However, to her surprise, Sheng Chenjin received a call midway, and his expression became somewhat grave.
Shi Xinxin seized the opportunity to ask, "Did something happen?"
Sheng Chenjin didn't hide it from her, "Mm, the branch company suddenly had some accidents. It's probably due to poor management by the lower-level staff."
"I've heard recently that many companies have ill intentions and plot against their competitors. Why don't you go to the company and take a look? What if the issues at this branch company spread to the head office one day?"
Shi Xinxin carefully observed Sheng Chenjin, secretly praying that he would go this time. She desperately needed some alone time to investigate the secret of this phone!
Sheng Chenjin hesitated for a moment. His worries were entirely focused on Shi Xinxin. He turned to look at her, and her eyes seemed to be filled with starlight, full of confidence in him.
"Alright, I'll go take a look then, and weed out the parasites in the company."
He cautioned, "If anything happens, you must contact me immediately. Don't take risks alone, understand?"
Shi Xinxin thought of the matter she was hiding from him and about to do, feeling a bit guilty.
She nodded heavily, agreeing.
Sheng Chenjin was still uneasy about her. He escorted Shi Xinxin to her doorstep and only drove away after watching her figure enter the garden.
The next second, once she was sure he was completely gone, Shi Xinxin slowly walked out, cautiously looking around.
She immediately headed directly towards a certain direction.
"Sis, why did you suddenly come over? What have you been busy with lately?"
The moment the door opened, Feng Yu was filled with surprise to see Shi Xinxin, whom he hadn't seen in days.
He had heard that Elder Feng was missing and had used several tracking methods, but all were in vain.
Feng Yu had intended to inform Shi Xinxin of this news, but he unexpectedly found that she seemed to have vanished from the face of the earth; he couldn't reach her at all, and there was no trace of her.
"I got a clue about Elder Feng, and I've been investigating these past few days, so I forgot to check my messages," Shi Xinxin said, looking a bit tired.
Without further ado, she took out the phone from her pocket and handed it to Feng Yu. "This phone has a secondary password set by the owner. Can you unlock it without resetting it to factory mode?"
Seeing that Shi Xinxin had clearly gone through something, Feng Yu's expression also darkened slightly.
He flipped through the phone and didn't ask where it came from. His initial assessment was, "Unlocking the password shouldn't be difficult. However, if the owner of this phone set a dual password, when we unlock it on this end, the phone's owner will receive a Bluetooth notification on their end."
This was undoubtedly a risky move that could expose them.
Shi Xinxin's already bad mood worsened, but at the same time, it further confirmed one thing: this phone truly held secrets, making it worth Yan Hao's efforts to protect his privacy with so many layers.
She hesitated for only a few seconds before nodding affirmatively, "Just as you said, no matter what method you use, you must unlock this phone."
Even if Yan Hao found out, what could he do? He couldn't possibly find her instantly, nor could he erase her memories!
Feng Yu acknowledged and efficiently took out tools from his box, connected the phone via Bluetooth, and began the decryption on the computer.
Dense blue and white text filled the computer screen, a complex combination of intricate code. Shi Xinxin understood these, and her mood became even worse.
As Feng Yu had said, unlocking such a password was easy. In less than half an hour, he had unlocked all the content on the phone.
When he handed the unlocked phone back to Shi Xinxin, he noticed her extremely poor complexion and slightly trembling fingers, as if she was afraid of something.
"Sis, what's wrong? Are you feeling unwell?" Feng Yu immediately became anxious.
Shi Xinxin suppressed her racing heart and forced a smile, "It's nothing. Perhaps seeing the answer so suddenly has made me a bit nervous."
The fear in her heart was so minuscule that it was almost imperceptible. Of course, Shi Xinxin didn't want to admit to this emotion.
She shouldn't be feeling this way just before seeing her lost memories.
Shi Xinxin's trembling hand pressed the power button.
The phone's flashing light also seemed to be the only color in her eyes.
The sky was gradually painted with rosy hues, merging with the horizon. A gentle, warm breeze seemed to weave an invisible net over the entire city.
It felt suffocating.
Shi Xinxin stared intently, her fingers scrolling down the screen, reading piece by piece.
Her heart, which had held a glimmer of hope, was utterly extinguished when she scrolled to the very bottom of the messages.
The messages between them began from the day they met in the secret passage.
—Yin Xue: What is going on? How can you be Number 3?
Yan Hao: I didn't expect you to be Number 7 either. It's normal you didn't recognize me when I was tortured into that inhuman state.
Yin Xue: What about Xinxin? What happened to her? Why did she lose consciousness and faint as soon as she heard that word?
Yin Xue knew very well that Shi Xinxin was not someone who would be scared by such an experiment. Then there was only one other possibility: Shi Xinxin had also experienced or witnessed this inhumane torture.
But Yin Xue clearly remembered that she had never seen Shi Xinxin during that period.
Everything, it seemed, only Yan Hao knew.
Yan Hao: Xinxin is, in fact, Number 1.
Yin Xue: How is that possible? Was she really in that experiment?
Seeing the words "Number 1," Shi Xinxin understood. She closed her eyes slightly, her heart feeling heavy and scattered by the wind.
It was replaced by an endless darkness.
Shi Xinxin never imagined that she too was a test subject in the human experiments!
No wonder those strange yet familiar, fearful yet evasive memories had been haunting her. It turned out these were from her own subconscious fear!
Shi Xinxin's eyelashes trembled.
Then, for what reason, her mind was completely blank regarding her time in the experiment! What exactly happened to her in that terrifying laboratory...
Shi Xinxin dared not think further.
"Sister? What's wrong? Why are you sweating so much on your forehead?" Feng Yu's worried voice came from outside.
Only then did Shi Xinxin manage to pull herself together. She blinked, stiffly touched her forehead, and indeed, it was covered in sweat.
"Thank you for today. I'll be leaving now," Shi Xinxin held back the urge to break down on the spot and hurried away with her bag.
"Hey, sis! Don't hide anything from me!"
By the time Feng Yu reacted, he could only see Shi Xinxin's hurried back disappearing at the stairwell.
The wind blew away the stray hairs around her ears, unnoticed by Shi Xinxin. She walked on, like a walking corpse, her mind on the verge of collapse.
Not just darkness, but also those memories that were undeniably hers, yet she was powerless to reclaim them.