Chapter 26: Shadows at Longitude Zero

A tactical combat helicopter cuts through the darkness of the night above an endless ocean of clouds. The double engine roars constantly, disguising the hiss of cold wind penetrating the cabin ventilation gaps. Inside the narrow space scented with fuel and nitrogen vapor, a chilling silence freezes colder than the Alpine snowstorm they just left behind.

Alexander Rington sits leaning against a carbon-fiber-lined aluminum wall. His military boots are stained with soot and dried bloodstains from the battle at the fortress. His irises, which now shine in a pure golden glow, stare straight toward the main console navigation screen.

On top of the screen, the geographic coordinates of Lazarus Island blink wildly in a blood-red pulse, located right in the middle of the isolated water triangle of the North Atlantic Ocean.

"That island is not listed on any commercial navigation map," Daniel’s voice breaks the silence while his fingers dance nimbly over the satellite tracking virtual keyboard. "Based on the Vanguard intelligence archives that I managed to hack before the central server collapsed, Lazarus Island is a former Cold War-era chemical weapons testing base bought by the Rington consortium forty years ago."

Alexander does not avert his gaze from the coordinates. His voice comes out in a heavy, low tone, carrying a new frequency vibration that is extremely authoritative: "That is not merely a testing base, Daniel. This is where Arthur Rington first isolated the primary DNA strand taken from our mother’s pure sample. All the suffering, genetic experiments, and Julian’s birth started from that point."

Genevieve De La Croix sits in the dim corner of the cabin, tightly holding Ethan and Stella who are still fast asleep under a thermal blanket. Her beautiful face, which once radiated flawless noble elegance, now appears pale and leaves behind deep traces of emotional exhaustion.

"Julian knew you would absorb that pure serum entirely, Alex," Genevieve whispers, her eyes staring at Alexander with incurable guilt. "He deliberately let Arthur activate the Alpine facility just to lure all the remaining assets of the De La Croix and Rington empires to gather in one place, then destroy them in a single detonator shot."

Alexander turns his head slowly, locking his gaze on Genevieve. "Julian does not want the consortium’s wealth or throne, Genevieve. He wants the total extinction of our entire bloodline."

"Then why did he let us live?!" Genevieve’s crying breaks out in a restrained whisper so as not to wake their two children. "He could have just let that tactical nuclear bomb in the Alps explode ten seconds faster and flatten us along with the fortress ruins!"

"Because he needs the pure antidote fluid that now flows inside my blood vessels," Alexander cuts in coldly. "The real Julian experienced severe immune cell damage due to the helicopter explosion thirteen years ago. Without injecting my blood into his heart gradually, his internal organs will undergo total internal bleeding within forty-eight hours."

Daniel turns while showing a medical analysis graph from the flight computer. "Which means... Julian trapped us into coming to Lazarus Island not to fight openly, but to perform a forced blood extraction?"

"He is waiting for me to bring that antidote directly to him," Alexander replies while checking the tactical rifle magazine casing on his lap. "And I will bring it to him... along with a death fitting for him."

Six hours of flight across the ocean boundary.

The dawn sky above the North Atlantic Ocean is enveloped by a thick, dark gray fog. The ocean below them churns violently, crashing against the steep black reefs walling the perimeter of Lazarus Island.

From behind the thick fog, Lazarus Island looms like a giant fang piercing the water surface. At the highest peak of the limestone island stands a giant cylindrical fortress structure of thick concrete architecture with steel prisons, surrounded by a dozen microwave radio frequency transmitter towers.

"The island’s automatic radar system has locked onto our helicopter!" Daniel shrieks while turning the tactical steering wheel abruptly!

BZZZZZT!

A high-caliber air defense laser beam strikes from the fortress tower, burning the helicopter’s left wing guard until it sparks bursts of fire and oil vapor!

The helicopter is thrown wildly in the air! Emergency sirens roar deafeningly as the engine stability indicator drops sharply toward zero!

"Hold onto the children!" Alexander screams while grabbing Ethan and Stella’s body safety belts, tying them tightly into Genevieve’s embrace in the cabin corner!

BOOOMM!

The helicopter’s left wing explodes from the strike of a second air defense projectile! The helicopter spins spirally through the thick fog, before finally slamming hard onto the black sand surface of an isolated beach at the foot of the Lazarus Island fortress!

CRASHHH!

Debris of steel-coated glass pieces and carbon fiber fragments scatter across the beach. The helicopter cabin collapses sideways with thick black smoke billowing high across the sulfur-smelling beach air.

