The noise from inside the duplex had not stopped for even ten full minutes since noon. Metal cutting, drilling, hammering, footsteps, machines dragging across the floor, workers calling to each other from one room to another, and now and then the deep grinding sound of reinforced materials being fitted into place made the whole twentieth floor feel almost like a construction zone inside a sealed luxury building. Bai Li had stayed there far longer than she originally intended because once she began checking one section, another thought immediately followed, then another instruction, then another adjustment. She moved between floors several times, checked the placement of storage spaces, confirmed which walls were being reinforced first, and personally reminded Shen Kyao twice that the bedroom interiors were not to be disturbed beyond what had already been agreed. By the time the afternoon light shifted toward evening, she could feel the constant noise pressing against her temples.

At around four in the afternoon, her phone rang. It was the delivery from the hidden equipment store.

The crossbows and bolts had arrived.

She immediately stepped away from the workers discussing measurements near the living room wall and headed out, taking the elevator down herself because she did not trust anyone else to casually move that kind of equipment through a building full of curious eyes. When she reached downstairs, the workers from the delivery van were already waiting with sealed boxes stacked near the service entrance. Even they looked mildly tired just from unloading them.

"These are heavier than they look," one of them muttered while adjusting his grip.

Bai Li checked the labels quickly and nodded. "Take them up carefully. Master bedroom. Large cupboard."

Because the boxes were not only heavy but awkward in shape, they needed several trips back and forth using the service elevator. Each time they came up, Bai Li personally opened the bedroom and directed them toward the large built in cupboard near the wall. She did not want even one renovation worker touching these things by mistake or opening something out of curiosity. Five compound crossbows, six hundred bolts, sharpened kukris, binoculars, and other items all disappeared neatly behind the cupboard doors.

After the final box went in, she locked the cupboard immediately.

The bedroom itself was untouched enough that keeping dangerous things there posed no issue. No heavy interior modification was happening inside those rooms anymore, only external security layers and wiring.

The delivery workers left after receiving payment and thanks, and Bai Li returned once more to the noisy living room downstairs where workers were still fitting reinforced internal frames around balcony exits.

At around six in the evening, another call came.

This time it was from the outdoor equipment store.

The camping items had arrived exactly on schedule.

These goods were less sensitive, so Bai Li did not bother hiding them. Sleeping bags, ropes, portable stoves, tents, thermal blankets, gloves, waterproof gear, emergency tools, and outdoor packs were stacked neatly in one corner of the living room, still wrapped in plastic.

For a moment she stood there looking at the corner growing fuller and fuller with practical survival things and strangely felt calmer than she had all day.

Then another drilling sound exploded near the corridor wall and her head gave a faint throb.

That was enough.

She turned and walked out.

The hallway outside immediately felt quieter, though even there the muffled machine sounds still leaked through the door. Bai Li exhaled and started toward the elevator, already thinking she should return to the hotel before the noise drove her mind into complete irritation.

But before she reached the elevator, the doors opened.

And she stopped without meaning to.

A woman stepped out.

A mask covered the lower half of her face, but that changed nothing because Bai Li recognized her instantly from the eyes alone.

Those long phoenix eyes.

Cold, calm, elegant, impossible to mistake.

She wore very ordinary clothes today, light jeans, a clean shirt, simple enough that anyone else dressed the same would disappear into the background, yet on her the plainness somehow made her stand out more instead of less.

The hallway light fell softly across her figure.

For one second Bai Li forgot why she had even stepped outside.

Then their eyes met.

And before she could think properly, her own feet had already betrayed her.

She walked forward.

Not fast.

Not consciously either.

Just as if some invisible line had quietly pulled her.

By the time her brain caught up, she was already standing right in front of her.

The woman’s gaze rested on her calmly, neither surprised nor avoiding.

Those eyes felt strange at close distance, as if there was far more hidden behind them than any ordinary person should carry.

On the other side, Yan Cijin was watching just as carefully.

From the first day she noticed the sudden appearance of this young woman, things had already begun adding up in her mind. A person who should have remained ordinary suddenly bought the most expensive duplex in the building. Then came large scale military grade renovation. Then trucks of supplies. Then medicines. Then reinforced materials. Now even more deliveries every single day.

