Chapter 105: Traveling to a Foreign Land Together The snow-capped peaks of Fairfugos are faintly visible in the distance...
Wen Yi asked casually, "How long is this project expected to take?"
Gu Yifeng put down his chopsticks and said solemnly, "The preliminary estimate of the research period is... three years."
"Three... three what?!" Wen Yi was dumbfounded. "Say it again? How long will it take?"
"Three years," Gu Yifeng said calmly. "If progress isn't smooth, it might be extended. Does Miss Wen still think scientific research is easy?"
Wen Yi suddenly felt that the sweet and sour pork ribs were no longer fragrant.
She immediately asked, "...What if I need to go home for something?"
Gu Yifeng frowned slightly: "That... will be very troublesome. The progress of the project will be affected by your personal actions."
He looked at her and said, "So, it is not recommended to leave Yunhu."
"But if I stay, where will I stay? I can't stay in a hotel every day." She still owed 30 million yuan, and adding the room fee was really adding insult to injury.
"The accommodation issue has been resolved." He calmly poured her tea. "It's the research institute's family quarters. We expect to be able to move in as early as tomorrow."
"So soon?" Wen Yi picked up the tea, feeling like something was amiss. "No, what if I don't agree to stay?"
"You were the one who firmly participated in this plan. So, you wouldn't disagree."
"In the long run, I suggest settling in Yunhu City."
Gu Yifeng continued, "I've already consulted the Human Resources Department, and they can apply for a staffing position for you. It comes with medical care, education, and retirement benefits."
Wen Yi was stunned.
Why does she want all this? Did she say she wants to stay in Yunhu for a long time?
"Wait a minute... you've even thought about your retirement?" She put down her teacup, her face filled with shock.
Gu Yifeng nodded: "The project cycle is long, so there are naturally many things to consider. Anyway, I will follow up on this matter, so you don't have to worry."
"Don't worry about my own affairs?" Wen Yi almost laughed out loud, sarcastically saying, "...why don't you help me choose a kindergarten for my child as well?"
It was originally a joke, but unexpectedly Gu Yifeng shook his head seriously: "No."
"To ensure the smooth progress of the entire research plan, core participants must not become pregnant or undergo major surgical procedures during the project."
Wen Yi couldn't help but hold her forehead. This guy couldn't understand what she was saying, right? His train of thought was indeed out of sync with hers.
On second thought, he felt something was wrong. He was in charge of everything, so why did he care whether she had children or not?
What if this project is delayed for ten years, and she no longer has the freedom to marry and have children?
Wen Yi raised her eyes and deliberately asked tentatively, "How about getting married without getting pregnant?"
The air suddenly became quiet for a moment.
Gu Yifeng's fingers paused at the edge of the teacup, his brows furrowed slightly. He was silent for a moment before saying, "Miss Wen, it's best not to."
After dinner, Gu Yifeng drove her back to the hotel and before leaving, he said, "Come to the lab on time tomorrow morning. There are still some agreements to sign."
"Haven't we already signed the investor agreement?" She frowned. "Why do we need to sign it again?"
Gu Yifeng adjusted his glasses and explained patiently: "The last time was a capital investment agreement."
"This is an access agreement for core project members. With greater authority comes greater responsibility. A legal document must be signed to clearly define rights and responsibilities."
The next morning, inside the research institute.
The morning light shines obliquely into the glass curtain wall and falls on the office desk.
Wen Yi flipped through the agreement in front of her, which was as thick as a brick, and couldn't help but gasp: "There are so many things to sign?!"
"It's business as usual." Gu Yifeng stood beside her and handed her a black pen. "You must go through the process. If there's anything unclear, you can ask me."
Wen Yi hummed noncommittally and lowered her head to flip through the documents.
"This... a health monitoring agreement?" She looked up suddenly, incredulous. "Wait, how can there be such a clause? Even my eating and sleeping are subject to supervision? This is too outrageous!"
