บท 6: Chapter 6
The white laboratory was spotless. Two rows of transparent glass breeding boxes and a massive square device filled the room.
Zhen Ai, clad in a white lab coat, sat beside the central apparatus. In front of her, on the operating table, a small white mouse lay on its back, surrounded by blood.
She watched the video of the mouse, gripping the headset cord to record:
"HNT-DL neurotoxin, diluted ten thousand times.
Injected into the mouse at 23:30 on February 29, one minute later, the drug affected the heart and lungs, causing the subject to lose mobility, vomit, tremble, and experience arrhythmia. After three minutes, shock occurred.
At 23:33, an injection of anti-HNT-DL antitoxin was administered, but symptoms persisted.
At 01:47 on March 1, the subject regained mobility but crawled only five centimeters before losing movement again.
At 03:19, the subject went into shock again, with throat bleeding.
At 05:38, the subject showed no signs of life."
She paused, calmly concluding, "The anti-HNT-DL serum test number 4301 has failed."
She added, "HNT-LS neurotoxin, injected into the subject diluted a million times, resulted in instant death. The mechanism of the toxin has not yet been collected; the next step is to attempt a dilution of ten million times."
After saving the recording, she began to dissect the mouse.
In silence, she worked at the white examination table, immersing herself in her task. She was always focused, remarkably efficient in her field; in just a few hours, she recorded all the crucial data and reconfigured the antitoxin serum. After entering the formula ratios, the apparatus began automatic synthesis, a process that would take several hours.
At exactly 10 o'clock, she stood up, removed her lab coat, and as she reached for her overcoat on the rack, her gaze froze.
Yan Su's gray scarf hung quietly on the rack.
She picked it up, wrapped it around her neck, and gently touched it; it still felt soft and comfortable.
Recalling the earlier conversation in the biting wind, where he had said that if she were to kill someone, it would surely be in an elegant yet ruthless manner, she interpreted that as a compliment.
She tightened her grip on the scarf around her neck, her lips slightly moving but not forming a smile.
Suddenly, her mother's teaching echoed in her ears: "Do not have expectations; expectations are the root of all misfortune."
In the end, she took it off, wrapping it with Owen's coat in her hands as she stepped outside.
The corridor outside the laboratory was a pristine 50 meters long, devoid of corners, its blinding whiteness somewhat frightening.
Zhen Ai walked to the other end, performing retinal scanning, fingerprint verification, and entering a 15-digit password. The elevator ascended to the ground floor, leading her to a regular pharmaceutical research room. Her assistant, Ryan Parker, was absent today.
Upon exiting the community, she saw Owen's car parked by the side of the road. She knew that Yan Su needed to see her.
Arriving at Yan Su's home, the maid, as usual, greeted her in her impeccable Southeast Asian English, stating that Yan Su was in the library.
However, she found no one in the study.
Looking up, she noticed a fluffy white object on the three-tiered bookshelf. It seemed to have stirred at the sound of footsteps.
Yan Su was indeed sleeping in the corridor, with a book covering his head.
Owen called out to him, and he sat up, rubbing his eyes sleepily. It took him a moment to rise and descend the wooden spiral staircase.
Against the backdrop of the shelves filled with books, his white coat and trousers looked fresh, but his complexion was not good—pale as if dusted with frost, his brows slightly furrowed, and his eyes shadowed, revealing his heavy sleepiness.
As soon as he reached the bottom of the stairs, he shot a sharp look at Zhen Ai, clearly annoyed, "Get me a glass of water."
"Oh," Zhen Ai replied, turning to find water.
"Hey!" Owen interrupted her, questioning Yan Su, "Why are you asking her to get water?"
Yan Su's light brown eyes flashed with confusion; he seemed to find the question strange. After a pause, he carefully replied, "I'm lacking water in my five elements; if I don't drink, I'll become irritable."
Owen's head spun several times before he realized he had gotten tangled in Yan Su's logic. He couldn't fathom how someone with an IQ of 197 interpreted human speech this way.
The crux of the statement was—
Why ask "her" to get water,
not
Why ask her to get "water."
Why was his emphasis always so different from that of ordinary people?
As Owen struggled with this, the maid had already brought three cups of water.
Yan Su drank more than half a cup, smacking his lips in satisfaction, then approached the grand piano. Out of nowhere, he produced a small white violin, sitting on the piano bench as he casually began to pluck the strings, lost in thought.
Dressed entirely in white, he resembled a reluctant child waking from sleep, frowning as he vented on the violin, producing gentle yet pleasant sounds rather than screeching like sawing wood.
With his sleepy eyes and tousled hair, he looked like a dazed puppy.
After playing the violin for a while, he suddenly turned to Zhen Ai without warning, "When did your roommate start sleeping in class?"
The abrupt change in roles and states left Zhen Ai momentarily speechless. After thinking back, she recalled mentioning it during her interrogation at the police station. Jasmine hadn't pursued it, but Yan Su had remembered.
