Apocalypse Villainess? Nah, I'm Nice

When Paige Summers woke up, she quickly realized something was wrong.

She tried moving her hands and found her arms stretched high above her head, her wrists locked in heavy iron shackles. The attached chains were bolted firmly to the wall. Her ankles were similarly shackled and secured to the floor.

Her body ached terribly. After a moment, memories of what had happened rushed back like a tidal wave...

The tunnel had been blocked, and she had realized it was Seth Walsh who had activated a mechanism inside.

That was why turning back, just as he wanted, was out of the question.

She had tools in her storage space, so she simply took out a hammer, intending to brute-force her way through the earthen wall.

But before she could even move, an iron cage suddenly dropped from the ceiling up ahead.

At first, Paige Summers managed to dodge it by jumping back.

But then another one fell!

She dodged cage after cage, more than ten in total, but by then, Seth Walsh had arrived.

His weapon was bizarre: a finely forged Iron Spear, over two meters long, with a blunt tip...

’He’s a Tenth Rank Superpower User,’ Paige Summers thought. ’He must have some incredible abilities. This spear is clearly dangerous.’ She prepared for a fight to the death!

But she still failed to predict his attack. Seth Walsh’s thrust was just a feint; dodging was useless. The moment the spear got close, it suddenly went soft, coiling around her arms and body like a snake!

In a little over ten seconds, the constriction was so tight it felt like she would be snapped in two...

Finally, she couldn’t take it anymore and passed out.

And when she woke up, she was here.

She could feel it in the air—she was no longer underground.

There were no windows, so she couldn’t tell the time of day. But even with her naked eyes, she could see the room wasn’t large—a small, pitch-black space of only about a dozen square meters. Torture implements hung on the side walls, and the iron shackles binding her were clearly professional-grade.

’This must be a place built specifically for imprisonment and interrogation,’ she thought.

’But where in the world is this?!’

Her waist and forearms were still aching, proof that what happened had been all too real.

’So Seth Walsh... he has a Gold Ability...’

Paige Summers sighed inwardly.

The Gold Ability wasn’t common, but it was incredibly destructive.

But to be able to do what Seth Walsh did—instantly changing the shape of such a thick spear... She had truly never seen anything like it.

’It’s exceptionally rare!’

Clearly, a Tenth Rank Superpower User was not to be underestimated.

Her body was numb. She moved slightly, and a searing pain shot through her stretched arms and waist. But Paige Summers took stock of her internal condition and found everything was fine. This was a stroke of luck in a terrible situation. She knew that if her body had been squeezed like that and she was just an ordinary Superpower User, her guts would have likely been crushed. She would have suffered internal injuries at the very least. But now, she only had minor external wounds!

’To have come so close, only to fail at the last second!’

’I had clear intelligence that the Walsh and Carter Families were making no moves, which was why I started the operation. Who would have thought Seth Walsh would secretly show up at Silas Dudley’s place...’

’No,’ Paige corrected her line of thought, ’perhaps this tunnel also connects to the Walsh Family estate, and maybe even the Carter Family’s...’

’And that lab—who built it? And why was it so similar to the one Nora Lowell had shown them beneath Norgate? Could they also be researching how to turn humans into Zombies here, attempting to create a Zombie army?’

’But where would they find an intelligent Zombie like Nora Lowell to lead them? Or can Superpower Users also command Zombies? And for that matter, who turned Nora Lowell and Ben into what they are? Who on earth developed that viral medicine?!’

’And what role do these Tenth Rank Superpower Users play in all this?’

She mulled it over and over, but her mind was just a tangle of questions.

Unfortunately, there were no answers to be found.

Moreover, the most urgent problem she faced was that her captors had kept her alive—and it certainly wasn’t to let her go. More likely... they had some other plot in mind!

But she couldn’t break free from these iron shackles. All she could do was wait.

With that thought, Paige Summers quietly closed her eyes.

’While I still have time, recovering my strength is the most important thing!’

What she didn’t know was that her every move was being watched.

Just as she began to quietly focus on her Cultivation, in another room, a gaunt, middle-aged man with messy hair and an unkempt Beard sat watching a monitor. ”Excellent, excellent!” he exclaimed. ”This Superpower User is not only physically tougher than others, but her psychological fortitude is also incredibly strong! Look at how calm she is. This is exactly the kind of subject I need!”

”But, Professor...” the young man standing behind him started to say, then trailed off.

After reveling in his excitement for a moment, the middle-aged man waved a hand. ”If you have something to say, spit it out! Stop hemming and hawing!”

The young man gave a wry smile. ”Professor, do you know who she is?”

”I don’t care who she is! All I know is that she’s the perfect fit!” The middle-aged man stared at the monitor, his eyes gleaming with obsessive fervor.

The young man sighed to himself. His professor was solely focused on his experiments, completely oblivious to worldly affairs. ’They say it’s people like him who make great breakthroughs,’ he thought. ’But he can afford to be like that; I can’t. I don’t want to get myself killed!’ To escape this predicament, he couldn’t act alone. He had to convince the professor!

”Professor! I know you’ve poured your heart and soul into this experiment, but we have to stay alive to continue it! Silas Dudley is dead, which means the Dudley Family is completely finished! The Walsh and Carter Families won’t escape either; The Power Corps has seized all their properties. Their members are either dead or locked up. I hear they’re about to launch an even bigger purge of the city, and it’s very likely they’ll find their way to us!”

The middle-aged man paused, then turned and glared at him. ”What are you afraid of? We still have Seth Walsh! I’m telling you, as long as he’s around, no one can touch us!”

The young man gritted his teeth.

’Seth Walsh is powerful, sure, but can he really hold out on his own against a full-scale siege? Fine, even if he can, and he can protect the professor while doing it, can he protect me? As if!’

So, he pressed on, ”Professor, you don’t realize what’s happening outside. People are turning the world upside down looking for this woman! Her name is Paige Summers, the famous Master Summers of Summers Armaments. She has connections with many powerful factions. Right now, the Mercer Family, the Lowell Family, and many other Noble Houses are searching for her. Anyone who can provide information on her location will not only receive a huge reward but will also gain the protection of the allied Noble Houses. And then there’s the Bloodfall Hunters—they’ve said that if anyone can provide a clue to her whereabouts, the Hunting Party is willing to grant them any request! Oh, and the craziest of all is Jovitas. To find this woman, they’ve promised to give whoever has information access to all tradeable goods on the Black Market and provide any intel for free!”

The middle-aged man selectively ignored everything else, but two words registered in his mind.

”The Black Market?”

”Yes! As long as we turn her over, they’ve promised us anything we want from all the goods on the Black Market!”

Upon hearing this, the middle-aged man was genuinely tempted.