Chapter 129 - 1.5 Million is Not Bad

Yu Mona drew the curtains open and saw the cityscapes from the windows. If she wasn't feeling so grounded, she would think that it was nothing but a dream. She then looked around and took in the sight of her new living room. This house… seemed to be so nice.

She then took a look at her son who just finished putting the bag in their rooms. Ruan Jin felt her gaze and turned to her, and she smiled at her son. She gave no words, but her meaning was so obvious.

"I didn't sell anything, Mom." Ruan Jin sat down on the couch and tried to keep his giddiness from showing. "It's all connected to… Xiaodan. Li Feng here is trying to curry favor from us for personal reasons. It just happened that I'm an easy target and Xiaodan's best friend."

"Hehe, Xiaodan is so far. How did he get dragged in this?" Yu Mona continued to smile. Even if she was not as functional as a normal person would be, she could still feel if danger was lurking around her son. "Does your girlfriend know about this?"

"She does." Ruan Jin stared at her for a while. "Mom, I'll be fine. Our safety, more than anything, is Xiaodan's priority. If Li Feng failed in that aspect, he could never ask for Xiaodan's cooperation in the future. Though I have to admit, he and Xiaodan are the same when it comes to blaming themselves. It's probably in their blood..."

A smile was only Yu Mona's answer. She couldn't come up with any acceptable reasons to stop Ruan Jin… aside from thinking that it's dangerous to be around a criminal. Even if Liu Xiaodan and Li Feng were both not convicted criminals, sticking close to them attracted trouble.

Yu Mona only kept on smiling before looking around. She had a feeling that she couldn't convince her son to step away from them, especially when he already accepted this house. In any case, she should only reap what his son had sowed for her. "Hey, hey, Jin, do you want to try the indoor pool?"

"Ah, sure." Ruan Jin scratched his head. "Let me… let me fill it with water."

…

The oven dinged, and Chuan Nayi rolled her wheelchair to the place to collect her roasted chicken. She hurriedly brought it to the counter before closing the oven door. The woman then rolled to the counter and prepared to cut it up. She kept on trying out some recipes and ended up with the roasted chicken on the day of their visit.

Ruan Jin's and Li Feng's noses picked up the salivating smell, and both felt hungry even if they were not. Ren Shanyue was actually impressed when Chuan Nayi presented a perfect roasted chicken in front of them. The cook couldn't help but smile softly upon seeing the admiration in their eyes.

"Let's eat first before discussing. The food will only grow cold."

After an hour, the dishes were cleared, but they were left with ramekins of creme brulee. Li Feng started by handing them the approved study proposal of the facility and the test subject contract. To Chuan Nayi's relief, it didn't state the yin thing that Ren Shanyue first proposed.

"Despite the last time, I decided to not present myself as an enemy. I just merely made use of all the resources I had and tapped into the ongoing projects of the facility. We might not be able to get into their major programs, but as long as we could enter and stay, we would be able to find Xiaodan.

"Unlike the first plan, our priority wouldn't be taking Xiaodan out of the facility. I discovered something very fishy." Ren Shanyue regarded all three with her eyes. "It seemed that the presiding judge of Xiaodan's case… is aware of these human experiments in Cherry Med.

"The Qiao family moved quickly and claimed Liu Xiaodan for themselves. I don't know if the judge was bribed or simply convinced to let Liu Xiaodan take part in those experiments, but one thing is for sure: his decision is not simply because he thought Liu Xiaodan is dangerous."

"I knew it! Something was odd with that judge!" Ruan Jin gritted and angrily bit on his dessert spoon. "Does that mean we're facing legal matters if we bust him out?"

Ren Shanyue nodded. "Not only that. It also meant that both Wangguan and Cherry had more information about Xiaodan than we thought. The Qiao family must have an insider in the prison and had found out about Xiaodan's abilities. More of them will be in the facility.

"This is why I had to lower myself and ask for help from someone who wouldn't think much about our efforts. Moreover, she was quite very quick to be bought over with Li Yunru's help." Ren Shanyue sighed. "Qiao Shan is going to stay there as well in a special program. I got you guys on board."

"I thought you said that girl is..."

"I know what I said, Jin." Ren Shanyue shook her head. "Desperate times call for desperate measures. Moreover, Qiao Shan is not an intelligent person. Her plans must be pieced together by someone else. If not, then why did it take her this long to step up?

"She's the only direct descendant of the current Qiao family head, and yet she only started getting more power these days. Clearly, the main family of the Qiaos is planning to take advantage of Liu Xiaodan as well. Else, they wouldn't start investing in Qiao Shan.

"That being said… all our goals are aligned. Find Xiaodan in the facility and stay close to him as much as possible. As for the other kind of competition, we'll be on our own." Ren Shanyue smiled at Chuan Nayi, and the latter glared at her. "I'm confident you have your own trump card."

