Zeng Lang stopped and looked back.
In the shade of the trees, he saw a darker figure, leaning against the trunk.
"Young Master..." The voice was weak and trembling, as if seriously injured.
Zeng Lang walked over cautiously, shining his communicator. He laughed, "It's you, my good assistant, Cai Yi. What are you doing here instead of staying at Xuan Wei's house? Trying to kill me?"
Cai Yi lifted his drooping eyelids and said, "Young Master, I am being hunted by the Xuan family and had no choice but to come to you."
Zeng Lang snorted and said, "A ruse. Go back and tell your master this trick won't work."
"Young Master!" Cai Yi rolled to the side and fell to the ground, saying painfully, "For all the help I've given you, please save me..."
To seek revenge, one must be cold-blooded and ruthless.
Zeng Lang looked at his former capable subordinate and, after much thought, felt pity.
In the early hours, Zeng Lang looked at Cai Yi in the hospital bed and said softly, "Get out of here once you've recovered."
"Young Master!" Cai Yi called out, "Let me continue to follow you!"
Zeng Lang walked away without looking back. At this juncture, no one could be trusted except Gu Ya.
"Young Master! I have information you need!"
...
Gu Ya was sleeping soundly, dreaming of marrying Ye Ying, when he was woken by a piercing communicator ring.
5:35 AM. Damn it, can't a person get any rest.
"Zeng Lang, what is it?" Gu Ya answered the communicator groggily.
"There's progress on the clone information," Zeng Lang said quickly and quietly.
"Speak."
"A former assistant of mine told me that his informant discovered that the Genetic Biology Department of the Hecheng Society is secretly relocating."
"The Tianxuan Group is using Xuan Lie's misdeeds as a hot topic to cover this up."
Gu Ya was dizzy and repeated, "Your former assistant's informant?"
"Yes, my former subordinate, his informant told him."
"Understood. I'll go verify this tomorrow."
As dawn broke, Gu Ya quickly made breakfast for Youyou and rushed back to the academy.
He only managed to catch his breath after bursting into Xie Fangbin's office.
"Teacher, I need a day off!" Gu Ya said breathlessly.
Xie Fangbin's expression was clearly not good. He said coldly, "The matter from that night isn't over yet, Gu Ya. The day before yesterday you got into a brawl with the Ding class, and today you're telling me you need a day off."
Gu Ya suppressed a smile at Teacher Xie's "triple pressure" and said, "It's really urgent! Teacher, please give me a day off."
Teacher Xie turned his head impatiently. Gu Ya knew he had tacitly agreed and rushed out of the office.
After another arduous journey, Gu Ya arrived at the Hecheng Society.
He had already planned his approach on the way. Upon reaching the Genetic Biology Department on the basement level 15, Gu Ya grabbed a staff member and said urgently, "A few days ago, you notified me that you found my sister, so I immediately rushed over from out of town. The road was difficult, it took a long time!"
The staff member eyed Gu Ya suspiciously and pushed him away, "What sister? Hurry up and leave. This is not a place you can come to."
Gu Ya was so anxious he almost cried, "My sister was captured by bandits! They said she was rescued and brought here!"
The staff member's eyes lit up, "Ah, those two women. Come with me."
On the way, they met another staff member who stopped the first one and asked warily, "Who is this?"
"The family of those two unwanted women. Hurry and send them away so we can transfer."
Gu Ya heard their words, confirming Zeng Lang's intelligence.
The first person led Gu Ya through multiple doors to the "Treatment and Rehabilitation Area," pointed to room 064, and said, "They are there. Pay the treatment fee and take them away quickly. Don't delay our work."
Gu Ya smiled and bid him farewell, then walked over alone.
On both sides of the corridor were transparent glass laboratories, essentially observation rooms like prisons.
Of the nearly one hundred rooms, only room 64 had people.
Gu Ya approached the large glass and looked inside. The two women seemed in good spirits, quietly watching holographic television.
They appeared to be around twenty-five years old.
Even in loose white lab coats, their good figures were evident.
Gu Ya walked in quietly and greeted them with a smile.
The two women were startled at first, then became suspicious. They exchanged glances and confirmed, then simultaneously exclaimed, "Benefactor!"
Gu Ya nodded and said softly, "Let's make it quick. What are your names? Where are you from?"
As soon as Gu Ya finished speaking, one woman began to sob quietly. Then, the other woman also started crying.
Gu Ya handed them tissues and waited patiently for them to finish crying.
