Chapter 149 I've had enough touching.

"Zhou Zhiheng!" Ning Shuyin was both embarrassed and angry, and reached out to push him away, hoping to escape this strange atmosphere.

But when she reached out, her hand touched his firm chest.

Even through the fabric of the high-end suit, she could still vaguely sense the outline of his bulging muscles.

She pushed him with a force that was trained enough to push away an adult male.

However, when she placed her hand on him, it felt like pushing against an unmoving iron wall.

Ning Shuyin gritted her teeth and increased the force.

But the harder she tried, the closer her palms made contact with his chest. The disparity in their fighting abilities made her movements not only non-aggressive, but even resemble a forceful caress.

Zhou Zhiheng looked down at her futile movements, his cheeks slightly flushed.

"What? Just looking at my face and waist isn't enough, you also want to examine me..."

He gestured towards her palm, but didn't say those two words aloud.

Ning Shuyin withdrew her hand as if she had been burned, clenching it into a fist, unsure of where to put it.

"Step back a little," she said nervously.

"Not going to look anymore?" Zhou Zhiheng slightly raised his chin at her, indicating his face. "Didn't you think it looked better up close?"

"Stop talking, I was just too nervous today and talked nonsense." She mumbled an explanation, feeling a lot of grievances that she had nowhere to vent.

Since everything has been heard, we can only explain it away with nonsense.

Zhou Zhiheng, in high spirits, straightened up and walked back to the command seat.

"Since your friend is alright, let me take you home."

"After all, I've seen enough and touched enough." He smiled, not wanting her to see his face, so he turned his back to her.

——

The next morning, Ning Shuyin was awakened from her dream by a series of urgent communication ringtones.

She hadn't slept well last night; her dreams were filled with Zhou Zhiheng's half-smiling face, constantly asking her, "Is my waist very thin?"

She shook her head to banish these strange fragments from her mind and immediately connected to the communication.

It was Su Qianqian calling.

She left a message for Qianqian last night, asking her to call back immediately after seeing it.

The screen lit up, and Su Qianqian's bright and beautiful face showed extreme anxiety.

"Shuyin, I can't get in touch with Gu Lei."

Ning Shuyin was instantly wide awake: "Tell me slowly, what happened?"

Half an hour later, the two aircraft reached top speed and headed towards the Alliance Ancient Civilization Research Institute.

Su Qianqian recounted the events of the previous day to her, including how the two of them inhaled a strange hypnotic gas while playing a "treasure hunt" at the hotel. Su Qianqian sensed something was wrong and immediately took Gu Lei back to her home…

The young couple had survived danger and arrived at a safe and warm place. They were reluctant to part, and their intimacy naturally blossomed.

Guree spent the night at her house and even ordered a large bouquet of flowers for her.

But this morning, after Gu Lei left for work at the research institute, Su Qianqian could no longer reach him by phone.

Ning Shuyin controlled the aircraft while analyzing the clues.

Yesterday, two things happened: hypnotic gas and an assassin.

She believes that these two incidents may not have been committed by the same group of people.

What Su Qianqian felt was amiss was that the Tree of Wisdom was part of the "treasure hunt" she had designed.

This mastermind is blatantly using her arrangements to harm people.

The group's goal was likely to kidnap Gu Lei and frame her for the crime.

As for the assassins in the hotel room, they wanted Gu Lei dead.

Now, caught in the crossfire of two conspiracies, Gure has gone missing.

"System, can you scan and locate Professor Gu Lei's position?"

[...]

A moment of silence fell over her mind.

The system's voice finally sounded after a long while.

[Host, Gu Lei has indeed disappeared. And it's very strange...]

"What's strange about it?"

According to my core rules, if a critical event occurs involving an important character in the story, I should alert you immediately. However, I did not.

[It seems some force erased his existence directly from the level of world rules without my noticing, even deceiving my monitoring.]

Even the system is being deceived? Undetectable?

The last time the system malfunctioned was in the virtual world of Galaxy Cinema.

A very ominous premonition suddenly arose in Ning Shuyin's heart.

[Host, at this point, I can only suggest that you search for all possible physical clues yourself. Get the main character, Gu Lei, back into the storyline as soon as possible.]

