11. Unexpected Encounter

Kai heard approaching footsteps and instinctively thought it was Moon. But to his surprise, it wasn't him. Instead, a small group of five people emerged from the dense forest—three boys and two girls. Kai's body immediately tensed up. He became alert, ready to react at any moment. He had already experienced the horrors of being caught off guard once, and he had no intention of letting that happen again.

The group stopped a few feet away when they noticed Kai. For a moment, they seemed confused... and then strangely embarrassed. The two girls quickly turned their heads away and covered their eyes with their hands, as if they had just seen something they weren't supposed to.

Seeing their odd reactions, Kai frowned. Confused, he quickly looked down at himself—and his expression froze. His makeshift leaf cover—the one he had crafted to protect his precious item—was completely torn apart. It had several holes in it, and in his half-naked state, everything had become clearly visible.

Kai's face flushed with shock and a little embarrassment. With a swift motion, he covered his lower half with one hand and, with the other, tried to maintain a commanding stance. Despite his awkward position, he spoke in a deep and firm voice, "Who are you people? And what are you doing here?"

He tried his best to sound authoritative and dominant, but with one hand holding his manhood and his tattered leafy cover flapping around, the whole scene looked unintentionally hilarious.

One of the boys in the group immediately waved his hands, trying to ease the tension. "No no! You've misunderstood us," he said quickly. "We don't mean any harm! We're just recently graduated students—explorers, really. We came here only to gain some field experience. We saw some smoke in the distance and thought someone might be in trouble, so we came to check it out."

Kai narrowed his eyes and studied them more carefully. Their appearance did support their claim—they all looked young, probably no older than their early twenties. Still, he remained cautious. After a short pause, he responded in a slightly calmer tone.

"Alright," he said, "but remember this… never trust anyone so easily. I'm speaking from experience. This world… it's not as simple as it looks. There are people out there who are truly evil… sadistic even."

The group nodded in agreement. They could sense the seriousness in Kai's voice. One of the girls, still not making eye contact, reached into her storage ring and pulled out a fresh set of clothes—a blue-colored tracksuit. She handed it over to Kai without saying a word.

Kai didn't take it immediately. Instead, he carefully inspected the clothing. He had learned the hard way not to blindly trust anything or anyone, even something as simple as clothes. After thoroughly checking the fabric for hidden traps or oddities, he found it clean and safe.

Without wasting another moment, Kai nodded and disappeared into the nearby bushes.

About a minute later, he stepped back out—now fully clothed in the tracksuit. It wasn't stylish, but it was a massive improvement from the leaf disaster earlier. With a small nod, he said, "Thanks… for the clothes."

He took a step closer and introduced himself. "My name is Kai. I also recently joined this Shifting Expanse… just like you guys."

To his surprise, the group's attitude grew even warmer. Kai had expected a change in their expressions after mentioning that he was still a rookie. He thought they'd judge him or maybe laugh silently—but no such reaction came. They remained friendly, respectful even.

After a moment of silence, Kai tilted his head. "By the way… none of you have introduced yourselves yet."

One of the guys, the most cheerful of the three, took a step forward and said, "Right, sorry! I'm Nate."

The second one, who had a sharp jawline and seemed a bit more confident, said, "Name's James."

The third, the tallest among them, simply said, "Oliver."

Then the girls spoke up. The one with short hair said, "I'm Lisa," while the other, who had long flowing hair, added softly, "And I'm Violet."

Kai gave a simple nod. "Hmm," he replied, and then went quiet, falling into thought again.

Noticing Kai had zoned out, Nate tried to bring him back. "Umm… are you okay? Lost in thought? If you want, we can leave—"

"No, no," Kai interrupted. "It's not that. But just telling me your names isn't enough. Which college are you from?like give some info to wight your claim"

This time, Violet stepped forward, as if she was the team leader. "We're from Aegis Academy," she said with pride. "And we're currently based at Human Base #12072009."

Hearing this, Kai blinked in surprise. There are other human bases here? he thought.

Before he could ask more, one of them guessed his next question. "Let me guess… you're from Human Base #12072008, right?"

Kai nodded slowly. "Yeah," he confirmed.

Kai then asked, "Do you guys know exactly where we are right now?"

This time, James responded, pulling out a small holographic screen probably it was his system . "Yes," he said confidently. "We're about 1300 kilometers north of Human Base #12072009."

Another person added, "You could've checked your system too. The system shows your coordinates and location, you know."

Kai acted like he had just forgotten about that option. How can I tell them that my system hasn't been responding at all? he thought. It's still updating or something…

Still hoping, Kai tried once again to open his system interface—but no luck. Nothing happened. The screen didn't appear.

Frustrated, Kai clenched his fist and slammed it into the ground. A small crack appeared in the soil below.

The others looked at him with concern, confused by his sudden burst of aggression.

Noticing their expressions, Kai quickly covered up. "Ah… I think there's an Essence Creature nearby," he lied smoothly. "Don't mind me. You guys carry on."

Trying to distract himself, Kai looked toward their campfire. The group had already started to roast a strange bird-like creature. Its body was featherless, with soft, light-colored skin. Kai couldn't recognize the species, but he hadn't been paying much attention to the bird . His focus had entirely been on observing the five people in front of him.

Every move they made. Every glance they exchanged. Every item they touched. Kai was watching it all like an eagle searching for its prey.

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