Achieving any goal requires sacrifice, but choosing the right one is a delicate matter.

You have to strike where it hurts most!

If you can offer something they desperately want but can’t obtain, your efforts will be doubly effective.

Paige Summers remembered a casual chat she’d had with Quentin Sutton in The Citadel. He’d mentioned he was researching a medicine that could suppress superpower energy, but he’d had no success so far. Of course, that wasn’t his only goal. He hoped to use that medicine to master the key to controlling energy, which would in turn allow him to create the medicine he truly needed: one that could *enhance* superpower energy.

Paige Summers didn’t quite grasp the connection between the two, but she was sure of one thing: Levi Young was far more skilled! Because Levi Young had already created such a medicine—even if its effects were only temporary.

And what Quentin Sutton now held in his hand was undoubtedly the very thing he needed. However, the quantity was minuscule—not nearly enough for him to analyze its composition.

So, when Nora Lowell’s voice erupted from outside, scolding his men for keeping her out, Quentin Sutton had no time to process his conflicted emotions. He just pointed to the storage room where they had been hiding, signaling for Paige Summers and Levi Young to hurry inside.

Back inside the underground storage room, Paige Summers was in a fairly good mood.

Now that Quentin Sutton had taken the bait, he would surely cover for them.

’Truthfully, with my current power, it wouldn’t be hard to take down Quentin Sutton. But with enemies all over the city, having another collaborator is a much better deal than fighting it out. Besides, I have Levi Young to think about.’

The kid was looking utterly dejected, and Paige Summers knew why. He felt like he was dragging her down.

She didn’t plan to comfort him.

’Because this is reality.’

’If you want to survive and thrive, the first thing you have to do is face reality!’

’But I also believe that as long as Levi Young works hard, he’ll achieve something incredible sooner or later. Even if his superpower isn’t top-tier, his talent for medicine is a gift.’

At that moment, Nora Lowell had already burst into the room, pushing past Quentin Sutton’s men.

She looked absolutely furious.

In truth, she hadn’t gotten far before she sensed something was off.

Quentin Sutton had clearly provoked her on purpose to make her leave.

’What did that mean?’

’It most likely meant he’d found Paige Summers’s hiding spot but didn’t want me getting involved!’

So she’d returned.

But Quentin Sutton, preoccupied, had already lost his patience for her games. He shot her a look. "What now? Still not satisfied? Thanks to your ’advice,’ we’ve already wasted a good deal of time! I think before we make another move, I ought to go ask the City Lord who was actually assigned the task of hunting down Paige Summers—you, or me?!"

With that, he strode straight for the door.

Nora Lowell swallowed her rage and quickly scanned the room, but she saw no change from before. She frowned. ’Did I guess wrong?’

Just then, Quentin Sutton’s voice, cold and laced with anger, drifted in from outside. "Back to The Citadel!"

She gritted her teeth and rushed out, forced to try and stop him.

’I came here behind Shawn Monroe’s back. If he finds out I’m meddling in a task he assigned to his subordinate, he won’t react well. Our relationship is so fragile right now, like we’re standing on a knife’s edge. One step forward could bring us closer, but one step back... and I might lose the support I need from him forever.’

She thought of her father back in Norgate, of the humiliations she had endured there, and of the vow she had once sworn: "I will make that woman and everyone who ever looked down on me bow at my feet." She took a deep breath and plastered a smile on her face for Quentin Sutton...

「Not long after Quentin Sutton and Nora Lowell left, Woody Warren returned.」

He called Paige Summers and Levi Young out of hiding and said excitedly, "Quick! Both of you, change your clothes. I brought some stuff. Do whatever you can to make sure no one recognizes you! I’m getting you out of here now!"

They exchanged a glance and quickly did as Woody Warren said, changing into combat uniforms.

While Paige Summers smudged their faces to disguise them, Woody Warren explained the situation.

He had first gone to the outer city. He found that even though there were more guards at the gate, the city wasn’t on lockdown. Hunting Parties could still pass through after an inspection. After all, it was how many of the city’s residents made a living. You couldn’t just stop them from earning money to eat and drink!

Seeing this, Woody Warren immediately had an idea.

He’d lived in The Dead City for a long time, so of course he knew a few Hunting Parties. He was even on good terms with one of the captains. He wouldn’t normally want to bother them over something trivial, but this was a perfect time to call in a favor!