How could this happen…

Ethan silently moved through the shadows, relying on his Domain of the Dead ability to remain undetected.

Every strike he made was precise, clean, and efficient, avoiding any unnecessary bloodshed that might alert the other Awakeners. 

Their heightened senses, especially their sharp sense of smell, meant even the faintest hint of blood could give him away.

After eliminating the three individuals in the first room, Ethan turned and slipped into the adjacent one.

Inside, a female Awakener lay in deep sleep, completely unaware of the danger. Ethan repeated his method, swiftly extracting her Neurocore without hesitation.

One by one, Ethan hunted down five Awakeners in total, absorbing their Neurocores as he went. 

Each time he consumed one, a familiar, sweet "cherry" flavor filled his mouth. 

The taste triggered a flood of memories, pulling him back to a time long gone.

He remembered the orphanage's backyard, where a cherry tree stood tall. When the fruit ripened, he and Mia, along with the other kids, would climb the tree, plucking the bright red cherries and stuffing their mouths full of sweetness. Their laughter would echo under the warm sunlight, carefree and full of life.

Though those memories had long since faded, blurred by the passage of time, the taste brought them back vividly, as if those days had never left him. 

For a fleeting moment, he felt like that boy again, standing under the cherry tree.

But the nostalgia didn't last. Ethan shook off the memories and pressed forward, his focus cold and unyielding as he continued executing his plan.

He phased through the wall and entered a massive warehouse. 

The space was packed with supplies: spices, drinks, sandwiches, sausages, bacon, bread—essentially everything you'd expect to find in a well-stocked supermarket.

Without hesitation, Ethan waved his hand, storing the supplies into his spatial storage ring.

Moving deeper, he discovered another warehouse. 

This one housed frozen goods—shrimp, crabs, seafood, and even fresh cuts of meat. Thanks to a backup generator, the refrigeration systems were still running, keeping everything in pristine condition. Ethan quickly claimed all of it.

The next two warehouses were just as bountiful. 

One was filled with household appliances, cleaning tools, and detergents—practically everything needed for daily life. The only exception was the vegetable storage area, where most of the produce had rotted away, releasing a nauseating stench.

Ethan didn't care. He wasn't much of a vegetable person anyway. To him, the decaying greens were meaningless.

As he continued looting, two Awakeners stationed outside on night watch began to sense that something was off.

"Marcus, it's already 2:05 a.m. Why hasn't Buck come to take over yet?" a young man muttered, his voice laced with irritation.

"No idea," Marcus, an older man, replied with a frown, his tone carrying a hint of impatience.

"Maybe he overdid it last night with that woman and can't even get out of bed," the younger man sneered, his words dripping with sarcasm.

"I'll go check on him." The younger man stood up, clearly annoyed by Buck's tardiness. He walked straight to the first room and knocked on the door.

"Buck! Get up and take your shift! Stop pretending to be dead and hurry up!"

"Hey! Did you hear me?"

No response.

The uneasy silence sent a chill down his spine. Taking a deep breath, he braced himself and shoved the door open with force.

What he saw froze him in place.

Inside the room, three bodies lay on the bed—two women and one man. Their skin was pale, almost paper-white, and their lifeless faces made it clear they'd been dead for some time.

"Shit! Something's wrong!" the young man shouted, his voice trembling as he spun around and yelled into the night. "Everyone, wake up! Someone's been killed!"

His panicked cry shattered the stillness of the night like a thunderclap.

In the main hall, the survivors stirred awake, rubbing their eyes and stumbling toward the commotion.

"What's going on?"

"What happened?"

"Is it zombies? Did they get in?"

The crowd buzzed with nervous chatter, fear spreading like wildfire among them.

Amid the chaos, no one noticed the tall, lean figure standing quietly in the crowd. His expression was calm, detached, as if none of this concerned him.

That figure was Ethan.

Meanwhile, Marcus—the leader of the survivors and the only Awakener among them who had successfully condensed a crystal core—strode over quickly. His expression was grim, and his sharp gaze swept across the scene.

"Billy, what happened?" Marcus asked in a low voice, his tone carrying a barely restrained anger.

"Buck… he's dead!" Billy, a young man, pointed toward the room, his voice trembling noticeably.

Marcus followed the direction of Billy's finger, and his brows furrowed instantly. His face darkened further, and a dangerous glint flickered in his eyes.

Behind him, the other survivors began whispering among themselves. Fear and unease spread through the group like wildfire.

"How did he die? Don't tell me he got too excited last night and had a heart attack?"

"Don't joke about that. Those two women are dead too."

"Could it be… some kind of disease?"

"…"

The murmurs rippled through the crowd, but Marcus's expression only grew colder and more severe.

He slowly approached Buck's body, his brows tightly knit, his sharp eyes scanning every inch of the corpse.

