Ethan and the others drew a lot of attention because of their defined features and tall, strong fras, while Eva sensed so won’s envious glances on her, and she frowned, hugging Foxy tightly, thinking they wanted to steal it away.
"We shouldn’t move further into the crowd," Ethan suggested, and they stopped just a few ters away from it. He didn’t like crowded places or close contact with strangers.
Eva wasn’t opposed to his words, but she felt uncomfortable from the stares she was getting. "The mum, say when the competition was starting?" she turned to Aaron and asked, hoping it would end quickly so she could go back and catch up on her lost sleep.
"It should begin when the hidden family junior who applied arrives. We might et so cousins." Aaron finished with a flat tone, clearly not welcoming that idea.
Eva’s eyebrow arched at his tone, silently wondering if their cousins were trouble so she could brace herself, while Ethan and Julian’s eyes twitched, a bad premonition settling over them.
"Are they—" Eva’s words were cut off by a sudden hush that fell over the noisy crowd. She looked over curiously and saw a warp gate forming in front of the crowd.
The crowd watched in utter surprise as figures with distinct noble auras erged from the gate. Leading them were a middle-aged man and woman whose powerful presence demanded respect, compelling the crowd to straighten with cautious expressions.
Behind them ca a group of young nobles in their twenties. So carried arrogance in their eyes as they swept their gaze across the gathering, while others remained calm, their faces marked by a detached boredom.
The crowd watched as a brown-haired man sealed the warp gate after thirty people had stepped through. Seliana’s eyes widened, her breath quick and uneven, as a single thought struck her—the mysterious hidden family.
But she quickly shook her head, dismissing the thought. Surely the hidden family was just a myth—she was only frightening herself needlessly. More likely, they were simply the youths of so noble household.
With that conclusion, she forced herself to calm down and shifted her gaze to the next warp gate that appeared. A woman stepped out, soone she recognized, and her brows furrowed. Why had she never noticed how much Madam Grace resembled that woman—Eva?
Grace walked up to the three middle-aged figures and gave a respectful nod. At her appearance, the arrogance in several of the youngsters’ eyes faded instantly.
Though their elders were stronger, none of them dared to provoke Grace—not only because of her infamous deeds, retold by their parents, but also because Uncle Leo stood firmly at her back.
Only five n in the group weren’t scared, and they searched through the crowd for soone. They spotted Aaron, who couldn’t hide Eva completely behind him — her hair was peeking out.
"Aunty, is that sister?" the brown-haired man asked Grace, whose amber eyes lit up at the thought. Grace paused at the question, her gaze falling on her five nephews, who t her gaze with excitent, and she nodded in response.
Grace felt a wind brush past her, and before she could blink, they were jogging through the crowd that had parted for them.
"Dammit," Aaron swore when he realized they were coming their way. The first to arrive was a red-haired man with a small scar beside his right eye.
"Move out of the way, I’m not here for your ugly face," the man said with a frown, straining his neck and stepping to the side to get a clear view of Eva’s face.
"Daniel, behave. You don’t need to ask politely—just drag him out of the way." Another deep, gentlemanly voice chid in. Eva peeked from behind Aaron, curious as her brother suddenly hid her and the noise coming from the front. Suddenly, soone patted her shoulder gently from behind.
"Little sister, I’m your cousin Alex. You must be Eva? So soft." The silver-haired stranger pinched her cheeks with a smile.
"Alex, take your paws off my sister this instant," Aaron warned coldly when he noticed a fish slip through the net. But when he turned back, Eva ca into full view, and the others’ eyes lit up at the sight of her.
Ethan’s lips pressed into a thin line, unable to ignore their action any longer. He held Eva by the waist and pulled her into his arms.
Julian sighed inwardly upon seeing Eva’s five cousins, already feeling that his and Ethan’s future looked bleak. ’Why on earth does she have so many strong male cousins? All of them are middle-stage and late-stage dungeon conquerors.’
Aaron was already hard to deal with; now there are five more to handle.
Eva, on the other hand, inwardly gushed at the sight of her cousins, her heart pounding with excitent as her eyes sparkled. ’Ahhh... so handso! This is a living temptation co true (￣﹃￣). What did they eat to look so handso that it seems almost illegal? My poor heart—and the hearts of other won in the world!’
Eva fanned herself, her eyes sparkling as she glanced at them, but her view was suddenly blocked by Ethan’s hand. "You’re drooling," Ethan whispered in her ear, biting her earlobe in frustration. He was now certain Eva had a thing for beautiful faces, which irked him, so he shot a glare at her cousins.
The n frowned at Ethan’s intimate actions with Eva, already knowing his identity as one of her husbands. Yet instead of showing welco, each of their expressions darkened with a frown, wondering what he ant by covering their cousin’s eyes.
But before they could speak, Grace began talking about the event of the day, so they swallowed their words and turned their attention to her.
"Today is not just about applying—it will be a fighting competition. Everyone will fight for the chance to get a suit." At her words, the crowd erupted in noise.
"They didn’t include this in the notice!
"I’d better go back; I don’t think I can win this.
"Those people that ca out of the warp gate look strong.’’
Their discussion caused a commotion; so didn’t bother to argue and left the crowd, but remained to watch from a distance. Grace raised her hand in a quiet motion, and the crowd settled down, and she continued.
"I know you’re all surprised about the fight, and I stand firm on this matter. The dungeon has already tested so of you to prepare for the surface world. This test is to earn the right to a suit." Grace’s commanding tone resonated through the clearing as she pulled a black jumpsuit from her space ring, showing it to the crowd and explaining its significance.
"Through the hard work of our scientists, we’ve been able to construct this. Each suit is equipped with a poison-converter capsule, powered by rare herbs from the Tower Test. It can purify poisoned air into breathable air. But we cannot guarantee it will withstand the poison on the surface... this is a suicide mission, yet also humanity’s last hope. I will not bla anyone who chooses to step back. Make your decision now."
Grace paused, giving the crowd ti to digest her words. She had spoken with complete honesty, refusing to mince words or sugarcoat the suit’s limitations.
The crowd was eerily silent, but after a few seconds, so people started to leave, and the crowd gradually thinned until more than two hundred people remained.
Eva and her group remained in place, and because of the smaller crowd, Selina and Cadien could see Eva and the rest of the group clearly.
Selina scowled at Eva, her eyes flickering with fury as she thought about what she had to endure because Eva didn’t die as she was supposed to in the dungeon.
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