Mike was extremely anxious, glancing sideways towards the room where the man he’d found two hours earlier was lying.

He’d looked into the man’s identity, and that was what was making him so nervous.

To be honest, you couldn’t blame him for it; that man was none other than Nero Statelas, the future Lord of the Statelas family...

And although his master was extremely calm, he couldn’t be like him; his master was a very special case.

Mike couldn’t even imagine his master being nervous. In all the years he’d followed him, he’d always been calm.

Even with those mysterious people chasing him all the time, he remained calm.

In fact, Mike was very curious; he kept asking his master about their identities and why they were chasing him, but his master gave him vague answers every time.

And although that made him pull his hair out every time, he eventually gave up; he didn’t want to go bald...

"Where has my master gone? Don’t tell me he’s run away and left me!"

Of course, he knew that wasn’t true, but he always expected the worst.

In fact, he didn’t even know why his master had chosen him specifically, even though there was only one thing he was good at in this life... running away when necessary.

In fact, he was thinking of persuading his master to flee from here as quickly as possible and leave everything behind.

He did not want to spend the rest of his life being hunted by the Stateless family. Surely, at this very moment, they were on their way to eliminate him and his master.

A creak...

The door suddenly swung open, and his master entered wearing a loose, dark blue coat that reached down to his knees; beneath the coat, he wore a simple black shirt with the collar slightly open, along with dark trousers and light leather shoes.

His black hair was slightly damp with water, and a few drops still clung to the ends.

He walked calmly over, flopped down on a nearby sofa and sat there completely at ease.

Mike’s face twisted immediately, and he rushed over to him, saying:

"Sir, how on earth could you take a bath at a time like this?! Don’t you know we’re in big trouble?! Don’t you have a shred of responsibility for your own life?! And what about me?! Your poor, weak servant—don’t you care about me?!"

The man looked up at him calmly before taking off his wet gloves.

"Good morning to you too."

"Don’t try to change the subject!" Mike gestured towards the next room. "Do you know who’s lying there?"

"I do."

"You do?!"

"Yes."

"Of course you do... Why did I ever expect anything else? So you’re saying we’re leaving straight away, aren’t you?"

"And why should we do that? It’s a lovely place, and I’ve spent a fortune on it. Do you think I’m rich enough to just walk away from it all that easily?"

He paused briefly before adding:

"We’re not leaving here... we’re going to wait."

Mike’s eyes widened.

"Have you gone mad?! This is Nero Statelas! The future heir to the Statelas family! Do you realise what that means?! It means the entire Statelas family might be after us! Damn it, if they find out he’s here, we’ll be crushed before we’ve even had a chance to catch our breath!"

The man picked up a small towel from the table and began calmly drying his wet black hair, saying:

"You’re exaggerating."

"Exaggerating?!" Mike almost jumped out of his seat, had he not taken a deep breath and calmed himself down a little.

In fact, perhaps he was overreacting.

But why was Nero Stateless here? What if he was trying to track them down? What if it wasn’t even him? In truth, Mike wasn’t entirely sure it was Nero; at first, he had been so disfigured before his body returned to normal.

Miyak had plenty of unanswered questions, but his master must surely have a solution; otherwise, he wouldn’t be so calm.

Mike knew full well that his master, the moment he sensed danger, was capable of abandoning anything without hesitation. Just as he had done with the fighting arena. If Mike had been in his place back then, he would have spent a long time thinking it over before making a decision.

That’s why he forced himself to stay calm and act like an adult.

"Right, let’s say we’re not leaving. What’s the plan then?"

"We wait until he wakes up."

"And then?" 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

"We’ll ask him how he ended up there."

Mike blinked several times.

"That’s it?"

"Of course that’s it. What else did you expect? You’ve already given me a headache..."

The man sighed, rubbing his temple.

"I’ll explain the whole thing to you so you’ll shut up for a moment."

A few minutes later, Mike understood why his master had been so calm.

In fact, he felt relieved himself after listening to the full explanation and managing to piece the events together. After all, he wasn’t that stupid.

His master had explained that he had installed a special device in the safe. As soon as it detected strong disturbances within a three-kilometre radius, it would immediately retrieve all the treasures inside and transport them to the backup location where they had previously been.

Nevertheless, Mike remained somewhat perplexed.

How had Nero managed to get here?

After all, the device does not transport living beings or organic matter, but is limited to inanimate objects only.

But there was another question that was no less strange.

What on earth was the heir to the Stateless family doing in the arena in the first place? And more importantly, what was he doing inside their vault?

Was he trying to rob them?

It all seemed very puzzling.

But it looked as though his curiosity wouldn’t last long.

At that moment, he and his master heard a faint sound of movement coming from the room where Nero lay.

The two exchanged glances.

It seemed his questions would not remain unanswered for long.

...

...

...

Nero Stetlas’s POV.

"Huh..."

I blinked several times as my eyes adjusted to the bright light.

However, I felt spasms running through my body, so much so that I couldn’t move for a few moments, whilst I looked around in confusion.

Where am I?

And what is this place?

At first, I thought that everything that had happened to me was nothing more than a dream, and that I had finally woken up in my own room.

I mean, I hoped so; how could I not? I would have preferred it to be just a nightmare.

But as soon as I looked around, I realised this wasn’t any room I’d seen before. That meant it wasn’t a dream, but where was I, and how had I got here?

Wasn’t I inside the safe just a moment ago?

Speaking of which... how on earth can I feel my hands and feet?

Although I remained baffled for a while, I managed to reach one conclusion.

It must have something to do with that ancient creature... or whatever it was, or perhaps it’s connected to the new birth.

To be honest, I didn’t want to think about it for too long.

I’d learnt my lesson last time.

So I began to examine my body quickly.

At first it felt strange, as if this body wasn’t mine at all.

There were muscles in places I wasn’t used to seeing, and my shoulders seemed broader than I remembered.

But I didn’t care about that.

I was absolutely delighted.

So delighted that I couldn’t stop myself from smiling.

After all... I could feel my limbs again.

I was no longer just a mangled piece of flesh, unable to move.

It’s true that I still found it difficult to control my body after losing some of my limbs, but after a few faltering attempts, I finally managed to get used to it again.

I got out of bed slowly.

I had to find out where I was.

But the moment my feet touched the floor, the door opened quietly.

I turned straight towards it.

And the moment the person standing behind it appeared, my eyes suddenly widened.

"You..."