Wen Yi suddenly remembered the "Supervision Agreement" that Gu Yifeng had fabricated. The more she read it, the more suspicious this "Health Monitoring Agreement" seemed. It was probably just something he had made up.
Unexpectedly, Gu Yifeng explained with a serious face, "This makes sense. Your energy intake, sleep cycle, and nerve tension all affect the stability of your superpowers. It's also related to the activity of unknown substances in your body. We monitor your health not only to show our concern for you, but also to maintain the stability of the experimental sample."
"Okay, okay." She nodded helplessly and continued to sign.
Gu Yifeng watched her silently as she signed the last document, his fingertips gently stroking her name.
After a long while, he finally spoke: "Wen Yi, do you... have a passport?"
"Hmm?" She was just putting down her pen, not realizing what she was doing. "What do you need a passport for?"
He didn't answer immediately, but took out a document from the folder and handed it to her.
The cover is a glass building embedded in the snow-capped mountains, with a strong sense of postmodern design and technology.
Wen Yi looked down and saw the title in English: Laboratory of Biological Singularity
She looked up in confusion: "What is this?"
Gu Yifeng explained: "This research will be divided into two phases."
"The first stage is to find out what the fragment of interdimensional information is within you."
"Only after locating it, capturing it, and analyzing its genetic structure can we discuss subsequent control, stabilization, and ultimately..."
He paused, "Deconstruct it."
"We need to conduct gene mapping and sequence capture. "Transdimensional genome" research is not currently approved in China. Therefore, I need to take you abroad to complete the first phase."
Wen Yi widened her eyes slightly.
Go to a foreign country with Gu Yifeng...?
She subconsciously asked, "Will this... delay your work?"
"No." His eyes narrowed slightly, "After all—Boss Wen, this is my focus right now."
When Wen Yi heard this, her face instantly flushed. "Shut up!" she asked. She knew the funds hadn't arrived at all.
"Regarding the funding..." Her voice was a little weak, "I'll do it as soon as possible..."
"There's no rush for funding," he interrupted her. "I'll make my own arrangements."
She breathed a sigh of relief and stole a glance at Gu Yifeng.
I unexpectedly discovered that there was a very slight curve at the corner of his mouth, as if... he was in a good mood?
Wen Yi thought about it over and over again, but it didn't make sense. He didn't get a penny, and yet he took care of so many things for her. What was he trying to achieve?
She cleared her throat and feigned composure, testing the waters. "Mr. Gu, this isn't a good idea. Let's wait until I have the funds. Otherwise..." her voice trailed off, "it'll look like... a power-for-sex transaction."
There was silence in the office for a moment.
After hearing this, Gu Yifeng actually laughed softly.
He raised his hand to adjust his glasses: "Ms. Wen, your description is inaccurate."
Wen Yi:?
He looked at her with a rare hint of teasing in his tone:
"It should be called - freeloader."
Wen Yi: ...
*
The private plane slid across the long runway, and its navigation lights left two afterimages, cutting through the deep night sky.
At 30,000 feet, the plane soared above the dazzling night sky of Yunhu City. Wen Yi leaned against the window, curiously gazing at the sea of stars outside. Before this, she had never been on a plane. She had never dreamed that after three months of preparation, she would be traveling to a foreign country with Gu Yifeng, embarking on a journey full of unknowns.
Gu Yifeng sat beside her, holding a travel book in his hand. He did not flip through the pages, but his eyes were quietly fixed on her profile illuminated by the porthole.
The city he and Wen Yi were heading to, Fairfugos, was hidden among the snow-capped mountains. There was the only laboratory in the world that could possibly capture the "interdimensional information fragments" within her body.
Gu Yifeng's fingertips gently stroked the pages of the book, and his eyes slowly moved to a page of the travel notes.
Fairfuegos, a romantic, isolated city in the snow, is quiet and peaceful, as pure and flawless as a glacier.
