The white walls had gotten accustomed to me, the blank space had become a friend than what was previously an enemy. I placed my test subject carefully on a slide, a subtle ticking sound registered when the clip clamped it into place.

My fingers moved to one, then another on the adjustment knob; anticipating the cooperation between the diaphragm and the illuminator. The abbe condenser maximized the super microscope magnification to an outstanding 500×. Never had I been this gentle on a machine, but it was one of a kind, or possibly the only of its kind.

Not to mention I'd almost lost my life during the heist. Remorse backfired at the memory of the fateful incident. Two lives were lost that day, but I kept telling myself it wasn't my fault.

It was self defence.

But she was your friend. You killed your friend!

She wasn't a friend! If she was, she wouldn't do such terrible things.

The quarrel between me and my self conscience went on for weeks since it happened. I was on the brink of going mad, but I wouldn't let myself go crazy. Not without finishing what I'd started.

Sanity needed to be forced on for my mission. I pushed back, opened the drawer on the desk and grabbed a bottle containing my depression prescription. Two capsules rolled onto my hand before I transferred it to my mouth. With a single gulp, it rushed into my system.

I inhaled and descended my head back to the microscope. When the image slowly turned clearer under the magnifier, everything else in my mind dissipated. I steadied my breath. But my heartbeat took up a notch at the apprehension of what I would soon see.

Although looking through the ocular, I squinted my eye, trying to seem with the shape of the specimen on the disk. The second I recognized it, my eyes widened, and following suit was a gasp tumbling from my mouth.

"Y chromosome. It still exists!"

On my jolt of shock, my head hit the cabinet above me. I let the pain thawed on its own and bent back to look at the specimen. To be frank, it wasn't a new revelation, it was a rediscovery of some sort.

This confirmed the information that I had recently acquainted with; one of the other allosome had found its way to survive the X-trex.

I swiveled in my chair, carefully observing the journal I stole along with the super microscope. Reading it the fifth time or more hadn't caused me a single yawn so far.

'Dr Chen Guozhi' was the name written on the cover.

The poor man was trapped in a lab for 70 years until he died. He spent his life finishing his findings of the X-trex. Later concluding the chemical substance containing the DNA molecule of the mandrake, not only mutated the X chromosome, but created a new gene from the combination of human and plant DNA.

What at first he aimed to enhance females with its anesthetic properties, failed without proper testing. Upon contact with the genetic makeup of the Y chromosome strand, it turned poisonous and resulted to damage the chromosome regeneration mechanism.

Over time he watched the Y chromosome size drastically shrunk. But it was never gone, the SRY had taken a last stand by attaching itself to the X chromosome, without the abnormalities setting alarm to the cell.

"The miniature Y Chromosome, eventually found a way to pair with the X chromosome and cell division took place, creating an embryo but lack the right protein coding for it to sustain. What is missing?"

I muttered the last of written note on his journal. Probably he was getting too old and lack of resource to continue his study. At least they mention him in history as the last men alive, even though his study got sealed away.

Which I still didn't know why.

Alas, the missing piece of the coding was none other than earth, the cycle that took place between human and plants was never that different to begin with.

By chance, cultures practice of burying human remains led to the discovery. Women were innovative, but lets be honest here; from ancient time most inventors were acknowledged to be among men. If Ghuozi wasn't trapped in a concrete lab, his findings would already be history. My laugh couldn't contain while pondering at his misfortune.

"What a shame."

When I spun to put the journal down, I accidentally knocked over a flask. It was sturdy, so it didn't break upon contact with the marble floor. However, the milky white substance inside spilled out with no mercy from gravity.

"It was hard to get those!"

There was no other way to get it than from HEROIN. Obtaining it wasn't the issue, but the thought of getting my hands dirty pushed my disgust to another level.

Before I could entertain more of my exasperation, my phone rang.

With a swipe, the call connected. "What is it?"

"We found her! Her chip registered on a bus at Dutches Bless," the person on the other line informed.

My eyes boggled up with disbelieve and a mixed of excitement. I'd never thought the day would come for me to find her again.

I grabbed my coat, my car key and I dashed to the door. Her beautiful face took up my mind entirely. The beat that was only possible for me to hear with her around was slowly thumping in my heart.

To be continued...

***

Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoy this chapter.

If you are wondering what the X-Trax are, it's mentioned in the Prologue.