Even if her pheromones reached 10, it was still a far cry from a normal level.

Zoe Pierce didn’t know why the number had risen, but she couldn’t feel any difference from such a small increase.

After confirming there was nothing wrong with her body, she put the matter out of her mind.

The instructors had already begun to search the entire cave. Nathan Lockwood was standing by one of the cultivation pods, and Zoe Pierce walked over to him. "Nathan Lockwood, what exactly is going on?"

She had seen what Erin Xavier said in the group chat; he clearly hadn’t called for the instructors.

She had thought they would wait for everyone to get back and discuss it, but she hadn’t expected Nathan Lockwood and Miles Sherman to show up directly with the instructors.

"Miles Sherman and I ran into two suspicious-looking people."

Nathan Lockwood’s voice was a bit detached, but he explained the whole situation clearly.

He and Miles Sherman had been looking for food when their sensitive Perception picked up people nearby. At first, they both thought it was other students from the academy, but when Nathan Lockwood and Miles Sherman got closer, they realized the two individuals were definitely not students.

They were in the process of moving a Xenobeast.

The Xenobeast was submerged in a culture fluid. Living creatures couldn’t be stored in a Space Button, so someone had to transport it manually.

The path they chose was also a deserted, gloomy trail.

Just as Chase Shaw and Erin Xavier had seen an unfamiliar Xenobeast in the cultivation room, even with Miles Sherman and Nathan Lockwood’s breadth of knowledge, they couldn’t identify what kind of Xenobeast it was.

They immediately followed them.

It was the middle of the night, but the two people didn’t rest. Instead, they continued walking through the pitch-black forest.

After following them for a while, Miles Sherman and Nathan Lockwood figured out their objective: they were heading through the heart of the forest, trying to leave the area.

Sure enough, after tailing them all night, they spotted an armored vehicle parked in the woods.

The vehicle looked no different from the armored transport that had brought Nathan Lockwood and Zoe Pierce into the forest. At a glance, one would just assume it was an academy vehicle.

A typical student might see it and assume the academy was deploying more Xenobeasts.

But the two of them didn’t think so.

Xenobeasts were deployed long before the students entered the joint exam. To allow a Xenobeast to adapt to a new environment, the deployment time had to be determined in advance based on research into its life characteristics—usually about three months beforehand.

The actions of these two couriers were extremely suspicious.

When the two men loaded the Xenobeast onto the armored vehicle and mentioned that they had acquired some new Xenobeasts thanks to the academy’s deployment, Miles Sherman and Nathan Lockwood became even more certain. They immediately made their move.

After the two Alphas noticed them, their first reaction upon seeing Miles Sherman and Nathan Lockwood was to kill them.

However, the other one reminded him that if they killed them, the Intelligent Brain would report it to the instructors immediately, which would definitely not be good for them.

Their plan was to knock Miles Sherman and Nathan Lockwood unconscious and leave them there. By the time they were long gone and had covered their tracks, it wouldn’t matter even if the two students told the academy.

But they soon discovered that Miles Sherman and Nathan Lockwood were not ordinary students; they were tough nuts to crack.

Not only were their combat skills different from typical students, but the men couldn’t even gain the upper hand with their spiritual power.

They also seemed to recognize Miles Sherman’s and Nathan Lockwood’s identities, so much so that just before Miles was about to capture them, they committed suicide.

A conspiracy already shrouded in mystery and confusion had just ended with two dead bodies.

With things having reached this point, they naturally had to contact the academy.

Two lives were lost; it couldn’t be brushed aside. The instructors who had been monitoring the students immediately turned out in full force.

After finally dealing with the situation over there, they saw the message from Erin Xavier.

An unknown cultivation room built deep in the mountains was clearly related to what Miles and the others had discovered, so the instructors brought them directly here.

Nathan Lockwood didn’t tell Zoe Pierce the details of how the other matter was handled, only mentioning it in passing.

But Zoe could tell from the instructors’ attitudes that it was definitely a serious matter.

The instructors gathered all four Xenobeasts together.

Other instructors were clearing out the warehouse. Everything on-site needed to be taken away for research, and the area itself would be cordoned off for further investigation.

"So, are we... still participating in the joint exam?"

It was the first time Zoe Pierce had ever encountered something like this in the middle of an exam.

An instructor overheard Zoe Pierce and nodded. "You’ll return with us in a bit and proceed directly to the Plunder Match."

If Zoe Pierce’s team were just an ordinary squad, the instructor might have just sent them back and awarded them the credits for the joint exam.

But Miles Sherman’s team was the academy’s only squad of S-Class Alphas. The Plunder Match was a competition against the First Military Academy, which also had S-Class Alphas. Losing their S-Class squad would undoubtedly have a major impact.

So even though Miles’s team had discovered this anomaly, the instructors couldn’t just let them end their joint exam.

At most, they could let them go back to rest and recuperate for a while.

"The academy will compensate you with some extra credits later," the instructor added.

Without a doubt, the person most moved by this news was Zoe Pierce.

She desperately needed credits right now.

The smile on her face was so genuine, revealing a pair of faint dimples on her cheeks. She was so beautiful it was hard to look away.

Even the instructor couldn’t help but glance at her a couple of extra times, smiling along with her and teasing, "No wonder Nathan Lockwood said the credits would be enough. What, haven’t you completed your required credits yet?"

Hearing the instructor mention Nathan Lockwood, Zoe Pierce subconsciously glanced at him. His gaze was on someone else, so she quickly replied, "I’m just worried I won’t do well on my future exams and won’t get the credits."

’Even though I’ve been studying hard, I haven’t actually taken a real test yet. I can’t say for sure that I’ll pass.’

The instructor watched as Chase Shaw was led over after being questioned, then said, "Don’t worry. Your squad will definitely get credits for this joint exam."

Chase Shaw walked over, and Nathan Lockwood asked him, "How are you feeling?"

He had just seen someone performing a basic check-up on Chase Shaw.

"I’ll have a more thorough examination back at the academy." The instruments for the basic check showed no problems, but since Chase Shaw was the only one who had been attacked by this unknown Xenobeast, he needed to undergo more tests.

For Chase Shaw, these kinds of examinations had become routine.

On the other side, a female Omega instructor from the academy stood before Erin Xavier. She placed her finger on the back of Erin’s hand, making contact with just the fingertip. "It’s fine. Your spirit sea is normal, no issues."

She checked both Erin Xavier and Chase Shaw one after another. Neither of their spirit seas seemed to have been affected.

Erin Xavier, however, suddenly spoke up in confusion. "Instructor, can an Omega’s spiritual power really help an Alpha withstand a spiritual power attack from a Xenobeast?"

It was a sudden thought. Erin Xavier remembered that the previous Omega on their team had never once stood in front of any of them before a Xenobeast launched a spiritual power attack.

For the first time, he began to doubt his understanding of how an Omega’s spiritual power could be used.