Reborn in the Enemy's Embrace

As Howard uttered these words, he wanted to ask those around to catch me.

Dexter looked at Howard with frigid eyes, his gaze filled with uncontrollable murderous intent. Slowly, he released my hand.

I fixed my gaze on Howard, pushing aside everyone who was in my way. I slowly approached him.

Howard was in a state of panic. His injured leg was still bleeding as he backed away in fear. "What do you want to do? Why are you just standing there in a daze? Quickly, catch her!"

I smiled and looked at those people, intending to give them a taste of their own medicine. "We’re indeed the planners of the game. Your survival depends on your obedience. If you obey, I can ensure your escape. But if you continue to follow him, death will be inevitable for you."

The few of them exchanged glances and stepped away. They were all frightened.

Howard glared at me. "Sofia! Who do you think you’re fooling? Don’t listen to her. She’s not going to rescue us. Each of us is the target of the lunatic. She said that on purpose."

I delivered a forceful blow to Howard’s stomach, bringing him to the ground. Then, I stepped hard on his injured leg. "You’re quite the talker. I could kill you right now, but where’s the fun in that?"

With a click, the door swung open once more. Carol appeared to be unconscious as Joel carefully carried her outside. Zion also followed closely.

Quinn stepped forward and looked at Carol with concern. "How is she?"

Joel shook his head. "She’s just suffering from an emotional shock. She’s going to be okay."

Tears welled up in Quinn’s eyes. "Thank you. Thank you so much!"

Joel remained silent, delivering Carol into Quinn’s hands.

Violette also glanced nervously at Zion. "Are you okay? Are you injured?"

Zion was visibly surprised. "You got here before us? I was actually contemplating turning around and locating you."

Violette pointed at me and Dexter awkwardly. "We ran into Dexter."

Zion replied, "That makes sense."

Just as the stone wall was about to close, I swiftly pulled Howard and forcefully kicked him inside.

"Sofia! I’ll kill you! I’m going to kill you!" Everyone was astonished as they witnessed me kicking him in. They saw the door close tightly and heard Howard’s desperate cry.

"Is this kind of person worthy of following us?" I asked with indifference. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

Eason averted his gaze. "I missed that. What just happened..."

Zion scratched his head. "What?"

"Everything was killed inside. If he’s truly intelligent, he should recall how we managed to escape just a moment ago, don’t you think?" Eason whispered solemnly. Quinn was confused. "I... I don’t remember at all."

I sneered. If he couldn’t escape, then he deserved the outcome he faced.

"The stairs are moving! Hurry downstairs!" Suddenly, the exit started to shake. The staircase was collapsing.

"Quick!" In my panic, I grabbed Dexter’s wrist and hastily pulled him downstairs. As we arrived at the secure zone, relief washed over me.

"Is everyone here?" Zion inquired.

"Juliet and Damien didn’t come out!" At last, someone noticed that Juliet and Damien were not present.

Frowning, I glanced upward toward the 17th floor. The stairs were on the verge of collapsing.

"I’m going to save them," Zion

declared. He was determined to rush upstairs and rescue the people in need. However, Violette held him back, her eyes filled with emotion and her head shaking with conviction.

Was his identity and duty as a police officer still crucial at this time?

Zion shook his head at Violette. This was his duty. Hence, it was also the reason why he couldn’t reciprocate Violette’s love or marry her.

He always appeared to be in danger. While everyone else could escape in the face of danger, he was not able to. The weight of responsibility and duty bore down on him, compelling him to go against the grain.

"Trash!" I angrily cursed at Damien before going upstairs with Zion.

Dexter expressed his desire to accompany me, but I firmly rejected him. "It’s now your turn to rest and recharge. Seek out the exit on the 15th floor and wait for me to come back."

Quinn suddenly remembered

something and looked at Zion and me in a panic. "There’s definitely something amiss with Juliet. We were all walking together earlier on. But Juliet intentionally provoked Carol, causing her to run ina different direction.

"Don’t go... Juliet is luring you back on purpose!"

Juliet was confident that Zion wouldn’t abandon them, and she was also certain that he would locate Violette and me. So, she didn’t deliberately come out to lure me there? Did she intend to seize the opportunity to eliminate me?

