The room momentarily plunged into absolute silence. Because the windows were tightly shut, not a single trace of noise from the outside world could filter inside. However, it was precisely this overwhelmingly quiet atmosphere that made people feel even more suffocated. Julian Sterling’s entire body broke out in a cold sweat that completely soaked the hem of his silk pajamas, causing the fabric to cling tightly to his pale skin.

Ethan Caldwell also did not know how to begin speaking. The man understood that at this very moment, empty words of comfort were truly of no value. He could only use his large, warm hands to envelop the trembling shoulders of the person in his embrace. The man let Julian fully lean against his chest, feeling the frantic beating of Julian’s heart through the thin layer of clothing.

A long while later, when he felt that Julian had somewhat calmed down, he finally asked in a deep voice: "Are you certain?"

Ethan Caldwell’s voice was slightly suppressed, carrying not a hint of suspicion but rather an attempt to reconfirm everything.

Julian took a deep breath, the familiar scent of the man helping him to recover his last shred of rationality. He nodded, his gaze fixed intensely into the void: "I am certain. It is definitely something that happened, something that has been stored away by my memory. It is just that that voice... does not sound like Catherine Sterling’s tone. It contained a kind of heart-wrenching despair, as if... as if she was trying to hide me from the muzzle of a gun being pointed straight at my head."

In truth, Julian also did not know whether his use of the word "me" was correct or not. He still could not determine whether it was him or the former Julian.

Julian paused for a moment, his hands gripping Ethan Caldwell’s arm so tightly that his fingertips turned completely pale: "That voice told me not to look. And I have the feeling that... if I had opened my eyes at that moment, if I had seen what they were doing, I would have died. Not a physical death, but my soul would have been completely shattered."

Ethan Caldwell tightened his embrace, resting his chin on the top of Julian’s head, his eyes darkening within the shadows.

"Catherine Sterling was not the only one." The man summarized: "I do not know in what capacity she participated in that room, in that experiment. But the woman you mentioned... is certainly not someone who could be called a mother. She might be another variable. Or... a defector."

Julian shook his head, the headache still throbbing as if it wanted to explode: "I cannot remember anything else. There was only that single sentence, and the sound of an iron door slamming shut. It was so bitterly cold that I felt as though my very marrow was freezing over."

Eventually, both of them sank into silence; perhaps neither Julian nor Ethan Caldwell themselves had anticipated that the secrets from the past could harbor such colossal issues. They were like a nest of venomous snakes that had been submerged in a cave for a very long time, and the moment they tried to dig them up, the serpents slithered out, coiling around their legs, waiting for the chance to drag both of them down into the abyss.

The next morning.

The atmosphere in the house today was somewhat heavy. The cleaning staff and Mrs. Hughes, who did the cooking, had all been given the day off by Ethan Caldwell. On the table out in the living room sat the ebony chess set they had received the night before.

The man stood by the window, obscuring a portion of the morning light, still wearing his usual glossy black silk pajamas.

But Ethan Caldwell’s facial expression was far more stern: "I have already told you, you do not need to go there."

Julian sat on the sofa, holding a cup of hot milk and taking small, continuous sips. Holding a glass of hot milk in such a dire situation felt slightly inappropriate, but the man had shoved it into Julian’s hands early in the morning, leaving him with no choice but to drink it. Julian tasted the sweet and slightly heavy flavor of the milk in his mouth, then looked up at the man: "You know it, I have to go; we cannot keep hiding. Furthermore, he directly addressed me as A-01, Ethan; he knows far too much about us. Meanwhile, we are nothing more than monkeys standing in the spotlight, dancing frantically and becoming a complete laughingstock for them to watch."

"But you know clearly that it could be a trap, do you not?" The man’s voice raised slightly, but then he forced himself to lower his tone. Ethan Caldwell did not want to raise his voice at the person he loved; what they needed right now was to calmly talk things through, not to scream in each other’s faces.

"That bastard is a hound for CORE, once you set foot into his territory, nobody can predict what will happen next. Julian, will you even be able to return to me after that?"

"But what if I do not go? Can we actually survive until the very end? Can you truly let go of your own vengeance?" Julian placed the cup of milk down, stepped closer to the man, and pressed a hand against his chest: "Do you hear it, Ethan Caldwell? Your pride, your arrogance simply will not allow you to disgracefully back down like this. And I am not some fragile canary raised within your gilded cage, either."

"If a person’s life ultimately ends in death anyway, are you willing to accept living an entire lifetime in a hazy dream, ignorant of everything?" Julian gently stroked the man’s chest, right over the position of Ethan Caldwell’s heart: "I hear it saying no."

Finally, he let out a long sigh: "You know very well that we are exactly the same kind of people. We will never easily accept being crushed beneath the feet of others like this. Moreover... I do not want to spend my entire life wondering who I really am, nor do I want to be startled awake every single night by those nameless, haunting sounds."

"You protect me, and you can build the most impenetrable castle for me. But Ethan Caldwell, you cannot live this life for me. I want to piece those shattered fragments back together with my own hands, even if they are so razor-sharp that they make me bleed."

Ethan Caldwell remained silent for a very long time, because he understood that everything Julian had just said was the absolute truth.

Cherishing and protecting someone from the bottom of one’s heart is truly precious, but it is not an excuse to break another person’s wings of freedom. Because love always requires mutual respect and profound understanding from both sides.

"I am going with you, he invited you, but he does not have the right to choose who accompanies you."

"My love, that sounds quite presumptuous." Julian gave a faint smile: "He will not let you into the room."

"I will have my people take control of that building. If possible, it would be best to monitor their entire security system."