**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.**61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpBeqN6bjot
The shell of the plan had to be more attractive than the61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQl7kFdZ21V
truth.
This was not cynicism. It was marketing, which was cynicism61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUamt6Gb8Fz
after it had been washed, perfumed, and invited to dinner.
Robin Shen required only three days to drop a very gentle61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡow8o6gyFhY
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, or61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSYKrd7ru4Z
lower-tier rebellion with any real sincerity. Such inconveniences could be61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDKe8mmaCBr
outsourced, postponed, or explained away in language clean enough to survive a61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlHzGQxroOx
parliamentary breakfast.
What they feared was ageing.
Energy quotas could be inherited. Power could be inherited.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNrLUNd3Vkg
Names, estates, private air routes, medical foundations, silence, immunity —61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcZLIuyWJ6P
all these things could be passed down with signatures and unpleasantly61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUNMSjhKpSy
expensive lawyers.
But the body remained stubbornly democratic.
Even with cellular repair chambers, gene-stabilising61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO7exwtjzyV
therapies, organ reconstruction, and private metabolic restoration, ageing61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9Fi7Jb4Y9H
still persisted like a quiet crack beneath tightened skin. The powerful had61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXPTiZBkx9I
spent centuries teaching the world that decay was a moral failing of the poor.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIXAYKnx3sz
It irritated them enormously to discover that their own flesh had not read the61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2koy0hsf1J
policy.
Robin understood them perfectly.
He did not approach government officials first.
That would have been vulgar.
Instead, he sent invitations through private medical61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpCBIYfDKB8
channels to several individuals who were extremely rich, extremely old,61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡORjnjkn234
extremely afraid of dying, and helpfully entangled with the British Royal61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJbXKH062qu
Energy Authority.
The invitation contained only one question:
If the body could turn its own decline into the energy61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7uysTjIkwj
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 to61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3wGGm0xmTG
Deputy Director Holden.
She was ninety-two years old, born into a Second Tier61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKL2DfRoFev
plutocratic family, owner of three medical foundations, one private air-harbour61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi7Vu47y7My
route, and two senior sons-in-law inside the British energy establishment — an61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡipDHoO8lGf
arrangement which proved that family planning, when properly funded, could61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiejqAS7BG8
become a form of infrastructure.
Her body had endured fourteen organ renewals.
However, excessive longevity medication had left behind61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgjhNODiIrI
metabolic toxin accumulation, swollen tissue, nerve pain, and a general61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwn9Q8weh2V
impression that immortality, though desirable in principle, could be poorly61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy0XZrXQmNZ
maintained in practice. Her private medical chambers had managed to suppress61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzEfWyZZ4Gw
the symptoms.
They had not managed to cure them.
When Lady Bask arrived at Tristan da Cunha, she brought61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTnZyuIYbhk
twenty-seven bodyguards, six private physicians, three lawyers, and a61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpvoMQ7XSE5
four-hundred-page liability waiver.
Zorina watched the procession disembark.
For the first time, she realised that even the fears of the61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIZV2M3ya56
powerful travelled in bulk.
The temporary treatment chamber had been established inside61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrwATDKeagq
a supply warehouse on the eastern side of the volcanic island. The real61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡELhDFqjtlq
biological energy device, of course, remained hidden. The Abbas Archive had61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnucMRuSnvm
generated a simplified interface, one with an appearance close enough to Earth61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4frQlTUn5R
medical equipment to soothe human arrogance.
Zorina had activated it herself.
The core pattern was sealed inside an unbreakable61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK2GTkfB30w
transparent crystal nucleus. No external operator could disassemble it, scan61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7Qo60zQRSB
it, copy it, or understand it by pretending to perform safety checks — which61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx2pcIVAk8T
was unfortunate for several people present, since pretending to perform safety61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtnMjjvrZDE
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 yet61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ464nhJVbpj
learned to tell lies as manners.”
She lifted one spotted hand.
“Let’s begin.”
When the device activated, every private physician leaned61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa7qrnA4t1A
towards the monitors with the reverence of priests watching a more expensive61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3E7Q0T6bv0
religion begin.
Pale-blue filaments emerged from the crystal petals and61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgAQIZiklX2
settled slowly over Lady Bask’s skin. At first, she tightened her jaw, as61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyZabExJSl0
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 extraordinarily61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQarIpcq9sW
slow and controlled rate, without trauma. Viral remnants were dismantled into61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNyfBzmeLzM
convertible micro-energy states. The swelling in her fingers receded. Her61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOWDDEivVyW
breathing deepened. A little blood-colour returned to her skin, not youth61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaEDziIVUcj
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. Cheap61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG0tgG0W00l
miracles were for advertisements, cults, and political campaigns, all three61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVSajbgVtDt
being closely related species.
She remembered what Robin had said:
“Benefits must be released slowly. That is how one extracts61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaTMBqJK3PU
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 crystals61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEpMtJAnaIK
had condensed.
Far larger than the tiny first crystal Zorina had produced61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrfhnm8LMku
from her own injured body.
Behind the observation glass, Robin Shen lowered his voice.
“One ninety-two-year-old plutocrat. Thirty minutes. Three61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXHL347tRYX
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 the61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGeOr1MDt1e
table.” Her eyes remained on the three crystals. “Their greed can protect me61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyb9LMUoj5R
before their fear decides to kill me.”
Robin’s smile faded slightly.
“Zori,” he said, “you are beginning to sound like a61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ47ooQHJOjJ
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 Royal61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6EN19j5P7v
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 temporary61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIv0SkpBQw3
scientific autonomy on Tristan da Cunha for the purposes of biological61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgCiLu1WkPR
repair energy research. In exchange, she would provide Britain with61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡail4K6mQne
technical explanation, commercial priority, medical application quotas, and61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWeBjDxVXQx
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.61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEVXD2gPDxc
It is ninety-nine years.”
Robin’s eyebrows rose.
“Second. All subterranean facilities are excluded from61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEe2dumWtPu
external monitoring on grounds of safety and unknown geological risk.”
“Beautiful.”
“Third. Britain receives priority agency rights for61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPRyYPtlhJN
first-stage commercial medical products. It receives no core technology61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvWoBKXqt7V
transfer.”
“Less beautiful, from their perspective.”
“Fourth. Britain formally recognises that all technical61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPLkk3bHkBG
equipment requires my authorisation to activate.”
“They will hate that.”
“Fifth. Britain recognises the island as a Special Energy61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQhavNNVhAl
Development Zone. Internal administration, personnel admission, infrastructure61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRfHHdsE4yP
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 from61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUHhV4fqh3y
declaring independence.”
Zorina lifted her eyes.
“Not yet.”
Outside the window, the South Atlantic moved under a grey61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGJTPnoeR2y
sky.
Beyond the sea, the world remained dark.
But on that volcanic island, the first crystals formed from61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuZ2BvCTRli
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.**61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfpGFBvzfbM
61Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnKW2IGXWtf
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