Director Xi glanced at President Cao mildly. “I received the news. Something’s up with Yuan Huan.”
President Cao frowned imperceptibly and said, “Director Xi, have you sent someone to arrest him?”
“Do I look like an idiot? I will never let him know I’m coming,” scoffed Director Xi. “He has been keeping a low profile as a senior researcher in the academy for eight years. Someone must have made him do it.”
“What are you planning to do about it?” President Cao looked at him as he spoke.
Director Xi walked up to the couch and sat down. He asked instead of answering. “Is he at the academy yet?”
“I’ll check.” President Cao walked over to the side and used the landline.
“Uh huh,” acknowledged Director Xi.
Director Wang pondered for a couple of seconds before he walked up to the couch and sat down across from Director Xi. “Director Xi, since we have new leads, does this mean you can release Lei Xiao?”
Director Xi opened his eyes. “Not yet. We haven’t caught Huo Yulin yet, so we have to continue investigating all possible suspects.”
“To be honest, Huo Yulin is not in the country at the moment.” Director Wang told him about the conversation he had with President Cao this morning. “Since this research project involves other countries and it’s top secret, I can’t give you more details.”
“Oh really? Did he happen to go abroad again?” Director Xi did not believe in coincidences.
Director Wang smiled. He retrieved a piece of paper from his briefcase unhurriedly and handed it to Director Xi. “Here are the immigration records proving he is not in the country. I suggest sending your men to check it thoroughly.”
Director Xi paused briefly before taking the document. A few seconds later, he pressed the mike on his collar and uttered a string of numbers to his subordinate.
Director Wang lowered his eyes upon hearing this.
In reality, Director Wang did not know if the immigration records were legitimate. After he agreed to help Huo Yao, she sent him these documents first thing in the morning.
Before long, Prof Gao rushed into the office after receiving a call from the landline.
He glanced at Director Xi and nodded politely before he looked at President Cao in disbelief. “President Cao, did Yuan Huan really steal the research archives?”
President Cao acknowledged softly, “Uh huh. A portion of the surveillance footage from that night was recovered, so Yuan Huan is now a key suspect.”
Even though he was not 100% sure, he knew it was probably Yuan Huan.
Prof Gao automatically defended Yuan Huan. “We were together discussing work all night. When we went to the laboratory, we happened to run into the intruder and he even fought the guy.”
“What if they were colluding with each other?” President Cao glanced at Prof Gao.
“Even if it was collusion, it makes no sense for him to destroy the research…” Prof Gao paused mid-sentence as he spoke.
When the medical solution was destroyed, Yuan Huan did not react as agitated as the other professors. Shortly after they discovered the academy research archives were wiped out, he offered to lend them his personal notes.
After reading the notes, he had a feeling there was something different about them. Since he was focused on trying to recreate the medical solution urgently, he did not think deeply about the matter.
Thanks to the notes, they were able to recreate the medical solution successfully. Also, Yuan Huan suggested they use it on human test subjects immediately. However, the effects of the new solution were clearly different from their previous testing.
In hindsight, the more Prof Gao thought about it, the more suspicious he felt.
