Apocalypse Villainess? Nah, I'm Nice

Zephyr Mercer drove toward the Fourth District, completely bewildered.

He couldn’t figure out what his father was thinking. ’If it was excitement over the transformable weapon, he could understand—he was even more excited himself. But the weapon hadn’t been built yet. Seeing Paige Summers now was a bit premature!’

’Was it because of Grandpa Lowell? That made even less sense.’

’His father had never been one to meddle in other people’s business. He definitely wouldn’t personally meet and persuade some girl just because Grandpa Lowell lamented that his long-lost granddaughter had yet to be reunited with him. At most, he would do what he did before: have me check up on her and see how she was doing.’

That alone was enough to surprise him!

’What in the world is going on?’ Lost in his own thoughts, he completely failed to notice the other car in the opposite lane, driving away from him. Inside it was none other than Paige Summers.

Paige wasn’t alone. She was driving, and in the back seat were Levi Young and Nadia.

It was all a coincidence.

After Zephyr Mercer left, she had returned to her place, planning to mull over the transformable weapon and finalize the materials as soon as possible.

But she had just gotten home when Levi Young called out to her.

His pale face and the dark circles under his eyes made it obvious he hadn’t slept in a long time.

But the results were encouraging!

Though the previous energy experiment had been a success, the medicine wasn’t stable enough for immediate use.

But after working tirelessly around the clock for days, he had finally solved the problem.

That’s why he couldn’t wait to find Paige, wanting to move on to the next step: modifying the car. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

Paige already had a plan in mind for this; she just hadn’t put it into practice yet.

And now, it was clearly time.

The two discussed it for a moment before calling to rent a warehouse, deciding to take the car there.

But just as they got in the car and were about to leave, Nadia showed up.

She was much thinner and looked deeply unsettled. The moment she saw them, she latched on, got in the car, and refused to budge. When they told her to go home, she wouldn’t, insisting on coming with them.

What surprised Paige Summers and Levi Young even more was what she said the moment she got in. "Let’s research the Antidote for the Zombie Virus together! I have the experiment logs for the Type I and Type II Antidotes. The related data is extremely complete. If we work together, it won’t take ten years—we can definitely conquer all types of the virus! And the experiments to stop the reproduction of mutated animals and plants... We can definitely do it!"

Paige hadn’t mentioned what Nadia had told her the other day to anyone, not even Levi Young.

’It wasn’t that she didn’t believe her.’

’It was that the problem was incredibly difficult, and until she had a good solution, there was no need to burden more people with it.’

So when Nadia said this, Paige was surprised she would even have such an idea, while Levi was completely and utterly shocked.

They couldn’t cancel the warehouse they had arranged for, so Paige contained her emotions and silently started the car.

After Levi Young snapped out of his daze, a brilliant light gleamed in his eyes.

"Are you serious?"

"You really have the complete data and experiment logs?"

"Whose side are you on? The Government or the military?"

"Where did you get that stuff?"

"..."

Levi Young, who was usually a man of few words, seemed to have a switch flipped. Unable to contain his excitement, he fired off a string of questions so fast Nadia couldn’t keep up.

It took her a while to recover before she briefly recounted for Levi the same story she had told Paige the other day.

Levi Young turned to Paige. "You already knew?"

"Yeah."

Paige’s lukewarm attitude finally began to cool his soaring excitement.

He quickly realized that agreeing to help Nadia would come with enormous risks.

He fell silent.

It didn’t take long for the car to reach its destination: a warehouse district on the edge of the Fourth District.

Aside from the staff in the administration office, the area was practically deserted.

A car driving in wouldn’t attract any attention.

Sometimes, car owners who couldn’t find gasoline would store their vehicles here.

Since there was nothing here but warehouse buildings, the rent wasn’t high.

After taking care of the paperwork at the administration office, Paige drove the car directly into the warehouse.

The engine died, and inside the warehouse, faint sunlight streamed in through the high windows, illuminating the car. It also shone on Levi Young, who was leaning against the car door, and Paige Summers in the driver’s seat. In the sunlight, their faces seemed a bit more youthful than usual.

Nadia looked at them, her eyes stinging with dryness.

After a long time, a voice, soft and faint, broke the silence. "If even you two refuse, I honestly don’t know who else I can ask for help. I’m insisting on continuing this research for my deceased mother, yes, but also for me, for you, for everyone... I know that sounds a bit ridiculous. This is the apocalypse; everyone is showing their cruelest side just to survive, and for me to say something like this makes me sound like an idiot. But I know exactly what I’m doing. I just... I just don’t want to live in a place that’s filled with danger. I don’t want to be unable to leave the cities that pen us in. I don’t want to have to worry about running into Zombies and beasts carrying the virus every time I go outside. I don’t want my hands stained with blood as I watch my family die one by one, completely powerless to do anything..."