"Those who attacked Ina's squad number at least two," someone said.
"One of them is extremely skilled at disguises."
"The other has a very powerful flame ability."
Apart from Ralph, most of the squad members here didn't know Wendy, and they certainly didn't know Ron. But since Ron and Wendy had been brought by Gonte, no one asked any questions.
"Senior Gonte," Wendy spoke up, "could I see Senior Ina's body?"
"This way. Come with me."
Gonte led Wendy and Ron next door. The stench of blood and charred remains immediately hit them in the face. Lying on the ground were over a dozen bodies.
"Ina is in the first row, the first one."
Wendy hurried forward and lifted the white cloth. Beneath it lay a scorched corpse, completely unrecognizable as human.
Wendy's eyes grew red, and tears fell uncontrollably. Ron stepped forward and gently patted her shoulder. Soft sobbing sounds echoed in the room. Gonte clenched his fists.
"Those bastards… I won't let them get away with this. I'll kill them and avenge Ina!"
Wendy struggled to steady her emotions.
"Senior Gonte, has all this been reported above?"
"When I tried to report it, I realized Gik City's communication was cut off. Not just the internet—the base stations have been destroyed. Phones, texts, emails… none of them can be sent. Gik City has practically become an isolated island. So I sent a few people out of the city to reach the capital in person and deliver the message."
Gonte looked outside.
"But I'm not sure if they'll be intercepted, or if they can actually get the news out."
"You shouldn't have come here at this time. By the look of things, Gik City is definitely dangerous right now, and we still don't even know how many enemies there are."
Ron and Wendy exchanged glances. It was true. But there was no point dwelling on it: they were already here, so all they could do was figure out how to handle the situation.
"Senior Gonte," Wendy asked, "do you know where Rosgel's head is located?"
"No," Gonte answered, shaking his head.
"So, do you have any plan now?" Wendy pressed on.
Gonte thought for a moment.
"I plan to identify those infiltrators first. Cutting Gik City's communications must mean they haven't found Rosgel's head yet. If Ina hadn't discovered them, they wouldn't have exposed themselves so soon. But now, they'll be in a hurry to search. And when people are in a hurry, they're more likely to slip up. Once we know their situation clearly, I'll come up with a strategy. They're powerful, but not invincible. Otherwise Ina's squad wouldn't have had any survivors at all—someone managed to escape.
"For now, I want you both to stay here in the base until this is over. It's too dangerous outside, and leaving the city now isn't a good idea. You'll have to look out for yourselves. I may not be able to protect you."
With that, Gonte left the room.
Chii appeared—but with no signal in or out, she couldn't contact the outside world.
"This is like what happened at the Coliseum," Ron murmured. "But it might be a bit better. Their only goal is to take Rosgel's head and leave. They won't stay in Gik City for long unless someone causes trouble for them."
Ron looked at Wendy. Their situations were different: Ron wasn't from the Fiora Kingdom, so he could theoretically stand by and watch. But Wendy was Fioran. Knowing that people from the Mingbo Republic wanted to steal Rosgel's head, could she just do nothing? Could she stand by and watch Gonte and the others fight alone?
If Wendy chose to get involved, what about Ron?
"Ron, let's do as Senior Gonte says and stay in the Dark Hunter base," Wendy said, making Ron blink. Then he understood—she was deliberately saying this so that he wouldn't be pulled into trouble.
"Let's wait and see what Gonte finds out," Wendy added. "If there's any way we can help, I think we should. But if there's no chance, I won't push it."
Ron nodded; if they judged the situation hopeless, he certainly wouldn't get involved. But if it looked doable, he could lend a hand—depending also on the attitude of those Mingbo operatives. He wasn't Fioran, after all.
"No need. If anything, I'm the reason we came to Gik City in the first place. It's because of me that we're in danger."
They left the room and found Ralph waiting for them.
"Ron, Wendy, I'm sorry." Guilt was written all over Ralph's face. "You only ended up in danger because you came to see us."
"It's not on you. Nobody expected something ."
Gonte arranged a room for Ron and Wendy, while the rest of his people began carefully investigating around Gik City in hopes of locating the Mingbo infiltrators.
Ron glanced at his crystal ball. The essence of Observer was rising quickly. In just a single day, it had gone up three percent, and it wasn't slowing down.
"Could it be that I can reach one hundred percent of Observer's absorption progress right here in Gik City?"
An air of tension pervaded the entire Dark Hunter base. Neither Ron nor Wendy ventured out. Over the next three days, Ron's crystal ball climbed to eighty percent.
Then Ron sensed a shift in the atmosphere—the tension in the base had spiked again. A corpse lay in the center of the main hall.
Two days later, yet another Dark Hunter member was killed. Gonte's face turned grim, and the entire hall fell silent. After a long pause:
"Call off the investigation," Gonte said. "Their concealment abilities are too good, and our current tactics aren't working at all. We'll just have to wait.
"All team members—pull back to base. We'll wait until they find Rosgel's head. That head is sealed, so removing it will definitely cause a commotion. That'll be our time to strike.
"As for the few we sent to deliver the message beyond the city, I'm guessing they're all gone. Forcing another breakout seems pointless—it would just cause more losses."
Gonte had two choices at this point. One was leading everyone out of the city…