CHAPTER 29 (PART 2)

Shen Jingyan had kept the headlights on, so Shi Li had only noticed it was a little dark. Now, she realized the entire parking garage was pitch black.

Shen Jingyan gave a small nod. “There was a notice this afternoon. Water and electricity will be out for the night—should be restored by tomorrow morning.”

“…If there’s no power, why are we even here?” Shi Li asked, exasperated.

Shen Jingyan looked at her. “The laboratory has its own power supply. It won’t be affected.”

“…Oh.” Shi Li silently thought to herself—this guy is way too dedicated to his work.

Shen Jingyan got out of the car first. Seeing her still sitting in the passenger seat, he walked around and opened the door for her. Shi Li hurriedly stepped out, only to be hit by a gust of cold wind the moment her feet touched the ground. She instinctively shrank into herself.

The parking garage was eerily dark. The sound of wind rushing through the ventilation ducts, mixed with the occasional trickle of water, made for an unsettling atmosphere. Memories of a horror movie she’d seen recently surfaced in her mind, making her shiver. Without thinking, she reached out and grabbed Shen Jingyan’s hand.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

Shi Li swallowed and, knowing he couldn’t naturally perceive emotions, had to spell it out. “I’m a little scared.”

“Why? Are you afraid of the dark?” Shen Jingyan asked.

Shi Li didn’t want to stand around discussing this. Clutching his hand tightly, she pleaded, “Stop talking. Let’s just go up.”

Seeing that she didn’t want to answer, Shen Jingyan didn’t press further. Together, they made their way to the elevator.

Shi Li finally let out a breath of relief—until she heard Shen Jingyan say, “The elevator’s out of power.”

“…Then what do we do?” Shi Li was dumbfounded.

Shen Jingyan glanced to the side. “We’ll take the emergency stairwell.”

“…If I remember correctly, your lab is on the 17th floor, right? What kind of work is so urgent that it absolutely has to be done tonight?” Shi Li tried to reason with him. “How about we just come back in the morning? Six AM, I promise.”

“No. The person I arranged to meet has a flight at four in the morning. If he leaves, it’ll take at least another six months to schedule him again. Let’s go,” Shen Jingyan said, tightening his grip on her hand.

Shi Li, resigned, followed him up the stairs. At first, she was still worried about running into ghosts at the stairwell landings, but soon enough, she was too exhausted to think about anything else.

Because just climbing the stairs was already killing her.

By the time they finally reached the top, Shi Li wiped the sweat from her forehead and collapsed onto the sofa in Shen Jingyan’s office, still catching her breath. She couldn’t resist teasing him, “Didn’t that shower just go to waste?”

Shen Jingyan was silent for a moment. “I need to take another one.”

“Fine, fine. You should focus on work first…” Shi Li glanced around. “By the way, where’s the person you’re meeting?”

When they arrived earlier, she had already noticed that the entire floor was empty. Not only was there no stranger present, even his assistant and staff were nowhere to be seen.

Shen Jingyan checked his watch. “He should be arriving soon.”

“Are you sure he won’t take one look at those stairs and just leave?” Shi Li chuckled.

“He won’t. He’s been waiting a long time for this too,” Shen Jingyan said before standing up. “Wait here for me. I’m going to take a shower.”

“…Do you really have to?” Shi Li was speechless, not understanding his insistence.

Shen Jingyan gave a slight nod. “I need to be clean. It’ll make sterilization easier later.” With that, he turned and entered the private washroom inside his office.

Soon, the sound of running water filled the air.

Shi Li frowned. Something wasn’t right.

Anxiety crept up her spine, forcing her to stand. She paced restlessly around the room, trying to pinpoint what was making her so uneasy.

This office was familiar territory—she had searched through it countless times before. She knew exactly where Shen Jingyan kept his important documents and which items were off-limits. That was why, the moment she spotted something unusual, she found the source of her unease almost immediately.

Her volunteer agreement.

And—an overseas collaboration contract for a surgical procedure.

Shi Li froze.

The doctor’s name looked extremely familiar, but she couldn’t recall where she had seen it before. Frowning, she pulled out her phone and searched the name online. The first thing that appeared was—

“Craniotomy.”

Shi Li’s mind went blank.

Then, Shen Jingyan’s words from earlier echoed in her head—

“I need to be clean. It’ll make sterilization easier later.”

A terrifying question surfaced in her mind.

Why had Shen Jingyan gone out of his way to bring her here when he was already so busy?

There was only one answer—

Tonight, she was the one being operated on.

