Weynemanded in a subdued voice, “Leave Aria to me. I’ll eliminate her within a minute. You guys block the others. Got

    it?”

    The person nearest him nodded silently.

    Weyne frowned in annoyance. “Answer me.”

    Everyone was speechless.

    Obviously, they thought Weyne had no right to boss them around.

    But considering they were on the same team, Geoffrey said reluctantly, “Got it.”

    When they were closing in, a sudden whoosh came out. One guy’s ankle was bound in a rope, and he dangled upside down

    in midair.

    He didn’t make a sound, but themotion alerted Aria and her crew.

    At that moment, Aria was drawing something on the ground with a stick.

    Hearing themotion, she casually tossed the stick aside and said calmly, “They’re here.”

    She had hardly finished speaking when Weyne and his crew rushed out of the darkness.

    Ignoring others, Weyne lunged at Aria.

    Aria lifted her hand and caught his fist.

    Weyne acted quickly without giving Aria a chance to fight back.

    But Aria effortlessly blocked all his attacks.

    Several timester, Weyne’s face grew harder.

    Aria turned out to be much harder to handle than he’d imagined.

    Weyneunched a fierce kick, but Aria blocked it with her crossed arms, her feet scraping over the ground.

    When Weyne was about to attack her again, Aria, who had been backing up, came to an abrupt stop.

    “Now it’s my turn,” she said.

    She moved so fast that there was only a blur where she had been.

    Before Weyne could react, he received a blow on the chin.

    Soon, he realized how huge the gap was between him and Aria.

    He had been outgunned, unable to fight back.

    ‘I’m going to be eliminated, he thought.

    No sooner had the thought crossed his mind than Weyne faked a strike and turned to run.

    2:15 pm

    Aria seemed to know what he’d do next. She grabbed his cor and jerked him back hard.

    Weyne hit the ground with a thud, sending up a cloud of dust.

    Just as Aria was about to eliminate him, an arrow whistled toward her.

    She leaned back just in time to dodge, and Weyne took the chance to scramble away. Seeing this, his screw bailed too.

    Aria’s cold gaze shot toward the direction the arrow hade from.

    Sean was standing not far away, grinning at her. “You’re too strong, Aria. Thepetition’s no fun anymore, so I thought I should give you a little challenge.”

    Under the rules of thepetition, as long as a team held the supply station and stayed inside the safe zone, they wouldn’t get attacked by patrollers.

    But Sean broke that rule in front of everyone.

    Aria’s lips curled into a smile. “Mr. Lewis, you’re the one who broke the rules first.”

    Suddenly, she sent a steel needle flying toward Sean.

    He dodged frantically, breaking out in a cold sweat. “Damn it!”

    Sean thought, ‘She’s not bluffing. She wants me dead.

    He turned to run, but she stabbed him in the hand with another steel needle.

    Aria’s voice rang out, “Drop the crossbow, and I can let you go.”

    Sean clutched the crossbow even tighter and kept running.

    A third steel needle whizzed past his cheek and embedded itself into a tree. He threw up his hands, spun around, and yelled, “I give up. The crossbow’s yours.”

    Aria walked over, took the crossbow, and shot a nce at the scratch on his face. “Mr. Lewis, what’s the point?”

    Sean looked at her, his expressionplicated. “Tessa must’ve pulled out all the stops to get you here. You don’t have topete against a bunch of kids?”

    Sean steered Aria to a spot with no cameras around, making sure no one saw what happened there.

    When Aria reappeared on the monitors, crossbow in hand, the spectators went wild.

    “Aria beat Mr. Lewis? Is she really that strong?”

    “me Weyne, Pick Aria to mess with. Otherwise, Mr. Lewis wouldn’t have to step in.”

    “The first two teams deserved it. Aria never started anything.”

    The real pros never unt it, just like Aria.

    They thought Aria got in through her connections, and she was nothing special, so they could just walk all over her.

    If they hadn’t messed with her, they wouldn’t have been eliminated.

    A member of Brandon’s team exined, “When we ran into them, there were only two of them. Anyone would’ve jumped at the chance to make a move.

    “Mr. Lewis could’ve stepped in earlier. Weyne’s safe, but we’re just eliminated for nothing.”

    But they didn’t go as far as Weyne did.

    “Maybe even Mr. Lewis didn’t expect Aria to be so strong. If she keeps ying like this, she will eliminate whoever she wants. What’s the point of the team round? Let alone the solo round,” someoneined.

    Aria’s been eliminating groups one after another. Soon, there would be no one left for the solo round.

    In the tent, Clifford stared at the monitor, eyes wide. “Did Aria beat Mr. Lewis?”

    He thought, ‘She’s too strong.

    ‘Should thepetition keep going?’

    Gerald rewound the footage until it stopped at the moment Aria threw the first steel needle.

    After ck Rose died, only Echohawk could use the needles well. Gerald didn’t expect Aria to be Echohawk.

    Soon, the announcer said, “Special notice. Aria from Cathy’s team is not going to eliminate anyone from now on. All other rules remain the same. Again…”

    All the teams were startled. “Why can’t Aria eliminate anyone? Did she do something wrong?”

    “What happened?”

    Cathy quickly called her team. “What happened?”

    Liz’s angry voice came through. “Aria was about to eliminate Weyne when Mr. Lewis used a secret weapon to save him. They’re way out of line. Mr. Lewis tantly broke the rules. I look down on him.”

    Aria said calmly, “It’s no big deal. I can’t eliminate anyone, but I can hold them down and let you guys finish the job. Plus, Mr. Lewis gave us a crossbow. We suffered no losses.”

    A spectator grumbled, “Aria’s strong. Why did Mr. Lewis give her the crossbow?”

    “Brilliant. Even if she can’t eliminate anyone, her teammates can,” another voice chimed in.

    Sean was at a loss for words.

    He thought, ‘Come on, it was Aria who snatched it from me.

    I have to keep it to myself.

    The announcement was made to tell the other teams that Aria was strong, so they put restrictions on her. They wanted other teams to stay away from Cathy’s team.

    They wanted the other teams to see it.

    Weyne, looking like a mess, stopped running after several miles.

    Fabian called over themunicator, “You didn’t eliminate Aria? Why is she suddenly restricted?”

    Weyne clenched his fists Tabian, I’m pretty sure Aria eliminated those two teams. She almost eliminated me, tos

    “She’s stronger than Sean If this kreps up, we’re going to lose. In my opinion, all teams should unite If we aren’t able to eliminate Aria, we can eliminate her teammates first.”