ARIWLBBC Chapter 102

The soft carpet in the aircraft absorbed the sound of high heels stepping on it, making no noise at all. From the ground up, Bo Ge saw a pair of elegant ankles, slender calves, and then further up — a long white lab coat covering a dark blue shirt underneath.

The woman’s pointed elven ears twitched slightly. She gave the young boy a gentle, subtle smile, radiating grace and elegance.

Bo Ge was momentarily dazed.

If he could ignore the woman’s identity, her appearance and demeanor were unquestionably at the level of a goddess!

Fair skin, delicate features, and not a trace of makeup on her face. Her flawless, unblemished aura, gifted by her elven bloodline, exuded rationality and elegance. Every frown, every smile captured the attention of those around her.

How could someone like this possibly be the notorious, heartless, and insane scientist — Laplace?!

“Child, come here.” The woman gracefully bent down and beckoned to Bo Ge with a gentle wave.

Bo Ge subconsciously took a step forward but quickly realized and retreated two steps back, his eyes filled with deep wariness.

Standing behind Bo Ge was Luo Qi, his sword tip pressed coldly against Bo Ge’s back, his expression devoid of any warmth.

“Master told you to go over.”

“It’s alright.” Laplace’s gaze was soft and patient, like a gentle mother tolerating her child’s mischief. “It’s not your fault you don’t recognize me. It’s theirs — they’ve kept you away from me for far too long.”

“…What?” Bo Ge was confused by the woman’s words.

He had once been by Laplace’s side?

Impossible!

“I don’t know you, and I’ve never met you before.” Bo Ge shook his head firmly.

“Luo Qi, put away your sword.” Laplace walked toward an intelligent sofa, patting the seat next to her. “Come, child. Let me tell you the truth.”

Without hesitation, Luo Qi sheathed his sword, his obedience to Laplace absolute.

Bo Ge clenched his jaw and stood his ground. They were in the sky — where could he possibly escape to now?

“Don’t be afraid.” Laplace’s tone was endlessly patient. “If I wanted to harm you, I wouldn’t have bothered talking so much.”

Bo Ge glanced at Luo Qi, who still stared at him coldly like a beast watching prey, then reluctantly took a few steps forward and sat beside the woman.

“Before we start our serious conversation, let’s play a little game.” Laplace spoke gently, a hint of amusement in her voice. “Guess my age.”

Age is often considered a woman’s secret. Men usually guess lower than the actual age to flatter women and start a pleasant conversation.

But clearly, that was not what Laplace intended.

Bo Ge studied the woman carefully. Lie Bei Shuang was already thirty-six years old, and Laplace had already been famous before Lie Bei Shuang was even born. If he did the math… wouldn’t that make her at least sixty?

Elves had long lifespans, often living up to two hundred years. For her to maintain such beauty at sixty was already quite impressive.

“Seventy?” Bo Ge intentionally guessed higher.

Laplace smiled and shook her head gently. “I’ll give you a hint — I have a blood relation with Luo Qi’s father.”

Bo Ge frowned. His aunt, perhaps? If she were Luo Qi’s aunt, why not just say she was related to Luo Qi directly? Why phrase it as having a blood relation with his father?

A sudden thought struck Bo Ge, and his face froze.

It couldn’t be…?

“That’s right.” Laplace smiled and gently looked at Luo Qi with affectionate warmth. “Luo Qi used to be my most beloved grandson. But his father insisted on making him call me ‘Master’ to conceal my true identity.”

Bo Ge blinked in surprise. Luo Qi’s father… wasn’t he the Elf King?

The Elf King had his first child in his thirties — Princess Luo Mo’er — and now this princess was already in her thirties!

“One… one hundred years old?” Bo Ge was incredulous. Was he really sitting face-to-face with a centenarian?

“Ninety-nine,” Laplace smiled as she leaned closer to the boy. “I’ll tell you a secret — I once predicted that I would die at the age of one hundred, due to an uncontrollable factor of my own creation.”

That’s just one year away… Bo Ge stared intently at the woman. Why would someone nearing death still be stirring up so much trouble?

“But,” Laplace’s gentle gaze remained fixed on the boy, “if I eliminate this uncontrollable factor, I can achieve immortality.”

“Previously, I always believed that the uncontrollable factor was your fiancé — my ‘good son.’”

