Chapter 148: Another addition.

Lita paced toward her vanity mirror, her eyes bright with malice as she admired her reflection. "In school, she always got the better grades! The handsome boys always looked at her first! But in the end? She didn’t awaken and those boys led to her death! Ha-ha-ha! I only wish she stayed around so that I could torment her longer."

"Lita, stop talking about it." Ursula urged softly over the line. "Don’t let anyone hear you. Zyra is gone now! She’s dead and buried in the wild lands! Your competition is completely gone. Right now, you just need to focus on surviving in that terrifying Kaelion estate. Are you_ are you really going to spy on them?"

Lita rolled her eyes so hard it almost hurt. "Mother, are you dumb? Of course, I am. I already accepted the task! But do you really think I’m going to let myself be used like a dog?" She smirked at her reflection in the glass. "Instead of them using me, I am going to use all of them! All I need to do right now is play the pitiful, innocent girl and win the grand patriarch’s favor."

On the other end of the line, Ursula stiffened in absolute terror. "L-Lita?! What are you about to do?! Don’t do anything crazy! Sabrina will kill you if you cross her."

"Relax," Lita scoffed, sitting down at her vanity table. "I will play it smart. I feel like coming home to see my horrible father and curse his entire existence out."

Ursula let out a weak, pathetic sniffle. "It’s no use_ your father isn’t even at home anymore. As soon as his status upgraded, he changed. He has chased me out of the new house in the capital and he is keeping a young, second-class soul maiden with him. I am back to our old house as we speak. Other women are laughing at me."

Hearing her mother sob, Lita didn’t offer a single word of comfort. Instead, she let out a dry, mocking chuckle. "And that is exactly why you have to marry up, Mother!" Lita snapped coldly. "All men are trash creatures who chase youth and power! Did you seriously expect a man like him to stay loyal to you forever? Look in the mirror, dammit! Your beauty is completely gone."

"Lita! How could you say that to your own mother_" Ursula wailed hysterically.

"Ugh, I don’t even have time for this nonsense," Lita interrupted, completely disgusted. "Find yourself a better man or accept your new life the same way you told me to accept mine."

Without waiting for another word, she tapped the phone and cut the call mid-wail, plunging the room back into silence.

Lita threw the phone onto her bed. She leaned forward, resting her chin on her hands as she stared deeply into her own reflection in the gold-framed mirror. Her makeup was neat, her skin was fair, and her eyes were burning with ambition.

"No more," Lita whispered to the girl in the mirror, her lips curling into a sweet, deadly smile. Since there was no hope for help from her family, she might as well give up on them. "I am done being everyone’s little pawn. Let’s see who plays who."

***********

Inside the VIP hotel room in Greenwich, the Zyra Joint Search Team was supposed to be preparing for their high-stakes mission. Instead, they were on the verge of tearing each other’s throats out.

The problem was simple, yet utterly embarrassing: they couldn’t even choose a team leader, let alone agree on where to start looking!

"Are you all brain-damaged?!" Sheila barked, slamming her hand onto the square coffee table. She adjusted her tight leather gloves, her sharp eyes glaring at the men around her. "We need to split our forces! We divide into three teams, search different nations simultaneously, and double our speed! If we stay together, by the time we find a single clue, that girl will be an old grandmother!"

"Absolutely not!" Garon boomed, crossing his big, tree-trunk arms over his chest. "Splitting up is suicide! What if that snake of hers is stronger than us? We stick together and start from Greenwich where she was last seen. We follow the trail from the beginning like proper trackers!"

Ocean, who was slouched in his chair picking his fingernails with a small dagger, snorted loudly. "Greenwich? Please," He scoffed, rolling his eyes. "You think the girl is an idiot? She knows the whole world is looking for her even if the posters were taken down! If I were her, I’d head straight back into the Wild lands to hide! That’s where we should go first and that was where I found her. She only came to this town to pick up the map."

"Enough!" Fungus slammed his fist down, shaking the loose glass of the table. He let out a long, disappointed sigh. "Listen to yourselves! You are supposed to be top experts, yet you’re screaming over a basic starting point! If we can’t even solve a tiny disagreement like this, how do you expect us to handle the actual search?!"

Ocean smirked, flipping his knife into the air and catching it cleanly. "Simple then. Let’s take a vote. Majority rules."

"Fine by me," Sheila muttered.

"Agreed," Garon grunted.

Sheila raised a finger, stopping them before they could raise their hands. "Wait. We should hold off until that Scorpion boy gets here. If we’re taking a fair vote, all parties need to be present."

Garon let out a deep, chest-rattling laugh, pointing a thick finger in the air. "Ha! And this is precisely why I should be the team leader! Look at us, waiting around like useless ducks! Oh, Mayor Logan sent me a message that yet another person would be joining our group."

Ocean’s eyes bulged so wide they nearly popped out of his skull. "Wait, what?! ’Another’ one?!" He slapped his forehead in genuine agony, his heart bleeding. That was yet another person they had to split the money with! His precious energy stones were shrinking by the minute!

Sheila glanced down at her wristwatch, her brow furrowing. "If this Scorpion kid doesn’t show his face by tomorrow morning, we leave his ass behind. We don’t have time to baby sit_"

Ding-dong! The sharp ring of the front doorbell interrupted her mid-sentence.

Fungus grumbled under his breath, standing up and shuffling over to open the door. "Alright, alright, stop ringing_"

The door swung open, and Mayor Logan stepped into the room with a polite, fake smile plastered across his face. Right behind him stood a quiet, handsome young man with sharp eyes_ Ian.

"Good evening, everyone," Mayor Logan announced warmly, waving a hand toward the youth. "Allow me to introduce our newest addition. This is Ian Scorpion."

Before anyone could say a word, the sound of heavy, deliberate footsteps echoed from the hallway outside. A tall, broad-shouldered figure stepped past the mayor and strode straight into the room.

It was Job Scorpion.

Ian’s jaw dropped. His eyes widened in utter disbelief. "Uncle Job?! What the hell are you doing here?!"