Still lost in her thoughts, Yan Su's brow furrowed again.
He jumped off the bench, striding toward her. He grasped her shoulders with both hands, almost lifting her and moving her in front of the piano bench, then pressed down.
Zhen Ai found herself sitting on the bench.
Yan Su pointed to her right leg, commanding, "Put it on this leg."
Not understanding the reason, she was about to ask when she saw the displeasure in his eyes and complied obediently.
But just as she crossed her legs, he suddenly formed a hollow fist with his left hand and struck her knee hard.
Her right leg jerked sharply.
Zhen Ai was taken aback, "What are you doing?"
"Don't you know about the knee-jerk reflex?" He stepped back, distancing himself from her, speaking indifferently, "See? The speed of your brain is obviously slower than your legs; think with your feet from now on."
Being scolded for being slow again…
Zhen Ai replied, "It seems it was around four or five months ago, when she said she was dropping out of all the clubs."
Yan Su nodded slightly.
Only then did Zhen Ai realize that he already had the answer in his mind but didn't want to interfere with her testimony, so he waited for her to speak.
"You don't live in the dormitory, so you're unaware of her schedule and habits, but you should have noticed that your bed and desk were used for her belongings, right?"
"Also around four or five months ago." Zhen Ai tentatively asked, "Did you already know the answer?"
Yan Su glanced at her before explaining, "Her desk is cluttered with high-end perfumes and cosmetics, which indicates they've been used for four or five months. Those designer clothes are all from after October last year. By the way, do you know the exact time she joined the password society?"
"Not really," Zhen Ai admitted.
Yan Su didn't press further on that question and quickly shifted to, "Who were her close acquaintances?"
"I don't know," Zhen Ai replied sheepishly. She had barely interacted with her classmates, so she changed the subject. "Are you suggesting it's someone familiar?"
"The murderer entered a double occupancy dormitory to commit murder. They not only need to be familiar with her schedule but also know the other person's routine, so it has to be someone close."
Before he could finish, his phone rang.
He answered it, listening silently for a moment before saying, "I'll be there shortly." After hanging up, the previously irritable Yan Su now looked invigorated. "We're going to meet Officer Diaz."
Owen asked, "Did the autopsy results come in?"
"Yeah," Yan Su said, a faint smirk appearing on his lips, a glimmer of tranquility in his eyes. "We discovered some interesting things."
#
Eva Diaz was sitting in her office, leisurely flipping through a magazine while sipping yogurt and eating a sandwich, completely unconcerned that the blinds opposite her desk were not drawn.
Directly across the glass was the autopsy room, and one could easily see Jiang Xin's body.
It was easy to imagine how bizarre Zhen Ai must have felt when she followed Yan Su and Owen to this scene.
Owen knocked on the glass. "How can you have such a good appetite with a corpse in front of you?"
Eva replied casually, "It's not like I'm facing that boring S.A. guy, so why shouldn't I have an appetite?"
Yan Su's expression remained unchanged, as if he hadn't heard a thing.
Eva got up, stuffed her food into a container, and placed it in the refrigerator.
Zhen Ai stole a glance and saw neatly stacked containers inside, all filled with what looked like organs and muscles.
The psychological resilience of forensic experts was indeed remarkable…
Noticing Zhen Ai's pallid face, Yan Su clumsily patted her shoulder a couple of times, attempting to comfort her. "Humans are incredibly adaptable creatures."
"…"
Zhen Ai didn't think that explanation could lessen the strangeness of having food and human organs in the same refrigerator.
Eva clearly understood that Yan Su was referring to her and replied lazily, "In the lands, seas, and outer space where human footprints are everywhere, Yan Su is undoubtedly one of the most extreme environments that humanity has yet to adapt to."
Zhen Ai blinked. Comparing a person to an environment sounded strangely compelling to her.
She expected Yan Su to criticize the logic of that statement, but he simply asked nonchalantly, "Did you break up with your new boyfriend?"
Eva: "…"
She looked up at the ceiling. "God, I hate this devil!" she exclaimed, yet still unwilling to relent. "How did you figure that out?"
Yan Su replied haughtily, "I disdain to answer such low-IQ questions."
Eva clenched her fists and took a step forward, but Owen stopped her.
"…The day before yesterday, she stayed over at someone else's place, yet on the weekend, she had brunch alone and left enough for dinner," Yan Su calmly expressed his sympathy. "Oh, poor Officer Diaz!"
Zhen Ai: …
A man who could see through someone without even meeting them, a man who missed no detail, a man who made everyone question their intelligence—he truly was a dreadful environment.
Eva gritted her teeth, "I really want to dissect you right now."
Yan Su nodded slightly, "It would be my honor."
Owen ran his fingers through his hair, looking like a desperate father trying to control rowdy children. "Kindergartners, for God's sake, stop!"
Yan Su and Eva fell silent simultaneously.
Zhen Ai exhaled gently. The banter between scientists was indeed high in scientific content!
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