Dear Archimedes

Chapter 7

In a spotless white laboratory.

There are two rows of transparent glass rears encasing a huge square-shaped apparatus.

Zhen Ai is wearing a white laboratory coat, she puts a cage on top of the desk. Inside the cage is a little white mouse sprawled out in its back and covered with blood.

She looks at the image of the white mouse in the video feed then she holds the voice recorder, "HNT-DL neurotoxin, dilution times 100,000. February 29, 23:30, neurotoxin was injected to the white mouse; after one minute, the toxin affects the hearts and lungs, the subject (mouse) loses ability to function, it vomits and trembles, signs of arrhythmia were observed (ie. a condition in which the heart beats with an irregular or abnormal rhythm) and after three minutes, it received shocks. 23:33, I injected the anti-HNT-DL serum to the subject, the symptoms continue. March 1, 01:47, the subject regains the ability to function, it crawls 5 centimetres inside the cage and then loses ability to move again. At 03:19, subject is in shock once more, throat starts bleeding. At 05:38, subject has no signs of breathing."

She stops speaking for a moment, then silently says: "Anti-HNT-DL serum reagent, failed."

She turns around to get another one: "HNT-LS neurotoxin, dilution times 1 million, injected to subject, dies instantaneously. Wasn't able to inject the antidote. Next step is to try the toxin that is diluted 10,000 times."

She saves the voice records and starts dissecting the white mouse. She sits in front of the white panel silently and starts to work.

Since before, when she works she sees to it that no other thoughts are in her mind. She works in a professional field, after hours of recording various important data, she reconfigure the antidote/antitoxin serum and inputs the formula. After inputting the percentage of the formula, the apparatus starts its automatic synthesis. It needs several hours to complete.

At exactly 10:00, she stands up to take off her coat. Her eyes wander when she walks to the coat rack.

Yan Su's grey scarf peacefully hangs on the rack.

She takes the scarf and encircles it around her neck, she traces it gently and feels the soft comfortable material.

She suddenly remembers when they were standing at the road side, he said that if she was to kill someone, she will certainly use a graceful yet ruthless way.

She believes that those words are indeed true.

She grasps the scarf on her neck again, the corners of her mouth moves slightly, she actually smiles.

Suddenly, the voice of her mother resounds in her ears: Do not expect, expectation is the root of one's own misfortune.

In the end, she removes the scarf and picks up Owen's coat and walks out of the lab.

Outside the laboratory is a 50-meter airtight white corridor, spotless, does not have any edges or corners, it seems boundless and scary. Zhen Ai walks to the retina eye scanner, then the fingerprint verification then entered the 15-digit password. She takes the elevator to the ground floor and walks out into an ordinary pharmaceutical research room. Her assistant, Ryan Parker, isn't around today.

When she went out, she sees Owen's car parked at the side of the road. She knows that Yan Su is looking for her.

#

They arrived at Yan Su's house, the maid said in her thick Southeast Asian english that, as usual, Yan Su is in the libluearri (library).

She goes into the library but she does not see anyone.