Ice skates forward, regardless of east or west.

1

The sea breeze on the deck of the gambling ship fluttered Ling Wuwen's white dress, the fabric clinging to her body and outlining her curves, which had not yet fully recovered after childbirth.

She stood in the center of the spotlight beam, but the baby in her arms was unusually quiet.

Gu Xidong climbed onto the deck, his wet wetsuit dripping water.

The fifty or so spectators around him, dressed in evening gowns and holding champagne, had the excitement of gladiators entering the arena, rather than the astonishment at the kidnapping scene.

Ye Shen stepped out from behind the crowd, having changed into a white captain's uniform adorned with exaggerated medals. The applause was particularly jarring in the silence.

"Welcome aboard, Gu King. I knew you wouldn't behave."

Gu Xidong stared intently at Ling Wuwen. Her eyes were still silver-white, but there was a slight tremor deep in her pupils.

"What's wrong with her?"

"A little bit of nerve control." Ye Shen gently stroked Ling Wuwen's cheek.

"We improved the implant in her brain, and now she has normal vision and hearing, but her body is not fully under control."

Ling Wuwen's lips moved slightly, and he managed to squeeze out a weak voice: "Kill...me..."

"She's begging you," Ye Shen said with a smile.

"My program is that if you get within three meters, her aggressive instincts will be activated, and she will do everything she can to kill you, including throwing the child to her death to distract you."

Some audience members gasped, while others leaned forward, unwilling to miss a single detail.

"Why did you do this?" Gu Xidong's voice was icy.

"For the sake of the data." Ye Shen walked towards the railing.

"The ultimate goal of the 'Poison Raising Project' is to select the 'perfect warrior.' We need to know the limits of human potential under absolute despair. This test will either prove that rational cruelty can overcome emotion, or that she kills you to prove that maternal love can transcend self-preservation. Regardless of the outcome, it will be valuable data."

"Where are the children?"

Gu Xidong looked at the baby; her silvery-white eyes held no struggle, only calm observation, unlike those of an infant.

"She's a variable." A fanatical glint flashed in Ye Shen's eyes.

"Her nervous system is not fully controllable. I wonder if she cries, laughs, or learns something when her parents fight."

Gu Xidong took a step forward, and Ling Wuwen's body tensed instantly. His left hand, hanging at his side, concealed a dinner knife, the blade reflecting the moonlight.

"Don't come any closer..." she squeezed out through gritted teeth.

Gu Xidong took another step, reducing the distance to two meters.

He could see the beads of sweat on her forehead, the bulging veins on her neck, and the dark brown faintly emerging beneath her silvery-white skin—the real Ling Wuwen was still fighting.

Ye Shen, holding a tablet, recorded: "Emotional stimulation can temporarily override neural commands; this data is invaluable!"

Gu Xidong lowered his voice, making sure only Ling Wuwen could hear him:

"Do you remember the frozen lake in the Northern City? When you completed 4A, I caught you below. What did you say to me?"

Ling Wuwen's pupils trembled more intensely, the silvery-white color gradually fading, and a dark brown color emerging:

"I...said...'I saw...all the light...'"

"Yes!" Gu Xidong took another half step closer.

"Now I want you to see the light again, the light in your eyes! Look at me, Ling Wuwen!"

The final roar sent a jolt through Ling Wuwen's body; half of his silver-white color faded, his left hand trembled, and the kitchen knife fell onto the deck.

But the next second, the metallic color returned to her eyes, and she bent down to pick up the knife with lightning speed.

Gu Xidong dodged to the side, the blade slicing through his wetsuit on the shoulder, blood seeping out and congealing into dark spots.

The audience gasped and applauded as Ling Wuwen continued his attack, his movements precise and ruthless.

That was the standard killing technique of the clones, every move aimed at vital points.

Gu Xidong could only dodge, and the unhealed broken ribs caused a tearing pain during the intense movement.

"Fight back!" Ye Shen shouted. "Kill her and you'll live! Think of the child!"

Gu Xidong was indeed thinking about the child. She swayed in Ling Wuwen's arms with his movements, but kept her eyes open and staring at him with an eerily calm expression.

In the process of dodging, Gu Xidong was forced to the railing, with the sea twenty meters below behind him and Ling Wuwen approaching with a knife in front of him.

He saw her raise the knife, saw the tears in her eyes—

The silvery-white color faded under the wash of tears, turning a deep brown like a sunken ship rising from the water.

"Quickly...escape..." she managed to squeeze out a single word with all her might.

Gu Xidong did not dodge when the knife fell.

He rushed forward and took the blow head-on with his injured shoulder; the blade pierced through the muscle and got stuck in the bone.

The excruciating pain made his vision go black, but he still grabbed Ling Wuwen's hand holding the knife, and held her and the child tightly with his other hand.

The three of them hugged tightly, and Gu Xidong whispered in her ear, "Let's jump together."

He fell backward, pulling his wife and daughter over the railing.

In the two seconds of the fall, he twisted his body to cushion the fall, while simultaneously looking at the baby and saying, "Help Mommy."

The impact of entering the water was like being hit by a truck. Gu Xidong's back hit the sea first, but he held on to his wife and daughter tightly and refused to let go.

On the deck, Ye Shen rushed to the railing, his searchlight following the sea.

The audience complained that they hadn't had enough of the play, but he suddenly exclaimed, "What's that?"

2

A pale blue bioluminescence appeared beneath the sea surface, like a reversed galaxy, growing brighter and brighter.

A huge shadow rose from the depths, not a whale or a submarine, but a biological structure covered with scale-like metal plates, the part of which above the water resembled a platform fifty meters in diameter.

