Chapter 423 - Culprit Exposed He explained to them that this was actually a test and technology-induced, just like he told Elevora and Gustav earlier. The cadets were in disbelief as they heard that. "According to the commander, an extra five thousand points are going to be credited to the first who arrived, which is Gustav and Elevora while the rest of you who finished will receive three thousand points each," Officer Briant suddenly stated the rewards. The cadets had shimmering eyes as they heard that. Chatter! Chatter! Chatter! They hadn’t expected this at all. After Officer Briant voiced out the rewards, the rain began to decrease. In a few seconds, it stopped completely, and the skies began to brighten slowly. Everyone realized that this was the first time they were actually seeing rainfall when they had a morning routine. They had been here for over a month, and it had never happened once. "So, the weather here is being manipulated?" They remembered how the weather conditions had been favorable all through and realized that it was too good to be true. It turns out they were being tested today for how they were gonna handle extreme and unexpected situations. "Those of you who failed will be going two laps for tomorrow’s morning routine as punishment," Officer Briant announced. Those who failed had looks of dissatisfaction on their faces as they voiced out their complaints. However, their complaints fell on deaf ears. On the bright side, the weather tomorrow would be clear, so it still wouldn’t be as dangerous as today’s morning routine was. At this point, the skies had cleared completely, and the sun could be seen in the eastern side of the skies shining its rays all across the place. It was as if it never rained when looking at the skies, but the grounds still had wetness. "Now..." Officer Briant’s face suddenly turned serious as he voiced out, causing everyone to focus their attention on him. "We have received an offensive report," He said while walking forward and stood right in front of Gustav. ’Hmm? Could this have something to do with the stairs I found within the mountain?’ Gustav wondered internally while looking up at Officer Briant with a calm expression. He thought that somebody may have found out about his whole escapade and questioned internally if that was seen as cheating. "Gustav Crimson’s rope was sabotaged by another cadet while he was on it," Officer Briant revealed. Gasp! Chatter! Chatter! -"Turns out he was on that rope that suddenly cut," -"A sabotage? But I was there, I didn’t see anything," -"So someone actually caused that to happen? How did he manage to make it to the other side then?" The cadets were surprised and confused at this sudden revelation. They stared at Gustav with an expression of disbelief, still wondering how he managed to make it to the other side even after the line was cut. "As you all know we keep an eye on you lots from over here with our hidden cams... However the bad weather was also a double edged sword to today’s test since we couldn’t also see as well from over here," Officer Briant explained. "However, we have made use of the advanced footage to uncover the culprit... I will give you one chance to reveal yourself and help in lightening your punishment," Officer Briant voiced out and began to count down from five. "Five," "Four," "Three," Everyone kept looking around as he counted down to see who would stand to their feet. "One," Just as officer Briant was about to say Zero, a cadet stood to his feet. "It was me," He voiced out. Gasp~ "Arlando?" Some of them recognized this cadet to be among the top hundred cadets on the ranking. He was about 6’2 in height with a brown buzz cut and a cross tattoo on his forehead. He moved towards the front and stood beside Gustav and opposite Officer Briant. "Why did you do that?" Officer Briant voiced out. Arlando stood in the spot, speechless. Pah! Officer Briant snapped his fingers, causing a holographic projection to appear above in which footage was being displayed. This showed how Arlando moved towards the rope, squatted and brought out a laser knife to strike the rope repeatedly. "Why did you do it?" Officer Briant asked him again. "I... I..." His eyes slightly roamed about the place as he tried to say something. "I hate Gustav Crimson," He voiced out. "So, you’re telling me that you dislike him so much that you plotted against and decided to cut a rope which several cadets could have been walking on at that time," Officer Briant said with a look of displeasure. "I... I knew he was the only one on the rope," Arlando responded after stammering a little. "How? What were your real intentions?" Officer Briant questioned. Silence~ There was no answer for several seconds. Officer Briant suddenly reached out and locked Arlando two hands in a military-like grip before spinning him and putting his right leg in front. Fwwii! Bam! Arlando was pinned to the ground in an instant with his face kissing the ground. "First off, apologize to him," Officer Briant commanded. Gustav stared at Arlando, who was practically being forced to bow before him. Arlando slowly voiced out words of apology before being dragged away by one of Officer Briant’s assistants. Gustav just casually shrugged at the situation. For all he knew, that made him even faster than he would have been if he walked all the way there. Officer Briant began to list out Arlando’s punishment, which caused some of the cadets to shiver in fear. Besides having to do three laps of the morning routine for the next one month, he was also assigned to feed some mixedbreeds from the year two dungeon area for the next one month. Apparently, this dungeon area had some of the most dangerous mixed breeds in the world kept there, and it was off-limits to year one because they were seen as not powerful enough.