Chapter 123: New Clues, New Questions

As he was pondering this, a system prompt sounded in his mind—
9527: [New item detected: Laboratory Key. Location available for use. Open now?]
So, the breathing light blinking in the corner wasn’t indicating a newly unlocked map, but appeared because Wen Nan had obtained this laboratory key?

Wen Nan glanced at Guan Ailin, sound asleep on the plush carpet, then quietly tiptoed toward the indicated spot.

By the wall where the light flickered, there was a hidden door. Wen Nan took out the key and smoothly unlocked it.

Pushing the door open and stepping inside, as expected yet still surprising, Wen Nan found himself in the egg-shaped confidential laboratory.

Standing at the entrance, he summoned the system: “9527, activate system recording function. Record audio and video throughout.”

9527: “Understood. Recording function activated. Once finished, you may review the footage in the ‘My Files’ section of the player interface.”

The red recording light blinked on. Wen Nan stepped inside the room.

Exactly as Gu Jinxing and Hu Jiayao had described, the room was cramped with towering shelves reaching the vaulted ceiling, each meticulously packed with black square metal boxes.

Wen Nan approached the nearest shelf and casually picked up one of the metal boxes.

Its texture was similar to the portable hard drives he used before for storing “study materials,” only larger—too big to be fully covered by both hands. A signal lamp on its side blinked incessantly, and a coiled metal wire extended from one corner, disappearing into the floor, its connection unknown.

Returning the box to the shelf, Wen Nan made his way through the rows of racks to the narrow corridor connected to the g. point.

The passage was extremely narrow, barely wide enough for one adult male, and now completely sealed off. From below, faint footsteps and voices could be heard on the fourth floor above. It seemed the g. point remained heavily guarded.

Wen Nan didn’t linger near the corridor’s entrance but headed instead to the administrator’s workstation nearby—the very spot where Gu Jinxing and Hu Jiayao had uncovered the key item for main quest two.

There was a small square table supported there, with a folding chair beside it. A desk lamp sat on the corner, and on the tabletop directly above were two pens and a water cup.

Originally, a notebook and some documents had also been on the desk, but Gu Jinxing and Hu Jiayao had taken them away.

Wen Nan stood by the table, gazing for a moment, then lifted his hand to lightly stroke the “.” logo engraved on the table’s corner. The same company emblem appeared on the folding chair, lamp, water cup, and marker pens nearby.

Deep in thought, a system prompt suddenly appeared in his mind, a character message flashing across—
“Female Boss: Where have you been?”

Wen Nan instinctively wanted to reply that he had left early, but if Guan Ailin came into the lab now, he would be completely exposed.

After a brief moment of consideration, Wen Nan stepped out of the laboratory and saw Guan Ailin sitting dazedly on the distant plush carpet.

She must have just woken up, still groggy. Her gaze was vacant, and a single strand of hair stubbornly stood upright on her head like an antenna.

Noticing someone approaching, she turned her head, the stray hair bouncing slightly. Upon seeing Wen Nan, her dull eyes instantly brightened.

Her lips curved into a smile as she stretched out both hands, silently asking for a hug.

Wen Nan bent down and embraced her, planting a gentle kiss on her forehead. “Awake?” he asked. “What time is it?” Guan Ailin’s voice was hoarse from calling out so much last night.

Wen Nan glanced at the wall clock. “Quarter past three in the afternoon.”

Hearing this, Guan Ailin sprang up with a start, hastily removing the useless petticoat of her princess dress with one hand, while gathering scattered clothes with the other as she hurried toward the door.

“I have a corporate technical seminar at three. I’m going to be late! Why didn’t Xiao Liu inform me earlier—”

Halfway through her sentence, she picked up her phone and saw a dozen missed calls from assistant Xiao Liu, swallowing the rest of her words.

Putting on each piece of clothing with a stern expression, Guan Ailin silently scolded herself: the so-called femme fatale, the cliché of rulers neglecting their court—nothing was more accurate. The first time she tasted this enchanting feeling nearly caused her to miss the seminar...

Wen Nan smiled and stepped forward, wrapping his arm around her waist. His hand slipped beneath the hem of her clothes, feeling the grandeur of the CEO. Last night, immersed in that vast realm of tenderness, he had almost suffocated; now, recalling it, he still found it intoxicating...

Thinking this, Wen Nan leaned close to her ear, his tone lazily teasing: “It’s just a routine monthly technical seminar. Being a few minutes late won’t matter. You’re the boss; no one will dock your salary for tardiness.”

Guan Ailin pulled her hand out from beneath her clothes. “Mr. Ye, is this the example you set as a teacher? Teaching your students to be bad?”

Wen Nan was about to argue when she suddenly gripped his wrist tightly and, without explanation, pulled him toward the door.

“Where are we going?” Wen Nan asked, puzzled as he was led forward.

“To the meeting.” Guan Ailin glanced at him. “As a key technical member, you need to attend too. Don’t forget that. I’m the boss, answerable to no one, but you’re an employee. Skipping an important meeting without reason might cost you your performance bonus this month.”

Wen Nan was stunned but tried to reason: “Isn’t my performance evaluated by you? I work hard for the boss, pulling all-nighters. If you don’t give me a raise for my efforts, fine. But docking my performance bonus too?”

Guan Ailin ignored him as she pulled him out and locked the door behind them, adding a final jab: “How’s that PPT you were fixing? You’ll present it to everyone at the meeting later.”

What?

That PPT—what was it called? “Two Fingers Are Happier” or something? Could something like that really be presented at a technical seminar?

“This is social suicide, boss.”

Wen Nan narrowly survived the brink of social death.

They entered the meeting room one after the other, just in time to see the junior sister finishing her presentation on that very PPT and stepping down from the podium.

She spotted Wen Nan sitting by the door and gave him a confident smile that said, “Senior Brother, I’ve got this.”

Wen Nan gave her a thumbs-up.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the room, after Guan Ailin took her seat in the CEO’s chair, the entire meeting revolved around her.

At last, Wen Nan had the chance to relax. Leaning against the wall, he was about to close his eyes when a system prompt echoed in his mind—
Slave Master - Monarch: Yang Mingzhong, there’s an issue.

Due to sensitive content, parts of the previous chapters and titles have been edited or omitted...

(End of chapter)