Villainous Scientist (11)
Jiang Qianyu found herself between a rock and a hard place.
She had recently been abusing concoctions to stimulate her body’s potential to present as an Alpha, but these substances were not entirely stable and had taken a toll on her health. Additionally, emotional turmoil and getting caught in the rain had triggered a flurry of chronic conditions within her, causing Jiang to develop a fever.
When Song Xuyi found Jiang Qianyu, she was in the middle of adjusting the formula that could change an Alpha into an Omega. After observing Song Xuyi for some time, Jiang Qianyu had removed several unstable components from the concoction, ensuring that the transformed Alpha would completely turn into an Omega.
Just like Song Xuyi, when Jiang Qianyu immersed herself in her favorite activities, she would concentrate wholeheartedly. Lost in her experimental research, she utterly ignored her physical discomfort and the passage of time outside, determined to perfect the formula as soon as possible.
She remembered what Zhou Sui, the Omega who had once saved her, had mentioned in passing: that there were many Omega underground organizations within the empire that the Emperor considered a major thorn in his side. With her drug, it would be tantamount to giving wings to a tiger for those organizations…
Had Jiang Qianyu not followed Song Xuyi to Blue Star, she originally planned to join those organizations.
But Jiang Qianyu never expected Song Xuyi to come looking for her. When she met Song Xuyi’s gaze, an endless panic surged in her heart: how would Xuyi view her after knowing she could research drugs? Would she suspect that it was her who caused her to become an Omega? Would she still pay her any attention in the future…
The hatred that sustained her research instantly dissipated, and Jiang Qianyu was anxious to explain. As she moved, a wave of dizziness swept over her, and in her frantic cleverness, she knocked over the drug and completely lost consciousness—
In a tumultuous dream, Jiang Qianyu experienced the trials and tribulations of her life.
Jiang Qianyu was a member of the Jiang family, a household that had been engaged in medical research for generations and was an authority in the field, producing countless geniuses. And Jiang Qianyu was a genius among geniuses.
But perhaps as the saying goes, “Heaven envies the talents,” Jiang Qianyu was born with a strange illness, requiring her to hibernate for a month every year. Despite exhausting all means, her family could not cure her of this bizarre affliction.
When Jiang Qianyu was born, her father was competing for the position of Marshal of the Empire. To prevent political adversaries from attacking the Jiang family by leveraging Qianyu’s illness, her existence was concealed from the public. As her father’s status gradually stabilized, Qianyu demonstrated a tremendous gift for research. The Jiang family had precedents of outstanding Omegas whose talents were wasted after being forced into marriage, so the family planned to continue hiding Qianyu’s existence until she differentiated. When Qianyu differentiated into an Omega at the age of sixteen, in order to retain this ‘genius among geniuses’ and to ensure her future freedom in research, the family decided to hide her existence forever…
These decisions were made only after consulting with Jiang Qianyu.
Jiang Qianyu herself didn’t feel aggrieved by any of this. However, owing to a sense of guilt regarding the matter, the Jiang family spoiled her immensely. Even the most stern and strict great-grandfather in the family was willing to lay down his cane to serve as a horse for her to ride… Objectively, this cultivated in Jiang Qianyu a nature oblivious to the complexities of human relationships and worldly affairs.
The Jiang family was desperate to cure Jiang Qianyu’s strange illness; what no one expected was that it would be Qianyu herself who ultimately cured it.
As a genius among geniuses, Jiang Qianyu had developed her first drug at the age of eight. By the time she was under sixteen, she had researched and developed several drugs. When Jiang Qianyu discovered a drug to cure her own narcolepsy, the Emperor in secrecy tasked the Jiang family with a mission: to develop a drug that could enhance the combat abilities of Alphas.
Marshall Jiang was wholeheartedly devoted to his country, believing that such a drug could better safeguard the nation and assist humanity in winning the battle against the Insect Race. Thus, he convinced the Jiang family’s elder to accept this task.
To thoroughly cure her narcolepsy, Jiang Qianyu needed to take the concoction and hibernate in a cryo chamber for three months. However, the Emperor ordered the Jiang family to develop this drug within a year, and with Jiang Qianyu being the backbone of the research effort, she had to temporarily set aside her cure for narcolepsy and prioritize the Emperor’s request.
By the end of the year, a significant battle erupted between the Insect Race and the Imperial Star. Two days before the war, Jiang Qianyu finally managed to urgently develop this drug, though it still had some flaws, it could be deployed for emergency use.
