The Screaming Gophers were already scrambling with their crates, but the Killer Bass were in disarray. Duncan was sulking, Eva was screaming at Tyler, and the rest were wandering aimlessly. Zeke looked at Courtney; she was still shivering slightly, her eyes following his every move.
"Courtney," Zeke said, snapping her out of her daze. "You handle the logistics. Organize the team to move the wood. I'll handle the construction, eh."
She nodded, her Intelligence (180) kicking back into gear. She instantly saw the most efficient way to stack the lumber. "Right. Everyone! Move it! We have a challenge to win!"
Zeke turned toward a secluded spot near the crates and whispered, "System, open the Shop."
[System Shop – Blueprints & Tools]
* Master's Toolbox: 5,000 Gold
* [Legendary Blueprint: The Sovereign's Spring]: 25,000 Gold
* [Divine Material: Essence of the Eternal Flame]: 50,000 Gold
Zeke didn't hesitate. He purchased the Legendary Blueprint and the Divine Material.
[Balance: 76,010 Gold]
Suddenly, a massive surge of crafting data flooded his mind. He pulled a glowing, red ember—the Essence of the Eternal Flame—from his inventory. It pulsated like a miniature sun.
"Hey, homeschooled!" Duncan stomped over, his big ego bruised. He kicked a pile of Zeke's wood. "You think because you saved the Princess you're the boss? Out of the way."
Duncan tried to grab Zeke's shoulder to shove him. It was like trying to move a mountain. Zeke didn't even turn around; he simply tightened his trapezius muscles. The force of Duncan's own push sent the punk stumbling back into the sand, looking humiliated.
"Duncan," Zeke said, his voice dropping to that low, predatory tone. "Go help Tyler with the crates. I'm busy."
Duncan growled, but he saw the way Zeke was effortlessly snapping thick timber boards with his bare hands to fit the legendary blueprint. He backed off, muttering.
By sunset, the Gophers had finished a basic, leaky wooden box. But when Zeke stepped back from the Killer Bass's creation, even Chris McLean (Lvl 25) gasped.
The tub was made of polished cedar that seemed to glow. Instead of a smoky fire, the water bubbled perfectly, heated by the hidden Divine Essence.
[System Message: Challenge 2 – SUCCESS]
[Reward: 50,000 Gold Added!]
[Current Balance: 126,010 Gold]
"I don't know how you did it, Zeke," Chris said, poking the tub. "But the Killer Bass win! Gophers, I'll see you at the bonfire."
The Victory Party
That night, the Killer Bass celebrated. Zeke sat on the edge of the steaming tub, his feet in the water. Courtney sat next to him, her shoulder brushing his.
"You're not like the person I read about in the contestant files," she whispered, looking at the way the moonlight hit his scars. Her 180 IQ was trying to solve the "Ezekiel Puzzle," but the pieces didn't fit a normal farm boy.
Suddenly, Zeke felt a presence. Izzy (Lvl 25) was hanging upside down from a tree branch above them.
"Ooooh! Sparkly water! And sparkly secrets!" she chirped, dropping down next to Zeke. Her face was inches from his. "Your soul smells like... burnt trees and old clocks, Zeke-y! Very, very old clocks!"
Zeke froze. She knows.
[System Warning: Anomaly detected!]
[Izzy is using a 'Sixth Sense' Skill!]
Izzy's POV:
Izzy (Lvl 25) didn't see the world in colors or shapes. She saw it in frequencies. To her, the air around Camp Wawanakwa was humming with the sound of a million tiny typewriters, scratching out a script that everyone else was boringly following.
Except for one person.
Hanging by her ankles from a pine branch, Izzy watched the hot tub party through half-closed eyes. Her pupils dilated as she focused on Ezekiel (Lvl 20). Around him, the "script" wasn't just being followed—it was being shredded.
"Oooooh, Zeke-y is a naughty editor!" she thought, her brain (Intelligence: 188) processing a thousand variables a second.
She saw the way Zeke looked at Courtney (Lvl 10). In the "original" hum of the island, Courtney was supposed to be gravitating toward Duncan (Lvl 15), a messy collision of law and chaos. But Zeke had stepped in, rewritten the scene, and pulled her into his own orbit.
"Smart move, Mr. Time-Skipper! Very cute, very clever!"
But then, the atmosphere shifted. Izzy's "Sixth Sense" flared. The shadows at the edge of the forest weren't just dark—they were hungry. She saw the Island Guardians, the System's invisible enforcers, creeping closer to the light of the hot tub. They were attracted to the "Divine" energy Zeke was leaking.
Then she saw it. Zeke's hand moved in that weird, jerky way he did when he was talking to the "ghosts" in his blue boxes. He reached into thin air and pulled out a shimmering, golden slip of paper.
