《Nine Ungrateful Sisters》全部章節：第 251 章 - 第 260 章

Caleb said nothing more and returned to his work.Archons came and went. He had outlived many of them. Every time he watched one of those gifted young people die in front of him, struck down by the limits of what he could do to save them, the same ache settled deep in his chest."Man can overcome fate. Man can overcome destiny," he muttered. "Curses and the universe's envy, all lies. All of it."Then his private phone chimed.Only a handful of people in the world had that number. Everyone who knew him understood the rule: do not call during work hours unless the building is on fire.Caleb frowned and picked up the phone. A single line of text appeared on the screen. He read it twice, then a third time.It was from Oscar.Oscar: [Reverse current successful. Total vitalis volume still low. Plan to locate a sacred site and test further.]"He did it?" he blurted out. "He actually did it!"Caleb turned to Boreas Murdock, disbelief written plainly across his face.Boreas blinked. "

Inside the interview prep room at Bitterridge News Agency, Hannah Lane kept checking her watch as she organized her materials.Hannah was Hilda's senior colleague. Like Hilda, she had grown up in a wealthy family and had spent her early years sheltered by her family name. That gave them plenty to talk about.The agency had told Hannah she could bring one assistant to the interview. Hilda was the first person who came to mind. Not because of any social media post, but because Hilda had vented to her countless times about how things worked at the Chamberlain Group.The opportunities to interview real power players were there. The Chamberlain Group simply never gave them to her because those interviews came with risks.What could you ask? What topics were off-limits? Assignments like that went to experienced journalists.Someone young and still too open around powerful figures like Hilda might blurt out the wrong question at the worst possible moment. Especially someone who had grown

Caleb's eyes widened as he shook Oscar awake, unable to believe what he had just felt. "You call this success?"Oscar rubbed his eyes. The plane had landed while he slept, and the view outside the window looked nothing like Silverton."Yes. It worked." Oscar sat up. "What are you doing here?"Caleb pulled his hand back, disappointment settling across his face. "I spent decades developing that method. I gave it to person after person, and not one of them made it work. When you said you had, of course I came to see for myself."He picked up his bag. "I didn't expect you to start making jokes at this stage in your life. Down to your last few months. Might as well enjoy yourself, I suppose."He turned toward the cabin door.Oscar glanced at the spot on his wrist where Caleb had pressed his fingers. The corner of his mouth lifted slightly in silent amusement. All these years, and the old man had never once been wrong."Dr. Hoffman, there's no rush. I never said I was joking."Oscar

Hannah sat across from Caleb on the sofa while Hilda stood behind her, taking notes.Before the interview began, Hilda had recognized Caleb immediately and let her gaze linger on him a moment longer than she should have.Caleb never noticed.The session was not being broadcast live, so the atmosphere in the room remained relaxed."Shall we begin, Dr. Hoffman?"At Hannah's prompt, the interview started."First, thank you for joining us at Bitterridge News."After the opening pleasantries, Hannah quickly moved to the substance of the interview. "We've heard that you came to Bitterridge because of a patient who is personally very important to you, and that this case has led to a breakthrough in your research. Would you be willing to share anything about the type of illness involved?"Caleb considered the question for a moment."That's speculation. I came to Bitterridge to clear my head. As for a medical breakthrough, that part isn't entirely unfounded." He paused briefly. "But th

Oscar had no words for this.Had the Chamberlains really extended their reach all the way to Bitterridge? He had not even planned to come here today.His original intention had been to head straight to the sacred site they had arranged and test whether the reverse circuit could be pushed further. Even if the chances were slim, sometimes you still wanted to try. What if it actually worked?Then Caleb had called out of nowhere, dropped a location, said there was something important to discuss, and hung up before Oscar could get another word in.Of course Oscar had come. Caleb was the one who had developed this treatment method. He had just examined Oscar's condition firsthand and immediately reached out afterward.One didn't ignore that. One also didn't accept everything someone offered and then act as though they did not exist.Hence, Oscar had come. He had been in the middle of cracking a joke with Rebecca, trying to lighten the mood, when Hilda appeared out of nowhere.This was