Jake was about to jump down to the street below when the door to HQ suddenly swung open. He saw five people emerge: four males and one female. One of them was Rex, the leader of the base. They strode across the premises, headed toward the parking lot where several vehicles were parked.

Curiosity piqued, Jake stayed put. From his vantage point at the edge of the roof, he couldn't hear what was being discussed ten stories below. The five bandits were up to something, and he wanted to find out what, so he decided to use Mind Reader on each of them in turn, starting with Rex.

Jake didn't need to delve deeply into Rex's memories to grasp what was going on. Just moments ago, Rex had picked up a radio transmission about a tower climb mission. From his time as a human survivor, Jake remembered that missions were always received via radio.

So the mission Rex heard about was quite straightforward: reach the roof of a ten-story building to defeat a boss. Sure enough, each floor would be crawling with all kinds of mutants.

The reason this particular mission caught Rex's attention was the extra reward he could earn for completing it in under sixty minutes: a legendary shotgun. Weapons of such rarity were extremely hard to come by, and Rex was eager to get his hands on that shotgun.

However, he was also hesitant about venturing out into the open to carry out the mission. Inside the base, he felt safe, but beyond the walls lurked the morphus and its army of monsters.

So he was on the fence: on one hand, he really wanted that legendary shotgun, but on the other hand, he wasn't willing to leave the safety of his base. Ultimately, he decided to gather a few of his most capable people and have them complete the mission on his behalf.

While he really wanted the legendary shotgun, he also knew he needed every man and woman inside the base to defend against the inevitable attack by the morphus. He struggled internally with his conflicting urges for some time, but in the end, his greed prevailed.

He figured that since the challenge had to be completed in just sixty minutes, he could dispatch some of his people. The chances of the morphus attacking at the precise moment when he was down four soldiers seemed pretty slim.

Since Jake gathered all the information he needed, he didn't need to explore the memories of the other four humans.

He discovered even more: Rex was actually holding the helicopter pilot hostage at HQ.

Rex was a cunning man who wanted to impress Skullface, hoping for a promotion. He believed that the beefed-up defenses he had set up in the previous days would allow him to kill the morphus.

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However, he also recognized that these enhanced defense systems might fail, so he knew he had to be ready to make a quick escape if the situation demanded it. For that reason, Rex decided to take the pilot hostage.

Holding him at gunpoint, he forced the man to fly to a random spot in the city. After landing, he made the pilot deactivate the transponder so Skullface would believe the helicopter had been destroyed by the morphus. Now that the gang leader could no longer detect or track the helicopter, Rex ordered the pilot to return to the base where he had held him captive since then.

Jake now knew that the pilot was indeed inside the base and that he wouldn't be leaving anytime soon. Thus, Jake decided it was time to infiltrate the base. But then, another idea struck him.

Rex and the other four humans had already reached the parking lot. They stood near an SUV where Rex was giving them their final instructions. Jake quickly scanned the minds of the four people, Felix, Rajan, Aaron, and Kira, and discovered an interesting detail about one of them: Aaron was mute.

Apparently, he couldn't speak because he didn't have a tongue. Whenever he lost it, it must have happened long before the world turned into a game, as Jake was unable to determine how or when exactly it had occurred.

So it was discovering that one of them was mute that sparked an idea in Jake's mind. He made sure to read Aaron's mind one more time to ensure that he was the last human whose mind he accessed. Now, he could assume the identity of that person when necessary. There was no need to do so at the moment, but it would definitely come in handy later.

Jake continued watching the group below. The four of them had already climbed into the SUV, but Rex was still talking through the rolled-down window with the driver. Jake couldn't hear what he was saying, but judging by Rex's animated gestures and body language, he was likely instructing the team to complete the mission as quickly as possible and not to make any detours.

Rex appeared visibly nervous. He clearly didn't want to send the team out for fear that the morphus might attack while they were away. Sure, he still had plenty of guards inside the base, but the more people inside, the better. Still, his greed clearly overshadowed his judgment, and he was going to send the four-person team out anyway.

At last, Rex allowed the team to leave. The driver steered the SUV toward the gates. Jake couldn't help but notice that the SUV, much like the other vehicles in the parking lot, lacked the insignia that showed they were affiliated with Los Demonios. They had obviously repainted the vehicles to conceal their identity.

He also noticed that the four of them weren't wearing anything red. It was clear that when a team of bandits from this base left, they left behind any red clothing to prevent regular survivors from recognizing them as part of the gang if they crossed paths.

It was amusing how things had changed. Not long ago, Los Demonios had been the tough guys ruling this city, instilling fear in ordinary survivors. But now, the tables had turned completely. The regular survivors held the real power now, while the remaining bandits did everything they could to conceal their affiliation with Los Demonios. This shift was all thanks to Jake.

However, he wasn't done yet. It was time to wipe out what remained of the bandit organization.

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