Chapter 327: Chapter 327

“They were a gift… from you.

Steven touched the bottom–right corner of the specimen display. It showed a black signature that said ‘SC the acronym for Stephanie Carlson.

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 all come 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 me completely. 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, accidents, drowning, and fire. Essentially, their deaths seem unrelated but somehow closely related.”

*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 in common, which is that they don’t kill innocent people.”

Steven pointed at the psychiatrist who reported on the asylum’s unethical 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 related 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 genetic 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 accept such a project that violated 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, genetic mutations, cerebral palsy, and other relevant fields. When the people from the medical field lacked funds, they would request support from the financial sectors,” said Steven as he pointed at a photo of Michael.