Thomas narrowed his eyes slightly before withdrawing his gaze.

"I feel like someone’s watching us," he said quietly.

Both Suzy’s and Leonard’s expressions changed instantly.

"From which direction?" Suzy asked.

Surely it wasn’t Wendy. There was no way she could move that fast, right?

Thomas lifted a hand and pointed. "Over there."

Suzy and Leonard turned at the same time.

The direction Thomas indicated was the nearest apartment building beside them.

Suzy quietly let out a breath of relief.

Good. It wasn’t Wendy.

The two of them stared carefully for a while but didn’t notice anything unusual.

"What floor?" Leonard asked.

"I don’t know." Thomas lowered his gaze slightly. "I just vaguely sensed it coming from there."

The two of them looked again, but there wasn’t a single visible figure.

Leonard frowned. "There’s nothing there. Are you sure you didn’t imagine it?"

Thomas remained silent.

Suzy spoke instead. "Not necessarily. Whoever it was could’ve hidden already."

As a mercenary, Thomas’s instincts were far sharper than theirs. And after feeding him spirit spring water every day for so long, Suzy trusted his intuition completely.

She didn’t think it was a false alarm. Someone was definitely observing them in secret.

"Forget it for now. Let’s just leave first," Suzy urged.

The three continued onward, but Leonard kept glancing toward the direction Thomas had pointed until the building disappeared from sight entirely.

Only then did he look away.

Once they had fully left Starlight Towers behind, a figure slowly emerged from the corner of a twentieth-floor balcony.

The man held a pair of binoculars in his hands as he stared in the direction Suzy and the others had disappeared.

"Tsk." He turned and walked back into the apartment.

"What’s going on outside?" a rough male voice asked.

The man with the binoculars replied, "People. Two men and a woman. They’ve got a speedboat."

He had observed them carefully. All three looked healthy and well-fed, nothing like the desperate survivors barely scraping by after the apocalypse.

Which meant one thing––they had supplies.

"A speedboat?" The rough voice rose noticeably with excitement. "They’ve got something that good?"

"Yeah... but Parker, those people don’t look easy to mess with."

Chester looked toward the broad-shouldered man sitting in the middle of the living room and hesitated before adding the warning.

The spacious living room was dimly lit.

The man called Parker sat sprawled across the sofa like a king, a beautiful woman leaning quietly beside him.

Hearing Chester’s words, he raised an eyebrow lazily. 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

"Not easy to mess with? What’s that supposed to mean? Don’t tell me they just look fierce."

"Parker, I’m serious." Chester gave a bitter smile before continuing. "One of the men is insanely sharp. I only watched them for a short while before he noticed me."

If he hadn’t hidden quickly enough, he probably would’ve been caught on the spot.

At that distance, for the other man to detect him so quickly... That definitely wasn’t normal.

Parker took a few moments to think about his words.

"Anything else?" he asked then. "Did you notice anything more?"

"They seem to be living pretty comfortably. Healthy complexions, good condition... they’ve probably got a lot of supplies."

"I see." Parker waved dismissively. "Go back out and keep watching."

Chester returned to the balcony once more.

The living room was left with only Parker and the woman beside him. The man turned toward her, his tone softening considerably.

"The rain stopped today. I’ll take you out for a walk later."

The woman nodded obediently. "Okay."

If Suzy had been there, she would have recognized the woman immediately because it was none other than Vanessa Sanders.

Chester returned to the balcony once again. Today, his job was to monitor the situation outside.

The rain had finally stopped, and he was certain many survivors would start venturing out today.

He needed to get a clear understanding of the survivors living in the residential complex before moving forward with the next phase of their plans.

And this spot gave him the perfect view.

After all, anyone leaving Starlight Towers would inevitably pass through this route.

Chester patiently observed the area for a while. No one had appeared outside yet, though faint movement could occasionally be seen on the balconies of the nearby buildings.

There were still plenty of survivors here.

But so far, very few people were willing to leave their homes.

Suzy and the others had been among the very first to head out.

The sun was out now, warm and bright. Its heat spread lazily across Chester’s body, making him drowsy.

He yawned. Then suddenly, his ears twitched.

His senses were far sharper than ordinary people’s. That was precisely why this task had been assigned to him.

Chester looked eastward. A distant sound was growing louder.

He narrowed his eyes and raised the binoculars in his hands, focusing on the direction of the noise.

The sound rapidly intensified.

Then a speedboat entered his field of vision.

His eyes flickered as he called toward the living room, "Parker, more people are coming!"

"What’s the situation?"

"A woman. Driving a speedboat alone." Chester clicked his tongue. "Looks young too. Probably pretty."

His gaze remained fixed on the boat below. A woman sat aboard the black speedboat, bundled tightly from head to toe.

Black sportswear. Hair tied into a ponytail. A face mask covering most of her features, revealing only her eyes.

Chester had seen all kinds of people in his life. Just from her eyes alone, he could tell she was young and probably very attractive.

That was rare.

In times like these, a woman daring to go out alone—and so openly at that—was almost unheard of.

Wasn’t she afraid of being targeted?

"A woman? By herself?" Parker’s interest was instantly piqued, one brow lifting.

"Yeah. Completely alone," Chester replied.

There was no one else on the speedboat. Aside from the woman herself, there was only a single backpack on board.

Parker stood abruptly and strode toward the balcony. "Let me see."

Vanessa, who had originally been sitting quietly beside him, glanced up sharply before following after him.

The two of them stepped onto the balcony.

Chester immediately handed over the high-powered binoculars. "Over there."

He pointed toward the direction of the approaching speedboat.