An evening meant just that: an evening. Having slept through a morning of classes, the two went to Qian Fan’s house at noon to corner the old men.

Ji Ming’s eye bags were so deep they nearly reached his mouth, and he looked dazed, as if he hadn’t slept for three days. Qin Lin also appeared haggard, clearly having not slept well.

Inside the spacious villa, bathed in ample light, the four sat in the bright living room, lost for words.

Rong Shi looked at Qin Lin: “What are your concerns exactly? Is it about our safety?”

“Not entirely,” Qin Lin shook his head dejectedly, “This matter is too far-reaching. I can’t control its future direction, and what if I harm you all—”

Unexpectedly, after waiting all night, it was still such an indecisive answer. Rong Shi’s gaze turned cold.

Making Qin Lin decide to reveal everything was like asking him to jump into the sea with Mianmian and Coke in his arms. If he couldn’t guarantee the children’s safety, he would rather drift in the sea himself than drag them down.

Rong Shi understood the reasoning, but he had lost patience. Once a war began, anything could happen. Until a restorative agent was developed, he couldn’t rest easy.

Catching Rong Shi’s expression out of the corner of his eye, Song Yu knew he was in a bad mood. Just as he was about to say something, he saw Rong Shi suddenly stand up.

Rong Shi looked down at Qin Lin: “You’ve examined Mianmian’s body; you should know his condition better than I do. How many more years do you think he can live?”

Qin Lin’s pupils constricted sharply. He dared not look into Rong Shi’s eyes again.

Rong Shi’s voice grew colder and colder: “My father has been in a stasis pod for five years. Without a restorative agent, he will never wake up!”

“Yes, perhaps decades or a hundred years from now, with the Empire’s medical advancements, this will be a minor ailment.” Rong Shi turned his head to look at Ji Ming, “But when he wakes up then, his partner will be gone, his child will be old and frail, and the world will no longer be the one he knew. How will he live? Is that fair to him?!”

Ji Ming’s clasped hands tightened, and his head dropped.

“This matter can no longer be solved by one or two people,” Rong Shi adjusted his breathing to calm himself, “Ignorance does not equate to safety. Only by obtaining sufficient information and integrating all resources can we find the right path, right?”

After his words fell, a long silence filled the living room.

Qin Lin wiped his face, let out a long sigh, and smiled with relief: “You’re right. I was being stubborn.”

Ji Ming looked up, his expression serious: “I need a laboratory, Old Qin. You come with me.”

“You don’t need to tell me; I will.” A hint of vibrancy returned to Qin Lin’s eyes. “Since I first learned about the existence of experimental subjects, I’ve been secretly investigating for years, trying to make an initial version of the restorative agent. Unfortunately, it can only stabilize bodily functions at the moment, and cannot completely repair glands stimulated by the drug.”

Ji Ming’s eyes flashed: “I also made one, with similar effects.”

Song Yu sneered: “Not only similar effects, but even the ingredients are very alike. We once suspected you developed it together.”

Qin Lin and Ji Ming shook their heads simultaneously.

Qin Lin: “Old Ji and I truly haven’t collaborated since the sailboat incident.”

Ji Ming chuckled, then patted Qin Lin’s shoulder, laughing uncontrollably: “We truly are the most compatible partners.”

Qin Lin gave a wry smile: “If we had always been in sync, we wouldn’t have ended up in this situation today.”

Ji Ming’s smile froze, and his face darkened again.

“Back then, I should have stopped immediately after you left.”

Since an agreement had been reached, Song Yu immediately instructed his subordinates to arrange a laboratory.

“We can temporarily use the underground lab at my house,” Qin Lin led them down to the second basement level.

Seeing the laboratory there, Rong Shi suddenly thought of something and looked at Ji Ming: “There’s an underground lab on V99. Was that the one you used back then?”

Ji Ming nodded: “At that time, I thought I was researching an experiment to save the world. I was immersed in the lab all day, ignoring everything outside, until Xiao Ling was almost eighteen, and I belatedly remembered that I hadn’t seen A-Ruo for a very long time.”

“How could you be such a father?” Song Yu was already angry just listening.

The “A-Ruo” he spoke of was Rong Shi’s father, Rong Ruo. Perhaps because he was unregistered when rescued by Rong Guang, Rong Guang directly changed his surname to Rong when registering him.

Rong Shi’s face was cold, his fingers tightening, knuckles cracking: “Why? What did Dad do wrong to be so neglected, not even registered?”