This possibility could not be dismissed. Juliet intended to impersonate me, and the only way to fully assume my identity was to eliminate me.

"Indeed, something is amiss with Juliet..." Just as Zion was about to comment on Juliet’s odd behavior, the stairs began to shake.

"Watch out!"

"Sophia!"

At that moment, the staircase collapsed, leaving a dark, bottomless hole where it used to be. This happened on the 17th floor. Below, it seemed to lead directly to the underground...

Dexter panicked and was about to rush forward. Fortunately, Joel pulled him back, preventing him from tumbling into the endless abyss.

"Dexter!" My heart skipped a beat. I stepped on the edge of the floor and frantically shouted his name.

Dexter nearly fell in, and the gravel beneath his feet fell. It took an eternity for an echo to sound, revealing the terrifying depth of the abyss below.

Dexter looked up at me. His eyes were filled with a mix of panic and grievance as if he couldn’t bridge the gap between us even though we were so close. He stood at the edge, facing the endless abyss. There was no way to reach me.

"There must be another exit. Wait for me on the 15th floor," I encouraged him gently as if persuading a child.

"Hey, stop standing on the edge. If you fall, your wife will go mad," Joel muttered, reaching out and grabbing Dexter’s waist to pull him back.

The grievance in Dexter’s eyes disappeared. His gaze abruptly sharpened as he directed his attention toward Joel. There was a clear look of warning in his eyes.

It appeared that he was holding Joel accountable for failing to bring Damien and Juliet back, allowing them to take advantage of this situation.

Joel averted his gaze guiltily. "Surely, there must be more than just one way out."

"We must find a way to enter." I glanced at Zion. We were left with no choice now but to save them.

Zion agreed with me and patted the wall. Howard was still inside, but that loser couldn’t seem to open the door.

Suddenly, a sound came from inside. The wall moved!

I sneered. Knowing Howard’s intelligence, he wouldn’t be able to figure out the mechanism to unlock the door so effortlessly. Surely Juliet and Damien had also reached this location.

As the wall swung open, Howard rushed toward me, seething with a fiery rage. "Sofia, I’m going to kill you!"

He harbored a strong desire to kill

me and showed no sign of stopping. I stood there calmly, only ducking at the last moment as he came lunging toward me. Howard flew into the air and lost his balance, falling toward the hole behind me.

A scream echoed. As half of Howard’s body fell out, Zion instinctively reached out and grabbed his back collar. I knew Zion wouldn’t stand by and watch him die.

"If you wish to stay alive, it would be wise to remain silent from this point forward," I warned Howard and entered the room. Indeed, both Juliet and Damien were present. Damien saw me, and surprise flashed in his eyes. It was clear that he wanted to ask me how I was doing, but he held back.

Zion explained, "The stairs to the exit have collapsed, so we must locate an alternative exit."

He turned to me and asked, "What should we do now?"

"Isn’t she Sophia? She used to be a genius before she lost her memory. Let’s have her lead the way," I said in a hushed voice while pointing at Juliet.

Juliet glared at me with hostility and asked, "Sofia, have you finally stopped pretending?"

"Yeah, I’m not as smart as you," I said calmly while exuding an air of nonchalance.

Zion turned to Damien and asked, "Have you discovered another way out?"

"In the southeast corner, we discovered a vent that was meant to be an elevator shaft in the building’s initial design prototype." Damien’s gaze was continuously fixed on me.

Since it was an elevator shaft, it had to run straight up and down. Perhaps we could figure out a way to reach the 15th floor.

"Bitch..." Howard was still in shock and still cursing. He leaned against the wall to steady himself, his legs weak and trembling.

A deep frown formed on Zion’s face as he analyzed worriedly. "The top priority now is to figure out how to get to the 15th floor. I feel like the top three floors are just a warm-up, while the real challenge lies in the 15 floors below. There are exactly 16 of us."

Zion also had a premonition that only one person could make it out alive. On each floor, one person might die.

"Let’s leave this place first," Juliet said, searching the ground for clues. Her demeanor was surprisingly calm as she quickly discovered the mechanism to exit.

I squinted my eyes and looked at Juliet warily. Based on what I know about her, it seemed unlikely that her IQ could have improved so much in such a short period.