Chapter 80

As for replicating Light Cones...

Don't even think about it.

Herta had tried, and Ruan Mei had also made a simple attempt.

It was simply impossible.

Unless they could usurp power from an Aeon.

"Forget it."

"I'll think about it later."

"With the current strength of the Wildfire Legion, it's enough to solve many problems."

Lin Qi finished the pastries and stopped thinking about this annoying problem.

However, he did have plans to travel to places rich in Memetic substance to explore.

As for becoming a Memokeeper himself, that was out of the question.

Are you kidding?

Without a body, how much pleasure would be lost?

Collecting his thoughts, Lin Qi looked at Ruan Mei and asked,

"A-Ruan, that matter I mentioned to you before, how... how is the investigation going?"

Ruan Mei stopped what she was doing and didn't speak immediately.

She was even a bit silent.

Or rather, she didn't know how to bring it up.

It was hard to imagine that anything could stump a genius.

It wasn't until she had gathered enough mental preparation that Lin Qi heard a sound that was like a sigh, yet also like an exclamation.

"There's a lead."

"Actually, before you told me, I could vaguely sense it, but that gaze had no malice, and even felt somewhat intimate, and it only appeared during work hours, so I didn't delve into it."

"My dear, I can give you a definite answer: someone has indeed been spying on me for a long time! Day after day, year after year."

Although the two hadn't declared anything, their relationship was very clear.

Precisely because of this, after hearing Ruan Mei's reply, Lin Qi couldn't sit still at all. His brows were furrowed tightly, and he was already considering what tools to use to solve this problem.

There was no way around it.

His romantic interest being long-term spied on by some other entity?

No man could accept that.

After taking in Lin Qi's reaction, Ruan Mei let out a "pfft" laugh.

"My dear, you're really cute."

"You can still laugh?"

Lin Qi glared at Ruan Mei and said, "Judging by what you said, this hasn't been just a day or two, or even a year or two! And you're still sitting there calmly? Fortunately, I don't have the habit of messing around in the laboratory, otherwise..."

Ruan Mei understood what Lin Qi was saying and couldn't help but roll her eyes at him.

In the laboratory?

He really could think of anything.

However, she still explained, "I suspect that the gaze might come from my... grandmother? What a distant term."

Grandmother?

Lin Qi was stunned for a moment.

He had heard a little about Ruan Mei's past.

As for her grandmother, she had lost contact after joining the Genius Society.

Lin Qi had once used his influence in the Genius Society to investigate this matter.

But apart from a file and a few experimental records, he couldn't find any other useful information.

He only knew that the experiment seemed to be related to the Metaverse.

It might have involved a deceased genius, Zhuming.

Come to think of it.

It was precisely because Lin Qi had added a segment of this genius's kin's DNA to his own and optimized it that he was able to discover that extremely tiny trace of an anomaly in Ruan Mei's experiment.

He sensed that there was "something" in Ruan Mei's experiment.

At first, he thought it was one of Ruan Mei's creations, some tanghulu-shaped dog, a crepe-shaped pig...

In short, all kinds of strange life forms could be found in Ruan Mei's laboratory.

But after some searching,

Lin Qi found that it had nothing to do with these creations.

That sense of weirdness came from the laboratory itself.

Or rather, someone was monitoring everything through the laboratory's electronic equipment.

After telling Ruan Mei about this, she began her investigation.

The result was a bit unexpected for Lin Qi.

However, considering the experiments Ruan Mei's grandmother was doing before she disappeared, it seemed somewhat reasonable.

"So..."

"Did our grandmother become a cyborg? Or did she ascend to the Metaverse? A place similar to the Underworld of the Ten-Lords Commission?"

"Or perhaps... she became a Memokeeper?"

Lin Qi voiced his guesses.

And whichever one it was, there was a significant possibility.

Ruan Mei didn't correct Lin Qi's mistake in address, but shook her head and said,

"I don't know either, but it shouldn't be a Memokeeper. My grandmother was a scientist, and a scientist's vocation is to seek the unknown; Memokeepers only record the known."

"Then she ascended to the Metaverse and became something like a cyborg," Lin Qi nodded.

"Maybe."

"What are you going to do after this? Are you going to block out your grandmother's spying?"

Ruan Mei was silent for a moment, then shook her head.

"Nothing. Although I don't know what my grandmother's purpose is in doing this, she definitely wouldn't harm me. Besides, it's only in the laboratory, not anywhere else. Even if those experimental data were leaked, it wouldn't be a big deal."

"Alright."

Lin Qi couldn't say anything more.

But this was indeed very much in line with Ruan Mei's style.

At this moment.

Ruan Mei stood up, stretched her waist, and said,

"Alright, my dear, afternoon tea time is over. I'll be staying in the laboratory tonight; there's some important experimental data coming out."

"Fine then."

Lin Qi nodded helplessly.

Clearly.

He wouldn't be getting any tonight.

Then.

Ruan Mei left the office through the Anywhere Door.

"She's using it more and more proficiently."

Lin Qi couldn't help but mutter.

Not long after Ruan Mei arrived here, Lin Qi gave her an Anywhere Door.

For such a Curio, Ruan Mei naturally wouldn't refuse.

In fact.

This Curio had been a huge help to her.

The biggest help was saving time.

For example.

She had built a biological experimental field on an uninhabitable planet in the Jarilo system.

In the past, she would have had to take a spaceship to get there.