39: Stone of Immortality

On the outskirts of Five Ports City, Kozlovsky’s private laboratory was brightly lit.

The energy magnate stood in the sterile observation room, staring through thick bulletproof glass at the busy scientists inside. His fingers tapped lightly on the glass, his eyes gleaming with greed.

“What are the results?” he asked in a low voice, his words transmitted through the lab’s communication system.

Chief Scientist Ivan Ilich looked up, fine beads of sweat trickling down his forehead, but his eyes shone with excitement.

“Mr. Kozlovsky, this—this is incredible!” Ilich’s voice trembled slightly. “The active substance in the sample far exceeds our expectations. It can not only repair damaged cells but also reverse telomerase depletion. Theoretically, it can infinitely extend the cell’s life cycle.”

Kozlovsky’s lips slowly curved upwards.

“Specific data,” he commanded.

Ilich quickly pulled up the experiment report, and sets of data appeared on the large screen.

“We tested three samples, and the ore from Cave No. 3 had the highest activity,” he pointed to a set of curves. “In the petri dish experiments, various senescent human cells, after contact with the ore extract, showed a 1200% increase in telomerase activity, and cell division rates returned to a youthful state.”

“What about animal experiments?”

Ilich swallowed, then brought up another set of images.

A senescent laboratory rat was caged, its fur sparse, its movements sluggish. However, within 24 hours of being injected with the ore extract, its fur grew thick again, its muscles regained elasticity, and its running speed even increased by nearly three times.

“Even more astonishingly…” Ilich lowered his voice, “We dissected another test subject and found that its internal organs—liver, heart, kidneys—all exhibited youthful tissue characteristics, as if… it had returned to its prime.”

Kozlovsky’s breathing quickened slightly.

“Side effects?”

“Currently, we’ve observed short-term metabolic hyperactivity and elevated body temperature, but both are within controllable limits,” Ilich hesitated. “However…”

“Speak.”

“Among all the rats injected with the extract, many experienced severe adverse reactions,” Ilich brought up the monitoring footage.

In dozens of cages, nearly half of the rats had bulging muscles, lifeless eyes, and multiple areas of bleeding cracks on their bodies.

Clearly, they had been dead for quite some time.

“55% of the rats exhibited abnormal growth rates, and…” Ilich’s voice grew softer, “they eventually died from massive hemorrhages due to multiple organ ruptures.”

Kozlovsky narrowed his eyes.

“So, there’s a problem with the extraction process?”

“It shouldn’t be; perhaps it’s a dosage or purity issue. We also can’t rule out whether it’s a universal phenomenon across multiple species,” Ilich wiped his sweat. “We still need more experiments.”

Kozlovsky remained silent for a moment, then suddenly let out a cold laugh.

“Then continue the experiments,” he turned and walked towards the lab exit. “I want to know all its data.”

“Wait! Mr. Kozlovsky! We don’t have much ore left!” Ilich suddenly called out, stopping his patron. “Based on the current experimental progress and ore consumption rate, to get all the results and improve the success rate, we’ll need at least several hundred tons of ore.”

Kozlovsky paused, deep in thought. After a moment of silence, his eyes suddenly glinted fiercely as he gave his reply.

“Don’t worry, my scientist, I will solve the raw material problem.”

Five Ports City, Ministry of Defense Secret Conference Room

Trotsky sat at the end of the long table, a thick stack of reports spread before him. The conference room lights were dim, and the projector’s beam illuminated the faces of several high-ranking generals.

“So,” Minister of Defense Dmitri slowly began, “the ore in Kozlovsky’s hands, can it really make people return to youth?”

Trotsky nodded, taking off his eye patch. His left eye, once blinded by shrapnel on the Chechen battlefield, was now perfectly intact, even sharper than when he was young.

“I saw it with my own eyes, experienced it myself,” he said in a deep voice. “This is no hoax, but a true… Stone of Immortality.”

The conference room fell silent, everyone staring intently at his regenerated eye.

“What about the sample analysis?” the Chief of Staff asked in a low voice.

Trotsky gestured for his assistant to play the experimental footage. In the video, a retired veteran nearing seventy, after being injected with the ore extract, rapidly saw his skin wrinkles fade, muscles firm up again, and even the roots of his white hair begin to turn black.

“We tested twelve volunteers,” Trotsky said, “the effects were consistent.”

“And the cost?” Dmitri pressed keenly.

Trotsky’s expression stiffened slightly.

“What we’ve observed so far is… overgrowth,” he brought up another video.

In the footage, a soldier’s arm muscles proliferated wildly after injection, bones twisted and deformed, eventually swelling to three times its original thickness, skin tearing, and finally, the soldier died from multiple bleeding ruptures all over his body.

“The failure rate is about 55%,” Trotsky said in a low voice, “but the remaining 45%… are completely healthy, even stronger than they were in their youth.”

Dmitri’s fingertips tapped lightly on the table.

“What does Kozlovsky want?”

“He wants to cooperate,” Trotsky sneered. “To be precise, he wants a monopoly.”

“Impossible,” the Chief of Staff stated flatly. “This resource must be controlled by the state.”

