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墨書 Inktalez
When Fatty finally came to his senses, Jack and I had already walked quite a distance.
There was no path here, unlike on the Flood Barrier where two people could walk side by side. Now, one person had to use the faint light of a Glow Stick to find their way, navigating around cracks and avoiding the jutting Stalactites that hung from above, climbing and jumping over the uneven stones.
I followed closely behind Jack, relying on the little light he let slip through while being careful to keep up with his pace. Behind me, there was nothing but my shadow merging with the darkness.
As we moved on, Tang Yumo stood reluctantly in place, waiting for Fatty to catch up so we could proceed together. We didn’t have any extra Glow Sticks to waste; being in the dark here was perilous.
Fatty noticed I had left him and Tang Yumo behind, and I could faintly hear his muffled curses reaching my ears. I couldn’t make out what he was cursing about, nor did it matter; it certainly wasn’t anything good.
What mattered was that he had made a compromise and accepted my arrangement.
For Fatty, cursing was a form of compromise. Silence was his most stubborn form of resistance, leading him to act in the most unpredictable ways.
There were no listeners among us, yet I felt each of us was one. In the silent Underground Cavern, the rumbling sound of water gradually faded as we moved further away from it; our footsteps, breaths, and heartbeats became more pronounced. The almost motionless Underground River produced faint sounds of flowing water due to the overwhelming stillness of the space.
I believed that Heimanluo's evolution had its advantages for us. The last time it appeared silently like lichen; if not for Jack and my vigilance, we wouldn’t have even known what hit us before it swallowed us whole. Now that it had evolved, however, it made much more noise.
No matter what form it took, as long as it wasn't the lichen mode lying flat on the ground, we could easily spot it. We could hear the sounds of its movements. Its size was too large to hide or appear silently.
At one moment, I felt a beam of light shining from behind, directly illuminating Jack and me, flickering a few times. I immediately realized that the two people behind us had either discovered something or were in trouble.
Jack and I stopped, and when I turned back, the flashlight behind us had already gone out. Fatty was waving a glow stick horizontally, signaling us to stop. Jack and I exchanged glances, both wearing expressions of relief. Our greatest fear was that something had gone wrong with the two behind us; it seemed that wasn't the case—rather, they had noticed something.
I nodded towards Fatty, indicating we should go back and check. Since Fatty and Tang Yumo hadn't followed us after calling us to a halt, it was clear they were waiting for Jack and me to return. Jack shrugged and handed me the glow stick.
He followed closely behind me as we reached the spot where Fatty and Tang Yumo had stopped. They both looked exhausted, sitting on a rock and panting heavily. When they saw me return, Fatty snapped at me, "Are you two in such a hurry to die? Running off so fast! Don’t you know I have a burden to carry here?"
Honestly, I wanted to curse someone too—specifically Jack. He seemed genuinely anxious, charging ahead while I had to keep up with him. The problem was that the lighting behind us was poor; I had to focus entirely on watching my feet and what was above me, leaving no time to call out for him to stop.
But now wasn’t the time to direct my frustration at Jack; Fatty already had issues with him. If I added fuel to the fire by blaming Jack, their conflict would only escalate. I didn’t have the energy to mediate their disputes right now.
I shot Fatty an annoyed look and lowered my voice. "There's always so much drama with you. How come I didn’t hear you complain about being tired when you were with Xiao Ting? You’ve carried that burden several times before; it’s way more tiring than now. Haven't we all made it through? What’s with the complaints? Why did you stop us?"
Fatty leaned closer to me. "Can it be the same? Xiao Ting has been on my back for a long time, in our sweet little world together. How could I possibly feel tired?"
Looking at Fatty's smug grin, I spat on the ground. "What’s going on? Don’t gross me out."
Only then did Fatty glance at Tang Yumo. "She’s here."
"Here? Where?"
I was momentarily taken aback.
Fatty suddenly turned on the One-Eyed Beast Flashlight, directing it first at a stone wall—the one that divided the Underground River. It was far away, but within the beam of the One-Eyed Beast Flashlight, I could see it clearly without needing to switch to high beam. Then, Fatty moved the flashlight upstream along the Underground River. After about ten meters, the circle of light on the stone wall suddenly vanished. The beam of the flashlight disappeared into the darkness.
"The stone wall ends here. Do you remember where we walked last time? What should we do? Should we search separately or stick together? If you and American Guy split up, you two are directly involved, and separating might increase the chances of finding clues."
I rubbed my forehead, unsure if it was from the cold or anxiety, but I felt a dull headache coming on.
I needed to verify this with Tang Yumo. I could only make a rough estimate of where my backpack was lost based on when I fled, but how far it was from here to where the water came in upstream could only be determined by asking Tang Yumo. Once I got that distance from her, I could make a more reliable judgment.
I walked over to Tang Yumo and noticed she was still panting heavily; however, her face wasn’t flushed from exertion but rather pale and tense.
"I'm not a burden! Never have been!"
I felt my face flush suddenly, beads of sweat forming on my forehead.
Damn it. I had gotten so used to teasing Fatty, that sometimes I unconsciously jumped into the pit with him. The term "burden" was thrown out by Fatty, and he was clearly referring to Tang Yumo.
That comment had nothing to do with me, yet I eagerly inserted myself into the conversation. Not only did I inadvertently acknowledge Tang Yumo's role as a burden, but I also dragged Xiao Ting into it. If that word reached Xiao Ting's ears, those two women would surely drown me in their spit.
Xiao Ting, even if she was difficult to deal with, that was something to handle when we met face to face. The trouble at hand was the real issue.
I forced a smile at Tang Yumo and said, "Of course you're not. Anyone who thinks so just doesn't know you. And I won't let him off the hook."
Leaning closer to Tang Yumo, I lowered my voice to a whisper. "Do you know why I'm mentioning Xiao Ting? She's that Fat Man's girlfriend."
Then I gave her a knowing look, nodding slightly with feigned innocence. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed one of our companions looking stunned. It wasn't Jack; he was a bit further behind and couldn't hear my hushed voice.
As Fatty gaped in surprise and Tang Yumo chuckled smugly, I seized the moment to ask her, "How far is it from here to the water's edge?"
I pointed behind me towards the upstream of the Underground River.
"Not less than seven miles."
After calculating, I realized that Jack and I had fled for our lives after our last encounter with Heimanluo. Although I didn't keep track of the distance we ran, given our state at the time—especially Jack's—we definitely didn't cover seven miles, but it wasn't too close either. We were both exhausted from running. This means that the location where we lost our backpacks was within a narrow range and not further downstream.
Actually, this is good news, as it narrows down the area we need to search.
I turned around and pointed towards the stone wall, addressing Jack and Fatty: "Let's start searching upstream from the end of the stone wall, splitting into two groups. We should find traces and clues quickly. We used up all our bullets along the way; the bullet casings and marks are our clues."
(To Be Continued...)
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