Louis was an unfeeling man with lots of rules. Other than his assistant, almost no one could roam freely in his lab. So, Olivia guessed that the man was the herb-imbued person who underwent his procedure. That silhouette was very familiar to her. It was a person who had helped her in the past. She had not met him in years. He turned around, and a frail but handsome face appeared before Olivia.Avery also didn't expect to meet Olivia again under these circumstances. He was sad for quite some time when he received news that Olivia was dead. He had only recently heard that Olivia was still alive, but he hadn't expected to meet her again so soon."Why are you here, Olivia?""It's been a long time, Mr. Fordham."Olivia could guess why he was there. He had a kidney condition. She was prepared to give him her kidney eight years ago.Back then, Ethan stopped the surgery. She had heard news about him over the years. Ethan said Avery had completed the kidney transplant. Something
Avery told Olivia all he had been through all these years. Back then, his kidney condition was already very serious, but he was unable to find a suitable donor. He was on the brink of death a few times. Then, he chanced upon a suitable kidney and had the transplant. But it didn't last. His body started to reject the kidney. His life hadn't been easy. He had been hanging by a thread and had no option but to seek out Louis. His relationship with Louis was purely transactional. He wasn't like Olivia, who was Louis' student. "Mr. Fordham, can I take your pulse real quick?""Sure, go ahead."Avery looked at Olivia's steadfast gaze. She was no longer the sickly young woman of the past. She had already grown into a magnificent person.She must be very skilled to earn Louis' approval. He thought about how desperate she was back then. She told him she didn't have a future anymore and wanted to give him her kidney.Avery asked her before what she wanted to do if she survived.
Complicated feelings bubbled up within Olivia when she looked at Avery. She felt close to him since the first time they met.Back then, she had been ravaged by her illness, but she got better. Avery was still struggling with his illness. Olivia felt an inexplicable sadness for him.His illness can't be cured with surgery. He also needed a new kidney. He had done surgery before, but the effects were underwhelming.Since even Olivia couldn't cure him, Louis was his only hope. Avery was calm. He had already come to terms with his situation."I hope so.""Mr. Fordham, do you have a phone on you? I left in a hurry and didn't bring my phone. I want to call my family."Avery handed her his phone. "Here.""Thanks."Meanwhile, Ethan had just realized that Olivia had been taken by Louis. He was looking everywhere for leads on him. Then, his phone rang. He was stunned when he looked at the caller ID. It was a call from Avery.The two of them barely knew each other and hadn't been i
After hanging up, Olivia looked dejected. She didn't know when she would be able to go back to her children.She handed the phone back to Avery. "Thanks, Mr. Fordham."Avery saw the sadness in Olivia's eyes. "Olivia, you…"He was about to ask a question when Louis yelled excitedly, "Perfect! This is perfection!"There was a thick stack that was Olivia's physical examination report. "You've reached the optimal state. It has only been three years. You've recovered better than I expected. You've completely acclimated to all the herbs in your system."All of the herbs had different effects. A lot of the test subjects weren't able to last a week while consuming herbs during their pregnancy.Olivia didn't leave in good condition back then. At the moment, her body had already built up a resistance against most of the herbs. Olivia knew it was all because of the medicinal spring and Wendy. After the treatment and years of acclimation, she had become a true herb-imbued person."E
Life was just like that. One could never get everything they wanted.The warm sea wind blew, and Avery coughed a few times. "Mr. Fordham, what agreement did you have with Mr. Rivera?" Olivia didn't want to talk about her problems anymore. So, she changed the subject."He agreed to treat me when I offered him research funds and the rights to some of my medical products. "As you know, research takes a lot of money. He's a good researcher, but he's no businessman.""That's true.""The stuff he gave Toxic Hive allowed them to make a name for themselves. He would make a fortune if he applied for patents and released his products to the market. "What about you? What are you going to do?""Drag it out for as long as possible. I don't want to hurt Mr. Rivera's feelings, but I don't want to become a cyborg either.""Have you gotten back with Ethan? I heard that you two had a very serious falling out back then."Olivia smiled bitterly. "That's true. It's just a relationship I can'
Olivia acted as Louis' assistant like before. She had been good at doing these things in the past. She familiarized herself with the tasks very quickly. Louis was very satisfied with her work."You're so quick-witted, unlike the other fools."Olivia looked at the mechanical arms in a glass display case. They were more advanced than the limbs she installed for Marina. Louis was so crazy that he even made the skin on these arms perfect. They were exactly the same as human skin and even looked smoother than most people's skin.Louis was happy to see that she was staring at a mechanical arm. "Look, this is the newly upgraded version. You can barely tell it's a mechanical arm from the outside. The fingers are even more nimble than a human's. "Don't worry, Elise. I'll use all the best parts for you."The mention of the modification made her heart sink. "Mr. Rivera, it's not that I don't trust you. I just want to wait for a little while longer. It would cause you trouble if the pr
