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(Xyrean Province- Inner Regions)

(The Mermaid\'s Lake- Forested Outskirts)

The sun was now beginning to peak over the horizon and its warm rays of light chased the darkness away.

Qin Lan rubbed her eyes and yawned as she remained in the same position. She was currently leaning against a tree and watching a certain direction.

She had not gotten a single wink of sleep last night…

How could she?

Liu Tao and Chen Xiao were both missing and Qin Lan could help but think that this was her fault again.

First her brother… and now two other people… she had failed… she had failed again…

Qin Lan shuddered as she imagined all the horrific possibilities…

How could she have been so stupid?!

What would possess her to have a private training session with Liu Yifei and leave those two alone in the camp site by themselves?

Damn it!

Qin Lan\'s fingers curled up into a fist and her fingernails pierced the soft fleshy underbelly of her palms.

Blood began to drip down from her hand, but Qin Lan did not seem to notice the sharp stinging pain.

Not again… she couldn\'t go through this again…

"Good morning…" Liu Yifei whispered tiredly as she crawled out of her tent.

Gong Li also appeared from inside the same tent and the two girls had identical exhausted expressions on their faces.

"I\'m sorry but we need to leave now to look for Chen Xiao and Liu Tao… freshen up and meet me here in ten minutes…" Qin Lan spoke firmly as she hid her injured palm behind her back.

It had been too late last night to look for the missing teenagers and Qin Lan did not want to search for them on her own in the darkness.

She could not afford to have anyone else leave her sight.

Qin Lan could not tell if she had made the right decision or not…

Ever since her brother\'s death, Qin Lan had been second guessing herself and constantly replaying the decision that she had made since the apocalypse had begun.

Liu Yifei dragged Gong Li back into the tent and Qin Lan could hear a snapping noise as the gifted teenager used her ability.

She let out a heavy sigh and stared off into the distance with numerous thoughts running through her mind.

There were no signs of a struggle near or around the camp site which meant that the two teenagers had probably wandered off on their own.

How could they be so reckless?!

Qin Lan was by no means an experienced tracker and it had rained last night so any footprints had long been washed away by the mud and water.

Was it even possible to find them in such a large and dense forest?

Qin Lan could only hope that she would be able to stumble upon them by pure chance.

Time slowly passed and eventually Liu Yifei and Gong Li walked out of the tent wearing light track pants and comfortable tee-shirts.

"Okay let\'s go…" Qin Lan roughly spoke as she drank a bit of water from the bottle attached to her hip.

She handed a gun to Liu Yifei but made sure to let the young teenager girl know that the safety lever was on.

Qin Lan closed her eyes and took in a few deep breaths before gently exhaling to calm down her nerves. She began to move in a southeastern direction.

The two young girls followed closely behind her, and an uncomfortable silence formed between the group.

Qin Lan was feeling exhausted, and her low mood wasn\'t helped by the constant noises that the birds made as they walked through the forest.

Chirp! Chirp! Chirp!

She had to admit that she was a bit tempted to take out her gun and shoot as many birds as possible to get them to shut up.

Around thirty minutes passed and there was no sign of either Chen Xiao or Liu Tao. It was like both teenagers had vanished into thin air.

Qin Lan growled in frustration as she backtracked and then decided to go in another direction to look for them.

Eventually after two hours had passed and Gong Li looked as though she was about to collapse, Qin Lan gave the order to return to the camp site.

"Alright… let\'s head back and get some breakfast… we can look some more in the afternoon…" Qin Lan whispered softly.

She could see darkness begin to creep along the corners of her vision and she could not stop her eyelids from slowly lowering.

She definitely needed to take a nap before resuming the search.

Truthfully, she should have slept last night but every time she closed her eyes… she would see Eve punching a hole in her brother\'s stomach.

Qin Lan forced her legs to slowly move forward until they arrived at the familiar sight of the tents and the still smoking campfire.

"Wake me up in a few hours…" Qin Lan spoke tiredly as she walked into her tent and immediately crashed on the sleeping bag.

She must have been far more exhausted than she realised because it did not take long for Qin Lan to fall asleep.

Liu Yifei snapped her fingers and two granola bars appeared in her hand. She passed one to Gong Li and then the two girls moved over to the other side of the rest site.

"What do you think happened to them?" Gong Li asked softly as she glanced in the direction of Chen Xiao\'s tent.

"I don\'t know… I\'m very worried… what if they ran into the ability users who are hunting us down..." Liu Yifei hesitantly replied.

"No… how could they find us?" Gong Li furrowed her brows as she took a bite of the granola bar.

"I hope that they didn\'t do anything stupid like getting lost…" Liu Yifei nervously joked as she tried to relieve the tension in the air.

"Yeah… I\'m sure they are fine… probably just spending the night cuddling… away from the group…" Gong Li teased lightly.

This was the only way for the two girls to remain calm as they were both very concerned about the safety of their friends.

Especially since someone in the group had already died…

It was strange how just a few weeks ago, they were ordinary kids whose biggest concerns were about homework and exams and now…

They had to confront the grim reality of death on an almost daily basis.

Liu Yifei opened her mouth to say something when she noticed a figure staggering into the clearing with blood all over his body.

"Chen Xiao!" Gong Li yelled in shock as she rushed forward to help the young teenage boy who fell to the ground in a state of apparent unconsciousness.

There was no sign of Liu Tao and Chen Xiao appeared to be injured with blood all over his clothes and the front of his chest.

If Gong Li had been more alert, she would have realised that although there was a lot of blood…

There was not a single wound on Chen Xiao\'s body.