Chapter Thirty-Five

After all, everyone had heard about Hu Bayi's past. This was no place to mess around, and danger lurked everywhere...

After they had all moved closer, Hu Ming suddenly spotted a corpse at a bend in the cave. Judging by the man's clothes and appearance, Hu Ming guessed who he was.

Hu Bayi, who was walking ahead of Hu Ming, had noticed the corpse too. He also guessed that this might be one of the explorers Yang Xueli had mentioned.

"Miss Yang, come take a look."

"What is it?"

When Hu Bayi called her over, Yang Xueli hurried to his side. It didn't take her long to spot the corpse.

"This..." Looking at the identifying number and the man's clothes, Yang Xueli examined him and confirmed that he was an explorer from her father's team. It looked as if hunger and cold had led to his accidental death.

However, Yang Xueli noticed what seemed to be a pistol in the explorer's pack.

She immediately took it out and inspected it. Her movements as she checked the gun were so practiced that the Fatty behind her was dumbstruck.

Yang Xueli then found several boxes of ammunition on the corpse and tucked them away.

Watching her, the Fatty sidled up to Hu Bayi and whispered, "Old Hu, there's definitely something up with that woman. Look at how slick she is with that gun."

"I know."

"What? You know?"

"Yeah. But don't worry. Mingzi and I figured out a while ago that she wasn't ordinary."

Just then...

Hiss, hiss—

"Everyone, be careful." Hu Bayi tensed at once, every hair on his body standing on end.

He knew that sound all too well.

A dazzling blue Fire Ladybug had appeared from nowhere. As its wings beat, a faint blue flame flickered around it. The bug flew toward Yang Xueli, its blue light bathing her face.

With death looming over her, Yang Xueli felt the Reaper drawing near. A sheen of cold sweat instantly appeared on her pretty face.

"Xueli!" Professor Chen and the others panicked, but there was nothing they could do.

Hu Ming carefully drew his engineer shovel and suddenly swung it, smacking the Fire Ladybug into the snow. A blue light glimmered in the snow, then steam hissed up with a sizzle. The blue glow went out.

To be safe, Hu Ming slapped the patch of snow a few more times with the shovel.

Hu Bayi let out a sigh of relief. Seeing that Yang Xueli was unharmed, he nodded to Hu Ming.

Hu Bayi reminded everyone once again to stay alert and keep their footsteps quiet.

Then he led Hu Ming back to the front to scout the way, while the two soldiers brought up the rear.

They pressed on, venturing deeper and deeper. Hao Aiguo held the compass, while Sa Dipeng carried an altimeter that looked a lot like a thermometer.

"We're heading east." Hao Aiguo looked puzzled, then exclaimed, "But isn't that the direction we came from?"

Everyone exchanged looks, marveling at the wonders of nature.

On the way in, they had traveled overland, crossing mountains and cliffs.

Now...

They were heading that way from deep underground.

"Altitude: 1,200 meters." Sa Dipeng stared at the instrument and exclaimed, "We've come down a long way."

While a few of them were chatting, Yang Xueli wandered off on her own, taking pictures with her camera. Then she headed toward a certain passage and slipped inside.

The Fatty, who had been keeping an eye on her, quietly followed.

"Professor Chen, this is bad! Miss Yang is missing." Gawa grew anxious and looked around.

His job was to keep everyone safe. Now one of their main financial backers had mysteriously disappeared, and he was frantic. Professor Chen and the others were even more worried. She was their sponsor, after all.

"Wait, we're missing someone else too?" Gawa counted everyone and realized that the Fatty was gone as well.

Hu Bayi glanced at the others and frowned. "The Fatty's gone too."

The big soldier grew annoyed and was about to scold Gawa, but Hu Ming stopped him.

"Calm down, everyone. Keep your voices down. It'll be even worse if we attract the Fire Ladybugs."

Hu Ming spoke sternly, then exchanged a glance with Hu Bayi. They knew Yang Xueli might have gone off on her own, with the Fatty following her.

While everyone was searching for Yang Xueli and the Fatty, the Fatty suddenly came running back.

He smiled at everyone. "Find anything?" He didn't mention where he'd been at all.

"Comrade Xiao Wang, you brothers aren't being very honest. Where did you go? Give us an explanation."

Hao Aiguo glanced at Hu Ming, adjusted his glasses, and asked in a stern voice.

"Did you sneak off to take something valuable?"

Hao Aiguo was acting strangely, speaking to them like this for no reason.

"Heh, I owe you an explanation? You must be dreaming." The Fatty looked at Hao Aiguo with disdain.

Hu Ming and Hu Bayi also darkened. Hu Ming narrowed his eyes slightly, his voice turning cold. "Don't make baseless accusations. If you can't back up what you say, I'm afraid it'll be hard for our brothers to get along with you."

Damn it. If there weren't people around, I'd have killed you already.

Hu Ming had only recently come back from the battlefield, and the killing intent in him hadn't yet faded.

However, in Hu Ming's memory, Hao Aiguo would eventually die in the desert.

So Hu Ming didn't want to waste too many words on him.

"Aiguo, that's enough. We're all on the same team. Why are you making accusations?"

Seeing his student Hao Aiguo acting up and picking another fight, Professor Chen was so angry that his face turned green.

They needed these men to help them find Jingjue Ancient City. Professor Chen himself wouldn't dream of treating the three brothers with the slightest disrespect. Yet Hao Aiguo had gone and offended all three of them at once, at a time like this.