The older woman, being a bit stronger, lowered her head and said, "My name is Shang Lian, and hers is Hong Fei. We are transport mechas from Lanxi City. We were captured by bandits while on a mission."
Gu Ya recognized Shang Lian as the one who had asked him to kill her in the cave.
Shang Lian continued, "We are both orphans with no family. We normally live at the 'Tianda' Transport Company in Lanxi City."
"The bandits planned to kill us after keeping us for a few more days. Fortunately, our benefactor saved us in time."
Gu Ya nodded and said, "The past is in the past. Think about the future."
"I came to find you because I need your help with something."
Hong Fei spoke up, "Benefactor, please tell us."
"Please tell me your information about the Genetic Biology Department," Gu Ya said calmly.
Hong Fei said softly, "On the first day we arrived, we were taken to a laboratory on the basement level 18. They gave us some medication, likely a sedative combined with hallucinogens."
"After that, they took us to that laboratory at regular intervals every day to check our mental state and administer this medication. But the effect wasn't obvious, and my memory became somewhat distorted. Sometimes I felt confused about past events, as if they hadn't happened to me."
Gu Ya found the woman's speech a bit rambling and directly asked, "What's on the basement level 18?"
Shang Lian said, "I vaguely remember a genetics laboratory with a white incubation chamber filled with pale yellow solution, and a sleeping person inside."
Gu Ya keenly realized it was a clone incubation pod.
Hong Fei said dully, "I also remember them saying 'a thousand,' several times."
"They thought I was mentally unstable and wouldn't remember anything, so they were completely unrestrained."
"Maybe, a thousand of them, or a thousand?"
Shang Lian added, "A thousand clones."
A thousand! Gu Ya was shocked.
Hong Fei suddenly realized, "Yes! It's called the Gu Gene Cultivation Project. A thousand clones, all with numbers. They said the numbers very quickly, as if they were very familiar with them."
Shang Lian was silent for a moment and said, "They also said that 87% are defective and don't need memory injection."
Gu Ya pondered, the intelligence was still insufficient to connect the dots, and their testimony was compromised by the medication.
He should go and see for himself.
Gu Ya looked up and asked, "What time do you take your medication?"
Hong Fei looked up at the time and said, "12 PM, half an hour from now."
Gu Ya nodded and said, "I'll be back later," then got up and left.
As soon as he stepped out, Gu Ya saw the staff member who had led him standing there, looking down at his communicator.
Behind the staff member was a built-in low-voltage electrical box.
Gu Ya pondered for a moment, then walked towards him, saying with a smile, "Brother! I forgot to tell you something."
The staff member looked up and asked hesitantly, "What? You can't afford the treatment fee? This isn't a charity."
Gu Ya walked up to him, placed his hand on the low-voltage electrical box, feigned friendliness, and said with a smile, lowering his posture, "Brother, can the treatment fee be cheaper?"
At this moment, his hand gently pried open the electrical box door and touched a communication cable.
Simultaneously, [Code Tampering] was activated.
The communication program suddenly appeared before Gu Ya. With a slight modification of parameters using his gaze, all surveillance in the corridor and rooms froze.
But the time in the surveillance continued to increase.
The staff member looked back and shouted, "Take your hands off!"
Gu Ya knocked him out with a swift blow.
He quickly changed into the staff member's white work uniform and cap, then bought a restraint strap from the system store. He bound the staff member tightly and hid him behind a trash can.
Gu Ya returned, called Shang Lian and Hong Fei, and the three of them headed towards the basement level 18.
Upon reaching level 18, Gu Ya asked them to go to the medication room themselves while he began searching for clues.
There were few staff members here, most quietly working in their laboratories.
The spotless corridor walls reflected the white fluorescent lights, appearing clean and luxurious.
Perhaps due to the relocation, some laboratories housed complex, precise, and mysterious experimental equipment, while others were already cleared out.
Gu Ya found the communication room. As he placed his hand on the password lock, it automatically opened.
He flashed inside and quickly tampered with the program, also copying a map to store in [Star Blueprint].
When he emerged from the communication room, all the surveillance footage on the entire floor was frozen at one second, but the displayed time continued to advance.
Gu Ya, following the information on the map, quickly found the entrance to an area marked as "Unknown Area."
According to the map, this area only depicted the location of the door, with no internal details.
Gu Ya glanced back. No one was behind him.
He placed his hand on the password lock. As the door opened, he slipped inside.
When Gu Ya looked up, he was stunned.