Li Hanyu blinked in confusion. Although she couldn’t understand what they were saying, she could sense a deep bond between Professor Zuo Bai and these people, a kind of tacit understanding.

She gave them a polite smile and then turned to walk into the secret passage, forcing Zuo Bai to follow her.

The space inside the walls was suffocatingly narrow.

Rather than a passageway, it felt like a gap left by violently hollowing out the wall structure, unadorned.

The width barely allowed one person to squeeze through, and anyone slightly more built might get stuck.

All of this was fine, but what drove Zuo Bai mad was that this secret passage was obviously hastily carved; both sides were uneven, with protrusions in some places and recesses in others, completely asymmetrical.

It was truly maddening for someone with OCD.

Zuo Bai not only had OCD but also was a severe perfectionist.

He wished he could stop and, even if using his nails, smooth out the wall surface.

He could only force himself to look away, fixating on Li Hanyu’s rear through the fabric, which, by his estimation, was the most symmetrical part of the entire passage.

One step, two steps, three steps...

The tactile sensation of his body, the distance of his stride, the subtle changes in direction, all sensory data compiled in his mind.

"The secret passage has three sections; two above ground, and one extending underground..."

In his mind, he mapped out the structure and direction of the passage, realizing it surreptitiously connected to the villa next door.

Suddenly, light appeared before his eyes as he squeezed out of the secret passage with Li Hanyu.

What lay before him was a bedroom transformed into a high-standard hospital room.

Cold white light poured down from the recessed ceiling lights, illuminating the room in a stark, unwelcoming white.

The air was thick with the pungent and pure smell of disinfectant, overpowering the earthy odor brought by the wall passage.

In the center of the room stood a large fish tank, containing a naked man immersed inside.

Surrounding the tank were life-support machines and monitoring instruments, with multiple screens displaying real-time electrocardiograms, brainwaves, and various physiological parameter indicators.

Zuo Bai glanced again at the three naked women on the floor, the deliberately thickened soundproof walls, and the securely locked door.

With Zuo Bai’s intelligence, combining the scene before him with fragmented information he knew, he could easily piece together Li Hanyu’s current situation, about seventy to eighty percent.

"The one in the fish tank is your son. His consciousness is in a deep coma."

He paused slightly, looking directly into Li Hanyu’s eyes,

"Someone doesn’t want him to wake up. Are you... under surveillance?"

Li Hanyu nodded, not denying or hiding.

At this point, whether she succeeded next or not, if not successful, she’d die with her son.

Zuo Bai’s expression was odd, a dark gleam flashing in his eyes.

He thought to himself, "What a coincidence, her situation is so much like mine."

This thought made him let out an almost inaudible cold laugh.

Of course, he would never feel any pity for Li Hanyu; if there were any emotion, he’d wish nothing good for this mother and son.

He stopped looking at Li Hanyu and stepped towards the wide, metallic cold glow of the medical operating table by the fish tank.

On the table, various surgical instruments, minimally invasive implant devices, high-precision robotic arms, brainwave stimulators... were neatly arranged, exhibiting the cold white unique to high technology.

From cranial drills to nano-scale bioadhesives, intracranial pressure monitors, to chip calibration devices, everything was well-prepared.

Clearly, these things were prepared in advance for the upcoming surgery.

It was remarkable that Li Hanyu managed to prepare all these under surveillance.

Zuo Bai now had absolute confidence. He slightly turned his head, gazing at Li Hanyu’s face full of anxiety and anticipation, and spoke slowly:

"Tell me. How do you want me to wake him up?"

Li Hanyu inhaled sharply, her voice trembling with extreme tension:

"A chip, intracranial implant chip!"

"I’ve consulted, and given my son’s current physical condition, the probability of natural awakening is extremely low, regular medical means are useless."

"Only through an intracranial chip, reconstructing the neural pathways and consciousness connections, can he wake up."

Her speech became faster and more agitated:

"But the surgical risk is very high, only if Professor Zuo Bai performs the surgery is there a chance of success."

Zuo Bai lifted his eyelids, capturing the critical information in Li Hanyu’s words.

He pursed his lips and asked, "Consulted? Who did you consult?"

Who?

Who exactly is harming me?!!

Li Hanyu was taken aback by the question, blurting out:

"I consulted Eternal Life Technology, the main person in charge of the laboratory, it should be your proud student, right?"

She tried hard to recall the name:

"Yes, it was your student named Zhao Jingyi, she very confidently said, only you..."

Zuo Bai’s lips went stiff, almost doubting his hearing, and he repeated word by word:

"Zhao—Jing—Yi?!!"

Zuo Bai almost laughed in disbelief, his anger mixed with a hint of grievance.

As a mentor, I painstakingly completed the cover-up, sparing your life alone, remote-controlling your promotion to give you heavy responsibilities, and you turned around and...

Although Zuo Bai understood that [Destiny] was definitely not brought by his student, it was this beautiful woman in front of him who found a way.

But tracing it back, Zhao Jingyi couldn’t escape responsibility either.

This was too much of a coincidence, if he didn’t know better, one would think Zhao Jingyi was in cahoots with the [Destiny] next door.