Nova walked through the ruined city, his gaze sweeping over the destru. Buildings y in rubble, and groups of survivors—likely teams formed for better ces of survival—moved cautiously through the streets. The absence of w enfort or military presence was gring. The Federation had likely believed they could trol the new world, but reality had shattered their delusions. In Nova’s eyes, only the stro could mahe chaos, and at this moment, the title frabs. Anyone could rise to power now.

  As he walked, a group of five people spotted him. Nova, dressed in light white armor, now resembled a wealthy young man, and in this world, that was a death sentehe group—a mix of four men and one woman, all in their 30s—approached him. Nova assessed them quickly. They had probably chosen one of the overpowered csses, but their ck of experien real bat arent.

  One of the men barked, "Leave your belongings on the ground a out of here. If you don't, you'll die."

  Nova met his gaze, a calm smile curling on his lips. "Do you want to die?"

  The man was momentarily stunned, but his anger fred. "I gave you a ow yoing to die." With a snarl, he rushed forward, a small fme flickering in his palm.

  Nova didn't have a on but he took a fighting stance, ready to dash forward ahe threat head-on.

  Just as Nova was about to dash forward, anroup arrived. A feminine voice rang out, "STOP!" The woman, moving quickly, sped towards Nova and the other party.

  Taken aback, the man halted and turo look. When he saas approag, he immediately retreated to his group, his face hardening with a wary expression. His panions mirrored his caution, all wearing simir solemn looks.

  This new group had already made a name for themselves in just a single day.

  The young woman who had shouted pced herself between Nova and the others. "Stop causing chaos iy" she said, her tone firm. "If I catch you again, I'll have to cuff you and take you to jail. Now leave."

  Clearly, she still held onto her morals—only a day had passed sih had ged.

  The group of five exged gnces before nodding and taking their leave, smart enough not to provoke a group they couldn't win against.

  The young woman o herself as her team arrived—four people in total, two men and two women, all iwenties and wearing biforms. Nova noted, ‘Uy uniform?’

  Turning to Nova, the woman observed his unruffled demeanor, and a flicker of annoyance crossed her mind. She had just saved him, yet he acted like nothing had happened. After a quick assessment of his outfit, she cluded he was likely some rich young man unaware of the gravity of the situation.

  "Hello, I'm Cassidy. Friends call me Cassie. What's your name?"

  Cassidy stood at 1.65m (5'4"), with smooth fair skin and dark hair tinged with blue, which shimmered uhe light. There was an air about her, like someone aced to giving orders, though more in the way of a school club president than a soldier. Her sharp, expressive browudied Nova carefully.

  Nova smiled and responded, "I'm Nova. Friends call me Nova."

  Cassidy nearly stumbled. ‘What was the point of that?’ She fought the urge to punch him, but after a g her team, she them, signaling them to introduce themselves.

  The other young oke up, "Hey, I'm Rachel. o meet you!" Standing at 1.70m (5'6"), Rachel had a tan and medium-length brown hair with tints of red. Her brown eyes sparkled with energy, and her effortless smile made people feel instantly at ease.

  The first of the two men introduced himself. "Samuel." At 1.84m (6'), he had short bck hair with hints of yellow and sharp, dark eyes that exuded focus and iy. His muscur, lean build radiated strength, and his expression was calm but gave off the sehat he was always ready for a.

  The st man chuckled and shook his head at Samuel's introdu. He fshed a smile at Nova and said, "Don’t mind him, he’s always been like this. My homas, o meet you." Standing at 1.86m (6’1"), with bck hair and browhomas didn't stand out in a crowd. But once you spoke with him, his openness and ease with others made him unfettable.

  Nova each of them, notig they were all carrying swords. ‘Is the sword that on?’ he wondered before asking, "How e that party left as soon as you arrived?" He was curious—usually, it wasn’t easy to gain fame in a day without any fast unication.

  Cassidy smirked, feeling proud of herself aeam. "Let’s just say we've been patrolling the streets for a day and arrested quite a few people," she said, smug about their achievements.

  Before Nova could respond, Thomas chimed in, "Yeah, and because you're the daughter of one of the richest people in the Federation" rolling his eyes.

  Rachel seized the opportunity to tease Cassidy. "Don't think I haven't noticed a few groups trailing us wherever we go" she wi her.

  Samuel said nothing, but his gaze at Cassidy was one of quiet judgment, as if he saw her as someone pletely unaware of the real world.

  Nova found them a strange bunch, but their closeness was obvious from their banter and body nguage. They didn’t seem to care about Cassidy’s wealth, and she didn’t care about theirs.

  He smiled softly before asking, "Rich miss, care to tell me what happeo the city?"

  Cassidy looked at Nova as if he were a rare species. "Where have you been for the past day?" she asked. "The Federation decided to abandon trol over the cities. The higher-ups retreated and adopted a hands-off approach with everything going on. This is publiformation" she said with a sly smile.

  Nova caught on quickly. "Publiformation… so you have secret information too?"

