Stranger at the Wedding

Chapter 6 Blood and Fire

The moment the door was rammed open, Emily clearly saw the face of the person who had come.

Not a man in black. Not a Defense Department agent. It's James.

He was dressed in a dark blue suit, with the collar of his shirt open and his tie hanging loosely around his neck. There was a bloodstain on his face, stretching from his left temple all the way down to his cheekbone, and blood droplets were still trickling down. His eyes were bloodshot, as if he had just been crying or had just killed someone.

He doesn't have a g*n in his hand.

There is no one behind him either.

He alone burst open the door, stood alone in the corridor's light, and faced two guns alone.

"Emily," he said, his voice as hoarse as if it had been rubbed on sandpaper. "Don't shoot. I'm not here to arrest you. I'm here to take you away."

Emily's g*n didn't lower.

"The name on the ring, explain."

James looked down at his hand. The engagement ring was still on his ring finger, with the "A.S." on the inside faintly visible under the light. He was silent for three seconds, then looked up, his gaze passing over Ai Mili and landing on Anna.

"Anna was the first person I ever met," he said. "Three years ago, William asked me to come to Wentworth Manor for an 'internship'. He brought me to this basement and introduced me to her. He asked me to talk with her, play chess with her, and read with her. He said this was to train my 'interpersonal skills'."

"But this is actually a test." Anna picked up his words, her voice as calm as if she were telling someone else's story. "He's testing whether you'll fall in love with me."

"I've truly fallen in love with you." James walked up to Anna, crouched down, and looked into her grey eyes at eye level. "You're the smartest, bravest, and gentlest person I've ever met. You grew up in a pitch-dark basement, yet your smile is more precious than anyone else's."

"But you proposed to Ai Mili." Anna said.

"Because William ordered me to do so." For the first time, a c***k appeared in James' voice, like a wall that had borne too much weight and finally began to show cracks. "He said if I didn't marry Ai Mili, he would transfer you to another place. A place darker, colder, and deeper. A place where I would never find you again."

"So you sacrificed yourself." Ai Mili lowered her g*n, but her hand was still shaking. "You married me to protect her."

"It was like this at first." James stood up, turning to Ai Mili, "But then I met you. You're not the same as Anna - your faces are the same, but your souls are different. Your soul is fire, hers is deep water. I fell in love with her, and then I fell in love with you too. I can't tell them apart."

"You don't need to distinguish." Anna stood up, walked between James and Ai Mili, and held one person's hand with each hand. "We don't need you to distinguish. Because we are the same person."

The hands of three people are clasped together.

At that moment, the chill in the basement seemed to recede a bit.

Then a loud noise came from upstairs.

It wasn't an explosion, nor a gunshot, but the sound of something heavy hitting the floor - a dull, terrifying sound that made the whole house tremble.

"They're here." James let go of his hand, his face changing. "They're not William's men. They're from the Ministry of Defense. Lieutenant Colonel Mora has brought at least fifteen armed men. They've surrounded the manor."

"Where's Veronica?" Ai Mili asked.

"She's holding them off upstairs. She said she could stall Mora for ten minutes."

"Is ten minutes enough?"

James took out a folded map from the inner pocket of his suit, an old-fashioned paper map with a winding red line drawn on it.

"There are tunnels beneath this manor," he said. "Built in the 18th century to hide nobles during the war. Later renovated by the Wen Tewosi family, who stored wine in the tunnels. Richard told me - he didn't know why I was asking, but he told me."

"Where does the tunnel lead?"

"The woods north of the manor. The exit is in a dry well behind an abandoned hunter's cabin. A twenty-minute walk from there leads to a road. I parked a car there."

Ai Mili glanced at Anna. Anna's lips were pale, and fine beads of sweat oozed from her forehead. Her body was being depleted, and every step she took was consuming the little life she had left.

"Can you walk?" Ai Mili asked.

Anna smiled. It was a smile that broke Ai Mili's heart—a smile of someone who was clearly exhausted but still pretended to be okay.

"I've walked in the basement all my life," Anna said. "I'm better at walking than you."

The entrance to the tunnel is at the far end of the cellar.

