Apocalypse Villainess? Nah, I'm Nice

”Is something bothering you?”

Paige Summers was lost in thought when Rhonda Rhodes’s voice suddenly came from behind her. He walked over and sat beside her, watching her.

Claire Chapman had assigned him and Zephyr Mercer to Heath Hughes’s team, partly to give Heath some backup. After all, Heath was even younger than Paige, and with his baby face, he just wasn’t very intimidating, even though he was a veteran of Bloodfall and quite strong.

Paige Summers hesitated for a moment before saying, ”It’s nothing. Why are you out here? Are you... getting used to this kind of life?”

Rhonda Rhodes replied nonchalantly, ”Before—I mean, in my old world—I used to go on expeditions to kill Demonic Beasts too.”

”Oh.”

”Was that also in your books?”

Paige Summers just smiled and didn’t answer.

’If I told him it was all in there, he’d just get more curious about my world.’ In fact, she sometimes wondered if all the worlds they lived in were just novels, fabricated by authors in some other place.

Rhonda Rhodes didn’t press the issue. Instead, he continued, ”I never went out on hunts before because everyone in the Stoneridge Base Hunting Parties thought I was a Wood Element Superpower User, so it was inconvenient for me to use my other abilities. Bloodfall is different. With Sean Raines setting a precedent, they all just assume I’m also from the Taoist Association. It’s not strange at all.”

Paige Summers’s expression showed her relief.

”Do you kill Zombies in a similar way to Sean Raines?”

”More or less,” Rhonda Rhodes replied, his mood sinking a little at the topic. ”My cultivation is higher than his, but I still have a long way to go. Once I can use Sword Control, it’ll be much easier to kill them.”

Paige Summers nodded.

’There was nothing she could say to comfort him; Cultivation was a path one had to walk alone.’

Rhonda Rhodes paused for a long moment. Just as Paige was about to ask, ’What is it you’re trying to say?’, he spoke. ”Finn has been really down lately. He hasn’t said anything, but I have my suspicions, and I’m sure it has to do with you. Did you... is it that you...”

Before he could get out the rest of the sentence—”really can’t accept him”—Rhonda Rhodes looked up and met Paige’s enigmatic smile and the coldness buried deep in her eyes. He fell silent.

After a long pause, Paige Summers said softly, ”It’s none of your business.”

There was no condemnation in her tone, just a simple statement of fact.

And it was true. This was none of his business.

Paige Summers gazed into the distance. On this moonless night, everything that was familiar by day took on a sinister appearance in the dark. The shadows of buildings, trees, and machines intertwined, looking as if a giant Zombie could leap out from them at any moment.

”See that over there? Tomorrow, our four teams will split up again and push forward in that direction. There are sure to be plenty of Zombies there, waiting for us to kill. If we really want to clean this place out, we’ll have to sweep through it back and forth several times. And only after all of that is done can we start working on establishing the base... I just have too much to do,”

Rhonda Rhodes sighed. ”...I understand. The timing is indeed not right.”

Paige Summers smiled. ”Like I said, it’s none of your business. Besides, aren’t you a Cultivator? Is it really appropriate for you to meddle in so many mortal affairs?”

Her tone had lightened, and Rhonda Rhodes’s expression softened as well, though a trace of confusion lingered in his eyes.

”I’ll just let things take their course. Having come this far, I don’t even know if I can ever go back. But whether I can or not, since I’m here, the first priority is to survive.”

”Mm, that makes a lot of sense.”

’Only by staying alive can you pursue the things you want.’

Deciding it was about time, Paige Summers stood up. ”Get some rest. We continue tomorrow.”

「The next day came quickly.」

Not long after Paige Summers and her people moved out, Sean Raines entered The Foundry, only a day behind them.

The entrance and the roads just inside had already been cleared, so he should have been able to find them quickly. However, something went wrong.

Entering a place like this alone, he had naturally released his refined corpse for protection. He never imagined that this corpse would bring him not protection, but disaster!

In just half a day, it had attracted three Zombies!

Just from their number, he knew they weren’t low-level Zombies. One was a speed-type, Mid-level Zombie, and another was a mutant with external Enhancement. The most terrifying was the last one to arrive; it looked no different from an ordinary Zombie, but it could instantly summon several more Zombies, each one as strong as the first two!

Sean Raines felt like the unluckiest guy alive.

The kind of guy who walks out on a sunny day only to find a personal rain cloud hovering over his head!

These Zombies seemed furious with both him and his refined corpse, pressing in relentlessly, their posture screaming that they wouldn’t rest until both of them were dead!