Ling Yaqin stood on the platform, dressed in a black bodysuit, holding a light-emitting controller.

The manta ray-shaped underwater vehicle beneath her feet had fully surfaced, and her voice came through the loudspeaker:

Good evening, 'Falconer' Number 7. Your performance was wonderful, but I didn't have time to watch the whole thing.

Ye Shen's expression changed drastically: "How did you find this place?"

"I've placed a GPS tracker on the child." Ling Yaqin pressed the controller.

"Your control over Ling Wuwen's neural frequency is a technology I phased out three years ago. It only took me thirty seconds to crack it."

The robotic arm pulled Gu Xidong and the other two out of the water. The silvery-white light in Ling Wuwen's eyes completely disappeared. She coughed up seawater, but her hands were still tightly protecting the child.

"Data collection complete," Ling Yaqin said to Ye Shen.

"Hand over all the data from the 'Poison Raising Plan,' and I'll give you some face."

Ye Shen laughed wildly: "You think you've won? Look around!"

As the gambling ship's exits opened simultaneously, hundreds of new clones surged onto the deck, larger, better equipped, and with dark red eyes.

"These are 'Blood Gu,' genetically enhanced three times, insensitive to pain, and only capable of obedience. Can your toys defeat them?"

Below Ling Yaqin's platform, more than a dozen identical manta ray-shaped spacecraft surfaced, each carrying a clear-eyed clone:

"These are 'free agents.' If they help me defeat you, I can gain true freedom."

The two sides faced off, their clone armies poised for battle under the moonlight.

Gu Xidong struggled to his feet, his shoulder wound still bleeding. "That wasn't part of our deal."

"The trade has been updated." Ling Yaqin pointed to the back of the platform, where B-3 and more than twenty clones emerged from the hatch.

"Ye Shen is a traitor to the 'Nirvana Project,' and I must retrieve the core data. Choose: stand with me, and you will all be free after the war; or leave now, and Ye Shen will not let you go."

Gu Xidong looked at Ling Wuwen and nodded: "We want the freedom of all clones, including the 'Blood Gu'."

"The 'Blood Gu's' brain has been completely altered and cannot be restored," Ling Yaqin frowned.

"My child..." Ling Wuwen looked down at the baby.

"She just said directly into my head underwater: 'Mom, I can make them hear me.'"

The baby blinked, and a silvery-white light spread deep within its pupils.

The "Freedom" on the platform shuddered simultaneously, its eyes flashing silver; the "Blood Gu" on the deck of the gambling ship stirred, with several in the front row suddenly throwing away their weapons and clutching their heads, howling in pain.

"She's synchronizing with her homologous genome, sharing senses and emotions!" Ling Yaqin's eyes were filled with fervor.

"This is the rudimentary form of collective consciousness!"

Ye Shen yelled into the communicator, "Attack! Kill that child first!"

The "Blood Gu" raised their weapons, but their movements were no longer synchronized; some of them trembled with their gun barrels and even turned towards their companions.

The baby's eyes turned completely silver-white, and she stretched out her little finger towards the gambling ship, with invisible ripples spreading out from her.

All the clones froze, their eyes turning silver-white, as if they had been taken over by the same consciousness.

On the gambling ship, "Blood Gu," number CX-47, knelt on the ground, tore off the brand on his chest, and wept bitterly—it was a genuine outburst of emotion.

"The genetic memory has been awakened," Ling Yaqin said softly. "The cells remember our human instincts."

Ye Shen knew he had lost, and rushed towards the cabin only to find the door locked.

B-3 and the Free Agent have infiltrated the gambling ship and taken control of key positions. "Surrender, and we'll give you a dignified end," Gu Xidong shouted through the megaphone.

Ye Shen stood on the tilting deck, laughing wildly: "The 'Gu Raising Plan' has seven executors! I'm just one of them! The plan won't stop!"

He pressed the remote control, and the gambling ship's engine roared overload, a large hole exploded in the side, flames spewed out, and the ship sank rapidly.

A giant wave crashed in, and Ye Shen disappeared into the sea of ​​fire.

"Help!"

Ling Wuwen shouted. The manta ray platform rushed towards the sunken ship, and everyone jumped into the sea to rescue them. In the end, 123 people were rescued, including 89 clones, and 57 people died.

3

At dawn, the platform docked.

Ling Yaqin handed over the new passport, birth certificate, and bank account details:

"Live a low-key life. The other six 'eagle trainers' are still active, so they won't touch you for the time being, but don't let your guard down."

She looked at the baby, "I want to see her occasionally, as her grandmother."

Gu Xidong and Ling Wuwen were stunned, but finally nodded in agreement.

They led everyone to a remote island in the south, where life finally returned to peace.

Three months later, in the dead of night, Gu Xidong was awakened by a nightmare, dreaming of Ye Shen's smile before sinking into darkness.

As he passed the nursery, he heard indistinct voices coming from inside.

Pushing open the door, I saw my six-month-old daughter sitting in her crib, her eyes gleaming silver in the moonlight, gazing at the starry sky and murmuring to herself.

Gu Xidong approached and clearly heard her say:

"Dad...they're here...all six of them...they're all here..."

He suddenly looked out the window and saw six unlit boats silently sailing toward the island on the sea.

In a laboratory far to the north, Ling Yaqin looked at the island and ship tracks on the satellite monitoring screen and pressed the communication button:

"Early warning triggered for fledglings."

Phase Two begins. Code name: Nest Protection.

She turned off the screen and took an old photograph from the drawer—

A photo of her with Gu Xidong's father when she was young.

The back of the photo reads: If the plan fails, protect our children.

Ling Yaqin held the photo to her chest and whispered, "This time, I will be a good grandmother."