Back then, after Olivia's incident, Ethan broke his own sister's limbs to avenge Olivia. He wanted to keep Leia trapped for life.After all, a person who had lost all four limbs wouldn't be able to cause trouble.But Ethan seemed to have underestimated Leia's determination. She had experienced inhumane torture since she was young, so she was mentally far stronger than the common person.She had only lost her limbs, so of course, she wouldn't give up.Ethan and Janice thought that Leia would turn over a new leaf, but they were unaware that she was gathering strength as she awaited the right time.Ethan had been too busy in the past few years, and Leia was overseas. So, if Janice had hidden and defended Leia on purpose, Ethan wouldn't have noticed it.When Olivia saw Leia, she subconsciously touched her wrist.Back then, Ethan had injured her wrist because of Leia. Now, Olivia felt as if her wrist was still hurting even though her injuries had healed, and there weren't even any
When Leia spotted Avery, she subconsciously tried to escape, but Avery had already noticed her. "Begonia."The word drifted toward Leia in the night breeze.The woman's voice on the other end of the line sounded a little panicky. "Did someone approach you? Who are you with right now?""I'll contact you later." Leia hung up and quickly ran away. She was given mechanical legs, so she ran faster than a normal human.Avery wasn't feeling well, so he only ran after Leia for a little while before slumping onto the floor, panting.Unexpectedly, Leia turned back and ran back to him. She looked at him anxiously. "Are you okay?"She had noticed him leaning against the flowerbed, so she thought that something happened to him.Avery gripped her wrist. "Got you, Begonia."Begonia was Leia's alias in Peace's Embrace. Avery's voice was as gentle as always, and Leia had mixed feelings about that.No one knew this, but Avery was the only salvation she had in her life.Back then, when she ra
Warren's pale face showed a hint of pleading. "Olivia, we've gotten to know each other better in the past two years. Have you ever loved me?"Hatred was evident in Olivia's cold eyes. "Never. I pray for your death every single second of my life.""I knew it." He smiled at that embittering answer. Karma had always been there. Another sound of a gunshot surprised the birds. A pool of blood splashed over the flowers. Warren stared at the picture on the gravestone. "Mona, I've returned everything that I owe you…"Olivia's gaze alternated between the two bodies. Her heart ached as she began crying. "It's finally over, Mona. Please rest in peace."She had been waiting for this day to come for too long. When the revenge was finally over, she felt hollow on the inside. …Yarrows reached their peak of beauty during the season, dancing along the wind. Willow was chasing after Zack, her bells ringing briskly. He teased, "You can't catch me!"After weaving a garland, Alicia bec
Warren was so blinded by love that he didn't realize that Olivia had spent the last two years setting this up.The moment he saw Olivia nestling in Ethan's arms, he knew that his identity had been exposed since the beginning.It was time to end all of this.Although the Fordham family had won the fight, they sustained heavy casualties. Brandon and Deborah, together with Jacqueline, had hurt and killed countless people. Quinn became a sacrifice, never waking up again despite her young age. Olivia placed a bouquet before Quinn's gravestone. "Rest in peace, Quinn. I'll take good care of the family. Don't worry."The breeze carried a leave before it landed on Olivia's shoulder, as though trying to respond to Olivia.Douglas reunited with the family, and Natalie was finally buried in peace. It was a private funeral, but Mason paid a visit. Mason and Douglas looked at each other. They were both important to Natalie, and they finally met each other after her death. With reddene
"Avery, what happened?" Olivia inquired.She had no clue what was happening and didn't dare to go anywhere close to Louis. The only person who she got close to was Avery."Stay away, Olivia! It's too dangerous!" Avery yelled worriedly. Louis shifted his gaze to Olivia. "My experiment is going to be successful soon. That's Natalie's descendant. She has Natalie's genes in her…"Olivia's eyes widened as she finally realized why Louis had been taking special care of her. Back then, she simply assumed that it was due to her health and talent, but it turned out that he had known her identity all along!The purpose of the human modification project was to resurrect Natalie! The thought of it gave her goosebumps.To think that he had made so many preparations just to resurrect Natalie…Even Olivia was deceived. She took the human modification project at face value; she didn't think much about it! "Let Natalie go, Louis. She's been gone for years. She could be watching us from up
