The boss didn't come back for the next two days.
Paige Summers was worried, but there was nothing she could do. She was a stranger in a new place with no way to even ask for information. She knew the boss's phone number, but the problem was she didn't have a phone. All she could do was wait.
Unwilling to wait around aimlessly at the furniture store, she went to the Mission Hall for two days straight, but this time in the morning.
She couldn't risk running into Leanne Walsh again for the time being. For one, she was afraid she wouldn't be able to control her emotions. In her twenty-plus years of life, she had never met such a disgusting woman—one who called her a good friend while trying to kill her. Even if she had seen it countless times in novels and on TV, facing it in reality still sent a chill to her very bones. For another, she didn't want to give that woman another chance to kill her.
There was one more thing that bothered her. In the original novel, there didn't seem to be a plotline like this, where the original owner of her body was hated to such an extreme degree...
At night, she was back in the furniture store, desperately practicing dodging obstacles using the tables and chairs. She also familiarized herself with the Crossbow's recoil and aim, and finished by practicing assassination techniques with a dagger. Paige Summers collapsed onto the bed, but she still couldn't stop thinking about it.
'Something that wasn't in the original story has now happened.'
After mulling it over for a while, she thought, 'This might not be a bad thing for me. If the plot followed the original story exactly, I'd probably have even more to worry about!'
Paige Summers, an optimist by nature, spent two extremely fulfilling days training. Finally, on the third day, she received some good news when she went to the Mission Hall.
A Hunting Party was looking for a Speed Superpower User!
The opportunity was too rare to pass up, so even though it cost her two Crystal Cores, she painfully parted with them.
After the staff at the hall made contact, she met the Hunting Party's captain that same afternoon.
He was a refined-looking, middle-aged man.
"Hello, my name is Sylvester Marshall. I'm the captain of the Lucky Hunters." Standing in front of a restaurant across from the Mission Hall, the middle-aged man sized her up before introducing himself.
"I'm Paige Summers," she said with a smile, keeping her words brief. The man's eyes were too shrewd; they made one unconsciously put their guard up.
"Alright, long story short, we need a partner with a Speed Superpower for this hunt. Frankly, your rank is a bit low. Setting aside whether you can even pull your own weight, the danger to you will definitely be higher. But we're short on time, so... would you mind a little test?"
'He's being so tactful,' Paige thought. 'If he just came out and said, "Let me see what you've got so you don't drag us down," I wouldn't even mind!' She blinked. "No problem."
After all her hard work over the past few days, she was also curious to see where her abilities stood. If they had clearly lowered their standards for her and she still couldn't make the cut, then she would have to put the idea aside for now and get back to training.
Sylvester Marshall was quite satisfied with her cooperative attitude. They exchanged a few more words and quickly left the area, which was about to get busy, heading for an abandoned warehouse district.
This place wasn't entirely uninhabited.
Among the ruins, women and children in tattered clothes, so filthy you couldn't make out their features, occasionally darted past. They watched Paige and Sylvester, their eyes a mixture of greed and fear.
'This must be the slums of the Lower District,' Paige guessed.
Suppressing her complicated feelings, she forced her expression to remain neutral.
'That's how it was described in that apocalypse novel, wasn't it? Because it's the apocalypse, people have to be ruthless to survive. Any shred of kindness will only bring disaster upon yourself. That's why, even though the male and female leads in the novel had different personalities, when it came down to it, they were colder than ice to anyone not in their circle. To them, a stranger's life was probably worth less than a single Crystal Core. The protagonists themselves took pride in their coldness, to say nothing of the side characters flocking around them. Following that logic, anyone who disagreed with them fell into one of two categories: those even more ruthless were the "inhumane cannon fodder," and those more compassionate were the "bleeding-heart cannon fodder." In short, anyone who didn't think like the main characters was destined to be cannon fodder!'
Her disagreement with this worldview the author pushed was one of the reasons she'd dropped the novel halfway through.
'It's a harsh world, so you can't just hand out kindness indiscriminately. That makes sense. But to have absolutely no compassion for the world you live in or for your fellow human beings... to me, that's just as shameless. I even wonder if people like that could ever truly feel something like love for another person.'
'They're probably suffering from some kind of emotional deficiency!'
'It's definitely a sickness, and it needs a cure!'
Despite her internal rant, her face remained impassive.
There was no other way. In an environment like this, it was best to keep a low profile, no matter what she truly thought.
Her composure did not go unnoticed by Sylvester Marshall walking beside her, and he nodded to himself in approval.
She looked young and inexperienced, like a girl who had been sheltered at home her whole life. Yet, surprisingly, she had remained remarkably composed from the moment they met. He was starting to feel satisfied with his choice.
