Chapter 158
Chapter 158
The more Wen Tangtang thought about it, the more wrong it felt. A strange panic rose in her chest, and she immediately called Wen Xin.
===
Six o’clock in the evening was the liveliest time on the city streets.
Nan Mu was worried that outsiders might see them when he went back, so he ordered a pile of food and brought it all to the hotel room.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen what it looks like when you go back.” Wen Miao was inexplicably excited. “It’s amazing. I can’t believe that in just ten short years, someone actually invented a Time Machine.”
Nan Mu suddenly laughed when he heard that. “Impressive?”
“Of course.” Wen Miao’s expression turned serious. “It’s a Time Machine!”
“Do you know who invented it?”
Wen Miao froze for a second. Since Nan Mu was asking her like this, that at least proved she definitely knew the person who had invented it.
She went through all the people she knew. The first names that came to mind were naturally her mentor and the big names in the scientific community. But then she thought about it again. The fact that Nan Mu could use this machine meant that not only did he know the inventor, they were probably on pretty good terms.
Wen Miao opened her mouth. A name came to mind, but she swallowed it back down. “Who?”
Nan Mu lifted a brow slightly and looked at her with encouraging eyes. “Someone you know.”
Wen Miao asked uncertainly, “Wen… Xin?”
Nan Mu raised his hands and applauded. “Very impressive.”
Wen Miao’s eyes nearly fell out of their sockets. It really was Wen Xin! It seemed the family effect was indeed rather powerful. Maybe it was because they had grown up together and had seen each other do all kinds of stupid things since they were little, but in her eyes, Wen Xin always had this idiot filter over him.
So when she suddenly heard that Wen Xin would accomplish something so incredible in the future, her first reaction was disbelief.
“Wen Miao, have you ever thought about your future?”
Wen Miao abruptly looked up and saw Nan Mu sitting in the chair opposite the sofa. He was leaning forward, his wrists resting on his knees.
His eyes seemed to hold a bottomless abyss, locking firmly onto her.
Her heart clenched. Her fingers unconsciously pinched the hem of the clothes beside her. Only after she had silently let all those emotions run their course did she say calmly, “Does it matter? In the end… I’m someone with no future.”
It was not because of hatred. Hatred could be resolved.
It was not because of conflict. Conflict could be reconciled.
It was because there was an organ in her body that the other party was determined to have.
When she foresaw that one day in the future, she might be killed by such a person with their own hands, how could she not be anxious? How could she not live in fear?
And yet sorrow, fear, and tears could not restore the other party’s conscience, nor could they save her future self. Other than being strong, she had no choice.
Nan Mu watched her in silence for a long while before asking, “So in your eyes, everything I’m doing is nothing but a waste of effort?”
Wen Miao blinked at him. “You know that’s not what I mean.”
“If you think there is even the slightest meaning in me crossing time and space to come back here, then you shouldn’t think that way.”
Nan Mu suddenly stood, stepped over the low table between them, then bent down and stared hard at Wen Miao.
The pressure radiating from him was too intense. Wen Miao instinctively leaned back. Her gaze fell on Nan Mu’s Adam’s apple beneath the scattered lamplight, the raised contour shifting slightly as his vocal cords moved.
“Wen Miao.” Nan Mu called her name.
Wen Miao snapped out of it as if waking from a dream. When she lifted her eyes, she met his gaze head-on.
Wen Miao swallowed. “Huh?”
“I still remember your shining eyes when, after we finished watching that movie, you talked to me about those dry theories.”
Nan Mu’s cold, silent gaze fell on her and lingered for a long while. “Wen Miao, do you know how the news reported your death?”
“They said the field of physics had lost the chance to leap fifty years ahead.”
“I wouldn’t dare ask you to keep fighting to live for my sake.”
“But Wen Miao, you should fight for yourself. For your own future.”
“One day, the technological progress you can drive forward will be no less than Wen Xin’s!”
===
Wen Tangtang couldn’t get through to Wen Xin, so she had no choice but to call Wen Miao instead.
Wen Miao was stunned to learn that Wen Xin had mixed up Meng Ran’s biological sample.
After all, Wen Xin had once explained to her in detail exactly how he had obtained Meng Ran’s sample.
That day had been the regular meeting held every ten days. While setting up the conference room, the young administrative assistant had placed an individual bottle of mineral water at every seat.
And Wen Xin had seen with his own eyes that Meng Ran drank from that same bottle throughout the entire meeting. That was why, after the meeting ended, he had deliberately and quietly taken away the bottle she had drunk from.
Logically speaking, there was no way Wen Xin could have taken the wrong water bottle…
Could he have accidentally touched the mouth of the bottle while sending it in for testing, contaminating the biological sample?
Wen Miao hesitated as she looked at Nan Mu, then said uncertainly, “Actually, whether we do this paternity test or not doesn’t seem to make much difference…”
Their appearances said it all. She looked so much like Meng Ran that anyone with eyes could tell there had to be countless ties between them. In truth, they did not need a paternity test to prove the result at all.
“What do you think?” Wen Miao asked Nan Mu for his opinion.
If they wanted to be cautious, then naturally, they should collect another biological sample from Meng Ran and conduct the paternity test again.
But obtaining Meng Ran’s biological sample would not be easy.
…
Nan Mu’s thoughts, however, drifted back to the day of that regular meeting.
That day, just before the end of the workday, he vaguely remembered seeing Xu Lei go up to the eighth floor.
The biology team’s offices and laboratories were all on the seventh floor. Under normal circumstances, there was no reason for anyone from the biology team to go upstairs. So that day, why had Xu Lei gone up?
The materials team’s offices, on the other hand, were on the eighth floor…
Nan Mu’s heart suddenly sank as an absurd thought flashed through his mind. He looked at Wen Miao and asked, “I remember Wen Xin once told us that he had seen Xu Lei. Do you remember what day that was?”
Wen Miao thought for a moment. “I think it was the same day he got Meng Ran’s biological sample.”
Wen Miao found his question strange. “Why are you suddenly asking about that?”
Nan Mu lowered his eyes to look at her and asked in a grave voice, “Wen Xin has always been meticulous. He knew how difficult it was to obtain Meng Ran’s biological sample, so he would have been extremely careful when collecting it… Have you considered this? If Wen Xin didn’t mix up Meng Ran’s sample, then who switched out the one we sent for testing?”
Wen Miao froze. A chill spread through her heart, and she murmured, “Xu Lei?”
Nan Mu’s gaze darkened, his brows tightly furrowed. “It doesn’t matter anymore who switched it. What matters is that Wen Xin’s identity has already been exposed.”
Cold sweat suddenly broke out across Wen Miao’s back. If Wen Xin’s identity had really been exposed…
Forcing down her tension and fear, she tried to contact Wen Xin again, hoping desperately that there was still time.