Vines and the Traitor

Those who remained in the cave checked again to make sure there were no large gray worms hiding inside, and then took off their soaked coats.

My clothes had already gotten wet once when I jumped into the river, but the water was clear, and they dried off quite a bit as I ran, so it wasn't a big deal. However, the rainwater in the mountains is a bit dirty, and it makes my hair itchy and sticky, which is very uncomfortable.

Yu Xing took off her coat and long-sleeved T-shirt, leaving her in only a sleeveless sports vest, and found herself out of place among a group of muscular people.

He himself is not particularly thin. Although he is light, this lightness is more or less related to his special physique, and his bones are less dense than those of ordinary people.

This is also why he is so agile.

So he already had muscles, but among this group of muscular men, he appeared remarkably slender.

"That's ridiculous... Who says tomb raiders have to be this strong?" Yu Xing muttered under his breath, a little unconvinced. He was practically reduced to the same level as Alice here.

Alice clearly didn't think so; Alice believed San was even more precious than her.

As a "capable" doctor, Alice is extremely caring towards the only weak human on the team. Not only does she show a hint of pity when she sees San doing physical labor, but she also pays special attention to San's mental state, fearing that he might feel isolated.

Now, everyone was resting against the cave wall, taking out food to replenish their energy. Only Yu Xing hadn't eaten anything, so she came over with a frown and reminded her, "San, eat something, or you won't have any strength later."

Yu Xing simply wasn't hungry. He sensed that Alice was trying to shower him with maternal warmth, so he quickly and coldly stopped her. "I'm not hungry. I'll eat when I'm hungry. Thank you for your concern."

He dismissed Alice and turned his attention to the cave walls.

Although the cave walls were rough and covered with moss, he still tried to find some kind of mark.

He had noticed earlier that the grass at the cave entrance had been laid out by humans, which meant that someone had been there before, and that the previous group of people had rested here not long ago.

If that group encountered the same situation as Brother Sun, whether they were hiding from someone or something unexpected happened, they would likely leave marks for their companions to identify them.

Yu Xing searched for more than half an hour but couldn't find it, so she gave up.

It was already past four in the afternoon when a rustling sound came from the cave entrance. Everyone immediately became alert and discovered it was Finley.

Finley, soaked to the bone, threw the branch he was holding into the hole, sat down, and panted heavily. "Damn it... I'm exhausted..."

After exchanging pleasantries, everyone happily lit the branches and began their first round of warming themselves by the fire.

"Where are Brother Sun Shi Jiu, and the Troublemaker?" Luke asked casually as he wrung out his clothes.

"We don't have enough usable branches, so we split up. I guess they'll be back in a bit." Once Finley returned, Yu Xing felt less abrupt, because Finley was one of the "skinny" ones in the group. He was lean and agile, which fit Yu Xing's image of a tomb raider.

Yu Xing felt that the others didn't seem like tomb raiders, but rather like mercenaries.

At Brother Sun's instruction, Scarface was to take good care of San, the painter. Remembering his boss's orders, he set up a simple rack and, instead of drying his own clothes, took Yu Xing's T-shirt to dry first.

Yu Xing enjoying the VIP service, feeling relaxed and content. He touched the painting tube clipped to his waist, enjoying the comfortable feel of its surface. Sure enough, not long after, Brother Sun returned.

After resting for a while, the group in the cave regained their energy and gradually became lively again. They had been on edge because of the giant gray worm, but now that they were finally safe, they seemed to have forgotten about Ade's death and chatted and laughed loudly.

"Where are Shi Jiu and Troublemaker? Did they get lost?" Scarface had already returned the dry clothes to Yu Xing and was drying his own. He noticed that so much time had passed and found it strange.

"Yeah, it's been so long, I hope nothing's happened to them?" A Long was also a little worried. He asked Brother Sun, "Brother Sun, did the four of you all leave separately?"

Brother Sun's expression was somewhat serious. He glanced at the now quiet team members and said, "We parted ways not long after we left, agreeing not to go too far. When I went back later, I specifically looked for everyone, but I couldn't find anyone. I thought I was the last one to return."

As the cave warmed up, a slight chill crept into the hearts of the team members.

"No signal flares and no SOS signals, what do we do?" Luke had a full beard and looked quite fierce, but after spending a few hours with him, Yu Xing realized that he was actually one of the more innocent-looking members of the group.

"Could something really have happened?" Alice became conflicted.

"How about I go look for it?" Luke couldn't help himself. He quite liked Shi Jiu, that straightforward girl. He stood up and offered to help Brother Sun, "I'll take insecticide and a flare gun. I'll call for help immediately if I see anything. Let me go look for it, okay?"

After calculating the time, Brother Sun realized that it was highly unlikely that nothing had happened.

He nodded and said decisively, "Okay, the rain is much lighter than before. A Long, you and Luke go together. Don't separate, and be careful."

