When Paige Summers returned to her room, the team’s Water Ability User had already tactfully prepared clean water. She quickly rinsed herself off and changed her clothes.

Returning to the main room, she found Ben had already run over from next door. He was sitting on the table, chewing on a freshly acquired and washed Crystal Core with a loud CRUNCH, CRUNCH.

Paige Summers raised an eyebrow.

Every time she saw this, she got the feeling he had a mouth full of steel teeth. This method of absorbing energy always gave her a pang of helpless envy. ’I wish I could do it like that, too, just like eating something. It’s so convenient! Not like the rest of us, who have to find a safe place and take our time just to absorb a Crystal Core!’

"Why aren’t you eating in your own room? You’re just here to show off, aren’t you? You’re definitely here to show off!"

Ben grinned at her, just as he swallowed the Crystal Core.

Just as Paige was grumbling to herself and about to shoo him out, a team member came to get her. "Tonight’s business isn’t over yet, Vice-Captain Sterling. You should go take a look!"

Paige Summers nodded in understanding.

’That’s right. I felt that something was off earlier.’

She stopped Ben from following, telling him to stay in the room and properly digest the energy. She then went down to the first floor with the team member.

Everyone was gathered downstairs, making it a bit crowded. But when they saw Paige Summers arrive, the crowd quickly parted to make a path for her, allowing her to easily walk to Claire Chapman’s side.

By this time, Claire Chapman had already narrowed down the list of suspects.

It had been confirmed by multiple people that besides the two female team members sharing May Joyce’s room, two other people had entered her room before everyone settled in for the night.

Sabotaging the window could only have been done by someone who had been inside, so all four were under suspicion.

However, pinpointing the exact person responsible wasn’t so easy.

Among them, the two female team members—the one who died and the one who protected May Joyce—were less suspicious.

After all, if it were the former, she wouldn’t have chosen the bed closest to the window. As for the latter, she could have easily thrown May Joyce to the Zombies before anyone else got inside.

That meant the focus fell on the other two people.

One was named Scott Lancaster, the other Stella Shields. Both were May Joyce’s subordinates.

Claire Chapman had wanted to ask May Joyce who she thought was more suspicious, or if she could provide some background on the two. Unfortunately, the woman had just witnessed her team member being torn apart and devoured right in front of her. She was still trembling, completely unable to form a coherent sentence.

Frustrated by her weakness, Claire Chapman had no choice but to find another way.

Announcing this to the entire group was his way of observing their reactions, hoping to find another clue.

"Scott Lancaster and Stella Shields, with me. The rest of you are dismissed!" Claire Chapman’s gaze quickly swept over May Joyce’s other subordinates, but he found no real flaws in their expressions. Their looks toward the two accused shifted from shock and suspicion to indignation, but no one said anything else. The two in question also looked completely lost, repeatedly crying, "I didn’t do it!"

With a grim face, Claire Chapman had them taken to an empty room.

Paige Summers followed. He briefly explained the situation, and she nodded without expressing an opinion. But as she casually passed the two men to enter the room first, her nostrils flared slightly.

The door had just closed and Claire Chapman was about to properly interrogate the two when Paige Summers suddenly grabbed Stella Shields by the shirtfront. "No need to ask. It’s this guy!"

Claire Chapman said in surprise, "Huh? How could you tell?"

Before Paige Summers could answer, Stella Shields cried out, "It wasn’t me!"

Paige Summers looked at him mockingly, a faint, unreadable smile on her face.

That gaze, which seemed to see through everything, made Stella Shields falter for a moment. After a second, he forced himself to calm down. "I have no personal grudges with Captain Joyce. I have no motive to do this. Even if you’re the vice-captain of Bloodfall, you need evidence to back up your words!"

"Heh. I haven’t even finished, and you’re already getting all red-faced and flustered. Are you so certain that just because you threw away the tool and washed the rust off your hands, I have no evidence?"

Stella Shields’s heart lurched in shock.

’The way she said it, it was as if she’d seen it with her own eyes!’

Indeed, after he had used a small, sharp knife to break the metal bars on the window, both his hands and the knife were stained with rust. That was why he hadn’t gone back to his room immediately after leaving May Joyce’s. Instead, when no one was looking, he’d hidden the knife in another team member’s room and washed his hands completely clean, thinking he’d left no trace behind.

Who would have thought that after just one look, Paige Summers would have exposed everything.

"I don’t know what you’re talking about, I..."

Paige Summers cut him off impatiently. "Shut up! I don’t want to hear your pointless excuses. If I say it’s you, it’s you!" Then, to her subordinates, she ordered, "Take him to another room. Stay alert. Don’t let him escape or kill himself. If he still won’t confess by the time we leave tomorrow, I have my ways of making him talk!" 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

"Yes, ma’am!"

