**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.**107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc5swjqyKTo
The shell of the plan had to be more attractive than the107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYY0flRkhkH
truth.
This was not cynicism. It was marketing, which was cynicism107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxQepxmHAzC
after it had been washed, perfumed, and invited to dinner.
Robin Shen required only three days to drop a very gentle107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfWMNStdTjU
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, or107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlWVAJSoXir
lower-tier rebellion with any real sincerity. Such inconveniences could be107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDKeAICCgkr
outsourced, postponed, or explained away in language clean enough to survive a107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKEdwXDk3er
parliamentary breakfast.
What they feared was ageing.
Energy quotas could be inherited. Power could be inherited.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBh8SkV0Qvs
Names, estates, private air routes, medical foundations, silence, immunity —107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡffHqYtuDAp
all these things could be passed down with signatures and unpleasantly107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKEotkNmxrJ
expensive lawyers.
But the body remained stubbornly democratic.
Even with cellular repair chambers, gene-stabilising107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYOJBtuYAfP
therapies, organ reconstruction, and private metabolic restoration, ageing107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKtEQe0sL9f
still persisted like a quiet crack beneath tightened skin. The powerful had107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6fTDMbvOAS
spent centuries teaching the world that decay was a moral failing of the poor.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRmwD5Oqujg
It irritated them enormously to discover that their own flesh had not read the107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyfJQJQzyO2
policy.
Robin understood them perfectly.
He did not approach government officials first.
That would have been vulgar.
Instead, he sent invitations through private medical107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkzmHgEIY5l
channels to several individuals who were extremely rich, extremely old,107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOEMQ6G6l0q
extremely afraid of dying, and helpfully entangled with the British Royal107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsz0fiZXMGX
Energy Authority.
The invitation contained only one question:
If the body could turn its own decline into the energy107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF8HklyLJnu
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 to107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrgudtWCawg
Deputy Director Holden.
She was ninety-two years old, born into a Second Tier107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnwNR90mvMZ
plutocratic family, owner of three medical foundations, one private air-harbour107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcM6uwUN5vC
route, and two senior sons-in-law inside the British energy establishment — an107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHbyCaVMwdJ
arrangement which proved that family planning, when properly funded, could107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs3NJTEh2d6
become a form of infrastructure.
Her body had endured fourteen organ renewals.
However, excessive longevity medication had left behind107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiBbAwaHJ7O
metabolic toxin accumulation, swollen tissue, nerve pain, and a general107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡunqIITyMfj
impression that immortality, though desirable in principle, could be poorly107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡugkpRkPnvn
maintained in practice. Her private medical chambers had managed to suppress107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ39mybsllI
the symptoms.
They had not managed to cure them.
When Lady Bask arrived at Tristan da Cunha, she brought107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz82uf86Sw0
twenty-seven bodyguards, six private physicians, three lawyers, and a107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ58JdPsAdiF
four-hundred-page liability waiver.
Zorina watched the procession disembark.
For the first time, she realised that even the fears of the107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyrP0tY9VZx
powerful travelled in bulk.
The temporary treatment chamber had been established inside107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqzpPVmaNfN
a supply warehouse on the eastern side of the volcanic island. The real107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJf4RuOGrho
biological energy device, of course, remained hidden. The Abbas Archive had107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCFrBq0fvn5
generated a simplified interface, one with an appearance close enough to Earth107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBSTX1yo71g
medical equipment to soothe human arrogance.
Zorina had activated it herself.
The core pattern was sealed inside an unbreakable107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzS66yRLCzx
transparent crystal nucleus. No external operator could disassemble it, scan107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCDTRtDH2k6
it, copy it, or understand it by pretending to perform safety checks — which107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmubosj7YLE
was unfortunate for several people present, since pretending to perform safety107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQwAoQKooO3
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 yet107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo2ESCSuDSJ
learned to tell lies as manners.”
She lifted one spotted hand.
“Let’s begin.”
When the device activated, every private physician leaned107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrEujg2RlzP
towards the monitors with the reverence of priests watching a more expensive107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGsLn9agBfk
religion begin.
Pale-blue filaments emerged from the crystal petals and107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhRk3gU4BJI
settled slowly over Lady Bask’s skin. At first, she tightened her jaw, as107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmGAjIBsI5r
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 extraordinarily107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ05g30d3MV
slow and controlled rate, without trauma. Viral remnants were dismantled into107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkUH9UQ14kY
convertible micro-energy states. The swelling in her fingers receded. Her107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZahonphlRd
breathing deepened. A little blood-colour returned to her skin, not youth107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5DCBlbUqM7
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. Cheap107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWxHwvlPA4L
miracles were for advertisements, cults, and political campaigns, all three107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpJ0It4Hk4w
being closely related species.
She remembered what Robin had said:
“Benefits must be released slowly. That is how one extracts107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVHjPbg9Kjg
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 crystals107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkVjwid7SaU
had condensed.
Far larger than the tiny first crystal Zorina had produced107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡufKI2TrUZB
from her own injured body.
Behind the observation glass, Robin Shen lowered his voice.
“One ninety-two-year-old plutocrat. Thirty minutes. Three107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP8AMXgS0Qi
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 the107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu7RIAPIPNg
table.” Her eyes remained on the three crystals. “Their greed can protect me107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAQ8oJDcFLz
before their fear decides to kill me.”
Robin’s smile faded slightly.
“Zori,” he said, “you are beginning to sound like a107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRoxE5r7T5k
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 Royal107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCczwP1sLjE
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 temporary107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtjp7hczXFS
scientific autonomy on Tristan da Cunha for the purposes of biological107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyJ1cErBGx1
repair energy research. In exchange, she would provide Britain with107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2U1kGCmtOY
technical explanation, commercial priority, medical application quotas, and107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrMOe822i1Y
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.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBDAXBhTkjz
It is ninety-nine years.”
Robin’s eyebrows rose.
“Second. All subterranean facilities are excluded from107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh8qEW86F9Z
external monitoring on grounds of safety and unknown geological risk.”
“Beautiful.”
“Third. Britain receives priority agency rights for107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡubpiCnXQf6
first-stage commercial medical products. It receives no core technology107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyLMyQEmzAU
transfer.”
“Less beautiful, from their perspective.”
“Fourth. Britain formally recognises that all technical107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrgLUnLn2zJ
equipment requires my authorisation to activate.”
“They will hate that.”
“Fifth. Britain recognises the island as a Special Energy107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyKI3IgBLVF
Development Zone. Internal administration, personnel admission, infrastructure107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn7Fw9XbwQ1
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 from107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGLFSMnCYxo
declaring independence.”
Zorina lifted her eyes.
“Not yet.”
Outside the window, the South Atlantic moved under a grey107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg99vq60RvR
sky.
Beyond the sea, the world remained dark.
But on that volcanic island, the first crystals formed from107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfKbZez1bnc
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.**107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWa8ejDIr9u
107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7ZjK6c2uY9
and then Add to home screen.