With no trace of sympathy in his eyes as he looked at Jiang Xingye's current trembling state, Ye Ling reached out and pulled Jiang Xingye towards him.
Before Jiang Xingye could even cry out, Ye Ling's spiritual power rudely invaded his mind, searching through his memories and checking if he had any bombs similar to Mo Jie's.
"Nothing?"
After searching through Jiang Xingye's mind, Ye Ling discovered a missing portion of his memories, completely devoid of any recollection of Ye Feng.
Even his understanding of Hongchen Pavilion was limited to the level of being able to hire异士 (yishi - specialized individuals), with no access to deeper secrets.
Although Jiang Xingye had no protective measures like bombs on him, Ye Ling was unable to obtain any useful information from him.
"Interesting... deliberately erasing memories, this is not something an ordinary 异士 (yishi) could do."
Ye Ling tossed Jiang Xingye aside and walked to the computer with the USB drive inserted. His spiritual power attached itself to the burnt USB drive, and then the login USB drive began to restore itself at a visible speed.
Soon, a scarlet login interface lit up on the computer screen. The login username displayed was Jiang Xingye, but the account had turned gray and could no longer be logged in.
"This account can no longer be used. Logging in rashly now will likely expose the IP address to the other party..."
Ye Ling muttered, glancing at Jiang Xingye, who was lying unconscious in the corner, and transformed into his appearance.
Soon, the webcam on the computer screen lit up.
"User Jiang Xingye has been disqualified. Scanning login personnel identity information."
"Login personnel confirmed as Jiang Xingye. Respected user, thank you for logging into Hongchen Pavilion again. You have currently lost your login qualification. If you have any issues, please contact your introducer."
A pleasant female voice sounded from the computer, and then the computer screen closed again, and the USB drive was destroyed once more.
"As expected, this website constantly monitors logged-in users. Rashly logging in without qualification will cause a lot of trouble."
Watching the computer screen go black, Ye Ling reverted to his original appearance, removed the USB drive that had been burnt again, repaired it completely with spiritual power, and stored it in his spatial ring.
"Jiang Xingye's introducer should be Ye Feng. It's a shame there's no information about Ye Feng in his mind."
"The Jiang family has also been mostly destroyed by me. Ye Feng should know what happened here. He probably won't show himself easily in the future, which is a troublesome matter."
Ye Ling rubbed his temples. Hongchen Pavilion was too well-protected, and his spiritual power couldn't be channeled through the internet. Moreover, the amount of money involved in Hongchen Pavilion was too vast; ordinary hackers probably couldn't hack this website.
"That Ye Qingyan is currently the only lead. After resolving matters here, I'll start with her and investigate further."
The seventh-rank 异士 (yishi), Ye Qingyan, was clearly also a user of Hongchen Pavilion, and her authority seemed much higher than Jiang Xingye's. A lot of information should be obtainable from her.
However, the only thing that gave Ye Ling a headache was that he was not yet sure of Ye Qingyan's relationship with his aunt, Ye Qin, and he couldn't rashly use soul-searching, which was a method that caused severe damage to the soul.
*Thump!*
At this moment, a dull impact sound came from outside, and the entire Tianhui Third Institute began to shake violently!
"That giant snake actually woke up at this time..." Ye Ling looked outside, a faint gleam flashing in his eyes. "Good, let this giant snake be a test for Xiao Yu."
Ye Ling stood up from his chair, and dark demonic energy surged out from his body, coiling around Jiang Xingye in the corner of the room. He extracted Jiang Xingye's soul, compressed it into a small bead, and stored it in his spatial ring.
At this moment, the Zero Laboratory was in chaos.
The students from Jiangcheng University had basically all escaped, leaving only the two who had fainted from megalophobia at the beginning and Ou Gui, who had been knocked unconscious.
Lin Yu was trying to pull them out of the scales.
Meanwhile, Huang Jianchuan, while no one was paying attention to him, secretly activated the giant snake's revival program. A large amount of pale red gas sprayed from the nest's walls, waking the dazed giant snake.
When the giant snake woke up and found that the food sacrificed to it was insufficient, it fell into a state of frenzy, constantly ramming the walls of the nest and shaking the ground.
Lin Yu had just pulled the two unconscious students out of the scales and hadn't had time to rescue Ou Gui, who was stuck, when the giant snake flung them all away. Its body slammed hard against the wall, and Ou Gui was directly smashed into a meat patty!
A thick smell of blood permeated the air, further stimulating the giant snake's nerves. It twisted its body and directly swallowed Ou Gui's corpse!
"Damn it!"
Seeing that she couldn't save Ou Gui, Lin Yu's face was quite grim, but she didn't have time to dwell on it. Grabbing one unconscious student in each hand, she sprinted towards the exit.
"Xiao Yu, hurry!"
The students at the exit saw the giant snake awaken and their faces were filled with fear, but they still forced themselves to cheer for Lin Yu despite their terror.
But just as Lin Yu was about to escape, the giant snake's head quickly blocked the exit, sending the students at the exit flying. It flicked its tongue and met Lin Yu's gaze.
Only Lin Yu and the other two remained in the nest. The giant snake treated them all as food and naturally wouldn't let them escape easily.
"Hahaha! This is a giant snake that is about to become a flood dragon! This is a miracle in biology!"
"No matter what, I, Huang Jianchuan, will surely go down in history!"
Outside the glass enclosure, Huang Jianchuan stood before the control panel, laughing maniacally with a face full of madness as he looked at the three people below.
He knew he was finished, so he woke up the giant snake recklessly and let it go out of control.
He wanted to release this giant snake into Jiangcheng. No matter how many casualties it caused, his experiment of evolving a snake into a flood dragon would be known throughout the world!
For Huang Jianchuan, the more chaos he created in the world and the greater his fame, the better his chances of survival!
The surrounding researchers looked at Huang Jianchuan with disbelief, not expecting him to do something so insane!
If the giant snake was awakened without sufficient food, it would go completely berserk, and the glass enclosure above the nest wouldn't be able to withstand a rampaging giant snake.
At that time, everyone present would be devoured!
"You lunatic!"
Jian Gu, who had finally crawled out of the nest and hadn't had time to catch his breath, saw Huang Jianchuan trap his benefactor Lin Yu inside. The anger he had accumulated over time erupted, and he rushed forward, delivering a fierce punch to Huang Jianchuan's face, shattering his glasses!
"How dare you, a mere researcher, hit me?"
Huang Jianchuan, his face covered in blood, glared at Jian Gu with a twisted expression. "Take him down quickly!"
Unfortunately, the surrounding researchers and guards had already fled the laboratory like madmen shortly after the giant snake awakened, and not a single one listened to Huang Jianchuan.
"I've tolerated you for a long time! You beast!"
Jian Gu kicked Huang Jianchuan, knocking him down, then straddled him and delivered several more fierce punches to his face, leaving it bloody and mangled!
"Hiss—!"
Just then, the ground shook again, and the giant snake broke through the nest, swallowing several fleeing researchers in one gulp.
Jian Gu was sent flying by the impact!
The giant snake was completely out of control!