Victor Frankenstein was an aristocrat who completed his research in secret, squirreled away in an attic laboratory. When his creature sprang to life, Victor fled—refusing responsibility, unwilling to acknowledge his creation. In June 2019 I visited the key places where Dr. He's research was planned and executed. He was not working alone. Powerful people supported the experiment. Instead of a character who resembled Victor Frankenstein—a mad scientist who furtively completed his research—I found a charming entrepreneur. Just months before my visit, Dr. He had been at the height of his power as he leveraged support from government officials, financial magnates, plus dozens of employees at his start-up company and a team of university laboratory staff. He had been at the cutting edge of China's innovation economy, moving between the worlds of venture capitalism and science.

My ears popped as I rode up an elevator inside Shenzhen's tallest skyscraper, among scores of other glass and steel buildings reaching for the heavens. I was in a new center of power within Asia's economic sector: the Ping An Finance Center. The supertall skyscraper was named after its primary tenant: one of the world's most valuable insurance brands. Time and space collapsed as I gazed below. Shenzhen's twenty-first-century vision of green urban planning—with parklands and forested hills spreading throughout the landscape—was juxtaposed with agrarian landscapes on the outskirts of the megacity. I was inside the fourth-tallest building in the world. Ryan Ferrell, my source inside Dr. He's laboratory, was leading me around Shenzhen, offering crumbs of reliable information on our encrypted chat. Snapping a picture of the ultramodern cityscape, I sent it to Ryan on Signal, letting him know I had arrived.

I was here to meet a friend and confidant of Dr. He. We sat down in a conference room that held a long table, a webcam, and a flat-screen television and exchanged pleasantries. When I’d reached out to set up the interview, I simply said that a friend of a friend suggested we chat. The moment I mentioned Jiankui He's name, the tone of the conversation changed. This young tycoon—at the center of a nexus of financial power—suddenly looked scared and vulnerable. He did not want his name associated with the controversy. It seemed like our encounter was about to come to a hasty conclusion.