Those vicious words made the fury in his heart burn ever brighter. He saved every message and reported them to the base law enforcement team without hesitation.

These people didn't even know the truth, yet they wantonly hurt her.

Even if Selene had really done something wrong, these people had no right to punish her.

Just as he was anxious and uneasy, the communicator rang again.

"Mr. Silas, do you have time to come to the Law Enforcement Team? We have found her."

Chapter 13

Silas Thorne bolted upright, rushed out the door, and tossed a few low-tier energy crystals aside as he sprinted toward the Law Enforcement Bureau.

He had no thoughts, dared not have any thoughts; he only wanted to see her, look at her, and tell her everything!

He flagged down a commuter transport on the way, Silas nearly running himself dizzy, sitting in the vehicle just to catch his breath.

It wasn't until he stepped into the Law Enforcement Bureau that he felt a dazed sense of tension and fear, yet he couldn't suppress the urge to hope for her figure to appear.

"I am Silas Thorne. Where is my wife?"

The officer noticed his tense yet expectant expression, lips twitching, but in the end, he simply waved his hand and said softly:

"Come with me, Mr. Thorne."

Silas didn't notice the unbearable pity and regret in the officer’s eyes. He clutched his chest, which throbbed with persistent pain, and walked inside until he stopped before the cold storage room.

The last trace of hope in the man’s heart shattered and vanished. Upon seeing the figure covered by a white sheet on the bed, he remained expressionless, like a puppet without a heart.

The officer sighed: "Mr. Thorne, the technical department has already identified the facial information. We called you here today for the final step of confirmation."

He gestured with his hand: "The dead cannot return to life; you must compose yourself before facing this."

Silas’s pupils trembled slightly as he looked at the familiar silhouette outlined by the white sheet. His shaking fingertips dared not move forward. Having witnessed scenes of carnage and fields of corpses countless times, he had never felt this broken and helpless.

Thinking he had sufficient emotional control, the officer gestured with his eyes before reaching out to gently lift the white sheet.

Selene Rivers’ pale face struck his vision. Her body was covered in marks from zombie bites, her seaweed-like, slightly curled brown hair scattered messily to the side, soaked in blood and grime. Under the white sheet, her body was already incomplete, yet her expression was extraordinarily calm, as if she had finally found release.

Silas looked at the face he had once loved most, now cold and silent. Long-forgotten pain surged into his heart, dense and suffocating. Even though he had prepared himself, his soul was still torn asunder; he was lost in a daze.

In that instant, he wanted to escape, to look away, but he couldn't move his gaze. He could no longer lie to himself about the fact that she was dead.

He could no longer escape the past or the mistakes he had committed.

Having lied to himself for so many years—even when he should have made a clean break—he always found himself unable to resist returning to that 'home,' returning to see her look of surprise, always delaying the words of divorce.

How could he not understand how poorly he had treated Selene Rivers? Yet, he simply could not accept what had happened that night!

To have his beloved woman defiled by another man—even if he was a cause of it—was something he couldn't endure or comprehend!

Now, she was dead. She would never come back, never appear again, never watch him with caution, never speak to him gently, never cry again...

Silas clutched his face and drew a sharp, sudden breath. He wanted to escape this terrifying reality, but he found it impossible!

At that moment, another voice in his mind asked him:

She made her choice. Now you’re free, aren't you?

Silas was going insane, talking to himself in his mind.

Yes, I am finally free.

He would no longer be haunted by the shadow of his wife being raped, no longer be mocked by friends, no longer be entangled day and night by guilt whenever he saw her face, no longer have his heart torn apart by the expectant and disappointed faces of his child.

Moist liquid slid down his cheek, pausing on his newly grown stubble.

...

But why?

Why was he so desperate?

Silas felt his soul in a state of civil war; contradictory emotions constantly tore at his thoughts.

It gave him a splitting headache; arrogance and self-abasement intertwined in his mind, like madness.

"Mr. Thorne? Mr. Thorne?"

Silas remained silent for a long time before coming to his senses. With red, dry eyes, he pointed.

"...It’s her."

Numbness.

Silence.

The matter seemed to pass by as lightly as a breeze, leaving nothing behind.

Right?

Only Silas knew himself that everything was different now.

...

Yara Vance felt Silas had changed.

While out on missions, she went to find him to talk, just as she used to. Pushing the door open, the man wasn't reading medical texts with that icy demeanor anymore.

He was just standing by the window, staring blankly at the communicator in his hand, his face gloomy enough to make one shudder.

She hesitated, then pretended to be caring and walked up to ask with understanding.

"Senior brother, what’s wrong with you?"

To her surprise, the man didn't reply, acting as if he hadn't heard her, and continued to stare silently at the screen of the communicator.

Yara noticed something was wrong. She keenly felt that the man's heart had been snagged by another woman, and she couldn't help but burn with jealousy as she stepped forward to see exactly who it was.

The communicator the man was holding wasn't his own; it was an old, small model. The girl on the screen was smiling naturally at the lens, her clear eyes capable of infecting anyone with her radiant spirit at a single glance.

Yara, however, didn't feel happy in the slightest. Her good mood turned freezing cold in an instant.

How could it be that bitch Selene Rivers?!

Chapter 14

Her forced, charming smile nearly failed her, as if a venomous snake had bared its fangs.

Adjusting her expression slightly, she pretended to be nonchalant as she reached out, wanting to take the communicator. She didn't believe that a man who had never cared for Selene Rivers would refuse her.

The next step would be to 'accidentally' shatter the device.

Snap!

A sharp pain shot across the back of her hand. Yara couldn't maintain her smile, crying out in pain with a twisted face, staring in disbelief at the man before her with his furrowed brows.

She watched as he darkened the screen and put the communicator into his pocket, rebuking her with a fierce scowl.

"Don't touch it!"

Yara’s face tightened. Suppressing the jealousy in her heart, she pretended as if nothing had happened: "Sorry, senior brother, I was just a little curious."

Noticing that the man’s expression hadn't softened, she pretended to lean carelessly against the cold surgical bed, showing off the black stockings she had specially worn before him, and asked with soft concern.

"Is Senior brother in a bad mood again? If you don't want to go home tonight, you’re welcome to stay at my place if you don't mind..."

If it meant attracting a man, she never minded using any means, whatever they might be.

The man’s gaze shifted downward, lingering on her legs for a long time without moving.

Yara’s mood lifted instantly. She deliberately curved her body into an alluring silhouette, sneering inwardly that men were all the same.

However, after waiting for a while, Silas didn't say a word.

Yara looked at him with confusion, only to find his eyes dull and unfocused, in a daze, not looking at her stockings at all.

She called out with a forced smile: "Senior brother? Silas?"

The man finally came to his senses. Yara watched as his bony hand rubbed his temples, and he actually told her to leave.

"I still have tasks. Let’s talk next time."

Yara’s expression turned utterly hideous. Unable to say a word, she left in a rage.

Silas sat on the cold surgical bed, looking at the healing theory in his hands, completely distracted.

His exhausted face couldn't focus; he couldn't help but take out the communicator and stare silently, trapped in memories he couldn't escape.

At the Ability Medical Station, the highly respected Doctor Silas was in a very bad state.

It wasn't just his intern doctors who noticed; all the colleagues who came into contact with him felt his emotions were deeply troubled.

Silas operated his healing ability to set a broken bone for the last wounded patient, his eyes beneath his lids shining with a cold light. His wrists trembled uncontrollably, and he stood in place for a long time to recover.