The Divine Gacha Ticket.
The frequency of that ticket was so high, so piercing, it was like a dog whistle for the monsters in the woods. If he tore that ticket now, the "Island's Stomach" would open up and swallow the whole party.
"Action! My turn!"
With a silent, predatory grace that put Zeke's stealth to shame, Izzy vanished from the branch.
Zeke was just about to flick the ticket when a blur of orange hair and manic energy slammed into him.
Izzy didn't tackle him; she materialized right in front of his face, her hand clamping down on his wrist with a strength that shouldn't belong to a girl her size.
"Don't do it, Zeke-y!" she hissed, her face inches from his. Her eyes weren't twinkling with madness right now—they were sharp, ancient, and terrifyingly clear. "The yellow paper has a very loud scream! If you pop it, you'll wake up the tummy of the island, and we're all on the menu tonight! Crunch, crunch, burp!"
Zeke froze. For the first time since his regression, he looked genuinely terrified. He looked at Izzy, then at the "invisible" forest, then back at her.
"You... you can see it?" Zeke whispered, his voice trembling.
Izzy let go of his wrist and went back to her usual, bouncy self, spinning in a circle. "See it? I can smell it! It smells like blueberry pancakes and doom! You're changing the story, aren't you? Making the lawyer-girl into a queen? Very brave! But the ghosts you trade with... they don't like it when you get too noisy!"
She leaned in and whispered into his ear, her voice a chilling contrast to the party music behind them. "I won't tell the cameras, Zeke-y. I like your version of the show better. It has more... teeth."
She skipped away toward the buffet table, shouting about pudding, leaving Ezekiel standing alone in the steam of his divine hot tub.
Zeke looked at the Divine Ticket in his hand, then quickly stashed it back into his [Inventory]. He realized then that Izzy wasn't just a "crazy girl." She was a Natural Player—someone who broke the rules simply by existing.
[System Warning: Secrecy preserved... barely.]
[New Relationship Tier: Izzy – 'The Wildcard Ally']
The atmosphere at the bonfire was suffocating.
The air didn't just smell like pine and smoke; it felt heavy, as if the "Island's Stomach" Izzy mentioned was leaning in to watch the carnage.
Zeke (Lvl 20) stood in the shadows, hidden by his [Apex Predator's Stealth]. He wasn't supposed to be there, but he needed to see how the Gophers' dynamics were shifting under the weight of the $10,000,000 prize.
[System Scan: The Screaming Gophers]
Heather (Lvl 15): Current Status – Manipulating. Her eyes were darting between the campers, already calculating who was dead weight.
Beth (Lvl 6): Current Status – Terrified. Her aura was flickering. She was the only one who didn't jump. In a world of monsters and millionaires, she looked like a lamb at a slaughterhouse.
"There is only one marshmallow left on this plate," Chris (Lvl 25) said, his voice echoing with a strange, metallic resonance.
The tension was so thick even Owen (Lvl 10) stopped thinking about food. Heather leaned over and whispered something to Lindsay (Lvl 10), her 200 Charisma acting like a hypnotic spell.
"The final marshmallow goes to..." Chris paused, a sadistic grin spreading across his face. "...Lindsay!"
Beth's face fell. She stood up, her small frame shaking. "But... I tried! I just... the height..."
"The height doesn't care about your excuses, Beth," Heather snapped, her voice cutting through the night. "This isn't a summer camp anymore. It's an investment. And you're a bad investment."
As Beth walked down the Dock of Shame, Zeke noticed something that made his blood run cold.
As she stepped onto the Boat of Losers, the shadows at the edge of the dock seemed to stretch toward her, as if absorbing the energy she was leaving behind.
[System Notification!]
Event: First Sacrifice Recorded.
Island Corruption Level: 1.5% (+0.5% increase).
Warning: As contestants leave, the 'Guardians' grow hungrier.
Zeke stepped out from the trees as the boat disappeared into the mist. He felt a presence behind him.
"One little sheep gone, bye-bye!" Izzy chirped, appearing right next to his ear. "The tummy growled, Zeke-y! Did you hear it? It sounded like a rusty gate!"
Zeke looked at her. "Why Beth? Noah has a higher IQ, and Leshawna is a bigger physical threat. Why did Heather pick the weakest first?"
Izzy tilted her head, her 188 Intelligence processing the "script" of the island. "Because Heather is building a house of cards, silly! You don't start with the big stones; you start with the glue. But you... you're building a fortress with that lawyer-girl."
Izzy leaned in closer, her chaotic eyes scanning Zeke's face. "The next challenge is 'The Awakening.' No sleep. No dreams. Just the voices in your head. Are you going to let Courtney win, or are you going to show everyone what a 'God' looks like when he's tired?"