The Same Goal

Inside the cramped elevator, two hulking Tier Three Brawlers took up nearly two-thirds of the space!

The atmosphere turned heavy the moment they stepped inside.

Butler Jonathan wished he could crawl into the elevator's ventilation shaft. He was terrified that anything he did might offend the punk-looking young man in front of him.

Only Xia Leng kept his usual impassive, icy expression, as though the people before him were nothing but air. He paid them no attention at all.

This made the two bodyguards frown despite themselves. Just who was this guy?!

If he were an ordinary drifter, seeing that they were Tier Three Brawlers would surely make him react like the butler beside him, ruled by the most basic instinct of all: fear. He would be trembling all over, too frightened to even breathe.

But if he were their equal, or even stronger, how could they fail to sense any unusual aura coming from him?

Just as the two bodyguards were about to question the identity of this suspicious stranger,

Ding~

A clear electronic chime rang out. They had reached the tenth floor they'd selected.

"Hey, what are you two standing around for? My dad doesn't pay you to play statues."

The punk-looking young man, whose aura was no different from an ordinary person's, had already stepped out of the elevator. He impatiently urged the two Tier Three Apocalypse Warriors to follow.

Though they possessed formidable strength, these warriors had ended up working as someone else's bodyguards. After one last glance at Xia Leng, they had no choice but to leave the elevator.

Ding~

The elevator doors closed.

The oppressive atmosphere vanished in an instant. Butler Jonathan, whose face had turned red from holding his breath, finally started breathing normally again.

"Whew, I thought I was going to suffocate. Why would a spoiled young master like him suddenly take an interest in the office floors? And how could you stare at his bodyguards just now? You know he's..."

"You mean he's the boss's son."

Before the butler could finish, Xia Leng casually filled in the blank. Even a fool could guess what was going on. Why would Brawlers serve as bodyguards for an ordinary person?

Either the person was extremely wealthy or incredibly powerful—powerful enough to command the rules of the apocalypse.

"So you do know. Then why were you staring at him? He's Trof's son. Trof is one of the founders of the Komodo Mercenary Company."

Butler Jonathan wiped away his cold sweat. Why was this guy so thickheaded? It was as if he had no idea what it meant to be humble.

When dealing with someone who held your life in his hands, you had to know when to keep your head down. It could only do you good.

"Mm."

Xia Leng gave a nonchalant reply, nearly making the butler spit blood...

"Hey... When you meet Parick upstairs, don't keep pulling that sour face. He's already in a bad mood..."

Ding~

While Butler Jonathan was still earnestly explaining what Xia Leng needed to watch out for, the elevator reached the top floor.

But the scene here was nothing like Xia Leng had imagined.

He had expected this to be the fortress's central hub: guards at every turn and machine guns every few steps, a heavily fortified security zone.

But it wasn't.

The spacious top-floor corridor was completely empty. There were no guards, nor even a single stray object. It was spotlessly clean, and the milky-white tiles had been polished until they reflected people as clearly as a mirror.

Aside from that, the corridor had only a handful of office doors and, at the far end, a general manager's office.

Seeing Xia Leng's confusion, Butler Jonathan explained, "Actually, there's one more thing you absolutely need to keep in mind: Parick has severe germophobia. He can't stand anything messy or disorderly. You're fairly clean right now, so I brought you straight here. Once you're in his office, don't do anything like pick your nose!"

Xia Leng found that ridiculous. In an age when everyone was starving, only people like these could afford to hold on to such pampered habits.

After the butler gave him a rundown of how to mind his words and manners inside, Xia Leng followed him toward the wide door at the end of the corridor.

Only the two of them were in the long, narrow hallway now. The silence was almost frightening. Each step they took left a faint echo behind them.

As Xia Leng passed several closed office doors along the side of the corridor, his keen hearing picked up a faint buzzing from inside.

It sounded like the noise of machinery at work, though it was barely audible. Otherwise, why would they put those offices so close to Parick, whose ears couldn't tolerate even the slightest noise?

When they passed the last office, the only one with a window, Xia Leng casually glanced inside.

His usually expressionless face suddenly changed. His eyes widened!

Inside that last office, a group of people in white lab coats, who looked like scholars or professors, were busy at work.

They held notepads and seemed to be recording or running calculations based on information on the screens. All kinds of chemical equipment covered the tables, as if they were researching something highly complex.

But that wasn't what drew Xia Leng's attention. It was the huge whiteboard on the wall, covered in equations.

Amid the dense calculations scrawled across it in black marker, Xia Leng's eyes, sharp as an electronic scanner, locked onto one phrase: Land of Corpse Cold!

With just a passing glance, he had spotted the place name that had haunted his dreams!

He also saw "Mechanical Lost City" and "Sea Emperor Waters." Could these strange names be code names for mysterious bases from the old world?

It seemed that the Komodo Corporation—and perhaps other organizations as well—was searching for the answers he wanted to uncover!

But even after discovering this major secret, Xia Leng's expression returned to its usual cold indifference almost instantly, as though nothing had happened. He simply continued past the mysterious room.

Although he and the Komodo Corporation shared a goal, that didn't mean they would become allies. If he revealed what he was thinking, he might only bring more trouble upon himself.

He had originally planned to ask Parick, a high-ranking executive, if he knew anything about that place name. Now there was no need. He would have to find a chance to sneak into the office he had just passed and investigate for himself.

Not long after they passed the mysterious office, they reached Parick's spacious office at the end of the corridor.

The general manager's nameplate, left over from the old world, still hung on the door. It hadn't been taken down.

Butler Jonathan signaled Xia Leng to stay quiet, then stepped forward and carefully knocked on the door three times.

"Lord Parick, I've brought the person up. The guards downstairs should have told you about him already, right?"

About three seconds after the butler finished speaking, a lazy voice came from inside.

"Mm. Come in."