Chief Arbiter Howard Graves limped after them, leaning heavily on his cane, his face drained of color.
Just then, Adrian Cole descended the steps from The Dormitory Block.
His expression was grim, heavy dark circles shadowing his eyes. He clearly hadn't slept a wink the night before.
Every time he closed his eyes.
All he could see was Serena.
Serena standing tall, looking down at him with absolute authority.
It wasn't that long ago she had been nothing but a quiet shadow following him around.
How much time had really passed?
It seemed he was now the one forced to look up to her.
Adrian couldn't explain it.
His mind kept flashing back to the moment she had kicked him away, her
expression utterly detached and emotionless.
And the sharp ache in his chest from the impact.
It sent a thrill down his spine, his heart racing uncontrollably!
He actually felt a twisted sense of infatuation with the way she had trampled over his pride.
Only in that split second did her cold, indifferent eyes focus entirely on him.
He even caught himself wishing she had hit him harder.
If she had, maybe they would still be tangled together.
Tossing and turning all night.
Adrian thought he was genuinely losing his mind.
He wanted to find Serena again to confirm it.
To see if he had really gone insane.
But the moment he stepped outside, a group of high-ranking officers in dark blue uniforms surrounded him.
Adrian jumped, startled by the sudden ambush. "What-what are you doing?"
He scanned the men boxing him in.
They were all in uniform, their shoulder insignias gleaming with authority.
His stomach dropped. "I'm a Guest Inspector for this tournament. Who are you? What do you want?"
"Adrian Cole, correct?"
The lead officer glanced down at a file in his hands, then looked up at Adrian. "I am
the head of The Security Regulatory Oversight Division."
Adrian's eyes widened as reality crashed over him.
He instinctively turned to leave.
But the other division members seamlessly blocked his path.
The lead officer tossed the heavy file directly at Adrian's chest. "Adrian our technical department has confirmed that the equipment you donated to the global tournament contained critical safety hazards."
"Because a team utilized your hardware, the island's entire power grid suffered catastrophic failure. All experimental data was interrupted, leading to massive hardware damage and data loss."
Adrian paled, his hands numbly catching the thick stack of papers.
The officer remained expressionless. "Take a look. The document you're holding is the latest damage assessment and restitution report for Island 3."
"Equipment replacement, data recovery, power grid reconstruction, and the financial toll of delaying the tournament."
"After meticulous calculation, the total comes to four hundred million dollars."
The moment that number dropped.
The crowd of competitors who had gathered to watch the drama collectively gasped. Four hundred million?
Four hundred million dollars?
Most of them wouldn't see a fraction of that in their entire lifetimes.
Adrian's mind spun, his face turning an ashen white. "What? Four hundred million?
You want me to pay The $400 Million Restitution?"
"Yes," the officer said flatly. "Every single line item is detailed in the file."
"Impossible!" Adrian snapped, refusing to accept it. "I spent sixty million importing that system from the United Realmon States it wa paid for in cold, hard cash, and it went through rigorous inspections before arriving on the island!"
"If you allowed the equipment here, it means there was nothing wrong with it."
"If something broke, it's not my responsibility."
"The power grid crashed because your island's infrastructure is garbage. You can't pin this on me!"