Chapter 71: Zara

Chapter 71: Chapter 71: Zara

Renee Morgan said thank you to him, then turned and went back to the tent.

Kyle Beckett didn’t have time to say anything, and in the end could only watch Renee’s back and sigh, "Hey, do you think these people will go looking for trouble with Renee in Z-country once we’re out of the base?"

Miles Yates knew they were on camera, so he replied seriously, "The instructor represents the military power of Z-country. We’re his trainees, so in terms of safety, we have nothing to worry about."

Zayed wasn’t wrong about one thing: Renee, like them, is a citizen of Z-country. Anyone who knows the strength of Z-country’s military wouldn’t dare touch them, let alone enter Z-country to commit crimes or challenge Z-country’s laws. There just aren’t many people in the world who would dare do that.

Now the whole world knows, once you cross Z-country’s law, even if you’re not a citizen, they’ll hunt you down no matter how far.

Kyle Beckett finally relaxed, shrugged, and went back to the tent.

The viewers in the livestream all breathed a sigh of relief at Miles’s words. Exactly, there’s no one in the world bold enough to openly challenge Z-country’s bottom line. They felt proud to be born in Z-country.

When Renee returned to the tent, Wendy Aldridge and Zara Chapman were staring at her coldly. There were no cameras inside, so they couldn’t even be bothered to put on a show anymore.

Zara: "Renee, you really love being the center of attention."

Zara and Wendy had gotten ready to go out after those people left, and overheard the conversation that followed. When they learned Renee had pissed off someone she shouldn’t, they were delighted—serves her right, bitch karma and all that.

Renee had just sat down on the dry grass when she heard them and turned her head.

Seeing their cold sneers and twisted, mocking faces, Renee felt an undercurrent of irritation, but it quickly faded away.

Wendy couldn’t stand how unbothered Renee looked. She smiled faintly and said, "Hey, in the end, you’re so desperate to show off just because you want to make it in the film industry. Let me be honest with you—you never, ever should have offended Ms. Chapman. With her connections, getting an executive to blacklist a newbie is hardly a challenge, don’t you think?"

The last sentence was delivered oh-so casually, but for a newcomer in showbiz, it’d be enough to strike terror and despair, wouldn’t it?

Zara crossed her arms, threw a disdainful sidelong glance at Renee, then let out a "hmph" and lay down on the straw to rest, looking completely at ease.

Wendy feigned pity as she looked at Renee, hoping to see her crushed and totally defeated.

"Oh." Renee answered coolly and lay down in her spot, closing her eyes to sleep.

Wendy glared at Renee’s calm, delicate face, fuming with rage herself.

Hmph, let her feel smug for a few days. Once filming ends, Renee’s good days will be over.

Once Lynn Miller came in, the tent was quiet again. She lay down next to Renee, and soon her even breathing could be heard.

Renee was so tired she was almost dazed, thinking about what Wendy had said—Zara was going to get her blacklisted by some executive?

Come to think of it, Zara really did have a pretty close relationship with that executive, but rumors say later on there’d be scandals, and the executive’s wife even got Zara blacklisted for a while. When she finally came back, her popularity had totally tanked. Apparently she even had a billionaire boyfriend, and they were close to marriage, but the scandal blew up and the relationship fizzled.

If Zara dares to blacklist her, she’ll just hire a top detective to tail her and expose her scandal with the executive ahead of time.

If you don’t mess with me, I won’t mess with you. But if anyone tries to use her as cannon fodder, she’ll make sure they crash and burn.

Renee quickly fell into a deep sleep. When she woke up, it was already morning and the sun was shining brightly.

Zayed and Team One’s members had already gotten up, washed, and were chatting on the rocks. When they saw Renee come out, they greeted her as always: "Morning, Renee!"

When she heard them call her ’Renee’, she couldn’t help but think about last night—they called her "sister" after she took the heat for them. Maybe it makes sense after all?

"Yeah." Renee responded coolly as she walked to the river to wash up.

Zayed had reminded his own people over and over: Renee is their benefactor. Settling The Godfather’s side alone was enough to prove how much they owe her, so she absolutely deserves extra respect.

No one else objected, either. They all genuinely admired Renee. After all the time they’d spent running with the mob, she was the first stand-up girl they’d ever met. How could you not like someone like that?

The others woke up, and after washing up, gathered on the rocks in front of the tent.

Taylor and Brown were already gone. Their main goal was to get the base pass, and Renee’s team was all over the place—some strong, some dead weight. Anyone who knew how tough the base forest was understood that even a solo powerhouse would struggle to survive three days and nights and win the pass, let alone someone dragging a slow team with them.

Renee could understand their decision, and genuinely wished them well.

Once everyone was seated on the rocks, they started discussing next steps. First up: finding food. After eating so little yesterday, they were all drooling with hunger. If they didn’t put something in their stomachs soon, they’d be too weak to handle any real danger.

Now there were fourteen of them left, split into two teams of seven.

Kyle Beckett was the first to raise his hand—he wanted to be on Renee’s team. Miles Yates followed. Lynn Miller also wanted to stay with the same team as yesterday.

Zara and Wendy tried to join Team One, but Zayed didn’t want them, so they ended up back with Renee’s team. Sean also tagged along.

Basically, Team One members formed one team, and Team Two members stuck together, except Sean was now with Renee’s Team Two.

The two teams agreed to meet back at camp before nightfall. If someone didn’t come back, don’t bother looking for them.

The reason for this was mainly that, compared to yesterday, they now had a much better understanding of how dangerous the base forest really was.

Pretty soon, each team set out from the camp.

Team Two’s first idea was to go back to the spot where they found fungus yesterday. The soil there was damp—a better bet for food.

The seven of them trekked for ages back to the mushroom spot, but didn’t find a single bud. They must have scoured it clean yesterday.

Miles Yates said awkwardly, "Now what? Should we keep going deeper?"

The others all looked apprehensive. If they went deeper, that would be too far—there’s no telling what danger might be ahead.

But if they didn’t go further, they’d come up empty-handed, and their stomachs couldn’t take it anymore.

Zara, who hadn’t eaten a thing since yesterday, had thrown up even the wild greens from last night, her stomach completely empty. Now, seeing their food search go nowhere, she was on the verge of tears, "What now? If we still can’t find food, I really can’t take it anymore."