**Thank you for reading my novel. If you enjoyed the story, please give it a like and leave a comment — your support really encourages me to keep writing and sharing more chapters.**102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw4cPPpEMAC
The shell of the plan had to be more attractive than the102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbZDuAQHh3n
truth.
This was not cynicism. It was marketing, which was cynicism102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUrJPAkYsjM
after it had been washed, perfumed, and invited to dinner.
Robin Shen required only three days to drop a very gentle102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEuKHbgGyT8
bomb into Britain’s plutocratic medical circles.
Degenerative tissue clearance.
Metabolic burden restructuring.
Non-invasive rejuvenation therapy.
By 3911, the Second Tier no longer feared poverty, war, or102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl3yW7CUhYN
lower-tier rebellion with any real sincerity. Such inconveniences could be102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy9cOc5HW9o
outsourced, postponed, or explained away in language clean enough to survive a102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbFyT1pZ3VH
parliamentary breakfast.
What they feared was ageing.
Energy quotas could be inherited. Power could be inherited.102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwkOTMkWwG3
Names, estates, private air routes, medical foundations, silence, immunity —102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ5ryZejd7M
all these things could be passed down with signatures and unpleasantly102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1feecd99bi
expensive lawyers.
But the body remained stubbornly democratic.
Even with cellular repair chambers, gene-stabilising102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnDEDZBzxPw
therapies, organ reconstruction, and private metabolic restoration, ageing102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEKQb8H6cXV
still persisted like a quiet crack beneath tightened skin. The powerful had102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUggfcy6hKi
spent centuries teaching the world that decay was a moral failing of the poor.102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLIeEo9qq5P
It irritated them enormously to discover that their own flesh had not read the102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEIvKj5gYRp
policy.
Robin understood them perfectly.
He did not approach government officials first.
That would have been vulgar.
Instead, he sent invitations through private medical102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsLIcj5Ypot
channels to several individuals who were extremely rich, extremely old,102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJxVK3dBbeR
extremely afraid of dying, and helpfully entangled with the British Royal102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf2RVExBnkW
Energy Authority.
The invitation contained only one question:
If the body could turn its own decline into the energy102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQczpIkZFrD
required for repair, how much would you pay?
Within seven hours, every reply had arrived.
The first volunteer was Lady Ilena Bask, mother-in-law to102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7mZgTenEUJ
Deputy Director Holden.
She was ninety-two years old, born into a Second Tier102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq6NhAnKhN9
plutocratic family, owner of three medical foundations, one private air-harbour102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2mmq9FZesP
route, and two senior sons-in-law inside the British energy establishment — an102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbATe7a4dyr
arrangement which proved that family planning, when properly funded, could102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpHEIAhg4nX
become a form of infrastructure.
Her body had endured fourteen organ renewals.
However, excessive longevity medication had left behind102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYqZ54Y06Pl
metabolic toxin accumulation, swollen tissue, nerve pain, and a general102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnZL5SZ9WMu
impression that immortality, though desirable in principle, could be poorly102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNeq4CjyM7v
maintained in practice. Her private medical chambers had managed to suppress102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyDP7EByQHL
the symptoms.
They had not managed to cure them.
When Lady Bask arrived at Tristan da Cunha, she brought102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLPM46el23r
twenty-seven bodyguards, six private physicians, three lawyers, and a102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyFKt5A2eKs
four-hundred-page liability waiver.
Zorina watched the procession disembark.
For the first time, she realised that even the fears of the102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7jP5AvoOAB
powerful travelled in bulk.
The temporary treatment chamber had been established inside102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3V64lg1J6q
a supply warehouse on the eastern side of the volcanic island. The real102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrqD3OcESCH
biological energy device, of course, remained hidden. The Abbas Archive had102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmm23YQYN1U
generated a simplified interface, one with an appearance close enough to Earth102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAtu96kmMbF
medical equipment to soothe human arrogance.
Zorina had activated it herself.
The core pattern was sealed inside an unbreakable102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlRi7NmhmEu
transparent crystal nucleus. No external operator could disassemble it, scan102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrHK3rMv9Ra
it, copy it, or understand it by pretending to perform safety checks — which102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTQ0XZBST6S
was unfortunate for several people present, since pretending to perform safety102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzjUc4Po1EC
checks was apparently half their professional training.
Before lying down, Lady Bask stared at Zorina.
“You are very young.”
“Compared with you,” Zorina said, “yes.”
One of the lawyers looked mildly strangled.
Lady Bask laughed. It was a dry sound, but not an empty one.
“I like rude people,” she said. “At least they have not yet102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ24acj2gX3Q
learned to tell lies as manners.”
She lifted one spotted hand.
“Let’s begin.”
When the device activated, every private physician leaned102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV0DMXhSxa9
towards the monitors with the reverence of priests watching a more expensive102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpsosqocmRY
religion begin.
