Chapter 324: Chapter 324 Kelly’s Identity, Lilith’s Shock

Lilith walked slowly across the wrecked floor, boots crunching over broken shards of ice and splinters from the exploded crates. The air still held that crisp aftermath of cold, mixed with the faint metallic scent of blood. Smoke lingered from the earlier blast, but it was thinning now.

She stepped up to the crater where the man had landed, his body half-buried in debris. The effect of the serum had been forcefully subdued by the explosive blast, and his body was now trembling, twitching slightly, like a dying animal. The raw, swollen veins that had pulsed under his skin were fading back to normal, his bulk shrinking. He looked barely human now—just a broken, bloodied mess of muscle and regrets.

Lilith bent down without an ounce of hesitation. She grabbed the back of his neck and lifted him with one arm, her fingers digging into his sweaty skin like iron hooks. His head lolled slightly, his face pale and dripping with blood, sweat, and dirt. Then he coughed, hard, and blood splattered onto the floor beside him.

“Y-You… bitch,” he muttered hoarsely, followed by a couple of rasping coughs. “Cough… Cough…”

Lilith grinned. Not the playful type. The cold, feral kind that made it very clear that she didn’t care whether he lived or died.

“Good,” she said, almost pleased. Her tone shifted instantly to something much colder. “Now… where did you get the serum?”

He chuckled weakly through broken lips, blood dripping from the side of his mouth. Then he turned his head and spat thick red saliva to the ground.

“You can… dream on… if you think I’ll talk,” he hissed, still defiant despite the pain.

Ann furrowed her brows behind her. She crossed her arms and exhaled quietly.

“This is bad,” she muttered, not liking where this was going.

Then—

“Eeeeeeeewwwwwww! Urrrghhh!”

A twisted, horrifying scream shot through the air. The man suddenly convulsed, his body arching in pain.

All three women spun their heads sharply toward the source.

Kelly stood calmly beside the man now, holding a long, rusty iron rod in her hand—thick and crude. Another was tucked under her arm.

The one she was holding? It was currently stabbed clean into the man’s right thigh.

Blood poured down around it, and the tip had likely hit bone.

Lilith blinked once, actually stunned.

Even she hadn’t expected that.

Kelly didn’t say anything. She just adjusted her grip and prepared to drive the second rod into the man’s other thigh.

Ann stepped forward fast. “Kelly—what the hell?!”

But before she could say anything else, Lilith’s grin widened.

She looked up at Kelly, still crouched and holding the man’s neck, and said in a low voice that carried unmistakable approval.

“Attagirl.”

Kelly smirked slightly, but her eyes never left the man.

He was crying now.

Not from defiance. Not from pain-induced anger.

From pure agony.

Mucus and tears ran down his face as he wheezed like someone being slowly drowned. His hands clutched at the rod stuck in his leg, but he couldn’t pull it out.

Lilith leaned closer, her tone quiet and deadly.

“Are you willing to talk now?”

“P… Pl… please… cough I’ll… I’ll tell y-you,” he choked, gasping and coughing between each word. “Just… p-p-please…”

“Now we’re getting somewhere,” Lilith muttered.

She released his neck slightly, just enough so he could raise his head.

He swallowed hard, then started muttering fast. “There’s a… a place… in the gutter’s end. Big warehouse. Look for a man named… Stormzy. He… he sells the serum. He handles everything for them. You’ll… you’ll find answers there…”

“Stormzy?” Ann repeated from behind with a skeptical look. “Sounds made up.”

Vanessa narrowed her eyes. “Where the hell is that supposed to be?”

Before the man could reply, both Kelly and Lilith spoke at the same time.

“I know it,” they said.

Lilith stood up now, brushing her knees.

She looked down at the man, who was now twitching in pain and nearly unconscious.

She gave him a light tap on the head like she was petting a dog.

“Pray someone gets to you before you die,” she said dryly.

Then she stood fully, her spine straight, her posture regal.

The man reached out weakly and grabbed at her boot, sobbing.

“Please… help me… h-hospital… I’m dying…”

Lilith stared down at him, her expression completely blank.

Then she pulled her leg back and kicked his hand off her boot.

He groaned as his hand slapped the ground, bloody fingers twitching.

She turned her back without another word.

“Drag your body there yourself,” she said coldly as she walked off, brushing debris off her arms and fixing her hair without care.

Ann looked away, not really sure if she should feel bad or not.

“Do we go now?” she asked.

