Chapter 49: BOOM!!

Although it was just a faint hunch, Zhou Mo felt there was an eighty percent chance he wouldn’t get away this time.

The encrypted research data by Liu Tianyou was definitely the same missing research file Xia An had mentioned earlier, the one she was investigating.

“What kind of cursed luck is this…”

Zhou Mo scratched his head and placed his hand on the fingerprint scanner of the safe. Soon, the safe clicked open, revealing a single USB drive inside.

Brainy cautiously entered the safe first, ensuring there was no danger before handing the USB to Zhou Mo.

Now, Zhou Mo faced two pressing questions: how to get out of here, and what to do with the evidence once he left.

“The videos can’t be left behind…”

“Could Brainy destroy everything here?”

Just as Zhou Mo pondered, the television mounted on the wall suddenly turned on again.

On the screen, Liu Tianyou was seen putting Brainy back into his head, the wound on his forehead visibly healing at an astonishing rate.

He looked into the mirror and spoke to the camera: “The main door will unlock in 30 seconds. Don’t worry about the evidence here being discovered by others. Thirty seconds from now, the Tianyou Research Center will initiate its self-destruct sequence. In three minutes, this place will be engulfed in flames.”

“If it wasn’t you, Xiao Mo, opening this lab with my eye, then it means Xiao Mo is dead—my plan has failed. But that’s okay; without Xiao Mo’s fingerprints, no one can leave this lab.”

“So here’s my advice: either leave quickly or prepare your last words.”

Click!

“Countdown: three minutes…”

The door behind them swung open once more.

Zhou Mo and Brainy were stunned.

Brainy scrambled out of the safe, jumped onto Zhou Mo’s head, lifted the cover, and crawled inside. Without hesitation, Zhou Mo pocketed the USB and dashed out of the secret laboratory without looking back.

“Damn Liu Tianyou!”

“Are you a scientist or a terrorist?”

It took Zhou Mo thirty seconds to finally escape the Tianyou Research Center. However, with two guards still stationed at the entrance, he feigned calmness, controlled his breathing, and stepped out from their blind spot.

The guards, seeing him so soon after he entered, sighed helplessly. “There was nothing inside, right? I told you already.”

Zhou Mo nodded casually, “There wasn’t much, but I did find something.”

“I’m going to call the City Guard to confirm. I suspect the City Guard who came earlier might have been an impostor.”

The guards were taken aback. “Impossible!”

But Zhou Mo had no time to explain and quickly moved away to call Xia An.

“Hello? What’s up?”

Xia An felt a bad premonition the moment she saw Zhou Mo’s call—almost every call from him meant overtime for the City Guard.

She answered with little patience.

“Did the City Guard arrange for anyone to come take photos and collect evidence today?”

Xia An frowned, thinking it over. “No, I don’t think so. The headquarters is still handling the Brain-Eating Demon case. Besides, if photos and evidence were to be collected, it would have been done long ago—not at this hour.”

Then Zhou Mo’s stern voice came through the phone: “That’s the problem. The guard told me that before I arrived, someone claiming to be City Guard came here to take photos and collect evidence. After I entered, I found that person had also gone into the secret lab you mentioned and completely messed the place up.”

Hearing this, Xia An sat up straight. “Really? Hold on—I’ll bring people over to collect evidence…”

Boom!

Before she could finish, a violent explosion erupted through the phone.

Xia An jumped out of her chair in shock.

“Zhou Mo! Zhou Mo!”

“Hello?!”

She called out repeatedly but only heard crackling sounds, as if the phone had fallen.

Damn it!

Why couldn’t anything just go smoothly?

Just as Xia An was about to rush over with reinforcements, Zhou Mo’s coughing echoed from the receiver.

*Cough, cough!*

“Hmm…”

“Captain Xia, I think you need to bring the fire department.”

Xia An’s eyelids twitched violently. “Hold tight!”

…………………………………

When Xia An arrived on the scene with firefighters, the two guards behind Zhou Mo let out deep breaths of relief.

Xia An glared at the ruins of the Tianyou Research Center, grit her teeth, and approached Zhou Mo. “What the hell happened?”

Zhou Mo shrugged innocently. “How should I know? I just came to check for clues. It’s not like I blew up the research center.”

Xia An’s blood pressure soared. Why did wherever this damned Zhou Mo appeared, trouble followed?

Was he possessed by the Grim Reaper?

Well, at least no one died this time.

But damn it—the research center exploded!

That was a bigger problem than any death!

If a few people had died, the City Guard could still try to cover it up. But with the Tianyou Research Center blown up, there was no way to buy off the trending topics!

Hurriedly, she ordered her team to try to contain the fire and looked at Zhou Mo despairingly. “I’ve already taken those two guards for questioning. Did you find any clues?”

Although the Brain-Eating Demon case was closed, those involved knew the truth was far from resolved. The real mastermind was still at large.

To Xia An, this explosion was undoubtedly the culprit destroying evidence, likely something critical in Liu Tianyou’s secret lab.

Zhou Mo shook his head but pulled out his phone, showing photos of footprints he’d taken.

“I couldn’t open the secret lab door, but I did snap some pictures of the perpetrator’s footprints.”

Liu Tianyou’s involvement was too sensitive to reveal to Xia An, so Zhou Mo had to pin the explosion on the Brain-Eating Demon case.

Xia An suddenly perked up and snatched the phone to examine the pictures.

“Looks like the person who caused this explosion is a male, about 1.8 to 1.85 meters tall, medium build, and probably over 24 years old.”

She reached these conclusions in just a glance. Zhou Mo stared at her in surprise. “You can tell all that just from footprints?”

If anyone else said that, Xia An might have been proud. But since it came from Zhou Mo, she just rolled her eyes. “What’s the use? Might as well just try your luck.”

“You should stop running around. At this rate, the City Guard’s manpower won’t be enough. If you don’t have anything else to do, maybe help us with some cases?”

Zhou Mo had been considering that too. But before anything else, there was one thing he needed to confirm.

“Captain Xia, what did you do with my brother’s body?”

If the Brain-Eating Demon only took Liu Tianyou’s brain, then Liu Tianyou might not actually be dead.