"You are cheating, Captain!" Henry couldn't control his temper and almost hollered. Silas's two-faced treatment made him angry. "Punish her like you punished me! Take away her ration for one day!"
Amelia slapped her hand on her forehead, hearing Henry's words. Idiot! He was truly an idiot!
Sure enough, the next second, Silas's face turned stormy, his jaw tightened, a sign of the anger boiling in his heart.
"Run ten extra laps during your training the next day," He commanded, authority laced in his every word.
"But..." Henry tried to protest; however, his voice died down as Silas's voice sounded,
"Twenty."
Henry opened his mouth again, but this time Amelia swiftly covered it and whispered in his ear,
"Captain's next words would be fifty. I bet you won't like it."
Henry, high on his anger, instantly calmed down, as if someone had doused him with cold water.
Amelia heaved a sigh of relief and turned to look at Ivy. In the past, Ivy made a fuss whenever Silas tried to punish her and questioned.
'Who are you to punish me?'
But now, she was staring at Silas as if the world didn't matter to her at all and only Silas was worthy of her attention.
'Did she understand Captain's goodwill this time?'
After all, Silas tried various methods to keep Ivy away from the moment he found out that the Ravencroft family abused Ivy.
However, not once, Ivy understand his intentions and blame him for controlling her.
This time, though... something had changed. No... the correct sentence was... Ivy has changed completely.
'Should I give her a second chance and reassess?' Amelia thought.
Having settled Henry, Silas turned toward Ivy and asked in a serious voice,
"Do you accept your punishment?"
Ivy, who was attracted by Silas's serious yet focused gaze and how he scolded Henry for her, unconsciously replied,
"Yes, daddy."
Amelia, Chole, and Henry: (ʘᗩʘ')
Silas: (๑♡ ⌓♡๑)
Ivy: "..." Sh*t I messed up!
Ivy's pale face slowly turned red till it could compare with tomato sauce. There was silence for a long while before Silas coughed, his face was calm as if he was unaffected, however, his red ears and slight blush told everything.
"I... We should carry out the hunt."
The team nodded.
This time around, Ivy didn't suppress her skills. Maybe it was Silas's reassurance, or maybe it was the public embarrassment she suffered a few minutes before, but she hunted down animals as if her life depended on it, as if everyone would forget what she called Silas.
Henry looked at Ivy with slight fear and muttered,
"I... I should not oppose her all the time. She is a girl. If I keep going against her, she will feel bullied. Yeah... yeah, that is the reason!"
Amelia rolled her eyes. As if! Clearly, Henry was scared by Ivy's skill.
Her eyes followed Ivy's figure, who was skilled enough to knock out an animal with a single shot.
No double-take, no mistakes. Only accuracy and precision.
What was even more admirable was that, with Ivy's intelligence, she was sometimes able to kill three animals with just one shot.
How? By aiming for the bigger animal, and ensuring that the other small animals get trapped under the bigger animal's weight and die.
Ivy was... truly impressive. To the point that even Amelia felt ashamed.
On the other hand, Chloe's eyes brightened with each attack Ivy executed.
'Yup! I am definitely challenging Ivy to a duel later! Of course, I will ensure Captain is not nearby.'
In the end, with Ivy's skill and the team's coordination, they hunted a total of 40 rabbits, 10 stags, 17 boars, 20 wild turkeys, and one black bear.
They even hunted more than 100 fish.
Since it was already evening, the team decided to call it quits; however, Ivy wasn't ready.
She knew something others didn't. As long as they leave, they might not get the chance to return to this mountain, and today was the last day humanity could salvage any food.
Because after the arrival of Power Rain, either the animals turned mutated or died.
Clenching her fist, she looked at Silas and suddenly said,
"Can we talk in private?"
Hearing those words, the team stiffened. After all, Ivy used the same words whenever she wanted something from Silas.
Unlike before, Henry didn't dare to jump and only muttered under his breath,
"Greedy!"
Even Amelia and Chloe felt a bit disappointed. With Ivy's skill presentation today, they wanted to invite her to the team.
Who would have thought that everything was just an illusion and Ivy did everything with a motive...
Ivy ignored the accusatory gaze thrown in her direction and looked at Silas hopefully.
Silas stared at her deeply before nodding. Though Ivy had trapped him many times, he still wanted to believe in Ivy... just for once...
Maybe... maybe this time... she has truly changed.
Ivy was delighted, and once the two of them were alone, Ivy took a deep breath and said,
"See whatever I am going to say, please don't ask any questions, and just trust me."
Silas's nod encouraged Ivy, who continued with a nervous gaze,
"Tomorrow, Power Rain is going to arrive, and all the food in the world will be contaminated. 90% of Animals and plants will be mutated and become assassins held bent on killing humans. So we only have this night to hoard as much food as possible."