DLWAV CH54

Soon, the entire Qianshi University knew that Zhang Ruize, an electrical engineering major nearing graduation, had switched to researching biochemistry.

Not because Zhang Ruize was particularly famous around campus.

Mainly, it was because his research topic actually concerned the effects of meteorites on the human body—

One had to remember that Great Yang had sent samples of those meteorites to over two hundred and thirty countries around the world back then. In the end, scientists across the globe arrived at a single conclusion: those meteorites were truly just ordinary stones. Furthermore, their texture was far too porous; never mind using them for construction, they weren’t even fit to level the corner of a table.

Yet Zhang Ruize still intended to research those meteorites.

Did he think he could be more capable than all the scientists in the world combined?

Besides, it was said that in just a few days, Ao Ruize had gone through dozens of catties of datura, tripterygium wilfordii, raw arsenic, monkshood… every single one of which was toxic.

If Shen Xinghui and Xue Jiazhi hadn’t been safe and sound, everyone would have thought Ao Ruize switched to biochemistry solely to formulate poison to assassinate them both.

Naturally, the news reached the ears of Shen Xinghui and Xue Jiazhi before long.

Shen Xinghui’s brows furrowed for a brief second.

In his previous life, Zhang Ruize had never touched the biochemistry field; all his achievements and glories were attained in electrical engineering.

So he had no idea whether Zhang Ruize would succeed this time either.

Still, he knew that even if Zhang Ruize did succeed, it wouldn’t hinder him.

After all, relying on his earlier research achievements, he had already secured a government-funded slot to study abroad.

Furthermore, relying on memories from his past life, he recalled that in July, the younger son of the municipal deputy police chief would suffer a sudden leg cramp while swimming in the river with friends, ultimately drowning to death.

So the very first thing he had done after his rebirth was learn how to swim.

Then he waited by the riverbank like a hunter waiting for a hare, pulling the deputy chief’s younger son out of the water.

With this connection, even after his father Shen Weijie’s boss was arrested, his father still managed to retain his job at the museum. He had even leveraged this relationship to get his mother into the textile mill as an accountant.

In fact, with this connection in place, he could have saved his father’s boss as well.

Yet he chose to stand by and watch coldly. He believed that if not for that boss, his father wouldn’t have gone to prison, his mother wouldn’t have been forced to marry Zhang Jianguo, and he wouldn’t have had to hold back his disgust to kiss Zhang Jianguo’s feet for over a decade just to gain a foothold in the Zhang household.

That did not mean, however, that he could tolerate Zhang Ruize making a name for himself.

Most of all, for some reason, he felt a faint unease in his heart.

Because deep down, he had a premonition that Zhang Ruize would become the greatest stumbling block on his path to fame.

At this thought, he turned directly to Xue Jiazhi and said, “I hope Ruize can succeed this time. Otherwise, if this continues, I’m afraid he really won’t get a government-funded slot to study abroad.”

Hearing this, Xue Jiazhi’s face darkened as expected.

Because he wanted a government-funded slot to study abroad too.

Preferably to the same university as Shen Xinghui.

So he absolutely could not let Zhang Ruize produce any results.

With this in mind, he immediately followed up, “Though Zhang Ruize is nowhere near your level, his talent isn’t something to sneeze at. Since he dared to pivot to biochemistry at a time like this, it means he definitely has absolute certainty.”

“So you don’t need to worry too much about him.”

Shen Xinghui nodded in satisfaction: “That’s true.”

And so, that night after the dorm lights went out, Xue Jiazhi slipped out of the dormitory building once again.

“Did you think changing the lock would stop me?”

Xue Jiazhi sneered under his breath, skillfully pulling out a length of iron wire.

With his father being a locksmith, he had grown up immersed in the trade; what lock couldn’t he pick?

Before long, with a soft click, the lock gave way.

The next second, he slipped right into Ao Ruize’s laboratory.

Unlike his previous visits, however, the layout of the lab had undergone a massive overhaul—bottles and jars were strewn everywhere, making it impossible to tell which reagents belonged to Ao Ruize’s experimental samples.

“Whatever.”

Xue Jiazhi casually picked up a bottle of reagent, uncapped it, and began pouring it into the other reagent bottles.

Right at that moment, a pattering sound suddenly came from outside the door.

His hand trembled, and the chemicals from the bottle spilled directly onto the hand holding the other container.

He barely dared to breathe, staring fixedly in the direction of the noise.

Fortunately, after a short while, he heard the mewing of a cat from that direction.

It was just a cat.

Xue Jiazhi let out an instant sigh of relief.

“Damn cat.”

Only then did he realize he had accidentally spilled the chemical on his own hand.

Seeing no obvious reaction on his skin, however, he didn’t take the matter to heart. He casually flicked the liquid off his hand, and even after noticing that a large splash had landed on his clothes, he didn’t care at all.

He picked up the pace, and in no time, dumped all the reagents in his hands into the other containers.

Then, moving even faster, he slipped out of the science building.

At almost the exact same moment, back at the Zhang household.

Ao Ruize opened his eyes at once.

Yet he made no move. He merely smiled faintly, raised a hand to pull the blanket over the Little Milk Dumpling sleeping soundly on its back beside him,

and then went right back to sleep.

The following day, when Shen Xinghui saw Xue Jiazhi again, he noticed that the boy’s eyes were bloodshot and he looked terribly ill.

Shen Xinghui discreetly kept a two-step distance from Xue Jiazhi: “Do you have a cold? Do you want to check in at the infirmary?”

