Half-awake, Lyca tried to get rid of the vivid visions from her dream. She stared at the ceiling for a few minutes before letting out a loud sigh. The worse thing about being here is actually the fact that she had no news about the things happening outside of these walls.
Until now, Xu Ke was still keeping her inside this room, alone, without any means of communication or entertainment, not even a radio. In fact, she wouldn't blame him.
In this world, aside from Shen Qui, only Xu Ke knew her well — too well. He never made people get close to Lyca and only stayed a few feet away from her. He was scared that she would attack him.
The slow ringing of the alarm clock made her still. Then she slowly sat up and stared at the door. For a few seconds, she wondered if the person standing behind the door would open it. Was he planning to stare at her all day?
After a few minutes, Lyca stood. "It's almost nine in the morning, meaning she was about to start working. Without saying anything, she took off her clothes, leaving her underwear alone, and walked towards the bathroom that was enclosed with frosted glass. The people outside could see that she was taking a bath and could see her silhouette but they won't be able to see her naked body.
After taking a quick back, she chose some clothes that Xu Ke bought. As usual, it was black and 'boring' or at least that's what Xu Ke said.
Speaking of that man, it had been days since she hadn't seen him. She wondered if he was busy with the chaos outside? She smiled and started humming as she languidly combed her hair. She thought about her plan with that old man Shen and smiled at herself.
Lyca knew that Xu Ke was smarter than her, but that man would never guess that he was just like a ball rolling into Lyca's palm.
"You are irritating."
The moment Lyca walked out of her room, Xu Jihan's voice welcomed her.
"He said I'm adorable." she sized him up. The alarms in her head instantly sounded. Xu Jihan should be here to hurt her. Then she smiled. "I always think I'm cute, though."
"Shut up and walked towards the lab."
She snorted and followed his instructions. Her room is just located next to the lab. Both her room and this lab were considered a forbidden area. No one is allowed to walk even outside of the lab or her room. "Why're you here?" she asked.
"To check your progress."
"Oh," she nodded. Progress. Yes, even Lyca wasn't sure that she would be able to make that creature multiply using poisons. In fact, she was only using her own poison to do it, and she was doing it out of curiosity. "Imagine people doing that. Procreating without sex. Sounds boring to me."
Xu Jihan ignored her words. He snorted behind her.
"But that is not the purpose of this research," she continued, trying her best to make the man speak.
"Why did you stop walking?"
"We're here. If you want to go inside, grab that coat. It will protect you." She used her fingerprint to open the door and walked inside, ignoring him. She then started checking her notes and went to the spot where a lot of beakers with different sizes of creatures freely swim.
"What are those?"
"Things that could kill you." Lyca stopped checking the beakers and eyed Xu Jihan. "You are here to kill me, right?"
She didn't miss the surprise in his eyes. Though he attempted to hide it, Lyca already knew that her assumptions were right.
"Was it his order?" she calmly asked. Xu Jihan was huge, about six feet or five-eleven. Perhaps even six one. He is leaned but muscular, and with their proximity, it would be hard for her to fight him, fairly. Obviously, she wasn't planning to fight fairly. That is simply not in her blood.
"Does it matter?" he frowned. "Your existence is disturbing my plans."
"Plans?" she held a palm towards him. "Are you saying that you are planning to marry him?" Alright, her brains were definitely thinking about something dirty. She immediately blamed her thoughts on the boy's love drama that she watched just before Shen Qui died.
"What is your purpose here?" Xu Jihan ignored her silly question. "Mind tricks won't work on me, Lyca. I am not like him."
She squinted but didn't say anything. "He said he will resurrect Shen Qui," she answered. Obviously, she was really curious about Xu Ke's methods. Even in their previous world, resurrecting that dead is considered a forbidden thing. How could he resurrect someone in a world without magic?
"And you wanted me to believe that?"
She shook her head. "Nope. Not in the least." But she badly wanted him to attack her now. Talking was too tiring. Wouldn't it be good to just go to fighting and end it?
She thought of the movies that she saw and immediately noted that this was the part where the villain would reveal everything that they planned to the protagonist, unaware that the villain would die instead. "I am here to know what you wanted to do with this research," she said. Again, she decided to be honest.
"I don't believe you."
This man is too suspicious. She wondered if he had some sort of confidence issues or childhood trauma. But then again, his suspicions were on point. Too bad Xu Ke was already too deep. Talking to him about her matter would be difficult.
Lyca knew that Xu Ke doesn't love him. She also knew that he wanted something else. And she was slowly giving it to him. For someone like Xu Ke, who grew up cultivating and studying the art of medicine in the previous world, research would be one of the staples for him.
To Xu Ke, Lyca's results were already like a drug.
.....
Mass Release in a few hours. Thanks