Lauren's death came without warning.

It was so sudden that Dustin barely had time to process what happened. Staring at her shattered skull and her body sprawled in blood, his smile faded as he frowned.

No one had attacked her, and it wasn't suicide either. Her head exploded because someone had planted a cursed insect in her brain.

This insect lay dormant inside her head. It caused no harm to its host under normal circumstances.

However, when the host planned to betray the Skull Covenant, the insect would immediately awaken and self-destruct. The explosion occurred from within and was impossible to prevent.

If Dustin had examined Lauren thoroughly, he would've spotted it. With his current skills, eliminating such an insect would have been easy.

Even Lauren herself hadn't known that she had been implanted with the cursed insect. If she had known, she wouldn't have endured such prolonged torture. Otherwise, she would have chosen to trigger the explosion earlier.

Grace approached