Before Thomas could finish speaking, Suzy interrupted him. "College friend?"

Thomas looked at her for a long moment before replying slowly, "That Jason guy."

"...Oh. What about him?"

For a split second, Suzy thought he meant Derek. Her heart nearly skipped a beat. Thankfully, Thomas was talking about Jason.

"Where exactly is the base he mentioned?" Thomas asked.

"Oh, that. Hold on, let me check."

Suzy pulled out her phone and opened an offline map. After zooming in on a marked location, she turned the screen toward Thomas and Leonard.

"Right here."

Leonard leaned closer as well, zooming the map in and out repeatedly.

"That’s actually pretty close."

Suzy nodded. Even though she had already told Jason she had no plans to join the base, he still gave her the exact coordinates.

If she ever changed her mind, they would welcome her anytime.

"I wonder what the place is like," Leonard mused before glancing at Thomas. "Why the sudden interest? Thinking about going?"

Thomas shook his head. "Just asking."

"If the environment’s decent, joining a base might not be such a bad thing," Leonard said thoughtfully.

"But no base is as comfortable as home," Suzy replied immediately.

Leonard scratched his cheek and laughed. "That’s true."

The more he thought about it, the more it made sense. A base meant crowds, chaos, and eyes everywhere. Nothing would be convenient there. Most importantly, the living conditions definitely could not compare to the comfort of home.

"But who knows," Suzy murmured softly, leaving herself some room. "Maybe someday we’ll end up going after all."

"Enough about that. Let’s eat."

Leonard and Thomas had already finished tidying up the apartment.

The place had been abandoned for a while and dust coated nearly every surface. Leonard had done a quick cleanup, sweeping away most of the grime.

Meanwhile, Thomas made sure every curtain was tightly drawn so no light could leak outside once they turned on the lamps.

Everything was finally settled.

Suzy took out a small portable lantern and placed it in the center of the dining table.

The light was dim, just enough to illuminate the space around them without drawing attention.

Then she began pulling out dinner from her storage space.

Four dishes and a soup.

All of it had been packed earlier from a restaurant, neatly sealed in takeout containers. The food was still steaming hot when she set it down.

"I’m starving," Leonard said as he rubbed his hands together eagerly.

The moment the lids came off, the aroma of food spread through the room, rich and comforting. Almost instantly, all three of their stomachs growled in unison.

Thomas quietly helped open the remaining containers one by one.

"Let’s eat," Suzy said with a smile.

Leonard picked up a piece of honey-glazed ribs and took a bite. The moment the sweet and savory flavor melted across his tongue, he nearly teared up.

In the middle of the apocalypse, being able to eat food this good made him feel like the luckiest man alive.

Suzy reached for the stir-fried greens first, planning to whet her appetite. The vegetables were perfectly crisp, lightly sweet and savory at the same time, refreshing and delicious.

"Eat this." Thomas placed a piece of meat onto Suzy’s plate.

The moment Leonard saw that, he hurriedly swallowed the food in his mouth and immediately added another piece to her plate.

"This one’s good too, Suzy. Try it."

Thomas calmly added another serving. "And this."

Leonard refused to lose. "This one too."

Suzy couldn’t help but laugh.

"Alright, alright. Stop. I’ll eat it all eventually."

After dinner, the three of them turned in early.

The apartment had a two-bedroom layout. One room was the master bedroom, while the other had been converted into a study.

Suzy took the master bedroom. Leonard dragged Thomas into the smaller room to sleep there.

The night passed quickly. Fortunately, nothing dangerous happened.

The next morning, after breakfast, the three of them prepared to leave again.

But Leonard firmly believed in the philosophy of "since we’re already here." Instead of rushing straight back to Starlight Towers, he decided to check nearby jewelry shops and gold stores first.

After all, he knew Suzy needed gold and gemstones. If they got lucky, maybe they could bring back a decent haul.

***

At the same time, back at home, Wendy was preparing to head out as well. The events from the previous night had left no psychological shadow on her whatsoever.

Her goal today was still the same: find Suzy.

As she walked downstairs, Wendy looked refreshed and unusually cheerful, a faint smile curving at her lips.

She moved with practiced familiarity, boarded her assault boat, then lowered her voice and muttered softly,

"System, you know where Suzy is, don’t you?"

After hearing the response in her mind, Wendy’s expression gradually relaxed.

Good. That made things much easier. At least she would not waste half the day searching like yesterday, only to never even catch sight of Suzy.

Wendy steered the assault boat across the dark water in an unusually good mood, humming softly under her breath.

Her happiness had lasted since last night and still had not faded.

The reason was simple––her system had finally arrived.

As someone who had transmigrated into the female lead’s role, how could she possibly not have a system? That would make no sense.

Back when she had first awakened in this world, Wendy had spent days desperately trying to summon it.

Again and again, she called for her system, but there was never any response.

Eventually, she gave up. She resigned herself to the fact that she simply did not have one.

Who would have thought the system had merely been loading all this time? The loading process had taken absurdly long, leaving her waiting for what felt like forever.

Still, none of that mattered anymore. As long as the system had finally appeared, she was satisfied.

Wendy was genuinely thrilled, convinced that heaven itself had taken pity on her suffering and sent the system to save her.

The assault boat gradually approached the entrance of Starlight Towers.

Her thoughts were completely consumed by one thing and one thing only: how to deal with Suzy.

Because of that, Wendy failed to notice that a group of people had already been lying in ambush nearby, silently waiting for her.