"..."

"..."

"..."

Nobody spoke, and the entire forest suddenly felt very quiet. Alex blinked, "I’m sorry, what?"

The student swallowed nervously.

"Our supplies."

Cassien smiled.

"Please tell me you’re joking. You have to be, right? It’s just a harmless prank."

"I wish I were."

Ren immediately dropped his backpack.

"YOU MEAN ALL OF THEM?!"

The student nodded carefully.

"The food."

Nod.

"The medical kit."

Nod.

"The water purifier?"

Nod.

"The tents?"

Another nod.

Alex stared blankly. "How the hell do you steal tents?"

"I don’t know!"

For the first time since the battle ended, Olivia’s expression darkened.

"You watched someone steal everything?"

The student nearly looked ready to cry.

"I thought he belonged to our class!"

"You thought wrong."

"Clearly!"

Cassien rubbed his forehead. The [Grave Maw] nearly killed them. A B-Rank monster. A giant wolf from hell itself.

And somehow, the greatest damage they had suffered today was from a man carrying camping supplies.

"Class Rep."

Olivia looked over; Cassien’s smile had disappeared.

"Someone planned this."

"What do you mean?"

"Nobody randomly steals supplies." He crouched beside the area where their belongings had been left. "The timing is too perfect."

His fingers brushed against the dirt.

"The moment everyone became distracted."

"The moment we were fighting."

"The moment nobody was watching."

His eyes narrowed.

"That’s not just luck. Someone orchestrated this... possibly within our class."

And just like that, the [Traitor] had already started to move the pieces while Cassien fought off the [Grave Maw].

And now, they can’t sit there and watch. The queen must move throughout the board to resume the offense.

Cassien reached down; a faint strand of mana lingered on a nearby branch, almost impossible to notice, but not impossible.

"Found you."

Olivia frowned, "What’s up?"

Cassien stood. "Mana residue," the students stared, Cassien casually twirled one of his daggers, "Most people don’t realize mana leaves traces." His smile returned, "But unfortunately for our thief..."

A thin blue thread emerged from the dagger’s handle.

[Mana Threading] activated instinctively.

The thread floated into the air, then immediately stretched deeper into the forest, like a compass finding north.

Ren’s jaw dropped. "Wait. You can track people?"

"Not normally," Cassien pointed toward the glowing thread, "But this idiot touched our supplies."

It continued moving farther until it finally stopped.

"I see, it was orchestrated."

"What?"

The thread wasn’t leading toward a single person; it was leading toward dozens. With an area surrounded by a campsite.

Olivia slowly narrowed her eyes. "Tell me that’s not another class."

Cassien laughed, "It absolutely is another class."

"Can you tell which one?"

"No."

"How many?"

"Hmm..." Cassien poured more strength into his dagger, "Probably around 20, maybe more, take it or leave it."

Alex groaned, "Of course."

Siv sighed, "Well, what do we even do now?"

Audrey didn’t have any say in the matter.

Cassien began walking, "Come on."

Olivia immediately stopped him, "Hold up."

"Why?"

"We just fought a B-Rank monster; most of us are already exhausted, so we shouldn’t go after them right away. Our supplies are gone, and there’s no definite solution that we can beat them in a fight, especially with some weaknesses we have. The solution to attack them right away is stupid."

"No, it isn’t."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

Olivia pinched the bridge of her nose.

Cassien grinned, "Class Rep."

"What?"

"If someone steals your wallet, you don’t politely wait until tomorrow to retrieve it. You chase whoever did it and put them out of their misery."

"I don’t know about the last part."

Then, she came to a final agreement.

"Fine."

Cassien pumped his fist, "Excellent leadership."

The blue mana thread continued stretching deeper into the forest.

Leading them directly toward whoever had just made the biggest mistake on the island exam.

Stealing from Class-1C.

...

After some time of walking forward and following the thread, Cassien halted. Everyone followed.

"What’s up?" Olivia asked.

Cassien crouched behind a bush. "Congratulations. We found our thieves."

The students immediately lowered themselves. Through the trees, a campsite slowly came into view.

Tents, sleeping bags, crates, supplies, and most importantly, their supplies.

Ren nearly stood up, "That’s ours!"

"Shhhh."

Cassien pushed his head back down, and the group observed the camp carefully. Around twenty students occupied the area, some even setting up tents.

They were now inside the Verdant Expanse, where the forest was the densest on the island. It was quite far away from the starting point, but nonetheless, it was good for ambushes with the abundant wildlife around.

"That doesn’t look like Class-1B."

"It’s not; it’s neither 1A."

Olivia studied their uniforms and faces, "Class-1D."

Audrey’s eyes narrowed at the same three women who bullied her on the cruise ship.

Not just that, it was also Theodore’s class.

The same went for Amelia; she was here.

"How many?"

"Twenty-two."

"How many look combat-capable to you?"

Cassien studied them carefully, "Probably around sixteen, take it or leave it."

"How many can actually fight?"

"I’d assume eight."

"..."

Near the center of the tent was a pile of supplies protected by several students... it wasn’t even their own; it was Class-1A’s.

Each of them overheard Class-1D laughing.

"We got them good this time; we can relax twice the amount. Winning this isn’t even our top priority; we just want others to struggle."

"Right, I hate that bitch as well, but after what we did, I don’t think she’s coming back."

"Audrey, right? Yeah, the only woman who has confidence is Olivia; I know that from experience."

...

Each of them was preparing to walk in, until a small creaking sound began slowly sneaking up on them.

It wasn’t quiet, so all of them noticed.

Cassien looked back, and it was him again.

"Fuck, we’re caught," Olivia whispered.

But in Cassien’s mind, that never once crossed over. They weren’t caught; rather, it worked.

Or Cassien’s idea worked.

"Guys! Class-1C is here!"

Theodore began walking through the bushes, all the students just staring, then he took a look back at Cassien.

They nodded simultaneously as Class-1D got into their positions.

’It has begun.’