The slum district pulsed with artificial lighting. Massive flood lights mounted along the inner walls bathed the streets with artificial white light strong enough to imitate daytime.

Towering walls of reinforced black steel surrounded it, the surface layered with monster remnants and mounted rail cannons pointed towards the wastelands beyond.

Above the streets, glowing advertisements flickered across the old skyscrapers that had somehow survived the beast invasion and had been salvaged.

Weapon stores, beast core exchange points, soul clinics, and emergency shelters lined the many streets of the Slum district.

Everything in Delta 3 existed for survival. The only thing that stood out in the dying environments was the polished road that led to the elite section of the Sanctuary.

The smell of metal, smoke, and blood clung to the air.

Ravenna walked through the crowded street with her shoulder slightly tense, one hand resting near the old sword at her waist out of habit rather than intent.

Contractors brushed past constantly around her, and conversations blended beneath the hum of drones patrolling overhead.

Everywhere she looked, there were contractors. Some wore tactical gear reinforced with beast leather. Others carried oversized weapons strapped carelessly against their backs.

A few had visible beast tattoos, stretching across their faces, necks, or arms.

Ravenna adjusted the straps of the bag hanging on her shoulder as she walked through the sanctuary streets. Her muscles ached from the afternoon hunt. Faint dust still clung to her boots and the bottom of her trousers.

Two days.

She had only been in the sanctuary for two days and it already felt longer.

Behind her, her remaining servant, Mallory Kent, struggled to keep pace through the crowded evening street.

"Miss, slow down a little!"

Ravenna sighed quietly but still slowed down a little. Mallory had been with her since childhood, she had been bought by her late mother as a companion for her and she had stuck with her ever since.

Her brown hair was tied in a tight bun revealing a face in its mid twenties. She was only six years older than Ravenna.

"Miss you’re limping again," Mallory said worriedly the moment she got closer.

"I know."

"You reopened the cut, didn’t you?"

"It’s fine."

Mallory sighed beside her. "That’s what you said before fainting in the bathroom yesterday."

Ravenna ignored that mostly because it was true.

The hunt today had been rough. The temporary party she joined beyond the outer gates barely functioned like an organised team.

One person panicked during an ambush, another wasted ammunition trying to show off and Ravenna ended up drawing most of the aggression from a Razorback beast while everyone else screamed strategically from a distance.

She was exhausted, hungry, and increasingly convinced that humanity deserved extinction.

The neon sign of the Friends Contractors hotel glowed ahead through the moving crowd, flickering between blue and broken white above the entrance.

’Thank God’

All Ravenna wanted was food, a shower, and unconsciousness.

’Adulting is really hard’

Beside her, Mallory hesitated before speaking again.

"Don’t tell me you’re still thinking about him."

Ravenna immediately frowned." What! NO!"

Mallory’s eyes narrowed.

"... You just answered too fast."

"I am not thinking about him."

"You did travel across two Sanctuaries to find him, it’s okay to think about him... While regretting it," Mallory said through gritted teeth.

She also had to travel between sanctuaries just to get to Delta 3.

"You are right, I was so stupid I did all that before really knowing his reputation was so catastrophic."

That part remained deeply irritating. Back in Delta 1, her stepsister had spoken about Silver carefully, always with that soft sympathetic voice Ravenna now wanted to legally classify as emotional warfare.

"I heard he is difficult..."

"But perhaps he might still help you..."

Help? Right.

Ravenna arrived at the Ruddington estate soaked from rain, carrying one bag and approximately a hundred Points to her name, only for the one gate guard to stare at her like she was another tragic statistic.

"You too?"

She still thought about that sometimes mostly because it was humiliating. It had taken her two hundred hard-earned points to go through the inner city gates only to be met with that.

Even at the moment, she could feel the familiar anger overwhelming the pain she was in.

She took a deep calming breath. She had been doing that a lot lately.

After leaving the Ruddington estate she had gotten slapped with reality. Every rumour she heard inside Delta 3 only got worse.

Obsessive.

Possessive.

Emotionally unstable.

Apparently handsome and rich enough that people tolerated it longer than they should. She also heard of his newest obsession, a kind girl being pulled around by him.

Ravenna had immediately decided:

Avoid Silver Ruddington.

Avoid Elite nonsense.

Survive independently.

Simple and reasonable but unfortunately, life had decided otherwise.

The hotel doors automatically slid open the moment she approached. Much-needed warm air hit her instantly along with the noise and light from the crowded interior.

The dining hall connected to the lobby remained packed with contractors returning from hunts, large screens mounted along the walls displayed updated beast territory maps while exhausted Contractors argued loudly over reward distributions.

Ravenna stepped inside and felt it immediately, attention. It wasn’t the normal glance you get the moment you enter a room but this felt directed towards only her.

It was honestly unnerving.

Her instincts sharpened instantly. She turned slightly and saw him.

Silver Ruddington stood near the far side of the lobby beneath one of the hanging lights, several shopping bags hanging from one hand while staring directly at her.

Ravenna went still internally, every alarm bell ringing at once.

’So that’s him’

The rumours hadn’t exaggerated his appearance. He looked dangerous in the way expensive weapons looked dangerous but still beautiful enough that people forgot they could kill you.

Dark messy hair falling slightly over his eyes. Tall enough to stand out even in a crowded room. Clean clothes, but worn carelessly.

But what unsettled her was his expression, he looked startled. She had expected maybe a cold, exited or disgusted look but not the deer-in-headlights look. He seemed to have genuinely been caught off guard like he recognised her unexpectedly.

The two stared at each other across the lobby. Ravenna immediately became cautious because men with a reputation like his never approached without intention. She had lived around enough of them to know.

But then, he started to walk towards her.

’Oh absolutely not’

Ravenna’s posture immediately stiffened. Beside her, even Mallory looked nervous now.

Silver stopped a short distance away but close enough that she could see faint shadows beneath his eyes. He looked like someone who hadn’t slept properly.

Silence stretched awkwardly between them. Ravenna waited, prepared, and guarded ready to escape if anything went south.

Then Silver spoke first.

"...You’re real."

Ravenna blinked once, then again. She tilted her head slowly to the side unable to comprehend what the fuck was going on.

’What?’

’That was his opening line’