Chapter 180

Chapter 180

Meng Ran truly had known nothing about what Xu Lei had done.

After listening to the recording, she looked as though she had been struck by a bolt from a clear sky. Her mind went blank, and every ounce of strength seemed to drain from her body.

Her eyes lost focus. She breathed rapidly, nostrils flaring as though trying to pull all the air around her into her lungs.

Her lips trembled, the corners of her mouth drawing downward. “How could this happen… How could this happen?” she rasped.

Her mind filled with doubt, Meng Ran muttered repeatedly, “Impossible… He couldn’t have been that kind of man.”

But Nan Mu’s words were a sharp blade, mercilessly piercing her heart and leaving her nowhere to hide.

“I investigated,” Nan Mu said in a cold, low voice. “Ten years ago, you suffered blinding headaches and became so ill that no medicine could cure you. Xu Lei killed Wen Miao, removed neural tissue from her brain, and transplanted it into you. That’s how you recovered.”

Meng Ran’s expression froze instantly, as though an invisible hand had seized her throat and left her unable to respond. Her mind descended into chaos. Details she had once ignored began gathering like dust blown back together by the wind, forming an entirely unfamiliar picture.

“Your incurable illness suddenly vanished as if by a miracle. In all these ten years, did you truly never have a single moment of doubt?”

The question settled on Meng Ran’s heart like an enormous boulder, suffocating her.

But Nan Mu still refused to let her escape.

“It’s not that you didn’t know. You simply didn’t want to look deeper, so you believed whatever Xu Lei told you!” Pain and fury filled Nan Mu’s voice. “How can you claim you knew nothing at all?”

His words were blades driving deep into Meng Ran’s heart, each one a hammer smashing against her nerves until she could bear no more.

She tried to make sense of everything, but her thoughts were a hopelessly tangled knot.

Nan Mu seized Meng Ran by the shoulders and forced her to face him. “I investigated. Ten years ago, five people at Wisdom Biotech Company, including you, developed the same illness. Li Xiangyi died soon after falling ill. The other three, like you, survived through surgery.”

To remain alive, those people had killed Gu Zhishu, Su Yu, Zhaodi… and Wen Miao.

Yu Jingtong had told Nan Mu that Gu Zhishu’s condition was exceptionally rare. Yet it had broken out among a small group at Wisdom Biotech Company. That could not possibly be a coincidence.

“Tell me. What secret is hidden behind this disease?”

Meng Ran’s pupils contracted, and cold sweat slid from her forehead. She clenched her fists and struggled to keep her voice steady, but the unease and confusion in her eyes could not be concealed. “I… I don’t know…”

“You’re lying.”

Nan Mu looked at her with a firm, piercing gaze that seemed capable of seeing into her heart.

Guiltily, Meng Ran avoided his eyes. Her lips trembled as she appeared to hesitate. She lowered her head and stared at her sweat-dampened palms. “I truly don’t know…”

Nan Mu released her shoulders and returned to his previous seat.

His fingers tapped irritably against the metal guardrail beside the bed, producing a low sound that tightened Meng Ran’s nerves with every beat.

“Meng Ran.” It was the first time Nan Mu had addressed her directly by name. “Think carefully. Do you want to protect this secret, or do you want me to release this recording to the public?”

Nan Mu did not like threatening people, but this time, he was willing to.
The room fell into utter silence, broken only by the echo of their breathing.

Meng Ran’s entire body stiffened as though an icy current had swept over her. Her throat constricted, leaving her unable to utter a single word of refusal.

After a long time and what seemed like a desperate internal struggle, she finally made up her mind. Her head drooped in defeat. “All right. I’ll tell you,” she whispered.

===

Meng Ran trembled violently. She raised an arm to cover her eyes as though trying to hide from her memories.

Then, speaking softly to herself, she began a story from more than ten years ago.

Meng Ran and Xu Lei had both worked at Wisdom Biotech Company.

Xu Lei led the project titled Regeneration of Nerve Cells and Cloning Research of Stem Cells, while Meng Ran headed a research project called the Quantum Theory Machine.

Wisdom Biotech Company’s independent research covered an enormous range, and researchers were required to maintain absolute secrecy until their experiments succeeded. The project was publicly described as a “Quantum Computer,” but in reality, “Time Machine” would have been a more accurate name for what Meng Ran was developing.

In recent years, materials science had advanced rapidly as unknown elements were discovered one after another.

The computational theory behind the Time Machine had matured long ago. But existing materials could not remain stable inside machinery rotating at extreme speeds. Every time the Time Machine began operating, the tunnel failed to remain open and stable.

Meng Ran and her team spent eight years researching a solution.

“You were so close to Wen Miao. You must know that she discovered Element 178, Zj.”

Of course Nan Mu knew. It was her discovery of the Zj element that had earned Wen Miao the country’s highest physics award and made her an overnight sensation in the field.

“What you don’t know is that Li Xiangyi should actually have been credited with discovering it. She found the Zj element even earlier than Wen Miao.”

Nan Mu’s brow furrowed in surprise. “But… your laboratory never published any paper related to the element.”

“That’s right.” Bitterness flashed through Meng Ran’s eyes. “Because Zj was so extraordinary that we didn’t want anyone else to discover it.”

Everyone had been elated when Zj was found. It was an epoch-making discovery.

Among all superheavy elements, it was the only synthesized element that did not decay into another element with a lower atomic mass within an extremely short period.

“I need to explain. Before Zj was discovered, every known superheavy element was highly unstable. They couldn’t maintain structural stability at room temperature. The moment they were synthesized, they quickly decayed into other elements with lower atomic masses.”

Zj’s properties broke that rule. Its appearance revealed new possibilities and solved the most difficult problem they had faced in development: keeping the tunnel open and stable.

Once that obstacle was removed, success was within reach.

Nan Mu’s heart pounded. Feverish anticipation lit his eyes as he stared at her. “If you solved such a major problem, did you ultimately succeed?”

Meng Ran looked up at him, dazzling pride in her eyes.

There truly was a second Time Machine in this world.