Chapter 70: Target Found!

Lin Yu had no idea why this foreign PhD suddenly launched into such a grand speech. All she felt was that her mind was drifting in and out — like a hopeless student listening to advanced physics.

“Of course,”
Dr. Reed seemed to notice Lin Yu’s confusion. Her tone shifted again as her gaze casually swept toward the far end of the corridor.
“And precisely because we understand better than anyone how dangerous our children can be… we must remain cautious. Always cautious.”

“Science requires boundless imagination… but even more than that, it requires reverence for life itself. Some of my students,” she sighed lightly, “still fail to grasp this.”

“They’re always looking for shortcuts. They think they’ve found a secret path to the realm of gods, proposing… things like using pollutant genes to infect biological genomes.”

(… Pollutant… infection?)

Lin Yu’s heart skipped a beat.
She felt as if she had accidentally brushed against the edge of some enormous secret.

“Heh…”
Dr. Reed let out a soft, helpless laugh. “These ideas sound tempting. But what they forget is — when we gaze into the abyss, the abyss… gazes back at us.”

“Well then,” she continued smoothly, “now that we’ve toured Alpha and Beta Zones… has our adorable little technician discovered anything new about the ‘little mouse’ she’s looking for?”

“Um… please give me a moment, Doctor.”

Lin Yu closed her eyes and focused all her attention on her sense of smell.
(Just feel it like before… This counts as a passive skill, right? What should I call it? Psychic Scent? Spirit Sniffer…?)

While she was getting distracted by her own thoughts, she suddenly sensed something wrong.

This massive underground lab was like an overturned perfume display.
Too many powerful, chaotic biological energies swirled around — mixing into a storm of interference.

The scent belonging to Mirror Man was like a single drop of clean water thrown into a bucket of muddy paint — impossible to distinguish.

(… No good. The interference is too strong.)
(I can’t find it at all.)

She opened her eyes, frustration written all over her face — the kind of “I really tried but I failed” helpless expression that, paired with her adorable features, made her look especially pitiful.

“Dr. Reed, I’m sorry…”

“Mentor. Lin Xue.”

A confident male voice cut in from behind them.

Lin Yu turned instinctively.

At the end of the pristine white corridor that led toward the surface, Lu Ze — the elite man who always made her scalp tighten — walked toward them at an unhurried pace.

“What are you all doing here? The sample activity checks for Alpha and Beta Zones were finished just yesterday.”

He walked up to Dr. Reed, eyes hidden behind his glasses, sweeping across Lin Xue with a subtle hint of contempt.

“Oh, Lu Ze.”
Dr. Reed’s expression didn’t change as she gestured toward Lin Yu.
“This is Ms. Lulu — codename Gray Crystal — a technician sent from Dawn Company.”

“Oh?”
Lu Ze looked at Lin Yu with mild amusement.
“I met her upstairs just now. But… weren’t you fixing the washroom’s sensors?”

“Hahaha… I… plans changed at the last minute… I got assigned a new task…”

Lin Yu felt one corner of her mouth twitching involuntarily as she forced a polite, almost painful smile.
(Damn it, why is this guy here?!)

“It’s like this, Lu Ze,” Dr. Reed explained.
“Ms. Gray Crystal is searching for pollutant remains — codename Mirror Man. Its location seems to be somewhere inside this core facility.”

“Oh? Really?”
Lu Ze looked genuinely concerned.
“That’s terrible. Pollutants are extremely dangerous. If one isn’t properly removed, it will definitely affect the safety of all of us.”

“If you ask me, have you checked the Y-Zone?”
“That’s the energy center and waste-processing hub of the entire Prometheus Program. If something really wanted to hide… that would be the perfect place.”

The moment he said the words “Y-Zone” —

“Bzz… zz—”

Lin Yu felt her wrist terminal vibrate slightly.

The pink bubble-filled interface flickered twice…

And then instantly collapsed into a mess of distorted garbled symbols.

(… Interference?!)

Her nerves tightened.

(No way. What’s going on?)

“Y-Zone…”
Dr. Reed lowered her head, thinking.
After a brief pause, she seemed to reach a decision.

“Xiao Xue,” she said to Lin Xue, “come with me. I need you to verify the latest batch of ammonite data Beta Zone just delivered.”

“As for here…”
She glanced at Lu Ze, then at Lin Yu, and smiled with calm trust.

“…I’ll leave Miss Lulu to you, our experienced senior. Guide our guest on a proper tour.”

Without giving Lin Xue any chance to object, Dr. Reed turned and walked away.

Lin Xue, however, paused before leaving.

“You…”
She turned her head, her cold, beautiful eyes locking deeply onto Lin Yu.

Her lips parted as if she wanted to say something —
But she closed them again, shook her head, and followed her mentor.

“Let’s go, Miss Lulu.”
Lu Ze seemed blissfully unaware of the strange tension lingering in the air.
His smile carried that usual “senior superiority.”

“I’ll show you the deepest secret of the Prometheus Program.”

He walked closer to her —

And the instant he stepped into her proximity—

Lin Yu’s tightly-strung psychic scent finally picked up a faint trace within the chaotic background.

“Eh?”

She stared at him, stunned—
While Lu Ze also looked puzzled.

“What’s wrong, little one? Your face… doesn’t look good. Is the air here making you uncomfortable?”

“N-no… nothing…”

Lin Yu forced a shy, girlish smile, clutching her chest dramatically.

“It’s just… when I’m with you, Brother Lu Ze… I get nervous…”

(GAG—)
(What the hell am I saying?!)

“Oh, don’t worry,”
Lu Ze replied with a satisfied smile.
“I don’t mind that you’re from the countryside.”

“Heh… hehe…”

Lin Yu kept her fake smile on… while mentally killing him three hundred times.

But finally, she reached a conclusion.

(Found you! No wonder I couldn’t detect it before!)
(The Mirror Man’s remains… are stuck on YOU!)

(Apple-boy, I don’t know what’s wrong with your brain, but pollutants usually attach to people with serious psychological problems…)
(Fine then. Let this magical girl cure you.)

She looked up slowly.

All the panic and tension had vanished from her green eyes.

Her expression returned to soft innocence — bright, cute, ignorant, harmless.

“Well then… I’ll be in your care, Brother Lu Ze~”

(Medical fee… four thousand yuan.)