“Bias”

The journey went smoothly without any obstacles.

Mia had gone back to being quiet and reserved, making the atmosphere feel heavy and silent.

The only exception was Chris, who was holding a small bottle, pouring out its contents and rubbing the liquid all over himself. It was supposed to mimic the scent of the monsters, tricking them into thinking he was one of their own.

"I'm gonna slather this stuff on. Last time, they tricked me. This time, I'm gonna trick them and get even!" Chris muttered to himself. But after sniffing the liquid on his hands, he winced slightly, his brows furrowing.

"Why does this smell so funky?"

"Well, what do you expect?" Brandon chimed in. "That liquid was extracted from an organ in the monsters' corpses—something similar to a human bladder."

"Wait, what?" Chris's eyes widened in disgust, his face twisting as the realization hit him.

Still, for the sake of safety…

He kept applying it.