Nothing about it matched the Bai Li she remembered from earlier timelines.

This made only one conclusion increasingly difficult to ignore.

This person was an anomaly.

And anomalies were dangerous until understood.

Perhaps useful.

Perhaps fatal.

At the moment, Yan Cijin was more curious than hostile, but that did not mean her caution had lowered.

Then she noticed something else.

Despite standing almost six feet tall, despite carrying herself with a naturally straight posture, Bai Li looked oddly unsettled under her gaze.

Almost nervous.

That contrast was unexpectedly amusing.

A faint coldness passed through Bai Li’s spine under that calm look and finally shook her back into speech.

"Umm... hello... I’m really sorry about the noise from my apartment," she said too quickly. "The renovation is... a bit loud. I’m very sorry this will continue for a few more days. I hope it hasn’t disturbed you too much."

Yan Cijin looked at her for a moment longer, and there was unmistakable amusement hidden in her eyes now.

The tall woman in front of her clearly had strength, secrets, and unusual preparation, yet right now she sounded like someone apologizing after accidentally knocking over a flower pot.

"It’s fine," Yan Cijin said at last, voice calm and smooth behind the mask. "Hospitals are louder than your workers. I can tolerate this."

That answer somehow made Bai Li even more aware of herself.

"I still feel bad about it."

"You apologized twice already."

Bai Li blinked.

Then gave a small awkward smile.

"I did."

Yan Cijin looked at her for another second and then added, "Your renovation seems very serious."

Bai Li’s heart skipped slightly because the sentence sounded casual but her instinct immediately sensed weight inside it.

"Just... some security upgrades," she answered.

"For security?"

"Yes."

Yan Cijin’s eyes rested on her quietly.

Then she said only, "You must value safety a lot."

"I do."

The silence after that somehow felt stranger than ordinary silence.

Then Yan Cijin nodded slightly and walked past her.

"Good evening then, neighbor."

The faint scent that followed her stayed in the hallway after she entered her own door.

Bai Li remained standing there two full seconds longer than necessary before finally remembering how to breathe normally.

The next three days passed in a rhythm that felt strangely repetitive but necessary. Bai Li spent mornings and afternoons moving between the hotel and the apartment, checking progress, confirming installations, and filling in smaller missing things she had nearly forgotten earlier. She bought thick winter coats, practical jackets, thermal layers, plain shirts, cargo pants, heavy socks, gloves, boots, and several spare sets of durable clothes that allowed movement rather than appearance. She had no interest in skirts, dresses, decorative shoes, or anything that looked fragile. Everything she bought had one rule only: practical first. Most pieces were dark colored, easy to clean, and durable enough to survive rough use.

She also purchased extra blankets, compression bags, several sturdy backpacks, and simple tools she felt might matter later even if she did not immediately need them.

By the sixth day, when she returned again in the morning, the duplex had changed so completely that even she paused near the entrance.

The renovation was finished.

By the time Bai Li returned to the duplex that afternoon, the entire place had already changed so much that even she, who had watched the process almost every day, paused at the entrance for a few seconds before stepping inside. The heavy construction noise that had filled the apartment for nearly a week was gone. No drilling, no hammering, no sharp cutting sounds, no workers shouting instructions across rooms. What remained now was the much softer sound of final cleaning. A few workers in clean gloves were wiping away the last traces of dust from corners, polishing metal edges, collecting leftover protective sheets, and making sure not a single trace of construction remained visible. The smell inside had changed too. The rough scent of cement dust and cut metal had been replaced by something cleaner, almost like new furniture mixed with faint disinfectant. The wide living room looked bright again under the soft ceiling lights, and if someone who had never seen the renovation came in now, they would not immediately notice how much had been changed. That was the most impressive part. Nothing looked exaggerated. Nothing looked ugly or heavy handed. It still looked like a luxurious duplex, elegant and expensive, but hidden inside that elegance was something entirely different.

