Having written the last word and finalized this month’s manuscript, Malin picked up the pages, put them in a paper bag, and snapped his fingers.
A private spirit messenger from the National Publishing House of Carterburg leaped out of the void; the hand-shaped messenger took the bag and, after Malin paid a unit of Spiritual Energy, jumped into space—it would take the bag back to that lady skilled in drawing shotguns from beneath her skirts.
With this task completed, Malin returned to the bedroom. The city of Naples that afternoon seemed to have countless sights, with Faye and Nova taking the other girls out for fun, while Rewo and Clovis opted for a nap.
So, Malin gently pulled Clovis’s ear from under the pillow, covered Rewo with the blanket properly, and quietly left the bedroom.
In the yard, a messenger from the Church of the Goddess of Harvest chattered on Malin’s shoulder. Malin took the small message tube from its hand, gave the little spirit an acorn, watched it leap back into space contentedly, and then pulled out the letter.
It was a letter sent by Old Ferrero.
· Colin is in trouble. For details, please come back to Carterburg to discuss.
Wait, how could Colin be in trouble... Malin furrowed his brows, picked up his tablet, and checked the service era of the first generation of children; he saw it was exactly when Colin was very young.
Surprised, Malin quickly searched through the list of the first generation of children and finally saw Colin’s name on the special list—Caster number 29, a combination of Colin Daun’s genes and those of a deceased local woman from Carterburg, introduced into Carterburg 20 years ago as an important experimental subject for testing whether half-bloods could live and learn Spell Formation on the surface.
"When His Excellency Colin Daun was creating this child, he had two choices: pair up with the recently acquired female genes or use his own genes independently. In the end, His Excellency Colin Daun chose to pair up, proving to be a good decision."
"Who was that woman, do you know?"
"No idea, but her genes were harvested too, and I never saw her in person."
Unable to get an answer, Malin thought for a while, decided to leave a message, and set up a coordinate in the yard; he then directly had the World Tree pull up a long-range teleportation gate.
The instant Malin stepped into the teleportation gate, he saw a corridor made of tree roots, with open windows on both sides. Looking into the distance, he could see the Deep Subspace, teeming with countless plant guards waving their tentacles through the space. After a short walk, a door opened before him; stepping through it, the very next second, Malin saw the large gates of the Carterburg teleportation center.
Malin had jumped with the coordinates of the Holy Oak as a base point, achieving perfect placement.
"Mr. Malin, why have you returned?" The mage in charge of managing teleportation recognized Malin.
"Came back for some business," Malin replied with a smile, paid the fee, then opened a short-range door, and emerged right in front of the Church’s main gate.
After greeting the tense guards, Malin showed them his church insignia and then entered the hall, confirming that Colin was currently at the Benevolent Church.
So, the second short-range door opened in front of the Benevolent Church’s main gate. After apologizing to the Mage Tower members who came to intercept him, Malin entered the infirmary and saw Old Ferrero.
The latter was with doctors from the Benevolent Church, conducting a check on Colin’s body.
Malin directly shared all the information he had with Old Ferrero: "Colin is different from those children."
"You mean there’s none of that strange stuff in their heads?" Old Ferrero took out a thin sheet from his pocket: "What is this?"
He didn’t recognize it, but Malin did: "A chip. Existing alchemy and engineering can’t replicate it, Old Ferrero. Now our problem is to identify the children of the first and second generations; we need to find all the children. We may not be able to save them, but at least we can help them live with dignity until the end."
"We can’t save them?"
"Unless someone is willing to help them," Malin told Old Ferrero about the wizards.
This piece of intelligence left the old elf silent for a moment before he expressed a desire to see the child next door.
Malin nodded, indicating that he would go find him after talking with Colin.
After seeing off Old Ferrero, Malin greeted Colin, who was sitting on the bed.
"Colin, what’s bringing you down? You must have heard what I just said to Old Ferrero. As long as you truly love Margaret, I can cure you," Malin said.
"No, Malin, I won’t let Margaret sacrifice herself for me. She has already done enough for me. I cannot ask her to use her life to save me," Colin shook his head, "Although I too wish to live, I can’t let Margaret sacrifice herself for me."
"Margaret wouldn’t think that way. She defied her mothers just to be with you. Colin, you’ve made this choice for her without hearing her heart. Is this love?" Malin looked at Colin. "Besides, if you can become a high-ranking member of the Church, you would have a long life. If you shared your life with Margaret, even if you gave it back to her later, wouldn’t that be a good thing?"
Malin looked at Colin, but his elder brother shook his head again. "Malin, I am just a clone."
"You are not a clone."
"That’s what the Chaos version of me said."
"Didn’t he also say," Malin continued, "in his timeline, he didn’t end up with Margaret. Similarly, in his timeline, Colin Daun didn’t choose the genetic combination of male and female to create him during the experiment."
Malin had heard about the Chaos from Old Ferrero, so when Colin mentioned it, Malin immediately objected.
Then, to Colin’s bewilderment, Malin explained in detail the circumstances of Colin’s birth: "You are a child created from the combination of male and female genes. Though artificially made, you are different from those other children."
"But does that make a difference?"
"Yes, it does. Like those children, you are also a life." Malin looked at his elder brother. "You and those children, you are all vibrant lives, Colin. You are Colin Katov, genuinely authentic, the one and only Colin."
Sitting on the sickbed, Colin finally smiled and said, "Thank you."
Just then, Margaret appeared at the door. Since Lady Colin had arrived, Malin left the room for the two of them and went to find Old Ferrero.
The old elf was easy to find—he was just down the hallway.
Malin walked over and found the old elf standing at the door, looking inside.
Malin stood beside him and saw a young girl on the bed receiving food from a boy.
Don’t know what to say?
Malin thought for a moment and came to that conclusion.
Then he felt it was only natural—of course, unlike Colin and Margaret, who were adults, these were just children.
Malin didn’t know if the boy would be willing to sacrifice himself for the girl on the bed because once the bow is drawn, there’s no turning back. The cost for one to continue at the expense of the other was too great.
So... "I’ll do the talking," said Old Ferrero, approaching the two children. Owing to Old Ferrero’s unexpected intrusion, both the boy and the girl turned their eyes to him.
Malin stood aside, waiting to see what would happen next.