Trotsky nodded.

“Therefore, we need to strike first.”

“Report to the President; this is not something we can decide.”

Birch Palace, Secret Conference Room.

The heavy mahogany doors were tightly shut, and the curtains were drawn perfectly, allowing no light to penetrate. Inside the conference room, twelve members of the highest authority sat around a long table, the air so thick it could almost be wrung out.

The Minister of Defense stood in front of the PPT, which displayed a topographical map of the eastern part of Blackland Kelan, with several key areas marked in red. His voice was low and cold.

“Gentlemen, we have confirmed the value of the Stone of Immortality,” he pointed to another set of data. “According to the experimental report provided by Kozlovsky, this ore extract can reverse aging in 45% of test subjects and even restore peak physical condition.”

The Chief of Staff snorted coldly: “At the cost of the other half turning into dead monsters?”

Dmitri did not deny it: “The current instability does exist, but if we can obtain enough ore samples, the Academy of Sciences guarantees that it can optimize the extraction process within six months, raising the success rate to over 80%.”

Grand Duke Winter’s fingers tapped lightly on the table, his gaze sweeping over everyone present.

“So, your meaning is—for this stone, we are to launch a full-scale attack on Blackland Kelan?”

The conference room fell into a brief silence.

Finally, the Director of the Federal Security Bureau spoke: “No, Mr. President. We don’t need a full-scale attack; we only need a spontaneous public referendum by the local populace.”

He brought up a pre-prepared plan.

“The three southwestern states: Gneiss State, Keslia State, and Yanlav State. There are already pro-our-side forces active in these regions. We can send troops under the pretext of ‘protecting our kin’ and control key cities within 72 hours.”

“And then?” Grand Duke Winter asked coldly.

“Then,” Boltnikov smiled slightly, “Ke Er National Forest Park will become part of the ‘new territory,’ and we can openly dispatch engineering troops to set up and mine the ore.”

Grand Duke Winter remained silent for a long time, then finally nodded slowly.

“Code name?”

Dmitri’s voice was as hard as steel:

“Everlasting Flower.”

Eastern Blackland Kelan, outskirts of Keslia State.

The night was inky, the wind biting. An armored column moved silently along a muddy country road, the engine sounds of the U-90 main battle tanks deliberately suppressed, infrared jamming devices fully active, ensuring the probability of an accident was minimized.

Lieutenant Colonel Kharkov Petrov, the tank commander, stared at the tactical screen, encrypted communications from headquarters crackling in his headset:

“’Snow Wolf’ team, you have entered the target area. Execute as planned.”

“Received.”

Petrov turned to the gunner: “Load high-explosive rounds. Target, outpost marker.”

The turret slowly rotated, the aiming reticle locking onto the weakly lit building in the distance.

“Fire.”

Boom—!

The flash of the explosion tore through the night sky, followed by dozens of rockets whistling out from the BM-21 “Grad” multiple rocket launcher positions, covering the entire border defense line like a rain of death.

To support the referendum, the North Steel Army began large-scale military exercises in the border region.

At the same time, Keslia State and the other two border states began their pre-planned referendum.

Titan Industrial City, Central Tower.

Jade sat with her legs crossed in front of a holographic projection, which displayed real-time exercise conditions from outside northern Blackland Kelan. Topaz stood beside her, holding a bag of potato chips, watching with interest as the armored forces advanced like a broken bamboo.

“So fast,” Topaz munched on chips, “It’s only been three days, and the referendum is over, troops are stationed, and a defense line is established. Tsk, tsk, I wonder how many years they’ve been planning this.”

Jade chuckled softly: “They are even more anxious than we imagined.”

“Should we intervene?”

“No,” Jade’s fingertip traced the projection, enlarging the satellite image of Ke Er National Forest Park, “Let them be happy for a while first.”

She brought up another set of data, showing that the Northern Steel Federation’s engineering troops had already established a temporary base at the edge of the forest, with heavy excavators and drilling equipment continuously being transported towards Cave No. 3.

“Notify the ‘Glutton’ squad,” Jade narrowed her eyes, “retreat, mission accomplished.”

Topaz raised an eyebrow: “Aren’t you worried they’ll develop a stable version of the serum?”

“Worried?” Jade sounded as if she had heard a joke. “My dear little Yelena, why do you think the Boss deliberately let them find that cave? And had the ‘Glutton’ squad scatter fifteen tons of biological tank culture solution?”

She stood up and walked to the floor-to-ceiling window, looking down at the brightly lit industrial city.

“Some ‘gifts’ already have a price tag.”

“But the size of that price is often determined by the person who opens the ‘gift’.”

Ke Er National Forest Park, deep within Cave No. 3.

Northern Steel Federation Engineering Captain Aleksey Voronin, wearing a gas mask, carefully directed his soldiers to move the ore. Deep within the cave, the surface of the blue-grey rocks glowed with an eerie light, like the skin of some creature.

“Careful!” he yelled into the radio. “These stones are more valuable than gold!”

The soldiers loaded the ore into special containers, which were then transported by heavy trucks to a temporarily established refining plant. The entire process was efficient and secretive, like a precise war machine.