Chapter 276: The Half Soul

She looked exactly as Jade remembered her.

Her short hair rested neatly around her face, just like when they were children. Her emerald eyes were bright and clear, so similar to jade gemstone. They have identical faces. Sometimes Jade had wondered if the two of them had been created from the same piece of glass.

Amber smiled gently at her.

"What? It must be because you steal that cookie! Your tummy must be hurt because of that!"

"Yes... it must be that."

Amber raised her brow, "you are weird. You don’t usually admit your mistake."

Jade smiles gently, "I learn from someone important." She then pinched Amber’s nose, "you need to learn to be more honest too, sister."

"Aw! That hurts!" Amber slapped Jade’s hand and she laughed.

For a moment, Jade simply stared. She had forgotten how much she missed that smile.

How much she missed hearing her sister call her that way. How much she missed having someone who understood her without needing an explanation.

Jade’s throat tightened and she rubbed her temple, trying to return her sanity. She knew this wasn’t real. There was no way Amber could be here.

That golden spore must be behind this. It had shown her something it had taken from her memories, something she had spent years trying not to remember.

Yet knowing it was an illusion didn’t make it hurt any less.

Jade slowly raised her hands, wanting to hug her sister even though she already knew there would be nothing there.

Before she could say anything, however, a soft mechanical sound came from behind them.

The automatic door of the building opened.

Jade’s hand froze in midair. Her entire body suddenly went rigid as she turned around and saw three people stepped through the doorway.

The first was a middle-aged man in a white laboratory coat. Jade recognized him immediately. Professor Elias Voss, one of the leading scientists behind that ’take care’ of them.

Behind him walked an elderly man wearing an expensive black suit.

Jade’s eyes narrowed in recognition. He knows that man, everyone knows. He was the chairman of Ourogen Biotech.

The corporation that had possessed the technology to grow artificial human bodies and had poured enormous amounts of money into the research.

And behind them came the last person.

He wore a tailored dark navy suit beneath a long black military coat, several medals and insignia pinned across his chest. His stern face remained completely unreadable as he walked through the laboratory.

Jade knew that face better than anyone.

Her father, Adrian Vale.

"No... not this again." she whispered.

Amber and Jade slowly stand up and approach those figures like all the children who play inside the Sphere.

Her breathing became shallow when they stopped. She slowly lowered her head. Amber was still standing beside her, smiling as if nothing had changed.

It was the beginning of something that changed their life, badly.

Amber grabbed her hand tightly.

"Don’t worry, Sister. We’ll be the ones who get sent to the outside world!"

Jade only smiled bitterly, squeezing her sister’s hand in return.

They would get out eventually.

But it would not be blue like the sky above them now, nor would it be a place where they could watch birds flying freely through the open air.

It would be nothing like their hope and dream.

"Good morning, children. Are you having fun playing in the sun?"

The children immediately nodded, their faces brightening as they began shouting over one another, eagerly talking about how happy they were.

"Good. These are our benefactors. You remember Sir Adrian Vale and Mr. Edmund Hargrove, don’t you? They will choose one of you to be sent to the outside world."

The children cheered, their faces filled with excitement.

Jade’s face, however, slowly turned pale.

She wanted to do something. She wanted to scream at them, to tell everyone that they were lying, that the outside world they were promising did not exist like this.

But she couldn’t. It wasn’t real. None of this was real.

It didn’t matter what she did, nothing would change.

Edmund smiled as he slowly raised his hand and pointed toward Jade.

Her entire body went rigid. But then his finger shifted toward the boy, Tommy,standing beside her.

Jade’s breath escaped her lips in a quiet, shaky exhale.

Amber looked at Jade strangely as the other children gathered around Tommy, congratulating him for being chosen.

Some of them hugged him while others excitedly asked what the outside world was like, even though Tommy had never seen it himself.

The three adults smiled as they watched the children celebrate before guiding Tommy back toward the building.

Jade remained where she was, unable to take her eyes away from him.

Before Adrian followed the others inside, however, he glanced back at her.

