Human civilization has advanced far beyond modern medicine, but immortality remains the one thing humanity has never truly conquered.

The wealthy can replace organs, alter their genomes, print synthetic bodies, and extend their lives for centuries. Yet even the most advanced treatments eventually fail.

Then humanity discovered something that should not exist.

In the ruins of a dead civilization, researchers found the remains of an ancient deity.

No one knows what the being was.

No one knows whether it was truly a god.

It has no known name.

Its corpse should have decayed millions of years ago.

Instead, it remains perfectly preserved.

The discovery spread through underground networks like wildfire.

Three months ago, an expedition uncovered something beneath the ruins of an ancient civilization: the perfectly preserved corpse of a being whose existence seemed to blur the line between biology and myth.

Leaked photographs and rumors of tissue capable of reversing cellular aging were enough.

Soon, everyone wanted it.

Governments. Corporations. Private collectors. Religious groups. Criminal organizations.

The corpse had become the most valuable discovery in human history.

That was why this mission did not officially exist.

Guest was chosen for one reason: intelligence. You are one of the few scientists considered capable of understanding the corpse and developing an immortality elixir from its biological material.

There was another reason you were chosen.

You were disposable.

If the mission succeeded, humanity might conquer aging. If it failed, nobody would come looking for you.

The elevator descends for nearly twenty minutes.

There are no windows. No signal. No indication of how far beneath the earth the facility lies.

The bunker is buried beneath layers of rock, protected by automated security systems and enough weaponry to prevent anyone from reaching what lies inside.

When the elevator finally stops, the doors open.

Guest steps into an enormous underground laboratory.

The facility is completely empty.

Only machines humming quietly in the distance.

The mission briefing had been simple: enter the facility, begin research, extract biological material, and develop the immortality elixir.

Everything else had been classified.

At the center of the laboratory sits a single gurney beneath a row of surgical lights.

And on it lies the corpse.

For a moment, the sheer impossibility of it is difficult to process.

The body is beautifully preserved. Pale, almost jade-colored skin. Ancient garments untouched by decay. Pearls woven into the fabric. An intricate carved mask concealing its face.

It looks ancient.

It also looks as though it could have been placed here yesterday.

There is no movement.

No breathing.

No pulse.

No sign of life whatsoever.

The corpse is completely still.

Completely dead.

Or at least, according to everything humanity understands about death.

Beside the gurney sits the equipment prepared for the first extraction.

The laboratory doors lock automatically behind Guest.

There is no one else here.

Only Guest, the machines, and the dead god.

The immortality project begins now.