Chapter 56: Trust Us, Zoe Pierce

"An S-level Alpha. The opportunity’s been handed right to us." Someone in the group of seven or eight spoke up. "They must be pretty unlucky. Didn’t they meet up with any squads from their own academy?"

"They have an S-Class Alpha, and so do we. What’s there to be afraid of? Let’s take them down."

Things were different for the First Military Academy this year. They also had a squad with an S-level Alpha, so they began weeding out the competition as soon as the joint exam started.

When Victor Vance encountered squads with useful abilities, he didn’t eliminate them right away. Instead, he assessed them and selectively allowed some to remain.

The squads he let through all gathered at their pre-arranged meeting point. That was how they were able to assemble such a large team so quickly at the start.

And that was exactly what Victor Vance wanted.

The First Military Academy had lost to the Federal Military Academy in the joint exam for four years straight. If they lost again, it would be their fifth consecutive loss, which would naturally give the other side a five-year winning streak.

This time, the First Military Academy placed high hopes on Victor Vance’s squad.

While they couldn’t compare to Miles Sherman’s squad from the Federal Military Academy, which was composed entirely of S-Class Alphas, their team was still a rarity: two S-Class Alphas and two A-level Alphas whose spiritual power bordered on S-Class.

’What if? What if we actually win this time?’

Especially after the elimination round ended, everyone received a message from the Intelligent Brain.

The final winning squad of this joint exam would represent the Federation in a friendly match against the Empire. This instantly raised the stakes, making the First Military Academy even more desperate not to lose.

Encountering a lone S-Class Alpha and the enemy squad’s Omega was, by any measure, their golden opportunity.

As long as they eliminated these two, the remaining three would also be without their Omega.

There was a world of difference between an S-level Alpha and an A-level Alpha. Ordinarily, seven or eight A-level Alphas might not even be able to defeat a single S-Class Alpha. But with Victor Vance present—an S-Class Alpha—they were completely confident that victory would be theirs.

"No more talking. Let’s move." The sky grew increasingly dim, and the group pushed forward, relying solely on their physical conditioning as Alphas.

Meanwhile, Zoe Pierce, the one they were after, felt a growing sense of unease that was based purely on intuition.

"Miles." She grabbed his sleeve. The rain was so heavy she had to press her lips almost to his ear. "I have a really bad feeling."

"I think something bad is about to happen, but I don’t know what."

Her words were so purely instinctual that it was impossible to extract any concrete information from them.

Zoe’s brow tightened, her voice strained. "I don’t sense any Xenobeasts nearby... I haven’t seen any people either, but there’s just something wrong..."

’She’s rarely like this.’

Miles suddenly crouched down. "Get on," he said in a low voice. "I’ll carry you."

Zoe was surprised by his words, but this was no time to hesitate. The sense of urgency was only intensifying. With no other choice, she climbed onto Miles’s back.

Her weight was hardly a burden for Miles.

Zoe felt as if Miles had suddenly noticed something. His choice of where to plant his feet became more deliberate as he broke into a sprint, dashing forward.

His back was broad and strong, and he moved at an incredible speed. Zoe had to grip his clothes tightly with both hands, afraid the jarring motion would make her let go.

After they had been sprinting like that for nearly ten minutes, Miles sent a voice message to Nathan Lockwood and the other two. "What’s your ETA? I think we’re being followed."

He stopped under a banana tree with Zoe on his back. His eyes were fixed on the supply point on his map. After estimating their distance from where they started, he continued his message, "Let’s regroup directly at the supply point."

Erin Xavier’s voice came back. "Roger that. I’m on my way ahead of the others."

Only he was fast enough to get there quickly. Chase Shaw and Nathan Lockwood would need more time.

"Zoe, most Alphas won’t attack an Omega. When the time comes, find a good place to hide, or just run."

Zoe gripped Miles’s shirt tighter. "How can you be so sure people are after us? My feeling could have been wrong..."

"We haven’t been covering our tracks," Miles explained. "It’s perfectly normal for someone to have found them."

That was why, after Zoe had voiced her vague premonition, he’d mulled over the possibilities and concluded they were likely being tailed. She had told him how her intuition worked; since it offered no specifics, he had simply reasoned backward from the worst-case scenario.

There were only so many possibilities in this forest. Under the strict monitoring of both the First Military Academy and the Federal Military Academy, the odds of running into anyone connected to the Xenobeast experiments were minuscule.

And running into a squad from their own academy wouldn’t have triggered such a reaction from her.

That left only two sources of threat: Xenobeasts, or people from the First Military Academy.

"You need to trust yourself," Miles said with a smile. "You’ve already been a huge help today."

Thanks to Zoe, their point total for the day was absolutely dominant.

"It’s either their S-Class squad or they’ve gathered a large enough group." Miles re-oriented himself. "Zoe, hold on tight."

Zoe’s body was pressed flush against his back, her fingers clenched tight.

"Either way, it doesn’t matter."

"Trust us."

The pair moved swiftly toward the supply point. Meanwhile, Victor Vance’s group also came to a halt.

"The tracks are fainter. It looks like they’ve spotted us."

"Impossible. There’s no way they could have detected us from this distance."

"That Alpha has started consciously covering his tracks. With the rain, it’s become nearly impossible to follow them."

It would have been one thing in daylight, but the sky was now completely dark, making it even more difficult to find a deliberately hidden trail.

"Who on Miles’s squad has that kind of ability?" The First Military Academy had studied the Federal Squad inside and out. "Is it Nathan Lockwood? Nathan has a Perception Ability and can scout his surroundings, but we don’t know the effective range."

"Send Nathan out alone with an Omega? Neither of them is a strong fighter." If he recalled correctly, Nathan was in the Command Department, wasn’t he?

"Then who do you think it is?" the man who had been contradicted shot back, his lips thinning in annoyance.

The first man opened his mouth but couldn’t name anyone else. Otherwise, it was too hard to explain why someone who hadn’t been hiding their trail would suddenly start.

Victor Vance glanced at the forest, where the trail had all but vanished. He raised a hand. "Enough arguing."

"Whether they’ve spotted us or not, our destination is the supply point," he said, his eyes darkening. "It’s best if we run into them there. If they’ve gotten away, we can’t continue the chase in these conditions."

The cost of continuing was too high.

As long as their targets could sense them even a moment before they were spotted, they would never be able to catch up.

In the pitch-black forest, silent except for the sound of rain, the camera feed couldn’t even get a clear shot of their faces. It only captured them glancing at the supply point countdown on their devices before changing direction.

And for the Federal Military Academy, the image of Miles Sherman carrying Zoe Pierce was also being broadcast live for all to see.

As expected, both groups were headed for the same destination.