Contract Marriage with My Secret Partner in Crime-Chapter 161: Shadows of Null Bloom

Dr. Farah pressed a few keys on a nearby machine. The fluids flowed through a tube into Ted’s arm. His body trembled once, then seemed to ease, his pulse stabilizing.

His coloring remained poor, the blackening of his veins a permanent side effects of whatever was done to him, but at least for now, his body was not tearing itself apart.

Brent crossed his arms. "Every day we keep him alive is a small win."

Larman remained silent, staring hard at Ted Frin. His knuckles tightened, a rare show of feeling from the normally composed man.

Cassius turned back toward the rest of the team. "We’re not the ones who did this."

Brent nodded quietly. "I know. But the rest of the world will blame us anyway."

Cassius sighed. "The person we’re up against... the one trying to recreate Helix... is still out there. Whatever their motives are, whatever resources they have, we need to find them... and we need to destroy their operations."

Larman remained silent, but a spark of resolve flickered in his piercing eyes. There was no way he would let them go after everything that had happened to his son, Lian. He would make sure to destroy them.

Meanwhile, a floor above, hidden in the shadows, Reynold remained oblivious to the true story beneath the surface. His knuckles were white around the grip of his pistol, his pulse was a thunderous rush in his ears.

His breath was shaky as memories from years past filled his mind—the conspiracy that had stolen his peace, the people who had lied, the ones who had manipulated everyone, the ones responsible for his father’s death.

"It’s all their fault."

The thought gnawed at him, consuming him. To Reynold, Cassius, Dr. Farah and the Diamond family were not heroes; they were the villains. The ones who turned Ted Frin into a monster. The ones who kept the truth hidden and manipulated the world from the shadows.

His breath misted in the chilly air. His gloved hands trembled, not from fear, but from rage.

"It’s time I made them pay."

He turned and walked back into the rooftop’s service entrance, letting the heavy metal door close quietly behind him. Whatever Cassius and the Diamond family were trying to do, whatever story they were trying to spin, it made no difference to him.

To Reynold, the facts were simple. They were responsible for the horrors that fell upon his family, upon Ted Frin, upon countless people. His mission was clear—to destroy their legacy once and for all.

Meanwhile, back in the dimly lit chamber, Cassius pressed a button and the room fell into total silence. The machines fell quiet, the fluids slowed their flow, and Ted’s pulse seemed stable... for now.

"It’s a temporary fix, not a permanent solution."

Brent nodded. "We’re running against the clock. The people who did this... they’re going to try again. We need to find their base, their laboratory... wherever it is... and destroy it."

Cassius remained silent for a moment, then turned to Larman. "Your network... we need all the information you can gather. Anything... anyone... we need to move fast."

Larman nodded once and walked away without a word.

Dr. Farah pressed her hands against Ted’s forehead. "He’s weak... but we bought him a little more time."

Cassius nodded quietly, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Every moment we keep him alive brings us closer to the people responsible."

The dimly lit chamber fell into a heavy silence after Larman departed, a silence filled with anticipation and nervous energy.

Everyone remained for a moment, letting their surroundings, their mission, and the urgency of their quest sink in. The machines kept a slow, rhythmic pulse, matching Ted Frin’s weak but persistent heartbeat.

Cassius pressed his knuckles against a nearby metal table, staring at a stack of documents and reports.

His mind was spinning with possibilities, timelines, suspects... There were many people who might be trying to recreate Helix in the dark, many organizations that would benefit from its power.

But who exactly? That was the key. That was what kept him up at night.

Brent walked forward and placed a hand on Cassius’s shoulder. "We’re going to find them. Whatever it takes."

Cassius nodded quietly, not trusting himself to voice his doubts. There were gaps in the data, a conspiracy within a conspiracy. It seemed to be growing, spreading its roots far and wide.

Whatever this was, it went much deeper than a simple clandestine lab. It struck at the core of their network of influence, their ability to control the flow of information.

