Juno had not expected Li Dan to step in at such a critical moment.
When the cave entrance had just collapsed, she had thought everything was over. How much strength did it take to pry up and brace a cave ceiling that was about to cave in with an entrenching shovel?
Holly stared blankly for a long while before saying, "I take back what I said before. You're a real man."
Sam disliked Holly somewhat. Whether Li Dan is a real man isn't for you to judge.
Li Dan did not care in the slightest about their opinions. He broke free from Teacher Beth's embrace and said,
"Teacher Beth, you and Sarah need to calm down. The most important thing now is figuring out how to get out. The path ahead has already been blocked."
He knew Beth was simply too overwhelmed.
Sarah still looked badly shaken.
Only after Li Dan pointed out the problem did everyone realize how serious their situation was. The cave entrance had collapsed and been blocked, which meant they were completely trapped inside.
Rebecca spoke up then. "Everyone, calm down first. According to the guidebook, this rock formation should have three more exits. We still have hope."
She had meant to comfort them. With three cave entrances, their chances of finding an exit were still high.
At that moment, Juno saw that she could no longer hide it and told them the truth.
"Rebecca, the guidebook and the walkthrough are useless."
A sense of dread rose in Rebecca's heart. She demanded, "Juno, you're joking, right?"
Juno's face was pale. "I'm not joking. This isn't Bolehan Cave. It's an unfamiliar underground cavern."
The others all grew panicked at those words.
Rebecca could not help demanding to know why Juno had done this.
"I'm sorry. I just felt that a cave system with a prepared guide had no challenge to it, so..."
Rebecca finally burst into furious curses.
Only as a professional athlete did she understand how dangerous an unfamiliar underground cavern could be, especially when their exit had been blocked.
And both Sarah and Beth were clearly terrified.
Sam and Li Dan were both novices as well.
That meant they might all end up trapped to death in this pitch-black underground cavern.
The only one who seemed somewhat excited was Holly. She liked thrills to begin with, and this situation suited her just fine.
While the others struggled with their emotions, Li Dan observed their surroundings.
He had only one feeling.
Suffocation.
Rock walls closed in from every direction, further compressing their living space.
It was even darker and narrower here, mixed with a foul smell and faint noises like those made by a mouse.
After the argument.
They chose to deal with the problem right in front of them first.
They had to choose a cave and explore it to see whether there was a way out.
As the team leader and someone burdened by guilt, Juno naturally took the lead. Li Dan was assigned the second position, which counted as recognition of his abilities.
After experiencing the collapse, Sarah refused to stand at the back no matter what.
In the end, Rebecca volunteered to bring up the rear.
So the group once again crawled into a cramped tunnel and continued exploring. The farther in they went, the smaller the space became, compounded by how enclosed it was.
As newcomers, Sam and Holly had lost their initial liveliness and instead felt as though they were suffocating.
Fortunately, their predicament did not last long.
They soon reached an open area, but there was no path ahead. Beneath the cliff was a bottomless abyss, so they could only rig ropes to cross the gap.
That did not stump them.
They had brought pitons in their backpacks. Once they secured safety ropes through them, everyone could cross safely. Rebecca handled it with ease.
While setting up the safety rope, she suddenly discovered an old piton. That meant an expedition team had once reached this place, but they had failed and never gotten out.
As Li Dan and the others crossed one by one, Juno, who was last, chose that exact moment to court death. While retrieving the pitons, one old piton snapped, setting off waves of screams in the cave.
Rebecca's hand was torn bloody and mangled as the rapidly falling rope dragged across it.
The screams and the sweet scent of blood gradually attracted certain monsters living in the underground caverns.
Li Dan looked up and saw what seemed to be a black shadow flash through a cave above. He was sure it was not an illusion. Something had indeed been drawn over.
He could have warned them, but there were several foolish women on the team. Before seeing it themselves, they would probably just scream and make a fuss again, so he could not be bothered to mention it.
After crossing the cliff, the path ahead was relatively smooth and wide. The group arrived at a fork in the road.
Several black symbols had been carved into the rock wall.
The information on them indicated that this cavern had two more exits.
That was their only good news so far.
Looking at the symbols, Li Dan felt they resembled some kind of nest more than exits.
Juno took out a lighter and tested both tunnels. After finding oxygen and moving air, she was about to scout ahead when Holly rushed in before her.
As impulsive as ever. At first she had been excited, but now there was fear mixed into her emotions.
And, unsurprisingly, something went wrong.
Judging from the screams inside, it sounded like her leg had been broken.
Juno and Sarah hurried inside to save her, while a Ghost Card quietly appeared in Li Dan's hand.
Deformed Person Number Two.
Without hesitation, he chose Fusion. His strength, senses, and vision all increased severalfold.
Only that feeling could give Li Dan a little more sense of security in this oppressive environment.
Juno and Sarah carried Holly out. Holly had broken one leg, and given their current situation, she could not receive treatment. That meant the leg was ruined.
Sarah was still muttering that she had seen a monster, while Juno insisted it had only been a hallucination.
Sarah nearly went mad at that.
"Believe me, it wasn't a hallucination! That thing looked a lot like a person. It wasn't wearing clothes, its skin was bluish-black, and it seemed to have fangs in its mouth."
The already anxious team now had two injured people, with one on the verge of collapse.
Sam, who had the poorest ability to cope, had already hidden in Li Dan's arms. She was truly crying. No one had imagined that a perfectly ordinary expedition would turn out like this.
If Sarah kept talking, even if there were no monsters, they would become real in everyone's minds. Just as Juno was about to stop Sarah, Li Dan spoke.
"I believe you."
Everyone looked at Li Dan.
Sarah looked as though she had found a lifeline. No one else could understand how it felt to be believed, because as the first person to spot the monster, no one wanted more than Sarah for it to have been an illusion.
But it was not an illusion. It was all real!
Li Dan's expression did not change. "Because I saw it too."
The cave suddenly fell silent.
If this was true, they not only had to find a way out, but also remain constantly on guard against something inhuman. What frightened them most was that they did not know what kind of creature it was.
Just as the team was nearing collapse.
Li Dan took off his backpack, unzipped it, and pulled out several cold Equalizers of All Beings, infrared sights, and extended magazines.
Since he was already here, how could he possibly come unprepared?
Before you continue