Xiao Muyu felt a pang in her heart. She raised her hand and hugged Shen Qingqiu, gently patting her back. “It’s okay, you see, I’m fine. Don’t worry.” Shen Qingqiu’s eyes were misty, and she said hoarsely, “Don’t do that again. I can take care of myself. As long as you’re safe, I can handle anything.”
Xiao Muyu gently pushed her away and said seriously, “Qingqiu, you’re good in every way, but there’s one thing that makes me really angry. You always think about protecting me, but you don’t take care of yourself.
Do you think I wouldn’t care if you got hurt?
Wouldn’t I be scared if something happened to you? You want to protect me, but I want to protect you too. Why can’t you understand that?”
Her expression was very serious as she continued, “I’m sorry I worried you so much, but at the time, I was relieved that it was me who got caught and not you.”
Shen Qingqiu’s face changed slightly, and she looked at Xiao Muyu with some unease. Xiao Muyu knew what she wanted to say. She sighed, “I know you’re strong and can protect yourself, but don’t always put me before you.
You’re strong, but you’re also human. If you’re cut by a knife, you’ll bleed. If you’re grabbed by a zombie, you’ll get infected. You just rushed in there without saying anything. I was really…” Mentioning this, Xiao Muyu’s breath became rapid.
“If you hadn’t just scared me so much, I’d definitely give you a good talking to when we get back.
Get rid of your habit of always charging ahead. We’re a team, and we should advance and retreat together. If you do it again, I won’t even talk to you, let alone hug you.”
She said this very seriously, but given the time and place, it wasn’t a good time to educate her girlfriend, so Xiao Muyu didn’t say more and led Shen Qingqiu into the office.
Shen Qingqiu, scolded into silence, sneaked a glance at Xiao Muyu, wanting to say something but stopping herself.
“Let’s get to work. Don’t look at me like that. I’ve already felt bad for you. Stop pretending to be pitiful.”
Xiao Muyu said lightly as she glanced at her and started looking through the desk.
Shen Qingqiu glanced at her, “I’m still scared, you know. Your sympathy is already over.”
“Stop fooling around, get to work.” Xiao Muyu couldn’t deal with her. Just now, she was like a fish in water among the zombies, attacking with speed and precision. Now she was acting all delicate and pitiful.
Seeing that Xiao Muyu was indeed fine, Shen Qingqiu felt a bit relieved. Time was short, so she also started searching the office.
“Chen Ranran eliminated!”
Suddenly, the system announced another elimination, meaning another team was still trying to clear the level.
So far, five people had been eliminated in this team instance, which was a high percentage, indicating the difficulty of this level.
However, Xiao Muyu and the others didn’t have the time to worry about others’ lives and deaths. They had to find something valuable after all their efforts. They needed to search quickly.
The desk was covered with documents, mostly reports from lower administrative departments, mainly about Noru Company’s quarterly business plans and various management systems. Xiao Muyu went through many but found nothing special.
“There’s nothing important here,” Shen Qingqiu said, opening the office drawers, which contained processed documents and file folders.
Just then, Shen Qingqiu saw a folder, neatly organized with many bound materials.
She opened one and saw the title, “Research Project Plan for Biological Equivalence of Z Reagent.” The long title didn’t mean much to her.
She continued reading patiently. Though she only half understood it, she roughly grasped that it revolved around the Z reagent mentioned in the project, outlining a series of experimental plans, such as the necessary drug research.
It included blood indicator detection ranges and biological sample analysis, which all seemed chaotic to Shen Qingqiu.
Xiao Muyu looked over and pointed to one item, “Drug regulatory department on-site inspection,” and concluded,
“It looks like they were preparing for a drug registration application, probably for a new drug developed by Noru Biopharmaceuticals. This plan is already stamped, so it must be in progress.
Judging by the timeline, it has only been two months, so the registration probably isn’t complete yet. Clinical trials would take even longer.”
Xiao Muyu wasn’t an expert in this field, but she understood some basic processes.
Shen Qingqiu turned to her, “Muyu, what did you study? How do you know so much?”
She wasn’t teasing but genuinely admiring. Throughout the five instances, they encountered all sorts of things, like a revolving lantern, magnetic fields, nine rings, and creepy nursery rhymes. There was nothing Xiao Muyu didn’t understand, like an encyclopedia recording everything.
Xiao Muyu saw the admiration in Shen Qingqiu’s eyes. Although she didn’t care about praise, hearing it from someone she liked felt different.
So Xiao Muyu, seemingly calm but with a hint of pride, said, “I’m just broadly interested. When I see something, I want to learn about it. It’s all just bits and pieces, not really knowing everything.”
This was true. That world gave her no sense of belonging, making it hard for her to get close to people. Only books and knowledge sparked her interest.
Another reason was her familiarity with these things, which felt oddly persistent. Yet, she couldn’t find the reason for this familiarity.
Shen Qingqiu never hesitated to praise Xiao Muyu, shaking her head in disagreement, “Who can solve the nine rings in three minutes with just a superficial understanding and help others too? You don’t have an accurate perception of yourself. In my opinion, my Muyu is not only virtuous but also smart and knowledgeable. How can you be so perfect?”
Xiao Muyu couldn’t take it anymore, rolling her eyes and suppressing a laugh. Shen Qingqiu stole a glance at her and added, “If only you weren’t so contrary and not so proud in front of me, you’d be perfect.”
Xiao Muyu stopped smiling, giving her a light glance, “Get back to work.”