Chapter 307
Since Liam’s apartment no longer even had a front door, the wind was howling straight inside, dropping the indoor temperature to nearly the same freezing level as the outdoors. Given Suzy’s critical condition, keeping her warm was an absolute priority.
Leonard and Thomas had initially wanted to carry her back to their own apartment, where the living conditions were significantly better. However, they were terrified that moving her so recklessly might strain her shoulder, causing the freshly dressed wound to rupture and bleed again.
Ultimately, they had no choice but to let her stay at Liam’s place for the time being. Once she woke up, they could reassess and figure out the next steps.
With Suzy finally settled, everyone gathered back in the living room. Only now did they have the mental bandwidth to properly take in the state of Liam’s home.
Not only had the front entrance been blasted open, but the living room itself was an absolute disaster zone. It was completely unlivable.
"What on earth happened here?" Lucas asked, unable to contain his curiosity.
When the shootout broke out over here, they had been over at Ray’s private warehouse, which had excellent soundproofing. At the time, their focus had been entirely on the supplies, and the noise of moving everything was quite loud itself.
Consequently, none of them had heard the gunshots echoing from Building Eight.
Who could have guessed that a woman armed with a gun would storm into Building Eight, let alone engage in a full-blown gunfight with Suzy and Aaron?
The woman must have been incredibly formidable to fire off so many rounds inside the apartment without being taken down immediately. Her combat skills were clearly no joke.
The moment Lucas spoke, all eyes turned to Aaron.
Aaron instantly felt a wave of suffocating pressure. Clearing his throat, he began to explain slowly, "The woman appeared out of nowhere. She knew exactly which floor we were on, and she destroyed the lock to force her way in."
"Neither of us knew her, and we’d never seen her before. But she knew Suzy. She came here specifically for her."
"For Suzy?"
Aaron nodded. "Yeah."
Thomas frowned, completely baffled. "Did Suzy somehow offend someone?"
"I don’t know." Aaron looked profoundly frustrated. "She came in ready to fight us to the death. She kept saying crazy things, like ’this world doesn’t welcome her.’" At this point, Aaron’s eyes flickered slightly.
"Doesn’t welcome who? Suzy?" Leonard knit his brows.
Aaron simply nodded.
"What absolute utter nonsense! The world doesn’t welcome her, more like!" Leonard cursed under his breath.
"...Anyway, she kept spouting bizarre things. She might have been mentally unstable." Aaron filled them in on a few more details of the encounter, including how the woman had ambushed them at the entrance, suddenly blasted the lock, and burst through the door with the clear intent to kill them.
Once he finished, a heavy silence fell over the room. No one knew what to say. After all, the woman was already dead. None of them had interacted with her, but going by Aaron’s account, she truly did sound like she had some form of mental illness.
Finally, Aaron related how Suzy had gotten injured while protecting him, leading to the severe blood loss. Hearing this part sent a retroactive shiver of terror down everyone’s spines.
Thomas, Leonard, and Derek were consumed by an overwhelming wave of regret. They should never have left Suzy and Aaron home alone. At the very least, they should have left one more person behind as a safeguard. Clearly, Aaron was lacking in combat capability if he still needed a woman to protect him.
Leonard shot Aaron a look tinged with blatant disapproval.
"..." Aaron noticed the look but chose to stay silent.
Given how young Aaron was, the others didn’t press the matter or voice their criticisms out loud.
"Alright, the important thing is that she’s safe now," the doctor chimed in, stepping in to smooth things over.
The discussion drew to a close.
"I’m going to check on Suzy," Derek, who had been silent the entire time, suddenly announced. Without waiting for a response, he headed toward the bedroom.
Seeing this, Thomas immediately followed suit, and Leonard refused to be left behind, trailing right after them.
With three men leaving all at once, the living room suddenly felt much roomier. The remaining members of the family exchanged wary glances.
***
Later on, everyone settled down to eat some instant noodles and finally get some much-needed rest.
Elijah looked toward Liam.