Thanks to his heightened senses as an Awakener, Marcus quickly noticed something chilling—Buck's energy had completely vanished. His Neurocore had been taken.

But… there wasn't a single wound on Buck's body.

"This… this is impossible…" Marcus muttered under his breath, a flicker of shock flashing in his eyes.

His gaze swept across the room, and his voice dropped to a cold, commanding tone. "Who was staying in the rooms next to him? Bring them out. I need to ask them some questions."

"I… I don't know…" Billy stammered, his face pale. It was clear he was just as shaken by the situation.

Marcus turned his attention to the hallway and noticed that the doors to four adjacent rooms were still shut tight. His heart sank, a growing sense of dread creeping over him.

As an Awakener, his senses were razor-sharp. With all this commotion, there was no way the people in those rooms hadn't heard anything.

Unless…

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

Without hesitation, Marcus kicked open the doors to all four rooms in quick succession.

What he saw inside made everyone gasp in horror. In each room lay a cold, lifeless body.

Hiss…

The crowd fell silent in an instant. The sight before them left everyone too stunned to speak.

They were dead.

All of them were dead.

At that moment, a girl came running from the direction of the warehouse, her face pale with panic and urgency.

"Marcus! The warehouse… the supplies in the warehouse are all gone!"

"What?!"

Marcus's face turned ashen. He rushed toward the warehouse, flung the door open, and the sight inside nearly made his knees buckle.

The warehouse, once filled with supplies, was now completely empty.

"This… this can't be real. It has to be an illusion!" Marcus muttered to himself, gripping the doorframe tightly as if trying to steady his spiraling thoughts.

He closed his eyes, focusing his mind, attempting to dispel any possibility of mental manipulation.

But when he opened his eyes again, the scene remained unchanged.

This wasn't an illusion.

It was reality.

"How could this happen…" Marcus's face was so dark it seemed like a storm was brewing. His fists clenched tightly, his knuckles turning white, his fury barely contained.

The survivors around him stayed silent, the oppressive atmosphere thick enough to choke on.

Out of the original twelve Awakeners, five were now inexplicably dead, leaving only seven. And to make matters worse, the warehouse—their lifeline—had been completely emptied.

Without food, how were they supposed to survive?

Marcus took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down. His sharp gaze swept across the room as he spoke in a low, icy tone: "Something—or someone—got in here."

"Marcus…" A woman standing nearby spoke, her voice trembling with fear. She was clearly shaken to her core. "To silently kill five Awakeners and steal this much… What kind of ability could do that?"

"I don't know," Marcus replied, shaking his head. A chilling glint flashed in his eyes. "But I'm certain of one thing: they haven't left."

"What?!"

Gasps erupted from the crowd.

"They're still in this building," Marcus said, his voice cold and commanding, carrying an undeniable authority.

His eyes scanned the surrounding darkness, as if searching for something—or someone.

The survivors were holed up in Westfield Century City, a sprawling shopping center covering over 1.3 million square feet. At this moment, the entire building was cloaked in shadows, save for the faint glow of emergency lights that barely illuminated a few dozen feet ahead. Beyond that, the darkness stretched endlessly.

The thought of a "monster" capable of silently killing five Awakeners and stealing all their supplies lurking somewhere in the shadows sent a chill down everyone's spine.

People glanced nervously around, their eyes darting into the darkness, trying to spot the hidden threat. But no one noticed Ethan, who stood quietly among them.

His expression was calm, his gaze detached, as if he were nothing more than an uninvolved observer watching the chaos unfold.

The survivors had no idea that the "monster" they feared was standing right in their midst.

Ethan's eyes swept over the group, his face unreadable. Among the remaining seven Awakeners, five had condensed crystal cores, their abilities still unknown. He wasn't in a rush to act. Instead, he decided to "play" with them for a while.

Meanwhile, the survivors' nerves were fraying, and their emotions were nearing a breaking point.

"What are we supposed to do without food?"

"Lily, you owe me a chocolate bar from yesterday! Give it back now!"

"Marcus, we should head back to Genesis Biotech HQ! Or… or maybe request a supply drop from them!"

"…"

The crowd descended into chaos, their voices overlapping in a cacophony of panic and desperation.

Marcus raised a hand, signaling for silence. Once the noise died down, he nodded and spoke in a calm, measured tone: "I'll… consider it."

But inside, his mind was a storm of anxiety and unease.

He knew the truth: losing this much food and five Awakeners was a disaster. If Genesis Biotech HQ found out, they wouldn't just reprimand him—they'd likely send him straight to the labs as a test subject for live experiments.

No. That couldn't happen.

Marcus's expression darkened further. He had to find the "monster" and recover the stolen supplies before HQ caught wind of this mess.

...