Brazen laughter echoed endlessly through the empty shopping mall.

In a corner, Stella Sterling, who had been about to hide, froze.

’Did I just run into some bad guys?’

’And now that they’ve found me, they’re going to "take care" of me?’

She was quite curious to see who would be taking care of whom!

With that thought, Stella didn’t hide in her pocket dimension. Instead, she pulled a black mask from it and put it on her face.

Now, no one would be able to recognize her.

Stella Sterling walked toward them, making no attempt to conceal her tracks.

CLICK, CLACK.

The sound of footsteps echoed, eerily distinct in the pitch-black mall.

One of the men looked at the other. "Did you hear that?"

"No shit. The footsteps are obvious. You think I’m deaf?!"

"Where are they coming from? Don’t tell me it’s a ghost!"

"What ghost? If there were ghosts, all the people we’ve killed would have already come back to haunt us!"

"I bet it’s the person who got here before us. Perfect. We’ll take them out now and save ourselves the trouble of searching. An easy score!"

The man’s voice grew excited. They switched on their flashlights, sweeping the beams ahead as they followed the sound.

Soon, the three of them stood face to face.

The two men saw a slender figure standing in the darkness. In the dim environment, they couldn’t make out her features clearly, only a blurry silhouette. Judging by the build, it had to be a woman.

At this thought, a smirk flashed in the eyes of the two men in thick cotton coats.

A woman was perfect. With the strength of two men, getting rid of her would be ridiculously easy.

’But why doesn’t she have anything with her? Could she be like us, having just arrived?’

"What a coincidence, you two!"

Stella Sterling smiled, raising a thickly gloved hand in a small wave.

The man in front spat. "Coincidence, my ass! You must’ve heard what we were just saying. Cut the act!"

Stella didn’t get angry. Her tone was calm. "You’re right. I’ll stop pretending."

Then they saw something materialize in the woman’s hands out of thin air before she broke into a run, charging toward them.

As she got closer, they saw it clearly: the woman was holding a giant axe—

The two men’s eyes widened in terror. One of them screamed, "Holy shit, run—"

They turned and fled without a moment’s hesitation.

Even though she was a woman, she was wielding a formidable weapon. They didn’t dare face her head-on.

’So this is what it takes to survive out here alone these days. You can’t underestimate anyone, not even a woman. They’re all this ferocious...’

Terror gripped their hearts. They felt like they were running for their lives, but the distance between them and the woman only grew smaller.

With a few swift strides, Stella Sterling caught up to them. Without a word, she raised her axe and swung it down.

"Dammit, I’ll take you down with me!" one of them yelled, spinning around to fight back. But all he saw was a giant axe growing larger and larger. The next instant, his consciousness faded...

A spray of blood splattered onto Stella Sterling’s apricot-colored coat. Some even hit her face, but thankfully, her mask caught it all.

She sighed. "I wonder if this will wash out. What a shame."

She turned her head. The other man was already scared out of his wits, trembling uncontrollably.

Even though he was no saint—he had done all sorts of terrible things and even had blood on his hands—he had never witnessed a scene so brutal.

Seeing the woman turn to look at him, his legs gave out, and he collapsed to his knees. "S-Spare me!"

Stella Sterling didn’t say a word, simply walking toward him. The man screamed, "Demon! You’re a demon!"

The man scrambled to his feet and tried to run, but he didn’t make it two steps before his body crumpled to the ground.

"You’re right, I am a demon. I was trying to play the part of a good person, but you just had to go and rip off my disguise, didn’t you?"

Stella’s voice was laced with exasperation as she gave the body a couple of irritated kicks.

It was then that she got a clear look at the two men’s faces. She vaguely recalled seeing a notice about them online. They were two escaped murderers. She hadn’t expected them to flee to Mirefall, let alone run into her.

’Looks like I was a bit unlucky, running into two such dangerous individuals...’

’I’ll have to be more careful when I go out from now on...’

After dealing with the two men, she returned through the entrance she’d used.

This place had once been a commercial street, but after the blizzard hit, many of the lower areas were buried in snow. It had long since been abandoned.

No one would come here except for people like Stella Sterling, who were specifically out scavenging.

So, just as it had been when she arrived, the area was completely deserted when she left.

She took the ice skates she’d pulled from her pocket dimension earlier, put them on, and prepared to head back toward her neighborhood.

The blood that had splattered on her in the mall was now clearly visible. Her apricot coat was half-stained, and she had already stored the bloodied mask in her dimension and put on a fresh one.

As for why she didn’t change her clothes, she had her reasons. Sometimes, letting people see your ferocity was enough to inspire fear and keep them at a distance.

BUZZ BUZZ— An alarm suddenly blared from the phone in her pocket, causing Stella Sterling to pause.

The alarm was from the app she used to monitor Yara Sterling. When she had dumped Yara outside the city, she had planted a tracker on her.

Normally, the device only displayed Yara’s distance from her; it didn’t make a sound.

It would only sound an alarm if she came within five kilometers—

’Could it be...?’

Stella Sterling pulled out her phone. She hadn’t checked it in a few days, and now Yara Sterling’s location was surprisingly close. This position meant she was already back in the city.

Stella Sterling glanced at the tracker’s coordinates. Yara was moving toward the Sterling Family’s estate.

In this world of white, where heavy snow blocked the roads and obscured all sense of direction, Yara Sterling had somehow managed to return to Mirefall. Stella couldn’t imagine what kind of luck she must have had.

However, now that she had run into her, Yara Sterling’s luck was about to run out.

She gave a cold laugh, abandoning her plan to return to her neighborhood. Since her "sister" was back in Mirefall, how could she not go and pay her a visit?

She would give her a little surprise. She wondered if Yara Sterling would have a mental breakdown after struggling so hard to get back, only to find it was all for nothing!

With this in mind, she checked Yara Sterling’s position again and started heading in that direction.

A few kilometers wasn’t far, but it wasn’t exactly close either. However, Stella Sterling’s ice skates made the journey convenient and fast!

The closer she got to Yara Sterling, the more excited she became...

For the first time, she found herself actually wanting to see Yara Sterling. The thought of how miserable her rival must have been these past days made the smile on her lips deepen. This was her entertainment—