Ji Ming swallowed, shaking his head repeatedly. This grandson was too terrifying; if angered, he might actually get beaten.

“I didn’t register any of their household registrations; Xiao Ling did his own.”

Rong Shi: “Why? Aren’t they your children?”

Ji Ming scratched his face, embarrassed: “Probably—I forgot? I don’t pay much attention to these things, thinking it wouldn’t be too late to register them when needed later.” He himself was a doctor; he could handle any vaccinations his children needed. Household registration wasn’t even necessary before they started school.

“Later, I spent every day in the lab, and by the time I came to my senses, over a decade had passed—”

Song Yu was incredulous: “So, because they didn’t come out of your own belly, you don’t feel affection?”

Ji Ming rubbed his nose: “When I collaborated with the Lin family, my first request was for them to take good care of the children. They said they would hire specialists to look after them, painting a rosy picture, so I believed them.”

Song Yu sneered: “Are you an idiot?”

Ji Ming: “…”

To avoid laying hands on his biological grandfather, Rong Shi turned his head to Qin Lin.

“How did you discover there was a problem with V99 back then?”

Qin Lin led them around the lab, sighing: “That’s a long story. I only found out something was wrong because of Xiao Rong—oh, your father, Rong Guang, provided clues.”

Rong Shi: “Father?”

Qin Lin nodded: “He traveled a lot and discovered many underground laboratories. The first was at the new training ground. Maybe he didn’t pay attention then, but by the time he mentioned it to me, more than two years had passed.”

Qin Lin was not military personnel, and illegal laboratories weren’t his responsibility. When he heard Rong Guang talk about these things, he could only provide professional answers based on the descriptions, and couldn’t decide anything.

“He asked many times, and once he brought back a potion, and that’s when I realized something was wrong,” Qin Lin recalled. “I told him to send me all the locations where he found laboratories, and I would investigate them one by one.”

At first, he thought others were engaging in such illegal activities, and most importantly, the developed potions were very similar to what they had initially developed.

In Qin Lin’s eyes, illegally opening a laboratory was a minor issue; if this potion was misused, the consequences would be terrifying.

“I investigated for a long time, and in the documents of one of the laboratories, I found V99. I originally only checked it as one of the planets, but then I saw A-Ruo.”

Discovering Ji Ming’s child in the laboratory shocked Qin Lin as much as a bomb explosion.

“I notified Rong Guang, who was already working in the military at the time, and asked him to help rescue people. In the process, I also found Old Ji,” Qin Lin said, casting a faint glance at Ji Ming, “Unfortunately, he seemed possessed at the time and couldn’t be pulled away. Rong Guang almost got discovered by the Lin family because of it.”

Ji Ming played with a test tube, testing its feel, and muttered awkwardly: “Didn’t I think I was saving the world—”

As he spoke, his voice trailed off.

Seeing Rong Shi’s gaze filled with reproach, Ji Ming felt very uncomfortable: “The enhancer that could boost omega pheromone resistance was never successfully researched. What they took out and used were my failed products!”

Rong Shi’s gaze shifted from him to Qin Lin: “Was that rabbit symbol a secret code your father left for you?”

“Rabbit symbol?” Qin Lin thought for a moment and shook his head, “I’ve never seen such a thing.”

Never seen it? Rong Shi was thoughtful. Then who was that symbol carved for?

Song Yu asked Ji Ming: “Did they initially rely on constant adjustments to create 100% matched pheromones and people?”

Ji Ming shook his head: “When I learned the truth, they had control of the matching system. I don’t know if that system was real or fake, but they indeed relied on it for judgment.”

“100% matching cannot reverse control,” Qin Lin interjected, “but for omegas with modified glands, the higher the match with an alpha, the more obvious the counter-effect.”

Song Yu and Rong Shi exchanged glances, their faces darkening. Only a few people had access to the matching system; checking the system logs would reveal who had manipulated it.

Ji Ming nodded, showing disdain: “But later, they seemed unable to use the system anymore, so they found an expert team and came up with that terrible idea.”

Rong Shi was deep in thought. The Lin family was definitely the first family to participate in or even plan the entire scheme. So, when the Qin family split and joined in later, was it voluntary or forced?

Suddenly, both 01 and 00 sounded warnings simultaneously.

[Harmful wavelength detected, already shielded.]

“Hiss—ah!” Ji Ming clutched his forehead, his expression pained. A moment later, he couldn’t even stand steadily, and a box of test tubes on the workbench was swept to the ground by him.

