67: Chapter 67 My Stepmother Seems to Have Some Unspeakable Secret
"Fujiwara Masako?"
Chen Yuan looked at the pure, youthful face on the holographic projection, then looked at Zhao Ya's face beside it—regal and elegant, yet revealing a hint of malice—and furrowed his brows tightly.
They looked alike.
Too alike.
They were practically cut from the same mold. If not for the stark difference in their temperaments, no one would doubt that they were the same person.
"Foreign DNA fragments..."
Chen Yuan's fingers tapped lightly on the desktop as his brain raced. "Alice, are you saying... my cheap stepmother might have undergone some kind of... face-changing surgery? Or perhaps a deeper level of genetic modification?"
"The probability is very high."
Red Queen's voice came from the speakers, calm and objective. "Zhao Ya has been taking GR-3 immunosuppressants for years. The main function of this drug is to prevent foreign genes from triggering rejection in the Host. Normal organ transplants do not require this intensity of medication."
"Unless..."
Alice paused, seemingly organizing her words. "She didn't transplant just an organ, but... a core segment of genes that determined her appearance and identity."
Chen Yuan felt a chill run down his spine.
This wasn't a science fiction movie.
With the technological level of 2005, genetic modification was still in the theoretical stage. Let alone changing a person's appearance, it couldn't even treat the simplest genetic diseases.
Unless...
Someone had mastered technology far beyond this era twenty years ago.
"Fujiwara Shin."
Chen Yuan's gaze fell upon that Japanese scientist who had died in an "accidental car crash," and a bold, insane thought took shape in his mind.
"Investigate."
Chen Yuan's voice became low and dangerous. "I want all the information on this Fujiwara Shin. His research projects, his interpersonal relationships, every detail of his car accident... even what his last meal was before he died, dig it all up for me!"
"Command received."
Red Queen's voice rang out. "Infiltrating the databases of the Japanese Metropolitan Police Department, the Public Security Investigation Agency, and the Cabinet Intelligence and Research Office... Firewalls bypassed... Downloading encrypted files..."
On the screen, countless Japanese documents scrolled by like a waterfall.
Chen Yuan couldn't read Japanese, but he could understand the shocking photos and experimental data.
Fujiwara Shin, Japan's most renowned genetic biologist twenty years ago, specialized in "editing and optimizing the human genome." Publicly, it was claimed to be for overcoming cancer and genetic diseases, but in reality...
Red Queen projected a file marked [Top Secret - S].
It was a destroyed experimental log.
[Experiment Code: Amaterasu]
[Goal: To create a 'New Human' possessing a perfect appearance, super-high intelligence, and absolute obedience to specific commands by extracting and fusing excellent gene segments from different races.]
[Experimental Subject: ...]
The experimental subject's name had been blacked out.
But below that, there was a photographic record of the experimental subject at different stages.
From an ordinary Japanese girl, she was "optimized" bit by bit; her facial features became more defined, her skin fairer, and her figure taller...
Finally, it settled on a face identical to the one Zhao Ya had when she married into the Chen family.
"Son of a bitch..."
Chen Yuan couldn't help but curse.
He finally understood everything.
That madman Fujiwara Shin had used his own daughter as an experimental subject, attempting to create so-called "perfect humans."
And his daughter, Fujiwara Masako, had escaped in the middle of the experiment, taking the core experimental data with her.
Fujiwara Shin, to cover up the truth and recover the data, staged the car accident, then went into hiding, using the forces behind him to hunt his daughter down across the globe.
And Fujiwara Masako, who was now Zhao Ya, chose to undergo plastic surgery (or rather, genetic camouflage) to evade the pursuit and obtain a powerful sanctuary, marrying into the then-thriving Jinghai Chen Family.
"So..."
Chen Yuan's eyes turned icy and piercing. "My being kicked out of the family wasn't because of some bullshit about being an illegitimate child."
"It was because my mother's death might have been related to her. She was afraid that if I stayed in this house, I would eventually uncover the truth."
"Even... my cheap grandfather's sudden stroke might not have been caused by anger, but rather..."
He didn't dare to continue thinking.
A woman who could lie in wait for twenty years, manipulating everyone in the palm of her hand—how terrifying must her schemes and methods be?
"Boss."
Alice's voice interrupted Chen Yuan's train of thought. "In the communication records of Zhao Ya... or rather, Fujiwara Masako, there is an encrypted number. We tracked the actual user of this number to a person called 'Shadow.' He is Fujiwara Shin's most loyal subordinate and the current leader of this secret organization."
"Just a moment ago, Zhao Ya and 'Shadow' had a conversation."
A processed recording was played.
It was Zhao Ya's voice, but she was speaking fluent Japanese, her tone cold and urgent:
"...The plan must be moved forward. That bastard's power overseas is developing too quickly; it has already exceeded our control. He has not only connected with the British royal family, but even the Rothschild Family has bowed to him..."
"...I am worried that he will soon uncover what happened back then. Once he finds out the truth about his mother's death..."
"...We must completely control the Chen family before he returns to the country and get hold of that 'thing' hidden in the ancestral home!"
"...No, the old man cannot die yet. I need him alive to personally hand over the inheritance rights to my son. Only then can I legitimately take over everything."
The recording ended there.
Chen Yuan listened quietly to the end, his expression terrifyingly calm.
But in those pitch-black eyes, a raging fury capable of incinerating everything was burning.
His mother's death.
The "thing" in the ancestral home.
One mystery after another coiled around him like chains, leaving him almost suffocated.
"Very good."
After a long time, Chen Yuan slowly spat out these two words.
The voice was hoarse, like two rusted iron plates rubbing against each other.
"Truly... my good stepmother."
He turned around and walked to the huge floor-to-ceiling window.
Outside the window, the gloomy rain of Scotland was still falling, but in Chen Yuan's heart, a raging wildfire had ignited.
He had originally only wanted to be a carefree local emperor overseas, stepping on those idiots from the Chen family and making them forever unable to reach his heights.
But now, he had changed his mind.
He was going back.
Not only was he going back, but he would also go back in a grand, imposing manner, as if descending upon the world.
He wanted to personally strip away all of that vicious woman's disguises and make her repent in despair.
He wanted the entire Chen family to know that what they had driven away back then was not a Wild Dog, but a...
Dragon!
"However, before going back..."
A cruel arc curled at the corners of Chen Yuan's mouth.
"I have to send a 'welcoming gift' first."
He picked up the satellite phone on the desk and dialed Natasha's number.
"It's me."
"Prepare yourself."
"Your first mission has arrived."
"Send your most capable subordinate, take those 'little flies' I gave you, and make a trip to East Asia."
Chen Yuan looked at Zhao Ya's hypocritical smiling face on the screen, his voice as cold as a judgment from hell:
"Go home and take a look for me."
"My dear stepmother seems to have... a lot on her mind lately."