?


    "Calm down. Joel was just a name Steven submitted to Genome Society. Steven was too smart. He was so smart he was like a stubborn madman." Nancyughed.


    "All his wits were used on this. He seemed untouchable-but everyone has their weaknesses, and his happened to be Stephanie."


    "In order to get into Genome Society, Steven needed to secure the conglomerates'' interest and acknowledgment. He put forward the idea of reincarnation, and he used Simeon''s clone, which was Joel," she said nonchntly.


    At this point, she didn''t care if I knew about these truths, because she wasn''t nning on letting me go. I inhaled sharply... Joel was Simeon''s clone.


    The so-called secret to reincarnation had to be rted to the cloning experiments and gics.


    "Steven was a gift Genome Society gave to the Lincolns. He was the perfect offspring crafted from the modified and improved version of Andy''s gics.


    "Whether it was IQ, physical abilities, or appearance, Steven''s gics were optimized to the maximum point. That''s why he''s a one-in-a-million genius... a man-made genius."


    She sounded mildly annoyed. It was evident that she didn''t think much of gically altered geniuses.


    "But Simeon was different. He was a born genius. Genome Society only noticed him because of Steven. A carefully crafted genius and a normal person who has never undergone any form of genome modification ... Simeon''s existence soon captured their attention...


    "Under the front that they were performing check-ups, they took living cell samples from Simeon, the boy who showed great potential."


    Simeon was only a seven to eight-year-old boy then.


    "Simeon''s clone had always been in theboratory. He never left. Three years ago, Steven entered Genome Society and imed he could prove the existence of reincarnation. He took Simeon, who just died, and Joel, the clone, and experimented.


    "It was a sess. A lot of the conglomerates were shocked, but there remained a lot of those who were in doubt. It was a one-time urrence, after all."


    She continued, "Clones were disguised under the memories that belonged to the body. It was difficult to tell what was real and what wasn''t. It felt like a magic trick without a way to discern what was true.


    "No one knew if Joel was actually the reincarnation of Simeon or an actor that simply had the memories as the boy."


    Nancy looked at me with a solemn gaze. "Your existence, Stephanie, has shocked the wealthy once again. "They''re paying big bucks to have you taken back into theb. They''re asking for public research and experimentation to prove if you''re actually a reincarnated being or if you just possess the same memories.


    Iughed in realization. No wonder Jimmy said I was the most valuable experiment right now.N?velD(ram)a.?rg owns this content.


    "As for why Andy died, he led the Rebels when he was the leading man of the conglomerates in Iluma. Genome Society had to get rid of him. If he influenced the other conglomerates, Genome Society would be done for... Hence, Andy Lincoln had to die," Nancy exined.


    She continued, "As for Stephanie''s parents, Despite being scientists trained by Genome Society, they developed feelings toward an experimental subject that had no blood rtion to them.


    "They even tried to protect and take the subject away. How could Genome Society tolerate the existence of such traitors?"


    Her voice grew low, and the way she was looking at me grew more and moreplicated. "It was extremely difficult for Stephanie''s parents to leave Genome Society. They had help-Peter Jones. The pair wanted their daughter to live like a normal human being.


    "Hence, theypletely changed their identities and made preparations to leave Genome Society. Peter aided them under the pretense of conducting experiments."


    How ironic... Peter Jones wasn''t trying to harm me, after all.


    "It was a pity, though. Their fight against Genome Society was like a mantis trying to stop a chariot." Nancy was mocking their idiotic behavior, but I also noticed a tinge of bitternessced between her mockery.


    Nancy ... probably harbored aplicated feeling toward someone between Andy, Peter, and my parents.


    A normal person had feelings and desires. It wasn''t possible for them to be cold and unfeeling. The cloned "Stephanie" was right. As long as you had feelings, you''d have weaknesses.


    "I want to know who the leader behind all of this is..." I looked toward Nancy and asked the question I wanted the answer to the most.