James pushed open a heavy oak wine rack, revealing an iron gate behind it. The iron gate was rusty, and its hinges let out a shrill wail that Ai Mili thought could be heard throughout the entire manor.

The tunnel was very narrow, allowing only one person to pass through. Ai Mili walked at the front, holding her phone in her right hand and supporting herself against the slippery wall with her left. Anna walked in the middle, and James brought up the rear. The air in the tunnel was cold and damp, carrying the smell of earth and mold. Every few meters, there was a small oil lamp on the wall - not an electric light, but a real oil lamp, with its wick flickering in the darkness like a will-o'-the-wisp.

They walked for about five minutes when the sound of an iron gate being rammed open came from behind them.

Those who aren't Mora's people—they wouldn't find the entrance to the tunnel so quickly. It's someone else. Someone faster and more familiar with this estate.

Ai Mili looked back, and the light from her phone swept across the darkness behind her. She saw a pair of eyes—blue, the same blue as hers.

Veronica.

"She's catching up." Ai Mili whispered.

"Keep going." James gave her a push. "Don't stop."

"She's not here to arrest us," Anna suddenly said, without pausing her steps, "She's here to protect us."

"How do you know?"

"Because there's no killing intent in those eyes. I've seen eyes with killing intent. William's, Mora's, Richard's. Veronica's eyes don't have it."

They continued walking forward. The sound of Veronica's footsteps behind them grew closer, but she always maintained a certain distance - not because she couldn't catch up, but because she was deliberately keeping her distance. She was escorting them, making sure no one would sneak up on them from behind.

The tunnel began to slope upward. The air became less humid, and a faint breeze blew from the front - the exit was not far away.

The wellhead of the dry well is covered by a stone slab.

Ai Mili pushed with all her might to open a c***k, and moonlight squeezed through the gap, like a silver blade, cutting through the darkness of the tunnel. Fresh air rushed in, carrying the scent of grass and earth - Anna took a long breath, closed her eyes, as if savoring this world she had never seen before.

"This is the smell of the outside," she said softly. "I've been thinking about it for twenty-six years. It smells better than I imagined."

Ai Mili pushed aside the stone slab, climbed out of the dry well, and then reached out to pull Anna out.

The hunter's cabin under the moonlight was on the verge of collapse, with half of the roof tiles missing and the walls covered in ivy. Not far away, the road resembled a black ribbon, glistening faintly in the moonlight. The car James mentioned was parked by the roadside - a gray Ford, unassuming and inconspicuous.

By the time Veronica climbed out of the dry well, they had already reached the car.

"Wait a minute," Veronica gasped, bending over with her hands on her knees. "I have something for you."

She took out an envelope from her coat pocket and handed it to Ai Mili.

"William's address," she said. "17 Wutong Road, Colony District, Geneva, Switzerland. He doesn't live there alone. He has a wife and a daughter. Your sister."

Another one.

Ai Mili felt her stomach churning. How many children had this project actually created? How many more twins, triplets, donors, backups, and experimental subjects were there, produced, numbered, used, and discarded like goods?

"She's not an experiment," Veronica said, as if seeing through her thoughts. "She's a normal daughter, born to William and his second wife. He loves her because she was an unplanned child. Only the unplanned ones are truly cherished by him. You, who are part of the plan, are just tools."

This sentence hurts more than any bullet.

The roar of engines came from afar, not just one vehicle, but many. The headlights lit up on the other side of the woods, like a row of glowing eyes, closing in.

"Go." Veronica pushed Ai Mili. "I'll stay and hold them off."

"Mom --" Ai Mili uttered this word and then stopped.

Veronica's eyes lit up. It was a glow Ai Mili had never seen in her before—not joy, not gratitude, but a near-sacred glow that only comes after being forgiven.

"What did you call me?"

"Mom." Ai Mili repeated, her vision blurred by tears, "Although you've lied to me for 26 years, you're my only mom. My biological mother died before I was born. You raised me. You tied my hair, made breakfast for me, and slept with me when I was scared. You're not just my mother, you're my mom."

Veronica didn't cry.

