office.

"I told you, don't actively influence her behavior." Fu Jianzhi's tone towards Duan Jingfu in private lacked the respect and politeness expected of a junior.

Duan Jingfu retorted sharply, "Her personality and choices are too different from the other timeline. I'm worried it will affect our final deduction—in our plan, the two timelines will gradually and quietly intertwine and converge, and Ruan Chen will remain Ruan Chen. But given the current situation, the cracks in the timelines are widening. What if the laws of the universe discover what we've done and force the timelines to converge... Fu Jianzhi, which version of her do you choose?"

Fu Jianzhi lowered his eyes, his gaze filled with deep pain.

His fingers twitched involuntarily, gripping the back of the leather sofa and leaving deep marks.

"Either you confront her directly, tell her the timeline, and tell her there were never two of you..."

Fu Jianzhi seemed to be provoked and shouted angrily, "Impossible! Don't mention such things again!"

In that instant, his eyes were as fierce as a wild wolf's.

Duan Jingfu stopped talking, lit a cigarette, but didn't smoke it, and quietly put it aside.

"She'll be heartbroken..." After a long silence, Fu Jianzhi closed his eyes. "She'll know... that this time I killed the only person who was kind to her during her darkest period..."

Duan Jingfu picked up the cigarette, brought it to his lips as if to take a drag, but then crushed it heavily in the clean ashtray. He said to Fu Jianzhi, who was bowing his head, "Go see her. You know what to do."

Ruan Chen was taking a walk alone in the passageway at that moment.

The professor leading the group showed them around the open area of ​​the Institute of Martial Arts, introducing them to various instruments. Ruan Chen had seen these things countless times before, so he made up an excuse to slip away and headed towards Area A.

She didn't get too close, pretending to admire the potted plants in the corridor, her mental network quietly connecting with Chixiao.

A calm, aloof female voice echoed in her mind, "Where is your mentor?"

"I don't know, but he's not nearby," Ruan Chen crouched down and plucked a dead leaf from the potted plant. "Are you wary of him?"

“He gives me a feeling of unfathomable depth,” Chi Xiao said, clearly unwilling to discuss Duan Jingfu further, abruptly changing the subject, “They contacted you, didn’t they?”

"Yeah, this nobody keeps sending me good morning, good afternoon, and good night messages every day. I can see his chat window as soon as I turn on my computer. Do you have any ideas on how to get rid of him?"

Ruan Chen felt a bit irritated whenever she thought about it. Anyone who knew that there was a virtual life without a physical body living in their computer would feel horrified and disgusted.

Ruan Chen had considered getting a new computer, but as her data migrated, nobody would flow along with the data to the new device, as if it had become stuck to Ruan Chen.

“You don’t need to worry about Him, don’t put so much pressure on yourself. Actually, it’s a good thing, after all, He is your only connection to that civilization,” Chi Xiao said calmly, as if he had a strange power to soothe people. “Actually, if you are prepared, it’s not a bad thing to learn more about their civilization—but remember not to make any promises.”

"Is it because of the weight?" Ruan Chen asked casually.

"yes."

What would happen if I agreed?

"Your weight and their weight will be intertwined, and promises will be kept, but you may not be happy with how those promises are fulfilled."

"I understand. By the way, when can we officially..." Ruan Chen hesitated, carefully choosing her words, "...make our relationship public?"

Chixiao didn't reply, but Ruan Chen could sense its embarrassment.

The wording was indeed inappropriate.

“Don’t rush. They are watching you. It’s safest for the two of us to know about our relationship,” Chi Xiao said calmly. “Don’t trust anyone. You don’t know who ‘they’ are. They have been operating in the human world for thousands of years and have a group of loyal followers. For now, you are relatively safe. They can’t see any threat from you, so they won’t go to great lengths to eliminate you. But if they find out about your relationship with me, your safety will be hard to guarantee.”

"I understand."

A soft footstep sound appeared simultaneously in Ruan Chen's and Chi Xiao's mental worlds, and the two tacitly withdrew their mental networks.

Ruan Chen picked up a shovel and loosened the soil around the potted plant. Pretending to have just heard the sound, she turned around and said, "Mentor, you've arrived."

She awkwardly put down the shovel, lowered her head, and looked away as if she dared not look at Duan Jingfu, as if she had done something wrong.

Duan Jingfu bent down to pick up the flower shovel, took the work from Ruan Chen, and joked, "Oh, you know you made a mistake? What did you do wrong?"

“I shouldn’t have talked back to you,” Ruan Chen said, feigning grievance. “But I really didn’t dare. They’ve always ostracized me, and today that guy named Wei Feng bullied me too.”

"I don't see you suffered any loss, did you? Didn't you fight back on the spot?"

"Well, I'm your student after all, so I can't embarrass you." Ruan Chen revealed the ingratiating smile she had learned from Fu Jianzhi.