“No need,”

Xue Jiazhi replied in a raspy voice.

Going to the infirmary meant spending money. Next month was Shen Xinghui’s birthday, and he wanted to save up enough to treat him to his favorite Western cuisine.

Besides, nine times out of ten, he had caught a cold because he got caught in the rain on his way to sneak into the lab last night. Upon returning, he had been so busy daydreaming about Principal Li handing him the government-funded study abroad slot once Zhang Ruize failed again—letting him accompany Shen Xinghui abroad—that he forgot to change out of his soaked clothes.

At this thought, he chalked up yet another grievance against Ao Ruize in his heart.

“Alright then.”

Shen Xinghui breathed a sigh of relief; he had no interest in nursing Xue Jiazhi anyway.

The only thing left was hoping Zhang Ruize wouldn’t notice too quickly that his samples had been tampered with again.

That way, wouldn’t the chances of the experiment failing be even higher?

Fortunately, things turned out just as he hoped. One day passed, then two days passed, and Zhang Ruize never once noticed that the reagents in his lab had been manipulated.

It seemed Zhang Ruize’s talent truly was limited to electrical engineering.

Shen Xinghui’s mood grew brighter by the day.

Who could have guessed that right at this moment, the dorm supervisor burst in: “Professor Chen, something’s wrong! Xue Jiazhi… Xue Jiazhi seems to have gone into shock!”

“What?”

Everyone in the classroom shot to their feet.

Principal Li was alerted as well.

“What happened?”

Looking at Xue Jiazhi, pale and breathing faintly on the bed, Principal Li asked as he hauled him up onto his back and sprinted outside.

Professor Chen: “I’m not entirely sure either. I only know that this morning, Xue Jiazhi asked his roommate to request a leave of absence for him, saying he felt unwell and wanted to rest in the dorm for the day.”

Xue Jiazhi’s roommate, Chen Ji, spoke up immediately: “That’s right.”

“This morning we noticed he was running a terrible fever. We offered to walk him to the infirmary, but he refused, so we found some fever-reducing medicine for him…”

The dorm supervisor hurried alongside Principal Li, helping steady Xue Jiazhi: “Chen Ji reported it to me when he left the dorm this morning, so I went to check on his room just now, only to find Xue Jiazhi already unconscious.”

…

Fortunately, the hospital was close at hand.

The doctor rushed over immediately.

“A fever?”

He examined Xue Jiazhi thoroughly inside and out: “Bleeding gums, respiratory failure…”

“Could it be… run a blood test on him first.”

A dozen minutes later, the test results came back. The doctor announced: “It really is mercury poisoning.”

“And his kidney function is already showing signs of failure. Quick, get him into the emergency room!”

Hearing this, the nurse rushed Xue Jiazhi into the ER in a panic.

Meanwhile, only two words echoed in the minds of Principal Li and the others: “poisoning.”

Right after, a student who had tagged along blurted out almost instinctively: “Xue Jiazhi really got poisoned.”

“Could it really have been Zhang Ruize’s doing?”

Principal Li: “What?”

The students promptly relayed all their speculations to Principal Li.

Principal Li: “…”

“If it were you, would you be stupid enough to poison Xue Jiazhi when everyone on campus knows there’s bad blood between you two?”

Yet the students actually replied: “If I were in a fit of rage, it wouldn’t be impossible.”

Principal Li and the teachers: “…”

Principal Li instructed immediately: “Old Zhao, Shen Xinghui, you two stay here to watch over Xue Jiazhi. The rest of you come with me to find Zhang Ruize.”

After all, one could never be too cautious.

The dorm supervisor agreed at once: “Understood.”

Shen Xinghui nodded as well.

His mood brightened even further.

If this truly was Zhang Ruize’s doing, the guy was utterly finished this time.

Even if it wasn’t, this mess would be more than enough to give him hell.

Principal Li and the others hurried back to campus.

Yet they searched from the classrooms to the dormitories, and from the dormitories to the cafeteria, without catching a single glimpse of Ao Ruize.

“Could he be in the laboratory right now?”

Without pausing for breath, they rushed straight toward the science building.

Hearing from the building guard that Ao Ruize was indeed inside his lab, they ran upstairs, found the door shut tight, and slammed it open without hesitation.

“Zhang Ruize?!”

To their shock, bursting through the doorway, they saw Ao Ruize driving a syringe needle straight into his own arm. Most crucially, every drop of the solution in the syringe had already been plunged into his vein.

Someone shouted out: “Is Zhang Ruize committing suicide out of guilt?!”

Principal Li and the others: “…”

Ao Ruize: “…”

“Stop—”

Principal Li and the teachers charged forward, intending to restrain Ao Ruize.

Who could have anticipated that in the very next second, a blinding burst of white light flared from Ao Ruize’s body.

Principal Li and the others cried out in alarm, throwing their arms up to shield their eyes.

Fortunately, the white light vanished as quickly as it came.

They lowered their arms at the first chance: “Zhang Ruize?”

Yet there was no longer any trace of Ao Ruize before them.

Normally, this wouldn’t have been enough to make their jaws drop completely.

Except, right where he had stood, a dragon had appeared.

A real dragon!

Golden all over!!

Human-sized!!!

Most remarkably of all, it had five claws!!!!

The dragon looked itself up and down, then remarked: “Looks like the experiment was a great success.”

And the voice sounded unmistakably identical to Zhang Ruize’s.

Principal Li and the others: “…”