The world was nothing but the smell of blood and the fog of poison. Greymarsh—the miasma swamp. Inside a crumbling ruin that barely deserved to be called a shack, Kaitlin held her breath. Outside, she could still hear the footsteps of their pursuers squelching through the wet mud. "[scared]Silas...!" In her arms, Silas's body was heavy. No—heavier than before. (His body temperature is dropping.) The grey haze seeped white through every crack and gap in the ruin. A sickly-sweet stench of decay. Poisonous air that seared the lungs. Without hesitation, Kaitlin stripped off her own coat and wrapped it around his ribs. The cloth quickly stained a dark red—perhaps the broken bones had pierced his lung. "[whispers]Can you hear it?" A hoarse voice. Eyes still closed, Silas spat out blood-flecked saliva. "[scared]Don't talk! You'll open the wound." "[sad]You... can you hear my lungs?" Kaitlin lost her words. In this situation, what the hell was he saying? "[angry]Look, this is hardly the time for—" "[whispers]I asked if you can hear it." A stubborn voice. Not his usual snide remarks. He was serious. Kaitlin caught her breath for a moment, then slowly pressed her ear to his chest. *Crunch. Crunch.* A wet, heavy sound. One lung was partially collapsed. But deeper within, faintly, a steady rhythm. *Thump. Thump.* Alive. He was really, truly alive. "[crying]I can hear it... I can really hear it." She didn't lift her ear away. Warm blood touched her cheek. The sound of his heart mingled with her own pulse. In the darkness, that sound alone was something certain. —How long did they stay like that? In the darkest hour before dawn, Silas suddenly spoke. "[serious]Hey, can I ask you something?" "[angry]I told you not to talk right now—" "[serious]No. I'm dying, so this is the only time I can say it." The preamble was so brutally direct that Kaitlin involuntarily lifted her head. Even in the darkness, she could tell. This guy was wearing an incredibly serious expression right now. "[sarcastic]You really have zero delicacy, don't you?" She said it with an exasperated look, and she thought she saw Silas smile faintly. "[whispers]I was... always scared." Kaitlin held her breath. "[sad]Because you're from the upper levels. I tried to hate you first, before anything else. Before I fell for you, before I got serious... before you could throw me away." His voice trembled. From the pain, or from something else. "[crying]You idiot..." The words spilled out naturally. "[crying]I'm not like that. I'm not some pristine upper-level woman like you think." "[sad]But you're—" "[angry]I can throw away my status and my reputation! I just want to live with you, that's all!" The tears wouldn't stop. Hotter than when she'd cried for the first time in the previous chapter. Silas's eyes stayed closed, but his throat moved. A long silence. "[whispers]...Alright." Just one word. But it was everything. Kaitlin rested her head on Silas's shoulder. Enduring the pain, Silas wrapped one arm around her back. It was less an embrace and more like clinging to each other. Until now, their bodies had always been impulsive. They'd sought each other with a desperate, fleeing intensity. But now it was different. They simply shared their warmth in silence. "[whispers]I'm cold." "[whispers]Me too." The thin grey mist drifted slowly around them. Their white breath was the only proof they were alive. No other words were needed. —*Knock, knock, knock.* In the pale light of dawn, the shack's wall was knocked three times from outside. Silas's arm tensed. Kaitlin braced herself too. *Creeeak.* The crumbling door was pushed open. The person who entered was a small young man with old scars covering his face. A tattered coat with countless pockets sewn into it. "[sarcastic]...You brought an upper-level enforcer here? You really are insane." Lau's first words were spoken in utter disbelief. Kaitlin shot back immediately. "[sarcastic]You're one to talk, coming alone to a place like this at this hour." "[serious]I'm an information broker. I made the correct judgment." "[angry]Don't act so high and mighty when you're the one who came to help." Silas retorted while coughing up blood. Lau shrugged and slid the board he'd brought as a makeshift stretcher across the ground. "[serious]Can you stand?" "[angry]Take a look and figure it out." "[sarcastic]Yeah, figured." Lau efficiently secured Silas to the board and signaled Kaitlin with his chin. The three of them slipped through the still-dark swamp and headed for a scrap yard near the Geln Caves. — The back room of the hideout. While the back-alley doctor set Silas's ribs and performed emergency treatment on his lung, Lau remained silent. But once the treatment reached a stopping point, he slapped a bundle of documents onto the desk. "[cold]Look at this." Kaitlin picked them up. Silas leaned over from the cot to peer at them too. "[scared]These are... internal documents from Seifert Industries?" "[serious]Yeah. Monthly transfer records to Deacon Murdock, and the details of his assignments. Elimination of Zaun informants, recovery of evidence from Ash Wednesday... it's all written here." The expression vanished from Silas's face. "[cold]Deacon wasn't just a stalker. He's a pawn of Seifert Industries. Working to cover up Ash Wednesday. And you two were the obstacles marked for elimination." With trembling hands, Silas turned the pages. The last page—the name of the person in charge. His fingers stopped. "[cold]...The company that killed my old man and my mother." A quiet voice. But those words changed the air in the room. Without a word, Kaitlin placed her hand over his. His cold fingers trembled faintly. The silence stretched on for a while. "[serious]Kaitlin." Silas spoke as he raised his body. "[serious]The way to clear your false charge, and my revenge... they both lead to the same place." Kaitlin nodded silently. Her golden eyes gazed straight at him. "[serious]I know. Let's go. Together." Lau folded his arms and looked down at them both. "[serious]But there are two problems. To access Seifert Industries' main server, you need an entry code. Right now, the only person who has that is Deacon. And..." Lau dropped his gaze to Silas's bandage-wrapped chest. "[cold]The question is whether your lungs can handle full-scale action." Silas slowly clenched his fist. Blood still seeped through the gaps in the bandages. "[cold]Then we'll figure out a way to get it directly from Deacon." For the first time, the target of his revenge had taken on a clear form. A monstrous mega-corporation, and its fanatical enforcer who served as its fangs. Kaitlin squeezed Silas's hand back, as if swearing she would never let go. A resolve hotter than the warmth they'd shared in that ruin now dwelled in her grip.