Professor Russel sat alone in the faculty office, a dusty old room that smelled of paper and ink. His bony fingers flipped through pages of student ID records. Young faces passed before his eyes without meaning—until one photo made him stop.

That face… he could never forget.

Eyes too sharp, too calm for someone her age. A faint smile that looked more like a mask. She was once Subject 09—the most advanced experiment of Project Genesis. Her body did not age like a normal human. Her mind… could outthink even the scientists who created her.

And now, she was here. Sitting in his university. Using a new name. Pretending to be human.

Russel leaned back in his chair, one corner of his lips curling upward.

“So, you're still alive…”

A flicker of fear passed through his eyes—not because Subject 09 would harm him, but because the world might learn the truth. That the project was real. That he was involved. And that one of its subjects had escaped.

There could be no witnesses. No evidence.

He calmly closed the book and slipped it into a locked drawer.

“In that case,” he whispered as he stood, eyes cold, “it seems I must finish what was left undone.”

He stepped out of his office, his face calm but his mind brimming with plans.

He knew: that creature may not be able to die. But every creation… has a flaw.

And Russel, the cunning creator, would find it—no matter the cost.