Olivia arrived on the island. She noticed the change in the atmosphere this time around.It was the same old scenery, but the robots that once filled the island to the brim were gone. She expected to encounter some inspection robots upon arrival, but there weren't any.Ships were docking in lines by the seashore, and most of them belonged to private foreigner organizations and mercenaries. People were coming to the island!What happened?Was Louis in danger?Although Louis wished to transform her into a cyborg, she hoped he could live regardless. No matter what field it was, no one would come before an outstanding scientist like him. It would be a huge loss to lose him.Olivia grew worried. "Calm down, Liv. A lot of people came to the island, but I don't think it's a big issue for now," Ethan reminded her.He bet that the ships were loaded with ammunition. Still, the buildings on the island were intact, and nothing seemed to be destroyed. She disagreed, "No, there should
Mason and David had a long discussion by themselves. No one knew what they talked about.But it didn't matter because it was just an extra member joining the Fordham family anyway. That was it.On the other hand, Tatiana was a little worried. If the whole Fordham family were to be added to the family registry, would her children inherit less from the Heath family?Humans were born selfish. When the event actually came to pass, everyone would be thinking about their own benefit. However, the result of the discussion between David and Mason surprised everyone.Even though David wasn't acknowledged as one of the Fordhams, he wasn't planning to change his surname to Heath.He saw himself as a Fordham because his mother married Douglas.Nevertheless, he didn't mind his family being relatives with the Fordham family.Mason was a little disappointed, but he still respected David's decision because he knew how well Douglas treated David's family.Mason asked the Fordham family to sta
Olivia and the others returned to the Fordham family. Everything was going back on track under Avery's management. Sean's leg was recovering well. He could walk like a normal person, and he didn't have to pretend to be a cripple anymore. Troy would need more time to heal, but he was making progress.David clearly seemed better than he was before Olivia left. Everyone could still hardly believe that Jacqueline almost killed everyone in the family all by herself. When Olivia returned, David asked with concern, "Olivia, Avery said that you were cursed. How are you feeling right now?""Don't worry, Dad. I'm all better now. But we think that Jacqueline's dead in the sea," she assured.He hugged her. "It's alright. Your safety is all I hope for."It broke her heart to see how time had chipped away at his physique. It hadn't actually been that long since the family was in trouble. "Any news about Mom's whereabouts?" asked Olivia. "Avery found something, but he's still trying to
Alan brushed it over, but it was enough to leave Wendell in shock. Wendell imagined what kind of life Wayne had led before this. Growing up in a slum where all kinds of people lived… People like them had never really owned anything anyway, so they wouldn't feel the pain of loss…Ever since his wife passed away, Wendell didn't really care much about Alexander's upbringing. Wendell was merely generous when it came to spending money on Alexander. But once he reunited with his son, he realized how much it could hurt to be a parent. If that marriage arrangement was Wayne's wish, Wendell was hell-bent on making it happen.…Olivia was watching the sunset painting colors to the horizon by the seashore. Although Jacqueline was dead, Olivia didn't feel happy, not even one bit. So what if the mastermind was dead? The Fordham family was still in disarray, and no one knew where Shana was.Olivia sighed softly. "You're too young to be sighing like that." Wayne suddenly appeared next
Wendell felt helpless. He was seriously down on luck.Instead of his son, he thought that he had found himself a bossy superior. It was a heartfelt reunion after 30 years of separation, and yet the first thing Wayne talked about was an announcement about his marriage rather than expressing words of concern for his family. If it were any ordinary woman, Wendell wouldn't have minded it. But the person he insisted on marrying was none other than Olivia! She was a divorced woman with four kids!On top of that, Olivia's ex-husband was Wendell's nephew! The divorced couple was somewhat entangled with each other too.Ethan and Wayne were both dear to him. What should he do? Wendell was at his wit's end. Ignoring Wendell's dilemma, Wayne handed him a cigarette. But Wendell refused, "I quit it."Wayne lit a cigarette and squatted on the ground. Instead of a ruler of a land, he appeared more like a construction worker. Wendell massaged his forehead at that. How had his son grown
Wendell had been frail all his life. He never imagined that his biological son would have been missing for so many years. What surprised him more was that Wayne had grown up well despite hardships. Still, there seemed to be something off about this son of his.They were father and son who had been separated for years. Now that the truth was revealed, shouldn't they be hugging each other in tears of joy? Why did Wayne show no joy in reuniting with his father but seemed interested in his identity as the son of the Procter family—or more precisely, the marriage arrangement between the Procter family and the Fordham family?""Son, things are a bit complicated right now. We need to take our time to discuss this thoroughly—""Am I not your son?" Wayne's restless temperament was exactly the same as his mother's. There was no chance of dissuading him. There was only one thing in his head. He felt fortunate that he had run a background check on the ties between both families. Otherwise