Chapter 147: She Is Dead

Public sentiment was running high. Had someone not held them back, the furious crowd might have rushed forward to tear Mo Niannian apart on the spot.

With a faint, mocking smile, Mo Niannian said, "I've seen too many people like you. Out of ignorance and fear, you try to stamp out everything that exceeds your own comprehension."

"Everything here is my life's blood! It is the culmination of my entire existence!"

"You are terrified, and therefore you rage."

Her words only fueled their fury. Their eyes turned bloodshot, and they longed to destroy her right then and there.

Chants demanding her death grew louder and louder.

Mo Niannian laughed out loud, a wild, unbridled laughter. "So what if I die? These breakthroughs will forever bear my name as the pioneer. History will always have a striking chapter dedicated to me."

She glanced around at the crowd. "And who knows, maybe there will be a mention of you, too."

"Don't waste your breath on her! Kill her!"

If those technologies were truly exposed to the world, no one could predict the consequences.

The greater the unknown, the deeper the fear; no one wished to face such a reality.

In their minds, as long as Mo Niannian was eliminated, these terrifying creations would cease to exist, and the source of their dread would vanish.

The clamor to kill her intensified, and not a single person was willing to grant her a shred of mercy.

Driven into a corner with nowhere to turn, Mo Niannian stood as millions of eyes fixed upon her. At any moment, someone might snap and launch a violent, surging rush forward.

The person in charge could barely withstand the immense pressure, cold sweat beading on his forehead.

His gaze kept darting nervously toward Mo Niannian.

She looked down at the crowd from her elevated position, sweeping her eyes over them one by one.

For some reason, the moment anyone met her gaze, they abruptly stopped speaking, growing too intimidated to hold her eye.

Slipping her hands into her pockets, Mo Niannian declared, "Not a single one of the masterminds behind this will escape me."

A cold smirk played on her lips. "Aren't you terrified of my experiments? Rest assured, I won't leave a single digit of data behind for you."

Her words dropped with the weight of lead. She gave the crowd one final look—a look that would burn itself deep into the memories of everyone present, turning into an endless nightmare haunting countless midnight dreams.

With that, Mo Niannian turned and leisurely walked back into the laboratory.

Before hundreds of millions of watching eyes across the globe, the laboratory exploded violently, instantly reducing everything to ashes.

The people standing closest to the inner perimeter were knocked off their feet by the searing heat wave.

The laboratory was utterly destroyed, and Mo Niannian's figure vanished completely into the roaring flames.

A profound silence descended upon the scene, lasting for several long minutes.

They stared blankly at the sea of ruins.

"Is she... dead?"

"The lab is gone."

"Did we... go too far? Sure, she shouldn't have conducted human experiments, but all things considered, she hadn't actually caused—"

"Enough! How can anyone still defend someone like Mo Niannian? A crime is a crime. Look at them! Weren't those victims innocent?"

Silence reclaimed the crowd. Their goal for the day had been achieved, yet they stood frozen, uncertain of what to do next.

The crowd slowly dispersed, leaving behind a scarred and devastated wasteland where every trace of the laboratory had been obliterated.

The person in charge gazed silently at the ruins for a long time.

Beside him, a man looked anxious. "Clearly, this matter—"

They both knew very well that Mo Niannian had nothing to do with the wrongdoing; she had been a victim from start to finish.

Had it not been for her, the people Jiang Hu had lured back to serve as experimental subjects would have died without a whole corpse left.

With a heavy voice laden with stern warning, the man in charge said, "This was her own choice. From this moment on, forget everything."

Trading Mo Niannian to secure a genius like Jiang Hu was, from a certain perspective, a worthwhile exchange.

He cast one last glance at the ruins and let out a faint sigh.

Mo Ran stumbled in from a distance. Tripping over his own feet, he collapsed flat onto the rubble.

His eye sockets were shockingly red, and his voice trembled uncontrollably. "I must be dreaming. I have to be. How can this be? How?"

"How could my Niannian ever do something like this?"

"How could she?"

"Niannian, Ge was wrong. Ge will never pressure you again."

"Whatever you want to do, Ge will support you. I'm begging you, please don't torture Ge like this, okay?"

"Niannian—"

"Mo Niannian!!"

Mo Ran knelt before the ruins, pressing his forehead against the rubble as he shook with grief, his cries heartbreakingly sorrowful.

How could this happen?

It couldn't be. Niannian must have been angry with him—angry that he disliked Jiang Hu, angry that he reported Jiang Hu—so she was just playing a cruel joke on him.

"Niannian, stop being mad, okay? Come home with Ge. You haven't been back in a long time. Dabai got even fatter; before you left a few months ago, you said it needed to go on a diet. We can supervise it together."

"The narcissus on your balcony has bloomed. I promise I'll never call it ugly again."

"Niannian, please say something to me. I know I was wrong, truly."

"Niannian... I'm begging you... Ge is begging you... I really was wrong..."

