"Very likely," Lucian nodded.
"You've all seen this guy's style; he's relentless until he gets what he wants, and he's smart and adaptable. He might even have anticipated your attempt to capture him."
"I'm not afraid of scientists being crazy, I'm afraid of scientists having brains." Trillian said dismissively, even joking about it.
"Okay, I'll keep an eye out." Draco agreed, then turned to Hermione and the others. "Let's go back to the villa first."
Hermione nodded, and the group quickly assembled. Draco then used magic to teleport everyone back to the villa in an instant.
Although Singe wouldn't willingly walk into a trap, he would never give up on Michael's bloodline. Out of caution, Draco decided to return to the villa first to check if Michael was safe.
Back at the villa, everyone was taken aback.
In the lobby, Michael was chatting with an old man, or rather, Michael was arguing with a helpless expression. The old man looked to be about seventy or eighty years old, with short silver hair, graying sideburns, and a well-groomed white beard.
The old man's face was weathered, with deep wrinkles and slightly sunken eye sockets; his eyes were light blue, calm, and carried a compassionate and kind air. He wore a dark, retro-style long aristocratic coat with a black stand-up collar, and the metal buttons gleamed under the light.
Trillian asked without any politeness, "Who are you, old man?"
Michael turned to Trillian with a helpless expression and said, "He claims to be my ancestor. I'm speechless. Do you think I don't know what my ancestors were called? Isn't he just taking advantage of me?"
Trillian was amused, and then looked the old man up and down a few more times. "Oh, you're dressed quite fashionably. Didn't his ancestor die? Or did you crawl out of a coffin?"
Trillian said it dismissively.
The old man wasn't annoyed. He calmly stood up and said in an elegant tone, "Hello, I am Alexander Cornuvius..."
"Konovice... I feel like I've heard that name somewhere before..." Trillian muttered to herself as she searched her memory for fleeting moments.
Alexander slowly opened his mouth:
"I am the father of Marcus, the progenitor of the vampires, and William, the progenitor of the Werewolf, and of course, the father of Michael's ancestor."
Upon hearing this, Selene was startled. Having lived through countless ages, she was well-versed in the oldest fragments and legends of the vampire clan. She assumed that this ancient figure had long since vanished into the vast expanse of time, never expecting that this person would actually be standing alive before her.
Hermione realized what was happening and immediately confirmed, " Singe mentioned to us before that Michael has Cornuvius blood in his veins, which is the fundamental reason why you are the best experimental material for Half-blood life forms."
"Yes, yes, yes!" Trillian suddenly realized, "Thinking about it this way, he really is your real ancestor!"
Michael looked puzzled. "Seriously... this sudden appearance of an ancestor is really a bit unusual!"
Ignoring his breakdown, Trillian patted him on the shoulder with a grin and said, "Hey, whether you admit it or not, the fact that we're connected by blood can't be changed."
Michael scratched his head and blurted out, "Grandpa—what era are you living in? How come you're still alive?"
Upon hearing this, Draco, Hermione, Selene, Trillian all twitched at the corners of their mouths; this was far too presumptuous.
Alexander, however, was not angry. Instead, he laughed and replied, "You unfilial descendant, you're cursing your ancestor to death!"
"Hahahaha..." Trillian burst out laughing.
Michael himself felt embarrassed and scratched the back of his head. "I didn't curse you to die, ancestor! I was just expressing my feelings. Other people's ancestors have been buried for ages."
Alexander's smile faded, and he sighed, "What's so good about immortality? You can only watch helplessly as everyone you know turns to dust, as eras rise and fall. Everything you once cherished in this world will eventually leave you."
"Then why do people yearn for immortality?" Trillian asked.
Alexander explained, "Only those who haven't experienced longevity say it's good. It's like a dish you want to try before you've tasted it. But day after day, you get tired of it."
"That makes some sense," Trillian didn't refute, but she added, "Even so, immortality is still something people covet. If they could, who would want to die at a hundred? It would be best to be able to die whenever they wanted."
Hermione glanced at her:
"If everyone did that, wouldn't the world be in chaos?"
Trillian said with a grin, "Of course not everyone is like that, I mean we can be like that... hehe..."
Draco sat down beside him and said, "Die whenever you want, isn't that simple? Become a vampire, and you can hibernate whenever you want."
Hermione, Selene, and Alexander took their seats.
Trillian sat down next to Draco on the other side and continued enthusiastically, "Yeah, isn't that how vampires are? When things get boring, they go into hibernation, and when they wake up, the world has changed again, and they can experience new people and new things..."
Alexander shook his head. "You just haven't tried it yet. Once you're caught in this cycle, you'll find out..."
Actually, you still prefer to stay the same.
"Because you're too lazy to engage with new people and new things, and you're afraid to engage with them. You're worried about not being able to handle them, and you're also afraid of the costs involved."
"Time, energy... etc."
"Therefore, the longer one lives, the more this becomes true."
"This is the comfort zone," Draco replied casually. "Stepping out of the circle you've become accustomed to means no longer being at ease. It's easy to go from frugality to extravagance, but difficult to go from extravagance to frugality—that's the principle."
Hermione also gave a simple example:
"It's like shopping. Once you've decided on a product you like, you won't bother trying other options in the same category. Because trial and error itself incurs costs."
Alexander nodded and said, "That's exactly what I mean."
"It's really just the principle of yin and yang," Draco repeated. "What you want to gain, you must lose. Accepting something takes time and effort, not accepting it means falling behind the times—it's all a personal choice."
"Actually, there's no need to think of things as having so many conflicting aspects."
Draco added another sentence.
"If you need it, accept it; if you don't, refuse it. It's not a big deal."
Trillian's curiosity was piqued, and she asked, "Young Master, Hermione, do you two want to live forever?"
Hermione thought about it seriously for a moment and replied, "I don't want that. Death is the end of life. I don't want to watch the people around me leave one by one; that pain is more agonizing than death itself."
As she spoke, her gaze unconsciously drifted towards Draco.
Trillian added a hypothetical scenario, "What if your family and friends could also live forever with you?"