"And just how are we supposed to find the snakes?"

The excitement vanished almost immediately.

The squad exchanged looks.

Nobody had an answer.

The forest suddenly felt very large again. And very annoying.

A few students scratched their heads.

Others stared blankly at the trees as though the answer might be written on the bark.

Then, as if by some unspoken agreement, every head slowly turned toward Isaiah.

Isaiah noticed and immediately took a step backwards.

"What?"

Carrots gestured at him.

"You’re the smart one. Do your thing."

Several students nodded.

"Yeah."

"You always come up with something."

Isaiah stared at them. "That’s not how intelligence works."

Then he sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"I can’t think of a way to find robotic snakes."

Several students looked disappointed.

"If we weren’t stuck in a jungle with limited resources, I could probably build something that tracks them."

The squad brightened.

Then Isaiah sighed again.

"But we are stuck in a jungle with limited resources."

The brightness disappeared again. Silence settled.

Eventually, Soraya folded her arms.

"Should we keep searching or figure out a solution first?"

The squad was immediately divided.

"We should move on."

"Keep searching. We might get lucky."

Others disagreed.

"Lucky?"

"We’ve already wasted over an hour."

"Walking around blindly is stupid."

The argument grew louder.

The first group insisted that standing around wasn’t helping either.

The second argued that blindly wandering through a forest in search of relics the size of a hand was dumb.

The first argued what else were they supposed to do when the Trial was obviously rigged?

"Find a better way around it."

A voice cut through the debate.

Everyone turned.

Yesu stood with her head tilted, like she had been thinking for a while.

"Explain." Soraya said.

Yesu stepped forward.

"The idea of wandering around looking for Scales is exactly what we did on Day One."

Several students blinked.

"And we found fifteen."

"Sounds like luck to me." one of the students muttered.

"Yes." Yesu agreed. "It does sound like luck."

The student looked surprised.

"But maybe it wasn’t?"

The forest became quiet.

"If we hadn’t found the snakes," Yesu continued, "then we probably wouldn’t have found any Scales."

Isaiah frowned. "What are you trying to say?"

Yesu glanced around.

"I think we’re asking the wrong question."

The squad listened.

"Instead of asking how we can find the snakes, maybe we should ask why we found the snakes."

Several brows furrowed.

"Back then, 11-B didn’t find any Scales." Yesu continued. "That could also mean they never found any snakes."

The realization slowly spread.

"That doesn’t sound like a coincidence to me." Yesu said in conclusion.

That made complete sense to everyone.

Then Reggie’s eyes suddenly widened.

"Come to think of it... what if we never actually found the snakes?"

Everyone looked at him.

"What if the snakes found us?"

The atmosphere shifted immediately. Excitement returned.

Soraya tilted her head thoughtfully.

"Something might have attracted them to us."

A pause.

"Or to the people who found them."

"The one I spotted was on a tree." Finch said.

"And one attacked Farida." Carrots added.

Immediately everyone’s attention shifted toward the pair.

Finch blinked.

Farida blinked.

The squad examined them carefully. Very carefully. Searching for similarities.

Farida’s cheeks gradually turned pink beneath the scrutiny.

There was absolutely nothing similar about them that could possibly attract snakes.

Robotic snakes.

"This is crazy." Someone said in frustration, giving up.

"Or maybe not."

Isaiah blurted, eyes wide.

Then suddenly strode toward Finch, reaching for his neck.

"Hey—" Finch started to complain.

Before he could react, Isaiah reached beneath his shirt and pulled out a necklace.

The pendant swung slightly.

Isaiah touched it.

Metal.

His eyes widened some more.

Then he immediately walked toward Farida.

Farida hurriedly pulled a necklace from beneath her shirt before he reached her.

"I forgot to take it off." she said quickly. "I promise."

Several students frowned. Jewelry and all forms of bodily accessories were banned during Trials.

"Don’t worry." Isaiah assured Farida. "That’s not what I’m interested in."

He touched the chain.

Metal.

A slow grin spread across his face.

Triumphantly, he turned toward the squad.

"The Scales are metallic."

Everyone listened.

"So are these necklaces."

Silence.

Then realization exploded.

"The snakes carry the Scales which means they can probably detect anything of the same material. And might even be attracted to it."

Isaiah pointed dramatically at Finch and Farida.

"Which is why the snakes found them."

The squad erupted.

"We figured it out! We actually figured it out."

"We could use them as bait to lure the snakes."

Farida immediately looked horrified.

"Guys, I don’t—"

Ideas began flying from every direction.

Then Reggie slowly raised a hand.

And the squad groaned loudly in exasperation.

Carrots groaned loudest of all.

"Seriously, dude?" She asked.

"Let him speak." Soraya said evenly. "A rational voice is always useful."

Several students scoffed.

"Rational?"

"Him?"

Reggie ignored them.

"If the snakes are truly attracted to the metal on these two," he said, "then why haven’t they shown up since?"

The celebration stopped. Questions immediately resurfaced.

Because unfortunately, that was a very good point.

Silence settled over the squad.

The excitement that had been building moments ago deflated instantly.

Isaiah’s theory suddenly seemed far less convincing.

Several students rubbed their faces tiredly. Others stared at the ground.

Then Yesu spoke.

"It seems pretty obvious to me."

Heads turned immediately. Confused.

"What?" Soraya asked.

Yesu shrugged. "The reason the snakes haven’t shown up yet."

The squad listened.

"They probably aren’t stationed around here."

A few brows furrowed.

"They were likely placed in specific parts of the forest." Yesu continued. "Think about it. On Day One we found ten Scales together. Then five more together. Not too far apart."

Understanding slowly began spreading.

"They weren’t scattered individually." Soraya said.

"Yes," Yesu confirmed. "And the forest is really huge. If the Academy placed every snake and every Scale randomly across the entire Zone, finding them would be nearly impossible."

She scratched the back of her head.

"Trials are supposed to be difficult. Not impossible."

The squad exchanged looks. The logic was surprisingly solid.

For the first time since arriving at the Trial Grounds, Yesu had contributed to a discussion that wasn’t about surviving, fighting, or desperately escaping something.

And somehow, it made perfect sense.

Soraya nodded. "Then we’ll revisit the area we searched on Day One."

Several students brightened immediately.

"It still falls within our jurisdiction for today," she added.

The squad wasted no time.

They immediately changed direction and pushed deeper into the forest.

As they walked, Reggie gradually drifted toward Yesu’s side.

He glanced at her. Then at the forest ahead. Then back at her.

"You’d better be right."

Yesu looked at him. "About what?"

"Everything."