The taxidermist's perfect sacrifice (The End)
On the third basement floor of Jiang's Pharmaceutical Company, emergency lights flickered in the damp corridors, like the pulse of a dying person.
Fan Jinci stood alone in front of the iron gate, his fingertips tracing the blue morpho butterfly graffiti on the lock—the same pattern as the specimen in the deceased's hand.
From inside the door came Situ Jin's weak groan: "Dr. Fan... run... this is a trap..."
"I know." Fan Jinci drew his scalpel, the blade gleaming coldly in the dim light. "But traps usually contain the hunter's most prized prey."
He pushed open the door.
In the center of the laboratory, an elderly man with white hair sat in a wheelchair, a yellowed experimental logbook lying open on his lap.
"You've come, M-0." He looked up and smiled, revealing his receding gums. "I knew you'd take the risk for this little helper."
—Chen Ru, former director of the Forensic Science Center. The archivist of the "Butterfly Project" twenty years ago, now suffering from late-stage Alzheimer's disease, planned this "perfect replica" in the final moments of his life.
Fan Jinci's gaze swept over Situ Jin, who was strapped to the operating table, confirming that he had only been injected with a sedative, before he coldly said, "Zhou Xue is dead. Your revenge is meaningless."
"Revenge?" Chen Ru chuckled, his voice like a rusty gear. "I'm here to save you!"
"Complex".
"Jin".
"Zi."
He abruptly flipped open the journal on his lap; the pages were covered with photos—all images of young Fan Jinci strapped to an experimental table, his wrists and ankles locked in special shackles, and the people operating the instruments.
Jiang Zhaoyue wearing a white lab coat.
"Have you forgotten?" Chen Ru pounded the armrest of his wheelchair frantically. "Jiang Zhaoyue is the real executor of 'Project Butterfly'! Zhou Lin is just a puppet! After she transformed you into an M-0 sample, she was afraid of being exposed, so she faked her own suicide as a victim!"
Situ Jin struggled violently on the operating table: "Don't listen to him! Dr. Fan!"
Chen Ru trembled as he held up the syringe: "But memories can be awakened... just like how I recreated those cases..."
The needle tip approached Fan Jinci's neck.
Gunshots rang out suddenly.
Chen Ru's wheelchair was deflected by a bullet, and the syringe shattered on the ground. Yu Yan broke in through the window with a gun, Li Weimian jumped down from the ventilation duct, and Jiang Zhaoyan...
He was pointing the gun at Chen Ru's forehead.
"Old man," Jiang Zhaoyan's voice was colder than the Arctic wind, "It was clearly written in my sister's suicide note—she atoned for her sins with her death."
Chen Ru laughed maniacally: "Then do you know why she atoned for her sins? Because she discovered the first thing the M-0 sample did after awakening..."
He abruptly ripped open Fan Jinci's collar, revealing a brand beneath his collarbone that had never been shown to anyone before:
M-0 █████
The last five characters were erased by chemical burning.
"...It was Jiang Zhaoyue, who led the experiment, who was killed."
Dead silence.
For the first time, a crack appeared in Fan Jinci's eyes.
Li Weimian suddenly stepped forward and shoved the tablet in front of Chen Ru's eyes: "Take a look at this and make up another story."
The screen displays a dusty, unused surveillance video.
Young Jiang Zhaoyue cried as she plunged a syringe into her neck, while in the corner, Fan Jinci, covered in blood, struggled to climb toward the lab table.
Go and press the red button to terminate all samples of the brain chip.
"You altered fragments of memory," Li Weimian sneered. "Jiang Zhaoyue committed suicide because she discovered Zhou Lin's plan to create living weapons using 'Project Butterfly.'"
Jiang Zhaoyan cocked his gun with a "click".
Chen Ru finally revealed a look of fear: "Wait! I can tell you who's continuing this plan! They're in the police station; they've been monitoring M-0—"
A second shot rang out.
Blood bloomed between Chen Ru's brows, and he slowly collapsed.
Everyone turned around abruptly—
Wen Lin stood at the door, holding a smoking gun, his women's wig askew, and his face covered in nightclub glitter.
"Sorry I'm late." He pulled off his wig. "I just found something interesting in the next room..."
…He kicked aside Chen Ru's wheelchair, revealing a terminal underneath that was transmitting data; the screen clearly displayed:
[Currently monitored target: Fan Jinci; Status: Memory suppression failure]
Three months later, at the case closure report meeting.
"Chen Ru's terminal is pointing to an encrypted server, but the other party has formatted all the data beforehand." Yu Yan rubbed his temples irritably. "The technical department is still recovering."
Li Weimian closed the folder: "At least one thing is confirmed—someone is exploiting Chen Ru's hatred in an attempt to reactivate 'Project Butterfly.'"
Jiang Zhaoyan suddenly stood up and left his seat.
Outside in the corridor, Fan Jinci was smoking by the window—a bad habit he had picked up after Situ Jin was rescued.
"About my sister..." Jiang Zhaoyan began in a hoarse voice, "I'm sorry."
Ashes fell in a soft rustling sound.
"No need." Fan Jinci looked out the window. "In the end, she saved everyone."
He raised his left hand, and the butterfly scar on his wrist gleamed pale gold in the sunlight, like a specimen finally exposed to the sun.
In the conference room, Wen Lin was secretly taking a selfie in Li Weimian's suit jacket, while Situ Jin silently sent him a copy of the "Code of Conduct for Civil Servants"; meanwhile, Yu Yan…
…Gazing at Fan Jinci's profile through the glass, he placed a bullet casing into an encrypted box labeled "M-0 File".
A line of small print was engraved on the bullet casing:
"I will become your new memory."
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