Susu twist and turned in bed; feeling unease. Ariana looked up from her laptop and stopped what she was doing to make sure that everything was alright with her.
"Dear? Why aren't you resting yet? Are you feeling unwell?" She set her laptop on the nearby table and reached to feel the temperature of Susu's forehead.
"No, I just feel uneasy after hearing the conversation between you and Zhi Hei." Susu sat up and leaned back on her pillow to face Ariana.
"What's making you feel anxious?" She sat down beside her to hear her out.
"He said that his friend was injured partly because of the chip. It makes me feel uncomfortable and disturbed knowing that my mom and I have the chip. It's because of us that his friend got hurt." Susu lowered her head as her fingers rubbed against each other roughly.
"Silly, even without the chip being in your possession, those greedy bastards would have attacked that girl out of the suspicion that she has the chips. You shouldn't feel guilty for this and put such a heavy weight on your chest. It's bad for your health to stress from this." Ariana spoke her opinion and tried to provide her some comfort.
"Now that you mentioned it, I have another question. Out of all those people out there, why would they aim for her?" Susu thought deeply about this question, but didn't seem to understand the connection between the chip and Shi Xue.
"What do you mean? She was targeted because Li Shen Wen's brother thought that she held the chips in hand. The main reason why she almost died was that her fiance cheated on her and wanted to obtain her inheritance. Her family is filled with greedy pigs."
Ariana let out a sigh and caressed Susu's cheek, "So, you don't have to feel that you indirectly caused her injury. Besides, she's in a stabled condition right now. Don't think too much into it. Chen Mu will be back to spend some time with you tomorrow."
"No, you got it wrong. My question isn't why she was attacked. Instead, I'm wondering why they would think that she was the one who held the chips. What's her identity?" Susu's instinct told her that there was something deeper to her identity than Shi Corps' president's daughter.
Facing such a stubborn patient, Ariana almost raised both arms to surrender, "I'm looking into it, but I have a hypothetical thought that may be able to answer your frustration. From the limited information that I was given to research about Qian Ling over the years, I've only been able to use the story that Auntie had told me. Qian Ling had had a family before she was kidnapped. She had a daughter who was pretty young at that time and a husband."
Susu blinked twice as her thoughts followed Ariana's words. "So, let's insert the hypothetical situation that I had pieced together. If Qian Ling's husband was Shi Corps' president, then Shi Xue would be their daughter. If she is their daughter, then those greedy pigs might think that the chip is in her possession."
"But that doesn't add up. Doesn't the chip belong to our family? If so, then why would they look for Auntie Xiao Ling's family? Shouldn't they focus on us instead?" Susu furrowed her brows as she got more confused.
"Yes, but if your mothers were trapped in the same lab as Qian Ling and after years of searching came down to no progress..." Ariana led Susu on with an extended sounding voice.
Susu gasped, "then they would assume that we don't have it! Maybe they thought that my mothers gave the chips to Auntie Xiao Ling, and she had it."
"Mhmm... and the reason why they went after Shi Xue is because Qian Ling might have escaped years ago and they had no idea where she could have gone. If she had a family, then.."
"Then they would suspect that Qian Ling went back to look for her family..." Susu connected the dots as their conversation continued.
"Now, don't forget that this is just a guess. It's like a hypothesis and further observation needs to be done to determine whether this hypothesis is acceptable. So, you should sleep soon and not think too much about it. Even if the sky falls down, we will be here for you."
Ariana tucked her in and waited until she fell asleep before resuming her work. Once she woke her laptop up from sleep mode, she bent her fingers and stretched them out. She mumbled, "and to confirm all my suspicions...I just need a little bit more time to break through this code."
After some time later, movements could be heard from the hallway. Ariana's ears moved when she sensed another person's presence getting closer. She couldn't tell whether the person was a friend or a foe.
Quickly, she switched on the surveillance cameras onto her laptop screen to see if she could track who the person was, "tsk. It's been tampered with." She locked all of her files and placed her computer under locked mode. This means that if anyone other than herself tries to enter the system, her laptop will wipe the entire system clean.
Therefore, if anything happens to her, nobody will be able to figure out what she had researched nor figured out through the research. She sent an emergency alert to Chen Nan, Professor Luo Xia and Zi Yan through her phone.
Once received on their end, the message disappeared from her phone. Chen Nan was on a mission that he had previous accepted, so it would take some time before he could get here. Ariana bit her lips as she saw Lily and Susu in deep slumber.
It was too late to call Lin Que to the room. If the person is here to cause trouble, then the chances for them to survive may only be half and half.
Ariana woke Lily up, covered her mouth and whispered, "We have an uninvited guest. I'm going to go out there. No matter what happens, do not open this door. If.. and I say if you sense something is wrong and someone else but me opens that door, throw this towards the entrance, then escape through the window with Susu."
Lily nodded, held onto the circular item that was stuffed into her palms and went to wake Susu up. The footsteps grew nearer, but Ariana didn't let it get any closer to the door. She opened the door, turned the lock from the inside and shut it tight. From inside the room, Susu and Lily could both hear some twists on the knob.
They knew it was Ariana making sure that the door was locked. Right after she had exited the room, Lily whispered, "come. We need to be at the window just in case."
"What about Ariana?"
"She has her own plan. We need to do as she says. I've already texted Lin Que to get out through the private elevator and stay put outside the building to catch us if we need to jump later."
Susu nodded and followed Lily to the window where they waited for Ariana to come back. They could hear distinct voices from the hallways and some type of fist fight. Lily's grip tightened around the circular item in her hand as she repeated to herself, "please be alright."
Meanwhile, outside the hospital room, Ariana turned her head towards the right side of the hallway. "So, it's you."