Chapter 1229

"Theia, stop acting crazy!"

Nadia was genuinely panicking, tightening her grip on her gun, waiting for the perfect moment to shoot.

"Nadia, who gave you permission to point a gun at her?" Corvus glared fiercely at Nadia. "Put it down!"

"Corvus, did you not hear what she just said?"

Nadia trembled with anger, spitting out every word in accusation. "She wants to blow up our life's work, and she wants to kill you! Why are you still keeping a woman like this alive?"

"I said put the gun down!"

Corvus couldn't hear a word Nadia was saying, his face livid as he roared.

"If you can't bring yourself to do it, I'll do it for you." With that, Nadia pulled the trigger without hesitation.

"Bang-"

A gunshot rang out, but the bullet didn't hit Theia. It hit Nadia.

Taking a bullet to the shoulder, she collapsed heavily to the floor, staring in the direction the shot came from.

A dark figure stood rigidly in the doorway.

Specter.

It was actually Specter.

"You"

Nadia struggled for a moment before the agonizing pain caused her to black out. "Juniper..."

Theia gasped in shock, almost believing she was hallucinating.

She never imagined she'd get to see her daughter one last time before she died.

"You again!"

Seeing Juniper, Corvus let out a dark sneer. "There are cameras everywhere. How did you get in here?"

"Through the front door."

Juniper held her gun steady, her eyes locked onto Theia's face.

When she saw the bomb strapped to her mother's chest, her brows furrowed deeply.

She knew this type of explosive. Its destructive power was catastrophic.

Once detonated, the entire villa would instantly collapse into dust. "Juniper, run!"

Theia stared at her daughter through tear-blurred eyes, her voice raspy. "Mom won't be able to make it to your engagement party. I'm sorry."

"Stop talking nonsense."

Juniper's throat tightened, her eyes burning. "Corvus, all you want is the research, right? I'll give it to you. Let my mother go."

"Do not give it to him!"

Theia shouted firmly. "Two lives in exchange for the peace of countless others. Mom's death will be worth it."

"As for your father, and your siblings... you'll just have to apologize to them on my behalf."

"In the next life, I still want to be your family."

"Mom-"

Juniper stood frozen, her eyes turning bloodshot as she instinctively took a step forward.

"Don't come any closer!"

Theia screamed frantically to stop her. "Juniper, don't throw your life away too! It's not worth it!"

Juniper shook her head, refusing to back down.

Watching her mother get blown to pieces in front of her—she couldn't do it.

She had promised her father she would bring her back.

How could she return empty-handed?

"Go."

As Theia spoke, she dragged Corvus toward the laboratory.

"Theia, if we could go back to the very beginning, if I had just honestly focused on my research would Model

have liked me?"

Corvus looked up, staring earnestly into Theia's eyes. "Even just a little bit."

"Probably."

Since she was about to die anyway

Theia saw

no reason to lie. "But not

romantically. It won as family."

"What?"

"Corvus, I used to really, really love you as my older brother."

Tears streamed down Theia's face as she spoke. "I dreamed a million times that if you hadn't done those terrible things, our family would still be living happily together."

"But..."

"We can never go back."

Corvus listened silently, two streams of tears sliding down his own face.

A brother?

To have her love him, even just as a brother, was nice enough.

Just as she said.

They could never go back.

"Theia, if that's the case, then let's die together!"

With that.

Corvus kicked the laboratory door shut and pressed the detonator.

"Bang-"

Before Juniper could even process what was happening, a massive shockwave hurled her out of the villa.

Immediately after.

With a deafening "BOOM," the villa exploded right before her eyes, flames rocketing

into the sky.