Benjamin met Shannon's questioning look and simply answered, "There was blood on the sleeve."
She looked down and realized there were traces of blood on her fingers of the hand tugging on Calvin. She embarrassedly apologized, "Sorry, I've dirtied your clothes."
Calvin didn't seem bothered. "It's fine."
Then, he quickly added, "I'll go arrange the retrieval team."
The police soon sealed the area and set up a retrieval team to investigate. Many of the players who'd wanted to leave stayed behind after hearing 17 players were still missing.
They couldn't help but feel pessimistic as they watched the crew prepare to dive. There was little hope of survival since the players were at the lake bottom.
Even Calvin who believed in Shannon's analysis couldn't help but feel uneasy as he waited. Could they find the players at the bottom? And if they did, would the players be alive?
Suddenly, there was an alert from the retrieval team, and people were brought up from the lake one by one.
The onlookers instinctively looked away as they braced themselves for the grim dead bodies. Yet the next moment, they heard the disbelief in the retrieval team's voice. "They're alive! Hurry up and get them to the ambulances!"
A chorus of gasps and exclamations erupted around them. "They're still alive?"
"After being submerged in the lake?"
"Is there some benevolent water spirit down there or something?"
Once all 17 missing players were confirmed alive, Shannon turned to Skylar and said, "Skylar, I'll leave the soul-switching of the living souls to you."
Juniper chimed in. "Skylar has retrieved it, so don't worry about that. Go back and rest. We'll take care of everything here."
Shannon nodded. She glanced at Benjamin and instinctively reached out to draw a bit of his spiritual energy for recovery, but she withdrew her hands when remembering how he'd mentioned the dirtied blood.
Without looking at her, Benjamin smoothly took her hand in his. She trembled and was briefly startled. Then, she reminded him, "My hand is dirty and has blood on it."
"We'll wash it off when we get back," he replied matter-of-factly and showed no intention to let go. With her hand in his, he led her toward the car.
Having seen how much Shannon had done tonight, Calvin knew better than to delay her further. Quite a few onlookers snapped pictures as Benjamin guided her away.
But for some reason, his face remained mysteriously blurred as if softened by the light.
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