Chapter 83: The Girl He Once Knew

[High-potential individual detected.]

Zarek stared at the notification.

A smile slowly spread across his face. After nearly three weeks of searching through the ruined city, the System had finally detected someone worth his attention.

He had almost started wondering whether he was wasting his time.

The notification remained in front of him for a moment before disappearing. No location, no direction, no additional information. The System had only confirmed that someone with high potential was nearby.

Finding that person was still his job.

"Let’s see who you are."

Zarek turned toward the stairs and descended from the rooftop.

The surrounding district was enormous. Several streets were buried beneath collapsed buildings, while thick roots stretched between the remaining structures. Searching every corner would take time, but he wasn’t in a hurry anymore.

He started with the streets below, checking buildings that looked recently occupied. Most were empty. A few contained traces of survivors, but nobody remained when he entered.

He continued farther into the district.

Before long, he noticed signs of a recent fight.

Several bags lay scattered across the road. A broken wooden cart had been pushed against a wall, and there were bloodstains near the entrance of a small shop. Zarek slowed down and glanced through the damaged doorway.

Voices came from inside.

He stepped closer.

A group of people had gathered around several boxes of supplies. Some were injured, while others stood with weapons in their hands. Their attention was fixed on a young woman standing opposite them.

She had long silver hair that fell over her shoulders. Her clothes were dirty from travelling, but she didn’t seem particularly bothered by the people surrounding her.

One man was holding his arm. Another had a bleeding cut across his forehead.

The woman was searching through one of the boxes. "That’s everything you had?"

The man with the injured arm glared at her. "You’re already taking half of it."

She glanced at him without much interest. "Then you should’ve protected the other half."

The man tightened his grip on his weapon, but he didn’t move.

The woman picked up another package and placed it inside her bag.

Zarek watched from the doorway.

She didn’t look particularly strong, at least not compared with him. But she had managed to put several people in that condition, and none of them seemed willing to challenge her again.

Interesting.

He stepped inside.

The sound of his footsteps made the group turn.

The injured man looked at him first. His eyes moved over Zarek’s clothes before settling on his face. He seemed to consider saying something, but the words never came.

The silver-haired woman looked at him too.

Zarek noticed the change in her expression. She had already decided he might be worth robbing.

He almost laughed.

The woman closed her bag and approached him. "You’re carrying supplies."

Zarek looked at her. "Looks like it."

"Leave them here."

Her voice was calm, as if she were telling him something obvious.

Zarek glanced at the people behind her. None of them seemed interested in helping. They were probably relieved that her attention had shifted to someone else.

He looked back at her. "Come take them."

She moved without hesitation.

Her hand reached toward him, but Zarek caught her wrist before she could get close. Her expression changed slightly as he tightened his grip.

She tried to pull away. It didn’t work.

Her other hand moved toward the weapon at her waist. Zarek caught that arm too and twisted it behind her back. In the next instant, he had forced her down onto one knee.

The entire exchange took only a few seconds.

The woman struggled, trying to free herself, but his grip didn’t move.

Zarek looked down at her. "That was quick."

She gritted her teeth and tried again. He barely felt the movement.

"You’re stronger than you look," she muttered.

"And you’re weaker than you thought."

He released one hand but kept hold of her wrist. She immediately tried to turn around and strike him with her free arm. Zarek pushed her back down. "Still trying?"

She finally stopped struggling.

The people behind them remained silent. Nobody seemed eager to get involved after seeing how easily he had subdued her.

Zarek looked at the silver hair falling across her face.

Something about her appearance caught his attention. He had seen countless survivors during the past few weeks, but this woman stood out.

He had already found the person he was looking for. Now he needed to confirm it.

"System. Full Potential Assessment."

A notification appeared before his eyes.

[Potential Assessment]

[Name: Annie]

[Potential: Extreme]

Zarek’s smile widened.

Annie. So that was her name. The System had confirmed it. This was the woman it had detected.

He looked down at her again, feeling even more interested than before. "Annie, huh?"

Her eyes narrowed.

The moment she heard her name, something in her expression changed. She looked at his face more carefully, as though trying to match it with a memory.

Then her eyes widened. "Wait..."

Zarek tilted his head.

She stared at him for another moment. "You’re Zarek."

He paused.

Annie’s expression hardened. The surprise in her eyes slowly gave way to something more complicated. "You’re the man who killed my father."

Zarek studied her face.

For a moment, he couldn’t place her. He had killed many people before being imprisoned, and most of their families meant nothing to him.

But there was something familiar about her.

He looked at her silver hair, then at her eyes. A memory surfaced.

A quiet girl. Someone who rarely spoke and usually kept her head down whenever he was around. He remembered seeing her with her father on a few occasions. She had been much younger then, and her personality had been entirely different.

Zarek raised an eyebrow. "You’re that little girl?"

Annie’s expression tightened. "Don’t call me that."

He couldn’t help smiling.

The change was considerable. The shy girl he remembered had become someone who attacked strangers for their supplies and didn’t hesitate to hurt people who stood in her way.

She looked nothing like the person from his memory. "What happened to you?" he asked.

Annie looked away briefly. "Nothing happened. I just stopped being stupid."

Zarek watched her.

She didn’t seem interested in explaining herself, but he wasn’t going to let the opportunity pass. "Your father was a criminal. I remember him."

"Of course you do."

Her voice carried no sadness.

Zarek waited.

Annie finally looked back at him. "He killed my mother."

That caught his attention.

She continued, her expression cold. "He was responsible for her death. I knew what kind of man he was long before you killed him."

Zarek said nothing.

"If you hadn’t done it, I would’ve killed him myself after he got out of prison."

Her words came without hesitation. There was no attempt to defend her father. No grief over his death. If anything, she seemed more irritated by the fact that Zarek had assumed she might be mourning him.

He looked at her for a moment. "So you don’t hate me for killing him?"

"I never said that."

Annie pulled against his grip again, though this time she didn’t try to attack. "I wanted him dead. That doesn’t mean I owe you anything."

Zarek laughed.

That was a more interesting answer than he had expected.

He loosened his grip and finally released her.

Annie immediately moved away, keeping a cautious distance between them. She rubbed her wrist and watched him carefully.

The people behind her were still standing near the supplies. They had remained silent throughout the confrontation, apparently hoping the two of them would finish without involving anyone else.

Zarek barely spared them a glance.

His attention was on Annie.

The shy girl he remembered had disappeared. In her place stood a woman who had learned to survive through violence and had no hesitation about taking what she wanted.

And the System had judged her potential to be extreme.

He had spent weeks looking for someone like her. Now that he had finally found her, he wasn’t going to let the opportunity slip away.

Zarek smiled. "Looks like we’ve got a lot to catch up on."