Wen Er looked at him as if he was looking at a scary monster.
The only thing that could be used to threaten Luo Ran was the data in his thesis that was intercepted and tampered with by Luo Ran's parents.
Laymen cannot distinguish these, and do not know which situations only require contacting the journal to correct errors and withdraw the paper, accept some criticism, and bear corresponding responsibilities, and which situations violate academic ethics and should be severely punished.
Luo Ran is too easy to control. In his mind, his parents are the most powerful and smartest scientists in the world.
Luo Ran had no idea that no one would even bother to question his parents' minor research papers - only papers published in S-level journals that were important enough and directly linked to administrative level transfers and research funding applications were worth questioning.
…For example, Wen Er’s papers.
Wen Er's thesis is entirely based on the data collected by Luo Ran.
Wen Er felt as if his throat was strangled. He was sweating profusely and could not care about anything else. He tried desperately to recall the thesis he had been working on for four months.
He didn't notice it at the time, but now looking back, he found that the writing of that paper went exceptionally smoothly. The data was highly consistent with the needs, and the writing became smoother and smoother, and each paper was easy to handle.
If Luo Ran had the personality of "Pu Ying" at that time, if the data given to him was problematic, if those data were deliberately guiding him, or even guiding the entire scientific research -
"Don't worry, there's nothing wrong with other people's papers."
Pu Ying said calmly, "Those scientific research teams should not be implicated by you... The database on the terminal contains data that I uploaded, and it is true and accurate."
"As long as the standard process is followed and the data is adjusted according to regulations, anyone can produce a correct paper."
“… But who told you not to do that?”
The phantom "Pu Ying" tilted his head. Through his sweat-soaked forehead, he met Wen Er's flustered eyes: "Director Wen, do you remember what that paper is?"
Of course Wen Er remembered.
He wanted to expand his personal laboratory and had to publish sufficiently valuable papers, but the surface of the electron storm had been studied almost to the point of exhaustion.
Wen Er took a shortcut.
He asked Luo Ran to enter the middle area of the electronic storm for detection and send the data directly back to him, and at the same time deleted all records in the database.
This operation requires temporarily unlocking the database's protection system, exposing the terminal to a certain risk, but he has to do it - the middle layer of the electronic storm is much more dangerous than the surface layer, and it is a red line that the Science Department strictly prohibits explorers from touching.
Wen Er is very good at finding loopholes. His explanation for the source of the data in the paper is that "the detector used a homemade instrument in violation of regulations. The instrument was destroyed by an electronic storm and briefly touched some areas of the middle layer and sent back some relevant data."
… This explanation is certainly acceptable.
"Of course this explanation makes sense."
As if knowing what he was thinking, Pu Ying continued slowly: "But we can't rule out another possibility. For the paper, you made up a set of data... and then made up a story for this set of data."
Pu Ying said in a low voice: "Fabricating data, falsifying papers, academic misconduct..."
Wen Er shouted: "Shut up!"
Wen Er's career and efforts over the years have been in the General Research Institute. He knows the consequences of this crime better than anyone else. His eyes are bloodshot: "I didn't do it. I can prove it myself-"
His voice stopped abruptly.
Without even bothering to refute, "Pu Ying" had already quickly realized something.
In order to prove that these data are not fabricated, Luo Ran must appear in person to testify for his thesis.
But once Luo Ran was allowed to testify, it would expose the illegal fact that he asked the detectors to enter the middle area.
This is an inescapable logical dead end.
As long as anyone questions his thesis, this dead end will be triggered. Digging deep into the root, it may even reveal that he had violated the rules by unlocking the database protection system and exposing the terminal...
Wen Er stood still.
He suddenly connected the whole clue.
He couldn't utter a word. His whole body felt as if it had been pierced by an icicle, and all the blood in his body had frozen into sharp ice chips.
If he moved even the slightest, the ice chips would penetrate his blood vessels directly.
… He forgot the most fatal thing.
Four months ago, he deleted data once in violation of regulations.
When he violated the rules by unlocking the terminal protection and deleting the data, it was just a common violation that was also common in other scientific research institutions.
It had been so long that even the investigating agents didn't bother to go through tens of thousands of operating records to find an unmarked violation.
The terminal of the General Research Institute has not been illegally attacked for many years.
