"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait!" Carl shouted in rapid succession. "What silencing? What killing? What are you talking about?!"
Nick's eyes glance around the formation, looking for Irwin.
Most likely, Irwin was already looking at him with his gun readied.
"Nick, you have to calm down!" Carl said with seriousness. "Nobody is trying to kill you! I'm asking about what happened!"
Nick turned to look at Carl and sneered in disgust. "Do you honestly think that I'm that dumb?" he asked. "You already made your stance clear."
"What stance?!" Carl asked in frustration and confusion. "I just want to know what the hell is going on!"
"No evidence?" Nick asked with a disgusted sneer. "You must have heard Mark's shouts as well. He told them that he was here with a friend, and then he pointed at my location."
"And then, the area around me exploded, and I was in the middle of a crater."
"No evidence, no evidence. You act like you've not heard shit when you've been even closer to the surface than me with even superior senses."
"You saw me getting punched in the face and claim that the punch never happened."
As Nick kept talking, an expression of uncertainty appeared on Carl's face.
"The area around you exploded?" Carl asked, his voice having lost a lot of its power.
"You heard the explosion," Nick said. "Even though you say that you just so happened to be blind and deaf during that minute."
"I am not claiming that!" Carl said with severity. "I heard the explosion, and I felt the vibrations! While that happened, I was scared that it was about to find me!"
Nick narrowed his eyes in skepticism and suspicion as he looked at Carl.
"Nick, is that the truth?" Carl asked. "Are you sure Mark told this thing where you were?"
Nick kept looking into Carl's eyes in suspicion.
Carl took a step forward.
BANG!
Nick instantly jumped two meters back, his blades ready.
"Nick, stop!" Carl shouted, taking two steps back to show that he didn't plan on attacking. "Nobody wants to kill you!"
"You think I believe you?" Nick asked coldly. "You think I'm that na?ve just because I'm in my twenties?"
"Almost all humans are only interested in their own wealth, and they don't give the slightest shit about anyone else."
"You see how your friend tried to take me down with him, and instead of doing what's right, you want to silence me so that Solace doesn't lose any of its precious profits."
"Whoops, sorry, Dark Dream's CZE was taken by a couple of funny red men from the north. Sorry. We can take your next CZE with us on another expedition, though. We tooootally promise that nothing will happen to them," Nick mocked.
"Do you honestly believe Julian would buy that?" Nick asked with disgust.
"No, I don't!" Carl shouted. "He wouldn't believe that! Nobody would believe that!"
"That's why I'm not planning on doing anything like that!" Carl added.
"Solace voluntarily took a huge risk by taking you with us to the excursion."
"Because, if anything happens, we are the prime suspects."
"Even if we planned to kill you, we wouldn't do it during this expedition! Angering someone like Julian would be akin to suicide!"
"Killing you would be risking Solace's survival!" Carl shouted.
Nick looked at Carl in suspicion.
"Listen, Nick," Carl said, using a calming tone. "I genuinely didn't know what happened."
"See things from my perspective. I'm buried in the ground and listening to Mark begging for his life. After that, I hear a couple of explosions, and I'm constantly fearing for my survival!"
"Then, I hear them or it or whatever taking Mark away. I'm not sure if it or they are still here or not, and I'm just waiting."
"Finally, I hear Irwin's voice and come out, and moments later, you come out."
"How does that look from my perspective? The weakest member of our team manages to survive an encounter with something that even the strongest member would be helpless against."
"What's more believable? That Mark told them exactly where you were, and you somehow still managed to hide from them, or that Mark gave them the wrong location, keeping all of us safe?"
Nick kept looking at Carl in skepticism.
"You said there's no evidence," Nick said.
"Because I thought you made that up!" Carl quickly answered. "I thought you were trying to gain something out of Solace!"
An annoyed expression appeared on Nick's face. "There's a time and place for manipulation and sincere cooperation. When dealing with a partner that severely outclasses you in power, manipulation is the wrong approach."
"I know that Hera and Ramona are most likely more experienced than me. Trying to manipulate them would be stupid."
"Even if I wanted to manipulate them, I wouldn't do it spontaneously by accusing one of their employees after something unforeseen happened."
"See?" Carl asked. "That's very similar to what I said. I said it would be idiotic to kill you, and you said it would be idiotic to falsely accuse someone."
"But we both believed that the other one did just that."
Carl took a deep breath and sighed.
"That only means that we both thought the other one to be an idiot."
Nick didn't move for a while and just looked at Carl.
"We don't plan on killing you, okay?" Carl said. "Look, I'm going to prove it."
The next moment, Carl turned around, showing his back to Nick.
"See? We don't want to kill you. Turning my back to you is very risky, but I trust that you won't attack me," Carl said.
Nick furrowed his brows.
Carl had turned his back to him.
And yet…
Why hadn't his ability activated?
Nick quickly searched through the area.
Then, on top of one of the big boulders, he saw Irwin.
DING!
A bright light appeared from Irwin's location.
In Irwin's hand was a strange device, and Nick recognized it.
This was one of the things that Solace sold to the general public.
It was a device that could capture an image on a small piece of film, which could then be enlarged onto a bigger piece of paper.
A camera!
At that moment, Nick realized what this looked like.
Right now, Carl was showing his back to Nick while his blade was readied.
Didn't that look exactly like he wanted to assassinate Carl?!
The next instant, Irwin pulled out his rifle and pointed it directly at Nick.
At the same time, an earthen shield appeared around Carl.
BOOOM!
Irwin's rifle fired at Nick!