Chapter 55 – Love-Struck Mind
Li Wenchuan’s gaze kept shifting between Tu Ran and Xie Xu.
In his judgment, this tigress was now planning to renege.
Not only was she going to evade accountability for not completing Xie Xu’s task on time, but she was also going to deny any dark deeds she had done for Xie Xu in the past.
He urgently needed some popcorn.
“Do you know how easy it is for me to get rid of you?” Xie Xu said, drawing the handgun from behind his waist and pointing it at Tu Ran. His voice carried a cold indifference and ruthless resolve that sent chills down one’s spine.
Facing the deep, dark barrel of the gun, Tu Ran raised her eyebrows slightly, showing no fear.
If she hadn’t obtained the original owner’s memories, she would have desperately tried to prove her worth to Xie Xu at this moment, hoping he would spare her life.
But now that she had seen the original owner’s past and understood why she had worked under Xie Xu, she had newfound confidence.
The original owner was incredibly strong, with excellent abilities in every aspect. During the five-year pioneer training, as Ding Naiqing had mentioned, she had topped many of the categories.
A scholar-level intellect combined with the beauty of a campus queen.
Such top-tier attributes would make her the female protagonist in any world.
However, there was one flaw that made the original owner hopeless.
That was being love-struck!
Yes, the original owner was love-struck.
And she was infatuated with Xie Xu.
It was unrequited love!
It all started with a daytime news broadcast reporting the Research Institute’s latest findings: a major discovery that alien species could possess humans and take over their bodies!
The researcher who discovered this was Xie Xu.
In just those few minutes of official footage, the original owner became infatuated with Xie Xu.
From that point on, she embarked on a path of star-chasing.
For Xie Xu, she voluntarily joined the pioneer team, signed the contract, and trained day and night for five years.
After graduating, she immediately approached Xie Xu with such excellent qualifications and expressed her willingness to do anything for him without compensation.
At this moment, Tu Ran was utterly perplexed.
Previously, she had thought the original owner might have worked for Xie Xu for money or because he had some leverage over her. Never had she imagined it was due to unrequited love.
Over the years, the original owner had done many things for Xie Xu, even neglecting her own pioneer tasks.
Other pioneers from the same cohort, regardless of their poor grades at graduation, could find plenty of information in the Threshold and earn many points.
However, the original owner, who was once a renowned and highly regarded pioneer by the trainers, barely brought back anything useful from the Threshold.
This was why the original owner was mocked.
Perhaps due to her unwavering loyalty, Xie Xu trusted her, and she had become an indispensable right-hand.
Therefore, her arrival this time was a huge blow to Xie Xu.
Tu Ran had no intention of continuing to work under Xie Xu.
Regaining her memory was like watching a movie with herself as the protagonist.
Knowing the storyline didn’t mean she had the protagonist’s abilities.
She still couldn’t live as freely as the original owner did in this world filled with lurking dangers.
Some of the original owner’s skills, such as close combat, firearm assembly and use, long-range sniping, marksmanship, and criminal investigation, she only knew theoretically and hadn’t learned practically or systematically.
She needed time to digest all this.
Working under Xie Xu inevitably came with all sorts of dangers and high difficulty.
Moreover, there were no rewards.
Looking at the gun barrel in front of her, Tu Ran slightly curled her lips and raised her wrist.
The communicator had a barely noticeable breathing light flashing.
This indicated that the area was already blocked by a signal jammer.
She was cut off from the outside world.
She didn’t panic.
“Before you arrived, I sent Zero a command. If it doesn’t detect my vital signs, it will send a pre-edited message to all members of the pioneer team, the commander, vice commander, the Federal Inspection Department, and all the media outlets I can reach.”
“Are you curious about the content of my message?” Tu Ran smiled.
Xie Xu stared at her, his finger on the trigger turning white.
“I am reporting that Xie Xu, a senior researcher at the Federal Central Research Institute, has used his position for personal gain, establishing twenty-four private research institutes across forty-two states of the Federation. He has colluded with certain members of the pioneer team, including Li Wenchuan, Li Lun, and Cao Shihui, to steal research institute data on alien species, conduct unauthorized transfers within the Threshold, and perform illegal biological experiments and research on these aliens.”
Li Wenchuan, hearing his name mentioned, lost his interest in the spectacle and stood up straight.
This woman was ruthless!
At some point, Xie Xu had lowered the gun pointed at Tu Ran, looking at her in disbelief, “You’ve regained your memory?”
At that moment, a small recorder hidden in his clothes started running.
Tu Ran sneered, he thought he could trap her into saying something incriminating. No way!
“I don’t understand what you mean, Researcher Xie. I’ve always been fine and never lost my memory.”
Had she been even a bit more arrogant or careless, admitting with a simple “yes” that she had lost her memory, Xie Xu wouldn’t have hesitated to kill her without worrying about any consequences.
This was because people possessed by aliens lose their memory.
Given Xie Xu’s connections and status, with a recording as evidence, he could easily label her as a person possessed by an alien, making her previous statements unbelievable.
Li Wenchuan inwardly marveled at her quick thinking.
When Xie Xu asked that question earlier, he hadn’t reacted immediately either.
If it had been him, he would have fallen into the trap.
Previously, Tu Ran had always been obedient to Xie Xu, so he hadn’t noticed her intelligence. Now, seeing her stand up to Xie Xu, he viewed her in a new light.
He already anticipated that Xie Xu would suffer a setback today because of her.
“Researcher Xie, don’t even think about fabricating evidence. I included other details in my message,” Tu Ran blinked, “like the exact locations of those twenty-four bases. I described them very clearly.”
Fortunately, Xie Xu had trusted the original owner so much that she knew the exact locations of those twenty-four bases.
“Even if you publicly claim that I am possessed by an alien, someone will be curious about whether those locations I mentioned are real. Once they verify them, the damage will be yours.”
Xie Xu’s face turned terrifyingly dark as he almost ground his teeth, “What do you want?”
He had conceded.
He was at a loss with her.
Due to his past trust in the real Tu Ran, he didn’t have any leverage over her.
When it came to this fake Tu Ran, they had negotiated once, but he had subconsciously underestimated her, choosing only to threaten her life.
He thought that one bargaining chip was enough. After all, she came from a peaceful world, knew nothing, and was as insignificant as an ant, her life easily within his grasp.