He ate at a leisurely pace, as if savoring every single bite—neither wasting food nor overindulging.
Thomas was the exact opposite. His bowl was piled high, yet he ate in utter silence. There wasn’t a single sound of slurping, and his utensils moved like lightning; before you knew it, half the bowl was gone, his expression completely unfazed.
Liam scooped out a bowl for Noah first, lifting the noodles to blow on them, making sure they weren’t too hot before handing them over.
Noah took the bowl and immediately buried his face in it, slurping away.
"Slow down, no one’s going to steal it from you," Liam said, amused.
Noah nodded obediently, but his mouth didn’t slow down for a second.
Liam then scooped a bowl for himself, though he ate without any rush. Truth be told, he didn’t have much of an appetite right now.
Before long, everyone was head-down and eating furiously. Hardly anyone spoke, because if you lagged behind for even a second, the food would be gone.
Outside, the snow that had briefly stopped began to fall heavily again. A thin layer of white frost covered the windowpanes, blurring the view outside into a hazy expanse of white.
"This is perfect hotpot weather," Elijah remarked, leaning back against his chair and rubbing his stomach.
Too bad they didn’t have the luxury. They had to settle for a budget version instead... a noodle pot?
"Heavy snow outside, a hot pot inside—if we just had some alcohol, it would be perfect," Elijah added.
"Didn’t we bring some? It’s over there in the crate," Lucas said, nodding toward the corner of the room.
Elijah’s eyes lit up. He dashed over, rummaged through the crate, and pulled out a bottle of liquor along with a few cans of beer, bringing back a whole armful.
"Who wants liquor? Who wants beer?"
"Beer for me," Leonard said, taking a can. He popped the tab, the crisp hiss of escaping carbonation echoing in the room.
Thomas took a can too. Without a word, he threw his head back and took a gulp, his Adam’s apple bobbing, before setting the can down beside him and going back to his noodles.
Bill asked for a glass of hard liquor, sipping it slowly. Elijah poured himself a glass of the same, clinked it against his brother’s, and downed half of it in one go, grimacing from the burn.
Noah couldn’t drink, but Lucas had fetched a bottle of milk for him.
As for Aaron, Lucas stuffed a bottle of milk into his hands as well. Aaron held the milk, falling into a long silence.
Liam, on the other hand, grabbed a can of beer and started drinking. He actually had a terrible tolerance; after just a few sips, his face flushed bright red.
Elijah was the first to notice Liam’s reddening face. The hand holding his glass paused, and he chuckled.
"Liam, why is your face looking like a beetroot? How much have you even had?"
Liam touched his own face; it was indeed burning hot. He looked down at the beer can in his hand—it was only a third of the way empty.
"I don’t have a high tolerance," he said, his voice a bit lower than usual, tinged with a slight, uncomfortable embarrassment.
"Getting flushed from just beer? Your tolerance really is something else," Bill teased.
"I actually think the blushing is a good look," Lucas said, tossing a peanut into her mouth with a loud crunch. "Usually, Liam looks like someone owes him money. Right now, he looks a lot more human."
"I don’t usually look like someone owes me money," Liam replied, his tone perfectly flat.
Everyone burst out laughing. Suddenly, the atmosphere turned unexpectedly lively, with everyone drinking and joking around, mostly making fun of Liam and pretending that Noah’s milk was beer, too.
Aaron, on the other hand, sat in the corner, still holding the bottle of milk without opening it. He kept his head down, his thumb idly tracing the bottle cap over and over, lost in thought.
Outside, the snow was falling heavier and heavier.
Meanwhile, Suzy, who had been fast asleep the entire time, slowly opened her eyes.
The lights in the room were still on. The brightness stung a bit, causing her to squint before gradually opening them all the way.
The pain in her wound disappeared, but the muscles around it were still stiff, forcing her to groan as she tried to sit up, and the moment the sound left her lips, Derek winced and turned around, his eyes wide both in surprise and delight.
"Suzy!"