I put you in charge of those rebellious female soldiers, how come they all became top special forces

The third day, morning, in the laboratory.

Chen Zheng stood in front of the whiteboard with a marker, discussing Lan Meng's metabolic pathway with Zhou Jingtang.

Zhou Jingtang pushed up his reading glasses, pointed to a set of data in the lower right corner of the whiteboard, and frowned deeply.

"Xiao Chen, this metabolic pathway breaks down at P3A4, and we can't detect the intermediate products after that. That shouldn't be the case."

Chen Zheng unscrewed the thermos and took a sip of water.

"It's not that we can't get a reading, it's that you opened your window too late."

He put down his cup and circled a spot on the whiteboard with a pen.

"This thing has a very short half-life. It'll only last forty seconds at most outside. You take samples every five minutes, and by the time you go to retrieve it, it'll be gone."

Zhou Jingtang was stunned for a moment, then slapped his thigh.

"That's right! How come I didn't think of that!"

Fang Zhiyuan, who was standing next to him, also came over to take a look, and nodded without saying anything.

"In this way, the sampling frequency is once every thirty seconds, and continuous flow injection is used for real-time monitoring."

Chen Zheng hummed in agreement and then began writing and drawing on the whiteboard.

The three of them got more and more into their discussion, and spoke faster and faster.

In the corner, An Ran sat in her usual spot, her phone screen off, resting on her lap.

After she started spacing out, her gaze kept drifting towards the lab table.

Shen Ling didn't come over much today, and stayed at her seat obediently working on the data.

So Anran's mood improved somewhat.

Halfway through the discussion, the lab door opened.

An Ran looked up and saw Qin Hong had entered.

Wearing a training uniform and a high ponytail, he looked quite energetic.

Zhou Jingtang turned around and saw Qin Hong, who was in charge of security, and nodded.

Qin Hong nodded to Zhou Jingtang, then looked at Chen Zheng and strode over.

"Instructor Chen."

Chen Zheng put down his pen and turned his head.

Qin Hong saluted: "What's your thought about what happened last time? The Phoenix team has an internal sparring match the day after tomorrow afternoon. How about coming over to watch if you're free?"

In the corner, An Ran suddenly looked up.

What happened last time?

What's wrong?

When did they say that?

Her mind went blank for a moment as she recalled the incident a few days ago when Qin Hong and Chen Zheng bumped into each other at the entrance of the research institute.

Before leaving that day, Qin Hong said, "Come visit the Phoenix team's base when you have time."

She wasn't there at the time; the keyboard user told her later.

But the keyboard was vague, saying that Qin Hong "asked the instructor to come and watch the training."

But we don't know exactly what was said, what tone of voice, or what expression was used.

Now, Qin Hong is directly going to people's homes to make appointments.

Chen Zheng pondered for a moment and then nodded.

"Okay, I'll go there the day after tomorrow afternoon."

Qin Hong smiled slightly and nodded.

"Then it's settled."

She turned to leave, but after taking two steps, she stopped again.

His gaze fell on An Ran in the corner.

He sat calmly on the stool, his back ramrod straight, his face expressionless.

Qin Hong smiled.

Then, he looked away, turned around, and walked out of the laboratory.

The door closed, and the footsteps faded into the distance.

An Ran stared at the closed door, her fists clenching involuntarily.

That smile made her uncomfortable.

She slowly got up and walked to Chen Zheng's side.

When did you make plans with her?

Chen Zheng glanced at her: "I ran into her at the research institute the day before yesterday. She asked me to take a look at the Phoenix team's adjusted tactics, and just mentioned it briefly."

An Ran's lips twitched.

"You came to Beijing to do research, not to be an instructor for other teams, and certainly not to pick up girls."

Chen Zheng frowned.

"I'm just going to take a look; it's not like I'm defecting to the enemy."

An Ran bit her lip, said nothing more, then turned around and walked back to the corner to sit down.

His face looked quite pale.

At the lab bench not far away, Shen Ling looked up at An Ran, then quickly looked down again to continue working on the data.

The keyboard sat in another corner, its fingers hovering over the keys, secretly watching the whole thing.

She took out her phone and sent a message to Li Yue on WeChat.

Keyboard: Something big has happened! Qin Hong has come to meet the instructor!

Li Yue replied instantly: Oh my god, I'll go downstairs to the supermarket and buy two sausages first. In case we need to appease the captain, we should prepare more supplies.

Lunchtime at the research institute's canteen.

Anran didn't go.

As Chen Zheng carried his tray to find a seat, he looked around but couldn't see her.

The keyboard sat opposite him, picked up a piece of food, and casually mentioned something.

"It seems that Sister Anran didn't come to eat."

Chen Zheng hummed in response but didn't reply, instead focusing on eating his rice.

Li Yue was also not in the cafeteria.

Ten minutes ago, she sent a WeChat message saying that the team leader had gone out alone, so she followed him.

There's a small supermarket on the corner downstairs from the guesthouse.

Anran sat quietly by the flower bed at the supermarket entrance, holding a freshly unwrapped loaf of bread and munching on it.

The wind in Beijing in March was dry and cold, making the tip of her nose turn red.

Li Yue jogged over and squatted down in front of her.

"Captain, are you angry?"

Anran ate her bread without saying a word.

Li Yue carefully observed her expression, pondered for a long time, and then asked.

"Actually, it wouldn't be a big deal for the instructor to go and take a look... He's a man who knows what he's doing."

Anran kneaded the bread into a ball.

"I know."

"I just find it annoying."

Li Yue looked at her but didn't dare to reply.

After a while, she spoke again.

"Captain, if you don't want the instructor to go, just say so."

"Although the instructor has a sharp tongue, he will still listen to you."

An Ran fell silent.

It's not that she doesn't want to talk.

I just don't know how to say it.

I can't exactly tell Chen Zheng, "I don't want you to spend time with other women."

She is Anran, the captain of Mulan, not a little girl.

Moreover, she and Chen Zheng were teammate and instructor, not boyfriend and girlfriend.

With that thought in mind, Anran threw the kneaded bread into the nearby trash can and stood up.

"Let's go back."

Li Yue quickly stood up and followed, wanting to say a few more words of advice, but seeing An Ran's cold face, she decisively shut her mouth.

Forget it, let's let the bullets fly a little longer.

In the afternoon, in the laboratory.

Anran is back, and as usual, she's sitting in the corner of the bathroom.

But this time she didn't look at her phone or pretend to take notes; instead, she crossed her arms and leaned against the wall.

Shen Ling came to find Chen Zheng again.

This discussion concerns the design of the follow-up experiment from this morning, and the sampling plan needs to be readjusted.

The two stood in front of the whiteboard for even longer than in the morning, talking for almost an hour.

As Shen Ling listened, she took notes in her notebook. Halfway through, she lost her grip on the pen and it fell to the ground.

The pen rolled to Chen Zheng's feet.

Chen Zheng bent down and picked it up, then handed it to her.

A fairly ordinary action.

But An Ran saw it all and couldn't stand it anymore.

The plastic cup in her hand was deformed from being squeezed so tightly that if you paid close attention, you could even hear her gritting her teeth.

Li Yue squatted down next to her, and upon hearing the voice, she subconsciously took half a step back.

She just wanted the bullets to fly for a while; she didn't want them to hit her.

Let's stay away, lest I get splattered with blood.