Rhonda Rhodes might resort to underhanded tactics, but if Zephyr Mercer was the type to be scared, he wouldn’t be Zephyr Mercer. He, Paige Summers, and Ben hadn’t even reached the team’s rendezvous point before he made up his mind.

"I can’t stand the thought of not learning that Cultivation Technique!"

Paige Summers raised an eyebrow. ’So he’s knowingly walking into danger... I have to say, the guts on him are admirable!’

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I’m sure!" Zephyr Mercer nodded firmly.

Paige Summers thought for a moment. "Alright, let’s head back first. I’ll get you some medical supplies for protection. You can turn back around after; there’s still time." She had done all she could. Since he was this insistent, there was nothing more for her to say. ’Rhonda Rhodes is probably lying in wait for you,’ she thought. ’There’s really no need to be in such a rush!’

She might not be in a hurry, but Zephyr Mercer certainly was.

Regardless of the danger, this was an incredible opportunity for him!

He refused to give it up.

And so, the trio hurried back.

Paige Summers had planned on asking the team to wait for him, just in case Zephyr Mercer ran into any trouble. But the moment they returned, Claire Chapman told her with a grave expression that there was a situation at The Foundry.

They weren’t far from The Foundry, only a few days’ journey away. The real purpose of Claire Chapman’s "generous" offer for everyone to rest and recuperate was to send out scouts for reconnaissance.

But the news was not what they had hoped for.

"Just two days ago, a team headed for The Foundry. I heard they came from the south and have a lot of experts with them. Their intentions are probably obvious. We have to move faster!"

The objective of Bloodfall’s expedition was The Foundry; there was nothing more important!

Upon hearing this, Paige Summers no longer had the bandwidth to worry about Zephyr Mercer’s affairs. She just gave him an assortment of Antidotes and let him go his own way.

Zephyr Mercer watched as everyone packed up, ready to depart immediately. For a moment, he was torn.

Bloodfall needed everyone it could get, and leaving now felt like a betrayal. But with Rhonda Rhodes, he worried this was a now-or-never opportunity. In the end, it was Sean Raines, the team’s idler, who couldn’t stand to watch any longer. He clapped Zephyr on the shoulder. "Don’t give yourself a reason to have regrets. If you want to do something, just go do it. Worst case, you can finish your business and catch up with us later."

Realization dawned on Zephyr Mercer, and he nodded emphatically.

Watching him sprint away, Sean Raines grinned in satisfaction. "I’ve had my fill of this drama. Now that the big guy’s gone, there’ll finally be some room in the car!"

The teammate who came to get him for the vehicle heard this, and their expression immediately twisted. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

’So that whole thoughtful, "looking-out-for-you" act was fake! He just thought the guy was too big and took up too much space!’

’Poor instructor.’

’Still... good riddance!’

’Now I don’t have to put up with his sharp-tongued critiques during training!’

It took only a few minutes for everyone to board the vehicles and depart the city. Their journey of trials had made them a highly disciplined unit.

Aboard the jolting vehicle, Paige Summers and Claire Chapman unfurled a map.

Marcus Monroe had procured it from the Black Market. Redrawn by people who had fled the area after the apocalypse, it was considered relatively reliable. As the map showed, The Foundry was located in a huge mountain basin, a textbook example of a fortress that was easy to defend but hard to attack.

"That team is two days ahead of us, so they should be about here by now." Claire Chapman pointed to a spot on the map. She was estimating their position based on top speed, and the location she indicated was already very close to The Foundry.

Paige Summers hummed softly. She and Claire Chapman exchanged a look, both mentally calculating what the other team could accomplish in two days.

In fact, they had already discussed this back in Central City when they first acquired the map.

According to the map’s annotations, The Foundry was now completely occupied by Zombies.

The entrance alone would be difficult to secure, to say nothing of the interior.

The strength of these Zombies could not be underestimated.

Because near The Foundry, there was also a small military base!

Before the apocalypse, people would have found that reassuring. But after the apocalypse began, when the soldiers and steelworkers zombified... the word Hell couldn’t even begin to describe the result.

So many years had passed, and the place remained vacant. Was it possible that no one had tried to claim it?

Impossible!

The only explanation was that the Zombies had grown stronger and stronger over time, strong enough to defend the place themselves!

From that perspective, striking first wasn’t necessarily an advantage. It was possible the other team was just the mantis stalking the cicada, and Bloodfall could be the oriole waiting behind it.

"However..." Paige Summers’s finger traced the location of The Foundry on the map. "Ideally, they’ll just be cannon fodder and save us some effort. But since they’re supposed to be strong, we can’t be careless. We still need to get there with everything we’ve got, to make sure the prize doesn’t end up in someone else’s mouth."