Paige Summers slammed the door shut.
A moment later, as furious curses erupted from outside again, she realized there had been no need for that. That woman, May Underwood, was one of her neighbors; the body's original owner had known her. While the two had never gotten along, the other woman wouldn't actually do anything. Her aggression was purely verbal.
'It couldn't be helped. The man that woman adored just had to fall for this body's original owner!'
'Hugo Perry... I think that was his name...'
A shadow fell over Paige Summers's eyes.
The man was indeed dead. It had happened not long ago. While traveling out of the city with a Hunting Squad, he had moved to protect the body's original owner, blocking a Mutant Beast that someone had deliberately lured toward them. However, faced with the frenzied creature, his power hadn't been enough to even protect himself. So, after he was viciously mauled, his guts torn out, the original owner was still pushed off a cliff, her life extinguished...
Only after that had she arrived in this body.
Sifting through the original owner's memories, Paige Summers's face darkened as she recalled the events with the Hunting Squad.
'Since I'm using her body, I have to do something for her.'
It wasn't that she had never killed before, but she was fundamentally against it. However, when she thought of the true culprit behind this incident, a killing intent ignited within her!
She touched her chest, which had gone cold the moment the woman outside approached. Suppressing her confusion, she slowly opened the door.
"You bitch, you—"
"Shut up!"
Paige Summers's sharp cry cut off any further insults. Her usually round eyes were now half-lidded, emitting an unmistakable chill. The weak expression her body's previous owner always wore was gone, replaced by a deadly aura.
Having never seen her like this, the woman froze on the spot. After a long moment, she stammered, "Y-you... It was all because of you that Bro Perry..." Unable to finish, May Underwood felt a pang in her heart and her eyes reddened. The man she had loved for years had fallen for this little vixen who only knew how to act pitiful, and had even given his life for her. She was heartbroken, but also full of resentment!
"Come with me!"
Snapping back to her senses, May Underwood reverted to her usual aggression, grabbing Paige's arm and dragging her toward the stairs.
Paige Summers didn't resist. She had a vague idea of their destination.
Sure enough, May Underwood soon brought her to an adjacent building with a similar structure. The conditions were just as awful, but there were fewer residents per floor, meaning each apartment was slightly larger.
She walked into what she remembered as Hugo Perry's home. Just inside, a haggard middle-aged man and woman sat at a rickety square table.
On it lay a blood-soaked shirt and a battered backpack.
'His belongings, I suppose...'
Paige Summers looked up to meet their gazes. One was filled with hatred, the other with a complex mix of emotions.
Guilt washed over her. Even though Hugo Perry hadn't been protecting *her*, she inexplicably felt that she had wronged his parents.
"It's all your fault!"
With a heart-wrenching cry, the middle-aged woman shot to her feet and lunged the moment she saw Paige, looking completely unhinged. If Paige hadn't dodged in time, the woman's bony, claw-like hands would have seized her neck. Her intent was clearly to strangle her to death!
Paige Summers stood warily to one side of the room, her eyes darting to the doorway, which was completely blocked by May Underwood.
'Are the three of them trying to kill me for revenge?'
'How could I be so careless!'
'I know this is the apocalypse, yet I was so reckless!' Paige Summers bit her lower lip in frustration.
However, as Mrs. Perry tried to lunge forward again, she was stopped by Mr. Perry. He gripped his wife's shoulders firmly and said in a stern voice, "Willa, calm down!"
"How can you ask me to calm down! Our son is dead, and we couldn't even get his body back! Why? Why did this have to happen! It's all because of this hussy! If it weren't for her, nothing would have happened to Hugo! I'll kill her! I'll kill her to avenge our son!" The woman's hysterical sobs filled the room.
Mr. Perry pulled his wife into a tight embrace, his own eyes welling with tears.
It wasn't that he wasn't grieving, but he still had his reason.
'No matter how chaotic The Dead City gets, killing within its walls is still explicitly forbidden. This girl has to die, but not here!'
He looked up at May Underwood, his expression severe.
Under his intense gaze, May Underwood mumbled something but ultimately stepped away from the door, hissing with hatred, "Scram!"
Knowing better than to say a word, Paige Summers bolted the instant the path was clear.
Only after she had sprinted out of the building and saw the blood-red sunset outside did she finally let out a long sigh of relief. She was grateful to have escaped with her life, but she also felt an indescribable weight on her chest.
Although they had let her go, the intense hostility from the three of them felt like a sharp knife stabbing into her heart.
'They won't let this go.'
The realization filled her with genuine dismay.
'I thought that by returning to the city and getting away from the male lead, I could finally catch a break as long as I worked hard to survive.'
'But unexpectedly, before the real culprit has even shown up, I've already made three new enemies.'
'And they're right next door.'
Returning to her small room, Paige Summers looked around with regret. 'I'm afraid I can't stay here anymore...'
