Everyone turned toward the voice. Thora and her team looked over as well. A man with an unremarkable appearance stepped out from the crowd. He had blond hair and such an ordinary face that it would vanish the moment you looked away. From the instant he appeared, his attention fixed on Thora's group. Lance narrowed his eyes, instinctively locking onto the stranger. The examinees erupted as soon as the man finished speaking. "What do you mean by that?" someone shouted angrily. The man smiled faintly and ignored the outburst. His gaze stayed on Thora and Lance as he said calmly, "I'm affiliated with the academy." That sentence hit hard. Expressions shifted all around, and Thora's eyes sharpened.He continued, "I'll be direct. If anyone dies in the game right now, they become permanently brain-dead in reality. The system was infected by a virus. The death mechanics were altered. The poison fog is one of the virus functions. "The injected code is extremely advanced. The academy can't break it in the short term unless the attackers used a rare special ability." He paused slightly, scanning the crowd, but his gaze returned to Thora's team. Special ability. An answer was already forming in Thora's mind. "So what now? We just wait here and die?" someone asked in despair. He replied evenly, "At present, the academy can't locate the virus core or regain system control. If you want to survive, you must find the virus yourselves and restore the game. Only then can you exit safely." Faces around them drained further."So you're telling us to hunt down a virus inside the game or die here?" someone pressed bitterly. "But—" the man began, before an enraged voice cut him off. "What is the academy thinking? This exam is basically execution!" Mona shouted, shielded by two guards. "Are you dumping your failure on us, or are you deliberately trying to wipe us all out?" Her words ignited the already fragile crowd. "That's right! Why should we clean up your mess?" someone yelled, and others echoed him. They had long resented how the academy treated human lives as expendable. Now, with death closing in, infected NPCs advancing, fear and rage spiraled out of control. No one present lacked courage, but emotions spread faster than any disease. Sometimes the most dangerous infection was not a virus, but human fear.The blond man's eyes narrowed as he looked at the loudest protesters. A crushing pressure radiated from him. Thora felt a sharp tension between her brows. This man was not ordinary. He spoke coldly, each word clipped. "Did you forget the first rule of applying to the academy? Your life and death belong to you alone." His voice carried a rigid authority that silenced instinctively. It wasn't reluctance that stopped them. His presence crushed their will to speak. Thora met his gaze and said calmly, "We accept responsibility for our lives. That does not include bearing the cost of the academy's mistakes." Her words were steady and unadorned, yet they rang true. With someone finally speaking up, the examinees turned toward Thora as if she were a lifeline. Their eyes lit with hope. The blond man looked at her as well, danger flickering in his stare. The people beside Thora stepped forward, positioning themselves in front of her without hesitation, clearly shielding her. "She's right. For the top military academy, your security is laughable," Lance said with a crooked, thin smile. The blond man locked eyes with Lance, tension crackling between them. Meanwhile, the poison fog continued to advance. The only remaining safe zone was the area around the tower, and even that circle was shrinking. It was obvious. In two minutes, the fog would reach them. Fear and pressure thickened with every second. "So are we really just waiting here to die?!" Mona screamed, losing control. She wasn't alone. Many examinees were on the brink.The blond man opened his mouth, but another voice cut in sharply. "I figured it out." Thora, Tristan, and the others turned toward Luke. Luke spoke slowly, as if piecing it together out loud. "This tower is the core of the game. It's essentially the system's brain. That's why the poison fog keeps closing in but can't cross this point. This is the one place it can never invade." When Luke finished, surprise flashed across the blond man's face. He studied the bespectacled young man more carefully. His green eyes narrowed. Perhaps this one could break the stalemate.