Pale-blue filaments emerged from the crystal petals and102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYRaNsm35ih
settled slowly over Lady Bask’s skin. At first, she tightened her jaw, as102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwSTV8Jmybj
though preparing to scream. A few seconds later, her expression changed.
“The pain,” she murmured. “It is reducing.”
The monitors answered before anyone else could.
Inflammation markers dropped.
Blood toxins separated.
Necrotic cell residue was isolated.
Excess fat tissue began to break down at an extraordinarily102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4FGvyfD4Iw
slow and controlled rate, without trauma. Viral remnants were dismantled into102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPpLYOBC1fC
convertible micro-energy states. The swelling in her fingers receded. Her102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ262OD189IJ
breathing deepened. A little blood-colour returned to her skin, not youth102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdDktIMZ99Q
exactly, but the memory of circulation.
Thirty minutes later, Lady Bask sat up.
She did not look like a girl.
Zorina had no interest in that sort of cheap miracle. Cheap102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrk7zQ6Ov0o
miracles were for advertisements, cults, and political campaigns, all three102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg3viNjDjVN
being closely related species.
She remembered what Robin had said:
“Benefits must be released slowly. That is how one extracts102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXvRMtwWxPl
the maximum profit from impatience.”
Lady Bask merely looked alive again.
Properly alive.
Not preserved.
Not polished.
Restored.
Her private physicians stood in complete silence.
At the base of the device, three pale-blue energy crystals102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnxBYBxtg2J
had condensed.
Far larger than the tiny first crystal Zorina had produced102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnwzAQk8QwE
from her own injured body.
Behind the observation glass, Robin Shen lowered his voice.
“One ninety-two-year-old plutocrat. Thirty minutes. Three102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjEpro7Z1u1
crystals. Three hundred thousand pounds.”
“Still low power,” Zorina said.
“If the Second Tier queues?”
“Enough to activate a second device.”
“If the First Tier fails to resist?”
“Enough to build the first energy centre.”
Robin looked at her.
“You truly intend to sell this to them?”
“The service,” Zorina said. “Not the core.”
“They will try to seize it.”
“That is why Britain must first be made to sit at the102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGi7rvv8PN4
table.” Her eyes remained on the three crystals. “Their greed can protect me102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrL9bRkMvFl
before their fear decides to kill me.”
Robin’s smile faded slightly.
“Zori,” he said, “you are beginning to sound like a102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg2MvEp4DRm
founder.”
She looked at the energy crystals lying beneath the device.
“I only want the Fifth Tier to have water.”
Twelve hours after Lady Bask’s trial, the British Royal102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTTnvY51BXW
Energy Authority requested a closed negotiation.
It was faster than even Robin had expected.
The invitation was elegant.
The content was naked.
Britain was prepared to recognise Zorina’s temporary102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZJbMOlj9k7
scientific autonomy on Tristan da Cunha for the purposes of biological102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk9WqIqhjab
repair energy research. In exchange, she would provide Britain with102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡthfXdw4ssr
technical explanation, commercial priority, medical application quotas, and102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwFaKmLXSvR
facility monitoring rights on the island.
Robin read the document once and laughed.
“They want the entire cake.”
Zorina pushed the document back towards him.
“Not surprising. Let them choke on it.”
“How do you want to amend it?”
She began listing the terms.
“First. Scientific autonomy on the island is not temporary.102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRmI2fya4ub
It is ninety-nine years.”
Robin’s eyebrows rose.
“Second. All subterranean facilities are excluded from102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHuQ3QxVCCf
external monitoring on grounds of safety and unknown geological risk.”
“Beautiful.”
“Third. Britain receives priority agency rights for102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeq51EmiSVR
first-stage commercial medical products. It receives no core technology102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwnGWnIi5Lv
transfer.”
“Less beautiful, from their perspective.”
“Fourth. Britain formally recognises that all technical102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLVPHNIUn7q
equipment requires my authorisation to activate.”
“They will hate that.”
“Fifth. Britain recognises the island as a Special Energy102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPRF0tc1HrO
Development Zone. Internal administration, personnel admission, infrastructure102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMcBs5yNDpn
planning, and emergency policy are to be led by us. We hold high autonomy.”
Robin gave a soft whistle.
“New Hong Kong, is it? You are one sentence away from102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHQBrQMz5Qu
declaring independence.”
Zorina lifted her eyes.
“Not yet.”
Outside the window, the South Atlantic moved under a grey102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ139F963DW
sky.
Beyond the sea, the world remained dark.
But on that volcanic island, the first crystals formed from102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhBHqF9DQZF
the elegant decay of the privileged were glowing quietly.
The old world had paid for vanity.
Zorina intended to spend it on dawn.
**Thank you for reading my novel. If you enjoyed the story, please give it a like and leave a comment — your support really encourages me to keep writing and sharing more chapters.**102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡizVQnNEk7T
102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPjtxmLDT28
and then Add to home screen.