Yu An blinked and obediently asked, "Husband?"
Xie Chiyuan: "..."
Xie Chiyuan gets excited whenever he hears the word "husband," and Yu An is aware of this quirk of his.
But now they're separated by a vast distance, so even if they try their best, it won't make a difference.
A sly glint seemed to flash in Yu An's eyes. He looked at Xie Chiyuan and said innocently, "What's wrong? Your eyes are all red."
Xie Chiyuan closed his eyes and pressed his temples.
Under Yu An's deliberate provocation, Xie Chiyuan finally went to take two cold showers in a disheveled state.
After taking a shower, Yu An didn't want to play anymore.
He checked the time and coaxed, "Alright, it's getting late, let's go to sleep."
"I'm going to see Zhai Man tomorrow morning, and you have to work tomorrow morning too."
"Let's sleep together."
As Yu An spoke, he was already lying in bed. He placed his phone beside him, his face facing the phone.
Goodnight, honey.
Goodnight, An'an.
Xie Chiyuan watched him fall asleep, and only fell asleep himself after he was completely asleep.
Yu An slept quite soundly that night.
His arrival went unnoticed by the people in the East District; he came directly without any prior notice.
Zhai Man only arranged for his own people to prepare food and lodging, without announcing his arrival.
The next day.
Yu An woke up feeling refreshed, but his phone screen was already black.
The phone wasn't fully charged beforehand, so it didn't last until dawn.
He charged his phone and then opened the door to find Zhai Man.
Zhai Man is a very diligent person; he should have gotten up by now.
He knew where Zhai Man's room was; it was not far from his.
When Yu An arrived at Zhai Man's room, just as he was about to knock, Zhai Man walked over from the side.
"Yu An".
He asked, "Why are you up so early? How did you sleep last night?"
Yu An put her hand down and said to him, "You got up earlier than me. I slept quite well last night."
"Then let's talk somewhere else."
Zhai Man smiled and said, "Perfect, we can talk while we eat breakfast."
They moved to a different location. Yu An looked at the traces in Zhai Man's eyes, hesitated for a long time, and finally asked, "Were you taking care of Da Zai all day yesterday?"
Zhai Man stiffened, his expression turning somewhat unnatural.
"No, I just went to take a look."
Yu An didn't expose him, but only reminded him, "The mutants can heal themselves, and the big cub's self-healing ability is very strong."
He had originally planned to visit Da Zai yesterday, but Da Zai was too proud and insisted that nothing was wrong.
"I know."
Zhai Man said something, then changed the subject: "What do you want to talk to me about this time in the East District?"
"Discussing aberrations."
Yu An cut to the chase: "Are you still manufacturing mutants in the Eastern District?"
Yu An's direct question surprised Zhai Man.
When he realized what was happening, he shook his head and denied it, saying, "We have already stopped production."
"But the information I received is that your East District is still manufacturing and selling mutants. I personally found the mutants that leaked out from here."
Zhai Man: "?"
Zhai Man stated definitively, "That's absolutely impossible. I personally ordered production to cease. Manufacturing mutants is now considered illegal; I would never do such a thing again."
Zhai Man denied that such a thing had happened in the East District, and Yu An did not try to persuade him.
Yu An showed him a video.
Yu An deliberately kept a video of the interrogation of the prisoner they had captured.
There was the confession of the survivor, the deformed corpse at the scene, and the dying cub survivor.
Seeing all this, Zhai Man finally wavered in his eyes.
He remained silent for a long time before speaking slowly: "I can take you to see the laboratory."
The laboratory that the East District has been collaborating with is El Labs.
This laboratory has produced countless mutants, and they had a relatively harmonious relationship with the East District during their collaboration.
The head of the laboratory also had a close relationship with Zhai Man.
"Have you inspected this lab recently? Has it truly complied with your instructions since you issued the ban?"
"It has been checked twice."
Zhai Man is a man of action, and he replied truthfully: "But after those two inspections, I didn't have anyone focus on inspecting this again."
"The laboratory's current research topics are all about food with abnormalities."
Zhai Man thought about the person in charge, then looked at Yu An beside him, and felt uneasy.
He was the one who helped the person in charge to get the position, so if anything goes wrong, it's his fault.
Without informing anyone beforehand, Zhai Man took Yu An into the laboratory.
He had the lab's password, but he never entered without permission.
The door opened.
There were still quite a few people left in the laboratory. When they saw Zhai Man and Yu An coming over, a fleeting look of panic crossed their faces.
"Mr. Zhai, is there anything I can help you with?"
"It's nothing, I just brought some people here for a visit."
As Zhai Man spoke, he led Yu An directly to the various small rooms in the laboratory.
They had barely made a move when someone secretly made a phone call.
"Dr. Peng, could you come here... we still have a batch of goods that haven't been shipped out yet."
"At the speed of their visit, they're bound to be discovered."
"You have to come over."
The phone call lasted for quite a while, and the people in the lab were also accompanying Yu An and Zhai Man.
In each room, someone explains what it is for.
Yu An felt a little annoyed. He frowned and asked, "We can look around by ourselves. Can you please not follow us for now?"
As soon as Yu An spoke, Zhai Man naturally shared the same idea.
The person accompanying them gave a forced smile and said, "Alright, then I won't bother you any longer. If you need anything, just call me anytime."
"Um."
With no one around to disturb them, Yu An lowered his voice and said to Zhai Man, "The aberrant variant that was sold comes from here."
Judging from the reactions of these people and the contents of these laboratories, Yu An was already certain.
He knows the lab all too well.
Back when they were at the research institute, Selina would show him around the Secret Shield.
Selina participated in the testing and analysis of his physical data, and she knew about all the dangerous missions he had taken on in the past.
To this day, he still doesn't know what kind of feelings Selina has for him—whether she treats him as an experimental subject or as a child.
Selina is gone, and he hasn't yet had Erzai examine the things she left behind.
He still has a lot to do when he gets back this time.
"We have not yet found the manufactured variant."
Zhai Man said, "I can only take action if I find concrete evidence."
Seeing this, Yu An whispered to him as they walked, "There are too many people here, I'm afraid it will be difficult for us to walk."
He neglected Zhai Man before he arrived.
For Yu An, this kind of place is easy to come to and leave.
He forgot that Zhai Man was just an ordinary person. With so many people around, he might be fine if something really happened, but he worried that with so many people, he wouldn't be able to take care of Zhai Man.
"Zhai Man, send a message to Wu Zai and ask him to come over."
"good."
Zhai Man lowered his head to edit the message, but a few seconds later, he looked up with a serious expression: "No signal."
His messages simply wouldn't go through.
Yu An: "..."
Yu An's eyelids twitched.
Nowadays, producing and selling mutant strains without authorization is a criminal offense. The scale of the crimes committed in this lab would likely result in at least one or two decades in prison.
But to avoid being convicted, going through such a big trouble... isn't that a bad deal?
Yu An felt it wasn't worth it, but some people were just willing to take the risk.
Half an hour later.