Lilith nodded as she adjusted her gloves. “Stormzy’s not going to be expecting us. Which means we need to hit that place before anyone warns him.”

Ann gave the twitching man one last glance. “We sure he’s not going to bleed out in the next two minutes?”

Lilith shrugged. “Does it matter?”

———

The ride to the Gutter’s End was dead silent.

Vanessa was behind the wheel, her eyes fixed on the road like a machine—no words, no music, not even her usual sarcastic humming. Lilith sat beside her, elbow resting on the edge of the window, her head tilted slightly as she stared out at the blurred buildings rushing past. In the backseat, Ann sat beside Kelly, her arms folded, eyes staring blankly forward.

No one said a word for minutes. The silence was heavy, almost uncomfortable.

Then Lilith spoke without turning her head.

“Spill it.”

“Huh?” Vanessa glanced sideways for a split second, confused.

Kelly raised an eyebrow too. “Spill what?”

Lilith didn’t turn. Her voice remained calm, detached, but firm. “Someone’s brewing something. Say it before it starts bubbling over.”

Ann took a deep breath.

She exhaled slowly, then finally spoke up. “Back there,” she said, her voice quiet but clear. “What you all did… was that necessary?”

Kelly chuckled softly.

Vanessa let out a faint smile but didn’t take her eyes off the road.

Lilith blinked slowly, then shook her head as she finally looked back at Ann.

“So you think we shouldn’t have tortured him?” she asked, tone laced with cold amusement.

“Torture?” Ann raised an eyebrow. “You guys didn’t just torture him. You killed him.”

Lilith leaned slightly against her seat as she turned her full attention toward the backseat. “And that’s a problem how?”

Ann’s mouth opened slightly. She was stunned at the way Lilith said it—like she was genuinely asking for clarification, not being sarcastic.

Ann stared at her like she was seeing something new in her for the first time. “He’s dead… because of you.”

Before Lilith could respond, Kelly shifted beside her and looked Ann straight in the face.

“And what do you think they would’ve done to you if they caught you?” Kelly asked, her tone not loud, but sharp—cutting.

Ann opened her mouth, but nothing came out.

Exactly.

Kelly didn’t let her off the hook.

“They wouldn’t just kill you, Ann. Not someone like you. Not right away, at least. You’d be passed around, used like trash until you beg them to let you die. And they wouldn’t. Not until they’ve had enough fun.”

Her voice was low but flat. Matter-of-fact.

There was no exaggeration in her tone. No drama. Just truth.

Ann’s lips tightened as she looked down, visibly uncomfortable.

“I’ll take that silence,” Kelly said coolly, “as you knowing exactly what would’ve happened to you.”

Ann glanced at her but didn’t respond. What could she say?

Kelly leaned her head against the seat and looked forward. “The underworld isn’t about justice or second chances. It’s about survival. And survival’s always dirty. Always bloody.”

Ann looked shaken.

Lilith stared at Kelly now, genuinely intrigued.

As someone who had been in and around the underworld for years, she knew Kelly wasn’t bluffing. Everything she said was accurate, down to the tone, the implications, the trauma behind it. And the way she said it—like it wasn’t theory. Like it was memory.

Lilith narrowed her eyes slightly. “How do you know so much?”

Kelly shrugged. “Wasn’t trying to. I make music. My label, the parties, the people who show up at my shows… it’s all connected. Some people I walk with? I didn’t have a choice but to learn how deep the dirt goes.”

“Yet you’re still here,” Lilith noted. “Still breathing. No scars. No missing limbs. No bullet wounds.”

Kelly smiled faintly, like it was a compliment. “They don’t touch me.”

“Why?” Vanessa asked from the front without turning.

“I had someone behind me,” Kelly said. “ZK.”

Lilith suddenly turned her head sharply. “ZK?”

She murmured the name under her breath. Something about it sparked something in her head. The name wasn’t unfamiliar.

She repeated it again quietly. “Z… K…”

Then it hit her.

She turned in her seat fully now, staring back at Kelly.

“Wait… you’re that Kelly?”

Kelly smirked. “Took you long enough.”

Lilith leaned back slightly, her expression stunned for a second. “You’re the one with the platinum single last year? The one with the red dress at that insane awards show?”

“Guilty,” Kelly said, raising a playful hand.

Lilith stared at her like she had just seen a ghost.

“I’ve been sleeping in the same hideout as a pop star and didn’t know it.”

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