Bai Youwei led the group out and immediately sensed that the atmosphere was off.
"What's wrong?" She looked at Li Li, then at Yan Qingwen, a hint of schadenfreude in her smile. "Did you two have a fight?"
"No. We just talked about a few things." Yan Qingwen smiled and asked, "What, were you hoping we'd fight?"
"Hoping? Yes." Bai Youwei didn't mince words. "You two are clearly not on the same path. I'd be surprised if you didn't fight when you're together."
"You!…" Li Li was furious.
"Did I say something wrong?" Bai Youwei looked at him, feigning innocence. "You really aren't on the same path. If Yan Qingwen hadn't entered the game to save you, you wouldn't even have met."
Li Li gritted his teeth and retorted, "Then you, Shen Mo, Tan Xiao, Teacher Cheng, and Pan Xiaoxin, you're not on the same path either! You're…"
He childishly held up five fingers, emphasizing, "You're on five different paths!"
"Haha!" Bai Youwei chuckled. "So what if we're on five different paths? At least we have the same goal right now. What about you? Do you?"
Li Li was hit where it hurt. His face turned pale, then green, an ugly sight!
Lü Ang patted him on the shoulder with a look of sympathy. "You should stick to arguing with Su Man. Don't argue with her; you can't win."
"Who's arguing! I was just reasoning with her!" Li Li shook off Lü Ang's arm, craned his neck, and walked forward. "Let's all go! The banquet is about to start!"
Tan Xiao clicked his tongue. "Four-Eyes Chicken is putting on quite the show."
Li Li clenched his fists, suppressing his anger, and continued forward without arguing with him.
However, it seemed like today was particularly unlucky for him. After his invitation to his companions was rejected, he ran into Su Man, who was looking for trouble.
Just because he helped a female colleague who almost fell, Su Man made a huge fuss. In the end, Yan Qingwen and Lü Ang had to step in to mediate before she calmed down.
And that wasn't the end of it.
When they arrived at headquarters, he led the group to see Professor Song, but they were stopped by the security team. No matter how he explained, the damned security team was unyielding and wouldn't let them pass!
Li Li felt utterly humiliated!
"How many times do I have to explain?!" he said angrily. "I'm Li Li from the SCO research team! Professor Song's research assistant! I forgot my pass in the dormitory!"
He pointed to the guards behind him. "Don't you recognize these people?! They can all vouch for me!"
The guard glanced at the people behind Li Li and said with a straight face, "Professor Song just called an emergency meeting. No one without a pass is allowed near the conference center. If you insist on going in, I need to ask my superior for instructions."
Li Li said impatiently, "Then hurry up and ask!"
The security guard took out a walkie-talkie and said a few brief words.
About three minutes later, a woman in brown combat fatigues appeared at the end of the corridor. She had short hair and slightly dark skin. Although she didn't say a word, her eyebrows revealed a sharp and unyielding personality.
"Team Leader! This person insists on going in. He claims to be Professor Song's assistant and says that Professor Song instructed him to bring people over, but he doesn't have a pass. The people behind him are the guards assigned to him by the research team."
The woman in combat fatigues frowned and glanced at Li Li, her tone cold. "The meeting hasn't ended yet. Let the men in; the women and elderly can wait outside."
"Why?!" Su Man was the first to protest. "When you invited us to join, you weren't like this! Why can men go in, but women can't?!"
"Why?" The woman sneered and took two steps closer to Su Man.
She was tall, standing half a head taller than Su Man, who was 1.7 meters tall. She looked down at her with disdain.
"Let me tell you why—
Because a woman like you, who only knows how to be noisy and quarrelsome, belongs in the market and dance hall, not here, in the conference center."