*

Jiang Hu felt a restless, erratic fluttering in his chest, beat after beat. For no apparent reason, a wave of unprecedented panic washed over him, suffocating in its intensity.

He called out to the guards, "I need to see my fiancée."

The guard hesitated, his expression unreadable, offering no answer.

Jiang Hu's panic surged, pressing down on him until he could barely breathe.

He grabbed the guard by the collar and hoisted him up. "Where is Mo Niannian? I want to see her!"

The person in charge hurried over. "Jiang Hu!"

Jiang Hu shoved the guard aside and lunged forward. "Where is Niannian? I want to see her!"

No one had ever witnessed Jiang Hu in such a state of panic.

Even with Mount Tai collapsing before his eyes, he had always remained expressionless, but at this moment, he completely lost control of his facial features.

Unsure of how to break the news to him, the person in charge handed him a smartphone.

"This is... what Miss Mo asked me to give you. Take a look."

"What is this supposed to mean? Where is she?" Jiang Hu's eyes were bloodshot, veins bulging visibly across his skin.

An almost suffocating dread enveloped him. He had no idea what had transpired, and he refused to entertain the worst-case scenario.

The person in charge urged softly, "Just watch it first."

He placed the phone before Jiang Hu and turned to walk out.

With trembling fingertips, Jiang Hu tapped the screen to play the video.

Mo Niannian's face appeared on the display.

She fiddled with the phone, adjusting the angle. "Hey, Jiang Hu, can you see this?"

It was her first time recording something of the sort, and she looked rather awkward.

Rubbing her nose, she said, "Well, here goes nothing, I suppose."

She coughed twice, her expression turning somewhat solemn. "Seriously, I told you long ago to tone it down with these things. Look at you now—karma has caught up, hasn't it?"

"Just look outside. The whole world wants you dead. I suppose that's a talent of sorts." Mo Niannian spread her hands. "This time, we're genuinely out of options. There's no way up to heaven and no door down to earth."

"Men may deceive, but heaven does not. There are no airtight walls in this world, Jiang Hu. I never opposed your research, but your mistake was dragging innocent people into it."

"They did nothing wrong."

Mo Niannian paused again, offering a faint smile. "Heh, look at me rambling again."

"Jiang Hu, I don't regret meeting you. Still, I hope that if there's a next time, you won't do this again."

Her eyes curved into crescent moons as she smiled. "I can only bail you out this once. From now on... take care of yourself."

The video cut off abruptly, and Mo Niannian vanished.

Gone completely.

Jiang Hu lowered his head in silence, for a very long time.

Calculating the time, the person in charge walked back into the room.

In a voice so hoarse it was barely recognizable, Jiang Hu asked, "Where is... Niannian?"

The person in charge carefully weighed his words. "She took the blame for everything, and perished along with the laboratory."

"Perished... together."

Jiang Hu repeated the words under his breath.

Concerned for his mental state, the person in charge hesitated for a moment before saying, "Miss Mo would certainly want you to live a good life—"

Another protracted silence followed, so quiet that even the sound of their breathing was distinctly audible.

The person in charge opened his mouth as if to say more, but stopped himself.

After a long while, Jiang Hu spoke again, his voice pushed to the absolute limit of hoarseness.

"I want to go see Niannian."

The person in charge nodded. "Come with me."

The laboratory was reduced to rubble, and everything they had built had been reduced to ashes.

Nothing was left.

Nothing at all.

Their home was gone.

Niannian was gone.

Everything from the past was gone.

Worried about him, the person in charge offered a gentle persuasion, "Miss Mo did this of her own free will."

He glanced at Jiang Hu several times before adding, "Your name has been cleared of suspicion. You're a free man now."

It was the most ridiculous joke Jiang Hu had ever heard in his life.

He tried to twitch the corners of his lips into a smile, but failed to make them move, so he gave up.

Not knowing how else to comfort him, the person in charge simply left.

He bore a share of the responsibility for this outcome as well. He had consented to Mo Niannian's plan—he had agreed to sacrifice Mo Niannian, the victim, in order to save Jiang Hu.

He knew all too well that Mo Niannian was innocent.

Yet, driven by a shred of selfishness, he had agreed. In other words, he was no different from the mob outside.

Jiang Hu stood vigil over the ruins, stubbornly waiting from dawn until dusk.

He waited for a miracle to occur.

Niannian harbored many secrets he knew nothing about; she had even been able to resist his hypnosis. So surely she would return, wouldn't she?

Niannian had promised to stay with him forever; how could she break her word?

How could he let Niannian pay the price for his mistakes?

She would come back. She definitely would.

Jiang Hu stood amidst the ruins, stubbornly waiting for Mo Niannian, just as he had always done.

Just like a traveler in a desolate wasteland waiting for a ship to pull into shore.

He gazed into the distance as the light in his eyes slowly flickered out, sinking into a boundless, endless darkness.