"Hmm, it seems others are making progress as well," he muttered. Sui bounced happily next to him, its little eyes glancing up at the notification as if it understood what had just happened.
---
In the sanctuary center of Skylands, the judges, along with Gideon and Thomas, were left in shock, trying to process the massive explosion they had just witnessed. The screen monitoring the participants had briefly gone blank, making it impossible to see the status of the three people in that area.
"What just happened there?" Thomas murmured, leaning forward to squint at the screen.
"Could it be an attack?" another judge speculated, still reeling from the force of the explosion.
One of the judges suddenly pointed at the screen. "Look! It's back!"
The feed came back on, showing Lila and Andrew lying unconscious on the ground, motionless.
"What was that explosion? And where is number 601?" one of the judges asked, glancing around in confusion.