Shen Kyao was standing near the center of the living room with two senior technicians, holding a file folder in one hand while discussing final checks in a low voice. The moment she noticed Bai Li entering, she looked up and smiled, clearly satisfied with both the work and the timing.

"Miss Bai, perfect timing," she said while closing the folder lightly. "We just finished the final system testing. We were about to call you."

Bai Li stepped further inside, her eyes moving naturally across the room. The marble floor had been polished until it reflected light again. The walls looked untouched, smooth and expensive, as if nothing had ever been opened. Even the edges near the balcony where major reinforcement had happened looked completely natural now.

"It looks different," Bai Li said quietly.

Shen Kyao gave a small proud nod. "That is exactly the goal. Protection without ruining the original design."

She then began walking her through everything one section at a time, not rushing, making sure Bai Li understood what had been done and where every major system had been hidden.

"The rooftop solar array has been completed beyond the original plan," Shen Kyao said while leading her toward the control area built discreetly near the side wall of the living room. "You originally asked for strong output, but after checking your full power demand, we expanded the number of panels significantly. The rooftop now has industrial grade solar panels covering most usable surface area. These are not normal residential panels. Their efficiency is much higher and they feed directly into an independent battery bank."

One of the technicians beside her opened a concealed wall cabinet and revealed a clean digital control panel hidden behind it.

"This battery bank here is connected to that rooftop system," he explained while tapping the display lightly. "Under full sunlight, the energy stored here can support internal systems for a very long time even if municipal electricity fails completely."

Another senior technician added from beside him, "And the generator below is industrial grade too. It’s much larger than household backup systems. Full storage can maintain major systems for months depending on usage, especially if combined with solar input."

Bai Li looked at the display carefully. The numbers were clean, easy to understand, and the layout was practical. Battery reserve, solar input, generator reserve, and emergency switching all appeared clearly.

Then they moved toward the bathroom systems because the water work had required some of the most complex hidden installation.

The foreman, an older man with steady hands and patient speech, stood near the side utility section and opened another concealed panel.

"This section handles the water recycling system," he explained while pointing to separate marked controls. "Used water from bathing and sink drainage enters the first filtration stage here, then passes through secondary purification before going into storage. It can then be used again for non drinking purposes."

He pressed one switch lightly and showed the indicator system.

"We also connected a large rooftop reserve tank through separate controlled piping. That tank is much larger than standard building reserve. The water route is independent, so even if city supply stops temporarily, you still have controlled reserve."

Another worker showed her a separate line beside it.

"This switch controls municipal water input. This one shifts to reserve tank mode. If needed, you can isolate both and use only internal recycled flow."

Bai Li listened without interrupting. She only asked short practical questions, and every answer she received was enough after a single explanation.

Then came electricity control.

A technician opened another hidden panel near the utility wall.

"Here you switch between city electricity and solar circuit," he said while demonstrating each position. "And this side controls independent battery output. If one system fails, you can move manually."

He repeated the switching process twice.

Bai Li followed once and already understood it.

Then the real heart of what she had asked for came next.

Security.

The military grade protection had been done so carefully that at first glance nothing looked changed. The windows still looked elegant, still large, still bright. But when Shen Kyao lightly tapped the glass near the edge, the sound that came back was completely different from ordinary luxury glass.

"Triple layered military grade laminate," Shen Kyao explained. "Bullet resistant, impact resistant, and reinforced against blast pressure."

The finishing around the frame remained elegant enough that nobody would suspect hidden reinforcement unless they touched it closely.

The balcony doors had also been replaced internally. The decorative outer layer remained beautiful, but inside them were reinforced metal structures and special locking mechanisms.

Then they moved toward surveillance.

The CCTV layout had been installed with careful hidden placement. Small cameras covered the internal hallway, living room angles, both balcony lines, the entrance corridor, stair points, and external blind corners outside the apartment.

For this part Bai Li had already quietly handed the building manager another five hundred thousand yuan two days ago so he would ignore the external camera installation and never ask questions later.

He had accepted even faster than the first time.

Money clearly removed most principles very quickly.

At the entrance, the door installer was still waiting because he wanted to personally complete the final handover for the explosion proof door.

