Theresa would never throw her life away for a man. She simply could not understand Lily. In her mind, a person had to put themselves first. Always. That included her relationship with Tania. Tania was the most important person in her life, without question. Even then, she would not lose her judgment or let anyone drag her around helplessly for someone else's sake. She remembered reading those old stories about newlyweds taken hostage, the criminal threatening the wife until the husband surrendered every weapon, only for both to end up humiliated and dead. She found it unbelievably foolish. If it were her, she would grab a knife and charge the intruder. If someone hurt the person she loved most, she would avenge her without hesitation. She would never drop her weapon and lie down like a victim waiting to be slaughtered. That was who she was. She would risk herself for Tania again and again. She would sneak into the Production Company without blinking. She had even accepted that if something ever happened to her, she would spend the rest of her life hunting them down. What she would not do was offer herself as a bargaining chip. To her, the cost never matched the trade. She lived with clear boundaries and never denied her feelings. She loved deeply, but not more than her own life. She never understood people who treated someone else as their entire existence. Why choose a life without a self? She also wasn't someone who lectured others. Everyone had their own path, and no amount of preaching could change that. When Lily pleaded with her, she named her price without hesitation. "I want every component and every gleamstone in your camp. If we fail to get him out, I still want all of them." Lily paused for a moment. All the gleamstones? A shadow flickered across her cold expression. After one heartbeat, she nodded. "I agree." ... An hour later, several large crates of gleamstones arrived. Their camp also used gleamstones to make Evoloid. Extracting the energy was not a secret—any competent team with the right equipment could do it. The challenge was removing impurities. Their output was low, waste was high, and the impurities were heavy. Most ability users here barely reached Level 2 or 3. They could not compare to Sage's people, who used to swallow gleamstones raw. Over the years, the camp had accumulated more gleamstones than they could use. A quick count showed over thirty thousand. Theresa told Quentin to store all of them in the domain. Those were her appearance fees. The components coming later would be her actual payment. "Ms. Hall, when do we leave?" "Can you tell whether your husband and the others are still alive?" Lily nodded and took out a communicator. "They're alive. They're hiding in a safe room." A single red light blinked steadily on the screen. Theresa glanced at it. "Then we'll go tomorrow." If they were alive, the matter could wait until morning. If they were dead, it would still be dealt with tomorrow. No one set out in the middle of the night for a rescue—not her, and certainly not now. She gathered her things and prepared to rest. The calmer she acted, the more anxious Lily became. Harrance had been in danger for two days, and every minute felt like a risk. Even so, she forced herself to stay composed. "I'll arrange food and rooms for all of you." Theresa's group settled into East Sea Camp. To show goodwill, Lily prepared a large dinner for them. Many of the supplies were ones Theresa had donated before. Theresa didn't hold back and let her team eat until they were full. The more relaxed Theresa seemed, the tighter Lily's chest became. She stayed with them while still managing camp affairs. The casualty reports from the zombie siege came in that day. She spent the entire evening handling the deaths, repairing the broken walls and homes, restarting weapon production, and restoring the depleted defenses. Every major decision relied on her. She worked until late into the night. Only after finishing the final task did her expression ease slightly. The worry in her eyes never left. The thought of her husband weighed on her with every step. She left the office with a tired breath, pressing a hand to her chest as she moved down the hallway, drained and unsteady. That was when she saw Theresa standing there.