Chapter 127: Beneath the Silver Mask

The villa balcony was silent.

Ethan stood face-to-face with the woman in the white dress, neither willing to make the first move.

The last rays of the setting sun stretched across the balcony, painting the marble floor in shades of crimson. Beyond the villa, the sounds of battle had gradually faded, but Ethan wasn’t foolish enough to assume the danger had passed.

Max and the Quasi-S-Rank Evolved Zombie were still somewhere nearby.

One wrong move, one careless sound, and either of them might discover his location.

If that happened, Ethan would have no choice but to retreat and fall back toward safety, throwing all his previous plans and tracking efforts straight down the drain.

His grip tightened slightly around his sword as he studied the mysterious woman.

She stood motionless before him, her silver mask reflecting the dying sunlight. At first, her eyes had been filled with tension. When she’d realized he had discovered her presence, that tension had instantly turned into raw terror.

Now, however, something else was gradually emerging in her gaze.

Joy.

It was faint at first, almost as though she didn’t dare believe what she was seeing. Then, little by little, it grew until she could no longer conceal it.

"Ethan."

Her voice broke the silence.

It was soft and gentle, but slightly hoarse, with a faint tremor that betrayed her emotions.

Ethan’s body stiffened.

That voice...

He knew he’d heard it somewhere before.

He searched through his memories, trying to identify the familiar voice. He could almost grasp the answer, but every time he reached for it, the memory slipped away.

The woman seemed to notice his confusion.

Slowly, she raised her slender fingers to the edge of her silver mask.

Then she removed it.

The face beneath the mask gradually came into view.

Elegant, willow-shaped eyebrows framed a pair of expressive eyes. Her nose was straight and delicate, while the corners of her lips naturally curved into a gentle smile.

She had once possessed the polished beauty of a woman accustomed to expensive clothes, luxurious surroundings, and the attention of everyone around her.

The Apocalypse had changed that.

Fine lines had appeared at the corners of her eyes, and her complexion was unnaturally pale. The exhaustion she carried was difficult to hide, even beneath her naturally elegant features.

Yet none of it could diminish her beauty.

If anything, the traces of suffering had given her an air of fragile dignity.

"CEO... CEO Sterling?"

Ethan’s eyes widened.

His sword nearly slipped from his hand.

The woman standing before him was Victoria Sterling, his former superior at the company.

Before the Apocalypse, she had been the kind of woman who could command an entire conference room without raising her voice. She always wore elegant Chanel suits, walked in ten-centimeter heels, and carried herself with the confidence of someone who knew exactly how much influence she possessed.

Ethan still remembered the company’s annual gala the previous year.

Victoria had arrived wearing a fitted purple cheongsam that accentuated her figure. The moment she entered the ballroom, conversations had faltered, and more than a few male employees had forgotten what they’d been talking about.

Ethan had been no exception.

That night, she had even appeared in his dreams. He’d spent the following morning in an unusually good mood.

Back then, Victoria had been his beautiful, untouchable superior, someone he could admire from a distance but never imagined meeting under such circumstances.

After the Apocalypse began, he’d never seen her again.

He’d assumed that someone like her, with no particular combat abilities, would have struggled to survive in a world where the strong preyed on the weak.

Yet here she was.

Alive.

Standing in front of him in a ruined villa, looking at him as though she had just found the last familiar face left in the world.

[Gift target detected: Victoria Sterling, 37 years old. Beauty Score: 96.]

The system notification pulled Ethan out of his shock.

Before he could say anything, Victoria’s eyes reddened.

"Ethan, it’s so good to see you."

Her voice trembled.

For a moment, she tried to maintain the composure she had clung to for so long. But the moment the words left her mouth, the fragile restraint she’d built around her emotions finally broke.

"I thought..." She swallowed hard. "I thought I’d never see another familiar face again."

She took a hesitant step toward him.

"The day the Apocalypse began, my family and I were having dinner in this villa. Everything was normal. We were talking, eating, and making plans for the following day."

Her gaze drifted toward the villa’s interior.

"Then the screams started."

She paused, her fingers curling into her palms.

"People were running through the streets. Some were screaming for help, while others were attacking anyone they could reach. Before we even understood what was happening, zombies had appeared around the villa."

Her voice grew quieter.

"My husband turned into a zombie. My brother tried to push him out of the villa before he could hurt anyone else."

She lowered her eyes.

"But they encountered the mutated Tibetan Mastiff that Elon Rusk kept."

Her lips trembled.

"Both of them were bitten to death."

For a moment, she couldn’t continue.

Tears spilled down her cheeks, and she turned her face away as though she could somehow hide them from Ethan.

"Elon’s bodyguards eventually managed to kill the dog, but by then..."

Her voice broke.

"They were already dead."

The balcony fell silent.

Ethan watched her without interrupting.

Victoria wiped her cheeks with the back of her hand, but the tears kept coming. The memories were clearly as painful now as they had been when they first happened.

She took a shaky breath and forced herself to continue.

"Afterward, Elon’s men began clearing the zombies and mutated animals out of the villa community. At first, I thought they were trying to restore some order."

A bitter expression crossed her face.

"But they were looting every house they entered. They took whatever they wanted, and anyone who got in their way was in danger."

Her fingers began to tremble.

"My sister-in-law helped me hide in a compartment beneath the basement stairs. She knew they would search the villa, so she stayed behind to distract them while I hid."

Victoria’s voice became barely audible. ⅇ

"They found her."

She pressed her lips together, trying to stop herself from crying again.

"They beat her to death."

For several seconds, she couldn’t speak.

The setting sun illuminated the tears on her cheeks, making them glisten like tiny beads of glass.

Finally, she pointed toward the basement.

"There was quite a bit of food stored in that compartment when the Apocalypse began. After my sister-in-law died, I stayed there alone and rationed what remained."

She looked down at her hands.

"That’s how I’ve managed to survive until now."

Ethan remained silent.

Before the Apocalypse, Victoria had been a powerful career woman who could walk into a room and make everyone pay attention. She’d had money, influence, and a family to return to after work.

Now, her husband and brother were dead, her sister-in-law had sacrificed her life to save her, and she had spent nearly a month hiding in a basement, surviving on dwindling supplies.

The woman before him was like a white magnolia battered by a relentless storm, still standing despite everything that had tried to break her.

Ethan couldn’t pretend to understand her pain. He hadn’t experienced the loss she’d endured, and offering empty words of comfort would accomplish little.

Still, there was something he could do.

More importantly, Victoria was an exceptionally valuable gift target.

He wasn’t about to let such an opportunity slip away.