Inside the wrecked cabin, Alexander recovers consciousness first from his brief faint. He crawls out from the ruins of the seat door, checking the condition of the unconscious Daniel in the steering seat with a freshly bleeding temple.

"Daniel... wake up!" Alexander snaps while pulling his comrade’s body out from the cabin before the fuel tank explodes.

Genevieve crawls out from the rear gap, carrying the crying, terrified Stella, while Ethan holds tightly onto his mother’s dress with traumatized, wide eyes.

"The children are fine..." Genevieve whispers in a trembling voice while checking her two children’s bodies.

Alexander does not waste time. He throws the two remaining automatic rifles from the cabin toward Daniel, who is regaining consciousness, then leads them to break through the dense dead pine forest covering the foot of the fortress hill.

Along the journey up the stone hill, a chilling silence grips them. There are no armed guard barricades, no clashes with Obsidian Legion forces, and no landmine traps obstructing them. The island appears quiet like an uninhabited graveyard.

Yet it is precisely that silence that becomes the most real terror for Alexander.

They finally manage to reach the main steel gate of the cylindrical fortress at the top of the hill. The giant gate weighing tens of tons has opened wide automatically, as if deliberately welcoming the arrival of the awaited guests.

"Stay behind me," Alexander whispers as he steps in to lead the formation through the concrete corridor that has a dim green hue due to the built-in emergency lights.

At the end of the fortress’s main corridor, they enter a giant-sized experimental atrium room. The atrium walls are made of armored glass displaying a view of the reef gorge and ocean waves crashing against the base of the cliff fifty meters below it.

In the center of the atrium stand twenty giant glass incubation tanks containing transparent preservation fluid.

Inside each glass tank, a bare-chested human clone is tied with medical cables embedded in their scalp. The face of every clone inside the twenty glass tanks has the exact same shape and bone structure as Alexander Rington’s face!

Genevieve gasps sharply, covering her mouth with both hands in pure horror! "My God... Alex..."

Daniel’s eyes widen broad, stepping back two steps while dropping his weapon. "Mass cloning experiment... Arthur didn’t just create you and Julian... he created dozens of copies of your body!"

Steps of fine architecture buzz loudly, breaking the silence of the atrium from the direction of the second-floor stairs.

The real Julian Rington steps out from behind the shadow of the upper corridor. The man wears a long military coat of pure black color. A terrifying burn scar stretches from his neck to his left cheek, while his left eye iris radiates a frozen dark glow.

In his right hand, Julian holds a touchscreen explosive remote control, while his left hand holds the handle of a titanium wheelchair.

On top of the titanium wheelchair sits an old, white-haired woman wearing a white hospital gown. The old woman’s face is extremely pale, her eyes closed weakly under the support of a breathing ventilator hose.

Alexander freezes completely where he stands. All his body joints suddenly lock as he stares at the figure of the old woman on the wheelchair.

The facial lines of the old woman... the shape of her nose... down to the structure of her thin fingers... match exactly the photo in his father’s porcelain mirror that he has always kept since childhood.

Eleanor Rington—Alexander and Julian’s biological mother who was declared dead thirty years ago while giving birth to him!

"Welcome home, my miserable Little Brother," Julian’s laugh flows smoothly, laden with the distortion of madness burning the air. "I present the best family surprise for our final reunion."

"Julian..." Alexander’s voice comes out in a trembling hiss filled with pain. "You... you tortured our own mother for three decades?!"

"I didn’t torture her, Alex," Julian’s laugh grows louder as he cruelly strokes a strand of his mother’s white hair. "I am the one keeping her breathing inside this underground laboratory! While Arthur lied to you about her death, I used her as a stem-cell-producing factory to create these clones!"

Julian suddenly presses one button on the remote control in his hand.

BZZZZZT!

The preservation fluid inside the twenty clone glass tanks recedes simultaneously!

The eyes of the twenty Alexander clones inside the glass tanks open at the same time! All their eye irises radiate a pure golden glow burning wildly in the darkness of the atrium!

The twenty clones shatter their containment tube glass with extremely lethal physical strikes!

CRASH! CRASH! CRASH!

Glass fragments scatter across the marble floor! Twenty clones with Alexander’s face step out simultaneously, surrounding the positions of Alexander, Genevieve, Daniel, and the children with an extremely dense murderous glow!

Julian smiles devilishly from the second-floor stage, bringing his lips close to his unconscious mother’s ear, then whispers loudly piercing through the shrieking ocean wind outside the fortress:

> "Do you see this, Alexander? You are not fighting against me... You will die destroyed by dozens of yourself. And when you perish... I will inject your pure blood int

o our mother’s heart to awaken her as a true monster!"

>