Ray had no idea that the residents in his neighborhood were already planning to join forces against him.But even if he did know, he wouldn't have cared.Did they think the villa's renovation had been for nothing?Without exaggeration, short of a direct missile strike, ordinary weapons simply couldn't breach the villa's defenses.Before the disaster, there might have been other ways. For example, fire. Turn the villa into an oven, and everything inside would be roasted or even burned to ash.But in temperatures this low, how many people could actually stay outside long enough to pull that off?And arson required fuel—firewood, or large amounts of gasoline. Setting aside whether they even had such supplies, they would still need time to set it all up. And in this extreme weather, the fire would have to be enormous. Otherwise, the heat it produced wouldn't even outpace the cold. What would be the point?Even taking ten thousand steps back—if the villa really did become an oven—R

"Kill him!""Once he's dead, all of it is ours!""Go!"The crowd roared together. Ray had already walked right into their trap—why waste time playing games with him now?No more delays.Julian nodded in agreement. Ray was unarmed and surrounded. So… did he have any chance to turn this around?None. Not even the slightest."Ray," Julian said, shaking his head with a sigh. "Why did you have to be so stubborn? You should have just cooperated from the start. That would have been better for you, and better for everyone. You wouldn't be throwing your life away like this.""That's why," he added solemnly, "a man needs vision. He has to think bigger."His tone dropped. "Go. Do it."The moment was finally here—cards on the table, blades drawn.One after another, the men pulled out their hidden weapons, eyes fixed on Ray with raw, savage killing intent.Once Ray was dead, everything he had would belong to them.That villa. Those supplies. And Honey—that seductive vixen who oozed tem

Once everything was ready, Ray went downstairs.He had prepared thoroughly.Brazier fires were set up both upstairs and downstairs, and there was even a simple wind-shielded booth, not unlike the temporary testing kiosks people used to set up. The women's task was simple: once they received Ray's signal, all they had to do was switch on the conveyor belt."All set," Ray said into the walkie-talkie."Three, two, one—go," Honey replied.Seconds later, hundreds of steel bars came crashing down from the sky.Not a single one reached Ray.He had chosen the wrong spot.No problem—the impact point was now confirmed.Ray moved the "booth" to a new position, then went back up to the rooftop.After setting the steel bars in place, he returned downstairs. Once he was in position, he radioed again.A few seconds later, hundreds of steel bars rained down once more.This time, every single one was absorbed into his otherworldly storage space.They continued.After collecting a large qu

"Him?" Katie cut in. "He was one of the people who fabricated evidence. He even slandered me, claiming I was a prostitute, all to clear Andy of any guilt. Later, I heard he was fired by his tutoring agency, but Paul paid to set him up with a brand-new one."Ray froze for a moment. "So Paul was involved in abusing female students too?"Otherwise, why would he keep supporting that man after his own son was dead—especially keeping him in the exact same line of work?To say Paul wasn't involved? Only a fool would believe that.For all anyone knew, father and son might have taken turns—or even acted together. It just happened that only Andy was involved that time with Katie.Ray despised those two pieces of trash. But going out of his way to hunt them down in some corner of Senna City and kill them? That was never going to happen.His feelings for the Cora sisters simply weren't that deep. And they never would be.In this lifetime, he had already sealed off his emotions. With women,

After staying inside the residential complex for three days, Ray finally felt restless again.It couldn't be helped—this was a matter of survival instinct.If he stayed complacent, others would continue to grow stronger and eventually surpass him by a wide margin. And in the early stages of the apocalypse, this was precisely the easiest time to increase one's strength.Ray could already imagine it: as more and more ability users emerged, truly powerful ones would be able to overcome the bitter cold and move freely outdoors. Even if they couldn't roam without limits, their enhanced physiques would greatly increase their resistance to the cold, extending the time they could stay outside by a large margin.Right now, ability users weren't that strong yet. At the very least, they could still be killed with guns. Which meant this was the easiest window for ability users to hunt one another and seize abilities.But later? As increasingly powerful ability users appeared, they would inevi