Five days after Professor Albert's death, a small memorial ceremony was held for him at Stanford University's Neuroscience Research Institute. Perhaps influenced by media speculation that Albert had raped Xia Nan before his death, not many people came to pay their respects. Angela comforted herself, attributing the low attendance to the outbreak of a Super Brainwave in San Francisco.

The flu epidemic was out of control, and the number of infected people had skyrocketed in the past couple of days, according to health department statistics. Originally, six police officers were assigned to attend Albert's funeral, but due to a surge in infections within the police department, this arrangement was canceled.

After the memorial, Angela took her father's ashes to a small town 300 kilometers away from San Francisco. It was Albert's hometown, where he had lived before going to Stanford for college. In life, Albert had already chosen a burial plot for himself, next to the graves of his deceased parents and brother.

The funeral was quiet and peaceful. Jazz music, which Albert loved, echoed in the air. A priest gave a eulogy, and two of Albert's friends shared memories of their time together. After a brief 20-minute ceremony, family and old friends left, and Professor Albert was laid to rest.

Exhausted from dealing with the media, the police, university officials, and her father's family and friends, Angela headed straight to her father's lab, which the police had released as a crime scene. The media's ridiculous reports had put Angela in a difficult position.

These reports severely damaged Albert's reputation. More and more people started believing them. A renowned scientist had been reduced to a despised rapist overnight, and public opinion even began to tilt in favor of Xia Nan, who was suspected to be the murderer.

Angela didn't believe it; it sounded preposterous. To clear her father's name, she decided to find his DNA in the lab and conduct a paternity test to prove that she and her father were not related by blood. This was the last thing she could do for him.

Years ago, her father had undergone brain surgery. Angela remembered that he had kept a small piece of brain tissue removed during the surgery in a jar in his lab's glass cabinet. Every morning, her father would check on these tissues, often exclaiming, "They're just too cute."

At one in the morning, Angela walks through the empty campus. The police and media have already left, and classes have been suspended due to a Brainwave outbreak. The campus is eerily quiet. The Albert Lab is located in the far northwest corner of Stanford University, about a twenty-minute walk from the main entrance.

The lab stands alone, separate from the other academic buildings, darkly looming behind a lawn as if discouraging others from approaching. Angela takes out her lab key, about to unlock the door when she hears a noise from inside, like something has been knocked over.

Someone's in the lab?

Angela tenses up immediately and presses her ear against the door to listen. Soft footsteps echo inside. The police have left, so who could be in the lab at this time? Her father hadn't mentored students during his five years of research, and apart from her and her dad, no one else had the key to the lab. Who could it be?

The killer! The thought flashes across Angela's mind. The police suspected Xia Nan based on surveillance footage at the entrance, which, in Angela's opinion, is quite rash. Xia Nan is not the killer, and the reason her father was murdered couldn't be as the media claimed. That day in the morgue, she discovered a secret—when she held her father's head, it felt lighter. She suspected that his brain had been stolen. If that's true, Xia Nan is even less likely to be the killer. There must be a bigger secret, perhaps the killer has returned to find something.

Angela continues to listen attentively, pondering how to capture the culprit. She imagines the killer, strong enough to plunge a knife into her father's heart cleanly, must be physically imposing. If she rushes in recklessly, she might not only fail to subdue the person but also put herself at risk.

Call the police! She sends a message to Officer Coleman who tells her to stay put; he's nearby and will be there in about 15 minutes.

Just then, Angela hears footsteps approaching the door from inside. Before she can react, the door swings open, revealing a figure—about 5 feet 5 inches tall and slender, shrouded in darkness.

Startled by Angela's presence, the figure attempts to close the door but is stopped by Angela. Clearly, the person inside is physically weaker than she is. Angela has always focused on fitness; she may not be tall by American standards, but her 5-foot-7-inch frame should be more than enough to handle this individual. After a brief standoff, Angela feels the person's strength wane and shoves them inside, where they stumble and fall.

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Angela swiftly picks up a baseball bat near the door, about to move forward and subdue the intruder when a familiar voice calls out, "Angela, it's me!"

"Xia Nan?" Angela turns on the light, recognizing the figure as Xia Nan, who is wearing a black baseball cap, a black jacket, and black gloves.

"What are you doing here?" Angela asks, confused. She can't believe Xia Nan, missing for days and wanted by the police, would be in the lab.

Xia Nan stares at Angela, still recovering from the shock of being discovered, her mouth open but unable to speak.

"Did you kill my father?" Angela tightens her grip on the baseball bat. She had always doubted that Xia Nan was the killer, but her clandestine appearance here now made her question that belief.

