I look forward to seeing you in your full form. M
The package was placed on Fan Jinci's desk, wrapped in pure black paper and tied with a silver ribbon into a perfect bow.
"No sender information." Situ Jin pushed up his glasses. "The X-ray shows there are no dangerous items inside, but you should still be careful."
Fan Jinci used a scalpel to carefully untangle the ribbon, his movements more hurried than usual. Since his strange conversation with Shen Mo three days ago, his sleep quality had worsened, and noticeable bluish-black patches had appeared under his eyes.
The wrapping paper unfurled, revealing a transparent specimen box. Inside, seven blue morpho butterfly specimens were neatly arranged, refracting a metallic sheen under the light. Each butterfly was secured to a cork base with special steel pins, its wings spread wide, as if it might take flight at any moment.
"Beautiful." Situ Jin whistled. "This breed is rare; it should be—Dr. Fan?"
Fan Jinci's hand hovered in mid-air, his fingertips trembling almost imperceptibly. His gaze was fixed on the steel needles—each butterfly was fixed in a position that precisely corresponded to one of the seven major nerve plexuses in the human body: the neck, wrists, ankles, chest, and lower abdomen.
The injection sites were exactly the same as those on Lin Wei's body.
"Call Yu Yan over." Fan Jinci's voice was an octave lower than usual. "Immediately."
Just as Situ Jin was about to turn around, the office door was suddenly pushed open. Yu Yan strode in, holding a document in his hand: "Found it! Shen Mo's doctoral advisor is—" His gaze fell on the specimen box, and his words trailed off, "What's this?"
"A provocation." Fan Jinci carefully examined the bottom of the box with tweezers, finding a folded card. It read in printed font: "To my most beautiful specimen - I await your complete form. M"
Yu Yan snatched the card: "What does this freak mean?"
"He's demonstrating his expertise." Fan Jinci had regained his composure and was examining the steel needles with a magnifying glass. "These fixation needles are specially made, with tiny barbs at the tips, consistent with the metal fragments found in Lin Wei's wound."
Situ Jin suddenly gasped: "Wait... M? Shen Mo's 'Mo'? Or..." He quickly pulled up a file on the computer, "In Zhou Lin's experimental notes, all human specimens are numbered with 'M'!"
The office temperature seemed to drop ten degrees. Yu Yan's fingers tightened around the edge of the specimen box, his knuckles turning white: "Shen Mo doesn't just admire you... he's imitating Zhou Lin."
Fan Jinci did not respond. He was using tweezers to pick up a butterfly and examine its abdomen. In the sunlight, a glint of silver flashed—the tip of the needle was engraved with barely perceptible numbers: M-09.
"The ninth specimen." Fan Jinci's voice was unusually calm. "Who were the first eight?"
Under the cold, white lights of the forensic autopsy room, Lin Wei's body had been examined three times. Fan Jinci, wearing a magnifying glass, meticulously examined the almost invisible needle marks inch by inch.
"Found it," he said suddenly, the tip of the tweezers pointing to a hidden puncture point below the victim's right scapula. "The ninth mark. It was previously covered by livor mortis."
Yu Yan looked closer and saw that there were extremely fine burn marks around the needle hole, which matched perfectly with the electric shock device found in Shen Mo's laboratory.
"So Lin Wei is the ninth victim?" Yu Yan's voice tightened with anger. "Where are the first eight bodies?"
Fan Jinci shook his head: "Not all of them are murder cases. Zhou Lin's 'M specimens' include live experimental subjects." He took off his rubber gloves, "Investigate the young women who have gone missing in the city in the past two years, especially..."
The dissection room door was flung open, and Jiang Zhaoyan rushed in, panting: "Shen Mo just left the school! The surveillance footage shows he headed towards the outskirts of the city in a silver Honda!"
"Track!" Yu Yan had already grabbed his coat.
"Wait," Fan Jinci called out to them. "He deliberately revealed his whereabouts." He pointed to the map on the computer screen. "There's the old factory of Zhou's Pharmaceutical in that direction on the outskirts of the city, and..." He paused, "...the abandoned laboratory building of the Military Medical University."
Situ Jin suddenly looked up from her computer: "Just received the forensic report! A videotape was found under Shen Mo's bed in his dorm room, labeled 'M-07'!"
Everyone fell silent instantly. Fan Jinci's face turned deathly pale, and his right hand unconsciously gripped the scar on his left wrist.
"Play it," he finally said.
The videotape flickered a few times, revealing a dimly lit room. A young girl was tied to a chair, her eyes glazed over, a strange smile playing on her lips—exactly the same expression Lin Wei had before her death. Off-camera, a voice altered by a decoy said:
"Phase seven begins: neurological tolerance testing of experimental subject M-07."
The girl's limbs were fixed with electrodes, positioned exactly like a butterfly specimen. When the current passed through her, she didn't scream, but instead emitted a chilling laugh. The image finally focused on a metal tray containing several syringes filled with a blue liquid, labeled "Eternity-7".
"It's Shen Mo." Yu Yan slammed his fist on the table. "He's continuing Zhou Lin's experiment!"
Fan Jinci stared at the corner of the screen—where a blurry reflection of an operator's hand was visible, with a unique watch on the wrist bearing the Jiang's Pharmaceutical logo.
"It's not Shen Mo," Fan Jinci said slowly, "it's Jiang Zhaoyue."
"What?" Jiang Zhaoyan looked up abruptly, "My sister died five years ago..."
"Dead?" Fan Jinci sneered. "Did you see the corpse with your own eyes?"
The monitoring room was deathly silent. Jiang Zhaoyan's face turned extremely pale, and his fingers unconsciously reached for the pistol at his waist.
Yu Yan's phone suddenly rang. After answering, his expression grew increasingly serious: "Shen Mo's car is parked at the old campus of the Military Medical University... A lot of blood was found in the car, and this too." He held up his phone; the photo showed a silver butterfly brooch, exactly the same as the one Shen Mo had worn that day.
"A diversionary tactic." Fan Jinci suddenly ran outside. "His real target is—"
"Zhou Xue." Yu Yan followed closely behind, "If she's really still alive..."
The sirens wailed through the night. As the police car sped towards the old campus of the Military Medical University, Fan Jinci unusually spoke up: "Jiang Zhaoyue is the first successful case of 'Project Butterfly.' The memories Zhou Lin implanted in her made her believe she was his sister." He looked at Jiang Zhaoyan, whose face was deathly pale. "That 'suicide' five years ago was staged."
"Why are you only saying this now?" Jiang Zhaoyan's voice was hoarse.
Fan Jinci was silent for a moment, then raised the butterfly scar on his wrist: "Because I only recently confirmed it myself. The specimen box Shen Mo gave me... the background pattern is a floor plan of the military medical university's laboratory building. The marked location is precisely the 'scene of Jiang Zhaoyue's death' from back then."
The police car screeched to a halt in front of the dilapidated laboratory building. In the moonlight, a slender figure stood at a third-floor window, long hair flowing, seemingly holding something in her hand. Fan Jinci was the first to jump out of the car. The instant he stepped into the building, his phone vibrated. A message from an unknown number:
The butterfly on your wrist is finally about to take flight. Don't worry, we'll be reunited soon. -M
From deep within the building came a familiar yet chilling laugh.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
