The conference room echoed with the gunman’s agonized screams. His entire body trembled violently as Ashley slowly twisted the heel of her stiletto deeper into the fresh bullet wound.

Blood spread beneath his foot.

He wanted to throw himself against the floor from the pain, but every instinct told him that moving would only make it worse, forcing him to stay frozen in place.

Her pistol never left the side of his head, one hand fisted tightly in his hair.

"Name," she said coldly.

The room fell silent.

Several people instinctively tensed, a knot forming in their stomachs. Even Lukas grimaced as he looked at the man’s mangled foot.

"Ouch..." Red muttered, his face twisting. "I can almost feel it."

It wasn’t just the screams. The sickening sound of flesh grinding beneath the heel made even him uncomfortable.

Khan swallowed hard as he stared at Ashley.

The night they abducted her, he had been too badly injured to stay conscious. Everything he knew afterward came from his subordinates.

They had targeted the wrong person.

Now, he finally understood why.

The gunman clenched his teeth so hard his jaw trembled. Panting through the pain, he glared defiantly at Ashley.

He refused to answer.

Ashley stared at him for several long seconds.

Then—

BANG!

"Hey!" Red nearly jumped out of his skin.

He whipped his head toward the wall.

The bullet had struck so close that it had almost grazed him.

Realizing Ashley had deliberately fired beside the man’s ear, everyone instinctively stepped back. Just to avoid the line of fire.

Everyone... except Lucian.

He remained exactly where he was.

His expression never changed, his cold eyes fixed solely on the gunman as he silently watched the man’s resolve begin to crack.

I am...

He nodded to himself.

Learning.

Lucian had spent so much time trying to keep Ashley away from the underground that he had almost forgotten who she had once been.

Before Project Green.

Before Dominion.

Ashley had been...

Ghost.

A legendary vigilante.

A deadly assassin.

Someone who had mastered both cyber warfare and assassination.

Before she asked another question, another gunshot rang out.

The echo of the second shot hadn’t even faded before a third followed.

This one struck the outer edge of the man’s calf, tearing away flesh without shattering the bone.

"AHHHHH!"

The man writhed violently.

Ashley calmly released his hair and lifted her heel from his foot.

The instant she did, he collapsed onto the floor with a heavy thud, clutching his bleeding ear while desperately reaching for his mangled leg.

Pain shot through his foot, calf, and ear until both of his legs felt numb.

Without a word, Ashley checked the pistol’s magazine before slapping it back into place.

"Hah... hah..."

The man’s complexion had turned ghostly pale. Sweat soaked his forehead and dampened his hair.

The room remained deathly quiet.

Everyone watched Ashley.

Some couldn’t help glancing at the crimson-stained heel of her stiletto. It looked as though it had been dipped in fresh paint.

Yet, despite everything... the gunman laughed weakly.

"I... told you..." He coughed, blood spilling from the corner of his mouth. "You’re wasting your time. Even... even if you kill me... I won’t talk."

Lukas clicked his tongue.

"He’s really not going to talk," he muttered. "Just kill him."

Ashley ignored him.

She simply stared at the man.

The gunman lay there helplessly.

As he met her gaze, he noticed something.

A smile — a small, cold smile. It was barely there. But it was the smile of someone who had just figured something out.

For the first time, his body reacted before his mind did.

His muscles trembled. His breathing quickened.

He kept telling himself not to be afraid.

But his body betrayed him as Ashley took one slow step forward.

"Kill him?" she repeated, lifting the handgun. Her face remained expressionless. "I guess you didn’t do your research, Lukas."

The gunman’s pupils contracted.

Ashley looked up slightly.

Then—

BANG!

Without hesitation, she fired into the man’s outer thigh, carefully avoiding the femoral artery.

His scream became almost inhuman.

Before it could fade, she drove the heel of her stiletto directly into the fresh wound.

CRUNCH!

The sound alone made several Dominion members flinch. Even Lukas instinctively looked away.

Ashley kept her gaze fixed on him as his body twisted violently. But she only pressed harder.

"I don’t think you understand." Her voice remained frighteningly calm. "I didn’t shoot your foot because I thought you’d talk."

"I shot you because I wanted your body to understand that it has plenty of places I can shoot without killing you."

For the first time, the gunman’s confidence shattered.

Ashley caught it immediately.

"There it is." She nodded with quiet satisfaction. "That’s the look I wanted."

"You..." His voice shook. "...you’re insane—ugh!"

"This is insane to you?" She twisted her heel again. "Stop pretending. You expected to die."

"UGHHHH! F-FUCK!"

"You were told not to speak, and you accepted that," she continued. "If someone is insane here, wouldn’t that be you?"

The man desperately clawed at her ankle, but she never budged.

"Enough... UGH!" His scream echoed throughout the room.

"I’ll ask you one last time."

Ashley never raised her voice, yet somehow every word reached him through the screams.

"Tell me something your employer never expected me to ask."

Despite the unbearable pain, her voice cut through everything else.

She eased the pressure ever so slightly.

Not enough to let him escape.

Just enough to let him breathe.

He looked up at her, gasping.

"Enough..." His resolve finally crumbled. "Please... no more..."

His mouth opened and closed as panic overtook him. "I—I don’t know him, okay?! No more!"

"He just paid me and told me what to do! It was the first time I’d ever seen him—ARGH!"

Ashley drove her heel down again.

"I swear!" he screamed. "I don’t know him! Believe me! Even if you kill me, I don’t know him! He just told me to act like this... and that Dominion wouldn’t bother!"

Ashley finally lifted her foot while the room held its breath.

Lukas frowned. "What did you just say?"

The man gasped desperately for air.

"That... that orange-haired bastard!" he shouted between ragged breaths. "He told me that if Dominion thought I wouldn’t talk even if they tortured me, they’d give up! Or better yet, they won’t kill me because you idiots will think I have valuable information."

"That’s when I was supposed to escape!"

Silence swallowed the room.

Everyone immediately realized what had almost happened.

Had Ashley not intervened, Dominion would have executed him exactly as planned. Or kept him in their cell and took their precious time to extract information.

Ashley and Lucian exchanged a glance. Unlike others, only one detail mattered.

"Orange hair?" they asked in unison.

The man nodded frantically.

"Y-Yes! That psycho bastard... He told me to kill his fiancée!"

Ashley’s eyes narrowed. She immediately knew exactly who he meant.

"That damn Carrotman."