It took Wen Er less than 10 seconds to delete that piece of data. He didn't think that these few seconds would be noticed by anyone.
That terminal has been encrypted and strictly protected for many years, so any attack would be in vain.
How come a hacker had the sudden inspiration to record the data of the terminal at that time, took advantage of the moment when he violated the rules, and after lying dormant for four months, suddenly stole half of the data
…How come
Wen Er looked at the personality hidden in Luo Ran's body. Fear finally appeared in his eyes, and he slowly loosened his hand that was holding Luo Ran's collar.
It was clearly he who imprisoned Luo Ran and he who closed all of Luo Ran's channels for seeking help.
It was obvious that he was the one who destroyed Luo Ran from the very beginning. Watching Luo Ran's personality disintegrate and collapse bit by bit, he made Luo Ran his own.
He didn't mind letting Luo Ran escape, his parents were his eternal Achilles' heel, and it was impossible for Luo Ran to escape on his own. Luo Ran would sooner or later understand that if he ran away once, he would be destroyed by him more thoroughly.
He thought it was foolproof enough and that Luo Ran would no longer have any chance of resisting.
He had never imagined that such a new and terrifying shadow of unknown substance would appear inside Luo Ran's body.
…
But how did this shadow, with his own hands, tear open the last crack of the shackles, and with just a few light pieces of data, trapped him in a dead end with no way out
Wen Er stood there in a daze, covered in cold sweat.
It was not until the piercing life-level monitoring alarm sounded that he was brought back to reality.
Luo Ran's body lay motionless on the experimental bed.
Without saying anything else that would drive him crazy, his eyes closed at some point, the alarm sounded shrilly, and Luo Ran's body stopped breathing.
In his haste, he made a mistake and injected Luo Ran with an overdose of sedative, then forcibly woke Luo Ran up.
All these have exceeded the limit that Luo Ran's body can endure. The appearance of "Pu Ying" has obviously accelerated the speed of this collapse.
"No... You can't die!"
Wen Er rushed over. He was already a little flustered. He laid Luo Ran's body flat and pressed his chest hard: "You have lived! You have to be alive to testify for me. You can say that the data you gave me is true..."
"Master Wen!"
A stern shout came from behind him, and someone rushed over and held him down tightly: "What are you doing?!"
Wen Er was restrained by someone and struggled desperately: "Didn't you see that he's already dead?"
Wen Er clearly heard the alarm sound of Luo Ran's heart stopping. He turned his head stiffly, his expression dazed and ferocious: "I'm saving him, he can't die, he can't die now... He has a life, I want him to live..."
The people who rushed in looked at each other, frowned, and pressed him harder against the metal cabinet containing medicines.
Wen Er couldn't break free from the strong grip. He gasped, his hot face pressed against the iron cabinet, and he shivered violently.
The vision behind my eyes gradually became clear.
Wen Er was dizzy for a few seconds, and suddenly his eyes widened in shock.
Luo Ran curled up on the hospital bed.
There was a man protecting Luo Ran tightly. It could be seen that Luo Ran was not in good condition. His clothes were torn apart by him, his face was as white as snow, and his body was shaking slightly.
Luo Ran is trembling, Luo Ran is alive.
"Pu Ying" had disappeared. Luo Ran was helped to lie down. He was too weak and could only answer a few questions before he fell asleep again soon.
Someone was tidying up Luo Ran's clothes, and the medical staff was monitoring Luo Ran's physical data with the instruments in the observation room.
The data were not good, but every item proved that Luo Ran was just malnourished and lacked good care, and his life was not in danger for the time being.
The piercing vital signs monitoring alarm just now seemed like an absurd and bizarre illusion.
Wen Er's eyes widened in fear.
…
Yu Tang returned to the sea of consciousness.
The system held up a 24-channel stereo speaker, had just turned off the alarm that was playing repeatedly, and walked over happily: "Host! We—"
"It's not over yet." Yu Tang said, "Quick, where is my kind-hearted poor student?"
system:"… "
system:"?"
“Yes.”
Yu Tang: "Give me the basic data and I'll change into the clothes of a scientific researcher."
System: “…OK.”
Yu Tang pulled the computer from his sea of consciousness and started typing rapidly.