  "Yeah, want to hear it?" Cassidy couldn’t resist teasing him. He looked harmless, but something in his presence made her feel like he saw her as the harmless one.

  Nova nodded. "I need every bit of true information I get."

  Cassidy didn't waste a moment. "Join my fa, and I’ll tell you everything I know."

  Nova was taken aback. Why would she want him to join her fa without even knowing who he was? "You don’t know me, you don’t even know if I’m strong. Why would you wao join?"

  Cassidy shrugged. "A woman’s instincts."

  Nova smiled bitterly and shook his head. "I don’t think I join you, but I help you once. What do you think of that?"

  Cassidy thought for a moment. ‘If he’s strong, this is better than I could have hoped for. And then there’s that roup...’ An image fshed in her mind whehought about them. " I ask you to do anything?" she asked tentatively.

  Nova thought about it before replying, "You ask me anything, but if I think it’s too much, I’ll reserve the right to dee."

  Cassidy thought Nova’s response made sense—she wouldn’t have believed him if he’d cimed he’d do anything she asked without hesitation. Feeling satisfied, she said, “Deal. Let’s head bay house and talk things over.” She turo her party. “Let’s go. We rest there while I expiuation to Nova.”

  Rachel, Samuel, and Thomas hey, too, were ready for a break after hours of patrolling the streets.

  Nova asked, “How far is your house from here?”

  Cassidy looked back at him. “Not far. But as you know, teology is dead. Cars don’t work anymore. We’ll o walk for about 30 minutes, or we run—but I don’t know if you’ll be able to keep up.”

  Nova didn’t care about the subtle challenge. He simply replied, “We run. If I ’t keep up, we’ll walk. What do you think?”

  Cassidy smiled and nodded. “Very well, let’s go then.”

  The group started running. Nova expected them to be fast, given Cassidy’s boasting, but the pace was surprisingly slow. They were moving at about 120-150 km/h, and all four of them seemed focused, like they were running oy. Meanwhile, Nova felt like he was out for a leisurely stroll. The speed was so slow that he could walk fortably at the same pace, but he decided to hold back to avoid standing out. He hadn’t researched the wealthiest families in the Federation and didn’t want to bee a target, so he started panting after just 30 seds of running.

  Rachel gnced back at him, f out a few words through her ed breath. “Are you okay?”

  Nova nodded, barely able to speak through his gasps. “Barely... but we keep going.” He had to fight back the urge to ugh. ‘If only ema were still around. I could’ve been an actor.’

  Thomas gave him a nod of encement, theurned his focus to the path ahead.

  Cassidy preteo be indifferent, but Nova could tell she aying attention. Samuel, oher hand, was pletely unfazed.

  As they tinued running, Nova thought about his move. ‘Once I gather information, I’ll e up with a pn a up with Jack. I’m not doing everything alone.’ He quickly dismissed the thought and looked up, realizing he had been following the group without paying attention to where they were going.

  Ahead, he saw a rge gate, about 3 meters tall. Beyond it stretched a forest. He turo Cassidy and asked, “Do you live in a forest? I didn’t know the wealthier people were so primitive.”

  Cassidy’s frustration boiled over. “THIS IS MY GARDEN!” she shouted.

  Thomas and Rachel burst into ughter, and Samuel’s lips curled into the slightest smile.

  Nova nodded. "Okay, shall we go in then?"

  Cassidy gritted her teeth as she approached the gate and pushed with all her strength to open it. The rest of the group stepped in to help, saving her some face as she struggled.

  Ohe gate en, Nova smiled and ented, "Cassidy, you're very strong."

  Cassidy smirked smugly, about to reply, "Than—" but then she caught sight of Nova’s expression. With that smile of his, it almost seemed like he was mog her. Her face darkened as she harrumphed and said firmly, "Follow me."

  Rachel and Thomas couldn’t remember the st time they’d had so much fun, and Samuel seemed to enjoy it too.

  Soon, Nova’s eyes widened as he saw a mansion that was the size of a football field. He noticed maids, servants, and guards stationed outside, all waiting for Cassidy.

  When they arrived at the mansiorance, every maid, servant, and guard bowed deeply to Cassidy, shouting, “Wele back, Young Miss.”

  Cassidy nodded, already aced to this, and walked past them into the mansion.

  The interior of the mansion surprised Nova. He had expected the usual extravagant dispys—paintings, rare colles, and luxurious décor—but instead, he found pin furniture. It was simple, almost uated, which caught him off guard.

  Inside, Cassidy shouted, “DAD, I’M BACK!” Everyone shook their heads, used to her anners. But nobody really cared in the mansion; they’d seen her grow up, treating her like their own child.

  Soon, a man emerged from a side door. He was in his 40s, his hair mostly bck with a few strands of silver, and he was around Nova’s height. His baggy white robe looked humble, and if someone had told Nova that this man was one of the wealthiest in the Federation, he wouldn’t have believed it.