Apocalypse Villainess? Nah, I'm Nice

The room had once stored a great deal of medicine, but he had since cleared it all out.

The only things left were three blocks of ice, each the size of a single bed.

A hollow had been carved into one of the blocks, and lying perfectly still inside was a naked man.

The man’s body had an unnatural, purplish-gray hue. Aside from a wound over his heart, he was perfectly preserved.

Seth Walsh walked to the ice block and stood there silently for a moment. He stared, unblinking, at the motionless man, then slowly reached out and caressed the wound on his chest...

’Silas!’ he called silently in his heart.

This was the body of Silas Dudley, the man Paige Summers had killed.

But Seth Walsh refused to admit he was dead.

In his heart, Silas Dudley was his savior, his guide, his redemption, his... god...

’How could someone like him possibly die?’

’He’s only refusing to wake up because he’s become old and ugly. As long as that medicine is a success, and Silas drinks it and returns to his former appearance, he will definitely open those beautiful eyes and tell me, "Who in this world could be more charming than I?"’

Seth Walsh believed this with all his heart!

’Therefore, the medicine must succeed. And the woman who made Silas old and ugly must pay the ultimate price!’

With that thought, he pulled over another block of ice and slowly lay down upon it.

He would stay with him, always and forever.

’Besides him, there’s nothing in this world I care about.’

Family, status, power—none of it mattered to Seth Walsh. He had only pursued them because Silas Dudley wanted him to.

And now, all those annoyances were gone!

The massive reward of wealth and manpower had been posted for several days, but there was still no news of Paige Summers. Marcus Monroe was now so volatile he seemed seconds away from charging out and blowing up all of Central City.

His subordinates were all walking on eggshells. They knew their boss wouldn’t return to normal until she was found, so they put their absolute all into the search.

But strangely enough, despite mobilizing all their contacts, they couldn’t find a single clue about Paige Summers.

Silas Dudley’s secret villa had been turned upside down, but they’d found nothing. Everyone who was there at the time was dead, leaving no one to question.

From that day forward, it was as if Paige Summers and Silas Dudley had vanished from the face of the earth.

They never would have guessed that after Seth Walsh captured Paige Summers, he had immediately erased every trace of the incident, even sealing up the tunnel.

Not only was it sealed, but it was sealed with such skill that it looked completely natural.

Even if Marcus Monroe scoured every inch of the place, he would be hard-pressed to find anything.

Of course, the underground laboratory was still there, but it was located extremely close to The Research Institute. Who would ever think to dig there without a reason?

Even though Marcus Monroe had a gut feeling that Paige Summers was still somewhere in Central City, and sent men to search daily and had Sweetie patrol the skies, he still couldn’t find her.

As a result, his temper grew worse with each passing day.

It was getting to be too much even for Black S.

In the end, through a mixture of coaxing and persuasion, Black S managed to send him over to the Lowell Family.

With the Dudley Family gone, the Lowell Family was finally safe. They had already begun leaving the sanctuary of the Mercer Family’s secret domain and returning to Central City.

But the news that greeted Wendy Lowell upon her return was this. She had cried until she fainted more times than she could count, but it was all for naught.

The Old Master of the Lowell Family was also filled with sorrow and regret.

Most people believed that Paige Summers and Silas Dudley had taken each other out. Although no bodies were found, given the circumstances, very few believed Paige Summers could have survived.

After all, he was a Tenth Rank Superpower User.

The key figure from the Walsh Family had also vanished; otherwise, it was hard to say how many of the Mercer Family’s disciples would have made it back alive. As for the Carter Family, the situation with them was resolved peacefully after the person backing Jean Shields intervened. It was impossible to know what they were truly thinking, but they at least promised to no longer involve themselves in the Dudley Family’s affairs.

It could be said that once the dust settled, many people had achieved their goals and reaped handsome rewards.

For a time, a sense of harmony settled over the city.

Except, of course, for those close to Paige Summers.

Those who believed Paige Summers was gone were heartbroken and grief-stricken. Those who clung to a sliver of hope that she might have survived were searching for her with frantic urgency.

In short, none of them were at peace.

The Lowell Family had returned to Central City, but they had to start over in many respects. There was no helping it, but it was better than losing their lives.

Marcus Monroe knew what Black S was doing. He had only ever told Black S how important Paige Summers was to him. Fearing he would do something drastic, Black S had pushed him toward the Lowell Family, who were, in fact, in need of help.

But he was in no mood for it!

Seeing as the Lowell Family had treated Paige Summers relatively well, he assigned his subordinates to help them. He, himself, continued to search for her day and night.

He wanted to turn every corner of Central City inside out, not even sparing District Five.

If he hadn’t retained a sliver of sanity and kept himself from causing a major incident, Kiera Walsh, Jean Shields, and the other Governors would have had an even bigger headache on their hands.

They were incredibly busy themselves. When a major power falls, the number of loose ends to tie up is staggering. The Dudley Family had existed since the founding of Central City and had countless allies and underlings. Although the core family members had been dealt with—either dead or imprisoned—many others had simply disappeared. A complete cleanup would take a great deal of time and effort.

So, as long as Marcus Monroe didn’t cause any major chaos, they were content to let him be.

However, just as Professor Warren had said, it didn’t matter if the world outside was being turned upside down; it had nothing to do with them.

The experiment continued, and Paige Summers remained locked in that pitch-black room.

Until a month later, when Professor Warren produced the umpteenth version of the youth potion—a formula that had been tested, had failed, and had been refined an untold number of times.

He announced that they could begin the next step: human trials.