At the same time, almost all the soldiers stationed at the cement factory had withdrawn.

Robert only left behind a five-man squad to handle the cement transport and settle the remaining arrangements.

When Suzy stepped outside, she saw the soldiers still moving supplies around. After asking a few questions, she learned they would be leaving soon.

Once they departed, the cement factory would be completely abandoned.

Most of the supplies had already been relocated. The thousand bags of cement in the warehouse were actually the last remaining shipment.

Suzy could only count herself lucky. If she had arrived even a little later, then even if Isaac had wanted to transfer the cement to her, he would have been powerless to do so.

After learning that, Suzy stopped the soldiers from continuing their work and told them they could leave the shipment behind. She said her group would handle the rest themselves.

The soldiers had already been worrying about how long it would take to move everything. Hearing her say that, they were visibly relieved. None of them argued.

After packing up the remaining supplies, they left quickly and efficiently.

Once she confirmed there was no one else nearby, Suzy stored all the cement inside her space. One thousand full bags of cement vanished into her dimensional storage.

With the cement issue resolved, only the three of them remained in the now-empty factory grounds.

Leonard sighed, "Heading back now?"

Suzy nodded. "Yeah. Time to go home."

Even she had not expected things to go so smoothly. In a single day, she had managed to solve the problem of the upgrade materials. Which meant all they had left to do now was stay home and wait for the extreme cold to arrive.

"Then let’s head back."

The three of them climbed onto the assault boat once more and started the journey home.

Halfway there, the sky gradually darkened. Night was approaching fast.

It was obvious they would not make it home before dark, and continuing to travel at night could easily lead to trouble.

After a brief discussion, the three of them decided to find a temporary place to stay for the night.

Little did they know, that very decision caused Suzy and Wendy to miss each other completely.

"Let’s stay here."

The three settled on an apartment building.

The boat pulled up to shore. Thomas entered the building first, checking carefully for any danger before signaling for Suzy to come in.

Leonard followed after her.

Once they confirmed no one else was around, Suzy stored the assault boat inside her space.

By then, darkness had completely swallowed the sky.

Not long after Suzy, Thomas, and Leonard entered the apartment building, Wendy’s boat passed by downstairs.

She had been circling this entire district for a long time, yet she still had not found a trace of Suzy.

In truth, Wendy had been following behind Suzy the whole time.

Her direction was correct. Her route was correct. She had even tracked her all the way to the cement factory.

But no matter how hard she tried, she could never have imagined Suzy would walk directly into the factory itself.

Even if someone beat her to death, she still would not understand why Suzy would go in there.

Armed soldiers guarded the entrance to the cement factory with loaded rifles. Wendy would not dare approach recklessly, even if she had a hundred times more courage, not to mention she had no reason to get close in the first place.

In the end, she only circled the area around the factory once before leaving.

She continued toward her next destination, and before she realized it, darkness had begun to fall.

Time had passed too quickly.

Although she had not encountered any danger along the way, the trip had hardly gone well.

After all, her purpose for leaving was to find Suzy. If she could eliminate her in the process, even better.

But now she had not even managed to find her target.

Horrible luck.

Unwilling to accept it, Wendy finally turned back.

She knew perfectly well that if she stayed out any later, she could run into serious danger.

She was alone now. Traveling outside by herself was already risky enough. Traveling at night stacked every possible danger on top of that.

Right now, getting back safely was the priority.

And because of that decision, because she was rushing to get back, she ended up perfectly missing Suzy.

When she passed beneath that apartment building, if she had only looked a little more carefully, she would have noticed clear signs that someone had recently been there.

The boat sped across the water.

Wendy’s luck was still fairly good. The journey back was smooth and uneventful, allowing her to return to Starlight Towers before full nightfall.

What she did not know was that someone had already been lying in wait for her...

***

Starlight Towers, twentieth floor.

On the balcony, Chester had been watching for so long that both of his legs had gone numb.

His eyes remained fixed on the dark waters below while he idly spun a pair of binoculars in his hand.

"She still isn’t back?"

Parker’s voice drifted out from inside the apartment. Chester glanced back at him before answering, "Not yet."

Vanessa’s soft voice followed. "She’s not planning to come back at all, is she?"

"No way." Vanessa chuckled. "If she doesn’t come back here, where else could she go?"

Chester grinned, "It’s already dark. If my guess is right, she should be here soon."

Then came the sound of a speedboat below. It was very faint, but in the silence of the night, it became unusually clear.

The low hum of the engine drifted closer across the water like some creature gliding through the darkness.

Chester’s fingers stilled. He immediately raised the binoculars toward the direction of the sound.

A black boat was slowly approaching the shore. The dim headlights illuminated only a small patch of water ahead. Within the dull yellow glow, a woman bent over, tidying up her belongings.

"She’s here." Chester lowered his voice and stepped back inside from the balcony.

Parker rose to his feet and crushed his cigarette into the ashtray.

Vanessa rose as well, her fingers twisting tightly into the hem of her clothes until her knuckles turned white.

Parker glanced at her before picking up the walkie-talkie from the table.

"Everything ready?"

A short response crackled back from the other end.

Parker clipped the device to his waist and turned toward the door.

Vanessa hurried after him, but he lifted a hand to stop her.

"You stay here."

She halted mid-step. Her lips parted as if she wanted to say something, but in the end, she only nodded.

Parker pulled open the door. Chester followed behind him, and the two men disappeared into the stairwell one after the other, their footsteps echoing through the empty building floor by floor.

Vanessa watched their backs vanish from sight.

Slowly, a twisted smile spread across her face. She refused to believe Wendy could escape this time, too.

Downstairs, the boat reached the shore.

Wendy quickly glanced around, and once she confirmed no one was nearby, she stored the assault boat inside her space.

The movement was so fast it happened almost in the blink of an eye. The black boat vanished into thin air.

Then she grabbed her backpack and hurried toward the stairwell without looking back. Her footsteps echoed sharply through the empty building as she climbed higher and higher.

What Wendy did not know was that several pairs of eyes were already watching her from the corners of the stairwell.

Chester’s people had long since stationed themselves on the floor where Wendy lived.

By the time Wendy reached the seventh floor, her pace began to slow.

Something felt wrong. She could not explain exactly what it was, only that uneasy sensation of being watched.

It had started the moment she stepped off the assault boat and still had not faded.

She stopped and glanced behind her.

Standing there for several seconds, her heartbeat thundered harder and harder in her chest.

Then she continued upward, walking even faster than before.

Finally, Wendy reached the tenth floor.

She let out a slight breath of relief.

Almost there...

Home was right in front of her.

Pulling out her key, she suppressed the unease in her chest and unlocked the door.

The door opened. She stepped inside and immediately turned to shut it when a hand suddenly thrust through the gap and jammed hard against the door.