Apocalypse Villainess? Nah, I'm Nice

While Quentin Sutton was lost in his memories, Paige Summers recalled the scene from a few months ago, when he and Shawn Monroe had come looking for her.

Back then, she had thought, ’They’ve served themselves up on a platter for me to kill. It’d be a waste not to.’ ...But now, she had to admit that the old saying ’there are no permanent enemies’ certainly seemed to apply to them.

In the face of a more powerful enemy, she found she didn’t mind temporarily putting aside past grudges and cooperating with them.

The only catch was that they demanded she keep it a secret from Marcus Monroe.

She agreed.

Yet she felt rather guilty about it.

She knew about the history between Marcus and Shawn Monroe.

Originally, Marcus Monroe hadn’t been dead set on killing him when he went back, but Shawn Monroe had always seen Marcus as a thorn in his side. After all the back and forth, even though Marcus ended up with The Dead City, he lost many of his men in the process. It would be a miracle if he didn’t loathe Shawn.

Besides, if Shawn Monroe hadn’t gone through what he did with Nora Lowell, he would have never given up on The Dead City.

It made sense that Marcus Monroe wanted to eradicate him completely.

It was just... she never imagined Shawn Monroe could change so drastically!

Hate was a truly terrifying thing. It could change a person beyond recognition.

The old Shawn Monroe, her impression of him was that while he was arrogant, domineering, conceited, and a total womanizer, he still had a generally sunny disposition. If he’d been back in her time, all the young, melodramatic girls would have been crazy about him!

But now, he was unnervingly gloomy and impossible to read.

To get revenge on Nora Lowell, he had changed his name, undergone extensive plastic surgery, and completely transformed himself into someone utterly unlike his former self, all to play a role in front of others!

And most importantly, to convince her to help him secure an identity to get close to Nora Lowell, he had willingly taken a slow-acting poison...

All of this made his proposal incredibly tempting to her.

If it had been the old Shawn Monroe, she would have refused without a second thought. But this new Shawn Monroe gave her a measure of confidence in their partnership.

As Paige Summers drove toward Bloodfall’s current base in District 2, she thought, ’Even though reality has strayed wildly from the original novel’s plot, at least one thing is certain: the male and female leads must truly be in love!’

’There’s no hate without love.’

’So for a hatred that strong... just how much love must there have been?’

’Loving you enough to kill you?’

A slightly mocking smile touched Paige Summers’s lips.

’Actually, now I don’t want Nora Lowell to die too quickly. It would be best to let those two continue their dance of love and death. That way, they won’t have time to bother anyone else.’

She was almost at her destination when she finally pulled herself from her thoughts.

Bloodfall’s current base was a sizable complex of courtyards. Finding such a quiet place with pleasant surroundings was all thanks to the help of Blake Morrison and Wendy Lowell.

She tilted her head, wondering if she should go say hello. But then again, she really wasn’t in the mood to chat. ’Best to wait until I get back,’ she decided.

Yes, by this point, she had already decided to leave the city.

She was worried about the two who had been kidnapped, worried about Marcus Monroe, from whom there had been no word, and she also wanted to capture Sheldon Reid with her own two hands.

’He’s the real enemy I should be dealing with!’

’He’ll pay for his father’s sins as well as his own!’

”Vice-Captain! You’re back!” An excited voice snapped her out of the brief daze she’d been in while standing outside the courtyard. She turned to see Nola.

Paige Summers nodded. ”Let’s talk inside.”

”Mm-hmm!”

Nola didn’t look well, but she was incredibly excited to see Paige. The moment they stepped into the courtyard, she started recounting everything that had happened, from Andy and Erin Quinn’s disappearance to their joint operation with the Taoist Association.

”Almost everyone went. I was left behind with a dozen others to guard the base. They’ve been gone for days. I wonder how they’re doing.”

Paige Summers didn’t reply. She was even more desperate for answers than Nola.

It wasn’t until they entered the front hall of the main courtyard that she asked, ”Did they say which route they were taking to find them?”

”Yes, they did.” Nola hurriedly pulled out a hand-drawn map. It clearly marked their likely route, with notes at various forks in the road. ”Ms. Lee drew it,” she explained. ”She told me to give it to you when you returned.”

”Mm, very thorough.” ’Lucy Lee must be really worried about this trip,’ Paige Summers thought, letting out a sigh. ”I have to go. I’ll leave the city to find them tomorrow at the latest. Don’t worry about me, just hold down the fort here. If anything happens, you know what to do, right?”

Nola nodded emphatically. ”Leave everything here to me! You have to be careful!” She opened her mouth as if to ask something else, but after hesitating for a moment, she swallowed her words.

Paige Summers guessed she wanted to ask about what happened in the south.

But since Nola didn’t ask, Paige pretended not to notice.

She subconsciously brushed a hand over the pouch tucked into her waistband, and her expression darkened slightly.

She had returned to Central City around noon, but by the time she drove back to her own place, the sky had already grown dark.

She was exhausted.

’I’ll rest for a night and set out tomorrow,’ she thought.

’Being in bad shape will just slow me down.’

Besides, she could visit Hugh Whitlock again in the morning. He might have news of Marcus Monroe by then.

Unfortunately, she couldn’t rest as soon as she got home.

Two people were waiting for her.

Not only was Sean Raines there, but he had brought Wendy Lowell with him.

Paige Summers felt a sudden headache coming on.

It wasn’t that she disliked Wendy Lowell. Paige understood Wendy’s feelings for her quite well. If she could, she would do her best to be good to her.

It was just that... perhaps their personalities were too different. Or perhaps Wendy Lowell’s cautious demeanor made Paige feel like she had to be cautious too, which made their interactions somewhat exhausting.

And it was especially a bad time for a visit.

Luckily, Wendy Lowell was exceptionally perceptive.

She could see how tired Paige was. So, while watching her with concern, she got straight to the other reason for her visit.

”Paige, I heard from Sean Raines that Sheldon Reid kidnapped your friends. You might run into him on this trip out of the city, and I’m worried. I came specifically to tell you something.” She paused for a few seconds before continuing, ”You’ve never seen Sheldon Reid’s superpower, have you?”

Paige Summers immediately nodded. To be honest, she’d found it strange too.

She had a feeling Sheldon Reid’s superpower was far from weak, yet he had never once used it in front of her.

The only time they’d had any prolonged contact was when they fell into that underground cavern together, but he had injured his arm back then.

After that, the opportunity never arose.

’Could it be that he’s deliberately hiding it for some reason?’

Wendy Lowell pressed her lips together, as if steeling her resolve, before speaking. ”Actually, before he was twelve, Sheldon Reid showed no signs of having a superpower. The apocalypse had already been going on for a few years by then. His father examined him and said he showed no indication that he would ever become a Superpower User. They thought he’d be an ordinary person for his entire life.”

At this bombshell, Paige Summers’s mouth fell slightly open, and she almost couldn’t close it.

’He was an ordinary person?’

’No, no, my intuition can’t be wrong. He’s definitely a Superpower User!’

’Then what on earth happened to change that?’

Though puzzled, she didn’t interrupt, waiting for Wendy Lowell to continue.