Although Walter felt a bit sorry about all the crap that had gone down in Natalie's life, he worked for the homeowners of Hillside Villa District. So naturally, he had no choice but to remove her from the access list. The last time Natalie came by to pick up the triangular bayonet, she wouldn't have made it past the gate if Talia hadn't put in a word for her. Natalie gave the assault rifle slung across her back a light pat and grinned. "Guess I'm lucky, I'm still alive and kicking." Walter tensed up slightly when he saw the rifle. Right then, a few of the other security guards wandered over. "Hey Walter, who's this?" Walter looked at Natalie for a second, then replied, "This is Ms. Ashford, she used to live here." Natalie picked up the thread with a smile. "Appreciate the hard work, guys. I'm planning to move back in. Just here to check out the place today." She said it like she was casually shopping for a new home. The guards exchanged looks. Was this a new kind of robbery? Two of the younger guys were just about to say something rude until they noticed the rifle on her back. They instantly shut up. Walter, being the one who was relatively familiar with her, had no choice but to speak up first. "Ms. Ashford, per regulations, unless a current resident gives the okay, we can't let anyone in." A resident's permission?Natalie suddenly smiled. "I've got one. Cassian Holland recommended us." "Mr. Holland?" Walter looked at her in surprise. "Yeah." Natalie pulled out her phone from her pocket and found a photo they'd taken a few days ago—her, Cassian, and the three little ones, all posing like a happy family. She held it up for Walter and the other guards to see. Walter stared at the photo on the phone—Cassian sitting close beside Natalie, clearly comfortable with her. He froze for a second. Then, after a brief pause, he called out, "Woody, open the gate." Natalie gave Walter a satisfied look. "See you around." She rolled up the window and drove straight into the Hillside Villa District. The guys at the gate all turned to Walter in confusion. "Walter, you let her in just because of a photo?" "Yeah, man, we're supposed to double-check with Mr. Holland first. Make sure she actually had an appointment." Walter kept staring at the fading trail of exhaust for a beat, then shook his head. "This has nothing to do with Mr. Holland. Even without him, we'd have needed some excuse to let her through." Woody Snider looked completely baffled. "Huh? Why?" Walter shot him a look. "You really wanna find out what it feels like to get lit up by a rifle?" Then he sighed. "If she really wanted in, she could've just mowed us all down. Ms. Ashford's doing us a favor by not forcing her way through. She's a good person, or at least, she used to be." Still, he knew deep down that the Natalie standing in front of him today wasn't the same girl he'd known a couple years back. Sure, she smiled just now, but there wasn't any warmth in her eyes.Any girl who could survive out there alone these days ... you could bet she wasn't soft. Whether out of old ties or just plain survival instinct, Walter had no intention of going up against her, and he sure didn't see a reason to. The other guards fell silent. After a moment, someone asked, "But what are we supposed to tell the other homeowners?" The world was falling apart out there, and it wasn't easy finding a place that paid them regularly in both cash and rations. If they ticked off the residents, they'd be out on the street—and hungry. Walter didn't look worried. "That photo made it pretty clear that she's close with Mr. Holland. We'll stick to her story and say she came on the Hollands' recommendation." The other guards all nodded. Most of their pay and rations came from the Hollands and the Mervyns, those two families basically bankrolled the entire operation. And when it came to influence in Hillside Villa District, no one held more sway than them. If the Hollands had given the green light, the other homeowners wouldn't have much to say about it. Meanwhile, Natalie and the other two had made it inside without a hitch and were now searching for an empty villa to settle in. Harold was still going on about his idol. "You're the best. Could've forced your way in with a gun, but nope—brains over bullets, that's how you roll." Natalie gave a small smile but didn't respond. She wasn't doing this out of the kindness of her heart.She just thought the guards actually looked like they knew what they were doing, at least enough to be useful later. After all, they were planning to live here from now on. Having a functional gate and a halfway decent security team would only work in their favor. If raiders or looters ever came knocking, even if the guards couldn't win, they could at least slow them down or sound the alarm. She pulled the car over to the side of the road. The three of them slung their rifles over their shoulders and started walking up the main road, checking each villa one by one. The first three were too close to the front gate—first to be hit in an attack. Immediate no. Starting from the fourth house, they skipped anything that had locked gates or signs of current residents. For the ones that looked abandoned, they went in to take a look and compare conditions. Some of the empty homes still had rotting corpses inside, way too much trouble to clean out. Those were also a no-go. They kept picking and choosing like that, and before long, their activity started drawing attention from some of the homeowners. "Hey! Are you guys with the police?" A man in his 30s came running out of one of the villas. He stood in his front yard, yelling across the gate at Natalie and her crew.