Half an hour later.
Quentin completed the formalities, helped her go through the process, and took her to a visiting room. He raised his hand and pointed to the clock on the wall. He said in a deep voice, "You have 15 minutes to meet. If you have anything to say, say it as soon as possible. Don't ask questions that you shouldn't ask. There are surveillance cameras inside."
"OK."
The girl lazily walked inside, but stopped halfway, tilted her head slightly, and spoke softly without looking back.
"Thanks."
Quentin snorted: "You actually said thank you to me."
The girl chuckled: "I take it back?"
Quentin was too lazy to chat with her, and said solemnly with a straight face: "I am not helping you. The Sixth Continent and the Hidden World Family cannot become partners. You have the courage to go against the Sixth Continent, and I am happy to see it happen. I am just giving you a push."
"Oh, so it's for the hidden family." The girl's eyes were jagged, and her tone was a little regretful: "I thought you did it for Xu Yi."
Quentin narrowed his eyes with danger in them, but then he suppressed them and turned them into helplessness: "He... has his own ideas. I can't control him."
Quentin was injured in his early years and had long lost his fertility.
Xu Yi is his only son, but he is not on the same page with him. He is unwilling to return to the secluded family and insists on staying in the First Research Institute.
And yet I trust her.
"Sometimes I wonder what drug you gave him. He refuses to walk the path I paved for him and insists on soaking in those bottles and jars."
"He pursues different things than you do."
"Hmph, pursuit? He's just too young and has never suffered..." Quentin's face darkened as he thought of something here and he couldn't continue.
There was no way Qiao Nian could tell him about the ‘Fader’ and the ‘things’ hidden in Ji Qing’s USB drive, so she waved her hand and stopped talking to him.
"I'm going in."
Quentin watched her push open the door to the visiting room and disappear into the room.
… When Qiao Nian entered, he saw that the room, which was less than ten square meters, only had a table and two chairs. On one of the chairs sat a man with a tense and haggard expression.
She walked over, pulled out the chair opposite and sat down, placed her hands on the table, and spoke first to break the quiet atmosphere in the visiting room.
"Hello, Dr. Zhou, I'm Qiao Nian."
"you… "
Zhou Xuxing was still wearing the clothes he was wearing when he was taken away. He hadn't taken a shower or changed his clothes for several days. His hair was a mess and his clothes were wrinkled like pickles.
Fortunately, his eyes were still clear, but the skin under his eyelids was dull and his lips were a little chapped and dehydrated.
“Are you from China?”
Of course he knew that Qiao Nian was from Country Z. Qiao Nian's black hair and black eyes were enough to explain everything. However, Zhou Xuxing did not expect that the first person he was allowed to visit would be such a young girl.
He thought it would be a domestic lawyer or someone with a slightly higher status.
Qiao Nian's age doesn't seem like someone who would appear here.
"How did you get in?"
Zhou Xuxing was really curious.
"They allowed you to see me?"
Qiao Nian leaned back in his chair, raised his eyes, and interrupted him to ask a question: "We don't have much time, can I ask the questions and you answer them?"
“…” Zhou Xuxing was stunned.
She then explained: "I am the person sent from China and I am the person in charge of your case this time. You can trust me completely."
Zhou Xuxing was half-believing and half-doubting, and secretly made up his mind that if Qiao Nian asked him sensitive questions, he would avoid answering or just brush aside the questions.