Olivia lowered the dead leopard, planning to extract whatever they could. But before she could even bend down to touch it, the ground swallowed it whole.
The sight startled both Olivia and Slade—they jumped back and stood shoulder to shoulder, eyes fixed on the nearly vanished leopard while scanning for more threats.
Slowly, the leopard disappeared completely. They watched their surroundings like this for another five minutes before relaxing slightly.
Neither said anything about what they'd just seen and resumed their positions. But this time, just as Olivia prepared to use her energy to sense the surroundings, Slade stopped her—he wasn't taking any more chances.
"Don't use the energy again. You're giving away our position to hostile organisms, lighting us up like a beacon. Do you have any other way to explore?" Slade asked.
Olivia stopped and looked at him, horror lingering in the back of her mind: How long has he been able to sense energies? Was it after we met, or has he always been able to and just not said anything?
She pushed the thought aside and said, "I have a skill, but it will slow down our exploration speed."
Slade didn't respond right away but thought internally, Did I make a mistake? How did everyone follow someone like her and survive?
After a few seconds, Slade suggested in a strange tone, "Can't you just send the energy in one direction? That way, we only have to watch that side."
Olivia had never tried it, so she didn't know. "I'll try," she responded, focusing to send a burst of gathered energy in a fan-shaped area in front of her.
At first, it wasn't uniform, but after practicing 3-4 times, she managed it. Happy with her accomplishment, she turned to Slade—only to see his bored expression, which dampened her excitement. She refocused on exploring further.
She also thought, Since he knows how to use energy, did he also get a physique through the Roulette or Store?
They continued without encountering another beast or mutant—or perhaps Olivia's method couldn't detect creatures with a major power difference from her.
Feeling like 3-4 hours had passed, they decided to rest for the day—starting slowly to build stamina and exploring the area around their base comprehensively instead of in patches.
"Are you ready to go back?" Slade asked.
"Yes, let's go," Olivia replied.
Both started retracing their steps, checking their backs and sides for ambushes. Yet they were still caught off guard.
Small red dots began gathering on the map at the edge of their vision, seemingly cutting off their return path.
For the first time, Olivia panicked. Slade stayed calm, pulling her behind a tree, slowing his breathing, and clamping a hand over her mouth to silence her.
Olivia struggled briefly, but an airy, cold whisper stilled her: "Make another sound, and I'll kill you first and run."
She stopped thrashing and calmed slightly. Slade slowly lowered his hand, checked the map, and calculated the distance and time before the enemies arrived—ignoring Olivia's wronged glare.
While scanning the direction the creatures would arrive from, Slade whispered, "Don't just stare—do your thing and scout a way out. I'll cover your back."
Olivia shot him a piercing glare, thinking of the irony: First he threatens to kill me, now he expects my help to escape.
Letting it go for now, she began channeling her energy, focusing her wood element to map a much larger area and detect presences. This exhausted her faster. Already tired from exploration, she was running on fumes.
Luck seemed to be on their side—she spotted a cave. She told Slade, and they slowly made their way toward it, checking surroundings before reaching the mouth.