Stella Shields breathed a sigh of relief and calmly followed the team members out of the room. ’So what if I just grit my teeth and don’t admit anything? What can she do? Even if she wants to kill me, she needs a reason, or May Joyce won’t agree. That stupid woman has always trusted me; she’ll definitely step in. And the others... I’ve always been popular on the team... If she tries to force the issue, it will only drive a bigger wedge between the two teams. At a time like this, Claire Chapman isn’t stupid enough to let her do whatever she wants! At most, they’ll put me under surveillance. As long as I’m alive, there’s still a chance for things to turn around.’

Taking in his expression, Paige Summers snorted inwardly. ’This kind of person absolutely cannot be allowed to live.’

Claire Chapman dismissed Scott Lancaster, leaving only him and Paige Summers in the room. He returned to his previous question, "It was the rust, wasn’t it?"

Paige Summers nodded.

"The smell of old rust is very strong. He washed his hands, but he couldn’t get rid of it completely. Also, he must have planted something in May Joyce’s room to attract the Zombies... But judging by his attitude, he probably didn’t leave any traces. We definitely won’t find anything now."

Claire Chapman rubbed his chin. "The guy is awfully confident. We probably won’t get anything out of him just by locking him up. Why don’t I go test if his bones are as hard as his mouth!"

Paige Summers shook her head. "He might have accomplices on the team. But rooting them all out now won’t do us any good. There are too many Zombies here. Every extra person who can fight is useful."

Claire Chapman disagreed. "So we just let them stir up trouble? If that happens, it won’t just be May Joyce—we’ll all be dragged down with them to our deaths!"

"Of course we can’t just ignore it..." Paige Summers thought for a moment. "Leave this to me."

Claire Chapman paused, but still nodded.

Paige Summers wasn’t someone who’d go soft. ’She must have already come up with a good plan.’

There’s an idiom, "kill the chicken to warn the monkey," and that was exactly Paige Summers’s plan. May Joyce’s enemies weren’t necessarily enemies of Bloodfall; she just needed to ensure they wouldn’t dare make another move while they were cooperating. So, *how* he was killed was crucial. It had to strike such fear into their hearts that the very idea of sabotage would be unthinkable.

「The next day」

Just as the sky was beginning to brighten, Claire Chapman called for the team members to prepare for departure.

Of course, before that, they had to deal with Stella Shields.

In just a few sentences, Paige Summers explained the whole story. She concluded, "Whether he had a motive to harm someone, or whether he has accomplices, I don’t care. All I know is that he has already done something that put every team member in grave danger. You all saw how formidable that giant Zombie was yesterday. If we had been delayed and arrived a step too late, it wouldn’t have been just one room that was massacred! For someone like this, who endangers everyone’s lives, there is only one path—death!"

Stella Shields hadn’t expected this outcome, and his face instantly turned ashen. He wanted to open his mouth to argue, to even try and incite the crowd, but he wasn’t fast enough. At a signal from Claire Chapman, the team member guarding him gagged him.

In the dead silence, only his heavy, ragged breathing remained.

Paige Summers gave a slight smile. "He is definitely going to die, but before he dies, he ought to compensate everyone. Captain, prepare to give the order. Once I tie him to the railing outside, cut his skin to draw some blood, and attract the nearby Zombies, the team can advance at full speed! This is a rare opportunity to avoid a pitched battle. We can’t miss it."

Claire Chapman raised an eyebrow. He was a little surprised, but he immediately understood that it was indeed a good idea.

"We’ll do it! All squads, memorize the route forward. After Vice-Captain Sterling makes her move, follow my command. We’ll charge out together. Remember—move stealthily."

"Yes, sir!" the Bloodfall team members responded in unison.

Their feelings were rather straightforward. Although they felt that this fate was a bit miserable for Stella Shields, the memory of the giant Zombie devouring a person the night before quickly erased any trace of pity. The decision made by their captain and vice-captain was, of course, for the good of everyone, and should be firmly upheld and supported.

On the other side, however, May Joyce’s subordinates were all terrified.

’Tying someone up, cutting them to draw blood... that means being devoured by a horde of Zombies in minutes! Just imagining such a gruesome scene is enough to make our stomachs churn.’

Although they had anticipated it would be an unpleasant sight, when they actually saw Stella Shields tied to a metal frame, several cuts slashed across his body, fresh blood steadily dripping down and even forming a small stream at his feet, they still felt as if a powerful hand was squeezing their throats, making it impossible to breathe.

The scent of fresh blood drifted out, and the Zombies, with their keen sense of smell, swarmed toward it.

For them, this breakfast had arrived right on time.

Claire Chapman didn’t give the order to leave immediately. Instead, he waited for the right moment, preferably until most of the nearby Zombies were drawn by the scent of blood and no longer paying attention to them.

This forced everyone to watch as the Zombies gradually closed in.

The gag in Stella Shields’s mouth had been removed, but he now had no heart to argue. He could only scream desperately, "Help me!"

He shouted, "I’ll talk! I’ll tell you everything! Let me go!"

Paige Summers acted as if she hadn’t heard. After carving one last wound on his leg and making sure he had no chance of survival, she quickly moved away.

"Too late." Her light, flat, emotionless voice quickly drifted away on the air.