Chapter 162 - Something Broke Inside Him

The question-and-answer phase continued, but Chuan Nayi was already quiet. For some reason, she felt rather strange when Qiao Yun mentioned the man who walks through walls. Her heart went erratic for a few seconds before she calmed down. The basic questions were actually asked late, and Chuan Nayi didn't have the mood to listen to them anymore. 'Xiaodan, will you come find me?'

…

Deep breath. Qiao Shan took another deep breath as she walked at the back of her family members. She was thinking of ways to apologize to Li Feng for leaving as soon as he fell asleep. She really wanted to take in and savor the scent on his body, but Qiao Yun called her in the middle of the night to make last-minute preparations. Even if her crotch was begging for more, she had to leave the dream.

How funny. It was exactly how she described her view of movies.

She and her seven more family members walked into the joint bedroom of everyone. Ruan Jin turned in her direction and waited for her to come to her bed that was next to his. The second orientation was done, and everyone was just waiting for dinner. Qiao Shan found Ruan Jin and stared at him like unsure how to speak with him. This was Liu Xiaodan's best friend, and he was close to the other three… not including her.

"Not exhausted from walking? Why are you guys late anyway?" Ruan Jin sat on the edge of his bed and asked her simple questions. This man was used to talking casually with women he didn't find suitable. He only stammered in front of those he wanted to impress—which was the same problem with Qiao Shan.

"Nothing really. We had our own orientation and added pointers." Qiao Shan moved to sit on her bed as well and followed Ruan Jin's gestures for the luggage and the slippers.

"The supervisor gave emphasis to these slippers. Can you imagine? They're a way for them to identify us… if we lost our head. Geez, what the hell was the scare for?" Ruan Jin spoke as Qiao Shan changed to her slippers. He then blinked. "You have… pretty small feet..."

"What?"

Qiao Shan quickly darted her eyes at him, before Ruan Jin waved his hand. "Don't get me wrong. I just wonder how women with small feet wear high heels. I mean, my big sis kept on complaining about her feet being too big—which are actually normal-sized. But her job uniform includes heels so I wonder how because… aren't they too short? How do you wear heels?"

"...I don't." Qiao Shan's eyes flickered. She only wore two inches at maximum. Just like what Ruan Jin said, stilettos are a no-no because her feet are too short. However, the randomness somewhat threw her off. It's just that… even the allotted slipper was too big for her. "I think this is a size bigger than mine."

"I think that's the smallest they have for a.d.u.l.ts..." Ruan Jin twitched and cleared his throat. "Sorry, I just felt like you're the type who would have a hard time connecting with people so I went ahead and acted like we're actually friends. Moreover, Shanyue's thick-skinned face made me believe most heiresses would be like her."

"You're so kind." Qiao Shan giggled. She didn't have anyone else but herself in the Qiao family. She was a botched princess of the main family so the younger generations hated her. She didn't go to school either so she was used to being alone. Conversing neutrally was the most she got, and friendly conversations were very new… and very welcome. She ended up chatting with Ruan Jin for a while before Ruan Jin realized they should find the other two.

Since they were free to leave, Ruan Jin invited Qiao Shan to follow him after they made sure no one would pilfer from their stuff. The two exited the bedroom, and the other Qiao disciples eyed the door strangely.

Ruan Jin had been there before, and yes, this was also the same place they had gone to. The Lodging Hall was pretty much used for the experiment participants. It was so strange for Qiao Shan to see Ruan Jin being greeted by some nurses and staff they saw on the way. One of them even showed them to the bedroom of the RS Moses group. It paid to be someone who could teach nurses how to bypass internet restrictions.

"Yo!" Ruan Jin waved at Li Feng who was rolling Chuan Nayi out of the room. They chatted for a bit, and Li Feng didn't force Qiao Shan to talk to him. They continued to be led around by that male orderly who once messed up his boss's computer which Ruan Jin had to fix while Liu Xiaodan was interviewing the said boss.

"This is the cafeteria. You can actually stay here more if you don't want to feel stuffed in your bedroom." The male orderly led them to one of the tables just so they could smell what's cooking for dinner. "Though I'm very surprised. Seeing Li Feng in the flesh. I read Breakthrough a lot because of uncle's work here."

"You read Breakthrough? Then, the name Liu Xiaodan is familiar to you..." Li Feng twitched at the sudden compliment, but he forgot to address it. That supposed cutting-edge doc.u.mentary was one of the golds of Breakthrough. This orderly should know.

"Yep..."—though the eyes of the orderly somewhat averted from Li Feng's eyes—"I mean, I was the one printing out doc.u.ments for Jin here when they were interviewing Dr. Tang about those studies. When the final product came out, even Dr. Tang was impressed. Liu Xiaodan didn't look like he could do magic, but there it was. It was the first time Cherry allowed one of their studies to be presented outside the facility."

The orderly sighed as he crossed his arms as if he was grumpy. "It's such a shame though. Xiaodan… seemed to have changed. I mean, when the trial was first aired, I didn't think I was looking at the guy who I used to see weekly. His gaze and bearing are different. It's so foreign, I thought Xiaodan had a twin brother. Then… he was sent here to Cherry… I wish I could see him, but we're not allowed to interact with patients.

"Xiaodan felt like one of those very timid people who would hide a broken vase, but the Xiaodan that came here. He's… he's the type who would break a vase, look at it, stare at whoever saw him break it, and then carry on." The orderly hummed. "Let's say… it felt like something broke inside him, and now, he had become way bolder and less caring. I mean, rather than doing things because he wants to help…

"He tends to just do what he likes, and the people from the fourth floor… love him so much for it. It's like… after the trial, he had ditched the glasses and wore the cape for the remaining of his life."