She simply pulled Ai Mili into her arms and held her tightly, very tightly.

Then release.

"Go," she said, "Don't let my sacrifice be in vain."

Ai Mili got into the car and started the engine. Anna sat in the passenger seat, and James jumped into the car from the back door. The tires slipped on the gravel road for a moment, then shot out and sped onto the road.

In the rearview mirror, Veronica stood in the moonlight, facing the convoy approaching from afar.

She raised her hands.

It's not surrender, it's attracting attention.

She succeeded.

The motorcade stopped in front of her, and Lieutenant Colonel Mora stepped out of the first car. Ai Mili couldn't hear what they said. She only saw Veronica being handcuffed and pushed into the car.

Then the motorcade turned around and drove off in the other direction.

Veronica traded herself for their freedom.

At least, it's temporary freedom.

The car sped through the night. Ai Mili held the steering wheel, her knuckles turning white. Anna leaned against the window, looking at the darkness rapidly receding outside, lost in thought. James sat in the back seat, silently looking at his phone.

"I've found it." He suddenly said.

"What did you find out?"

"William Sterling's complete resume. He is no ordinary agent. He is the founder of Project M-17 and the sole decision-maker. He has a code name within the Ministry of Defense - 'Father'. All subjects - including you - are his children. Biologically his children."

"He used his own ?"

"Not all. But the vast majority." James' tone was calm, but his hand holding the phone was shaking. "His theory is that if you use someone else's , the genes aren't 'pure' enough. He wants to create a perfect genetic lineage. He wants a new human subspecies composed of his own descendants. Stronger immunity, longer lifespan, higher IQ."

"And then?" Anna asked without turning her head.

"The result was a bunch of sick kids," James said, his voice tinged with anger for the first time. "Mitochondrial defects, premature organ failure, immune system disorders. He wanted to create supermen, but instead he created a group of people who would die in their twenties."

"Don't count me in," Ai Mili said. "I'm twenty-six and doing just fine."

"Because you're the only child using Ai Linna's mitochondria," James said. "Anna used another woman's mitochondria, so there are defects. You used your biological mother's mitochondria, so you're healthy."

"So Anna is the product of a failed experiment, while I am the successful one."

"You are the only success," James corrected. "Among the fifty-six children, you are the only one without any genetic defects."

Fifty-six.

Ai Mili imagined fifty-six children. Fifty-six children with the same father but different mothers. Fifty-six children numbered, classified, and rated. Fifty-six "products".

Her stomach churned.

"Stop the car." Anna suddenly said.

"What?"

"Stop the car!" Anna's voice was so shrill that it didn't sound like her own.

Ai Mili parked the car by the roadside. Anna opened the door, bent down, and vomited in the grass by the roadside. It wasn't because of carsickness, but because she saw something - across the road, there was a road sign that read: "Geneva 584 km."

"I'm not going to Geneva." Anna straightened up, wiped her mouth, and said hoarsely.

"Why?"

"Because I don't want to see William."

"I don't want to either." Ai Mili walked up to her. "But it's not because I want to see him; it's because I want to make him pay."

Anna shook her head, her gray eyes like two dying stars in the moonlight.

"Don't you know yet?" she said. "He's not our father. He's just the donor. A father isn't someone who creates you and brings you into this world through others. A father is someone who raises you, protects you, and loves you. Richard didn't give me these things, but he gave them to you. William gave us nothing."

"So what?"

"So I don't want to waste my time on revenge." Anna turned around, looked at Ai Mili, "I don't have much time left. Do you understand? Not much. Not months, not weeks, maybe just days. I don't want to spend my last days focusing on someone unworthy of my hatred."

"So what do you want to do?"

Anna looked into the distance of the road. Her eyes became very bright at that moment, as bright as a child's eyes when seeing presents on Christmas morning.

"I want to see the world outside," she said. "I want to watch a sunrise, by the sea. I want to eat ice cream just once, not the kind that's melted and refrozen in the basement, but real, freshly scooped, creamy ice cream. I want to step on the beach just once, barefoot. I want to swim in the sea, even if it's just once."

She looked at Ai Mili and smiled.

