?Chapter 951:


    The molecr form was theoretically sound—it could suppress neural activity—but Ste had never imagined someone could actually synthesize this substance. She knew chemistry could be dangerous, that street drugs were twistedb recipes. But she’d never imagined anyone would map out something this engineered, with no detail spared.


    Yet now it made sense why her mother had run with that item and why people had been hunting for it.


    This wasn’t some ivory-tower curiosity or an academic oddity. It was a blueprint for a weapon that would be devastating on the ck market. Her mother had stolen it to keep it off the grid, to stop it from spreading. And looking at it now, Ste understood that if the form evernded in the wrong hands, the fallout would be catastrophic.


    Her mom had been right to take it.


    Ste took a deep breath, trying to calm her racing thoughts. The cryptic letters in the molecr form… they weren’t random. They pointed to a long-forgotten warehouse district near Choria Port.


    A chilling thought struck her—what if the car ident that killed her adoptive parents all those years ago wasn’t an ident at all? She remembered how the other driver had been going the wrong way on a mountain road,pletely out of it, like he wasn’t even aware of what he was doing.


    Could someone have been after her mom the whole time? Was it about the patent her mother held?


    The way Alonzo was so relentless about getting that form… it wasn’t just important—it was dangerous. And knowing how that organization operated, if they couldn’t get what they wanted, they’d destroy it without a second thought. That was just how they did things.


    What surprised Ste the most was how casually her mother had passed on the ne—such a crucial clue—right before she was adopted by another family. If she’d ended up with different parents, she might never have kept the ne. If she hadn’te back to the Carter family, she’d never have uncovered its secret.


    Magic begins at g α? ησ ν?? ??s


    Did her mother always hide clues like this? So recklessly?


    Her thoughts were interrupted by the soft sound of footsteps outside the study door. Then came William’s voice—gentle but clearly concerned. “Stel? You’ve been in there all night again? Come on out, eat something.”


    Snapping back to reality, Ste quickly gathered all the notes and scraps of paper, shoved them into a drawer, and locked it. She took a moment to steady herself, breathing deeply before walking over and opening the door.


    William was standing there in his pajamas, holding a cup of hot milk. The moment he saw her pale face and tired eyes, his expression tightened with worry. “You don’t look good. Are you sick?” he asked, reaching out to check her forehead.


    But Ste instinctively flinched and pulled back, surprised by her own reaction. His hand froze midair. For a brief second, something unreadable flickered in his eyes.


    “I’m fine,” she said quickly, forcing a weak smile as she took the milk from him. “Just tired. The data recovery’s going badly—it’s really frustrating.” She couldn’t tell him the truth. Not yet.


    .


    .


    .