**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.**77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8wf0tQJ5zD
The shell of the plan had to be more attractive than the77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZw1Wytuol5
truth.
This was not cynicism. It was marketing, which was cynicism77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeX8WCoiCZd
after it had been washed, perfumed, and invited to dinner.
Robin Shen required only three days to drop a very gentle77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ16aeNfn52c
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, or77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5xUFccInxf
lower-tier rebellion with any real sincerity. Such inconveniences could be77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQwbdl1aozO
outsourced, postponed, or explained away in language clean enough to survive a77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0ziltxEumU
parliamentary breakfast.
What they feared was ageing.
Energy quotas could be inherited. Power could be inherited.77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4mdoTHV5d7
Names, estates, private air routes, medical foundations, silence, immunity —77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtFdibEYzf9
all these things could be passed down with signatures and unpleasantly77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfI1XnKPo7Y
expensive lawyers.
But the body remained stubbornly democratic.
Even with cellular repair chambers, gene-stabilising77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu9TvEY0wQk
therapies, organ reconstruction, and private metabolic restoration, ageing77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiTqlJW3FpH
still persisted like a quiet crack beneath tightened skin. The powerful had77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFe8sVv3uN5
spent centuries teaching the world that decay was a moral failing of the poor.77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1ETyskRFIC
It irritated them enormously to discover that their own flesh had not read the77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsMUPMo2xIa
policy.
Robin understood them perfectly.
He did not approach government officials first.
That would have been vulgar.
Instead, he sent invitations through private medical77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJOliQ1mlWg
channels to several individuals who were extremely rich, extremely old,77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8O0ChCIdm7
extremely afraid of dying, and helpfully entangled with the British Royal77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjxXYeXas2g
Energy Authority.
The invitation contained only one question:
If the body could turn its own decline into the energy77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPryx2hMZlN
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 to77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEvZ8WmVxlv
Deputy Director Holden.
She was ninety-two years old, born into a Second Tier77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6pP4shab9w
plutocratic family, owner of three medical foundations, one private air-harbour77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhh0Ohm64r8
route, and two senior sons-in-law inside the British energy establishment — an77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl92dbaGjpB
arrangement which proved that family planning, when properly funded, could77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa0Eadf7BqD
become a form of infrastructure.
Her body had endured fourteen organ renewals.
However, excessive longevity medication had left behind77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4hoMnhNxbo
metabolic toxin accumulation, swollen tissue, nerve pain, and a general77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡst096Hp5vA
impression that immortality, though desirable in principle, could be poorly77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYR8afmXhI7
maintained in practice. Her private medical chambers had managed to suppress77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJFREnxGnCA
the symptoms.
They had not managed to cure them.
When Lady Bask arrived at Tristan da Cunha, she brought77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSXc5Sr0tNs
twenty-seven bodyguards, six private physicians, three lawyers, and a77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8ApeF99EVH
four-hundred-page liability waiver.
Zorina watched the procession disembark.
For the first time, she realised that even the fears of the77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPXBMvtYq0g
powerful travelled in bulk.
The temporary treatment chamber had been established inside77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkZzyjQqv3J
a supply warehouse on the eastern side of the volcanic island. The real77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqm0acZqYDS
biological energy device, of course, remained hidden. The Abbas Archive had77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXQdNAaDCkh
generated a simplified interface, one with an appearance close enough to Earth77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9Oe9TUjZTy
medical equipment to soothe human arrogance.
Zorina had activated it herself.
The core pattern was sealed inside an unbreakable77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIuvEotTXdO
transparent crystal nucleus. No external operator could disassemble it, scan77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4mUd4H2VVW
it, copy it, or understand it by pretending to perform safety checks — which77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIICwZNOMFc
was unfortunate for several people present, since pretending to perform safety77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdB1s6vKCga
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 yet77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0rGQbRg5xQ
learned to tell lies as manners.”
She lifted one spotted hand.
“Let’s begin.”
When the device activated, every private physician leaned77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡolPoMiBLth
towards the monitors with the reverence of priests watching a more expensive77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFrD4ceWcBK
religion begin.
Pale-blue filaments emerged from the crystal petals and77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuBEufH5I4v
settled slowly over Lady Bask’s skin. At first, she tightened her jaw, as77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZYSTt7mtAb
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 extraordinarily77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvlCfsmKElz
slow and controlled rate, without trauma. Viral remnants were dismantled into77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNkF5Bc5jut
convertible micro-energy states. The swelling in her fingers receded. Her77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpzdQ5Mn6Si
breathing deepened. A little blood-colour returned to her skin, not youth77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9i8X7d14Hc
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. Cheap77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSKr5sGxHjL
miracles were for advertisements, cults, and political campaigns, all three77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡum3jwQYgDT
being closely related species.
She remembered what Robin had said:
“Benefits must be released slowly. That is how one extracts77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN0s1pG0FwQ
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 crystals77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVilhTM4t6m
had condensed.
Far larger than the tiny first crystal Zorina had produced77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUG31KkxgZz
from her own injured body.
Behind the observation glass, Robin Shen lowered his voice.
“One ninety-two-year-old plutocrat. Thirty minutes. Three77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtKLCDkxUWL
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 the77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiohT2OlAfH
table.” Her eyes remained on the three crystals. “Their greed can protect me77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4PZTjnoSzY
before their fear decides to kill me.”
Robin’s smile faded slightly.
“Zori,” he said, “you are beginning to sound like a77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1qJwodoTSF
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 Royal77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4inFc6SK3H
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 temporary77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5iIAbgFcPa
scientific autonomy on Tristan da Cunha for the purposes of biological77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1OOcMG9WOv
repair energy research. In exchange, she would provide Britain with77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNsYWOnBKNY
technical explanation, commercial priority, medical application quotas, and77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl19idRim4H
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.77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE09qfurCC5
It is ninety-nine years.”
Robin’s eyebrows rose.
“Second. All subterranean facilities are excluded from77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAYjrSvJkqW
external monitoring on grounds of safety and unknown geological risk.”
“Beautiful.”
“Third. Britain receives priority agency rights for77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuxd5UgqIMM
first-stage commercial medical products. It receives no core technology77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsCWX641ovg
transfer.”
“Less beautiful, from their perspective.”
“Fourth. Britain formally recognises that all technical77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd4k1DDYk8t
equipment requires my authorisation to activate.”
“They will hate that.”
“Fifth. Britain recognises the island as a Special Energy77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQAkHexwooT
Development Zone. Internal administration, personnel admission, infrastructure77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAM8TRi5izB
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 from77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4Mq73VHVhu
declaring independence.”
Zorina lifted her eyes.
“Not yet.”
Outside the window, the South Atlantic moved under a grey77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDScHhPTIOj
sky.
Beyond the sea, the world remained dark.
But on that volcanic island, the first crystals formed from77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ429R0IHgOC
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.**77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡprjRFZoTXf
77Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsP2Rxo0Wsl
and then Add to home screen.