The Jiang family handed over the formula of the drug to the Emperor. With the Alpha enhancement potion prototype in existence, Jiang Qianyu considered solving her narcolepsy as a 17th birthday gift to herself. After developing the drug, she lay down in the hibernation capsule.
Jiang Qianyu never expected that her 17th birthday gift, in addition to thoroughly resolving her narcolepsy, would also bring the news of the total annihilation of her clan, except for herself.
She woke up in the home of an old servant.
With tears streaming down his face, the old servant told Jiang Qianyu that two days prior, Marshall Jiang had died for his country. Even earlier than that, the entire Jiang clan had been wiped out by the insectoid race…
The Insects determined whether humans were alive based on their life force. In the cryogenic chamber, Jiang Qianyu’s vital functions had almost ceased, and she was heavily guarded by the Jiang family and placed in the most secret underground laboratory. By a twist of fate, she survived and Marshall Jiang secretly rescued her, bringing her to the old servant’s home.
“Survive and carry on the hope of the Jiang family!” These were the last words her father left to Jiang Qianyu.
During that time, Jiang Qianyu didn’t know how she had come through it all.
Jiang Qianyu even thought of death, but sometimes choosing to live is more difficult than dying, because the old servant repeatedly told her—her father died to protect her, to conceal her existence.
The massacre of the Jiang family was shrouded in mystery. The Insect Race had bypassed the commonly used interstellar routes and taken a lesser path to the Jiang family’s planet—a path that was an emergency escape route reserved by the Empire, known to no more than 50 people in the world.
And yet, the Jiang family was no more, Marshall Jiang had lost his strongest support. He would inevitably be unable to contend with the person who wanted him harmed. Instead of being a thorn in that person’s side, constantly watched and possibly even leading them to discover the existence of Jiang Qianyu, Marshall Jiang decided to take the initiative. He sacrificed himself in exchange for the name of a heroic martyr to divert those people’s attention…
In the month following her awakening, Jiang Qianyu watched the satellite footage of her family being slaughtered by the Insect Race over and over, letting a towering hatred grow unchecked inside her heart…
On the surface, she grew ever calmer.
A month later, the old servant handed Jiang Qianyu a fake ID, and she entered the Emperor’s private research institute under a concealed name.
Later, Jiang Qianyu thought that her father probably guessed who the person who had caused the extermination of the Jiang family was, which is why he chose to perish along with the Insect Race in such a state of despair. However, at that time, Jiang Qianyu did not know of her father’s suspicions. After listening to the old servant’s words, she concealed her sharpness and secretly worked in the research institute for three years.
Even if she had concealed her brilliance, some people are naturally the focus of attention. Jiang Qianyu was transferred to the most core research laboratory and became the assistant to the chief pharmacist, an Alpha who was already as old as Jiang Qianyu’s father. Immersed in her research, Jiang Qianyu didn’t notice the chief pharmacist’s gaze growing more covetous day by day.
The Emperor’s ambition conveniently facilitated Jiang Qianyu’s intentions. Jiang Qianyu was acutely aware: the one who had decimated her clan must be a person of high authority and power, and those at the center of power were, without exception, Alphas.
The tasks assigned in the lab were not difficult for Jiang Qianyu. After completing her duties, she used her work as a pretext to employ the lab’s resources and began preliminary research on a drug that could change an Alpha to an Omega, and another that could bring her physical abilities closer to that of an Alpha…
This continued until Jiang Qianyu turned 20.
In pursuit of more resources to perfect her drug, Jiang Qianyu assisted the chief pharmacist in developing a drug that could strip an Alpha of their powers, resulting in what appeared to be a natural death within five years. The Emperor, upon hearing this news, was overjoyed and visited the lab privately a few days later.
Having secured the resources she coveted, Jiang Qianyu toiled day and night in her research, and at last, she succeeded in the initial development of both drugs.
Eager to test the efficacy of her creations, Jiang Qianyu did not notice the unusual silence around her as she left the lab with the drugs in hand.
The lab was cleared, and Jiang Qianyu heard the conversation between the Emperor and the chief pharmacist from the corner of the room.
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“It’s been so long, you’ve finally satisfied me for once!”