Wen Er was not wrong in his guess. The Pu family suddenly called him on video not only to apologize to him, but also to listen to his latest research progress on Pu Ying's illness.
Pu Sicun was commissioned by the military.
Many years ago, when Wen Er had just started doing research on electron storms with his mentor, an accident occurred.
At that time, people's understanding of electron storms was very rudimentary, and the research was judged to be high-risk, so the military was responsible for protecting the safety of researchers. The result of that accident was that an entire special operations team of the military fell into the electron storm.
Shortly after the accident, Wen Er published his first paper.
Based on a large amount of detailed basic data, that paper systematically analyzed for the first time the subtle differences in the frequency of residual electron pulses after humans were caught in an electron storm.
This discovery greatly advanced the Ministry of Science's research on missing person identification systems, and Wen Er himself was invited by the research institute directly under the Ministry of Science for this paper.
"The military has always had objections to this matter... especially from the families of the victims."
The system just learned the details and reported to Yu Tang: "They have been complaining, believing that Wen Er deliberately concealed the predicted trajectory of the electronic storm, which indirectly led to the possibility of the special operations team being sacrificed."
The system said: "They suspect that Wen Er had confirmed the electronic storm at the time, but did not give the military's special operations team a timely warning."
Yu Tang had already finished changing the poor student's new look. He pressed the temporarily generated confirmation button and bought a bottle of Erguotou from the mall: "Is there any relevant plot in the original novel?"
"Yes." The system said, "It has not been confirmed yet... Without any evidence, the Science Department is more inclined to believe that this was an accident."
System: "In the second half of the original novel, Luo's father appealed everywhere for Luo Ran, and was not secretly killed by Wen Er, which was also because he received the secret support and protection of the military."
But this time, the theft of the terminal database triggered a series of subsequent changes.
Pu Ying returned to the imperial court and applied to the security department for further investigation authority, but it was not approved. However, it attracted the attention of the military.
Pu Sicun suddenly contacted Wen Er to give Wen Er a chance to get proof and promise that could convince the military.
Yu Tang: "He didn't realize that Wen Er had completely messed up the whole thing."
"Yes." The system said, "No one has any reason to stop the military this time. Those who rushed in just now were all special operations teams of the military."
Yu Tang was distracted. While listening to the system's report, he controlled the temporarily generated poor researcher, found a cup, and poured Erguotou into it.
"They didn't take action immediately, but there is evidence that Wen Er is trying to harm the electronic storm victims shown in the video."
The system said: "They have emergency action rights and rushed in to rescue the host. The iron-clad stool legs we prepared were not intact... Host?"
System: "Host, what are you doing?"
The system quietly reminded Yu Tang: "Host, we can't just poison the protagonist to death..."
"Don't poison me, just give Wen Er some wine to drink."
Yu Tang: "Make sure the alcohol concentration in his body is greater than or equal to 200 mg per liter... If you don't want to help, I will do it myself."
system:"… "
Its host doesn't care about many things, but there are some things that, once offended, can easily lead to serious problems.
For example, being questioned about work ability and professional skills.
With the help of hallucinogens, Yu Tang turned into "Pu Ying" in Luo Ran's body. When he was confronting Wen Er, the system took the time to go back and check the information of Yu Tang's affectionate spare tire department.
The original protagonist who dared to question Yu Tang’s professional ability had his ancestral family company acquired by Yu Tang. He started from the bottom and is now only 4.9 million away from an annual salary of 5 million.
The system quietly landed on Yu Tang's shoulder, and to be on the safe side, it cautiously turned off its speaker.
…
In reality, Wen Er was handcuffed and under close surveillance.
The military was not as cautious as the Security Department and did not conduct any polite inquiries or investigations. They reported Wen Er's mental condition to their superiors and directly searched Wen Er's personal laboratory.
Wen Er was unable to move. The bone-chilling coldness of the handcuffs gradually calmed him down.
He looked at the figures rummaging through the drawers and cabinets, and closed his eyes tightly to calm himself.
… The military couldn’t do anything to him.
As early as the beginning of the investigation team, he carefully inspected the chief researcher's personal laboratory and dealt with all hidden dangers.
The paper experimental records had been destroyed long ago, and the computer key was very safe. No one could open it except him. To force the crack, he only had to start the program and delete all the contents on it.
