Chapter 13: Proposal

At the restaurant Kai S. Gao frequented, even after ordering Miomi Guo’s favorite dishes, she remained sullen.

"Still upset about the thesis?"

"No!" Miomi Guo turned her head away.

"You can’t be willful. The bottom line for a scholar is academic integrity. Whether the thesis is good or bad doesn’t matter—it needs to be your own work." Kai S. Gao tapped the table earnestly.

"Fine, fine! Then I’ll just have to consult Dr. Zhong more often!" Miomi Guo still tilted her head and pouted.

"I could guide you too, you know."

"No need. You should spend more time fiddling with your slime molds!"

Miomi Guo picked at her food half-heartedly before making an excuse to leave, leaving Kai S. Gao alone and helpless.

For the next ten days or so, Miomi Guo remained resentful. Fortunately, she spent every day immersed in Dr. Zhong’s lab, so Kai S. Gao wasn’t particularly worried.

During this period, Dr. Zhong still hadn’t provided feedback on the thesis, and the inability to apply for new projects left Kai S. Gao without sufficient funding to conduct comprehensive research. He could only use the lab’s existing equipment for minor tasks, resulting in slow progress.

The only breakthrough seemed to be identifying that the extra suspicious gene fragment originated from mold. Unfortunately, the slime molds failed to adapt to these genes, ultimately leading to necrosis.

As for the mechanism by which the slime molds captured these genes, it remained unknown.

During his spare time, he had completed preparing the surprise: a magnificent artwork composed of slime molds lay dormant in an incubator at low temperatures.

It depicted a seaside scene—Miomi Guo’s favorite bioluminescent beach. The blue light emitted by the algal blooms resembled the Milky Way pouring into the ocean, gently undulating with the waves, ethereal and dreamlike.

But Miomi Guo had never been lucky enough to witness this spectacle in person.

Fortunately, the lab had blue fluorescent agents, allowing this beauty to be recreated in another form.

Kai S. Gao hoped Miomi Guo would be moved by his meticulously crafted surprise, as he considered it the most romantic gesture he could conceive.

After leaving the lab, Kai S. Gao coordinated with Tao Hsu and several colleagues to act that evening.

They would handle the romantic roses and background music.

And witness everything.

As usual, Kai S. Gao dragged Miomi Guo to dinner. Miomi Guo wore a bitter expression and complained, "What kind of experiment is this? It’s so hard to do!"

Then she glared reproachfully at Kai S. Gao. "And you never help me!"

"I can guide you. Biology is an experimental science—you must master the basic skills," Kai S. Gao replied with a smile, sticking to his usual rhetoric.

"If that’s the case, will your name or Dr. Zhong’s be listed as the thesis advisor in the end?" Miomi Guo snapped, shoving a piece of meat into her mouth and chewing aggressively.

Kai S. Gao chuckled, finding her angry demeanor oddly endearing.

"By the way, will you still go to the lab tonight?"

"Of course."

"But I can’t walk you home tonight. A buddy’s coming over, and we’re grabbing drinks," Kai S. Gao said with feigned seriousness.

"Go ahead. Enjoy yourself. I’ll just suffer through the experiments alone," Miomi Guo muttered, her lips puckered in a pout.

After the meal, Kai S. Gao escorted Miomi Guo back to the lab before hurrying off to finalize his preparations.

Soon, night deepened.

Kai S. Gao met up with Tao Hsu and others who had excused themselves from the lab, hiding in the dimly lit stairwell as they awaited the upcoming romantic proposal.

"Right now, only Junior Sister Guo and Dr. Zhong are on this floor. No one else will disturb us. Later, we can even ask Dr. Zhong to be a witness!" Tao Hsu snickered.

"Did you leave without raising suspicion earlier?"

"Relax!"

Suddenly, his phone rang. Seeing it was Miomi Guo calling, he hastily covered the phone and retreated into the shadows.

"Kai, have you left yet?"

"On the way, stuck in traffic now," Kai S. Gao replied as calmly as he could, suppressing his excitement under Tao Hsu and the others’ smirking gazes.

"Take your time. Remember to call a designated driver when you return," Miomi Guo urged with concern.

"Don’t stay too late yourself."

"Got it!"

After hanging up, Kai S. Gao took a deep breath and prepared to sneak back into the lab to retrieve the artwork. But just then, the lab door creaked open. Following the hissing sterilization sounds, Miomi Guo stepped out and ducked into the changing room.

"Leaving?" Kai S. Gao’s heart sank. It was still early—maybe he could intercept her and take her to his own lab. Though this deviated from the plan, it might still work.

But not long after, Miomi Guo reappeared, still in her protective suit—though seemingly a different set. Just as Kai S. Gao assumed her original suit had been damaged, prompting the change, Miomi Guo strode directly toward Derek Zhong’s office.

She pushed the door open and slammed it shut behind her.

Suspicious, Kai S. Gao emerged from the shadows and crept closer.

What he witnessed next would haunt him forever...

The institute’s aging offices had doors with small glass panels. Through it, he saw two entangled figures—or rather, Miomi Guo clinging to Derek Zhong’s body.

“Little minx, why didn’t you take off the hazmat suit? Forgotten the lab’s biosafety protocols?” Derek Zhong straightened his posture, his tone mockingly affectionate yet revolting.

“This is a fresh set! I changed on purpose!” Miomi Guo squirmed slightly.

Derek Zhong tugged at the loose back of Miomi Guo’s suit, causing the front to tighten abruptly, revealing her full curves and two rounded breasts.

“Nothing underneath?”

“Heh, didn’t notice, did you? I wasn’t wearing anything from the start—even when the seniors were around earlier.” Miomi Guo pressed her face against Derek Zhong’s fleshy ear. “Isn’t this more thrilling than last time, when we did it while calling Kai?”

“Haha, too thrilling!” Derek Zhong planted slobbery kisses with his thick lips across Miomi Guo’s smooth face, leaving glistening trails of saliva.

Next, Derek Zhong’s hands grew restless, and Miomi Guo’s gaze turned hazy.

"Dr. Zhong, what should I do about my graduation thesis~? Mmm~…"

"Hehe, let me share some good news. I submitted Kai S. Gao’s paper to Nature under my name. They’ve already accepted it—it’ll be published next month. You’re the second author."

"Second author on Nature! Dr. Zhong, I love you so much!"

"Then you’d better repay me properly."

"But what about Kai?"

"I’ll trash his research as worthless. Given his pride, he’ll toss the paper into the trash himself. Or I’ll claim it overlaps with my own work—he won’t have a leg to stand on!"

"Dr. Zhong, you’re so wicked!"

"But isn’t that what you love about me?"

A tearing sound followed, and pale flesh was exposed as the two entangled, writhing like maggots on rancid fat.

Soon, lewd moans echoed through the hallway.

Kai S. Gao stood there silently, as if he no longer existed in this world. Only after the sounds from within ceased over ten minutes later did he leave without a word.

In this single night, everything familiar to him had changed. He even wondered if he had suddenly crossed into a parallel universe—his jasmine-pure lover and respected mentor vanishing simultaneously.

His entire world had collapsed.

Kai S. Gao numbly walked away. At the stairwell corner, Tao Hsu asked in confusion, "What happened? Is Dr. Zhong reviewing Junior Sister Guo’s lab notes?"

"Academic exchange. No proposal tonight."