“He’s not your son!” Bo Ge said angrily, his voice shaking. “And you don’t deserve to be his mother!”

“Of course, I’m not his mother.” Laplace nodded in agreement before lifting her chin with pride and arrogance.

“I am his creator — his god.”

“Heh.” Bo Ge scoffed coldly.

“Of course,” Laplace said, her tone softer now, “I owe you an apology.” She reached down, attempting to playfully pinch Bo Ge’s nose, but he jerked away.

“I have nothing to do with you!” Bo Ge refused to be drawn into her web.

“How could that be?” Laplace withdrew her hand, her smile maternal. “You are also a life I created.”

“Your fiancé may have told you a little about me. If not, I’ll explain: Years ago, I obtained three fertilized human embryos from the Ark, preserved from a thousand years ago.”

Bo Ge stood frozen, his mind racing to connect the pieces.

“You can think of these embryos as my creations.

“The first creation was the fertilized egg that failed to develop — but from that failure came Lie Bei Shuang. To this day, I am still proud of him.”

Bo Ge felt a wave of nausea. If Big Cat knew Laplace was proud of him, he’d probably feel disgusted too.

“The second creation successfully grew into a girl — I called her ‘Number Two.’ Because of her, I gained invaluable data about human biology.

“Unfortunately, she couldn’t withstand the endless experiments. She kept trying to leave this world, and in the end, she could only survive in a medical pod. Nineteen years ago… she showed no further signs of life.

“But I didn’t lose her entirely. If you’d like, I can show you — parts of her are still preserved in my lab.”

“You’re insane!” Bo Ge shot to his feet, teeth clenched tightly, his eyes welling with tears.

That girl… how much suffering had she endured?

“You are my third creation,” Laplace continued, her calm smile unwavering. “In truth, your development wasn’t stable. At birth, you almost died. Fortunately, my assistant, Huiman, noticed the issue in time and saved you.”

Mr. Huiman… He was Laplace’s assistant?!

Bo Ge felt like his mind was spinning out of control.

“Perhaps the power to control life gave him courage.” Laplace’s smile twisted slightly. “He betrayed my trust, abducted you, and even stole a batch of my early-stage corruption beast specimens!”

Abduction?

That was a rescue!

Bo Ge took a deep breath. He couldn’t imagine what would have happened if Mr. Huiman’er hadn’t taken him away — he might have ended up as another ‘Number Two.’

“But luckily,” Laplace said, gently stroking Bo Ge’s hair, “I’ve found you. Come back with me, to where you truly belong, alright?”

“No.” Bo Ge stared coldly at the woman, his mind firm.

Even if it meant mutual destruction today, there was no way he was letting this witch take him away.

“In that case…” Laplace said calmly as she activated her holoscreen. A projection appeared in front of Bo Ge.

Mr. Huiman’er’s familiar face emerged on the screen. He appeared unconscious, lying in bed surrounded by tubes. His eyelids fluttered slightly.

The screen shifted — revealing a familiar striped orange cat lazily basking in the sun on a blanket.

Bo Ge’s eyes widened in shock — even the orange cat was on her radar!

“Don’t look at me like that,” Laplace said coolly. “Ever since you matched successfully with Lie Bei Shuang, I’ve been quietly watching you. I once thought you might be as dull as Number Two, but you’ve surprised me.”

The images continued to flicker.

Bo Ge saw Amber playing ball with a young man, teasingly saying, “You’re too young, I can’t,” while kissing him even harder.

Then, a human boy was picking at his toes in his room when a girl burst in without knocking, rolling her eyes as she said, “Mom’s calling you for dinner.”

Bo Ge instantly recognized the boy — it was the long-lost “Revel in Song and Wine.” The girl was probably his sister, “Embrace Poetry with Joy.”

Bo Ge never expected to see them again — especially not like this.

“You’re a crippled dog now,” the old chieftain’s face appeared next. The elder lay in a rocking chair, petting a tattered robotic dog, eyes half-closed in thought.

The images kept shifting — Amber’s sister exhausted from hauling boxes, the Lie family shopping together, Little Du nibbling on snacks while watching TV in his room, and finally, Hope… waiting anxiously for Bo Ge to pick him up.

