**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.**60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiC3yHQpyd1
The shell of the plan had to be more attractive than the60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi8IfZwpLeI
truth.
This was not cynicism. It was marketing, which was cynicism60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOulnQGxW99
after it had been washed, perfumed, and invited to dinner.
Robin Shen required only three days to drop a very gentle60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIonBDTnWD2
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, or60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLRsffnR8hl
lower-tier rebellion with any real sincerity. Such inconveniences could be60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUlBfk0exWw
outsourced, postponed, or explained away in language clean enough to survive a60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcLxIlI6OS3
parliamentary breakfast.
What they feared was ageing.
Energy quotas could be inherited. Power could be inherited.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9e7KulHNAF
Names, estates, private air routes, medical foundations, silence, immunity —60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0I8vvIiLTw
all these things could be passed down with signatures and unpleasantly60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtv2Kqj8sWj
expensive lawyers.
But the body remained stubbornly democratic.
Even with cellular repair chambers, gene-stabilising60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkSrHeoiBHE
therapies, organ reconstruction, and private metabolic restoration, ageing60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ55wbv8zKf
still persisted like a quiet crack beneath tightened skin. The powerful had60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUzhM876zks
spent centuries teaching the world that decay was a moral failing of the poor.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGBkT3PjGsF
It irritated them enormously to discover that their own flesh had not read the60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRuXXHZHOds
policy.
Robin understood them perfectly.
He did not approach government officials first.
That would have been vulgar.
Instead, he sent invitations through private medical60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ60XiTjdbnv
channels to several individuals who were extremely rich, extremely old,60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSCVltTpnCF
extremely afraid of dying, and helpfully entangled with the British Royal60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPol5TP5z76
Energy Authority.
The invitation contained only one question:
If the body could turn its own decline into the energy60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQwkb3UoOcX
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 to60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWJJhxYkPvr
Deputy Director Holden.
She was ninety-two years old, born into a Second Tier60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTJ50GSzuAr
plutocratic family, owner of three medical foundations, one private air-harbour60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbRDkge5dUR
route, and two senior sons-in-law inside the British energy establishment — an60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD572d1dZXw
arrangement which proved that family planning, when properly funded, could60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcRz2bppLgW
become a form of infrastructure.
Her body had endured fourteen organ renewals.
However, excessive longevity medication had left behind60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBC4s0qkhpp
metabolic toxin accumulation, swollen tissue, nerve pain, and a general60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvmjxe5XDlj
impression that immortality, though desirable in principle, could be poorly60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNtOJj3wX53
maintained in practice. Her private medical chambers had managed to suppress60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiY6ij8Nhit
the symptoms.
They had not managed to cure them.
When Lady Bask arrived at Tristan da Cunha, she brought60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVbzeotyk0U
twenty-seven bodyguards, six private physicians, three lawyers, and a60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYyvhdYH2kH
four-hundred-page liability waiver.
Zorina watched the procession disembark.
For the first time, she realised that even the fears of the60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ36xXsGsY1k
powerful travelled in bulk.
The temporary treatment chamber had been established inside60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1nhyzvLToA
a supply warehouse on the eastern side of the volcanic island. The real60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfWFCa5lm31
biological energy device, of course, remained hidden. The Abbas Archive had60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv0HNk3hChV
generated a simplified interface, one with an appearance close enough to Earth60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFVm5l5w46V
medical equipment to soothe human arrogance.
Zorina had activated it herself.
The core pattern was sealed inside an unbreakable60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXa5tz2wqRf
transparent crystal nucleus. No external operator could disassemble it, scan60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvAlJIdAUG3
it, copy it, or understand it by pretending to perform safety checks — which60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡES2lhpDtDb
was unfortunate for several people present, since pretending to perform safety60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8AebmPgN2H
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 yet60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgUincnXJlk
learned to tell lies as manners.”
She lifted one spotted hand.
“Let’s begin.”
When the device activated, every private physician leaned60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtxUp8Lx0yT
towards the monitors with the reverence of priests watching a more expensive60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU4vGI7Ax3b
religion begin.
Pale-blue filaments emerged from the crystal petals and60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡffCt4rjkoh
settled slowly over Lady Bask’s skin. At first, she tightened her jaw, as60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJNkT9vJzOp
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 extraordinarily60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5XdIja1r5D
slow and controlled rate, without trauma. Viral remnants were dismantled into60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGZCMLA4ENW
convertible micro-energy states. The swelling in her fingers receded. Her60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaucf7XWMcD
breathing deepened. A little blood-colour returned to her skin, not youth60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBEwLQyf1uG
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. Cheap60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmxobtcJDc1
miracles were for advertisements, cults, and political campaigns, all three60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwIBGKhvSJB
being closely related species.
She remembered what Robin had said:
“Benefits must be released slowly. That is how one extracts60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlv49eEZsSn
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 crystals60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGe1Ds1VDCZ
had condensed.
Far larger than the tiny first crystal Zorina had produced60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡisJfIR2L2W
from her own injured body.
Behind the observation glass, Robin Shen lowered his voice.
“One ninety-two-year-old plutocrat. Thirty minutes. Three60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRDQxh5MgPd
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 the60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaUzO7WXSUz
table.” Her eyes remained on the three crystals. “Their greed can protect me60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLmpyWecLNp
before their fear decides to kill me.”
Robin’s smile faded slightly.
“Zori,” he said, “you are beginning to sound like a60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWHxdu4AD66
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 Royal60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtKRQxb1IEz
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 temporary60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡazclO1rGCX
scientific autonomy on Tristan da Cunha for the purposes of biological60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjSvbNrumd2
repair energy research. In exchange, she would provide Britain with60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡugE2KoKz2W
technical explanation, commercial priority, medical application quotas, and60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmYWZi6y8ZE
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.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnEh0dpB1S0
It is ninety-nine years.”
Robin’s eyebrows rose.
“Second. All subterranean facilities are excluded from60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDeG11FFM8z
external monitoring on grounds of safety and unknown geological risk.”
“Beautiful.”
“Third. Britain receives priority agency rights for60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3t1G6lZCcc
first-stage commercial medical products. It receives no core technology60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSZGgJMmDlm
transfer.”
“Less beautiful, from their perspective.”
“Fourth. Britain formally recognises that all technical60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlURheGYD51
equipment requires my authorisation to activate.”
“They will hate that.”
“Fifth. Britain recognises the island as a Special Energy60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP5yNoSmK8I
Development Zone. Internal administration, personnel admission, infrastructure60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeyr255X9Qs
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 from60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu160psTnZk
declaring independence.”
Zorina lifted her eyes.
“Not yet.”
Outside the window, the South Atlantic moved under a grey60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ66QnPN9pNz
sky.
Beyond the sea, the world remained dark.
But on that volcanic island, the first crystals formed from60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjRZTvrfzAc
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.**60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAKc0VDgCvj
60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFy4TeI2cZe
and then Add to home screen.