Chuan Nayi avoided the strange and confused gazes of the boys. "I do."

Ren Shanyue only nodded. "Onward to the project. The project I signed you guys up for is called Project Red Scales: Moses and Red Scales: Noah. They seemed to be minor projects in parallel with a major project they are developing. Our main goal is to provide them with data about the paranormal.

"Chuan Nayi and Li Feng had different levels of psychic abilities which fitted their sample size in Moses. Their capabilities to detect and repel the paranormal are needed in their studies. Most likely, they would be playing you two in haunting sites and set some parameters.

"As for Ruan Jin and Qiao Shan, they would be working with the spirits inside them in Noah. I don't know how Cherry could find such people, but knowing that we'd be Qiao territory, I wouldn't think less is expected of them." Ren Shanyue paused to catch her breath.

Li Feng then took this time to speak. "Does that mean…Liu Xiaodan is more likely in Noah?"

Ren Shanyue shook her head. "Qiao Shan confirmed with me that Liu Xiaodan is not participating in any of these projects. My main bet is that they are either keeping it a secret or playing a fibbing game with us and the main Qiao family. Either way, we will know as soon as we get to talk to him."

Silence came from Chuan Nayi as she spaced out before her creme brulee. She would be exposed to haunting sites? Did that mean that her abilities would be sharper at the end of the project? It's not that she minded; it's just that… wouldn't she be able to be in peace if she forced open her sixth sense?

Her grip on her dessert spoon tightened. Ugh, forget it. She's already at this juncture. Thinking about the consequences would be useless if she couldn't do anything about it. At the very least, she would be stuck there with Liu Xiaodan, and she would need her senses to keep her out of trouble.

"Nayi, will you be okay?" Li Feng turned to her, and Chuan Nayi only answered with a nod. He also nodded back at her before flipping through the pages and discussing the confidentiality of the projects. Afterward, he arrived at the test subject contract.

It mostly had the same content as the project contract, but it emphasized more on their duties and responsibilities as test subjects. Apparently, the people of these projects would be staying at a special hall for subjects. A special team of nurses and guards would be looking over them.

What shocked Ruan Jin and Chuan Nayi was the compensation. As Cherry Medical was a mental institution, the long-term effects of their studies and experiments are more massive than a physical injury in case something went wrong.

For that, the families would be receiving a total of five hundred thousand for the first six months of the experimentation. The first two hundred thousand will be paid in the first month while sixty thousand would follow. In case of death due to the experiment, the family would receive a million.

"The figures… they're too big for something so simple." Chuan Nayi then eyed Ren Shanyue. "Are these really their prices?"

"No, I set those prices, and I promise to pay for those prices." Ren Shanyue stared deeply into Chuan Nayi's eyes. "Cherry Medical had ruthless ghost kings inside, and we don't know if we're going to be coming across them. I don't want to say it, but encountering them would surely result in death.

"I am the one dragging everyone to Cherry Medical and placing you people in their hands to freely crush. This is the least I could do."

Chuan Nayi then looked at the contract again. "1.5 million is not bad. If there's nothing else, I will sign this now."

Ruan Jin sighed and agreed as he eyed Li Feng. The latter only nodded and turned to Ren Shanyue. She then smiled a little. "After signing, I will be passing it to Qiao Shan and accompanying her to submit it to Cherry. It would most likely take a week or two before the programs officially start. Make sure you're ready."

…

Qiao Shan was seated on the floor, meditating as she kept on absorbing a black mist from strange crystals around her. After she finished depleting the crystals of their mist, she heard her phone ringing in front of her. She looked down and saw Ren Shanyue's caller ID.

This girl was Li Feng's ex-fiancee and someone very interested in Liu Xiaodan. Whether she regarded Liu Xiaodan as a political super item like Qiao Shan did or not, the latter had no idea. The most important thing was that… she was bringing Li Feng to Cherry Medical.

Qiao Shan picked up her phone and answered the call. "Miss Ren?"

"They all signed it. When are you free?"

"I can meet you right now."

"Great, meet me at this address." Ren Shanyue gave her an address Qiao Shan memorized. "In case you get surprised, Feng and the others are here, too."

"L-Li Feng is there?!" Qiao Shan shot a hand to her mouth and panicked. She then reined herself in and nodded. "Okay, I'll be there." She quickly hung up even before Ren Shanyue could finish.

Her phone was then pressed against her c.h.e.s.t while Qiao Shan felt like all her inner peace went haywire. She then looked at her phone and felt all the heat in her body travel up to her cheeks. "Qiao Shan, calm down. He wouldn't know what she gave you if you don't act weird about it."

She then sat down on the floor again. "I have to stop thinking about him. My mission is to earn Liu Xiaodan and the child."