Chapter 54: The Strongest Team of the Galactic Imperium Alliance

Chapter 54: Chapter 54: The Strongest Team of the Galactic Imperium Alliance

Renee Morgan: "What team are you guys from?"

The other guy thought Renee had some ideas and immediately replied with excitement, "Galactic Imperium Alliance’s strongest team."

Renee Morgan: "..." If they’re so ’strong’, why are they down here mugging us for food instead of up in the sky?

The guy got a little embarrassed under Renee’s stare. He awkwardly scratched his nose, "We just entered the jungle this morning. As soon as we came in, all our food got snatched. We’re starving. We heard you guys still have food..."

So, their team eating half a compressed biscuit ahead of time is actually considered lucky?

Wait a second...

Renee Morgan frowned in confusion, "How did you know we still have food?"

Why didn’t he just say they were trying their luck? He actually said, "heard you guys have food." That’s really weird.

Their gaze shifted past Renee to Wendy Aldridge and Zara Chapman, his eyes full of meaning: "They said Renee Morgan is really capable, has food on her, so here we are."

"Anyway, thanks for sharing your food, and a piece of friendly advice— in this forest, the scariest thing isn’t people. Before we came in, we were all warned we couldn’t kill each other, but as for those other things... they aren’t bound by the rules." The guy flashed a mysterious, dangerous grin, waved, and swaggered off with his group.

The scariest thing isn’t people? They’re not bound by any rules? Just what the hell are "they"?

Renee watched their backs thoughtfully.

Lynn Miller was already arguing with Zara Chapman.

"Heh, so you’re telling us you didn’t steal the biscuits, fine, let’s say we buy that— then why did you and Zara tell them how capable Morgan is and that we still had food? Seriously, Wendy Aldridge said those guys are in cahoots with the two girls from this morning. I was almost convinced, kept wondering how they knew Morgan’s name. Turns out you two moles went and blabbed to strangers, leading wolves right to our door. Sure, you don’t have a biscuit left, but did you ever consider maybe we still had half a piece, huh?" Lynn was actually pissed off— to have this mess happen in the middle of the night, all because their team had a couple of snitches.

Zara simply stated, "Today when we went to collect firewood, Wendy Aldridge and I were talking, praising how capable Renee Morgan is. Someone came to steal our food but instead got their toolkit snatched by Renee. We didn’t know people were behind us, and by the time we realized, they’d already overheard everything. As for the compressed biscuits, we didn’t steal them—Renee Morgan told us what to do. She’s always smart. I figured better listen to her in a crisis than think too much about consequences. If I’d known you’d accuse us like this later, you think I’d have helped at all?"

Wendy Aldridge secretly let out a breath of relief; at least Zara wasn’t too dumb. She played along, putting on a devastated expression and shutting her eyes in regret: "So that’s what happened... Zara and I were gathering firewood, and I genuinely thought Renee Morgan was amazing. I was a bit jealous, so we talked about it. Who would’ve thought they’d overhear us?"

Now that the truth was out, the others finally got it—it was Wendy running her mouth without realizing the trouble she caused.

And as for whether Wendy and Zara actually stole the biscuits or if it was just Renee making stuff up—come on, even a fool could see how guilty those two looked. Plus, everyone trusted Renee would never do such a thing.

Renee’s expression was cold. Wendy probably knew there were people behind them and dropped those hints on purpose—and then used the chaos tonight to swipe food from her and Lynn’s stash.

Their little scheme really was clever. If a fight had broken out between their team and those raiders, by the time anyone noticed the missing biscuits, there’d be no way to trace it back to them.

"Alright, I get it—you guys didn’t do it on purpose this time, it was just a coincidence. As for the biscuits, let’s just say I had some gift of foresight, knew someone would come to steal food, so I let you two look after the biscuit, okay?" Masking her sarcasm with fake generosity, Renee delivered her lines like an old hand at teatime drama.

The rest shot angry glances at Wendy and Zara. They weren’t idiots. It was obvious those two brought the outsiders here, just happened to grab Lynn and Renee’s biscuits, and when Renee denied giving it to them, they immediately flipped the story and accused Renee of framing them. Did they think everyone else was brain-dead and couldn’t see through their petty tricks?

Lynn refused to let it go. Hearing Renee’s words, she spat at Wendy and Zara: "Yeah right, either Morgan here can see the future and gave away even MY biscuit ahead of time, or more likely, you two set this whole thing up—bring in the wolves, snatch a biscuit in the chaos, then claim Morgan framed you afterwards. Pfft, I’ve never seen anyone so shameless."

"Leave it. Drop it. They didn’t mean for it to happen, nobody wants to starve," Renee twisted the knife just a little deeper with a sigh.

So they don’t want to go hungry, but they’re fine with making everyone else starve?

Every member of Squad One stared daggers at Wendy and Zara. If they weren’t all stuck on the same team, there would’ve been a fight by now.

Wendy and Zara went red, then pale, but facing Squad One’s intimidating stares, neither dared argue with Renee anymore.

Zara scowled, spun around, and threw a line full of anger: "If you’re innocent, you don’t fear the shadow. Say whatever you want."

Wendy cried until her throat was raw, her big eyes swollen to frog puffs, sobbing: "Why don’t you believe me? Why won’t you believe me..." Pretending everyone was bullying her for Renee’s sake.

Renee couldn’t squeeze out a drop of sympathy. They were still being filmed—after all, they were a team, so making too much of a scene wouldn’t look good; her own image would be dragged down with theirs.

"I’m not blaming you guys. That’s enough, don’t cry," Renee sighed. "They say the real fear isn’t the thief stealing your stuff—it’s the thief always thinking about your stuff. If we’d known everyone was fighting for food out here, we would’ve never saved half a biscuit. We should’ve just eaten it all, and starved later if we must."

The others dropped their heads in dismay.

Renee Morgan: "It’s late. Let’s get some rest, keep watches by rotation, and figure something out when the sun comes up."

No point talking further—this was all they could do now.

The others quietly headed back to their tents.

Wendy and Zara went to rest as well.

This time, no way was Zara willing to sleep next to Renee.

Lynn wanted nothing to do with them either. But Renee was right—they were still filming. No need to make a scene. Otherwise, she’d rip into them and never let it go without an apology.

Renee lay down on the dry grass. For some reason, one phrase kept echoing in her brain. In the woods, the scariest thing isn’t people. The others aren’t bound by rules. What the hell does that mean?

It can’t be ghosts, right?

Renee shook her head hard. Like hell ghosts or gods exist. If it’s not "people," is it animals?

With that possibility in mind, Renee felt a bit of relief. If it was just animals, don’t provoke them and you probably wouldn’t be in too much danger.