Chapter 425

Chapter 425: Chapter 425: I Want the System The party atmosphere here was in full swing.

No one cared whether Ava Zimmerman left early.

Ava herself had no interest in those people.

She walked out of the club and hailed a cab. However, as soon as she got in, she couldn’t stop coughing violently—a gut-wrenching sound that startled the driver in the front seat.

"Miss, are you alright?"

The driver, who had initially been curious about her appearance, now couldn’t help but express his concern.

Ava didn’t answer. She hunched over, covering her mouth, coughing uncontrollably.

The driver caught a glimpse from the rearview mirror: the veil she held over her mouth was stained with a streak of red. Alarmed, he slammed on the brakes and turned to face her.

"You—you’re coughing blood?! Hold on, I’ll take you to the hospital right away..."

The driver spoke as he started to restart the engine, but Ava, upon seeing the crimson stain on her hand, remained indifferent. Finally suppressing her cough, she rasped out, "No hospital. Take me home."

Her tone was firm, leaving no room for argument.

The driver wanted to persuade her but ultimately kept quiet, reluctantly following her instructions to drive her to a city neighborhood lined with old residential buildings.

Thankfully, while Ava continued to cough sporadically along the way, she didn’t cough up blood again.

The driver watched her alight from the car.

As she stepped out, Ava ripped off her bloodstained veil and tossed it straight into a nearby trash can.

Without a backward glance, she headed inside.

Lately, her overuse of the Power of Word Spirit had made her cough up blood.

Ava didn’t ignore how her throat condition kept worsening, but she didn’t care.

If heaven had granted her such power, she would wield it as she pleased.

Getting close to Chase Jennings had been an impulsive decision, but at least through him, she got to meet the person she wanted to see.

Scarlett Jennings.

Someone just like her.

Indifferently, Ava navigated the alleys between the buildings, finally arriving at one tucked deep inside.

Most of the buildings here were old structures from many years ago. Last year’s urban planning had slated this area for demolition and redevelopment, resulting in most residents moving away. Ava didn’t encounter a single soul as she walked through.

She arrived at an old rental unit with a rusty iron door which groaned noisily as it opened.

Inside, there seemed to be faint movements. Ava closed the door, switched on the light, and headed straight into a small bedroom.

The cramped room contained only a single makeshift wooden bed.

On the bed lay a woman, bound tightly with ropes, disheveled and filthy, traces of dried blood visible on her forehead and strands of hair.

The woman saw Ava and immediately grew agitated, letting out muffled cries. But with her mouth taped shut, no sound escaped.

She was in despair. She didn’t know why she had been tied up in such a place—she didn’t even know Ava Zimmerman!

The woman was none other than Azura Loomis, the missing person.

That day, Ava had knocked her out cold with a brick and dragged her to this rental unit to hide.

Had Ava not overheard Nicholas Woods looking for her earlier tonight, she wouldn’t have remembered that it had already been two days since she last brought food.

Approaching, Ava untied the ropes binding her, paying no mind to the filth that had pooled beneath her due to immobility. She handed Azura a box meal and a bottle of water, both hastily purchased from the roadside.

"Azura Loomis, eat."

In the past, Azura would have turned her nose up at such cheap meals. But after going two days without food, hunger overtook dignity. She tore off the tape on her mouth, grabbed the meal, and started devouring it ravenously.

Tears slipped down her cheeks uncontrollably as she ate.

She couldn’t understand how she had ended up in such a nightmarish situation.

The woman before her was nothing short of a demon.

"Azura Loomis, did you know there are still people out there searching for you?"

Ava watched her wolfing down the food as she spoke casually. "Not the Security Bureau though—it’s someone named Nicholas Woods."

At the mention of Nicholas Woods, Azura’s eating paused briefly. Her head snapped up just as Ava continued.

"But he won’t find you. Soon enough, he’ll meet with an accident and end up in the hospital."

Azura froze, unable to stay calm. She opened her mouth, her voice as hoarse as Ava’s, nearly a breathy whisper as she asked, "What did you do to him?"

That day, the woman before her had said something eerie: "Your throat will rot."

Soon after, her throat had truly deteriorated.

Now, she could only manage weak, barely audible sounds like this.

Ava glanced at her coldly, her gaze dark and ominous. "He won’t die—yet."

Her powers hadn’t reached the point where she could arbitrarily decide others’ life or death. That girl in the neighboring city who committed suicide—

Ava had merely given her a push.

She had only steered her back to the fate she’d been destined for.

"Why... why are you doing this to me?"

Ever since Azura had awakened in this room, she’d been desperate to ask this question, though Ava had never bothered to answer.

But perhaps Ava was in a good mood from seeing her "Idol" earlier tonight. She responded this time.

"Because all of you kept bullying Scarlett."

"Wh-what?"

Azura’s expression twisted in disbelief. She never expected that the hellish torment she was enduring was all because of Scarlett Jennings!

Was Scarlett the one who found such a horrifying person to kidnap and torture her?

Ava paid no attention to the rage contorting her face, speaking as if to herself.

"Outsiders like you, coveting what doesn’t belong to you, are inherently wrong. To even dream of replacing us—you all deserve to die..."

As Ava uttered the final words, there was a venomous bite in her tone, sending a chill down Azura’s spine and causing her to shiver instinctively.

Thankfully, Ava hadn’t used the Power of Word Spirit just now.

She needed Azura to remain alive. freewebnovel.cσ๓ "You lunatic!"

Azura cried out in despair with her strained voice. "What will it take for you to let me go?!"

Had she known she’d end up imprisoned like this, she would rather have stayed in the Security Bureau’s jail!

The item she’d been given to contact that so-called "mentor" of hers—it too had fallen into Ava’s hands on the very day she was captured.

Azura truly felt hopeless now.

Ava studied the despair in Azura’s gaze with quiet satisfaction. Her face remained impassive as she took a seat opposite her, staring for a long while before speaking again, slowly.

"I want the system..."

Azura froze, momentarily stunned, then broke into a look of utter confusion.

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"What... what system? I don’t know."

Azura tried to feign ignorance. She didn’t know how Ava had learned of the system’s existence, but her instincts screamed that danger loomed if this woman obtained it.

Ava seemed to let out a disdainful sneer, completely ignoring her pretense.

"The words you said to Chase Jennings that day—I overheard them all. You said the system hadn’t disappeared; it had escaped."

Ava locked her oppressive gaze on Azura, her perpetually dark eyes now carrying an ambitious gleam.

She said, "Help me find that system, and I’ll let you go."