Chapter 10
669words
I stood in the top floor office of the "Crystal Tower," the Vance Group headquarters, with the entire Radiance City outside the floor-to-ceiling windows. The city remained bustling, but in my eyes, it was completely different from a year ago.
Leila Croft was indicted for abuse of power and commercial fraud, the case still under trial. She lost everything she had in the group, along with the power and status she once craved.
I didn't go for complete destruction, but I absolutely wouldn't allow her to take half a step closer to Vance's core again.
Caleb and Isabella were living and studying at an excellent boarding school abroad under strict trust fund arrangements.
I maintain regular contact with them, monitoring their growth while closely observing whether any anomalies related to the "Prometheus' Child" project appear in them.
At present, they seem to be just two intelligent but ordinary young boys.
Perhaps they are fortunate, having not yet become victims of that dangerous project.
Father Cassius's condition has stabilized, but he has been left with severe after-effects that require long-term recuperation, and he can no longer participate in the management of the group.
I visit him occasionally, and our conversations are rarely affectionate, more like a cold reconciliation based on reality.
Sometimes he looks out the window, his eyes vacant, whether in regret or merely enduring his illness, I cannot tell. He once attempted to inquire about the follow-up to the "Dome Project," to which I only replied: "It is no longer a secret you need to worry about."
And most importantly, there is mother Sophia.
After gaining control of resources, I assembled a top medical team for her, combining the "Dawn Project" and Arnold Lee's research findings. We discovered a combination therapy that can significantly slow down and even partially reverse the progression of "Heartblight".
Though not yet completely cured, my mother's condition has been greatly stabilized. She moved out of that Vansta Manor filled with depressing memories and into a sunlit riverside apartment.
What's even more surprising is that she picked up her paintbrush again. No longer creating those painful and distorted digital art pieces from her previous life, she truly began to depict the world as she sees it, with colors that have become soft and full of hope.
This afternoon, I canceled all meetings to visit her. On her easel was a newly completed work: a sprout breaking through the soil after a storm, with a hazy but warm morning light in the background.
"Does it look right?" she asked me with a smile, her complexion much improved.
"Sure." I held her hand, feeling that long-lost warmth and strength. We could finally be together like a normal mother and daughter, no longer tormented by betrayal, illness, and conspiracies.
Back in the office, night had fallen. On my desk lay a newly decrypted final report on the "Prometheus' Child" project. I picked up the encrypted chip that stored the core data, which gleamed coldly in the light.
The truth about the "Dome Project" was now exposed to the world—it was essentially an experiment in life extension and offspring "enhancement" that carried serious ethical risks, all under the guise of "human genetic optimization."
Father and Omega Genesis tried to play God, but in the end, they were nearly consumed by their own creation.
However, the report mentioned at the end that Omega Genesis had an even more secretive sub-project codenamed "Oracle," and all data had been completely destroyed before the incident, leaving the trail cold.
This was like a tiny thorn embedded in the fruit of victory.
I put down the chip and looked out at the city again. I am no longer merely an avenger.
I am the helmsman of the Vance Group, the guardian of my mother's future, and the inheritor of an enormous legacy and unsolved mysteries.
The road ahead is still long, but this time, I will define my own future and that of the Vance family with my own hands.
