Chapter 4: Bitter Harvest

The prescription bottle burned through Jiang Se's pocket as they sped toward the city. Lu Chen drove like a man possessed, swerving around potholes that mirrored the cracks in their fragile alliance.

"Mingyu looked twelve in that photo." His eyes flicked to the rearview mirror every seven seconds—a habit she'd noticed during the crematorium encounter. "You'd be twenty-two when she disappeared."

Jiang Se traced the Barbie doll's jagged arm stump. "I don't remember her."

"Convenient." The SUV lurched onto the highway. "How'd Qin Shu clone you without—"

"Not a clone." She pressed the doll's plastic face against her throbbing temple. "Her scent was wrong. Like cheap shampoo and..."

Antiseptic. Copper. The tang of betrayal.

Lu Chen's phone buzzed. He tossed it to her. "Answer. It's your fan club."

Unknown number. Geo-tagged to their current highway mile marker. Jiang Se's thumb hovered over decline when the screen lit up with Mingyu's smile—realer than any hologram.

"JieJie's late." The girl's laughter tinkled like broken wind chimes. "The chef's getting impatient."

A video feed replaced her face. Steam rose from industrial-sized pots as a man in a blood-splattered apron stirred something that glowed. His head snapped up, revealing eye sockets packed with saffron threads.

"Turn around." Lu Chen yanked the wheel. "That's Chef Marceau's kitchen!"

The SUV careened across three lanes. Jiang Se gripped the dashboard. "Who's—"

"Only Michelin-starred chef in the province." He floored the accelerator. "And sole survivor of the Golden Fork food poisoning scandal."

The video's audio crackled to life. The chef hummed Frère Jacques while disemboweling a sea bass. His remaining eye fixed on the camera.

"They told me to make it sweet." He giggled, sprinkling black salt over the fish's gaping mouth. "But all I taste is you."

The screen went dark. Lu Chen cursed. "We're eight minutes out."

Jiang Se stared at the doll. "Why send warnings if he wants me dead?"

"Maybe you're not the target." He tossed her a police radio. "Maybe you're the ingredient."

Golden Lotus Restaurant, 11:14 AM

The kitchen reeked of cloying sweetness. Jiang Se pressed a lavender-scented mask to her face—useless against the stench of caramelized decay.

"He's been dead twenty minutes." Lu Chen crouched beside the chef's body. "But the ovens are cold."

Jiang Se focused on the floor tiles. Crimson handprints led to a walk-in freezer, their edges glittering with frost. "He was running from something."

"Or toward it." Lu Chen pried a cleaver from the corpse's hand. "Stay close."

The freezer door creaked open, releasing a fog bank that smelled of childhood winters. Jiang Se's flashlight beam pierced the mist, illuminating hanging duck carcasses... and a banquet table set for two.

Mingyu waved from the head chair. "JieJie came!"

Lu Chen drew his gun. "Step away from the girl."

"What girl?" Jiang Se followed his aim to an empty seat.

The detective blinked. "She was just—"

A sous-vide machine whirred to life. The table's silver cloche lifted on invisible strings, revealing a molecular gastronomy display: caviar that wept blood, seared scallops arranged into a smile, and at the center, a chocolate sculpture of Jiang Se's face.

Lu Chen gagged. "Taste overload. Just like Chen Wei."

"Worse." She pointed trembling gloves at the sculpture's hollow eyes. "Those are real teeth."

A drop of sweat slid down Lu Chen's neck. "We need to—"

The freezer door slammed.

Interlude: Five Years Earlier

The corpse flower's pollen stained Jiang Se's cuticles burgundy. She peered through the microscope, adjusting focus until the cells danced like fireflies.

"Almost perfect." Qin Shu loomed over her shoulder. "Add more methyl dihydrojasmonate."

"That's a synthetic." She resisted the urge to scratch her blistered forearm. "You promised natural isolates."

His scalpel traced her jugular. "Perfume is pain transmuted. You taught me that."

The lab door burst open. A girl's voice chirped, "Qin Shu-gege! Look what Mingyu found!"

Jiang Se turned to see her own face grinning through a hazmat suit visor.

Present

The temperature plummeted. Jiang Se's breath crystallized as she scanned their icy prison. "There's another exit."

"For rats maybe." Lu Chen kicked the door. "Cell service is dead."

She approached the banquet table. The chocolate Jiang Se sneered up at her, pearl teeth gleaming between cocoa lips. A gold plaque read: Deconstructed Sister. Serves 2.

"This isn't about perfume." She lifted a scallop. "It's a message."

Lu Chen grabbed her wrist. "Don't touch anything!"

Too late. The scallop dissolved against her glove, releasing a familiar bitterness—Qin Shu's sleeping draught formula.

The freezer lights dimmed. Projectors hummed to life inside duck carcasses, casting Mingyu's hologram around them.

"Let's play a game!" The girl twirled, braids scattering ice crystals. "What did JieJie steal from Qin Shu-gege?"

Lu Chen fired at each projector. Bullets sparked off frozen walls.

"Wrong answer!" Mingyu's image pixelated. "Hint—it's in your pocket."

Jiang Se fumbled out the prescription bottle. The label now read: Li Mingyu - Memory Suppressants.

"Ten seconds!" Mingyu giggled. "Or the chef's special gets served!"

The chocolate sculpture's teeth began vibrating. Lu Chen tackled Jiang Se as the first molar exploded.

Golden Lotus Parking Lot, 11:42 AM

Jiang Se awoke to asphalt biting her cheek. Lu Chen knelt nearby, pressing a bloody handkerchief to his temple.

"The freezer..."

"Gone." He nodded to the smoldering kitchen. "Along with our evidence."

She sat up, wincing. "How'd we escape?"

"Someone triggered the fire suppression system." He lifted a charmed butterfly clip. "Found this by the dumpster."

The purple plastic was melted, but Jiang Se recognized the 2014 Limited Edition design. "Mingyu's."

"Or Qin Shu's." Lu Chen stood, offering a hand. "Your sister's a better hacker than you."

"She's not my—"

Sirens drowned her denial. Three patrol cars skidded into the lot, followed by a forensics van. Lu Chen straightened his coat.

"Time to vanish."

They slipped through the gathering crowd. Jiang Se's legs moved automatically, years of escaping Qin Shu's tantrums paying off. At the bus terminal bathroom, she finally checked her reflection.

The prescription bottle fell from her shaking hands.

Her left pupil had turned burgundy—the exact shade of corpse flower pollen.

Interlude: Three Months Before the Fire

Jiang Se pressed ear to the greenhouse floor. The secret basement hummed.

"...accelerated cellular decay..." Qin Shu's voice echoed through vents. "Mingyu's body can't..."

A girl sobbed. "You promised forever!"

Jiang Se fled before the screaming started.

Present

Lu Chen cornered her by the ticket machines. "Your eye."

She turned away. "Allergies."

"Bullshit." He gripped her chin. "Qin Shu modified you."

The terminal lights flickered. Mingyu materialized on the departure board, waving from Platform 9.

"JieJie should check the lost and found!"

They arrived as the last bus pulled out. The attendant's booth held one item—a VHS tape labeled Jiang Family Reunion 2009.

Lu Chen slotted it into a pawnshop TV. Static resolved into home video footage:

Eight-year-old Jiang Se blowing birthday candles. The camera panned left, revealing a smaller girl stealing cake.

Li Mingyu. Her twin.