His stern face remained as unreadable as ever, but his eyes stayed on Jade for a few seconds longer than they should have.

She could not understand what he was looking for. Eventually, he turned away and disappeared through the automatic doors.

Amber tugged at her hand.

"Sister? Are you okay? You’re so disappointed that much you can’t talk?"

Jade looked down at her. "Yeah, I really want to go outside."

Amber cupped her sister’s face, "don’t worry, we will. Both of them will go together, Professor Elias said so, we are inseparable."

"We are... we will never be separated."

It was a very ugly lie.

When they returned to their room, Amber immediately complained about being jealous of Tommy.

"I’m still jealous," she said as she dropped onto her bed. "Why did they pick him? I thought we were going to be the ones sent outside. He isn’t even that good, all of his scores are average!"

"Should we do what Tommy did? Being mediocre."

Jade sat on the other bed and watched her sister. Their room was simple but comfortable. Jade forgot how advanced and clean it was than any room in Climber Rift.

The walls were seamless and spotless, with thin panels embedded into them that automatically adjusted the temperature and lighting.

Their beds could change their firmness depending on the person’s sleeping position, while a small display beside each bed showed the time, health readings, and the daily schedule assigned to the children.

"You really wanted to leave? This place is already perfect the way it is..." Jade said.

"Of course I did." Amber frowned at her. "Didn’t you? I wanted to see all the cute animals around the world."

"We can see all the animals in the projection room, even the ones that don’t exist anymore."

"But touching and seeing is different!"

Jade did not answer immediately. Instead, she studied Amber’s face, trying to memorize every detail of it.

Especially when she was sulking like this. She was adorable.

Amber eventually noticed her staring. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

Jade quickly looked away. "I’m not."

"You are."

"I’m just tired."

Amber sat up and continued watching her. "You’ve been acting strange since they came here. Did something happen?"

Jade’s fingers tightened against the blanket.

She couldn’t tell her.

She couldn’t tell Amber what happened to the children who were sent outside. She couldn’t explain why Tommy’s selection had made her feel sick, or why she had been terrified when Edmund pointed toward her before choosing someone else.

Even if this was only a memory, she couldn’t bring herself to say it and she felt so pathetic as if she had turned into a little girl again.

Instead, Jade forced herself to smile. "I have an idea. We should sneak out tonight and say goodbye to Tommy. Maybe we can see a little bit of the outside world."

Amber’s eyes immediately brightened. "Can we? But is it even possible?"

"Yeah, though we’ll have to be careful. You don’t want the teacher to take our point, right?"

Amber shakes her head fast, "I can be careful. They won’t find out about it, I promise!"

Jade almost laughed. Amber had never been particularly good at being careful, but she knew her sister would never agree to stay behind once she had decided to do something.

"Then it’s settled. We will do it in the middle of the night when everyone is asleep."

Amber nodded, she looked more excited about sneaking out than actually seeing Tommy or the slight of outside world.

Jade grinned and pinched her sister’s cheek, hard enough to make Amber yelp and slap her hand away.

Then she pulled Amber into a tight hug. ItIt ssyuanhjZAN Azn JZaBhjShe held her longer than any hug she had ever given her before, refusing to let go as tears slowly slipped down her cheeks.

"What’s wrong with you, Sister?" Amber asked, trying to pull away slightly so she could see Jade’s face. "Are you crying?"

Jade only tightened her arms around her and shook her head.

"Yes..." Her voice trembled as she buried her face against Amber’s shoulder. "I miss you, Sister. And I’m sorry I stole your desserts so many times."

Amber paused.For a moment, she seemed confused by the sudden confession. Then she laughed softly and rubbed Jade’s back.

"Don’t worry. I’m not angry with you. I’ll never be angry with you. You’re my little sister. It’s my job to give you more sweet things."

Jade’s tears only came harder.

This was stupid. This was useless.

Because she knew this wasn’t really her sister.

The Amber she remembered was somewhere else, somewhere far away from this illusion, in a place Jade could no longer reach.

And yet, for this brief moment, she couldn’t bring herself to let go.