Reborn in the Enemy's Embrace

"We have the world’s most advanced medical equipment, precision instruments, and lab facilities here," Sarah said to Dexter. "This must be like paradise for you, right?"

Dexter used to be obsessed with experimenting.

He was able to uncover the secrets of reincarnation and find the genetic codes even in a basement. Imagine what he could do in a laboratory with such pristine conditions.

"Humans still have so much to learn about ourselves, nature, and the earth." Sarah spread her arms and smiled at Dexter. "It’s time for our generation to make some progress in human evolution."

She brought us around the laboratory. "These are top scientists from all over the world. They would fly here regularly to work on their projects. All their research funding and startup costs are covered by Genome Society," she said with a smile.

The money used for research funding and startup costs wasn’t something we could just come up with off the top of our heads.

That was why Genome Society was involved in all sorts of heinous crimes-from doing business with the wealthy, to selling bodies, surrogacy, and egg donation.

They did not overlook any small profits or huge gains.

Money kept pouring in from all over the world, feeding their crimes-and they were the root of it all.

"You can never change this world. So, why not just join us instead?" Sarah looked at me and continued, "Genetic cloning is already a well-established experiment here, with little room for further research. But you’re the first clone subject who developed your own consciousness."

There were many clone subjects in the lab capsules. They were like zombies - lacking a soul and light in their eyes.

Sofia, Una, and I were one of the few clone subjects who were sent out for socialization.

It was evident that clone subjects who went through socialization would develop self- consciousness. But that did not prevent them from escaping fate’s grasp. They would start to have suicidal and self-destructive thoughts when they reached a certain age.noveldrama

I, too, wasn’t an exception from such a fate.

My death seemed like it was planned by Carol, but was it truly so?

I started to find meaning in life after reincarnating twice. I began to fear death and developed the ambition to live forever. I started becoming selfish and wanted to possess things for myself.

I wasn’t sure if my increasingly human-like state was related to reincarnation. But I could tell from Sarah’s gaze that I was an extreme exception.

Joel was Simeon’s reincarnated soul, so he didn’t count. After all, Simeon was the original subject of Joel’s genes.

But I was different-the original subject of my genes was Sarah. She was still well and alive, yet her clone subject had developed its own consciousness.

It was just as terrifying as if Al were to suddenly gain self-consciousness and emotions one day.

Sarah even started to fear me. She was afraid that one day, all clone subjects would gain self- consciousness.

When that happened, who would know if those who had reincarnated were actually the original subject or the clone subject?

"You’re a genius, Dexter. Genome Society will only become stronger if you guys are willing to join us. Our future would be brighter, and the achievements we could reach would be remarkable - ones that would be recorded in the history of human revolution!" Sarah said with a smile.

Neither Dexter nor I said anything.

On the other hand, Joel looked genuinely interested.

He looked around before turning to Sarah. "What determines the lifespan of a human? Is it genetics, environment, or god?"

She smiled at Joel as he walked over to the lab capsules. He then smiled and said, "We can be our own gods."

Sarah nodded. "You’re right."

Joel said, "Scientists suggest that life is determined by the length of chromosome telomeres. After about 50 cell divisions, the telomeres shorten, leading to death and eventually ending the human lifespan.

"Others say that the human lifespan is a fate determined by god. Living beings are meant to reproduce. After reproduction, life moves toward death, and a new life is born."

He looked at the clone subjects in the lab capsules. "When humans no longer need to reproduce and instead rely on artificially created clone subjects to achieve soul immortality, perhaps we can step into a new level of evolution."

Sarah clapped for Joel before turning toward Dexter and me with a smile. "Our experiments are focused on studying the human lifespan and the future of humanity.

"Humans are highly intelligent beings at the top of the food chain. There may be civilizations more advanced than ours in this vast universe. Some other life forms might have already achieved immortality. If humanity doesn’t evolve, the only thing that awaits us is death."

Sarah pointed at the old coffins opposite the lab capsules. "Five thousand years of our civilization has been passed down through generations, but who can actually tell if there have been gaps in history?

"Who can tell if we’ve lost important pieces of our culture due to wars or any other factors? Immortality is the only key to humanity’s future advancements to a higher level!"

Dexter and I watched as Sarah continued on in her madness.

Sarah pointed at the human brain specimen soaked in formalin. "The human lifespan has been steadily expanding, but it’s not enough—it’s just too slow!"

Due to better environment and healthcare in recent years, the average human lifespan increased from around 40 years to about 70 to 80 years. It was a significant improvement, yet it wasn’t enough for her. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Sarah continued, "More centenarians are emerging nowadays, yet their bodies have deteriorated at that age. Such frail human bodies can’t support the evolution and development of the brain.

"The potential of a human brain is limitless. Take a genius like you, for example, Dexter. You only have a few decades to make use of your brain. It would become useless when you grow old."

Sarah believed that one had to maintain eternal youth to keep the mind sharp so that the ability of a genius could be maximized. But clearly, this was just a fantasy.

The theory of immortality was fundamentally a false proposition. The development of human cell fission made it impossible for a body to be immortal.

That was why Dexter’s Theory of Reincarnation was much more convincing. By hypothesizing about the relationship between human genes and souls, he proposed that " souls" could be transferred through clone subjects.

Until now, he couldn’t be sure if what he achieved was actually the transferring of souls or merely the transferring of memories.

Was a reincarnated person a new life who inherited the previous person’s memories, or was it truly a transfer of the soul?

However, all these were unimportant to Genome Society.

They believed that memories were the core of one’s soul. It would amount to the transferring of souls if memories could be replicated on a clone subject.

"So, your ultimate goal is to get Dexter to hand over the experiment data and get your hired scientists to verify and analyze it. If the experiment is real, you’ll hold the key to becoming gods and creating new evolutions. You’ll then stand on the shoulders of giants, looking down on everything," I calmly said.

Sarah shook her head and looked at me solemnly. "No. It’s not just me-it’ll be us." She was inviting us to join her. It was a truly tempting offer.