The door got knocked again. Skinny Pete, visibly annoyed now, yanked it open.

Garrett instantly put on a flattering smile and held out the Tier 9 crystal core. "Uh... how about this one?"

The moment Skinny Pete saw the Tier 9 core, his face went dark.

"Get lost. Get lost, get lost. As far as you can."

"You—"

Garrett’s expression completely collapsed. His anger flared so hard he almost snapped on the spot.

But he thought about what kind of people lived in this mansion—and he forced the rage back down his throat, swallowing it raw.

"Since Fallen Star Squad doesn’t welcome us," he said through clenched teeth, "we’ll take our leave."

Face iron-blue, Garrett turned and walked off with his men.

Right then, another group came toward them. Both sides paused for a split second when they met, but nobody said anything. They just nodded politely as they passed.

That group went straight to the door, casually handed Skinny Pete two cartons of Marlboro Reds, and strolled inside like it was their own place.

Garrett’s face grew even darker.

Two cartons of cigarettes... better than a Tier 9 crystal core?

Yeah, no. That was deliberate.

That bastard was targeting him on purpose.

Garrett’s chest felt like it was burning.

In his entire life, he’d never been humiliated like this.

If not for the fact that he was weaker... with his personality, anyone who dared treat him this way would already be dead.

"Back," he snapped. "We’re leaving Atlas City first thing tomorrow morning."

In the end, he chose to run. Can’t beat them, can’t even offend them—so I’ll avoid them.

But the gloom in his eyes said it all: if he ever got the chance, he’d ruin these people without mercy.

Inside the mansion...

"General Cross, you guys came early." Ethan looked a little embarrassed as he waved them in. "Sit, sit. Food’s gonna take a bit."

Cross laughed. "You make it sound like we’re here just to mooch a meal."

Then he lowered his voice, curious. "By the way, when I came over, I saw Garrett leaving. He looked... pretty unhappy. Did things go badly?"

"That guy?" Skinny Pete said, looking insulted just thinking about it. "Boss didn’t let him in. Dude tried to brush us off with a Tier 9 crystal core. Like, who’s he looking down on?"

"..."

General Cross and the others’ mouths twitched.

They genuinely couldn’t understand Skinny Pete’s logic.

What they didn’t know was that Ethan didn’t smoke, so the house never stocked cigarettes. To Skinny Pete, a carton of Marlboro Reds was way more tempting than a Tier 9 crystal core.

And, more importantly, General Cross and his people were familiar faces.

They chatted for a bit when the door got knocked again.

Skinny Pete immediately moved to get it, but Ethan stopped him.

"Henry. You go open it."

"Me?" Henry looked confused. Normally, "opening the door" was so far beneath his job description it wasn’t even funny.

Still, since Ethan said it, Henry didn’t argue. He walked over and pulled the door open.

Standing outside was that Amazonian-looking woman.

Henry froze for a beat, then his face broke into an uncontrollable grin—like he’d been hit with a rush of pure luck.

"...You came."

At first, he’d only felt a little flutter around her.

But after Ethan and the others kept teasing him day after day, that flutter had turned into something weirdly real.

It had been more than half a year. Seeing her again now, his heart actually sped up.

Vivian also paused when she saw Henry, her eyes turning complicated.

Some things didn’t mean much at first.

But once people kept saying them in your ear—again and again—you couldn’t help but start thinking in that direction the moment you saw the person.

Vivian was strong—strong enough that the kind of partner she wanted had to be even stronger than she was.

Before the apocalypse, someone like Henry—clean-cut, pale, kind of scholarly—would’ve never been her type.

But now? As one of Fallen Star Squad’s earliest members, Henry was almost certainly stronger than her.

And when she remembered what Ethan had said to her earlier...

Her face heated up for no reason.

Henry blinked at her. "Uh... what’s wrong with you? Why’re you so red?"

"N-nothing," Vivian said, forcing her eyes to stay steady. "You’re not going to let me come in and sit?"

"Oh—right. Yeah. Come in!"

Henry hurriedly stepped aside and ushered her into the mansion.

"This is...?" The people inside looked up, confused.

Aside from Ethan and Chris, nobody else had ever met Vivian.

Vivian took the initiative, smiling. "I’m Vivian from Deepwater City compound. Nice to meet you all."

"Oh." They nodded casually, not particularly impressed.

To them, whether it was a large compound or a major compound... it didn’t really hit the same way anymore.

Then Ethan dropped a bomb like it was nothing.

"She’s Henry’s girlfriend."

"Oh?!"

Instantly, everyone’s interest lit up. They swarmed Vivian, asking questions and acting overly warm, the speed of the attitude shift so fast it left her a little dazed.

Even Emily—who’d been busy in the kitchen—came running out to get a look, openly sizing Vivian up.

When she saw Vivian’s sturdy, muscular build, Emily froze.

Henry likes this type?

Is it because when he was little I didn’t make him feel safe, so he grew up craving "security"?

...Though to be fair, aside from being built like she could carry a fridge up stairs, Vivian’s face was genuinely pretty.

Emily moved fast, grabbing Vivian’s hand with both of hers. "Vivian, right? I’m Henry’s sister. If he ever bullies you, you tell me. I’ll beat him up for you."

"..."

Vivian’s brain fully short-circuited.

Who am I? Where am I? Why did I come here?

Maybe... I really shouldn’t have come tonight.

She tried to pull her hand out of Emily’s grip. Once. Twice. Again.

No luck.

That made Vivian’s heart jump.

This "soft-looking" woman in front of her... wasn’t soft at all.

Of course. Vivian’s eyes flicked around the room. Fallen Star Squad doesn’t have weaklings.

Right when everyone was talking over each other, the door got knocked again.

"Damn, it’s busy tonight," someone muttered.

"Obviously," Ethan said with a grin. "We ran into a lot of familiar faces today. People were bound to show up."

He tilted his head. "Sean, go get it."

"Okay."

Sean walked over and opened the door.

He froze the second he saw who was standing there—four women.

"Grace?!"

Grace blinked too, startled. "Sean? You’re here?"

They were both from Starlight State University, same department. Not close-close, but definitely familiar.

From behind Grace, a big-eyed, cute-looking girl lit up like she’d just discovered a scandal. "Grace—your old boyfriend?!"

"Don’t start," Grace snapped, rolling her eyes. "He was a year ahead of me."

Sean stepped back and held the door wider. "Come in."

He had questions, sure, but he didn’t push—at least not at the door.

Once Grace and the others came inside, the mansion got even louder.

What made it even funnier was that one of Grace’s group—Chloe Parker, the big-eyed cutie—was someone Big Mike had chased back in the day.

And gotten brutally rejected.

Now they were meeting again, and it really did feel like the world had flipped upside down.

After the apocalypse, strength ruled. Looks didn’t matter the way they used to.

It was kind of like before the apocalypse: no matter how ugly you were, if you were rich enough... you suddenly weren’t ugly anymore.

Not long after that, even Maxwell showed up—bringing Ryan and Aurora with him.

Ethan’s mansion instantly hit maximum capacity. Since the world ended, it probably hadn’t been this lively even once.

Ethan finally waved a hand and told Mia to stop cooking. Instead, he had Maxwell call a few great chefs from the compound to come over and handle the meal.

There were simply too many people. Mia couldn’t possibly cook for all of them alone.

So everyone gathered around, drinking coffee and talking. Laughter kept bursting out, on and off, like the apocalypse had taken the night off.

In times like these...

A scene like this was ridiculously rare.