Rong Shi’s expression changed, and he went over to support him. The same wavelength should have similar effects on people. Although Qin Lin also felt some discomfort, his reaction was nowhere near as severe as Ji Ming’s.

“My head hurts so much!” Ji Ming clutched his head, convulsing repeatedly, almost making Rong Shi unable to support him.

Qin Lin was startled and hurried to grab a testing instrument: “Old Ji, what’s wrong with you?!”

“It’s them! They’ve come!” Ji Ming gripped Rong Shi’s wrist tightly, his eyes bloodshot, his expression pained, “I won’t go back, I, I’d rather die than go back!”

“You’ll be fine,” Rong Shi grasped his hand in return, ordering softly: “01, re-scan his head.”

[01: Received!]

At the same time, Song Yu gave an order to 00: “Trace the source of this wavelength.”

[00: Yes!]

01 scanned very quickly.

[He has a miniature resonant device implanted in his brain. It wasn’t activated before and was squeezed inside, so it wasn’t scanned.]

To actually implant a resonant device in someone’s brain. Rong Shi’s face was very cold. This reminded him of the mutated creatures on V99 that went mad and attacked due to resonance. That organization didn’t treat people as people at all, even Ji Ming, who was crucial to them.

[00: Located! Send to Yu’s backyard group?]

Song Yu: “Yes, have Sweet Potato handle the arrest. We need them alive. If not, dead is fine, just don’t let them escape.”

[00: Executed.]

After finding the cause, 01 materialized a small patch and attached it to Ji Ming’s scalp. Using reverse resonance, it directly short-circuited the miniature resonant device.

The sharp pain instantly vanished. Ji Ming slumped, his face bloodless, his entire body soaked as if he’d been pulled from water.

Rong Shi helped him to a chair, letting Qin Lin come over to check his body. The Big Cat said Ji Ming occasionally went mad, later fell gravely ill, and died before finishing the restorative agent research. Was it related to this resonant device?

After a long lecture.

When Ji Ming had recovered some strength, Rong Shi took out the restorative agent research findings the Big Cat had given him and handed them to Ji Ming. In a way, it was just returning what was originally his.

Ji Ming and Qin Lin thought they were just some reference materials, but after reading only the first page, they were too shocked to speak.

Ji Ming’s hands trembled with excitement: “You, where did you get this? Who researched it?!”

Qin Lin’s tongue tied itself: “Quickly invite this person over! Their research is even more thorough than ours!”

Staring at Song Yu’s puzzled gaze, Rong Shi shook his head: “I cannot contact this person, nor can I temporarily answer the origin of this data. I don’t need to emphasize the importance of this data; please be sure to protect it and do not leak it.”

Ji Ming and Qin Lin continued to press, but Rong Shi remained tight-lipped.

Before leaving, Ji Ming frowned, feeling very reluctant.

“You’re quite capable, kid. I wonder if you can help me with something.”

Rong Shi: “What?”

Ji Ming: “I have a set of handwritten lab notebooks, recording all the experimental data from the past twenty years. Unfortunately, they were stolen from me. I guess they’re probably at that underwater base, but I can’t go there. Do you have a way?”

Rong Shi considered it and agreed: “I’ll do my best.”

After Rong Shi and Song Yu left, Qin Lin and Ji Ming stared at the data until midnight.

Qin Lin rubbed his temples tiredly: “Old Ji, what do you think?”

Ji Ming: “Somewhat familiar, but now is not the time to pursue that. The important thing is to research the medicine first.”

Qin Lin was silent for a moment, then smiled.

“You’re right.”

At the V99 underwater base, a beta in a white coat stopped in front of a metal door. An iris scan was performed, and an AI prompt sounded.

[Iris scan successful, please enter.]

The metal door opened, revealing shelves packed with neatly categorized files and documents. He quickly scanned row after row, and in the innermost confidential data storage, he found what he was looking for.

Just as he was about to take it down, a sound suddenly came from behind him. His fingers paused, and he turned his head to look. A tall omega stood by a bookshelf three meters away, his gun pointed at him.

“Xiao Ji, what are you looking for?”

__

Author’s note: 

Rong Bunny: Father-in-law is in danger!

Cat Dad took a puff of his cigarette, calmly smiling: Don’t panic, within firing range.

Song Cat: This love rival is looking more and more like Dad.

Rong Bunny: …