“They were a gift… from you.


    Steven touched the bottom–right corner of the specimen disy. It showed a ck signature that


    said ‘SC


    the acronym for Stephanie Carlson.


    N?velDrama.Org owns this text.


    I looked at Steven in shock and felt my heart drop.


    “It was me? I gave these to you?”


    I wonder if he was referring to all the specimens.


    “You said that the beauty of shooting stars was their fleetingness. Only a short–lived beauty would


    amaze


    everyone…


    Steven leaned over to look at me, his voice still hoarse as usual. He sounded lonely, sad, and


    guilty.


    “Life is fleeting. This is the only way to preserve them forever…”


    I started the wall of butterfly specimens in shock. At that moment, it felt like they had alle alive.


    “I didn’t know that I would like these things…” I said in surprise.


    Steven held my hand and brought me into the room deeper in the basement.


    A password was needed to enter the room. The door looked sturdy, almost like a bank vault. As the


    door opened, I followed Steven inside. When the lights came on, I was in so much shock that my


    body went


    numb.


    I wondered if Steven was finally opening up to me.


    In some sense, he had finally decided to trust mepletely. He had shown me all of his secrets


    and


    scars.


    On the walls were investigation data that Steven had obtained about Peter, me, my parents, people


    from the orphanage, and some people I didn’t know about. It also included data about the serial


    murder case.


    It felt like Steven had been monitoring everyone like he was God, controlling everything behind the


    scenes.


    I looked at Steven in fear. I wondered if he was actually the culprit.


    Steven brought me to the wall of photos and pointed toward the bottom–left direction.


    “This isn’t the first case of serial murders. Three years ago, after leaving the asylum, a series of


    murders happened between the doctors of the asylum too.


    “Several psychiatrists died from falling, idents, drowning, and fire. Essentially, their deaths seem


    unrted but somehow closely rted.”


    *Are you guessing that the culprit behind those incidents is also the culprit of the serial murder


    cases?” I asked softly.


    Steven nodded.


    “They have one thing inmon, which is that they don’t kill innocent people.”


    Steven pointed at the psychiatrist who reported on the asylum’s hical practices.


    “His name is Quentin Long, and he was one of the rare psychiatrists who was kind. He was the one


    who exposed the dark secrets of the asylum, rescuing me from it.”


    He was also the doctor whom Michael brought along to provoke Steven.


    “I’m at the center of all their deaths…” Steven whispered.


    All the doctors who died were people who once hurt or tortured Steven.


    “That’s why more attention will be put on me while the true murderer will be overlooked,” Steven


    continued softly.


    “If you knew that something didn’t add up, why didn’t you report these clues to the police?” I looked


    at


    Steven anxiously.


    Red–eyed, Steven looked hesitant.


    “Steve… You’ll tell me everything, won’t you?” I felt my stomach drop as I looked at Steven,


    wondering if he was hiding anything else.


    He looked away. “Everything I have is here… Peter is a dangerous man. I suspect… that your


    parents and Andy’s deaths… are rted to Peter.”


    Steven was talking about his father.


    My breath quickened as I looked at the wall full of clues. When had Peter begun to target the


    Lincoln. family? It began after Peter won an award in the medical field and proposed the Godmaker


    Project.


    “My dad, Biology and gic studies… Genome–edited babies? What does that mean…” My


    breath quickened and my fingers trembled as I stretched my hands toward the documents.


    Genome editing in the so–called Godmaker Project was simply about helping descendants of rich


    people


    win the rat race.


    If society came to ept such a project that vited human nature and morals, it would overturn


    the current societal state of affairs. The elite would remain superior, and the secret to wealth would


    be kept in the hands of only a handful of people.


    Meanwhile, such people would be immune to various diseases from birth. They would be known as


    the Left Hand of God–prodigies.


    “The project was first proposed to research AIDS, rare diseases, gic mutations, cerebral palsy,


    and other relevant fields. When the people from the medical fieldcked funds, they would request


    support from the financial sectors,” said Steven as he pointed at a photo of Michael.