Gray Tower 1.1
M-10 has been detained for over half a month, and the interrogation, led by Li Weimian, is progressing slowly. M-10 readily admits to his "collection" activities, even with a hint of boasting, but he remains silent or resorts to distorted logic when the core of the "Lyan Legacy" or the internal structure of the "Grey Tower" Foundation is touched upon.
Using "psychological trauma recovery" and "safety considerations" as excuses, Yu Yan practically kept Fan Jinci by his side, even reducing his visits to the forensic center. Fan Jinci let him be, spending most of his time in Yu Yan's heavily guarded apartment, sifting through the few remaining, heavily encrypted documents seized from M-10's residence, trying to piece together more clues about the "Grey Tower."
It was drizzling that day when Wen Lin and Situ Jin were ordered to handle a seemingly ordinary burglary case in the west of the city—an elderly collector living alone had lost several worthless old items, but the old man insisted that someone had tampered with his "memory".
As the on-site investigation was nearing its end, Situ Jin discovered something unusual in the inner compartment of an old, empty wooden box in the old man's study—not fingerprints, nor common dust, but a small clump of extremely fine, faintly reflective gray powder.
"What is this?" Wen Lin came closer and shone his flashlight on it.
Situ Jin carefully took a sample with tweezers and placed it in an evidence bag. He examined it closely through a magnifying glass, his brows gradually furrowing: "It doesn't look like dust. The structure is very unusual... We need to go back and have it tested."
Meanwhile, Jiang Zhaoyan made a new discovery. Following the almost severed connection with the "Grey Tower" Foundation, he used some unconventional financial methods to trace a small, seemingly unrelated sum of money flowing to a private laboratory overseas. This laboratory's stated research focus was on the restoration and preservation of ancient documents.
"Ancient document restoration?" During the video conference, Yu Yan raised an eyebrow. "What does this have to do with Ryan's biotechnology and neural experiments?"
“On the surface, it doesn’t seem so.” Jiang Zhaoyan leaned back in his leather chair, tapping his fingertips on the table. “But the head of the lab who received this funding was one of Ryan’s most outstanding students in college, specializing in… biodegradation and preservation of organic materials.”
Fan Jinci, who had been listening silently to the report, suddenly looked up at the laboratory data images sent by Jiang Zhaoyan on the screen. His gaze lingered on the small Latin word "motto" below the laboratory logo:
“Ex cinere, veritas.” (From Ashes, Truth)
Ash.
Grey Tower.
Li Weimian's voice came through the speaker, carrying a hint of cold sharpness: "Some of Ryan's early research involved using special microorganisms or enzymes to 'fix traces' or 'targeted erase' biological tissues and even neural synapses. Doesn't that sound a bit like...intervention in memory itself?"
Situ Jin stared at the bag of gray powder that had just been delivered to the laboratory, then suddenly thought of something and immediately dialed a number: "Prioritize testing the composition of that powder, and focus on checking whether it contains biological enzymes or special microbial carriers!"
The threads of the clues began to subtly twist and turn in an even more bizarre direction.
Despite the rain, the city remained bustling, but a new sense of urgency was quietly spreading through the communication networks of the core members of the task force.
The old man who lost his "memory," the handful of gray powder, the laboratory researching "truth in the ashes"... all of this seems to indicate that the tentacles of the "Gray Tower" are far deeper and more hidden than they imagined.
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