But at that moment, something unexpected happened.

Yu Xing heard a soft, rubbing and sliding sound in his ears, very faint, but it was constantly approaching him from above.

In this mountain forest, his first thought was that there were snakes.

But when he heard these sounds coming from all directions, he knew it was impossible. The team had checked the environment when they came in, and there couldn't possibly be so many snakes hiding without being discovered.

Overhead, vast expanses of vines, capable of slithering like snakes, were covered only in vines that looked almost identical to Virginia creeper!

Yu Xing reacted incredibly quickly, lunging forward and nearly falling into Scarface's arms as he was drinking water. Scarface was startled and, before he could ask what was happening, heard Yu Xing shout, "Look up!"

Everyone instinctively looked up.

Above their heads, the static "climbing vines" came to life and began to crawl, moving down the cave walls. The originally emerald green vines had shed their disguise, turning into a deep purple as if poisoned, and revealing the barbs hidden in the leaves.

Looking around, the small cave was filled with dense, snake-like vines, displaying an undisguised aggressiveness.

"Holy shit!"

Regardless of their accents, they all blurted out the same vulgar curse. Finley immediately drew his dagger and yelled furiously, "What the hell is this?!"

Nobody knew what these things were. Not only were there many of them, but they also moved from stillness to activity very quickly, and even crawled towards the group at a rapid pace!

Yu Xing a sharp pain in his ankle and, with almost no time to dodge, was entangled by several vines. He looked down and saw that they were the first few vines to climb down, about the thickness of a little finger, and really looked very much like snakes. They were shooting towards him and wrapping around him at a speed that was almost imperceptible to the naked eye.

His ankles were originally covered by military boots, but just now, everyone took off their boots to dry their trouser legs, and he was no exception. Now, although his boots were on, his trouser legs were not tucked in, giving the vines an opportunity to climb on them.

The deep purple vines were tough and menacing, their barbs digging into Yu Xing's ankles. With each pull of the vines, the barbs hooked onto bits of flesh and pulled her backward, the pain being more unbearable than being slashed with a knife.

"Ouch, that hurts!" Alice was also grazed, though she didn't know where she was hurt, but she was clearly furious. The others weren't much better off either; it all happened so suddenly, and the space was so small—it was practically the vines' domain.

As Brother Sun moved, he kicked over the fire, and the vines seemed even more excited. Yu Xing guessed that if they had mouths, they would probably be howling.

"Get out of here! Get out first!" Brother Sun shouted as he crawled out of the cave. The vines at the entrance rushed towards him as if to prevent him from leaving.

Brother Sun was caught in the vines around his neck. He cursed and forced his way out despite the tearing pain, then cut the vines off his neck.

Finley roared, "This isn't a cave, it's this bastard's lair!"

Luke and A Long hadn't even had a chance to go out and look for anyone yet. They had already stood up and were closest to the cave. Seeing the vines gathering towards the entrance, they quickly reminded each other, "Don't waste time! Grab the supplies and rush in! If we're any later, they'll block the cave!"

Yu Xing abandoned the inappropriate image of howling vines that had appeared in his mind, narrowed his eyes, drew the dagger from his sleeve, and used a slight side roll without pressing down on the painting tube to find a suitable position to strike. He then chopped down at the vines that were wrapped around his ankle.

Scarface, who was about to help, paused when he saw what was happening, gave Yu Xing a deep look, and then reached for his backpack.

Although the vine was strange, it was still a plant after all, and it couldn't be compared to sharp metal. With Yu Xing, the vine snapped in two. No strange liquid came out; only a small half of a hard, milky-white, bone-like object fell out.

Yu Xing stared at the object for a second, not quite figuring out what it was, before the vines attacked again. He reached out, grabbed the bone-like object, put it in his pocket, used his right hand to clear a path with his dagger, and grabbed his backpack strap with his left, rushing out with the others.

The vines at the cave entrance were indeed the most numerous, and they quickly wove into a large net. Looking at the dense barbs on the net, everyone gasped.

If someone were caught in that trap, wouldn't they be skinned alive on the spot?

By this time, Brother Sun, Finley, A Long, and Luke had already gone out, leaving only Scarface, Alice, Yu Xing, and two unknown teammates trapped inside the cave.

Strangely enough, these vines only gathered at the cave entrance and didn't extend any further out, so they were temporarily safe once they went out.

Brother Sun shouted from outside, "Scarface!"

Scarface understood, and pulled a flamethrower from his bag, spraying it at the surrounding vines.

This move shocked everyone. Even Yu Xing glanced at him in surprise, because he could tell at a glance that this was a military-grade liquid fuel flamethrower, which was much more lethal than a commercial flamethrower. Brother Sun and Scarface were able to get their hands on something like this, which meant they really had connections.