When a Hunting Party went out of the city, they were worried about members not being strong enough, but they were even more afraid of someone who didn't know their own limits and would panic under pressure, endangering the entire team.
A stable mindset and mental fortitude were the top priorities when selecting new members.
This girl seemed to fit the bill.
Still, he was a cautious man and wouldn't make his final decision just yet.
Her actual abilities were still a crucial factor.
They walked to a secluded corner of the ruins. The area was completely dilapidated; not even half a wall remained standing. Scattered stones littered the ground, along with bones of various sizes from some unknown creature, making it look like a junkyard. At the edge of this massive junkyard stood two people, a man and a woman, both with imposing figures.
Sylvester Marshall seemed completely oblivious to the ever-thickening stench, leading her directly to the center of the area before stopping. "This is the testing ground," he said concisely. "They're both members of the Hunting Party. When I give the signal, they'll launch ranged attacks at you. If you can evade them for ten minutes, you pass. If not... well, my apologies." He paused, then added reassuringly, "Don't worry, they won't aim for any vital spots. We just need to confirm your top speed."
'This seems to be a step above a simple drill—it's a live-fire exercise...' Paige felt a thrill of excitement. Her opponents weren't holding any weapons, which meant they would be using their superpowers. 'Since they can attack from a distance, there's a ninety-percent chance they have Natural Superpowers. Metal, Wood, Water, Flame, Earth, Wind, Lightning, Ice... I wonder which ones they have?' Her thoughts raced, and she suddenly remembered something even more important.
She looked at Sylvester Marshall and gave a polite little smile.
"My uncle was worried something might happen on my way here, so he asked me to let him know I'd met you safely. But I completely forgot my phone, and I'm afraid he'll freak out and start searching for me! Could I please borrow yours to give him a quick call?"
Sylvester Marshall was taken aback for a moment, but then he seemed to understand. A subtle expression crossed his face.
"Of course."
Paige took the phone and, right in front of him, dialed her boss's number.
"Who is this?"
Once she confirmed it was her boss's voice, she rattled off, "Uncle, it's me! I forgot my phone, but I've already met the captain of the Lucky Hunters! He's really nice, so don't you worry. I'll be back soon! Oh, and don't stay in the Upper District too long. Come home early, okay? Uh-huh, that's all, I'm hanging up now!"
"..."
On the other end of the line, Woody Warren stared at his phone. After a long pause, he suddenly said to the old friend beside him, "I have to go back."
"Hey! We just finally got this settled! The least you could do is treat me to a drink!"
Woody Warren was already distracted. "Yeah, yeah, next time for sure."
"Huh? Why are you leaving all of a sudden? Wait, hey! Damn it, you ungrateful bastard! Just see if I don't fleece you for all you're worth next time!"
Leaving aside how much that phone call worried Woody Warren, Paige Summers had already deleted the call from the log and handed the phone back.
Sylvester Marshall maintained that same subtle expression. As he was about to step out of the testing area, he said slowly, "I'll be watching from the sidelines."
Paige Summers did her best to give him an enigmatic smile. "Thank you, Captain Marshall!"
'It never hurts to be cautious,' she thought. 'This Marshall guy is probably fine, but I can't guarantee that man and woman over there don't have something up their sleeves. What if someone paid them off? With their captain watching, at least I won't die here for some unknown reason.'
Once Paige Summers was ready, Sylvester Marshall gave the command, and the test began!
The woman on the right attacked first. She moved incredibly fast; her attack came the instant the command was given. Two vines erupted from the ground, twisting toward Paige as if they were a video game's tentacle monster, trying to seize her in their grasp.
Ever since the giant python, Paige had been extremely wary of—and hated—this kind of flexible attack. For a split second, she was tempted to stretch out her right arm and see if she could just crush them.
But of course, she wouldn't do that.
Right now, all she needed to do was dodge.
Actually fighting them was another matter entirely.
She took a deep breath and dashed forward, out of the vines' reach. Her solid form suddenly seemed to blur as she imagined herself as light as the wind.
'Can the wind be bound by anything?'
'Not at all.'
'As long as there is space and flowing air, it exists!'
However, the tentacle-like vines weren't so easy to shake. They continued to stretch, following her movements. The tips grew thinner as they extended, but if they managed to wrap around her, she knew it wouldn't be easy to break free.
Paige immediately realized running in a straight line was a bad idea. She twisted at the waist, sharply changing direction.
After sprinting halfway around the junkyard, she inevitably drew closer to the man on the left.
She hadn't forgotten that someone else was there!
'Is he going to take this chance to attack?'
Just as she was thinking this, the man on the left made his move.
A ball of Flame, the size of a soccer ball and radiating scorching heat, shot straight for her chest!