Specimen number

The old site of Yundu Medical College, underground specimen library

The rusting sound when the iron door was pushed open was like the sigh of a dying person. Charlotte counted the cracks on the handrail of the stairs - twelve years ago, when her father held her hand and walked through here, the cracks were just gray lines as thin as hair. Now the mold has crawled on the wall into a network of blood vessels, and the moonlight squeezed in from the air vents, spreading pale corpse spots on the steps.

The blue light of the USB flash drive flickered in the darkness. The countdown on the password interface was 11 hours and 47 minutes, and her fingerprint had been tried and failed three times. The number that her father had carved on the guardrail of the bed before his death still burned her palm, and the smell of disinfectant on that rainy night suddenly revived in her nose.

"You are here."

Alexander's voice broke the silence. He leaned against the fire hydrant at the corner, with a bloody bandage under his suit jacket, and threw the master key of the medical school in his hand - they secretly made it in their sophomore year, in order to review all night in the anatomy room.

"Where's the dog from Thunder Appliances?" Charlotte didn't turn around.

"Buying hot searches for the genetic report." The keychain jingled, "Do you need me to help you remember the password? September 17, 2007..."

The metal door suddenly made a groaning sound of gears turning. The two froze at the same time. The sound perfectly coincided with the security door alarm on the day of the laboratory explosion. Charlotte's temples throbbed, and she finally saw the truth that her father had guarded with his life-

The specimen rack was filled with glass jars, and baby embryos were suspended in formalin solution. The label of jar No. 0917 was soaked in blood, and the words "Lin's Genetic Improvement Plan" could be vaguely seen. And the heart of the embryo immersed in it was branded with the logo of Morningstar Group.

"This is C-0917." Alexander's fingertips dragged water marks on the glass, "A monster bred by the Zhou and Lin families."

Charlotte's back hit the filing cabinet. The experimental logs from 1998 were scattered all over the floor. She saw her father's handwriting spasming on the yellowed pages: "On September 17, Zhou Weimin forcibly terminated the pregnancy... The embryo may survive..."

The phone suddenly vibrated. The latest announcement of Morningstar Group popped up on the screen: "Legal Statement on Inheritance Rights of Genetic Improvement Project", with a comparison of Alexander's baby photo and embryo specimen, and the logo on the chest looked like a fresh scar under the flash.

"Now you understand?" Alexander kicked away the dead woodlice at his feet, "Our engagement is not a scandal, it is written in the experimental plan."

Charlotte grabbed the pipette and pressed it against his throat. In the cold light reflected by the glass, she could see the faint pinhole under his collarbone - it was the mark left by the egg extraction of the IVF, exactly the same as the scar on her lower abdomen.

"Why are you telling me now?"

"Because of the test report this morning..." He held her shaking wrist, "You still have three fertilized eggs frozen in your ovaries."

The lights in the basement suddenly lit up. The bodyguards of Thunder Appliances rushed in with cameras, and the lenses greedily licked every inch of the skin of the "experimental subjects". The scarred man in the lead held up a copy of the will: "Thank you for leading the way. Mr. Zhou's embryo adoption agreement is enough to make Morningstar's stock price fall to the limit for three months."

Alexander suddenly smiled. Charlotte had seen this smile twice: once at the expulsion hearing at Imperial College, and the other time when they faced a surprise inspection by the dormitory management after their first night.

"Do you know why I chose to decrypt it today?" He pulled open his tie, revealing the medical tape on his carotid artery, "My leukemia matching results came out this morning."

Scarred man suddenly coughed violently, and his nosebleed splashed on the camera lens. Everyone's mobile phone popped up a push at the same time: "A sudden collective poisoning incident at Thunder Appliances headquarters."

"The concentration of formalin is 4.8%." Charlotte stared at the flashing red dot on the vent, "It is exactly the threshold of nerve paralysis calculated by my father."

Alexander crushed the ampoule on the ground, and the phenol liquid overflowed the leather shoes of the bodyguards. He dragged Charlotte to the safe passage in the chaos, and there was a muffled sound of flesh falling to the ground behind him.

"The password of the cold storage is actually..."

"My birthday." Charlotte interrupted him, "All the passwords set by my father are March 15, 1992."

The fire door slammed shut. The emergency lights cast their shadows on the mottled green paint wall, like two specimens hugging each other. There was a sirens at the end of the safe passage, and Alexander suddenly stuffed the USB drive into the hidden button of her underwear: "Now you have two choices-"

"Either hand me over to the police, or..." His thumb brushed her lower lip, the bloody smell overlapped with the memory, "Come back to Glasgow with me to complete the elopement."