Thirty-Fifth Chapter

After all, everyone had heard about Hu Bayi's past. This place wasn't just a fun excursion; it was fraught with danger...

As they approached, Hu Ming suddenly spotted a corpse at a bend in the cave. Judging by the attire and appearance, Hu Ming guessed the person's identity.

Hu Bayi, ahead of Hu Ming, also noticed it, similarly suspecting it might be one of the explorers Yang Xueli had mentioned.

"Miss Yang, come take a look."

"What is it?"

Hearing Hu Bayi call her, Yang Xueli quickly came over and soon saw the corpse.

"This," Yang Xueli observed the markings and attire. After examining them, she confirmed the person was an explorer from her father's team. It appeared they had died from starvation and cold.

However, Yang Xueli noticed that among the explorer's belongings, there seemed to be a handgun.

Upon seeing it, Yang Xueli immediately took it out and began to inspect it. Her movements while handling the firearm were so skilled that Fatty, standing behind her, was mesmerized.

Afterward, Yang Xueli found several boxes of bullets on the corpse and pocketed them.

Watching Yang Xueli's actions, Fatty quietly approached Hu Bayi and whispered, "Old Hu, there's definitely something up with this woman. Look how smoothly she handles that gun."

"I know."

"What, you know?"

"Mm, but don't worry, Mingzi and I realized she wasn't simple long ago."

Just then...

Chirp chirp~

"Everyone be careful," Hu Bayi said urgently, his hair standing on end.

He was all too familiar with this sound.

A sapphire Fire Ladybug had appeared at some point, its wings fluttering with an ethereal blue flame. It flew towards Yang Xueli, its blue flames illuminating her face.

A sense of impending death washed over Yang Xueli, and a cold sweat broke out on her pretty face.

"Xueli!" Professor Chen and the others cried out in panic, helpless.

Hu Ming cautiously drew an engineer shovel and suddenly lunged forward, swatting the Fire Ladybug into the snow. A blue light appeared in the snow, followed by a "hissing" sound as steam rose, and the blue light vanished.

As a precaution, Hu Ming patted the snow where the Fire Ladybug had landed.

Hu Bayi let out a sigh of relief now that Yang Xueli was safe, and he nodded at Hu Ming.

Hu Bayi once again urged everyone to be careful and tread lightly.

Then, he and Hu Ming took the lead, clearing the path, while the two tall soldiers brought up the rear.

They pressed on, venturing deeper. Hao Aiguo held the compass, and Sa Dipeng held an altimeter, which was similar to a thermometer.

"We're heading east now." Hao Aiguo said, sounding somewhat surprised as he exclaimed, "Isn't this the direction we came from?"

Everyone exchanged glances, marveling at the wondrous work of nature.

They had arrived by traversing mountains and crossing cliffs from the surface.

Now...

They were moving from deep underground towards that same direction.

"Altitude, twelve hundred meters," Sa Dipeng exclaimed, looking at his instrument. "We've descended quite a bit."

While the others were chatting, Yang Xueli drifted away, taking photos with her camera before disappearing into a particular direction.

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

"Professor Chen, something's wrong! Miss Yang is gone!" Gawa exclaimed anxiously, looking around frantically.

His job was to ensure everyone's safety, and now, the main source of funding had vanished without a trace, throwing him into a panic. Professor Chen and the others were even more anxious; she was their benefactor!

"Wait, someone else is missing?" Gawa counted heads and realized Fatty was also gone.

Hu Bayi glanced at the group, his brow furrowed. "Fatty's gone too."

Just as the tall soldier was about to angrily scold Gawa, Hu Ming stopped him.

"Alright, everyone calm down. Keep your voices down; if we attract the Fire Ladybugs, the situation will be even worse."

Hu Ming said sternly, then exchanged a look with Hu Bayi. They suspected Yang Xueli might have slipped away on her own, and Fatty had merely followed her.

Just as everyone was searching for Yang Xueli and Fatty, Fatty suddenly ran back.

Fatty smiled at them. "Did you find anything?" he asked, making no mention of where he had been.

"Comrade Xiao Wang, you and your brothers have been a bit shifty. Where did you go? Give us an explanation."

Hao Aiguo glanced at Hu Ming, then adjusted his glasses, his face stern and his tone heavy.

"Did you sneak off and take some treasure?"

Hao Aiguo spoke with a strange intensity.

"Heh, you want an explanation from me? Are you sure you're awake?" Fatty scoffed at Hao Aiguo.

At this point, Hu Ming and Hu Bayi's expressions also soured. Hu Ming narrowed his eyes slightly and said coldly, "Don't make baseless accusations. Speak with evidence, or it might be difficult for us brothers to get along with you."

Hu Ming thought to himself: Damn it, if no one was here, I would have killed you long ago.

Hu Ming hadn't been off the battlefield for long, and the murderous aura on his body hadn't dissipated yet.

However, in Hu Ming's memory, this Hao Aiguo had died in the desert in the end.

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

"Aiguo, that's enough. We're all on the same team, why are you saying such strange things?"

Seeing his student Hao Aiguo acting crazy and about to offend someone again, Professor Chen was so angry his face turned green.

They needed these few people to help find Jingjue Ancient City. He himself didn't dare to slight these three brothers at all. And here you are, in this situation, offending all three of them at once.