Apocalypse Villainess? Nah, I'm Nice

When Paige Summers left the Power User Federation, she paused at the entrance and couldn’t help but look back, a faint smile in her eyes. ’If I had character attributes like a video game character,’ she thought, ’my Luck Value must be sky-high!’

When she had been discussing the need for a Fogging Potion with Nadia, she had asked her to test her blood, just in case. Afterwards, when the first batch of medicine was delivered, Nadia had confirmed with absolute certainty that her blood was completely indistinguishable from any other Superpower User’s.

If it hadn’t been for that, she never would have dared to agree to Lennon’s request for a blood sample. Doing so would have certainly lowered their trust in her. They might have even dug deeper into her background...

’But now, there’s no problem!’

’A Power Enhancement Potion, huh...’

’I’d have to be an idiot to believe that. There’s definitely something wrong with it!’

’It’s been arranged. I can get it in three days!’

At that moment, Paige Summers was rejoicing that everything was going smoothly, but she never expected that by nightfall—no, to be more precise, in the early hours of the next morning—things would take an unforeseen turn.

At two in the morning, a light, urgent knock sounded at her door.

Paige Summers rolled out of bed and rushed over.

’That kind of knock has to be from someone I know. And at this hour, something must have happened!’

’I knew it!’

Levi Young stood outside the door, looking nervous and anxious.

The moment she opened it a crack, he impatiently squeezed inside.

The overwhelming smell of blood made Paige Summers’s heart sink. After confirming no one had followed him, she quickly shut the door. ”What happened? Are you hurt?!”

”I’m fine!” Levi Young carefully took a box from inside his coat, pulled out a small vial from within, and handed it to her. ”Did you know someone took your blood?”

Paige Summers froze. She took the vial, which contained about ten milliliters of blood. She opened it and sniffed. ’This scent... it has to be my blood, but...’ ”I know about the blood draw. The Federation did it. But how did you get it?”

Levi Young was taken aback as well.

He was having a hard time organizing his thoughts, so he decided to just explain what happened from the beginning.

”I went to the lab tonight to get something and happened to see my team leader and another researcher rush into the small lab. That lab has a lot of valuable equipment that our current factories can’t produce, so it’s only opened for important projects and is usually kept locked. I thought it was strange, so I secretly followed them to see what they were up to. That’s when I discovered them analyzing a blood sample with precision instruments.”

”Afterward, the team leader said to the other guy, ’Very good. The energy in this Superpower User’s body is extremely active.’ The other guy smiled and said, ’That’s great. It’s a shame, though. I happened to see her today. A very intriguing woman. If only...’”

Levi Young paused here. ”Anyway, it was some real scumbag talk. I didn’t know they were talking about you at the time, but I could tell something wasn’t right with what they were saying—it was obvious they were planning to harm someone. I got angry, so when they came out, I deliberately pretended to have just arrived and knocked the lab results out of their hands. I only meant to scare them. Luckily, I got a glance at the report. The moment I saw the data, I knew it was yours. At that moment, I knew I couldn’t let them take those results!”

”...You killed them?” At this, Paige Summers didn’t know what expression to make, so she could only remain expressionless.

Levi Young was silent for a few seconds before nodding. ”Yes.”

”Did the surveillance cameras catch you?”

”No. Actually, they were the ones who wanted to kill me first. I was already thinking along the same lines, so I let them lure me to the team leader’s office. They took care of the surveillance cameras, so I just used the opportunity to deal with them.”

”But there should be cameras monitoring the lab entrance. You’ll still be the prime suspect. We need to figure something out!”

Levi Young shook his head. ”I thought of that on my way out. I stopped by the security room and erased all of tonight’s footage. The only thing that could arouse suspicion is me not being in my dorm.”

Paige Summers considered this for a moment. ”In that case, you should go back. Your absence from the dorm is easy enough to explain...”

But Levi Young cut her off firmly. ”No. Now that I’m out, I have no intention of going back. To be honest, I’ve been meaning to tell you for a while that place isn’t for me. I’ve always fended for myself; I’m freer out here. In there, most of the time I can’t even research what I want to research!”

Paige Summers frowned slightly as she looked at him.

’He’d never said anything like this before. Was he just telling me the good news and hiding the bad? Or...’

”Are you sure? The Research Institute has plenty of resources...”

He cut her off again. ”But not for me!”

”Well, the environment is safe...”

He interrupted her once more. ”After what happened tonight, you still think so?”

Paige Summers was tongue-tied, but his repeated interruptions were starting to get on her nerves.

”Fine! If you don’t want to go back, then don’t! But this decision is final. There’s no going back. And you might end up a wanted suspect!”

Levi Young let out a visible sigh of relief. ”I don’t care about any of that. I want to stay.”

”Suit yourself.” Paige Summers pinched the bridge of her nose. ”Go take a shower and change. Give me the clothes you’re wearing. The smell is too strong; they need to be disposed of.”

”Okay!”

Levi Young headed to the bathroom with a light step, and a short while later, piled his clothes by the door.

As Paige Summers took the clothes away to be burned, she couldn’t help but think, ’He probably did have a hard time at The Research Institute. Unlike Nadia, he doesn’t have a good mentor to support him, and his personality isn’t the type to win people over. He might have even been ostracized. If that’s the case, then he really is better off out here. We’ll have to lay low for a while. Once this blows over, I’ll take him with me to The Foundry, and everything will be fine.’

’As for that blood sample...’

’The Federation probably won’t connect me to this incident.’

’The deaths of those two were mysterious, and since it happened inside The Research Institute, it’ll most likely be written off as internal strife.’

’So, the plan should be able to proceed.’

’Of course, it all depends on what happens in three days.’

’If I’m exposed, and push comes to shove, I’ll just have to use force! The person in charge of the Federation is supposedly on the third floor. If I can grab him, I should be able to get some information out of him.’

’In short, I’ll just have to play it by ear.’

In the bathroom, Levi Young was thinking along similar lines.

But the main reason for his happiness was that he could finally be with Paige Summers again.

He had actually been doing fine at The Research Institute. There were people who tried to bully him, sure, but they never got very far. Most of those researchers had never experienced much hardship; their biggest worries were a lack of materials or insufficient funding. They were nothing like him, who had lived at the bottom of The Dead City for so long and had seen every type of person and every dirty trick there was.

He hadn’t told Paige Summers the whole truth about what happened today.

’Get indignant and bump into his team leader for a stranger?’

’He didn’t have that much useless, pointless sympathy to spare. He had just been looking for an opportunity to leave that place!’

’He just hadn’t expected those two to be so bold as to try and kill someone to silence them right inside the Institute.’

’And luckily, because of that, he had inadvertently helped Paige Summers.’

’I think so, anyway...’

He recalled the look on Paige Summers’s face and what she’d said about the Federation, and he felt uncertain again.