CEO loves me with all his soul.-Chapter 132. Atops.

The sterile walls of the underground laboratory hummed with quiet dread. Deep within the facility, past the biometric-locked gates and the soundproof corridors, Lucas sat in a reinforced chair. His wrists were cuffed to the steel arms, though not tightly—Doctor Naehr believed in making his guests feel... comfortable.

Or so he claimed.

Doctor Naehr leaned back in his chair across from Lucas, sipping from a steaming mug of something rich and bitter. His silver hair fell like silk down the sides of his gaunt face, and his black eyes glittered with excitement — or madness.

"You’re remarkably calm for someone who’s been captured," Naehr said, tapping his long fingers against the table. "But then again, you were always a quiet one. Even as a child, weren’t you? Observant. Controlled."

Lucas didn’t respond. His face remained unreadable, his golden eyes steady.

"Ah, don’t worry. I’m not going to harm you," Naehr said, lips curling into a mockery of warmth. "I just want to talk. I think you’ll find the truth fascinating. Especially since you were always so close to one of the most important variables in my life’s work—Adrian Sebanil."

Lucas stiffened slightly. Naehr caught it, and his grin widened.

"You see," he began, setting his cup aside and folding his hands under his chin, "Adrian and his... unique biology has puzzled many. A male bearing children? In a world where even minor genetic anomalies are exploited, that kind of power doesn’t go unnoticed."

He stood and walked toward a control panel, pulling up old footage, blurry and aged. Rows of people, all men, were standing in labs, their bodies hooked to strange machines. Then, flames. Screams. Chaos.

"There are three families in this country whose bloodline carries a rare genetic classification. We call them the Atops. Pure males, yes—but with the astonishing ability to conceive, to create life. And more than that... they are protectors by nature. Their brain activity surpasses baseline human metrics. Some can sense danger seconds before it arrives. Others can repel aggression with a thought. Precognition. Energy manipulation. A new order of human evolution."

Lucas felt a chill crawl up his spine, but he kept his voice even. "And you want to... copy them?"

"No." Naehr turned, a flicker of something far more personal in his eyes. "I wanted to understand them. Decades ago, a secret project was started—funded by the very government that now pretends such bloodlines don’t exist. We aimed to isolate and cultivate the Atop gene. Not to harm. To elevate humanity. But it went... badly."

He pointed at the screen, the footage now showing a young man with long golden hair and silver eyes, bloodied, standing in the ruins of a burning lab. "That boy. Jesper. One of the survivors. He was rescued by Cain Sebanil—a soldier then, not yet a father. He married Jesper, kept him hidden, protected. Out of love, I suppose. Or guilt."

Naehr exhaled slowly, hands twitching with suppressed emotion.

"I survived the fire too. Most didn’t. Some called it sabotage. Others divine punishment. The truth is, we pushed too far. One of the Atops lost control. Their energy flared, destroyed everything."

Lucas narrowed his eyes. "And now?"

"Now, the children of those survivors walk the world," Naehr said, smiling bitterly. "Jesper’s son, Adrian, is proof of that genetic legacy. His body—perfectly balanced. Strong enough to endure pregnancy. His brain—exceptionally evolved. And his children? Aurelius and Seraphina? The next generation."

Lucas’s voice was ice. "You want them."

"I want the world to evolve," Naehr snapped. "No more inequality. No more fragility. I’ve created a genome correction formula. If I can inject it through the atmosphere, all humans will adapt—either into something stronger... or they’ll die trying."

"You’re insane."

Naehr laughed. "They always say that before they worship the ground I stood on. The Atops are the key. And if Adrian, or his children, can survive the next stage—then so can the world."

Lucas sat back slowly, hiding the racing of his heart.

He now understood why Savas, Jaya, and the others had risked everything. Why this couldn’t be kept from Isaac much longer.

Doctor Naehr stepped forward, looming over him.

"So tell me, Doctor Lucas. Why did you sneak into my archives? Why risk your life?"

Lucas met his gaze with quiet fury. "Because I will never let you touch them. Adrian. Ethan. The children. You won’t get near them."

