After seeing those books, it suddenly dawned on Kylie that Shermaine had played her for a fool.

‘So she knew I was coming to Horington all along. Shermaine was the hunter lying in wait, while I was her prey. Damn it! How dare she play me like a fool?’ Kylie thought as a wave of fury washed over her.

The next instant, red alarm lights flashed on throughout the entire floor. Shermaine had already hacked into Kylie’s phone. Since it had previously connected to the building’s Wi-Fi, she piggybacked off it and hijacked the entire system.

From her end, Shermaine now controlled the entire surveillance grid. But all she caught on camera was a partial view of a woman’s face. One second later, that section of the building went pitch-black.

With that, the surveillance feed instantly plunged into complete darkness. The woman—whose full face hadn’t been captured—had cut the power. Shermaine had to give it to her that she had fast reflexes.

By now, Joshua was already on his way there.

After cutting the power, Judy commanded, “It’s not safe to stay here. Pack up—we’re leaving now.” As she passed Kylie, she added with a cold sneer, “Can’t you even tell you’re no match for Shermaine? Don’t you have that basic self-awareness?”

“Wasn’t the whole point of saving me to take down Shermaine?” Kylie countered.

Judy sneered mercilessly, “But I never thought you’d be such a conceited fool.”

Kylie paled, not knowing what else to say. Seeing Judy turn to leave, Kylie panicked and blurted out, “Your Highness, please just give me one more chance!”

Judy paused and said, “No. Next time, I’ll deal with her personally.” Time was running out, and they had to get Apocalypse back to the Kingdom of Xyperia as soon as possible. She warned, “For now, you’d better stay put.”

Kylie lowered her head submissively and said softly, “As you wish, Your Highness. Actually, my left arm isn’t working properly. Could you ask Mr. Harry to take a look at it for me?”

“Harry, examine her arm,” Judy ordered.

Harry nodded, but still voiced his concern, “Your Highness, are you certain about choosing that location as our evacuation point?”

“Yes,” Judy said.

“But it’s really close to Joshua’s place,” Harry added.

Judy said decisively, “The safest place is right under the enemy’s nose.”

“That makes sense,” Harry conceded immediately. Harry, the bootlicker, was instantly convinced, eager to please Judy as always.

By the time Joshua arrived, the place was already empty. The entire building stood eerily quiet, as if no one had ever been here.

Standing by the floor-to-ceiling window, Joshua said into his phone, “Sheary, I’m here. Missed them by minutes. They’ve already evacuated.”

Shermaine wasn’t surprised, “Fine then. Since they want to play this game of cat and mouse, we’ll indulge them a little longer."

“Alright,” Joshua replied thoughtfully.

Shermaine pressed her lips together and added, “I’ll be heading back to Basterel tomorrow.” She needed to return and figure out for herself what exactly they were after.

“How long will you be home for?” Joshua asked.

“Two, maybe three days. With Danielle holding down the fort here, I can go without worrying much,” Shermaine said.

Just then, the sound of a cat meowing reached Shermaine’s ears. Puzzled, she asked, “Is that a cat?”

Joshua turned his head and spotted the driver approaching, holding a fat, white cat in his arms. It was the one his father had asked him to bring back to Riverswood Villa. It snuck into the car after he got in.

They didn’t even realize it until the car had already been on the road for a while.

He replied gently, “Yeah. I found it at the hospital when my father was hospitalized.” Then, with a soft smile, he asked, “Sheary, do you like cats?”

“They’re alright,” Shermaine said casually.

He thought, ‘If she’s okay with it, then we’re keeping it.’

The driver said, “Mr. York, this little thing just wouldn’t take no for an answer. It had to come see you.”

Apparently, the driver had been sitting in the car enjoying a smoke when the cat wouldn’t stop bothering him. Stubborn and temperamental, it had clawed and scratched him every time he tried to make it stay put.

So now, the poor driver’s arms were covered in scratches.

“Put it down,” Joshua said.

The driver set the white cat down on the floor. It sauntered over slowly, almost shyly, rubbing up against Joshua’s leg with a meekness it certainly hadn’t shown earlier.

The driver couldn’t help but marvel, ‘This cat is something else. It only bullies the weak like me. But when it sees someone like Mr. York, suddenly it’s all sweet and obedient. The double standard is unreal.'

Meanwhile, Martha suddenly realized why the cat looked so familiar. That was because it was their next-door neighbor’s cat. Apparently, the neighbor had passed out from grief after losing their beloved pet.