Even if they managed to escape with the core data and eliminate all the test subjects, the ensuing massive police manhunt practically guaranteed they would leave a trail behind.


    This time, their organization had suffered a catastrophic blow. It was highly likely that their very foundation had been shaken, perhaps beyond the point of recovery.


    But they had already boarded this doomsday ark, choosing to align themselves with the shadows.


    They no longer had the right or the luxury of choice. Their only option was to follow the beautiful, unhinged woman before them straight into the darkest depths.


    Right now, their overwhelming anxiety mirrored Alexia''s.


    She had a suffocating premonition of impending doom. Her heart hammered against her ribs,pletely at a loss as to how she would exin this disaster to Sir.


    But when it came down to it, this was entirely the fault of that traitor, Hans!


    With Hans taking the bullet for her, even if Sir med her, he surely wouldn''t do anything too drastic. After all, Chad Abernathy had permanently lost Hans as his left hand; he would absolutely need to keep her around as his right.


    ...


    In the dimly lit study on the top floor of the six-story vi.


    Chad, a man usually known for his refined elegance and emotional control, had descended into an unprecedented state of violent fury.


    The entire study looked like a war zone, reduced to terrifying, chaotic rubble.


    Alexia''s face was deathly pale, her entire body trembling like a leaf in a storm.


    "Get down."


    Chad stood by the window, hisrge hands gripping the sill so tightly that his veins bulged. Beneath his crisp white shirt, the tense muscles of his shoulders and neck twitched erratically.


    She couldn''t see his face.


    And it was a blessing she couldn''t, or she might have actually died of sheer terror on the spot.


    "Sir! All of this... this was all orchestrated by Hans and that traitor 072 working from the inside!"


    Alexia copsed to the floor in sheer terror, shrinking back as she scrambled behind him. Her trembling body remained pressed toward the ground, not even daring to lift her head. "I had absolutely no idea! Who could have guessed that Hans had secretly allied with the Ashbourne family and Thaddeus Abernathy? He nned to betray us a long time ago, orchestrating all of this right under our noses!"


    "You had absolutely no idea?"


    Chad slowly turned around, inch by agonizing inch. His handsome face was a mask of icy wrath, yet his pale lips curved into a smile that sent shivers down her spine. "Then what use are you to me? What use are you?!"


    The man''s voice abruptly sharpened into a lethal snarl. He lifted a long leg and delivered a vicious kick directly to Alexia''s chest, sending her skidding several feet across the room.


    She gasped, a sharp pain radiating through her chest before a thin trail of blood escaped her lips.


    Yet, Chad''s eyes held zero


    sympathy. With an expression of pure disgust, he withdrew his predatory gaze from her. Snatching


    a handful of pills from the desk he


    shoved them all into his mouth,


    chewing with a nk expression before swallowing them dry.


    "Hans... did his memories return?" he asked, coughing a few times to suppress the nauseatingly bitter taste rising in his throat.


    Alexia scrambled back into a seated position, swallowing the coppery taste of blood.


    "I... I don''t know... But I think he just defected. I don''t think his memories are back yet..."


    "The core experimental data?"


    "We have all of it! And the test subjects... we silenced everyst one of them!"


    "No survivors?"


    "None!"


    Chad''s expression rxed marginally, but his mood was far from improved.


    The Genesis Lab had been destroyed. The losses were astronomical. His dark empire had indeed suffered an unprecedented, devastating blow.


    It seemed there truly was no such thing as an invincible king in this world.


    He wanted to be the exception, but the difficulty of that endeavor had just skyrocketed.


    Because his enemies-Thaddeus Abernathy and the Ashbourne family—were proving to be incredibly difficult to eliminate.


    "Heh... hahaha..."


    Chad forcefully suppressed the urge to cough violently, his pale lips stretching into a sinister, ghostly smite


    stretcinating. This is truly et


    fascinating. This is exactly how the game should be yed. If my enemies aren''t strong, what''s the point of winning?"


    The blood in Alexia''s veins ran cold. Every hair on her body stood on end as a cold sweat soaked through her clothes.


    She had always looked at Sir as the god who had saved her.


    But in this very moment, she realized he was the devil dragging her straight to hell.


    Just then, the phone sitting on the ruined desk began to ring through the gloom.