Despite her youthful appearance, her eyes were completely hollow, devoid of any lingering spark of life.

"Theia. It's been a while."

Hearing his voice, the previously numb woman scrambled off the bed barefoot and rushed to the steel door, her voice trembling with frantic desperation.

"How is he? Is he okay?!"

"Still breathing."

Corvus stood on the other side of the door, a deeply satisfied smile playing on his lips. "You have to admit, he's incredibly resilient. After enduring so many total blood transfusions, he still clings to life. I suppose he knows you're still pining for him."

Hearing those words, Theia's grip on the steel door slowly weakened, her hands dropping to her sides.

Corvus's voice drifted through the slot again. "I've been searching for sixteen years, and I still haven't found a single trace of them. Tell me, do you think they really all drowned?"

Theia turned her back to him. Her hands clenched into tight fists, her eyes brimming with sheer, unadulterated agony.

"Seven children..."

Corvus continued relentlessly, every syllable twisting like a knife in Theia's heart. "Their bodies stacked together would probably be taller than me, wouldn't they?" Theia squeezed her eyes shut, letting the suffocating pain wash over her.

A few seconds later.

She opened her eyes again. Turning slowly, she stared at the psychopath on the other side of the door, her voice deadened. "Compared to the living hell of being your lab rats, I would gladly choose for them to have died at sea."

At least the ocean offered a swift, painless end. They wouldn't suffer.

Otherwise they would have to endure the exact same tortures Silas was currently suffering.

Especially her youngest, her little Seven. She had been so small, so full of innocent laughter, only knowing how to play and be happy. How could she possibly survive this nightmare?

Theia could only pray that some kindhearted fisherman had pulled them from the wreckage. She had failed her children.

If she had known this would be their fate.

She never would have brought them into this world.

"Theia, your family is dwindling rapidly." Corvus noted, the dark amusement in his eyes deepening. "So, you should really learn to appreciate me while I'm still here."

"You make me sick!" Theia couldn't even bear to look at him, her voice hoarse with hatred. "If I had the chance, I would have butchered you the moment you showed your true colors."

"So heartless."

Corvus's smile widened, though the warmth never reached his eyes.

"Heartless?" Theia let out a cold,

hollow laugh. "Why shouldn't I be?

We were never truly family. We aren't even bound by blood, are we? The only relationship we share s that of bitter enemies. You'd better kiltus all while you have the chance Because if I ever break out of here, I will make you beg for death."

"Trying to provoke me?" Corvus

slipped his hands into his pockets,

clearing his throat, his tone perfectly

steady. "Until the genetic

enhancement protocol is fully

realized, I won't let you die.

"Oh, and one more thing-"

He paused, his voice dropping to a lethal whisper. "You'd better start cooperating and advancing the research. Otherwise, I can't

guarantee that the next thing

will

extract from your husband will be his blood. It might be his

cerebrospinal fluid."

Extracting brain fluid meant immediate death.

It was a naked, brutal threat.

Theia held her breath, fighting with everything she had to suppress the urge to

scream.

Only when she heard his footsteps fading down the corridor did she finally let her defenses crumble, allowing the hot tears to stream silently down her face.

Where were her children? Please, let them be hidden somewhere safe. They could never let this monster find them.

...

Meanwhile.

Back at the Cloudscape Community.

Juniper was in the middle of dinner when her heart suddenly seized with a violently sharp pain, draining all the color from her face.

"What's wrong?"

Shanley immediately set down his fork, his voice laced with instant panic. "Are you hurt?"

Juniper shook her head.

For some reason, she had been getting these strange, phantom chest pains recently.

Perhaps it really was time for a full check-up.