"I don’t know what the future holds anymore. Honestly... I have a bad feeling about all of this."

Silas’s eyes flickered briefly before he hugged her back even more firmly.

"You’re overthinking things," he whispered gently beside her ear. "As long as I’m here, there is no one on this Earth who can put you in danger."

Hearing those reassuring words, Ivy finally released a long breath of relief.

Eventually, exhaustion overtook her once again, and she slowly fell asleep in his embrace.

Fortunately, this time there were no nightmares.

The next morning, Ivy woke up to the warm aroma of freshly cooked food filling the entire house.

Without wasting any time, she quickly headed toward the dining area after washing her teeths.

The moment she arrived, she saw Silas standing near the table while calmly serving breakfast.

Seeing him like that, Ivy rested her chin on her hand dramatically before sighing.

"Oh my," she muttered teasingly. "My husband looks so beautiful that I’m honestly starting to worry someone might steal him away from me."

Silas had just opened his mouth to reply when another voice suddenly interrupted them.

"Indeed, sister-in-law," Asher said while walking into the dining room lazily. "You should hold tightly onto my brother. Otherwise, someone else might snatch him away and leave you crying."

The moment Ivy heard Asher’s voice, her lips twitched slightly from amusement and embarrassment.

She didn’t even notice him!

Meanwhile, Silas slowly turned toward his younger brother with an expressionless face.

"You sound unemployed," Silas replied coldly. "Even during the apocalypse, you remain just as useless as before."

The moment those vicious words landed, Asher’s face instantly paled.

He stared at Silas with complete disbelief.

"I only made one sarcastic comment!" Asher cried out dramatically. "Was there really any need to attack me like that?"

Silas calmly placed another plate onto the table before replying without mercy.

"If you dislike sarcastic responses, then maybe you should stop throwing sarcastic comments first."

Asher immediately looked utterly heartbroken.

Seeing his pitiful expression, Ivy could not help laughing softly.

At that moment, Silas walked over and gently placed a warm cup of coffee in front of Ivy.

"Drink carefully," Silas reminded softly. "It’s still hot."

Ivy smiled slightly before taking the cup obediently.

Meanwhile, Asher quietly sat down at the table and looked at the breakfast spread with sparkling eyes.

There were fluffy pancakes drizzled with syrup, crispy spring rolls, warm toasted bread, fried eggs, and several side dishes neatly arranged across the table.

Most importantly... there were also Ivy’s favorite chocolate-filled snacks that Silas had specially prepared for her.

The warmth in Ivy’s heart deepened immediately.

Just as Asher was about to happily grab a seat, Silas suddenly handed him the final empty plate calmly.

"I only prepared food for two people," Silas stated casually.

Asher froze.

A second later, he exploded.

"Silas!" Asher shouted dramatically like a betrayed child.

"What kind of brother behaves like this? Can’t you be even slightly accommodating? I only teased you a little!"

Then he immediately turned toward Ivy with watery eyes.

"Sister-in-law," Asher pleaded pitifully. "Help me. My heart is already shattered because of betrayal. Please save me."

Hearing him sound so miserable, Ivy tilted her head curiously before looking toward Silas silently.

Silas instantly understood her expression.

With a resigned sigh, he finally grabbed another plate and placed it in front of Asher.

The moment Asher saw that, he immediately grinned brightly.

"As expected, sister-in-law is the best!" he declared proudly.

Ivy chuckled softly before finally asking,

"Now tell me. What exactly happened to you?"

The moment she asked that question, Asher’s expression gradually darkened.

He slowly took a bite of pancake first.

The sweet warmth of the food seemed to comfort him slightly before he finally muttered quietly,

"My best friend betrayed me." 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

The moment those words left his mouth, Ivy froze briefly.

’Matthew?’ she thought inwardly.

In her previous life, the person who betrayed Asher had indeed been a man named Matthew.

However, this timeline was becoming increasingly different.

Looking carefully at Asher, Ivy asked quietly,

"What happened?"

Asher sighed heavily before beginning his explanation.

"Since we discovered that some zombies could actually be controlled and rehabilitated," Asher began slowly: "I started assigning groups of soldiers outside the main base to capture and treat them."

As he spoke, his expression became increasingly bitter.

"After the treatment process succeeded, those zombies were used to help establish smaller settlements outside the main base."

Ivy listened quietly.

After all, her original base was becoming larger and larger every day.

Because of that, Ivy herself had once suggested to the Blackthorn family that they should begin building independent residential zones and smaller city-like districts nearby to expand their territory safely.

Once the smaller bases were successfully established, the next phase of the plan began naturally.

People were slowly admitted into those settlements one group at a time.

Empty lands were cleared, damaged buildings were reconstructed, and factories gradually started operating again through manual labor.

The once hopeless atmosphere of the apocalypse slowly began changing little by little.

Humanity was recovering.

Even though the world still remained dangerous and unstable, traces of civilization had finally started returning.

For many people, this became an opportunity.

An opportunity to survive.

An opportunity to rebuild their future.

And for some ambitious individuals, it also became an opportunity to gain wealth and power again.

Asherer leaned back against his chair while rubbing his forehead tiredly.

"The idea was honestly very tempting," he admitted.

"If these settlements continued developing, then eventually they could become independent cities. Whoever controlled them first would naturally rise to the top again."

"Since Silas was backing me," Asher continued, "I decided to invest heavily into it."

At first, everything progressed smoothly.

They recruited batches of ordinary humans, awakened superhumans, engineers, construction workers, and specialists from different fields.

Some experts even possessed abilities specifically useful for construction and earth manipulation.

Under the guidance of several trained superhumans, houses could now be built within only a few days instead of months.

As a result, the settlement expanded rapidly.