Was that Mirabe''s silhouette?


    Had she juste out of theb?


    A flicker of confusion crossed Meg''s eyes. The third floor was home to the Biology and Technology departments''bs. What was a freshman from Information Science doing here?


    As she pondered, the figure had already vanished at the end of the corridor.


    She hadn''t even registered what Taylor on the other end of the phone had said.


    Snapping back to reality, Meg coughed and, while heading towards the end of the hallway, asked again, "Sorry, what did you just say? The signal might be bad here in theb, I didn''t catch that."


    Taylor, patient as ever, repeated, "I''ve got something on tonight, can''t make it for dinner, sorry."


    Meg had reached theb Mirabe had left. Hearing Taylor''s words, although disappointed, she didn''t insist. "No worries, we can n for another day."


    "Sure, I''ll treat you next time," Taylor said.


    Meg nodded, responding, "Alright, you go ahead with your work. I won''t keep you."


    After hanging up, Meg put her phone back into her pocket and looked up at Lab 5,


    still puzzled about what a freshman was doing here.


    Shrugging off her curiosity, Meg turned and walked back to Lab 1.


    Mirabe descended the stairs and went to the duty office to inform the duty teacher she was done.


    The duty teacher was visibly surprised. "You''re finished already?"


    Typically, students conducting experiments outside ss hours took at least an hour, if not several hours or even half a day.


    It was his first time seeing someone leave in less than half an hour.


    Mirabe nodded, then took the logbook ced aside and filled in her name in thest column.


    Theb building had a detailed log for students using the equipment.


    After leaving theb building, Mirabe thought about the blood analysis data she


    had just analyzed while heading back to her department.


    The school''s blood analysis equipment was not as sophisticated as the hospital''s, only capable of basicb values. After thinking it over, she took out her phone and sent Adler a message on Messenger to meet.  swnovel


    Adler saw Mirabe''s message three hourster, just as he was leaving hisb,


    his eyes sunken, with a dark stubble shadowing his chin.


    Picking up his phone and seeing the message, he rubbed his bloodshot eyes in disbelief.


    The top dog was actually initiating a meet-up.


    All of Adler''s fatigue and sleepiness vanished instantly, and he quickly replied to Mirabe with a tentative time.


    After sending the message, he clutched his phone, not even bothering to change out of his work clothes, afraid of missing any follow-up messages.


    By now, it was already past four in the afternoon. Mirabe had long since returned home. Upon receiving his message, she asked if he was avable and, getting an affirmative reply, straightforwardly arranged to meet Adler near her ce  swnovel


    Dinner was off the table.


    When Adler received the address from Mirabe, despite it being a bit far from the research institute, it didn''t matter. For a chance to meet the big shot, distance was no object.


    A colleague, who like him had barely


    rested over the past three days in theb, saw Adler suddenly


    energized as if injected with adrenaline and was somewhat startled. "Hey Adler, what''s up? Got some good news?"  swnovel


    As Adler stood up from his chair and started taking off his work clothes, he boasted with a lifted chin, "Of course, someone asked me out for dinner."


    His still-single colleague: "..."


    Damn it!