And because he suspected some people at The Archive, he couldn’t fully use his authority there or handle the matter with his own hands, in order not to alert the enemy.

Dr. Farah pressed a few more keys on her console and a small side chamber opened.

Inside were files, samples, and a small vial filled with a shimmering blue liquid—the failed Helix Serum that people were trying to recreate. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

She turned back toward Cassius. "We have it. Pure form. Unchanged. If we can match it against the variants we find in the field, we might be able to track its distribution."

Cassius nodded slightly at the sight of the vial. The pure form of the Helix Serum, not the diluted, damaged knockoffs that had been turning people into monsters.

This was the origin point. If they could trace its signature against the black-market imitations, they might just be able to backtrack where they were coming from.

"We need every variant we’ve collected catalogued and cross-referenced," he said quietly, almost to himself. "Start with the samples from the incident at Yard 17."

Dr. Farah nodded and quickly began pulling the files. Brent leaned on the table beside Cassius and let out a breath. "So we have the original. We have the victim. What we don’t have is the madman still making this crap."

Cassius narrowed his eyes. "Not for long."

Meanwhile, Reynold stood alone on the rooftop of the neighboring building, watching shadows move in the chamber windows below.

What he saw inside was enough: Ted, strapped with wires, screaming in his sleep, half-dead and monstrous.

To him, it was proof. Proof that Cassius, Dr. Farah and the Diamond family were the puppet masters behind it all.

Back in the lab, the room dimmed as Cassius activated the holographic monitor. A 3D projection of a double helix spun slowly above the table, segments highlighted in red.

"Each highlighted section represents genetic instability introduced by counterfeit versions," Dr. Farah explained. "Most of them failed due to incorrect protein binding and unstable delivery agents."

"That doesn’t sound accidental," Brent muttered.

"Because it’s not," said Cassius. "Whoever’s behind this knows just enough to be dangerous. They’re not trying to heal anyone. They’re trying to recreate the power. That’s it."

Larman’s voice came through the comms. "We got movement. Third-party drone surveillance detected three clicks from your position."

Brent straightened. "Recon or target confirmation?"

"Recon. Someone’s looking for something."

Cassius exchanged a glance with the technician. She nodded and activated internal dampening protocols, lowering the energy signature of the lab.

"Could be Reynold," Brent said after a beat.

Cassius said nothing. He knew Reynold was watching. Had been for a while. The man was too smart to be obvious, too stubborn to be reasoned with. At least not until he saw the truth for himself.

"Let him watch for now," Cassius finally said. "If we try to explain, he’ll think we’re lying. Let the evidence pull him in."

Down the hall, two of Cassius’s men stood guard by a vault door. Behind it were reels of old surveillance footage, voice recordings, and dossiers.

Everything related to the original Project Helix. Files marked Top Secret even within their own organization. Many of them linked to figures long presumed dead.

Cassius walked toward the door, input a long code, and pressed his thumb to the scanner. The vault hissed open slowly.

"What are you thinking?" Brent asked, following.

"I’m thinking the only way to catch the imitators is to understand who first tried to bury it."

He pulled out a slim, dust-covered file and set it on the metal table in the middle of the vault. The file was labeled: Operation Null Bloom.

Brent frowned. "That’s from the first batch. The trial subjects who didn’t survive."

"Exactly," said Cassius. "But someone managed to survive it. Long enough to pass on the formula. Or at least, their remains did."

Dr. Farah joined them, carrying a small digital tablet. "I compared the DNA from Ted Frin with the logs from Null Bloom. There’s a 43% overlap with Subject #09. That subject died twenty-five years ago."

"So they used his DNA as a foundation?" Brent asked.

"Most likely," she nodded. "That’s why the symptoms are similar. Ted’s condition isn’t a side effect. It’s a blueprint."

Cassius closed the file slowly, his voice low. "Then whoever did this had access to classified storage. That means someone on the inside."