Chapter 164: Afterglow and Speculation

One hour later, Stella hurried out of Ethan’s villa.

Her cheeks were still bright red, and she kept her head lowered as she rushed along the walkway. In her haste she had fastened two buttons of her shirt incorrectly. The fabric sat crooked across her chest, and one side of the collar stood higher than the other. A few strands of hair clung to her damp neck. She did not stop until she reached her own villa. The moment she entered her room she threw herself onto the bed and buried her face in a pillow.

Oh my God.

She rolled onto her back and covered her burning cheeks with both hands. Her heart was still racing. The sheets beneath her smelled faintly of the soap she used, but her body still carried the warmth of what had just happened. Her thighs felt tender, and every small shift of her hips brought back the memory of how deep he had been. She felt embarrassed, flustered, and strangely pleased. There was even a faint sweetness in her chest that she could not quite explain. Every time she closed her eyes she remembered the way Ethan had looked at her when she undressed, the careful way he had touched her, the low sound he made when he finally moved inside her, and the way his breath had hitched against her neck at the end. Her face grew hotter.

She sat up slowly and fixed the buttons on her shirt with unsteady fingers. Outside the window the Survival Space was quiet. Soft light filtered through the new trees around the lake, casting shifting patterns across the floor. Stella pressed her palms to her cheeks and took a deep breath. She had never done anything like that before. The thought made her stomach tighten with nerves, but the memory of his hands and the way he had held her afterward kept returning. She lay back down and stared at the ceiling, one hand resting over her heart, the other drifting absently along her collarbone where his mouth had been.

Meanwhile, at the window of the villa next door, Wendy frowned.

She had just happened to look outside when she spotted Stella rushing out of Ethan’s villa. Her clothes were slightly disheveled, and her face was still flushed. Wendy watched her disappear into her own villa. Then she slowly turned toward Ethan’s house. The curtains were drawn. Nothing moved behind them. Wendy rested her hands on the windowsill and stayed there for a long moment, eyes narrowed. A light breeze moved the leaves outside, but the villa remained still.

What exactly happened in there?

She had known Stella for a while now. The girl was usually loud and easily flustered, but she did not blush like that without a reason. Wendy’s fingers tapped once against the wood. She considered walking over to ask, then decided against it. Stella would only stammer and change the subject. Still, the image stayed with her. Stella’s hurried steps. The crooked buttons. The way she had refused to look up. Wendy turned away from the window and went back to sorting supplies, but her mind kept returning to the same question. She folded a shirt, set it down, then paused and glanced toward the window again.

Inside his villa, Ethan was leaning against the headboard.

A faint fragrance lingered on his fingertips. He stared at the ceiling, feeling a mixture of amusement and disbelief. What had just happened? An unexpected surprise? He touched his lips, a playful smile slowly appearing. That little scatterbrain certainly knew how to catch him off guard. He had only meant to tease her after the Core. He had not expected her to take his words so seriously, or to keep going once she started. The memory of her under him, the soft sounds she made, the way her body had tightened around him, and how she had clung to him afterward still sat warm in his chest. He flexed his hand once, the faint scent of her still there.

Still, the reward had been incredible.

A Beauty Score of 99 had triggered a 300x Base Return. The system had given him 25,000 energy points along with an entirely new SSS-Rank Ability. Ethan glanced at the system panel.

[Current Energy Points: 54,050 / 100,000 (Quasi-S-Rank).]

He was getting closer. Lightning Control crackled faintly at the edge of his awareness, ready to form whenever he needed it. Combined with the abilities he already possessed, it opened new options in a fight. He flexed his fingers once, watching a thin blue-white arc jump between them before fading. Useful. Very useful. The energy from the gift still hummed under his skin, steady and strong.

His gaze drifted toward the ceiling as another thought crossed his mind. Stella had a Beauty Score of 99. What would happen if he found someone with a Beauty Score of 100? Would the Base Return increase even further? And, more importantly, would the energy points be enough to push him directly into S-Rank? The possibility settled in his thoughts and refused to leave. He had already seen what a high Beauty Score could return. A perfect score might be enough to close the remaining gap in one gift. He turned the idea over slowly, considering the women already inside the Space and the ones still outside it.

A faint smile spread across his face.

Now that would be interesting.

He stayed on the bed a little longer, listening to the quiet of the villa. Outside, the women were still moving between the new houses, their voices soft across the water. Ethan closed his eyes for a moment. The Survival Space felt more settled than it had in days. The trees, the villas, the lake. It was beginning to feel like a place people could actually live. He opened his eyes again and looked at the system panel once more. 54,050. Halfway there. If he kept finding the right targets, S-Rank was no longer a distant goal. It was simply a matter of time.

He sat up, swung his legs over the side of the bed, and reached for his clothes. There was still work to do outside the Space. The mountain forest and the eagle that had nearly killed Kate were waiting. But for the first time in a while, the path forward felt clearer. He dressed, checked the panel one last time, and stepped out of the villa into the soft light of the Survival Space. The air smelled of leaves and damp earth. Across the lake, Stella’s villa was quiet. Ethan allowed himself one brief glance in that direction, then turned his attention toward the boundary and the world waiting beyond it.