Beside him was a toolbox, the screwdriver inside seemed to suggest that he could open it up, and restore it afterwards so no one would notice.
At this moment, his sneaky thoughts reached a peak, consumed with the idea of examining other peopleās things.
He pried open the light green strap, preparing to carefully unveil it, his emotions growing more and more agitated.
There must be a very sophisticated design inside.
"Hey, what are you doing?" a boy who found the paint casually patted his friend.
His hand shook, and the entire mechanical arm came apart.
The boy planning to study it was terrified and shouted, "What are you doing?"
"Youāre taking apart someone elseās stuff, thatās not right."
"Itās not someone elseās, itās mine," the boy hurriedly lied, "Itās something Iām working on with my advisor, I just donāt know why itās finished and placed here."
"Youāre saying the advisor stole your design? Which advisor?"
The boy with the paint noticed his hesitation and got angry, "Speak up."
He trusted his friend but wasnāt naive, "Letās go find the principal now and tell him about this. The principal is the most impartial."
Seeing his friend unwilling, simply holding the disassembled parts in silence.
The boy with the paint sensed something was off, "Do you have any evidence to prove itās yours? If not, youāre the thief, not him?"
The security guardās voice came from somewhere, his footsteps getting closer, "Hey, you two, arenāt you done yet?"
The boy with the paint shook him and instinctively lowered his voice, "Letās go, we canāt take this, taking it means weāre in the wrong and wonāt be able to explain."
"Letās take it home to assemble, thereās no surveillance here, weāll bring it back early tomorrow..."
The boy with the paint slapped his back to bring him to his senses, "The repair room has already been rented out, what if someone comes over at night? Damaging things or stealing, which is worse? Mo Yi, you canāt."
Mo Yi had a pair of puppy eyes, the corners at the lower edges of his upper eyelids drooped, looking particularly pitiful when staring without blinking.
"Canāt we take it home?"
The boy with the paint wouldnāt budge, standing firm in his principles and even more furious, he grabbed his collar and growled lowly, "We snuck in, we canāt take it, do you want to get expelled?"
Yes, he wasnāt afraid of expulsion. With this, heād never worry about his livelihood again.
But the boy with the paint wouldnāt give him a chance, firmly dragging him away.
The obstinate one didnāt realize his hand holding the parts had caught onto the white cloth, pulling it.
Along with other samples, everything was swept to the floor.
The noise was too loud, they could already hear the security guard running toward them.
Within the white cloth, a red light flashed, seemingly triggering an alarm. Though silent, it startled Mo Yi into quickly letting go.
Mo Yi finally sobered up a bit, quickly dropped everything, dragged the boy with the paint, turned off the lights, and left.
After a few steps, they ran right into the security guard coming their way.
The security guard asked, "What happened? Are you two alright?" The guardās first concern was not that they did something wrong but that they might have had an accident.
Mo Yi thought quickly, "Nothing, we just almost spilled the paint."
The boy with the paintās arm was poked.
He found it difficult to speak about what happened in the lab, having to nod awkwardly.
"As long as youāre okay. Go back, and get some sleep." The security guard went to patrol the building.
The boy with the paint lowered his head, gritted his teeth, and walked quickly.
But Mo Yi didnāt care; he looked longingly at the repair room, wondering if he could sneak back with the upperclassmen tomorrow, to take another look, to understand the principles behind it all.