The new outer door stood there looking elegant and expensive rather than heavy, but Bai Li knew exactly how much metal sat hidden inside it now.

The installer stood beside it and began slowly.

"Miss Bai, this door needs three separate verifications before opening. Iris scan first, fingerprint second, then physical key. Only after all three match will the system unlock."

He demonstrated step by step.

A small scan light appeared near eye level.

Then fingerprint verification.

Then the key slot hidden behind a sliding cover.

Only after all three did the lock release with a deep metallic sound.

"Outside force will not help," he added while knocking lightly on the frame. "Even strong explosives from outside will not easily open this."

Bai Li immediately asked the question she cared about most.

"How do I reset administrator rights?"

The installer nodded at once, clearly expecting that question from someone cautious enough to order such a system.

He guided her through the reset menu manually, then repeated it again while she recorded the full process on her phone and wrote the sequence down in a notebook.

By the second explanation she had already memorized most of it.

Then he let her do it alone.

She completed it in one try.

"Very fast learner," he said honestly.

Bai Li only gave a small nod.

After that, another technician took her upstairs to the desktop system built into the command desk area and opened the surveillance controls.

Every camera appeared on screen at once.

Internal hallways.

Entry points.

Balcony angles.

Outer corridor.

Storage room view.

Emergency recording settings.

Motion detection.

Storage routing.

Backup recording.

Alert mode.

He explained once, then let Bai Li try.

She switched views, enlarged angles, checked recording logs, and understood everything after one pass.

The technician himself looked a little surprised by how quickly she grasped it.

By late afternoon, final cleaning ended. The workers collected tools, folded ladders, packed unused materials, checked signatures, and began leaving floor by floor.

The apartment slowly emptied.

Shen Kyao came to her one last time near the entrance and extended her hand.

"Everything promised has been completed, Miss Bai."

Bai Li shook her hand lightly and looked once more around the duplex that now looked peaceful, elegant, and dangerous in a way nobody would guess.

"Good work," she said simply.

It was not exaggerated praise, but Shen Kyao still looked satisfied because she understood that from Bai Li, those two words already meant genuine approval.

When the last workers finally left and the main door closed, silence returned fully for the first time in days.

The duplex no longer sounded like a construction site.

It sounded like nothing at all.

And that silence strangely made the place feel even more secure.

But Bai Li did not stay long because one final major task still remained unfinished.

The RV.

She left the apartment almost immediately, took the elevator down, and headed toward the vehicle showroom.

When she arrived there, the manager himself came out personally the moment he saw her.

His smile today was much wider than before because her order had clearly become one of the most memorable custom jobs they had handled in recent years.

"Miss Bai, you came at the perfect time," he said while walking her toward the delivery area.

The modified gray RV stood there waiting.

At first glance, it looked almost ordinary.

A clean medium sized gray caravan, practical and quiet in appearance.

Not luxurious.

Not flashy.

The kind of vehicle people might glance at once and forget.

But once she stepped closer, every hidden change began showing itself.

The glass had changed completely.

Military grade reinforced windows now sat in every frame, dark enough from outside but clear from inside.

The body had hidden shock resistant plating beneath the exterior finish.

The tires were upgraded to heavy duty military standard.

The front carried steel spikes fitted cleanly across the reinforced bumper, integrated so well that they looked like part of the original design rather than added later.

High power solar panels sat mounted across the upper roof with protected wiring routed inward.

The manager proudly opened one section after another while introducing every change.

"This exterior plating now absorbs heavy impact far better than before."

"These windows are bullet resistant."

"The tire structure can handle very rough terrain."

He opened the side storage.

Inside, hidden compartments had been added.

He showed battery control.

Generator support.

Additional fuel reserve.

Internal water storage.

Compact hidden storage beneath sleeping sections.

A foldable internal table.

Extra reinforced locks.

Even the front cabin had hidden emergency switches.

And while he kept introducing each improvement with growing pride, Bai Li quietly ran her hand across the RV body and for the first time that entire day felt that the final major piece of her preparation had truly returned fully into her hands.

.

.

.

To be continued.