Confrontation

"What?" Alex asked with a stunned face. After spending nearly 2 months in this place, this was the first time he was learning of this information. 

"They died? All the candidates did?" he asked.

"Yes, every single one of them," Yao Jia said softly.

Alex had already thought of the worst possible scenario that could've happened to them, so he deluded himself to thinking maybe that was not the case.

"Did they suffer from some sort of injury during the ritual that killed them later on?" he asked. 

"No," Yao Jia said. "There was no injury or anything. They just couldn't handle the ritual and died before they even finished it."

Alex suddenly stood up, his face pale with fear. "And you guys want to let Pearl go through that?" he asked.

Yao Jia shrunk a little. "We have to, I think. That is the only way to find a successor now that the fountain won't form any more drops of blood for a long time," she said.