Xu Bingli's pace towards Yang Hao paused noticeably, then quickened, showing a sense of impatience.

Tu Ran captured this point keenly.

Xu Bingli lifted one end of his quilt and reached a hand in, just high enough to block Tu Ran's view.

Tu Ran was sure that he was touching the back of Yang Hao's neck to see if there were any wounds.

Xu Bingli didn't know that she had inner elixir and thought she knew nothing, so he covered it up so carelessly.

In fact, the wound on Yang Hao's neck was caused by her.

Tu Ran was a little confused. The threshold gate was opened a few days ago, and Yang Hao should have returned from the threshold a few days ago. However, judging from Xu Bingli's behavior, he did not know of Yang Hao's existence.

So who has been in charge of the unconscious Yang Hao since the threshold was opened until today? Xu Bingli is the chief physician and deputy director of the medical department.

If it was done by the forces behind Xu Bingli, there is no reason not to tell Xu Bingli about it.

There is only the possibility that there is another force.

Another force is also searching for the inner elixir.

Who is the spokesperson for the other force in the medical department? Tu Ran thought of Xie Xinyu.

Xie, his last name is Xie.

This made Tu Ran wonder if it was Xie, one of the three major chaebols.

But if the power behind Xie Xinyu is the Xie family, and the power behind Xu Bingli is incompatible with the Xie family, then why would Xu Bingli place Xi Chunzhi under the supervision of Xie Xinyu?

The relationship is complicated.

Tu Ran suddenly realized that each of them had his or her own force behind them.

If you want to maintain long-term prosperity in the Federation, you must be involved with the three major chaebol families.

Especially since Xu Bingli is of a different surname.

Xu Bingli had already put down the pure white quilt on Yang Hao, covered it back to its original place with an expressionless face, and then walked towards Xi Chunzhi's bed.

He observed Xi Chunzhi's situation, debugged the data on the instrument, and quickly moved his fingers on the buttons of various colors. The lines surging on the electronic screen were chaotic.

His operation seemed very professional, but Tu Ran, a half-baked medical student, couldn't understand it.

But it did not stop her from knowing in her heart that Xu Bingli was just pretending and was fooling her.

As for why he wasted time fooling her instead of letting the forces behind him hide Xi Chunzhi so that she couldn't find him, Tu Ran couldn't understand.

Perhaps it was her ability to predict the future that came into play, or perhaps she was too alert, she always felt that there was a gun pointed at her from behind.

At some point in the future, the man with the gun would point toward her and pull the trigger.

Tu Ran shook her head, getting rid of this vague sense of crisis.

The first thing she had to do now was to touch Xu Bingli.

As long as she could read his memory, she would have a clue to everything she wanted to know.

Tu Ran approached Xu Bingli step by step.

He was adjusting the equipment with his back to her.

The summer breeze blew in from the window, and the pure white gauze curtains fluttered in the wind.

Tu Ran was making up a reasonable reason to touch him in her mind.

"Snap"

A narrow-mouthed vase placed on the windowsill was knocked over by the curtain and fell to the ground with a crisp sound. It did not break, but rolled several times and landed at Xu Bingli's feet.

An artificial light pink lily that was originally in the vase fell to the ground.

Xu Bingli took a look, stopped what he was doing, bent down to pick up the vase, and then went to pick up the lily two steps away from him. Tu Ran's mind moved, and she immediately went to pick up the lily.

Inevitably, their hands touched each other.

"Sorry." Tu Ran was the first to retract her hand.

Xu Bingli said it was okay, picked up the flowers, put them back in the vase, put them back on the windowsill, and went back to continue debugging the instrument data.

Tu Ran stood by the window, the wind made her feel particularly cold.

In that moment just now, she saw a lot.

Xi Chunzhi was pushed onto the operating table, surrounded by three doctors wearing white coats, masks and holding scalpels.

Under the bright operating light, they skillfully cut open the back of Xi Chunzhi's neck and took out the inner elixir hidden between two cervical vertebrae. The inner elixir was stained with sticky blood, but it still could not conceal its brilliance, nor the excitement in the eyes of the person holding the knife.

After the wound was sutured, Xi Chunzhi was pushed into another closed room.

Where was that room? Tu Ran couldn't tell.

In Xu Bingli's vision, the place was square, with no windows, walls on all four sides, and the roof was covered with long strips of lights that illuminated the entire room.

The walls of the room were pale white. There were four beds arranged side by side and separated by gray-black curtains. Except for the position where Xi Chunzhi was sitting against the wall, there were three people lying quietly on the beds in the other three compartments.

Tu Ran couldn't help but wonder whether the other three people had their inner elixirs dug out just like Xi Chunzhi.

This time when she came out of the threshold, she only saw superpowers on Zhao Yan. In the entire pioneer team, only they two had inner elixirs.

Before, she thought that other pioneers did not notice the inner elixir. Now it seems that it was not that they did not notice it, but that the pioneers who possessed the inner elixir were secretly imprisoned in this place by the federal government.

Tu Ran felt a chill on her back.

How did the federal government know who had the inner elixir and who didn't? If they had a definite standard, wouldn't they have discovered that she had the inner elixir?

But judging from Xie Xu's reaction, he didn't know that the Federation had such a thing.

There are two possibilities. Either Xie Xu's level of authority is not high enough and she has no right to know such extremely confidential matters. Or she is overthinking it and the Federation does not have such a judgment standard.

Tu Ran personally prefers the former.

Xu Bingli only occasionally went to that prison-like room, and each time he went there he was accompanied by other people.

It is to visit.

Those people are very vigilant. When they go to visit, they will wrap their entire bodies in protective clothing, leaving only a pair of eyes exposed.

Xu Bingli couldn't see their faces, so she couldn't tell who they were.

But it is clear that they are different people.

They would collect five to seven tubes of blood from the four people lying in the bed, and sometimes they would push one of them away.

Tu Ran didn't know where to push it to, and Xu Bingli didn't go with them.

But it is likely that it will be sent to the laboratory for more "in-depth" research.

With each arrival of Xu Bingli, there would be one less person in the square room, until finally only Xi Chunzhi was left.

Tu Ran could guess without any hesitation where the other three had gone.

Fortunately, the fate that awaited Xi Chunzhi was not to be pushed into a laboratory.

The last time Xu Bingli entered the square house was to push Xi Chunzhi out.

Avoiding the crowd in the medical department, she took the elevator back to the nutrition cabin and was soaked in the nutrient solution again to remove all traces of the needle left on Xi Chunzhi's body. Then, she was pushed into the bright and spacious ward she is in now.

During this period, everything Xu Bingli did was based on instructions he received from a private communicator.

(End of this chapter)