Fortunately, she didn't have much luggage. She picked out two changes of clothes, packed two bags of compressed biscuits, and tied the small bundle to her waist. After a moment's thought, she grabbed some dust from a corner and smeared it over her face and exposed skin. With that done, she quickly headed out the door.
At this time of day, people who had been outside were starting to return to the city.
Seeing small groups of people walking toward the building entrance in the distance, she turned and ran in the opposite direction.
Thankfully, no one was following her.
After crossing two streets, she cautiously took a roundabout path before arriving at the Task Hall.
The place was huge, about the size of one and a half soccer fields.
Looking up, she could see a scrolling mission board composed of several large energy screens mounted on the wall. The text was densely packed, listing all available missions and their corresponding numbers.
The hall was packed with a sea of people.
Some were turning in completed missions, some were accepting missions for the next day, and others were there with different goals in mind.
Paige Summers's grimy appearance allowed her to blend into the crowd unnoticed. Even her splinted arm didn't draw much attention.
In the eyes of the crowd, the returning city dwellers whose clothes were ripped to shreds by Mutant Beasts and who reeked of blood were far more conspicuous.
They had likely made a haul, which meant there was profit to be made.
Whether through trade or other means...
Paige Summers breathed a sigh of relief and began to study the mission board.
The missions were varied. The most common were requests to find people, retrieve items, or form teams, but most required leaving the city, which was obviously not feasible for her right now.
She stood there frowning for a long time, until her eyes suddenly lit up.
"Furniture store hiring two carpenters. Room and board provided. Salary negotiable!"
'A carpenter, perfect!'
'For someone like me, who's been crafting things since I was a child, wood is something I've worked with for years. I couldn't be more familiar with it! I can tell what a piece of wood is good for just by touching it. Making furniture should be a piece of cake!'
'Room and board included, plus a salary... For someone with no place to live and no money, the appeal was absolutely massive.'
Within seconds, she made up her mind. This was the one!
At a window to the side, she paid the price of one Crystal Core and received the furniture store's address and a mission tag. Then she pushed her way out of the crowd and left excitedly.
However, reality would soon prove just how young and naive she was being.
'If the furniture store could find people so easily, would it really need to spend money advertising in the Task Hall?'
Standing at the entrance of the dilapidated furniture store, she peered under the arm of the brawny, middle-aged man who had opened the door. What she saw sent a chill down her spine.
The interior was just over a hundred square meters. The left half was used for storing products—tables and chairs, sturdy but so crude and simple they were painful to look at, were piled up like small mountains. The right half was the workshop where those items were made. Huge machines and massive logs were scattered everywhere. Without even touching them, Paige Summers could tell the quality of the wood was terrible. In the past, she wouldn't have given it a second glance...
Snapping back to reality, she stared at the man before her. He was at least six-foot-three, with a scruffy beard, a fierce face, and wide, glaring eyes. All the images of cozy, exquisite shops and kind, gentle clerks in her mind vanished in an instant.
The big man's voice rumbled, "What do you want to buy?"
"I..." Paige Summers licked her dry lips and awkwardly held out her mission tag. "...am here to apply for the job."
"Apply for the job?!" The big man's shock was clearly no less than hers. "Are you kidding me? Scram, scram! This is no place for a little girl like you to be playing around!" With that, he started to close the door.
Now Paige Summers was getting anxious. She had spent a Crystal Core on this! There was no way she could let it end like this!
Taking advantage of her small frame and quick speed, she zipped past him and into the shop.
The big man froze for a second, then turned and glared at her fiercely. "I told you to get out, didn't you hear me? I don't have time for your games!"
Paige Summers's eyes darted around as she puffed out her chest. "I don't have time either! I accepted this mission from the Task Hall, and I'm here to apply! You can't just kick me out!"
The big man was taken aback for a moment, then he suddenly laughed. He crossed his arms and looked her up and down, then jutted his chin toward the huge logs. "Fine. Don't say I didn't give you a chance. If you can take any one of those logs over there and cut it into two equal halves with the processor, I'll let you stay. How about it?"
Paige Summers robotically turned her head. Even the smallest of the logs was twice as thick as she was. To get it onto the cutting machine, she'd at least have to make a lever first. But the question was, where would she get the wood for a lever?
Her brow slowly furrowed, but she had no intention of admitting defeat just like that.
'This big guy looks fierce, but I can tell he's just looking down on me and is impatient. He doesn't have any malicious intent.'
'A place like this is suitable for living and not easily exposed. It's actually perfect. How could I possibly give up?'
Her mind racing, she walked over to the wood processor and began examining it from top to bottom.
After a while, feeling a little more confident, she stood up abruptly and gave the man a brilliant smile. "I can definitely do what you said! But... you'll have to provide some tools!"