The villainess shall be mine

Liu and Zax looked at Adam as he entered the room, their emotions written all over their faces.

They didn't know how Adam felt when he heard what Haozu said, but he was nonetheless as calm as he made his way inside in the middle of the room, put a bag filled with various things on the floor, then stood beside Liu, looking at Haozu who was speaking through the communication device.

"You… What did you do? What's your involvement in all of this?" Haozu asked as soon as he saw Adam, and his attitude was clearly different from when he was discussing it with Liu.

"I am Adam Von Kepalta, and your question is unnecessary so I will skip it," Adam said. "More importantly, the situation is critical, so we want to know if you will manage to somehow help us out."

"What? How dare…"

"Hey, time is precious for us, so at least, please be more cooperative even if it's just for Liu's sake," Adam said, interrupting Haozu who was about to comment on his attitude.

Liu looked at Adam as if she was confused about his behavior. She thought that he would be more shocked after hearing what happened, but it looked like Adam was calmer than before. She began to feel somehow worried about his mental state, and it was rare for her to feel that way.

'He must have already known about the fact that one year had passed,' Liu thought, 'but even so, I don't think all of this doesn't affect him at all… Even if he tries hard to hide it…'

"Mmm… Well, to be honest, picking you up from there is almost impossible," Hoazu said, looking like he was mature enough to not argue with Adam. "The only problem isn't only that gigantic monster and the ones that came out of the portal with it because the portal itself makes it difficult travel across the area as it creates a lot disruption that messes up with ships."

"So why did you tell us that if we move to another location, you will be able to help us?" Adam asked.

"I am not finished explaining, don't interrupt me," Haozu said. "Ther is a way, but the chances are still low. We need to make a detour and pick you up from the only place that is still accessible. This location is on the other side of the planet, and even though monsters have already invaded the whole planet, this place is at least a bit far from the portal."

"I see, thank you for the info. We will contact you again later, but now we need to discuss a little bit about what we should do from here," Adam said as he looked at Liu, "right, Liu?

"…Yes," Liu said, but she was just going along with Adam.

"Well… I hope you find a solution… Sorry…" Haozu said, then he ended the transmission. It sounded like he understood that the chance of Adam and the others' survival was slim, and Adam's decision to discuss it with everyone else seemed logical.

After that, everyone looked at Adam with different expressions on their face, but Adam didn't show any reaction.

"We managed to find a ship, and now, what we have to do is to make sure that it can fly," Adam said, going straight to the point.

Zax looked at Adam worryingly as if she wanted to say something but tried hard to keep herself from talking, believing that Adam must have tried hard to control his emotion in front of her and Liu.

"… I see," Liu replied, looking like she had a lot of things on her mind but decided to not say anything much. "How long do you think it will take to repair it?"

In the end, it seemed like Liu also decided to adopt a calm attitude and continued to accept Adam's decisions despite her doubts.

What Hoazu said was indeed shocking, and Liu knew this, but it didn't change the fact that they still need to get off this place, so Adam's attitude was the most appropriate one, at least if they wanted to be able to think rationally. However, humans were humans because of their emotions, and even though Liu continued to put up a poker face for years, she was still hurt deep inside, and when it hurt, it hurt.

"The ship is not in a bad state as we thought it would, so it shouldn't be that long. However, the only problem is its current location," Adam said, looking like he was already moving on to the next issue.

"Where is it?" Liu asked.

"It's underground. So, to get it out of there, we need to find a certain generator around the area that could open the path for us," Adam said, "and if it doesn't work, we have to make a hole in the ceiling."

"A generator? This can be more difficult than it sounds," Liu said, looking like she was imagining the scene inside of her mind.

"I know, but from the information that we got earlier, it seems like this is our best option," Adam said, referring to Haozu's words. "Moreover, we can't stay here for too long, as the monsters will certainly detect our presence sooner or later. The area that we found is more secure, so we should all move there for now."

"I know that," Liu said, understanding that the spaceship was important now that everything else was less unsure. "So when do we begin?"

Somehow, Liu felt that Adam was smarter than she thought, and even though that was a good thing, she also felt that she was depending on him too much and he always managed to find a solution as Zax said. Therefore, she was a little bit frustrated, knowing that he abilities were limited.

Admitting that she had her limits was not something easy for Liu, but Adam had already proved himself more imaginative and stronger than her.

"Let's do that tomorrow. After our little trip, the monsters are still active around the area," Adam said and began to sort out the food. "Are you hungry? We still have a lot to do so we need all of our strength."

Blanca immediately ate the food handed to her, and she stayed quiet, observing Liu and Adam who looked like they had hard times communicating with each other. Though, she would never comment on it as long as it didn't affect their chance of survival.

As for Zax, she looked like she wanted to say something, but Adam looked like he had already made up his mind and thought about everything, considering the calm look on his face.

Moreover, there was this invisible tension between Liu and Adam, Zax noticed, and even though she knew that Adam might have feelings for Liu, she couldn't understand why he acted somehow colder than before toward her.

'He saved her, so that's supposed to help them get a little bit closer, right?' Zax wondered, but only time would answer her question. She was the only giftless person among the four of them, so she felt a little bit useless, but she was also the one who was most worried about everyone else more than she was worried about herself.

In Liu's case, her thought was focused on what Haozu said. 'Why did Yelena and the others stay at the Empire? Did my father…' She thought, but similar to Zax, she couldn't find an answer to her question.

Her father was a despicable man, Liu knew this, and everything that he did was for the sake of his own goal.

'He doesn't care about anything else… But if I disappeared, he would want to blame someone…" She thought, and she clenched her fist tightly and bit her lips, thinking about what her father could do to the others if that was really the case.

*****

:::[Adam's POV]:::

As soon as I heard that my parents were alive, I was more relieved than I thought, but I couldn't let focus too much on these emotions.

Indeed, my parents were alive, but it didn't change the fact that I still had to make sure that Liu and Zax survive too.

'They seem to be worried about a lot of things, but it's inevitable,' I thought, looking at Zax and Liu.

Even though I could keep them safe until that point, I couldn't control their emotions, and the longer we stayed in this situation, the more their anxieties would grow.

Finding the ship was a good thing, but I had to make sure that the process of reparation and everything else went smoothly, else, it would be hard to keep the morale high enough to continue.

At least, it looked like Blanca wasn't affected by this as badly as Liu and Zax.

'…'

After all, if what that guy said was true, then our chance of success was lower than expected.

'A portal huh… It looks like my theory was right, but there's nothing good about it being true. This is the most critical part of the plan, and if we fail now, there will be no other chances. At most, we only have a week…'