**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.**106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAZcphmUClb
The shell of the plan had to be more attractive than the106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzx3M1aAblo
truth.
This was not cynicism. It was marketing, which was cynicism106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcajkvHQQCb
after it had been washed, perfumed, and invited to dinner.
Robin Shen required only three days to drop a very gentle106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiwOroYvOw1
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, or106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlnnGPwfU9s
lower-tier rebellion with any real sincerity. Such inconveniences could be106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHA0LCK6mHW
outsourced, postponed, or explained away in language clean enough to survive a106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKhZaPGmd5x
parliamentary breakfast.
What they feared was ageing.
Energy quotas could be inherited. Power could be inherited.106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTxqHBMpga3
Names, estates, private air routes, medical foundations, silence, immunity —106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrj9i8eiIPv
all these things could be passed down with signatures and unpleasantly106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiwJmTb26QC
expensive lawyers.
But the body remained stubbornly democratic.
Even with cellular repair chambers, gene-stabilising106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8SCiOXei1O
therapies, organ reconstruction, and private metabolic restoration, ageing106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXZEAY0gtuG
still persisted like a quiet crack beneath tightened skin. The powerful had106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡapSthOa02m
spent centuries teaching the world that decay was a moral failing of the poor.106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtdUSvFB9Y1
It irritated them enormously to discover that their own flesh had not read the106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOLeZCVTYVZ
policy.
Robin understood them perfectly.
He did not approach government officials first.
That would have been vulgar.
Instead, he sent invitations through private medical106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3JzpK7pM5j
channels to several individuals who were extremely rich, extremely old,106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBlirfjJ5VE
extremely afraid of dying, and helpfully entangled with the British Royal106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3GqVbEWxU6
Energy Authority.
The invitation contained only one question:
If the body could turn its own decline into the energy106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4CA7i4qqId
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 to106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvphERKoUJH
Deputy Director Holden.
She was ninety-two years old, born into a Second Tier106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTBZ4P1EmtL
plutocratic family, owner of three medical foundations, one private air-harbour106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHYwu4LsL6a
route, and two senior sons-in-law inside the British energy establishment — an106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBOe4v6wQq8
arrangement which proved that family planning, when properly funded, could106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIWApA5Qz6L
become a form of infrastructure.
Her body had endured fourteen organ renewals.
However, excessive longevity medication had left behind106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNrmxSakS3j
metabolic toxin accumulation, swollen tissue, nerve pain, and a general106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0V6UiHavz3
impression that immortality, though desirable in principle, could be poorly106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDrVT6ohNP5
maintained in practice. Her private medical chambers had managed to suppress106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW1kY9ZouJW
the symptoms.
They had not managed to cure them.
When Lady Bask arrived at Tristan da Cunha, she brought106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKD4KM4EeQ0
twenty-seven bodyguards, six private physicians, three lawyers, and a106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBJnVRhPRD1
four-hundred-page liability waiver.
Zorina watched the procession disembark.
For the first time, she realised that even the fears of the106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5wLcRbQQsN
powerful travelled in bulk.
The temporary treatment chamber had been established inside106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0n82kiEMoL
a supply warehouse on the eastern side of the volcanic island. The real106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJF7177F4rg
biological energy device, of course, remained hidden. The Abbas Archive had106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLm5lqswdC0
generated a simplified interface, one with an appearance close enough to Earth106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM3hOIDhXgO
medical equipment to soothe human arrogance.
Zorina had activated it herself.
The core pattern was sealed inside an unbreakable106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxlUZYEWUjU
transparent crystal nucleus. No external operator could disassemble it, scan106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQhaDB6ERjA
it, copy it, or understand it by pretending to perform safety checks — which106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPytFtQpRYa
was unfortunate for several people present, since pretending to perform safety106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQoaLrq003P
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 yet106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMlkMd0FE0f
learned to tell lies as manners.”
She lifted one spotted hand.
“Let’s begin.”
When the device activated, every private physician leaned106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiIfTbYgzOO
towards the monitors with the reverence of priests watching a more expensive106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnyaUwQBLvK
religion begin.
Pale-blue filaments emerged from the crystal petals and106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZcOUQCH8Ns
settled slowly over Lady Bask’s skin. At first, she tightened her jaw, as106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB20LjW8ufZ
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 extraordinarily106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr281BsAdl0
slow and controlled rate, without trauma. Viral remnants were dismantled into106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCZ15bTee2V
convertible micro-energy states. The swelling in her fingers receded. Her106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa2m6J0GyJB
breathing deepened. A little blood-colour returned to her skin, not youth106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1b8RWGg14H
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. Cheap106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1MZOWcAbKD
miracles were for advertisements, cults, and political campaigns, all three106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrLjX8nQBYG
being closely related species.
She remembered what Robin had said:
“Benefits must be released slowly. That is how one extracts106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡckm3cSctk5
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 crystals106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFGcZpSFjWO
had condensed.
Far larger than the tiny first crystal Zorina had produced106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3CZEzeC4fk
from her own injured body.
Behind the observation glass, Robin Shen lowered his voice.
“One ninety-two-year-old plutocrat. Thirty minutes. Three106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCMCkpiSYnj
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 the106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrLZGPWZOWU
table.” Her eyes remained on the three crystals. “Their greed can protect me106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDRwsdLRLPF
before their fear decides to kill me.”
Robin’s smile faded slightly.
“Zori,” he said, “you are beginning to sound like a106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMdMImEp2CR
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 Royal106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUftleaRazK
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 temporary106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOUwDrVd8mz
scientific autonomy on Tristan da Cunha for the purposes of biological106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB6copMtFi0
repair energy research. In exchange, she would provide Britain with106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbi5A9ryEJP
technical explanation, commercial priority, medical application quotas, and106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuAMbqPY68J
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.106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYR84NxQ4f7
It is ninety-nine years.”
Robin’s eyebrows rose.
“Second. All subterranean facilities are excluded from106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5LF1eWAIDn
external monitoring on grounds of safety and unknown geological risk.”
“Beautiful.”
“Third. Britain receives priority agency rights for106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6FnnTX5YzZ
first-stage commercial medical products. It receives no core technology106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ31hBmaeq27
transfer.”
“Less beautiful, from their perspective.”
“Fourth. Britain formally recognises that all technical106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd0BIGVPLLR
equipment requires my authorisation to activate.”
“They will hate that.”
“Fifth. Britain recognises the island as a Special Energy106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvayAjBIc0i
Development Zone. Internal administration, personnel admission, infrastructure106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6mtjLgiQ8W
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 from106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHdRmF2H2uX
declaring independence.”
Zorina lifted her eyes.
“Not yet.”
Outside the window, the South Atlantic moved under a grey106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhg12jdXcg8
sky.
Beyond the sea, the world remained dark.
But on that volcanic island, the first crystals formed from106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBpWwoy0DLb
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.**106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkWlhMuVYwj
106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5TcTRdyuPG
and then Add to home screen.