The two aircraft came to an abrupt stop and arrived at the docking point of the Ancient Civilization Research Institute.

The two girls rushed into the black, pointed building that exuded an ancient aura.

The research institute is busy in the morning.

Scholars and students traveled back and forth on campus vehicles.

The two headed straight for the third floor of the North Building where Gu Lei was located, and bumped into a researcher who was carrying a data tablet and looking hurried.

"Jason, have you seen Professor Gu Lei today?" Su Qianqian asked anxiously, stopping him.

"Good morning, Ms. Su." The researcher replied after recognizing Su Qianqian. "The professor came early this morning, but I don't know where he went. He missed the meeting just now, which is unprecedented. I was going to contact you to ask him about it."

Su Qianqian, pale-faced, thanked Jason and then pulled Ning Shuyin toward his office.

The room was exactly the same as when Ning Shuyin had infiltrated it last time.

The planetarium rotated slowly, the hourglass flowed silently, and the ingenious mechanism operated automatically.

The two navigators activated their senses to the fullest, searching for clues.

Numerous sensing threads swept through the room inch by inch, but yielded no results.

Su Qianqian's face showed disappointment.

Ning Shuyin's gaze lingered on the edge of the desk. There was a very faint, brand-new scratch there.

It looked like she'd been cut by some sharp weapon. A thought immediately flashed through her mind—it was Loran's lightsaber.

She had trained with him before and was very familiar with his blade. She could match his power angle and the width of the cut perfectly.

Could it be Loran?

Hypnotic gas, a frame-up against her...

Ning Shuyin recalled the icy, chilling look in Loran's eyes as he left in Gu Lei's dressing room.

If Loran held a grudge against her because of the misunderstanding that day, and used gas to drug Gure while framing her, that would indeed make sense.

Now, with no other leads, she decided to go find Lorraine.

But... she has to go find it alone.

She glanced at Su Qianqian, who was extremely anxious beside her. That absurd "toy misunderstanding" was a blunder she had created in her attempt to bring the main couple together.

Unless absolutely necessary, it's best not to let Su Qianqian know.

"Qianqian, this search isn't working. Let's split up; it'll be more efficient."

“Okay, how do we divide it?” Su Qianqian nodded immediately, without any suspicion.

"Go check the academy's surveillance footage first," Ning Shuyin instructed quickly, "and see where he went after he came to the academy. You can also try to track his aura with your senses."

Ning Shuyin pointed to herself: "I'll go find some acquaintances in the fleet and see if I can track the professor's movements in public areas through the Sky Eye system."

"Okay! I'll go right away!"

Su Qianqian hurriedly ran towards the monitoring center, and Ning Shuyin also immediately turned around and quickly walked out of the research institute.

She boarded her own aircraft and first contacted Mu Ze, asking him to activate the Sky Eye system for help.

Then, she quietly watched the aircraft head towards its target.

Above the Alliance Academy of Sciences, there stands that independent private castle—Loran's home.

The aircraft landed on the tarmac.

Ning Shuyin walked quickly to the carved alloy door and pressed the doorbell.

The access control system lit up, and a round, white little head popped out.

[Identity verification in progress...]

[Visitor identity: Ms. Ning Shuyin. Access rights granted. Welcome, Ms. Ning.]

During the three days she trained at Loran's house, he granted her access control.

The permissions were still active, and the door opened directly.

The familiar little white robot, Xiaolan, flew over to greet us.

[Good afternoon, Miss Ning. The master is in the training room. Please follow me.]

Xiao Lan's program recognized her as Luo Lan's date and dutifully guided her there.

Ning Shuyin followed Xiaolan up the indoor stairs.

Last time, she came to prepare for a date involving an expedition to the K99 ruins.

This time, however, she came with a question.

The door to the simulation training room was half open, but no combat scenarios were activated inside.

Loran, dressed in a white research coat, stood with his back to her in front of a large light screen.

The screen displayed a complex set of genetic maps, and the light made his already fair face almost transparent.

He heard the noise behind him, but did not turn around.

"It seems I've been too lenient with my access control." His voice was icy. "If you're not allowed to come in, you just barge in. Ning Shuyin, is this the manners Gu Lei taught you?"