Just as everyone fell silent at Hu Ming's words,
Click.
A flash of white light suddenly streaked past.
"Who was that?" Hu Bayi asked, seeing it.
It was Sa Dipeng. He had turned off the flash, but the photo he took was blurry, and the Ghost Cave Script was hard to make out. He couldn't accept that, so he turned the flash back on and took another picture, telling himself he'd only use it this once and wouldn't turn it on again.
Seeing Hu Bayi and Hu Ming's faces darken even further, he looked at Sa Dipeng in displeasure.
Sa Dipeng put on the air of a victim.
"I... I did turn off the flash!"
"Xiao Sa, you can't use the flash. Otherwise, you'll get us all killed."
After scolding Sa Dipeng a few times, Hu Bayi let it go. What else could he do? All he could think about now was resigning as leader as soon as they got back, then taking Hu Ming and Fatty back to the capital on their own.
Hu Ming shot Sa Dipeng a cool glance and sneered inwardly. That little shit was quite the actor.
With that expression and that demeanor, not putting him onstage would be a loss for the theater.
"Xiao Sa, you can't use the flash. You need to listen to Team Leader Hu."
Professor Chen quickly chimed in, appearing to scold Sa Dipeng but actually helping him out.
Just then...
Hiss, hiss—
A dense swarm of Fire Ladybugs took flight, gathering together to form an army.
What was that?
Hu Bayi's face tensed to the breaking point. "Run! Hurry... run!"
Hiss, hiss—
The Fire Ladybugs gathered into an army. Looking out at them, they didn't even look like bugs anymore—they looked like balls of ghostly blue fire.
Blue flames surged upward, seeming capable of burning everything. Ordinary people like them would be reduced to ashes in an instant.
They were more terrifying than the flames in a crematorium furnace.
"Run... run!"
"Forget the stuff! Run!" Hu Ming shouted when he saw Hao Aiguo still taking pictures with his camera. He dashed from one burial pit into the demon tower. When he saw the bugs surging toward him, he immediately hurled a large bucket of water from his inventory at them. The Fire Ladybugs passed right through the plastic bucket in midair, spilling the water everywhere and extinguishing quite a few of them. Hu Ming then turned and ran back.
The Fire Ladybugs kept chasing him, so he grabbed his soaked jacket and swung it behind him, scattering the bugs.
Hu Ming was ready to kill Sa Dipeng. That damn idiot had woken every last bug before they'd even entered the demon tower. He had no idea if that stunt just now would earn him a reward from the system.
The Tomb Robbery System was for looting treasures from tombs, right? He'd already gotten plenty of stuff. And he had just entered the demon tower, so it should be fine, right?
Yeah, it should be fine...
The others were already terrified. The Fire Ladybugs hadn't reached them yet, but their souls were trembling.
"Professor Chen, run! Forget the stuff!" Gawa and the big fellow supported Professor Chen as they hurried along. They were soldiers, so they had plenty of stamina.
Hao Aiguo, Sa Dipeng, and Chu Jian ran for their lives behind Professor Chen, glancing back as they went. More than a dozen balls of fire were diving down from above the Nine-story Demon Tower. The sight was so terrifying they nearly wet themselves.
Yang Xueli, Fatty, and Hu Bayi followed close behind, with Hu Ming bringing up the rear.
As she fled, Yang Xueli threw something behind her to try to hold the Fire Ladybugs back and buy them a little time. She didn't have anything else to use.
It was a hard hat. Who knew who had left it there?
Pfft. A swarm of Fire Ladybugs struck the hard hat, which instantly burned to ash.
Yang Xueli's heart trembled. How terrifying.
Only now did she realize how foolish she'd been to run into the demon tower alone earlier.
The river was just ahead. When they reached it, Hu Bayi saw Gawa and the big fellow supporting Professor Chen at the bank, both of them at a loss. He shouted, "Jump into the water! Don't stick your heads out!"
The big fellow turned and saw the dense swarm of Fire Ladybugs sweeping toward them.
His heart lurched. He grabbed Professor Chen and jumped into the river.
Splash! Splash!
Sa Dipeng and the others jumped in one after another. Only Shirley Yang, Hu Bayi, Gawa, and Hu Ming, who was still bringing up the rear, remained.
Hu Ming was putting every ounce of strength he had into running.
Gawa was afraid of water and couldn't swim. In the Tibetan region he came from, you weren't supposed to go into the water.
"Gawa!" Gawa turned around, only to see a foot flying toward him and kicking him into the river.
"I can't swi—"
Pfft, pfft. Gawa struggled at the surface like a landlubber, swallowing several mouthfuls of water.
Noticing Gawa's predicament, Fatty surfaced. "Do you want to die? Breathe in!"
He grabbed Gawa and pulled him underwater. Hiss, hiss.
The Fire Ladybugs were closing in. Yang Xueli was still clutching the notebook, looking it over. She had come here to find it; if the river soaked it, the whole trip would have been for nothing.
"Get in the water!" Hu Bayi shouted anxiously. She was their employer, after all. Even if he was quitting when they got back, he couldn't let her die here!
"My notebook can't get wet." Hu Bayi snatched it from her and hurled it toward the opposite bank.
Seeing the notebook land on the other side, Yang Xueli was still worried. What if the Fire Ladybugs burned it?
"Get in the water!" Hu Bayi shouted at Yang Xueli, then suddenly came to his senses. "Fatty, have you seen Mingzi?"
But Fatty had already gone underwater.
Static crackled in the radio.
"Brother Hu, it's Ye Yixin. A storm is about to hit. Get out of there now!"
There was no time to reply to Ye Yixin. Hu Bayi saw Hu Ming with the Fire Ladybugs behind him and immediately leaped forward.
He couldn't block Hu Ming's way!
Splash.
Yang Xueli felt heat against her back. With no time to think, she plunged headfirst into the river.
Hu Ming jumped into the river right after her.
Hiss, hiss. With their targets gone, the Fire Ladybugs plunged down wildly. Fire and water could not coexist, and one by one, the bugs' bodies floated to the surface.
The remaining Fire Ladybugs didn't dare dive underwater. They hovered above the river, beating their wings, as though their boundless fury had nowhere to go.
After all, Hu Ming had used his jacket to swat quite a few of them to death.
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