No wonder he brought a change of clothes. Everything he packed was meant for her.

And to think, just moments ago, she had been happy about the sudden drop in his hatred value. She had even assumed he’d given up on the experiment.

Looking back now, the truth had been staring her right in the face. She had just been too stupid to see it.

The sound of running water continued in the bathroom, but Shi Li knew that Shen Jingyan had already showered at home. He was only rinsing off the sweat now, so he wouldn’t take long before coming out.

…So should she obediently wait for the surgery or make a run for it?

As soon as the thought crossed her mind, Shi Li chose the latter without hesitation.

Are you kidding? A craniotomy? No matter how skilled the doctor was, there was still a risk of death. If she died on that operating table, she would never be able to return home.

The sound of water in the bathroom stopped. Shen Jingyan would be out in less than a minute. Shi Li wasted no time turning off her phone and ran out without looking back. As she passed the operating room, she couldn’t help but glance inside—everything was already prepared.

…Owning a biotech company must be such a big deal, huh? The equipment was even more complete than a hospital’s. No wonder they could perform surgery directly in the lab. Shi Li silently mocked as she clutched her phone and dashed toward the emergency exit.

Everywhere outside the lab was still without power. She could only use her phone’s flashlight to light the way as she ran downstairs. After a few floors, she suddenly heard movement below. Alarmed, she quickly turned off her phone and slipped onto the nearest floor, hiding behind the door while holding her breath.

Sure enough, not long after, footsteps echoed from below, followed by a puzzled voice: “Weird, I could’ve sworn I just heard someone upstairs. I even saw a light.”

“There’s a power outage today. Even overtime work is impossible. Who else would be here? You must be seeing things,” Shen Jingyan’s assistant replied.

The person clicked their tongue. “No way, I definitely saw it. Could it be the boss?”

“The boss has been here for a while. What, you think he came down just to greet you?” The assistant sneered.

The other person laughed. “Yeah, that does sound unlikely.”

As they talked, another voice chimed in—this time, speaking fluent English.

Hearing them, Shi Li felt a headache coming on. She swallowed nervously, waiting for them to pass.

However, just as they reached her floor, the assistant’s phone suddenly rang. He immediately stopped to answer, “Boss, we’ve reached the tenth floor.”

The moment Shi Li heard this, her heart nearly stopped.

As expected, after a brief silence, the assistant suddenly tensed. “Are you sure? Alright, we’re already on the tenth floor. I’ll have Xiao Zhang take the doctor up first. Xiao Liu and I will search here.”

Shi Li’s pupils dilated at the mention of “tenth floor.”

Her first thought was that Shen Jingyan must have checked the surveillance cameras and spotted her. But she quickly dismissed the idea.

No, the power was out. There was no way the cameras were working. Even if they were, the surveillance room was in the other building, and there was no way to access the footage from the lab.

Shi Li was extremely familiar with the lab’s layout, as she spent most of her time here except when at home. She was absolutely certain that Shen Jingyan couldn’t have found her through the cameras.

Then how did he know she was on the tenth floor?

An eerie feeling crept over her. She suddenly recalled a horror movie she had seen, where an unseen presence was silently watching in the dark, observing her every move.

A shiver ran down Shi Li’s spine, goosebumps rising on her arms.

The assistant and the others were getting closer. She held her breath, shrinking further behind the emergency exit door, not daring to move a muscle.

As they walked past, she felt like her life was hanging by a thread. Fortunately, they headed straight into an office on the tenth floor without checking behind the door.

Shi Li waited until they were far enough before cautiously stepping out and resuming her descent. She was careful with her footsteps to avoid drawing attention, but this also meant she couldn’t move as fast as she wanted.

Midway down, she suddenly paused.

She placed her phone on the staircase and then continued running downward.

The fact that Shen Jingyan had been able to pinpoint her location even without following her had been gnawing at her. After thinking it over, she could only come to one conclusion—he must have planted something in her phone.

Leaving the phone behind made her feel slightly less anxious. She sped up her pace, practically flying down several flights of stairs before finally reaching the underground parking lot.

She had initially planned to exit from the first floor, but while the emergency exit was open, the company lobby doors were locked. There was no way out.

Left with no choice, Shi Li reluctantly opted for the eerily dark underground parking lot.

However, the situation was worse than she expected.

The parking lot, which had been open when they arrived, now had its rolling shutter doors completely closed. Even worse, they were locked from the inside.

Shi Li thought for a moment and realized—those people must have locked it earlier.

…Just how afraid was Shen Jingyan that she would escape?

A wave of despair washed over her.