Chapter 267

Xia Xue laid ten DNA reports flat on the trace examination section's operation table. Under the ultraviolet light, the chromosome comparison map revealed an eerie similarity. The Canadian Prime Minister, the Japanese Minister of Defense, Russian energy oligarchs... the mitochondrial DNA of these political figures existed with 17 identical marker loci as hers.

"These are characteristics of artificial chimeras." Lin Xiaoman used tweezers to pick up a slide, on which were stem cells extracted from Xia Xue's bone marrow, "Your No. 7 chromosome has traces of splicing, as if it had been cut with gene scissors."

The lab suddenly lost power. In the gap when the emergency power supply started, Xia Xue caught a glimpse of a figure flashing through the fire escape outside the window. She grabbed an ultraviolet lamp and shone it toward the glass, vaguely seeing that the person was missing the little finger on their right hand—consistent with the old injury described in the sick leave note submitted by Luo Fei yesterday.

"Director Lin, help me do a methylation test." She suddenly raised her volume, her fingers tapping Morse code on the table: 【Someone is eavesdropping】. Lin Xiaoman understood and turned on the noise masking of the mass spectrometer, quietly handing over a note: "The Criminal Investigation Bureau's intranet was hacked early this morning, and the target was your personnel file."

The freezer suddenly made an abnormal buzzing sound. When Xia Xue turned around, the freezing tubes storing her blood samples were vibrating collectively. She grabbed a liquid nitrogen canister and sprayed it over; the minus 196-degree low temperature frosted the cabinet door, also revealing a countdown written in thermal-sensitive ink on the cabinet surface: 17:00.

"They want to destroy the evidence!" Xia Xue tore open the cabinet door to rescue the samples, her fingertips touching the edge of the hidden compartment. In the micro-freezer hidden in the metal interlayer, three pale blue reagents labeled "XVII" were bubbling.

Lin Xiaoman's detector emitted a harsh alarm: "The reagent contains retrovirus! Put it back quickly..." Before she could finish, pale pink gas sprayed from the ventilation duct.

Xia Xue held her breath and rolled behind the safety cabinet, seeing Lin Xiaoman already collapsed on the ground, her pupils rapidly dilating.

———

When the riot police broke open the lab door, Xia Xue was tightening the artery in her right arm with a tourniquet. She had just injected herself with the inhibitor found in the hidden compartment. At this moment, data streams were constantly refreshing on her retina—this was the side effect of her gene lock being forcibly opened.

"Don't touch her!" The forensic assistant retreated while holding the law enforcement recorder, "She tested positive for Ebola variant virus in her blood!"

Xia Xue tore open the collar of her protective suit, revealing the circular scar under her collarbone. This was the trace of the implant removal discovered this morning, and now the wound was oozing glowing blue liquid: "This is a staining marker, not a virus! They are using fear to stop you from investigating!"

In the chaos, she saw Deputy Director Wang Zhentao's hand pressing on his holster. This leader, who had just been air-dropped three days ago, had his right little finger curled unnaturally at this moment. When their eyes met, Director Wang suddenly pointed his gun at the ventilation duct: "There are attackers!"

Xia Xue took the opportunity to knock over the reagent rack and drilled out of the safety window amidst the sound of breaking glass. When she climbed onto the roof, she heard the sound of silenced pistols coming from behind, and the bullets sparked on the cooling tower. Taking out the USB flash drive she had swiped from Lin Xiaoman's pocket and inserting it into her phone, the decoded file made her feel cold all over—the investor list of Noah Biology in 2006 clearly listed the current mayor and three provincial department leaders.

———

Qingyanshan South Slope Cemetery, Luo Fei squatted in front of the seventeenth row of tombstones. The three characters "Chen Meiling" touched by his fingertips suddenly fell off, revealing the laser-engraved serial number underneath: X-0. The cement layer of the tombstone base had fresh cracks. After prying it open, it was a safe with biometric identification.

"Iris verification passed." When the mechanical female voice sounded, Luo Fei felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up. The box was neatly filled with yellowed experimental logs, with Xia Xue's one-year-old photo pasted on the first page, with the annotation below: Seventeenth Generation Perfect Carrier.

The phone suddenly vibrated, and an anonymous number sent a surveillance screenshot: Director Wang was loading metal boxes into the trunk of an unmarked sedan in the underground garage. After zooming in, the side of the box could be seen printed with a radioactive material sign, and the dose was displayed as 17 millisieverts.

"Luo Team, there's a discovery at the funeral home!" The shout of forensic assistant Xiao Liu came from the intercom, "The fingerprints of the three corpses sent for inspection match the missing researchers of Noah Biology, but the DNA test shows..."

Electrical static swallowed the second half of the sentence. When Luo Fei stood up, he kicked a remote-controlled toy in the pile of offerings. The plastic helicopter propeller suddenly turned, and the base popped out a holographic projection: seventeen red dots were moving on the city map, each corresponding to the location of a primary or secondary school.

———

When Xia Xue slid into the underground garage along the drainpipe, she saw Director Wang loading the metal box into the car. She quietly bypassed the back of the sedan and copied the car lock signal with a decoder. The moment the trunk opened, seventeen sealed lead cans were neatly arranged, with "Californium-252" printed on the lids—the most expensive radioactive element in the world.

"Sure enough, they are manufacturing dirty bombs." She was about to take a picture when her head was suddenly pressed by a gun muzzle. Director Wang's voice carried a smile: "Do you know where this car is going? The Municipal Bureau is holding an anti-terrorism drill meeting."

Xia Xue elbowed and kicked back but was twisted by the arm. Director Wang tore open his shirt, revealing a circular scar under his collarbone: "We residuals have to be stepping stones for the perfect carrier." His pupils flashed with abnormal gold, a typical symptom of gene editing failure.

The sound of police sirens approached from far to near. Director Wang suddenly turned the gun muzzle and stuffed it into her hand, grabbing her hand and pulling the trigger. The bullet pierced his left shoulder, and blood splashed on Xia Xue's shocked face.

"Go quickly!" he whispered, black blood seeping from the corners of his mouth, "They have deployed in the school..." Before he could finish, the garage load-bearing column suddenly exploded, and the shockwave blew Xia Xue away. The last scene she saw before fainting was Director Wang's right hand pressed under the cement slab—the little finger was complete and wearing a wedding ring, completely different from the prosthetic limb seen in the morning. ===== CHAPTER 268 =====