“Not yet.”
Yvette refused flatly.
“I’ll patrol the zone first.”
The smile on Nielai’esi’s face faded a little.
“Starting from the High-Risk Zone?”
“Mm.”
“In such a hurry?”
“I don’t like to waste time.”
When she said that, her tone was still calm, without any hostility.
But Zhou Zhou, standing to the side, inexplicably felt that this sentence was even more frightening than the earlier “We’re running out of materials.”
Nielai’esi glanced at the passboard in Zhou Zhou’s hand, then looked in the direction behind her.
“You’re going to see Mang Yi?”
“Yes.”
“She’s not some small project suitable for a diversion on your first day.”
“I’m not fooling around.”
“Then you’re serious.”
“Yes.”
Nielai’esi nodded slightly, his tone still sounding very gentle.
“Then I have to remind you, she’s currently under my charge.”
“You can look, but don’t touch.”
Yvette finally showed some reaction.
She lifted her eyes to look at him.
“Are you telling me what to do?”
The road to the High-Risk Humanoid Zone was much quieter than before.
The metal walls were thicker, and the lights were brighter. Embedded in the walls were red electronic locks and observation ports, like a row of silent eyes.
Along both sides of the corridor, at intervals, there were sealed doors, each one glowing with cold light.
The deeper they went, the more Zhou Zhou dared not speak, even unconsciously lightening his breath.
It wasn’t until a huge transparent containment wall appeared in the field of view ahead that he stopped.
“S-Supervisor, we’re here.”
Behind the containment wall was a very empty room.
There were no desks or chairs, no extra facilities, only pure white walls and floor. Cold light fell straight down from the ceiling, leaving the person inside with nowhere to hide.
She stood at the very back.
Black hair, a blindfold, and several pairs of black wings folded and hanging behind her shoulders.
Her figure was slender, her posture straight.
She didn’t look at the people outside the door, only tilting her head slightly, as if uninterested in everything outside.
Zhou Zhou quickly added in a low voice.
“Codename Mang Yi, High-Risk Humanoid Individual, currently under direct management of Supervisor Nielai’esi’s project team, Mental Contamination Rating —”
Yvette didn’t listen to the rest.
The moment her gaze landed on the person behind the containment wall, her heart suddenly gave a heavy thump.
She stood there, for the first time not speaking immediately.
The woman behind the containment wall seemed to sense the gaze and finally turned her face slowly.
Her eyes were mostly covered by the black blindfold, revealing only the cold lines of her lower face.
That face had no emotion; the corners of her mouth were even pressed down slightly.
Very cold.
Very hard to approach.
And very familiar.
Ridiculously familiar.
Yvette stared at her for a few seconds, and suddenly only one sentence remained in her mind.
‘It’s over.’
‘This one probably really is…’
Before she could think further, the woman behind the wall had already turned her face back, as if even one more look at her was too much trouble.
Zhou Zhou spoke cautiously.
“Mang Yi is like this usually, doesn’t really pay attention to people.”
Yvette finally moved.
She stepped forward two paces, stopping in front of the containment wall, separated from the person inside only by a layer of cold, transparent material.
“Open the authorization.”
Zhou Zhou shivered.
“Huh?”
“Transfer her to my laboratory.”
She said it very naturally, as if saying, “Put this file on my desk.”
Zhou Zhou was dumbfounded.
“S-Supervisor, this isn’t compliant…”
“Not compliant?”
Yvette tilted her head to look at him.
Zhou Zhou shrank his neck under her gaze, then immediately looked at Nielai’esi, his eyes full of pleading for help.
This time, Nielai’esi finally wasn’t just watching the show.
He stepped forward, still wearing that very polite expression.
“Yvette, this is no ordinary specimen.”
“Mang Yi is one of the most important projects on my end right now. The assessments and observation records haven’t been completed yet.”
“And she’s unstable, not suitable for a casual transfer.”
Yvette didn’t look at him.
Her gaze still fell on the woman behind the containment wall.
The other party still wore that cold demeanor of not wanting to talk to anyone, not even moving the tips of her wings.
But the more she was like this, the more Yvette felt that feeling of being hooked sinking deeper into her heart.
This person, she wanted.
She turned her face and looked at Nielai’esi.
Her gray eyes were calm, and her voice was still flat.
“Before, you valued her.”
“Now I value her too.”
Zhou Zhou stood to the side, feeling like he was caught between two heavy machines about to collide, not even daring to breathe too loudly.
On one side was the new supervisor, who had just arrived at the base, looked like a minor, but opened her mouth to say “Transfer her to my laboratory.”
On the other side was Nielai’esi, the current head of the High-Risk Humanoid Project at Abyss Base, who smiled at everyone usually but could triple a person’s workload behind their back.
‘Great.’
‘Each one is more abnormal than the last.’
Nielai’esi spoke first.
“Yvette, I have to remind you once more.”
His tone was still gentle, and the slight smile on his lips hadn’t changed.
“Mang Yi’s current containment room is custom-made. The observation angles, suppression circuits, environmental parameters have all been individually adjusted according to her condition.”
He raised a hand, gesturing toward the room behind the containment wall.
“This isn’t an ordinary specimen you can just take away.”
Yvette nodded.
Nielai’esi paused.
That “I understand” was too calm, so calm that it was hard to continue.
“So?”
“So, it’s not easy to transfer.”
He switched to a more direct statement.
“Forced transfer is too risky.”
Yvette acknowledged with a sound, her face without any fluctuation.
“I see.”
Zhou Zhou on the side had already started feeling embarrassed for her in advance.
‘Probably about to give up?’
‘Also, after all, on the first day here, trying to snatch someone, it was a bit…’
Then he heard Yvette continue very naturally:
“Then you just leave, isn’t that fine?”
Zhou Zhou: “?”
Nielai’esi: “Ah?”
The cold air in the corridor seemed to pause for a moment.
Yvette stood still.
“Since the room is hard to adjust, then don’t adjust the room.”
She lifted her eyes to look at Nielai’esi.
“You go to my office, and give up your office and research area.”
Zhou Zhou’s scalp tingled.
‘Can you negotiate like this?’
He had originally thought this was about snatching a containment subject.
It turns out the new supervisor’s meaning was—
The subject, the room, the project area, the office—I want it all.
Even the land was conveniently carved over.
This time Nielai’esi couldn’t smile.
The polite template-like gentle expression on his face faded a little, revealing a hint of genuine scrutiny.
“Are you serious?”
“Do I look like I’m joking?”
Yvette retorted.
She wasn’t tall; standing in this high-risk zone corridor, she even looked a bit too small.
But somehow when she spoke, there was always a strange sense of pressure.
Not by volume, nor by presence.
It simply made people feel that the words she said were best not taken as a joke.
Nielai’esi looked at her for a few seconds, then suddenly laughed again.
“This doesn’t seem like you’re simply interested in an anomalous individual.”
“Then what does it look like?”
“Like grabbing.”
Yvette nodded.
“Then you can understand it that way.”
She admitted it too frankly, which actually choked Nielai’esi so that he didn’t know how to reply.
Zhou Zhou stood to the side, already planning how to write the first sentence of his suicide note.
‘Mom, today I witnessed a territory-grabbing scene at the supervisor level.’