Even if there are problems with the data in the paper he published, as long as no scientists raise doubts, nothing will go wrong for the time being.
The military had no arrest warrant and could only detain him for an hour at most. Once the military lifted their control over him, he immediately contacted the journal and requested that the article be retracted.
They said it was a mistake, and after checking they found that the data sent back by those instruments were wrong.
He was already very promising in the field of electronic storms, and someone would definitely take the opportunity to criticize him if something went wrong this time. But he just made an unintentional mistake, and those papers were just normal academic discussions... How could academic discussions not make mistakes
Wen Er tried his best to blink away the cold sweat that trickled into his eyes.
The shadow was meant to disrupt his mind and leave him no time to think about more important things.
He had to finish it as soon as possible. How to explain the bloodstain on Luo Ran's wrist, how to explain that he took the initiative to show a shabby and shabby clinic room during the video call... How to explain that he almost pressed Luo Ran to death.
These behaviors are illogical.
It was precisely because his logic was illogical and it seemed like he was deliberately framed that the military was temporarily unable to do anything to him.
Wen Er was thinking desperately, his mind was in a mess.
…Who is framing him
Who wants to frame him, who can frame him
The shadow hidden in Luo Ran's body? But that shadow was restricted by Luo Ran's body and couldn't come out. How could it do these things
Wen Er was trying desperately to see clearly, the cold sweat made his vision a little blurry, he blinked once, then he found someone standing in front of him.
Judging from his attire, he is a researcher at the Chief Scientific Research Institute. He is young and looks unfamiliar, with a cup in his hand.
Wen Er calmed down and said in a hoarse voice, "What's the matter?"
"They said you were thirsty." The young researcher lowered his eyes. "Would you like something to drink?"
Wen Er frowned.
He was not familiar with the researchers below him and might not have met all of them, so it was not surprising that he did not recognize their faces.
But this tone... he felt familiar.
The young researcher showed him the cup in his hand.
Wen Er didn't notice it at first, but when he looked at the transparent liquid in the cup, he suddenly felt the dryness and burning in his throat.
He had broken into too many cold sweats and had talked too much with that illusory "Pu Ying", and now he was indeed extremely thirsty.
Wen Er's throat had already started to smoke. He still felt something was weird, but he swallowed it unconsciously.
The young researcher looked at him and put the cup to his lips.
Before Wen Erxi could react, a strong smell of alcohol rushed into his chest, making it feel heavy.
Wen Er raised his head and shouted: "—"
As soon as he opened his mouth, the choking strong-proof liquor went straight into his mouth.
The cry for help seemed to be swallowed up by something strange. For the first time, Wen Er experienced the fear and helplessness that arose in the suffocating state when Luo Ran was locked up in the empty villa and "disciplined" by him using those methods.
The hot liquor burned its way down my throat.
Wen Er's consciousness gradually became dim, and he tried his best to figure out whether something else had been put in there - but soon, he understood why it had to be alcohol.
Only alcohol can complete that logic.
He is drunk.
This was the excuse Wen Er used to fool Luo Ran at the beginning—he was drunk and his mind was not clear, so he did something wrong to Luo Ran and mistook Luo Ran for Pu Ying.
Now, this loan was completely given to Wen Er himself.
He was drunk and not in his right mind.
He used handcuffs to forcibly take Luo Ran back home from the hospital.
So he exposed the dilapidated clinic during the video call.
So after he sobered up a little from the shock, he hung up the call urgently, hacked Pu Sicun's cell phone, and brought Luo Ran back to the main research institute... He was drunk and unconscious, and even thought that Luo Ran had lost his vital signs.
Wen Er's body went limp, and he slumped in the chair, his grey eyes filled with despair.
Even if the Wen family personally stepped in, it would be impossible to protect him from such a serious scandal.
This was just the beginning. When he lost his position as the head of the General Research Institute, he also lost control of the entire General Research Institute. Everything that had been covered up was uncovered one after another and exposed to the light of day again.
The Ministry of Science could no longer side with him despite the pressure from the military. Once he was dismissed... he couldn't think of the more likely and more serious consequences.
Wen Er closed his eyes in despair.
Whatever the truth of the matter is.
He will never be able to find any excuse or defense to make others believe that he is innocent.