CHAPTER 349: CHAPTER-349

In this whole world, across every hell she’s survived, the one thing Kaya cannot handle—the one thing that sets her blood on fire—is someone daring to touch her ego. Her pride isn’t just vanity; it’s the pillar that has kept her standing through every betrayal, every assassination attempt, every living nightmare. It is the essence of who she is.

And by killing those hitmen himself, by sweeping her carefully laid plans off the board like they were nothing, that damn broker has done more than interfere. He has completely and utterly challenged Kaya. He looked at her intricate game and dismissed it. He said, without words, "You are not the predator here. I am."

The chasing game is over. The strategic maneuvering is finished.

Now, standing on that rooftop with the cold wind biting at her face, Kaya’s eyes burned with an intensity that could shatter steel. Her jaw was set, her fists clenched until her nails drew blood from her palms.

This was no longer about information. This was no longer about survival or clever tactics.

This was war.

Either she would die, or she would kill that bastard.

There were no other options. No compromises. No middle ground. One of them would not walk away from this, and that was the one thing Kaya was absolutely, unshakably sure of.

The broker had made a fatal mistake. He had wounded her pride, challenged her ego, and declared himself her equal—or worse, her superior.

And Kaya would burn this entire city to the ground before she let that stand.

...

The next day, sitting in a small restaurant.

Kaya has already seen 4 hitman bodies, and even though she did not see the first one, the hawk, but she was sure that he would also be dead by now. And not only that, but till hitman’s gone, Kaya has lost her last lead to the broker, and now she need to know, she had to find from the start, but she did not have much time, and she was not gonna live in this capital anyway. Here, prize are too much, and not only that, why would you even live into enemy territory when you could easily leave? Kaya wanted to go out of this capital now, because if she leaves the capital, there is high chance that the broker would follow her, because of her, he has lost his hitmans, and he would not let her go that easily. And Izan there is saying that if you want to kill the hyena, you should drag it to the city, like when the hyena, there is saying that in any hyenas that come, he would run towards the city. Then instead of letting this so called broker, I should say the hiding hyena, into the city, Kaya wanted to drag it back to the forest, where she could easily get some senses. And anyway, in this capital, there are too many people, finding them was quite a hassle, and not only that, the salt here is too costly, and Kaya could not buy much salt here. And due to not having too much salt, she felt salt lessening her food, that could cause a really big problem. For sugar, she could take alternative like sweet fruits and other things, but for salt, her body needed salt at any cost, so she decided to get out of this capital and walk towards the west side. Even though they are slightly farther away, but there are oceans, and Kaya has remembered that the Memaids have told her that as soon as she blu the whistle near the sea area no matter where they are, they would come to her.

Kaya had already seen four hitman bodies, each one executed with chilling precision. And even though she hadn’t seen the hawk’s corpse yet, she was certain he was dead too. The broker had wiped the board clean.

With all the hitmen gone, Kaya had lost her last lead to the broker. She was back at square one, forced to search from the beginning. But she didn’t have much time, and more importantly, she wasn’t going to stay in this capital any longer.

The prices here were absurd, the crowds suffocating, and worse—she was living in enemy territory. Why stay where the broker had home advantage when she could draw him out onto her terms?

Kaya wanted to leave the capital, and she had a plan. If she left, there was a high chance the broker would follow her. After all, because of her, he’d lost his entire network of hitmen. He wouldn’t let her go that easily. His pride—just like hers—demanded a reckoning.

There was an old saying: If you want to kill a hyena, drag it out of the city. Hyenas were cunning in urban sprawl, hiding in shadows and alleys. But in open territory, in the wild, they lost their advantage.

Instead of letting this so-called broker—this hiding hyena—keep his control over the capital’s labyrinth, Kaya wanted to drag him back to the forest, to the wilderness where she could think clearly, move freely, and sense danger before it struck. In the capital, there were too many people, too much noise. Finding one person among thousands was a nightmare.

And then there was the salt situation. The capital’s salt was ridiculously expensive, a luxury Kaya couldn’t afford in the quantities she needed. Without enough salt, her food tasted bland and worse—her body needed it. For sugar, she could find alternatives like sweet fruits, but salt? There was no substitute. Her body required it, especially given the physical strain she constantly put herself through.

So she made her decision: leave the capital and head west.

The west was farther, yes, but it had something invaluable—the ocean. And Kaya remembered clearly what the mermaids had told her. They had given her a special whistle, and they’d promised: "As soon as you blow this whistle near any sea area, no matter where we are, we will come to you."