“But you can’t rest on your laurels. You know, three years have passed and you’ve still not come up with a way to solve the defects in the Alpha enhancer left by the Jiang family…”
The chief pharmacist’s voice was fraught with trepidation, “Your Majesty, the Jiang family’s talents were truly exceptional, to be honest. If any member of the Jiang family were alive, even just picking one at random, they would be much better than me…”
“The Jiang family was really that formidable?” The Emperor sighed deeply, a touch of regret in his voice, “Had I known this day would come, I wouldn’t have exterminated them; I should have kept a few alive to begin with…”
……
So, it was the Emperor who had decimated the Jiang family!
Upon suddenly receiving the truth of her family’s annihilation, Jiang Qianyu felt as though she had been struck by a bolt from the blue, her mind went blank.
Not until the Emperor in front of her suddenly let out a chuckle: “The Omega little mouse in the corner, have you heard enough?”
The Emperor released a strong Alpha pheromone that weighed oppressively on Jiang Qianyu, instilling fear deep within her instincts, and she knelt on the ground, almost unable to move…
She bit her lower lip fiercely, feeling for the first time the humiliation of being an Omega, her heart filled with despair…
Was she to die here like this, never able to fight back in this life?
At that moment, Jiang Qianyu truly loathed the pheromones that oppressed her!
— If she lived, not only would she seek vengeance from the despicable Emperor, but one day she would surely make these damnable Alphas taste the pain she endured today!
……
At first, the Emperor’s eyes were filled with murderous intent, but then the chief pharmacist knelt on the ground and begged, “Your Majesty, this Omega is of outstanding talent. I could not have developed this drug without her help… And after all, she is just an Omega…”
The murderous look in the Emperor’s eyes faded, and he almost immediately grasped the strong implicit meaning in the chief pharmacist’s words. After glancing at Jiang Qianyu, he nonchalantly waved his hand: “You have made great contributions by developing this medicine; this Omega is a reward for you. You might as well mark her soon, after all, she cannot leave this research institute. In the future, you should have more children with good talents. At that time, you will be the new Jiang family…”
The chief pharmacist kept kowtowing, and the Emperor left the room with a hearty laugh, removing his pheromones, and in a pleasant mood, even he closed the door of the laboratory behind him.
Jiang Qianyu had already run to the corner and curled up.
The chief pharmacist squeezed out a kindly smile and released his own pheromones, approaching the curled-up Jiang Qianyu like a cat that had caught a mouse.
“My little treasure, you should be grateful to me, for I have saved you—”
But before he could finish his sentence, he was choked by Jiang Qianyu, who had stood up, and found himself almost completely unable to resist…
How could this be possible?
The chief pharmacist’s eyes widened in shock as he looked into Jiang Qianyu’s icy gaze: Why was this Omega unaffected by his pheromones, and why had she suddenly erupted with such immense strength…
But he would never get the answer—Jiang Qianyu had twisted his throat shut.
……
As soon as the Emperor withdrew his pheromones, Jiang Qianyu, huddled in a corner, had secretly injected herself with a newly researched Alpha enhancer.
At this moment, disposing of the Alpha chief pharmacist who harbored covetous desires toward her was just the beginning.
The research institute was layered with guards; the Emperor was still outside, and people would soon learn of the death of the chief pharmacist. She had to escape quickly…
There was no chance of escape from the outside.
Jiang Qianyu thought of a desperate gambit that was a matter of life and death:
The laboratory was established next to the deepest parts of the Empire’s ocean. Those who died in experiments in the laboratory were to be thrown into the depths of the ocean through a passageway…
Some precious medicinal materials required refrigeration for preservation, and the laboratory had ready-made cryogenic sealing chambers, akin in size to coffins.
Jiang Qianyu, leveraging the strength of her Alpha status at that moment, moved a cryogenic sealing chamber to the entrance of the passage, then laid down in the coffin. She swallowed all the drug used for treating narcolepsy in one go.
A single pill could induce sleep for three months; Jiang Qianyu didn’t know how many she had taken. She was unaware whether she would ever wake up again, let alone if the cryogenic sealed chamber would stay intact until she was rescued…
But this was Jiang Qianyu’s only avenue of escape.
Jiang Qianyu set the parameters of the cryogenic chamber, closed the door of the sealed freeze hold, and with a push of her legs, the cryogenic sealing chamber slid along the long passage into the depths of the ocean…
Jiang Qianyu had contemplated spending many years in the deep sea, even preparing herself for the eventuality of perishing there. However, she hadn’t anticipated that she would stay submerged for 15 years.