"It wasn't me, Angela! You have to believe me!" Xia Nan stands up, her weary eyes filled with tears. "How can I make you believe me?"

The light illuminates Xia Nan's face, revealing her to be noticeably thinner after just five days. Her cheekbones, already rather high, now appear more prominent, and her complexion has an unnatural pallor.

"But you were here that day, what... what were you doing?" Angela involuntarily takes a step back.

Xia Nan knows her life hangs by a thread over an unavoidable tragedy. Seeing no reason to hide anymore, she explains why she had come to see Professor Albert, how he had extracted her memories that day, and how she had found him dead on the floor when she woke up.

"I didn't want Chen Chen to find out about this, but it seems inevitable now," Xia Nan says, her tone tinged with despair.

Angela had heard about Xia Nan's memory loss from Chen Chen, but if that were all, why didn't she just clear things up with the police? What had she been hiding these past five days, evading capture? Angela senses that Xia Nan is still hiding something; her face says it all.

"What did you come to do tonight?" Angela asks, "How did you get in?"

"The window was open, so I came in," Xia Nan confesses. She had returned to Professor Albert's lab hoping to get lucky and retrieve her lost memory chip once again. The lab window was conveniently open, so she easily climbed in.

"These police are so unreliable!" Angela goes to close the window and turns back to ask, "You still haven't said what you came to do tonight."

"I lost the memory chip and wanted to perform the memory extraction again. But I couldn't find the extractor," Xia Nan says candidly. Angela is smart; any deceit would only complicate matters.

"The memory extractor was stolen after my father's death, the police suspect the killer took it," Angela reveals.

"When I left, the memory extractor was still there. Could the perpetrator have been in the lab at the time?"

"Do you remember anything unusual about that day?"

"I don't know. Professor Albert gave me a sedative. I have no idea what happened until I woke up."

"Did you touch the murder weapon? Why were your fingerprints on it?"

"Yes, I accidentally touched it while checking to see if Professor Albert was dead."

"Where have you been these days? No one could find you."

"At a friend's house, I was safe." Xia Nan looked away, clearly ashamed.

"Was it Will?" Angela blurted out. An unexplained inspiration struck her. She finally remembered the scent of orange blossom perfume in Will's car—that was unique to Xia Nan.

How did she end up with Will? Angela found Xia Nan strange. The composed and stable Professor Xia Nan now seemed a bit jittery, apparently affected by recent events.

"That's not important," Xia Nan's voice was weak.

"You should go to the police to clear things up; you might have useful information."

"I've told you everything I know; you can tell the police. I have more important things to do."

"To continue searching for the memory chip?"

"Yes." Xia Nan hesitated, lying. While the memory chip was important, she had something even more pressing to do. "Can I use your computer?"

"Sure," Angela nodded, sighed, and continued. "But you should contact Professor Chen first. He is very worried about you; he even called to ask about you."

Hearing the name Chen Chen, Xia Nan felt a wave of sorrow wash over her. She was running away, avoiding anything connected to Chen Chen, including Angela, his assistant. She didn't dare to make eye contact.

"Is he... is he okay? I heard he's being investigated."

"Investigated? For what?" Angela had been busy with her father's funeral and was unaware.

"Some media reported that the outbreak of a super virus was due to a leak from his lab!"

"Absurd..."

Before Angela could finish, her phone buzzed. It was a message from Officer Coleman, who was already at the door of Professor Albert's lab, asking where she was.

"You go hide; the police are here. I'll handle it," said Angela.

Xia Nan quickly moved towards the innermost room. Angela opened the door and apologized to Officer Coleman, claiming it was a stray cat that had caused the commotion. After a brief exchange, she saw him out.

When Angela returned, Xia Nan was gone.

Angela took a deep breath to calm herself. From a compartment in her backpack, she pulled out a memory chip. This was what she had found in Will's car, and now she suspected it was the chip Xia Nan had lost. Her friend was Will!

Recalling how strangely Will had acted the other day, she suspected it had something to do with Xia Nan.

Angela turned on the desk lamp and scrutinized the chip, wondering what secrets it held. Xia Nan seemed anxious and unsettled, heightening Angela's curiosity.

Was Xia Nan's missing memory related to that rape case? Was she really raped back then? Had she given birth to a girl? Was that girl Angela? She had many questions but didn't know how to ask.

Unfortunately, the memory extractor was gone. Otherwise, she could help Xia Nan unlock the chip's memories, revealing the truth.

Angela sighed, reflecting on the memory extractor—her father's life work, inspired by her own childhood complaints about her poor memory. Medical ethics aside, her father's invention only activated memories corresponding to the DNA of the person experiencing them.

Now the most important thing was Chen Chen. She had a new idea about the super virus that might help clear his name.