Plants are afraid of fire; this is an almost invariable rule. Flames can effectively evaporate the water in plants and damage their internal tissues. These vines are no exception. After being partially charred, they finally retreated to the side. However, the vines behind them were not to be outdone and took advantage of their distraction to inflict several more wounds on them.

Outside, A Long and Luke were also helping to clear the vines from the cave entrance. Finally, they opened a gap in the net formed by the vines, and Alice was the first to be pushed out, followed by Yu Xing, then the two team members. Scarface also managed to escape after suffering a lot of injuries.

The only good news is that the rain has almost stopped, leaving only drizzle.

A group of people collapsed to the ground, looking even more disheveled than before they entered the cave.

"Quickly, treat the wound and check for poison." Brother Sun urged them on, not letting them rest.

They were terrified by the poison of the giant gray worm. They were all injured and had broken skin this time. If it was poisonous, the whole team would probably be out of commission.

"It's not poisonous, I checked it immediately..." Alice was still shaken, but her professionalism was excellent, and she offered reassurance, "Oh my god... that was terrifying, the first time I've ever seen a plant more agile than an animal."

"Who isn't? Damn, this is weird, really weird! Have the plants in these mountains become spirits?" exclaimed a fair-skinned man whose name Yu Xing was still unknown.

Yu Xing was right next to him, and glanced discreetly at the tag on his bag— Yin Zi.

He looked away.

Yin Zi's words resonated with the crowd. A Long clutched his neck; he was in a similar situation to Brother Sun, with several strips of flesh torn from his fragile neck. It was the ruthlessness in his bones that made him endure it.

A Long asked, "So what exactly is this thing? Could it actually be alive?"

"No." Yu Xing lowered his eyes, staring at the soil on the ground, seemingly lost in thought. His voice surprised everyone, and they all looked at him. He said, "It's the fire. After we started the fire, the temperature and humidity in the cave changed, which activated the vines' ferocity."

"That makes sense. No wonder you're a cultured person; your mind works really fast," Yin Zi praised.

Everyone was injured, the kind of lacerations that hurt even to the touch, with bits of flesh still sticking out of the vines. They weren't in the mood for much conversation, so after chatting for a while to calm themselves down, they started examining their injuries.

They were quite experienced themselves, and since there was no poison, they felt embarrassed to let Alice take care of everything, so they took out bandages and bandaged themselves.

Finley chuckled, wrapping his arm around Scarface's arm as he said in an ambiguous tone, "Not bad, Scarface. So Brother Sun trusts you the most after all, letting you hide such a powerful weapon?"

Scarface ignored his sarcastic tone and replied, "Yes, Brother Sun trusts me more."

Then he took the bandages and medicine and found Yu Xing: "To be honest, as you probably noticed, Brother Sun asked me to take good care of you along the way... Let me bandage you up."

Yu Xing smiled. He naturally knew that Scarface had noticed his skills in the cave earlier. "I can handle it myself. You really don't need to treat me like a fragile piece of trash who can't do anything. My family is well-off, and I used to do extreme sports a lot. I can endure much more than you think."

"I see." Scarface stroked his stubble and complimented, "You really can't judge a book by its cover. I'm quite envious of you. Someone as skilled and good-looking as you must be very popular with women."

Yu Xing remained noncommittal on the topic; after this experience, he had gained a new understanding of the team members.

Brother Sun is the leader, Finley is experienced and we need his help to make many decisions, and Scarface is the strongest Combat Power in the team—not only with the flamethrower, but also with the best skills. Compared to everyone else except Yu Xing, he has a trained sense of efficiency.

Alice is a doctor with a voice; A Long has keen senses and is suitable for exploration, which would be more noticeable in the tomb; Luke is more suited for logistics; Yin Zi probably lacks seniority, and both she and another unnamed teammate have very low presence.

He bandaged his ankle perfunctorily, and looking at the bloody wound, estimated that it would be fully healed in about three hours.

The group escaped from the vine's lair, but Shi Jiu and Troublemaker still hadn't returned. Yu Xing was more inclined to believe they wouldn't come back.

The Troublemaker may have already encountered an unexpected situation, while Shi Jiu...

Yu Xing's eyes flashed.

Others had entered the cave, but there were no traces of blood or flesh, nor any signs of a fire. Either the previous team hadn't lit a fire, or someone had returned and deliberately cleaned the area to lower their guard and lure them into danger.

There was a traitor among them.

As for who the traitor is... is there anyone more suspicious than Shi Jiu, who deserted the group under the pretext of collecting tree branches and had previously scouted the area in the mountains?

Yu Xing knew in her heart that this Shi Jiu was probably an undercover agent sent by another team. She didn't know if her team had some grudge against Brother Sun or if it was just for the secret of the tomb. Anyway, this woman was quite ruthless and she acted quite well.

Of course, he didn't think there was anything wrong with it; he himself would be the one to leave without hesitation if necessary.