During these fifteen years, Jiang Qianyu lay in eternal slumber in the depths of the ocean. Occasionally, she would snap into brief bouts of consciousness, the biting cold of the cryogenic chamber piercing into her marrow. The boundless loneliness and regret eroded her will, with only the ceaseless sound of the waves above serving as a reminder she was still alive…
Her heart’s bitterness fermented day by day.
Jiang Qianyu harbored resentment towards the Emperor, and equally towards herself. The Emperor was indeed the original sinner, but the Alpha enhancer she had developed also inadvertently hastened the downfall of the Jiang family…
It wasn’t until fifteen years later, just as Jiang Qianyu was about to give up hope during the endless wait, that a rare hurricane churned up the seabed, lifting her rust-streaked cryogenic sealing chamber and casting it onto the shore…
Afflicted with a high fever and lapsing into unconsciousness, Jiang Qianyu felt as though she had returned to the depths of the sea. The only thing surrounding her was the repetitive sound of the ocean waves. Her body grew increasingly heavy, and the boundless solitude and remorse seemed to tug at her, slowly dragging her deeper into the abyss…
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Suddenly, a spot of warmth appeared in the palm of her hand, as if someone was trying with all their might to hold onto her…
And then, a song resounded in the deep sea.
The singing was unpleasant to the ear, not a single line was on key, but from this voice, Jiang Qianyu drew vitality and strength…
The song was brimming with vibrant hope, like the dazzling sunlight that Jiang Qianyu saw when she returned to the shore and opened her eyes, the sunshine she hadn’t seen for fifteen long years.
Song Xuyi was unaware of Jiang Qianyu’s dream.
Initially, Song Xuyi felt somewhat embarrassed: because the comatose Jiang Qianyu wouldn’t allow anyone other than herself to approach. If it weren’t for the fact that the thermometer indicated Jiang Qianyu’s forehead temperature had reached forty degrees Celsius, Song Xuyi might have almost believed Jiang Qianyu was feigning illness.
Jiang Qianyu’s wet clothes needed to be changed, but fearing Jiang Qianyu’s retribution upon waking—like settling accounts after the autumn harvest—everyone else hesitated. Song Xuyi thus had no choice but to close her eyes and, with a flushed face, change Jiang Qianyu’s clothes. Due to the elevated body temperature, the peach scent emanating from Jiang Qianyu’s body became even more intense… It took nearly all of Song Xuyi’s willpower to restrain her instinctive urges.
After a great deal of effort in changing the clothes, Song Xuyi herself was sweating profusely…
Afterwards, Song Xuyi began to take care of the ailing Jiang Qianyu.
Song Xuyi had thought that Jiang Qianyu would wake up soon, but by the night of the second day, Jiang Qianyu had not yet regained consciousness.
The girl, who was usually imperious and unapproachable, now appeared strikingly vulnerable. Viewing Jiang Qianyu curled up in a ball, still deeply furrowed in the brow and biting her lower lip even in her sleep, Song Xuyi felt a twinge of heartache.
The school doctor had already come to check on Jiang Qianyu. After administering medicine, Jiang Qianyu’s high fever had subsided. Her continued comatose state, Song Xuyi speculated, might be related to Jiang Qianyu’s past experiences.
Song Xuyi tried her best to get Jiang Qianyu to loosen the grip on her clenched lower lip but to no avail. Jiang Qianyu, lost in unconsciousness, seemed deaf to any sound, and Song Xuyi, not daring to force it, could only moisten Jiang Qianyu’s parched lips with a cotton swab dipped in water.
From time to time, Jiang Qianyu would murmur in her sleep. Song Xuyi couldn’t make out what she was saying but could roughly discern that Jiang Qianyu was greatly distressed. Not knowing how to help, Song Xuyi could only hold Jiang Qianyu’s hand tightly, trying to impart strength to her…
By the evening of the next day, the school’s punishment for Jiang Qianyu had been decided.
The penalty imposed on Jiang Qianyu by the school was unexpectedly lenient, to Song Xuyi’s surprise: the matter would be considered closed once Jiang Qianyu copied the school regulations ten times.
This outcome was because, after the teacher had returned to his own laboratory, he toiled day and night without sleep, eventually confirming that indeed, the combination of Pulo granules and Heihua granules is extremely poisonous!
However, the teacher could not find any mentions of this in any literature.
The teacher was astoundingly surprised and reported his findings to the school’s authorities overnight.
Over the past two days, the school leaders had heard Jiang Qianyu’s name a few times.
