Nyx felt like she was about to pass out. Where the hell did these two come from?!

  "R-right! Please, follow me."

  After the paperwork was finalized and the payment went through, Annabelle stared at the house key in her palm, momentarily dazed. Then, as the realization hit her, her face broke into a wide, radiant smile. "Brother, we’re going home."

  Axel slipped the bank card back into his pocket, grabbed his sister’s hand, and stepped out of the stuffy sales office. Sunlight spilled over their faces, warm and bright. "Yeah," he said. "Let’s go home."

  Behind them, the other sales agents—who had been idly scrolling on their phones minutes ago—stared in confusion. Meanwhile, the manager couldn’t stop praising Nyx for landing an unexpected big sale.

  .....

  The house wasn’t move-in ready. Three years of neglect had left it coated in dust, but neither Axel nor Annabelle was willing to waste money on hiring a cleaning crew. So, they spent the afternoon scrubbing it down themselves.

  The layout hadn’t changed. It was as if no one had touched the place since they left. But in the small front yard, the cherry tree they had planted as kids had withered, and the flowerbed was overrun with weeds.

  "Brother, let’s move in tomorrow!" Annabelle said, her excitement bubbling over as she spun around the now-clean room.

  "Sure." Axel sat down on the worn-out couch, scanning the space. He used to think this house was too small. But after three years in the slums, it felt more than enough.

  "I’ll put a TV here."

  "My clothes can go there!"

  "The kitchen—whoa, this kitchen is huge!" Annabelle practically danced around the house, acting as if she had never lived there before. By the time they left, the sun had already begun to set.

  Back in their tiny rental in Sector C of the slums, they started packing. Originally, Axel had planned to sell this place. It wouldn’t fetch much, but he knew that awakening wasn’t just about power—it was expensive as hell.

  Force-Recovery Pills, Blood Activating Pills, raw stones… all necessities. And if he wanted to reach the top, he needed every last dollar.

  But as they stood there, staring at the rough, splintered wooden door, neither of them could bring themselves to do it. This place was small. Run-down. Cramped. But it had been their home for three years.

  "Brother… let’s not sell it," Annabelle said softly. "We might need to come back someday."

  Axel exhaled and nodded. "Yeah. We’ll keep it."

  .......

  Meanwhile, at the Enforcement Bureau. In the dimly lit case processing hall, Vince stepped out of an office with a file in one hand and a cup of lukewarm coffee in the other.

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  He skimmed through the papers, his lips curling into an intrigued smirk.

  "Interesting…" he muttered. Not only was this kid an orphan, but his previous records had been completely wiped. So clean it was suspicious.

  Vince took a slow sip of his coffee. "Well, whatever the case…" he murmured to himself. "Let’s go meet him. I have a feeling he’s going to love it."

  Annabelle was busy in the kitchen, the oversized apron drowning her small frame as she moved around.

  Axel glanced around the house. After three days of airing it out and adding some furniture, the place finally felt alive again.

  He sank into the couch and pulled himself out of his inner vision. "Finally back to full strength."

  Peeling off the gauze wrapped around his abdomen, he saw that the wound had faded to a pale pink. Healing Awakeners weren’t known for their combat abilities, but they were rare—every battle squad wanted one.

  Spirit: 140/146

  Force: 144/147

  Physique: 152/159

  Axel exhaled. With his current power, he might not be able to take on that assassin head-on, but escaping? That wouldn’t be a problem.

  His gaze swept over the half-empty cupboards, and a thought struck him. Something was missing. Then it hit him—the family photo.

  Most of their old belongings were gone, but he was sure the photo had been hidden somewhere.

  Axel climbed the creaky wooden stairs and knocked against a board on the left side. A hollow thud echoed back.

  "Right where I remember." Even after three years away, the memories came rushing back. This was where Ronan used to stash his cash.

  Axel had caught him once. After that, his father struck a deal: keep quiet, and he'd get an extra fifty bucks a week in pocket money.

  Axel’s memories of his mother were faint, blurry. He only recalled her being gentle—then, suddenly, she was gone. That was years before Ronan adopted Annabelle.

  Her disappearance had changed his father. Ronan went from warm and carefree to cold and distant. He barely spoke, barely looked at Axel. He’d come home, shovel down some food, then lock himself away with his research. By the time Axel was in junior high, they barely talked. Ronan didn’t even bother showing up to parent-teacher meetings.

  Thinking back now, Axel realized… his father must have been devastated. But back then, Axel was just a kid. Too young to understand, too young to see the pain Ronan never spoke about.

  He wished he could talk to him one more time. But that chance was long gone.

  Shaking off the thoughts, Axel pried open the hidden compartment. He flicked on his phone’s flashlight and aimed it inside.

  They had emptied this stash when they fled three years ago, taking a few thousand dollars. If not for that money, they probably wouldn’t have survived.

  Now, he was opening it for the second time. But—

  As the beam of light illuminated the space, Axel’s face darkened. Someone had been here.

  Ronan didn’t just hide money in this compartment. As a medical Awakener, he had research skills. He spent years writing manuscripts—notebooks filled with his work.

  Axel had never been interested in them. Before they left, he had left the papers untouched. He clearly remembered seeing a stack of them shoved inside a box.

  But now— The manuscripts were gone. Everything else was there. Only Ronan’s research had been taken. Axel stood frozen, heart pounding. Had someone else taken them? Or— Was Ronan still alive?

  A voice snapped him out of his thoughts.

  "Brother! Dinner's ready!"

  Axel turned, staring blankly at Annabelle standing at the foot of the stairs.

  Was it possible? The idea filled him with a hope—but a second later, he crushed it. No. It wasn’t possible.

  All of Ronan’s team had been wiped out. The official report said they were ambushed by a rogue high-level mutant inside the safe zone. Only one body was never found.

  The missing status was just a formality. Axel had told himself that over and over. But deep down… They all knew the truth—he was dead.

  Axel slowly came down from the initial shock and rush of excitement.

  A cold glint flashed in his eyes. Something that had never quite made sense before was finally starting to click.

  His father had been part of the military investigation corps. Despite being a Second-Level Awakener—a status that carried serious weight in Dune—his real strength wasn’t in combat. It was in his research.

  Axel remembered how pharmaceutical companies had tried to recruit Ronan. One after another, they came with offers—big ones. But he rejected them all.