This time, it was not a bitter smile, not a feigned smile, not the smile that a person who had been locked in a basement for twenty-six years should have. This was an innocent smile, the smile of a child who had never seen the world.

"Will you go with me, sister?"

Ai Mili hugged Anna into her arms.

Her tears fell on Anna's hair, drop by drop.

"I'll go with you," she said. "I'll go with you anywhere."

The car has turned around.

It's not the direction to Geneva, but the direction to the seaside. The cliff coast of Cornwall, the westernmost tip of England, where the waves of the Atlantic Ocean crash against the millennium-old rocks.

That's the place Anna chose.

She had seen it in geography books, on TV, and visited it countless times in her dreams.

This time, she is really going.

The car had been driving for two hours, and dawn was approaching.

A streak of dawn light appeared in the east, and the clouds were dyed lavender and rose gold.

Anna leaned against the car window, looking at the sky that was starting to brighten. Her breathing was so light that it was almost inaudible. All Ai Mili could hear was the sound of the engine and the wind.

"Sister." Anna's voice was very soft, so soft that it seemed like she was whispering a secret.

"Yes."

"I'm scared."

"What are you afraid of?"

"I'm afraid that after I die, I won't remember all this. Remember the moonlight, remember the wind, remember you."

Ai Mili tightened her grip on the steering wheel, her fingernails digging into the leather-wrapped steering wheel cover.

"You're not going to die," she said, her voice firmer than she'd expected. "We're not looking for William anymore, but we're going to find a doctor. The best doctor in the world. There must be someone who can cure you."

Anna didn't answer.

Ai Mili glanced at the passenger seat. Anna had her eyes closed, and her eyelashes fluttered slightly in the morning light.

She's just asleep.

She's just asleep.

Ai Mili repeated it ten times in her heart, as if trying to convince herself.

In the back seat, James answered a phone call. As he listened, his face changed.

"What's wrong?" Ai Mili saw his expression in the rearview mirror.

"Samantha," he said. "She's been arrested. Lieutenant Colonel Mora has charged her with the alleged murder of Henry Morris. They found her car - the black SUV that hit Henry. The license plate, tire tracks, and DNA all match."

"She couldn't have done it," Ai Mili said. "Henry was only hit and killed while she was locked up in the police station. She has an alibi."

"The alibi has been disproven. The police department said there was a 'technical issue' with her bail procedure that day, and she had fifteen minutes to leave the detention cell without a record."

"That was a frame-up."

"I know. Mora knows too. But that doesn't matter. What matters is that they need a killer. Samantha is the most convenient."

Ai Mili stepped on the brake, and the car stopped by the roadside.

"Let's go back." She said.

"No," Anna opened her eyes; she hadn't been asleep at all. "You can't go back. If you do, you'll fall into their trap. They're using Samantha to draw you out."

"I can't let her go to jail for me."

"She didn't go to jail for you. You didn't kill Henry. Even if you don't go back, she won't be convicted. Mora has no evidence."

"She has an alibi gap for that so-called 'technical problem' you mentioned."

"That gap is not enough to convict," James said. "And we can help her from the outside. Find a good lawyer, expose the existence of Project M-17, and the media will go crazy. Mora won't dare to take risks in a case under public scrutiny."

Emily hesitated.

On the horizon, the first ray of sunlight pierced through the clouds.

Golden light shines on the road, on their faces, and in Anna's grey eyes.

Anna's eyes turned golden.

"Sunrise." She whispered softly, "I see it."

She cried.

Silently, ceaselessly, like a child who has finally been allowed to cry.

"Thank you, sister."

They watched the sunrise by the roadside.

The clouds were thick, and the sun only peeked out a few times, mostly just tinting the sky in varying shades of orange-red and pink-purple. But for Anna, this was the most beautiful sight she had ever seen.

Twenty minutes later, they resumed their journey.

The sea of Cornwall still lies ahead.

William Sterling is still in Switzerland.

Samantha is still in the detention room.

As for Veronica, no one knows where she was taken.

But at least at this moment, they are moving.

Moving in one direction, not for revenge, not for justice, but simply to see the sea.

Take a look at the world worth living in.