Chapter 378: ANSWER ME!!!

Planning and providing were two entirely different things.

Despite all the resources, the black-market informants, the industrial reach, and the sheer manpower the four men possessed, they could not find a single, unprotected girl.

Liora had vanished as if she had dissolved into thin air. It was as if an invisible, supernatural hand was actively draping a veil over her, obscuring her from every camera, every satellite, and every street-level tracking network.

Two days passed, and still, they could not find a single trace of her.

Inside the spatial dimension, time stood entirely frozen. April remained curled on the cold floor, cradling Emily’s stiffening body.

Her sister’s blood had caked dark and heavy into her dress and skin, but there was no rot, no decay, and no smell—in this timeless pocket of reality, even death remained perfectly preserved in its exact moment of occurrence.

For two straight days, April existed only in a cycle of agonizing despair. She cried until her body gave out, passed out from pure exhaustion, woke up to cry again, and talked endlessly to Emily’s pale face—reminding her sister how much she loved her, weeping over the fact that this was supposed to be the happiest day of their lives.

No answer ever came back.

She didn’t move from that spot unless she absolutely had to use the bathroom, and even then, she would end up on her knees, throwing up, crying, and cursing herself for not seeing the System’s sick tricks sooner.

On the third day, a glaring, blood-red System panel materialized directly before her eyes:

[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION][COUNTDOWN: 24 HOURS UNTIL APOCALYPSE DESCENT]

April stared at the glowing red text, her eyes bloodshot, swollen, and sunken.

"You..." her voice came out croaked, scratchy, and entirely ruined. "Why did you do this to me? Why did you take Emily from me? And Liora... why did you use Liora? Was I a joke to you from the start? Did you save me only to toy with me? Answer me!"

A cold, instant prompt flashed in response:

[Do not doubt the System. Host has been warned. All dues collected are accounted for. Do not be ungrateful!]

The words were like needles driven directly into her brain.

"Ungrateful?! Dues?!" April shrieked, the veins on her neck bulging violently as fresh tears burned her raw skin. "What the hell are you talking about?! You can’t be bothered to give me a clear explanation, and you just expect me to understand?!"

No response followed.

"ANSWER ME!" she screamed into the quiet space of a home she built with just her imagination, her voice cracking into a desperate, hollow rasp. "Don’t freaking play with me!"

[All dues collected are accounted for.]

It repeated the exact same phrase—automated, cold, and utterly detached—causing the remaining threads of her sanity to snap just a little further.

Her gaze fell back onto Emily. Her sister’s body was completely stiff, her skin ice-cold. April knew she couldn’t leave her laying on the bare ground forever.

A coffin... April whispered mentally, her chest aching with a hollow, crushing weight. I’m not burying my sister, but... she should at least be comfortable in one, right?

Using the water in the bathroom, April meticulously washed the caked crimson from Emily’s body. Through blinding tears, she dressed her twin in a white dress and carefully clipped a delicate hair accessory into her dark locks.

April finally activated the spatial doorway to exit physically, stepping back out onto the physical world.

The secluded beach was completely blocked off, heavily monitored by Nat and Xavier’s armed guards. The second April materialized onto the sand, the guards gasped, instantly reaching out to Nat and the others while moving forward to escort her back to the vehicles.

Before they could reach her, Samuel stepped out from the shadows of the boardwalk pavilion. He had never left the beach—not once in three days.

Samuel approached with a quiet, reverent stride, motioning for the guards to give way. Without a word, he unbuttoned his fine wool coat and wrapped it gently around April’s trembling shoulders, pulling her body into his chest to shield her completely from the outside world.

"I have prepared everything, Miss April," Samuel whispered against her hair, his gravelly voice thick with absolute devotion.

A High Steward always knew what his master needed before she even asked. He knew that once her initial wave of grief subsided, she would seek a proper place for her sister to rest.

And he had prepared it.

Samuel personally drove her back to the estate, where Nat, Xavier, Alexander, and Oliver were already waiting in the main foyer. April didn’t say a word as she walked inside. She didn’t look at any of them, her hollow, bloodshot eyes staring straight ahead until they landed on the center of the room.

In the center of the hall was a transparent crystal-glass coffin.

April wanted to smile at the sight, but only a single, heavy tear slid down her hollow cheek. Standing beside the glass coffin was Philippe, holding a single red rose. His eyes were bloodshot and dark, the image of a man completely broken by grief.

Philippe gently laid the rose onto the top of the empty glass lid.

"I don’t know if I can look at her without breaking down..." Philippe whispered, his raspy voice shaking with a raw, agonizing sorrow. "Emily is... the only woman I will ever love."

Instead of a promise, it sounded like a soul vow, spoken with an absolute weight that left no doubt of his sincerity. He had only known her for two weeks, so his words could be easy to dismiss but April knew he meant every word. She has seen it.

But as she looked at him, she didn’t even bother checking his fortune stats again. That damn System had orchestrated this entire tragedy from the start—who knew if anything it displayed could ever be trusted again?

[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION: Do not doubt the System.]

April ignored the floating blue box entirely, walking up to the glass coffin and touching its cold edge.

She immediately absorbed the transparent casket into her spatial dimension so she could finally place Emily inside it in peace but she did not return right away.

Only then did she turn around to face her men.

Nat, Xavier, Alexander, and Oliver looked worse than stray dogs—their eyes bloodshot, their faces pale, their posture heavy with sleepless nights and hollowed hearts. Seeing her standing there—fragile, pale, and soaked in grief—sent an agonizing pang through all of their chests.

"Boys... the apocalypse is in twenty-four hours," April said. Her voice was so croaked and broken it barely sounded like her own. "I’m sorry if I caused you to worry, but..."

She stopped. The words felt fragile, hollow, and utterly meaningless.

"We couldn’t find her," Xavier spoke up suddenly, as if to stop her from lowering herself any further. She shouldn’t be the one to apologize. Especially not right now.

His dark eyes filled with bitter failure. "We couldn’t find Liora."