Having unintentionally harmed an Omega and sent to the office of political education, missing classes … the school leaders had already grown tired of this student, especially now that the new semester had started, and they felt the need to ‘kill the chicken to scare the monkey’. The leaders had been considering giving Jiang Qianyu a major demerit when the teacher called in; they did not expect that this student actually had immense talent in pharmacology…
What exactly was the background of this student?
The school leaders phoned the principal to inquire. The principal was unclear at the moment, but what was certain as ‘nailing something on the board’ was: Jiang Qianyu could very well be the future star of the medical school.
Blue Star’s medical technology was really too backward!
Not only the academy but the whole military was suffering from a lack of good talent.
And the incident involving Jiang Qianyu, upon closer inspection, wasn’t really a big deal. In fact, it was said that when Jiang Qianyu was found at night, she was engaged in pharmacological research, not getting up to any mischief…
Thus, after much deliberation, the academy leaders decided to give Jiang Qianyu a symbolic punishment and put this issue to bed.
Song Xuyi had no idea about the lenient treatment Jiang Qianyu received from the academy. After receiving the outcome, she breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that Jiang Qianyu wouldn’t wake up anytime soon, and feeling very tired from taking care of her for two days, decided to freshen up herself.
While taking a bath, Song Xuyi hummed songs to dispel her own fatigue. The soundproofing in the dormitory wasn’t great, and Song Xuyi didn’t anticipate that the comatose Jiang Qianyu could hear her singing…
When Song Xuyi finished her bath, Jiang Qianyu’s tightly clenched lips and furrowed brows had relaxed…
Song Xuyi let out a breath of relief, finally setting her mind at ease, and at this moment, drowsiness overwhelmed her. She yawned unable to resist laying down on Jiang Qianyu’s bed for a quick nap.
Song Xuyi slept soundly; she was exhausted from the past two days. When the alarm rang, she did not wake up, but it thoroughly roused the resting Jiang Qianyu.
Jiang Qianyu almost immediately turned off the alarm, then looked at Song Xuyi who was sprawled out at the head of the bed with complex emotions. Carefully, she picked Song Xuyi up and placed her in the neighboring bed, and then pressed her lips together tightly as she lay back down in her own bed…
There was a feeling of lethargy, like after a high fever, in her body. Jiang Qianyu was conscious of a deep tiredness, yet she felt an emptiness in her heart and by her side that left her tossing and turning, unable to fall asleep.
The tragic images once again started to swirl in Jiang Qianyu’s mind, and she involuntarily curled up…
However, this was to no avail.
The cold seemed to seep into her marrow; she was like a ghost that had fallen into an abyss, wandering in the human world, unable to find a moment of peace—every time she closed her eyes, she saw the bleeding eyes of the Jiang family members.
The room was very quiet; only the light breathing of Song Xuyi from the next bed could be heard.
Jiang Qianyu, tossing and turning with insomnia, thought of the warm hand in her dream that pulled her out of the abyss, a hand that conveyed an unprecedented strength and hope in the cold, just like the person that was Song Xuyi…
However…
Jiang Qianyu pursed her lips, suddenly feeling a sourness at the tip of her nose.
Xuyi had seen her researching the drug; by now, she must have guessed that it was she who had turned her into an Omega, right?
By the time morning comes, she will surely hate me…
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Why can I never hold on to the people I most want to protect?
It was this way with the Jiang family, and now it is the same with Xuyi.
……
A feeling of unprecedented sorrow filled Jiang Qianyu’s heart.
She bit her lower lip and abruptly sat up in the darkness…
“I’m sorry,” she murmured into the dark, “I don’t deserve to be your friend.”
The night was cool as water, and Jiang Qianyu quietly got out of bed. With devout humility, she curled up at the edge of Song Xuyi’s bed, burrowed into Song Xuyi’s arms, and quietly clung to her.
If after the sunshine, the eternal night was to follow, then she would savor this last bit of warmth to get through the remainder of her cold, cruel life.
Jiang Qianyu nuzzled Song Xuyi’s neck, closing her eyes in pain yet contentment.
Song Xuyi had a dream.
In the dream, a cold, dark cloud suddenly appeared on her bed. The cloud was soft and fluffy, but it weighed heavily, like a thousand catties, pressing down upon her…
Song Xuyi subconsciously wanted to push the cloud away, but a gentle dampness suddenly appeared on her neck. It was as if the cloud had turned into rain, or perhaps… the tears of the cloud.
The author has something to say:
If there’s time tomorrow, let’s continue working on Saturday.
LP: Re-translated on February 11, 2024