It's said that time flows very slowly in that city, and a simple "I love you" takes a lifetime to respond. Perhaps for this reason, a fine, century-old wood grows here: frost pine, with a subtle fragrance that permeates the bones and resists decay for a century.
The travelogue records that there is an ancient custom in this city: if a man and a woman are in love, the man will not write a love letter, nor will he give the woman a diamond ring. Instead, he will go into the mountains alone, find a century-old frost pine tree, cut down the wood, split the wood, and carve it with his own hands to make a bracelet for her.
On the day the bracelet is completed, when he crosses the snowy plains and puts it on her wrist, he will be able to stay with his beloved for the rest of his life.
There is a spirit in the wood, and it only accepts sincerity.
"Gu Yifeng, how long will it take to fly to Fairfugos?" Wen Yi, still looking out the window, suddenly asked softly.
His thoughts were suddenly interrupted. He gently closed the book, his eyes inadvertently lingering on her slender wrist for a moment before answering, "About twelve hours."
"If you're tired, take a nap first." He reached out and gently covered her shoulders with the blanket.
"When you see the snowy mountains appear, be sure to wake me up!"
"Okay." He raised the corners of his lips and smiled faintly.
At this moment, the plane was breaking through layers of clouds and flying towards the snowy area.
"Will the experiment begin immediately after we arrive in Fairfugos?" Wen Yi asked in a low voice.
"Um."
"What if... we fail?"
"It won't fail." He answered without hesitation.
Wen Yi smiled softly: "What about after you succeed?"
"Go back to the research institute and separate and deconstruct it through the decoherence array." The voice was light but calm and firm.
"That sounds... complicated."
"That's what I should worry about, right?"
Wen Yi lowered her eyelashes and asked the question she had been hiding for a long time: "Then...what if the deconstruction fails?"
There was silence in the cabin for a moment.
Gu Yifeng tapped his fingertips lightly on the armrest: "Then no deconstruction."
"We will initiate a whole-genome rewrite. We'll introduce the vector through the decoherent array, into every cell, and replace the abnormal gene sequences one by one." He paused. "You can think of it as a kind of 'cleansing.'"
"Cleansing..." she murmured, "But if it has already merged with me, then after the cleansing, will it still be me who survives?"
Gu Yifeng did not answer.
Wen Yi looked at the clouds drifting outside the window and whispered to herself, "I've heard before that when someone gets a heart transplant, they suddenly fall in love with someone they've never met... It's as if that heart has inherited the other person's memories."
She turned her head and stared into space. "What about me? I didn't just replace a heart, but my entire system. If everything from cells to nerves is overwritten... then what wakes up is 'me', or a completely new person..."
Gu Yifeng felt a sudden pain in his heart. He lowered his eyes, but quickly raised his eyebrows and smiled.
"I have no idea."
He looked at the clouds drifting outside the window and said slowly, "People always think that memories are stored in the brain and identity is attached to genetic sequences. But I wonder - is it possible that some things don't rely on carriers to exist?"
"It's like when we look at a painting or read a book. Even though the artists are long gone, you can still feel the warmth of their souls. Or for example..." He paused for a second, his voice deeper, "When someone is fascinated by you, or falls in love with you, how do you feel?"
“Love never exists in a cell or gene, but it exists and will never disappear.”
"Similarly, in my eyes, you are always you. Not because of your genes, but because of—"
He paused and looked over at her, vaguely expecting a response.
But she didn't.
Her breathing was even and soft.
At some point, Wen Yi fell asleep quietly.
Gu Yifeng smiled helplessly and did not wake her up.
The private plane was notified at 5:20 a.m. local time that it was ready to land.
"Wen Yi, wake up."
She opened her eyes drowsily and found that the morning light had already filled the porthole. Following his gaze, the snow-capped peaks of Fairfugos were faintly visible in the distance.
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Starting today, men and women will embark on a romantic journey to a foreign country.
The place names and legends are all fictitious. But their love is real [shy]
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