Even after being kicked to the ground, Leon Lynn stubbornly craned his neck and said, "You know damn well I'm not talking nonsense! You probably don't know this, but the Parasite prop doesn't just let me open my space and backpack at will. Everything I see is also synced to Logan!"
His expression was a mix of gloating and glee. "If I were you, I'd get on my knees and beg for forgiveness. And you still want to threaten me into helping you hide this from Logan? Pah!
"Logan, you don't know! He told me that as soon as the Parasite's duration is up, you'd kill me. He said he'd let me go if I helped him trick you. I was afraid he'd attack me, so I just pretended to agree.
"But Logan, I trust you. I have a space, so I can handle logistics for the gang. I've already thought it through. With your skills and intelligence, you're bound to become an overlord one day. Following you as a foot soldier is way better than trying to make it on my own!"
After Leon Lynn's breathless speech, Shorty's face had turned deathly pale.
His legs gave out and he knelt, but just as he was about to speak, Logan stopped him with a raised hand.
Logan turned to the bald man, who hadn't spoken yet. "Mr. Rhodes, you talk."
Mr. Rhodes lowered his head and said in a low voice, "Logan, Shorty just had a moment of weakness... He didn't take the box with the weapons; he gave that directly to you. He took the other box, the one with the heatstroke medicine.
"The weather's been too hot, and his old ma can't take it. He only hid the medicine for her. Please, just forgive him this once."
Shorty looked at the bald man gratefully, then crawled over to Logan. "Logan, I know I was wrong, Logan! I never meant to betray you! The weapons are right here, I didn't even dare to touch them.
"My mother had a hard time raising me, but she's so far away... I had no other choice but to send her some medicine. I won't do it again, Logan! Please, just forgive me this one time!"
Logan sighed and patted Shorty's shoulder. "Look at you... Why would you hide something like this from me? You think I wouldn't let you send medicine to your own mother? We've been brothers for so many years, and you still don't trust me. That really hurts, you know?"
Hearing this, the color returned to Shorty's face. He said gratefully, "Logan, I really know I was wrong. You'll be my big brother for life!"
Seeing them about to reconcile in just a few words, Leon Lynn grew anxious. "Logan, you can't trust him! Even if he didn't take the weapons this time, he dared to team up with the bald guy to hide the medicine from you today. Tomorrow, he'll dare to hide something else!
"My luck is so good, I'm bound to open up other weapons in the future. Who can guarantee he won't actually hide them next time!"
Logan, who had been smiling, suddenly turned vicious and slapped Leon Lynn across the face. "Shut up! Who the hell are you to stir up trouble between my brothers?!"
Leon Lynn saw the ferocious look in Logan's eyes, shrank back, and didn't dare to make another peep.
Shorty, looking as if he'd just survived a catastrophe, slowly climbed to his feet and gave Logan a deep bow. "Logan, from now on, my life is yours!"
But Logan waved his hand. "Brothers don't say such things. Go and get ready. The other fat sheep should be here soon. Once we take care of her, we'll have plenty of good days ahead of us."
Shorty nodded repeatedly and pulled the bald man toward the exit.
But the moment they turned their backs, a crude shotgun appeared in Logan's hand!
His face dark, he aimed at Shorty's back and fired!
But he never expected that Shorty, as if he had eyes in the back of his head, would dive to the side. With a savage expression, he roared at the bald man, "I told you he'd look down on us once he got a gun, and you didn't believe me!"
With that, a small revolver appeared in his own hand, and before Logan could react, he fired two quick shots at him!
Unfortunately, his aim was poor. One shot missed completely, and the other hit Logan in the leg.
Logan screamed in pain and returned fire at Shorty.
The crude shotgun didn't have a long range, but it fired buckshot, making its lethality at this distance astonishing.
Shorty took a shot to the arm and, enduring the pain, shouted at the bald man, "You think he's going to let you go?! He never wanted to share Leon Lynn's supplies with us in the first place!"
Leon Lynn only knew that Shorty had hidden a weapon; he never expected it to be a handgun. He was instantly so scared he trembled all over. Afraid of getting hit by a stray bullet, he didn't dare to run, only huddling in a corner and praying Shorty wouldn't remember him.
Hearing Shorty's words, Logan roared, "I told you I'd share the good fortune with you! How dare you betray me?! Mr. Rhodes, we've been brothers for so many years! I was only trying to kill the disloyal Shorty just now.
"You know damn well how I've treated you all these years! Are you going to betray me too?!"
Logan and Shorty both had their guns pointed at each other, but they didn't fire again.
Because they both realized that if they destroyed each other, the only one who would benefit would be the silent Mr. Rhodes!
Mr. Rhodes still wore that same long-suffering expression. "Logan, did you really want to share the supplies with us?"
Logan's eyes sharpened. "What do you mean? You doubt me?!"
Mr. Rhodes shook his head. "Leon Lynn said that his space doesn't have much else, but it's full of food, and also has knives. But all you gave us was the bread from the Wooden Box. You didn't even give us a single weapon. The brothers are very upset about that."
Logan's face turned extremely ugly. "You believe everything Leon Lynn says? He'd love nothing more than for us to have internal strife! We have supplies now, yes, but we still have to stay in this damn place for seven days! Am I supposed to take everything out on the first day?!"
Mr. Rhodes shook his head. "Logan, Shorty was right. You never intended to share the supplies with us. You kept us around to be your dogs. Once a new dog joins, you won't need us anymore."
He slowly approached Logan.
Sweat dripped from Logan's forehead.
At this moment, he didn't dare move the gun aimed at Shorty to target Mr. Rhodes, nor could he let Mr. Rhodes get any closer.
'What should I do?!'
「*」
Renee Kane had been watching the infighting with great interest. She hadn't expected their back-and-forth to reveal the very information she most wanted to know.
'A Parasite prop?'
'I want it!'
'Speaking of which, Vincent Sherman from my past life probably got this prop card too. As for how he got it, I can probably find out by asking that unlucky guy who was Parasitized.'
But for now, since there were no other ambushes, she might as well go stir things up.
With a few swings of her pickaxe, Renee Kane smashed open a hole large enough to pass through and jumped down from the upper part of the cave.
Logan, Shorty, and Mr. Rhodes were in a three-way standoff when a figure, clad head-to-toe in sun-protective clothing and wearing sunglasses, suddenly dropped from the sky. They all flinched, instinctively thinking the other side had called for backup!
Logan's gun wavered, but he still didn't move it off Shorty.
He glared at Renee Kane as if he wanted to eat her alive. "You actually have other backup?!"
But Renee Kane revealed the two guns in her hands, pointing one at Mr. Rhodes and the other at Logan. She smiled. "Don't be scared, don't be scared. I'm just here to take advantage of the chaos. How about this: I'll help whoever makes the highest bid."