The others weren’t fools either. Fran’s suggestive tone was quite leading, and with a bit of thought, they could basically understand her intent… except for Crimson Star.
“Huh? So Second Brother didn’t defect?”
Verdant Echo scratched his head and began explaining it to his big brother privately.
Ogata Daruma perked up slightly and said, “While I can understand your intent, we have to produce tangible intelligence to convince the other side, right?”
“I’ll find a way regarding the intelligence,” Clara promised. With the Moon Rabbit combat units mixed in with the rabbit crowd, she could always get some useful or useless information.
“But how should we let the mole learn this news ‘accidentally’?”
They didn’t just need the Fourth Calamity to know; they also had to make them believe that Azure Rider was a spy who had escaped brainwashing.
The sound of a vehicle came from outside the hangar, and Clara shut her mouth at the appropriate time.
“Ahem, everyone, may I interrupt for a moment?”
A woman with long, grayish-white hair peered into the hangar entrance.
“Miss Laby? Come in first,” Clara said.
Laby wore her usual business smile as she walked in with elegant small steps, pushing a trolley. A square object sat on the cart, covered by a white cloth.
‘Is that… some kind of box?’ Lucia, who was on better terms with Laby, asked, “Miss Laby, is something the matter?”
“It’s like this. There are a few surrendered Moon Rabbits here who came to find us last night…”
Laby pulled the cloth off the cart, revealing a large rectangular cage. Inside the cage were seven dying Moon Rabbits. They did not look healthy at all, covered in various scars. Although they were still alive, they had clearly been abused by the security department.
Clara frowned.
‘Those guys don’t just have an attitude problem; they’re psychologically unhealthy too!?’
“What? Moon Rabbits can surrender too?”
“They look like they were tortured into a confession.”
Ogata Daruma and the others were naturally surprised, having just learned about this. Although Clara and Fran already knew, they followed along with surprised expressions to avoid suspicion.
“There was originally one more, but it managed to escape,” Laby added.
‘Escaped? It was caught and taken back!’
“The security department insisted on shooting all these rabbits, but I thought I should leave the decision to you,” Laby continued.
Perhaps afraid of taking the blame, Miss Laby didn’t say a single word about why that one Moon Rabbit “escaped.” She didn’t realize that Anya had already spilled the beans before going to bed.
“Did Miss Laby even prepare food for the Moon Rabbits?” Lucia asked.
Beside the cage lay a bundle of fresh fruit and carrots.
“Yes, I was afraid they would starve to death after going a whole night without eating.”
“Miss Laby is quite kindhearted,” Lucia said as she picked up a carrot, attempting to reach into the cage to feed the bound Moon Rabbits.
However, before she could do so, Clara grabbed her by the collar and pulled her back.
“Don’t get so close to them! It’s dangerous!!”
Even though these rabbits had surrendered, without Clara’s leadership as a fellow Moon Rabbit, their behavior was still unpredictable. There was no telling what they were thinking. If one of them suddenly took a large bite, it wouldn’t just be the fresh carrot; even Lucia’s hand might be bitten off. And…
“They look like they were beaten all night by security. They definitely have a temper right now.”
Contact with the Moon Rabbit combat units, combined with the previous night’s experience, had made Lucia lack vigilance toward the rabbits. She broke the carrot into pieces and stuffed them through the gaps in the bars. The Moon Rabbits still ate the carrot fragments that fell near their mouths.
Lucia even complained, “Security went too far! Surrendered Moon Rabbits should be treated well! Besides, they’re all tied up like this. What danger could there be?”
“Miss Anya said this morning that the rabbit Miss Laby took to the infirmary escaped. That one was also tied up like a zongzi with duct tape, right? If that one could run, these can too,” Clara said.
Laby’s expression turned a bit awkward.
“Cough, sorry. That was a lapse in my work.”
Compared to the other resort staff, Laby was quite diligent in her work. Therefore, Clara had never really wanted to suspect her and even held a certain level of goodwill toward her. However, after their brief encounter as a Moon Rabbit last night, she vaguely felt Laby’s behavior was a bit suspicious. Combined with the plan Fran had just proposed…
“I didn’t expect Moon Rabbits would actually have the awareness to surrender. Is their internal structure not united? Could it be that they were incited by Azure Rider…”
At that point, Clara covered her mouth, pretending to have let something slip. At the same time, she stole a glance at Laby to observe her reaction.
Laby didn’t seem shaken; she only asked in confusion, “Did you say Azure Rider? I heard… that he sacrificed himself last night?”
“Uh, well… actually…”
Clara’s hesitation was actually giving the others time to react. In moments like these, Fran was usually the quickest.
“To tell you the truth, we received a secret contact this morning. The other party sent us a coordinate. The Sigma Hero side also reported that Azure Rider did not return to the Abyss to respawn. So, we have reason to guess… he went undercover on the Moon Rabbits’ side.”
“He turned into a Moon Rabbit? Such a thing actually happened?”
Laby stared with wide, surprised eyes. It was impossible to tell if her expression was genuine or fake. Fran’s explanation also blurred the information they already had, presenting the fact that Azure Rider was a spy as a mere “guess.”
“Before you arrived, Clara and Pure White Storm went to those coordinates to scout and were attacked by a group of muscular rabbits… those coordinates are likely their nest,” Clara said, picking up where Fran left off. “Originally, we were prepared to launch an extermination operation against the Moon Rabbits today, but after receiving intelligence from Azure Rider, the plan had to be temporarily suspended.”
She had also found a reasonable explanation for why she hadn’t stolen the virus. Seeing Laby’s lingering confusion, Fran urged, “Of course, please do not go around talking about this. If people from the Fourth Calamity hear it, Azure Rider’s situation will become difficult. After all, we suspect that members of the Fourth Calamity are lurking among the resort staff.”
“If Little Clara hadn’t slipped up, you probably wouldn’t have told me, right?” Laby smiled bitterly and nodded, promising, “Don’t worry, I won’t go around talking about it.”
If they discovered later that the Moon Rabbits had taken action against Azure Rider, or if someone else learned about this, then… the probability of Laby being the mole would be very high.
“In that case, I won’t disturb your meeting anymore, lest I hear more secrets I shouldn’t~”
As Laby said this, she backed out of the hangar, but then she poked her head back in and pointed at the cage on the trolley.
“Oh, those rabbits… I’ll leave them to you to handle.”
Suspicious.