Night was about to pass. Dawn lurked just beyond the horizon, yet the clouds hanging over the heavens erased all difference between day and night.
Kai and Teanguan knew the time well. They had to return to their chambers before the first ray of sunlight touched the earth. Somehow, they forced themselves forward and stepped into the abandoned laboratory.
The moment their feet crossed the threshold, a chill ran through their bones. No light. No sound. Only the ceaseless drip of water from above, echoing so loudly that even the bravest heart would falter. The air itself felt like a tomb.
Kai and Teanguan exchanged a look.....they both understood what was hidden here.
A power strong enough to unravel the world.
Morwyn Noxflora.
That poisonous plant… locked away in this forsaken place.
Glass beakers littered the benches, many filled with half-frozen concoctions. Rats scurried over the floors, while the stench of decay suffocated the air...some rodents had already perished, their corpses rotting in silence. The laboratory stretched long and deep, shadows twisting into endless shapes.
Kai's voice broke the oppressive stillness.
"I can't believe it… such a vast laboratory, abandoned in this state. And if the Institute knows about this place, do they also know what lies within?"
Teanguan halted and turned to her. His sharp eyes swept every shelf, every bottle, committing them to memory. He finally spoke in a low, steady tone:
"If it has remained sealed until now, then believe me...they already know,.... Kai....?."He faced her directly, gaze unwavering.
"I know you won't hand this over to your father. But then… why do you still want to steal it? What exactly do you intend to do?"
Kai met his eyes. Her silence was heavier than words, as though she was trying to tell him through her expression alone what she truly intended. Then her lips parted, voice cold and resolute:
"Even if they have guarded it for generations, fate changes in the blink of an eye. We cannot let such a thing exist. We must destroy it… completely."
Teanguan's pupils trembled.
"WHAT..!!!!!"
She had changed the plan again. At first, they were here to steal the Morwyn. Now, she intended to burn it from the world itself. Kai always altered the path, and this time she had gone too far. Yet her conviction was undeniable.....her tone admitted no compromise.
Without waiting for him, Kai strode past, her steps echoing against the stone floor. She began searching for the hidden Morwyn Noxflora.
Meanwhile, at the police station, a different storm brewed.
Inside the interrogation room, Bai Yin sat across from gen. On the table lay a laptop, replaying the CCTV footage again and again.....the one that showed gen walking past the little girl's home. Sweat trickled down his temple. His fingers clenched. His breaths grew shallow.
Bai Yin, a master of micro-expressions, needed no questions. He could already see the guilt twisting gen's face.
With a subtle signal, Bai Yin ordered his assistant to prepare a full house search.....no corner was to be spared. The assistant hurried away to execute the command.
Doctors were summoned inside. Samples were taken from gen.....skin cells, blood, strands of hair...to be sent for forensic testing. They would be matched with the traces found beneath the child's fingernails.
Evidence existed, but it was still thin. Until the final reports arrived, Jian was both guilty and not guilty...trapped in that razor's edge where justice was decided by proof, not suspicion.