Bo Ge suddenly realized there was so much he had yet to do.

But now… it felt like there might not be another chance.

“I understand the feeling of watching the people you care about die, one by one,” Laplace said with a sympathetic gaze. “If I were you, I’d rather sacrifice myself.”

Laplace pressed a final button, and the projection switched to Lie Bei Shuang pacing anxiously in his room, his brows tightly furrowed.

“Big Cat…” Bo Ge subconsciously leaned toward the projection, desperate to get closer to his lover.

The man’s voice seemed to echo in his ears, “I will never bind you in the name of love… just please, don’t make me a widower too soon.”

What did he do at that time?

He had raised three fingers and promised with certainty that he would protect himself.

Bo Ge stared sadly at the man in the projection. At this time of day, Lie Bei Shuang should be in his office. Did he already know something had happened to him? Was he angry?

In the projection, Lie Bei Shuang was pacing back and forth. Bo Ge stared at him and suddenly felt something was off.

Lie Bei Shuang had always been a calm and composed man. The bigger the crisis, the quieter he became. The only time he had ever paced like this was when he was in a full rut — but his eyes in the projection were only a faint shade of red.

Bo Ge looked closer and noticed the cufflink on Lie Bei Shuang’s sleeve. It was the same one he had thrown aside the first time he went into full rut in Bo Ge’s rental villa.

At that time, the scepter had told Bo Ge that the cufflink was worth nearly a billion — so Bo Ge remembered it quite clearly.

The more Bo Ge watched, the more he noticed the subtle mechanical stiffness in Lie Bei Shuang’s movements.

Big Cat isn’t home!

Then where was he?

“Child, think carefully,” Laplace’s gentle voice interrupted Bo Ge’s thoughts. “If all these people died, what meaning would your life have left?”

Bo Ge lifted his head, staring coldly at Laplace. “You could easily take me by force. Why go through all this trouble to threaten me with them?”

“Child, let me teach you something,” Laplace smiled warmly. “When you take one step, you must see three steps ahead. Getting you is easy — but keeping you from becoming another suicidal ‘Number Two’ requires these people as leverage.”

Bo Ge instantly realized what she was doing. She wasn’t just trying to capture him — she wanted to break his spirit, so he would willingly serve her and wouldn’t even dare to kill himself.

“Child, have you thought it through?” Laplace’s voice was still as gentle as ever. “If you have, come sit down with me, and let’s go home.”

Bo Ge fell silent for a long time before finally moving to sit beside Laplace.

“If I go with you, you have to release them,” Bo Ge pointed at the unconscious deputy director and sea hare.

“Of course,” Laplace smiled kindly. “Once they wake up, they’ll find themselves at home, completely unaware that anything ever happened.”

Seeing the boy’s head hanging low on the smart sofa, Laplace nodded toward Luo Qi.

Luo Qi took his place in the pilot seat and began manually controlling the aircraft.

“You’ll see Number Two very soon,” Laplace said softly. “She left many experiments unfinished, but you can continue her work. I’m sure she’d be very happy about that.”

“…Can I write a will?” Bo Ge lifted his head, his eyes brimming with tears. “I want to tell Big Cat that Luo Qi was never my dream lover. The only one I ever loved was him, my one and only leopard.”

“Of course not.” Laplace stroked the boy’s hair with feigned affection. “People saw you leave with Luo Qi. Very soon, Luo Qi will release a public statement — saying you ran away with him to the barren star to escape someone’s control.”

“Why would you do that?” Bo Ge’s voice trembled with fury.

“Firstly, my prophecies are never wrong. I predicted that he would die alone, so he will never find love,” Laplace smiled smugly. “Secondly, I promised Luo Qi that once this was over, I’d give him a new identity and a normal life. I don’t break my promises.”

“…Killing three birds with one stone?” Bo Ge laughed bitterly.

“No, my dear,” Laplace’s smile deepened. “Killing four birds with one stone.”

As the aircraft flew into a mountain, disappearing behind a waterfall into a brightly lit facility, Laplace activated another projection — this time of Mr. Huiman’s. She pressed a button.

“Those who betray me… must be punished.”

In the projection, Mr. Huiman’s body began to convulse violently. As Luo Qi steered the aircraft into a docking port, Mr. Huiman’s struggles gradually ceased.