Naehr’s smile turned to a sneer. "We’ll see."

--

Doctor Naehr stood before a massive interactive display, alone except for Lucas, still bound but listening. The old scientist’s fingers danced across the screen, revealing projections, molecular diagrams, faded photographs of humans with shimmering silver eyes, unnaturally calm expressions, and quiet, solemn strength.

"The world forgets," Naehr said, his voice smooth and reverent, "but I do not."

He brought up a projection: a rotating 3D DNA strand glowing faint blue, marked with glowing anomalies—an unmistakable anomaly among anomalies.

"This," he whispered, "is the Atop Genome. A miracle among mutations. A naturally occurring deviation in Homo sapiens—proof that nature has its own plan for evolution. Not always cruel... sometimes curious."

Lucas blinked, watching silently.

"Three bloodlines. That’s how many survived." Naehr’s eyes gleamed. "Three families in our land still carry this code. The Sebanil family is the most stable carrier. The others splintered long ago—lost through generations of ignorance and violence."

He zoomed in closer on the gene’s schematic.

"They are biologically male. XY chromosome. But their endocrine and neurological systems adapt in ways that defy textbook human development. Wombs form in rare cases. Not by surgery. Not by force. By the will of their cells. And beyond reproduction—there’s more. Cognitive anomalies. Neural patterns unlike any seen in standard brain mapping. Some call it intuition. I call it precognition."

He turned to Lucas. freēwēbnovel.com

"You’ve seen it, haven’t you? The way Adrian can feel danger before it comes. The way Jesper—the first generation—was able to survive an entire lab collapse with nothing but his instincts. The Atops don’t just adapt. They resist. Not like humans. Not even like machines. They’re... something else."

Lucas narrowed his eyes. "You’re not describing evolution. You’re describing obsession."

Doctor Naehr smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. "You think this is madness. But I see a new dawn. You call them special. I call them a prototype. An echo of what we all could be."

He turned back to the screen and brought up a historical video—grainy footage of a child standing in the middle of fire and collapsing steel, untouched.

"Thirty years ago," Naehr said softly, "the project was global. A collaboration of scientists across borders. We had discovered the existence of the Atop genome in only a handful of people. It was the holy grail of biological study—until it became a threat."

"Why?" Lucas asked, knowing but wanting to hear it.

"Because they weren’t controllable," Naehr said, bitter now. "Jesper’s generation... especially him. A pure carrier. He was intelligent. Unshakable. But when he discovered our intentions—to extract and replicate the Atop genome through any means—he rebelled. The lab burned. Many died. And then he vanished."

Lucas stared.

"That fire was no accident. He wasn’t just protecting himself. He was protecting the future. His child. Adrian."

Naehr turned to face Lucas now, walking slowly, voice lowering.

"I don’t want to destroy Adrian. I admire him. I want to unleash what he is. Him, and those like him—his children. They are the bridge between what humanity is and what it could become."

"But not everyone can survive the crossing, can they?" Lucas replied coldly.

Naehr tilted his head. "No. That’s the price of progress. My formula—the genome corrector—doesn’t work on everyone. It rejects some. Their bodies break down. Fail. But Adrian? Jesper? Aurelius and Seraphina? They’d survive. Thrive. That means others can too. Those who are worthy."

Lucas’s expression turned to fury. "You think you can choose who deserves to live?"

"No," Naehr said, unbothered. "Nature already has."

He walked back to the screen and opened a classified report titled A3: Autonomous Transgenic Optimization Project—Atop Initiative.

"These three families carry what I call the Atop Singularity. They can exist in a world before and after transformation. Most humans live in chaos, driven by survival, blind to what they could become. But the Atops? They are balance. Evolution with purpose."

He looked back over his shoulder, black eyes glittering.

"Tell me, Lucas. Don’t you want to live in a world where war, poverty, disease—where human mediocrity—are just stories from the past?"

Lucas shook his head slowly. "Not at the cost of genocide."

Naehr’s voice dropped. "Then you’re not ready for what comes next."

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