Zhi Hao narrowed his eyes at the image vividly on the screen. "But he was declared dead and in all the official records. A funeral was held, and an arrest warrant was issued for you as a scapegoat. You were tried and exiled from academia, and they shut everything down. Are you telling me they lied?"
"No." She exhaled loudly feeling bitter, "They didn't lie about everything. There was indeed a fire, a massive one. The lab was gone in minutes. I barely made it out alive. But I never saw his body. They said it was incinerated beyond recognition… and that was enough for them to frame me. This is something I never got to tell anyone, not even my family knew back then what had happened or why I was arrested, everything was secret and confidential, even for the arrest, they had only stated that I started the fire while operating weird experiments in the laboratory and even used a human for the experiment, because, everything was written down by my handwritten and signature, let's just say, with my naivety, that was the reason for my arrest, those pictures you saw." She actually hadn't expected she would be hunted tonight. And now, she wondered if those pictures were exposed by that man trying to tarnish her name. Those memories were still so fresh in her mind.
How did he survive? How did he get out alive? What happened back then?
FLASHBACK
Three Years Ago
Location: Tsinghua High School Research Facility – Sublevel 5 (Restricted Zone)
Time: 1:14 AM
The sterile white corridor hummed with the low buzz of fluorescent lights Illuminating the entire place.
Lu Wan Ruyi walked briskly, the clipboard pressed tightly to her chest, her white coat fluttering behind her like a flag in retreat. The lab was abnormally quiet, too quiet than usual. Apart from her, they had several other students who were obsessed with researching and working in the laboratory all night long.
Also, their professor, Professor Mo, always worked late into the night, and sometimes, he could stay sleepless for several days. His obsession never let him sleep. But tonight, there was something else in the air. The scent of sterilizers and metal couldn't mask the uneasy curling in her gut.
As she reached the security door to Vault Chamber B, she paused on her footsteps.
The door was slightly ajar, which was very unusual. Only she and Professor Mo had access to that room.
Her hand hovered over the biometric scanner, but before she could place her palm, she suddenly heard it...
A low, crackling hum... like something alive and wrong was pulsing inside the room. This was so wrong! Very wrong!
Pushing the door open cautiously, she stepped inside to check out what was going on.
The sight that greeted her stopped her breath. What was going on here? What was happening? What was all this?
A containment chamber in the center of the lab glowed with violent red light. Inside it was something, not something but someone. An unconscious human figure, hooked up to dozens of electrodes and IV tubes, suspended mid-air in a cryo-stasis unit.
Professor Mo stood beside the control panel, his glasses reflecting the pulsing glow. He didn't look surprised to see her but he hadn't anticipated her presence.
"You weren't scheduled to come in tonight, what's the emergency..." he said calmly without looking at her.
Wan Ruyi's voice trembled looking at what he was doing, "You said the human trials were months away. That we weren't ready. You swore..... You said you won't use it until then....."
"I said what I had to," he interrupted coldly without a care, the only thing in his eyes was the burning desire to succeed. "You were growing soft. Always asking about ethical clearances and subject rights here and there. What I'm building here transcends all that. You can't create evolution by following the rules of the past. You have to forgo past that.. who needs human morals?"