DING

    The elevator doors opened, and the VVIP guests entered. Alaric was accompanied by Pavel as his right-hand man and two directors: director of finance and marketing. He wanted to know all about Atlas X before he decided to buy it.

    Just like Sam Atlas and Friedrich, Alaric actually had a dream to explore outer space. For him, the earth was too damaged and would be overwhelmed to accommodate all the humans on it within a hundred years.

    Humans now did not appreciate nature, and they were destroying the earth. For Alaric, there was a need for a humanitarian revolution. He wanted to rebuild civilization from scratch, with only selected humans, on a new planet that would become a home for mankind.

    Later, when the earth had become too damaged, he hoped that they had succeeded in finding a new home, whether it be on an existing planet or a new planet that could be inhabited by humans. That''s why, when he heard that Atlas X was going to be sold, he was interested in buying it.

    It seemed that the founder of this company had a similar vision to Alaric. What made it even more advantageous was that Atlas X already had some advanced technologies that could make space travel faster and easier.

    If Alaric bought Atlas X, he wouldn''t have to start from scratch. One more thing that attracted him enough was the presence of Friedrich Neumann, the young genius who was the brains behind all of Atlas X''s major technologies and initiatives.

    That''s why, today Alaric decided to come in person and meet the young man to hear for himself what the potential and prospects of Atlas X looked like moving forward.

    The meeting lasted quite a long time. Alaric had a lot of questions, all of which Friedrich answered well. After he was satisfied with everything, Alaric then left Atlas X office and promised to let them know of his decision after discussing it with his board of directors.

    "I really like all your explanations, Mr. Neumann. I think you will hear good news from us," said the handsome man, nodding at Friedrich and the rest of Atlas X.

    Friedrich nodded back. He did not shake his guest''s hand because he had been told that the owner of Rhionen Industries was a germaphobic. He didn''t want to come into contact with other people for fear of contracting germs.

    Of course, this was an excuse put forth by the PR team of Rhionen Industries to cover up Alaric''s apparent dislike of most of the humans he met. Every time he met someone new from another company, his PR team would tell them that excuse, to avoid awkwardness when they tried to shake his hand and Alaric refused.

    "You''re daydreaming again," David nudged Friedrich. "What are you thinking?"

    Friedrich just shook his head. He had been trying to refrain from paying attention to Alaric''s face all the time. For some reason, when he saw this important guest, he immediately remembered Sam Atlas''s story about the Alchemist people.

    He had managed to find a photo of Caspar Schneider because he was curious to see for himself what the alchemist man was like. What he saw made Friedrich even more curious.

    He then hired several information finders, one of the hacker professions in the Darknet, to find information about several people he suspected of being alchemists. He deliberately gave random orders so that they could not guess his intention.

    Slowly he found the people he wanted to find. Starting from Caspar Schneider and the people who were around him. Friedrich even managed to find information that Jean-Pierre Wang, the actor, and his girlfriend, Billie Yves, were also part of the alchemist clan.

    Of all these people, he found that they had one thing in common. Their faces had perfect symmetry, they all looked like they were 25 despite their age ... and they had such brilliant colored eyes!

    That''s exactly how he saw Alaric Rhionen earlier.

    ***

    Friedrich was completely fascinated by the Alchemists. Like Sam, he became very curious. If humanity could take advantage of the Alchemists'' elixir of immortality, of course, there would be many people who could be helped.

    He imagined that there would be many intelligent or useful people who would further contribute to the earth and humanity if given immortality.

    He then went home and thought about everything. They had left Sam Atlas''s house and returned to Friedrich''s own home. The atmosphere in the house had become very bleak since the death of Sam Atlas. Everyone became quiet.

    Friedrich was the one to get a diagnosis of a terminal illness, but it was his boss who left him first because of heart disease. Hannah insisted that she didn''t want to leave the two brothers.

    She felt that now was her only chance to repay Friedrich for his kindness to her. Luckily the young man had no intention of sending Hannah away. After several months of living together, he and his brother had become very used to her presence.

    "What do you want to do now?" Hannah asked as she walked over to Friedrich, who was sitting pensive staring out the window.

    "I don''t know, Hannah," Friedrich admitted. He only needed to wait for the finalization of the sale of Atlas X. Then, he would resign from the company and prepared to welcome death.

    "Do you still have wishes that you haven''t realized?" Hannah asked softly. She came with a pot of tea and two cups and put them on the small table beside Friedrich. Lately, the young man liked to drink tea in the afternoon while contemplating like this.

    Wishes? Friedrich frowned. He only wanted to advance science and human life. But now, he had to stop thinking about it all.

    "I don''t know if there''s anything I still want in this world," admitted Friedrich. "To be honest, of course, I want to get well, but I don''t think that''s possible at this point."

    "So far, you have only dealt with your brother and matters of science. Do you not want anything for yourself at all? We only live once. What will make you look back and not regret your life?" asked Hannah again. This time her voice was hoarse.

    Friedrich was stunned. He felt that Hannah was right. He had to start thinking about himself because he only had a short time left to live his life.

    What did he want to do before he died? Did he want to travel the world? Enjoying the most delicious food, visiting the ancient library in Alexandria? Sky-diving?

    After he pondered it, he realized that actually there were some things that had occurred to him that he wanted to do but never happened because he didn''t have time.

    "Hmm ... I guess there are a few things I want to do," Friedrich finally said. "After Atlas X is sold and I resigned from my position .. I want to travel the world and do many things that I couldn''t do before."

    Hannah''s face lit up when she heard Friedrich''s words. "I''m very glad to hear this!"

    "Do you..." Friedrich looked at the girl deeply. "Do you want to come with me?"

    Hannah nodded vigorously with tears streaming down her cheeks. She did hope that Friedrich would invite her along, but she did not know whether Friedrich had considered her that close or not. And so, the man''s request to come with him on his travels really made Hannah feel happy.

    "I want to come with you wherever you go," Hannah whispered in a choked voice.

    Friedrich smiled faintly and nodded. "Thank you. Don''t cry. You know I won''t leave you alone. You and Charles are my only family now."

    He touched the girl''s hair and rubbed it lightly. Hannah was deeply moved. She did not think she would finally hear that statement from Friedrich''s lips. After they had lived together for over six months and experienced so many hardships together, Hannah had also considered Friedrich and Charles as her family.

    They were more important to her than her parents, the king and queen of Moravia, and her two older siblings. Although Hannah had absolutely no idea what her current relationship with Friedrich was, to her, it didn''t matter at all.

    She just wanted to be with this man and always spent the rest of her time beside each other.

    "Thank you ..." Hannah whispered as she rubbed her wet eyes. She tried hard to steel herself. She knew she shouldn''t be sad in front of Friedrich because later, that young man''s zeal for life would crumble. She had to show that she and Charles were going to be okay. That... after Friedrich died, Hannah would look after Charles for him.

    She poured them tea and then tried to divert Friedrich''s attention to the beautiful places in the world they could visit together. As a princess of the prosperous Moravian kingdom, she had explored many beautiful places in the world.

    Now, she happily listed the places that could be their destinations.

    "All right, Hannah. All those places you mention look really nice. We''re going to travel for a year and enjoy life. What do you think?" asked Friedrich at last.

    Hannah nodded with a beaming face.