?Chapter 1327:


    “You overthink everything,” Cade muttered while packing. “Just ’cause you’re sneaky doesn’t mean the captain is.”


    “Exactly,” Moss chimed in.


    Trent’s eyes drifted to the rest tent, his expression unreadable. He hoped he was wrong.


    Twenty minutester, Ellis returned with Michael in tow.<fn60ea> Read full story at find?novel</fn60ea>


    He motioned to one of the nearby team members. “Check their gear. Make sure everything’s in order.”


    “Yes,” the member closest to him snapped to work.


    Two minutester, he reported back. “Everyone’s got extra rations and water—except Trent Seymour.”


    “Everyone except Trent, step forward.” Ellis’s tone was icy.


    They stepped forward at once.


    Freya’s stomach dropped—her suspicion had been spot on.


    “Didn’t I say no one brings anything besides what I issued?” Ellis’s tactics always caught them off guard.


    “Captain Michael Miller gave it to us,” Moss exined. “He said it was…” He trailed off abruptly.


    Mentioning that it came from Ellis himself wouldnd them in hot water. Michael had said Ellis was strict but had a soft spot.


    Ellis’s eyes locked onto him, cold and unreadable. “What did he say?”


    “It’s nothing.” Moss held back what he had nned to say.


    “Keep enough rations for one day. Hand over the rest,” Ellis said lightly, but there was a sudden chill in his voice that made it impossible to ignore.


    Cade tried to object. “But—”


    Trent gave him a sharp nudge. Cade mped his mouth shut instantly.


    Everyone except Trent handed over their supplies without a word, feeling like their spirits had been wrung dry.


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    Once Ellis saw the despair settle in just the way he wanted, he issued the nextmand and ordered them to move out.


    Michael nced at the pitiful group and let out a double click of his tongue. “I honestly thought they’d all buy my story. Didn’t expect one of them to be sharp-eyed. Guess they’re better than thest batch.”


    “It’s two,” Ellis said quietly, his gaze tracking Freya’s silhouette in the distance.


    Michael looked confused and asked, “What do you mean?”


    “Nothing,” Ellis replied vaguely, his tone unreadable, before giving his next instruction. “Have your men shadow them. Make sure nothing goes wrong.”


    “Already taken care of,” Michael said, ever the dependable one.


    Ellis cast one final nce at the retreating figures before turning and making his way back toward the rest tent.


    As they walked, Michael asked, “What if none of them had taken the bait?”


    “Then we would have gone with n B. I would have handed them over myself,” Ellis said with casual confidence, his schemes alwaysyered and precise. Everything he did was designed to teach them one harsh truth—how to tell reality apart from illusion.


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