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"I thought you would agree." Xiao Guolin fell silent for a moment. "It seems you have no feelings for Xiao Ting."
At those words, a chill ran down my spine. Something had changed in Xiao Guolin; this kind of logic was not something I would expect from him.
It seemed necessary for me to clarify my stance, to prevent any misunderstandings and to ensure he didn't make an unacceptable decision based on flawed reasoning.
After all, with Cao Mingzhe and Secretary Chen dead, Xiao Guolin, while not the leader of this Expedition Team, was not even a member of it. However, without a captain, he was more likely to gain Liu Squad Leader's approval, especially since Xiao Guolin had once been his captain.
Moreover, I had no interest in being the honorary captain of this Expedition Team.
Xiao Guolin's strength made him undeniably stand out in this Expedition Team. Our next course of action should be led by him. His decisions would determine all our fates.
"Old Xiao, Fatty... that's Song Gang. I won't give up on him. The relationship between him and your daughter must be quite special; that's just my guess. You can verify it with Xiao Ting. For both personal and professional reasons, we can't abandon him. That's my bottom line; I hope you understand."
"I understand." Xiao Guolin replied quickly. "Who he is doesn't matter; what matters is you. Your character is too weak. You need to learn to let go; sometimes, letting go is harder than holding on."
I looked at Xiao Guolin and shook my head resolutely after a moment of silence.
"Alright, I see your decision now. I'll give you a way out."
I continued to shake my head. "Finding Fatty is important; I don't want to hoard this information."
I felt like I could no longer see through or understand the person before me. The old Xiao Guolin was refined and responsible. He wouldn't easily abandon his team members; sometimes he would sacrifice himself to ensure their safety.
But the person before me now acted decisively, treating the abandonment of a life as casually as drinking water. That was a living person, not a discarded banana peel.
I used to think Jack was ruthless too. At critical moments, he even left me behind to save himself. But he had his limits—he believed there was no way to save me, and letting go was what allowed him to survive. Compared to Xiao Guolin, the American Guy seemed like a well-behaved child.
In the end, Xiao Guolin sighed: "Alright, who am I to deny you?"
Regardless of the circumstances, I was satisfied that Xiao Guolin could make such a compromise. This was my bottom line. In other matters, I wouldn't oppose his decisions.
"Let me get your situation straight. You've been missing for almost a year, and you've been stuck in this room the whole time?"
This question served to ease the tension and satisfy my curiosity, of course, this information might also be crucial at a critical moment.
"Of course not. If I had to stay here the whole time, it would be a miracle if I didn't starve to death."
Xiao Guolin's expression was… emotionless as he recounted his experiences during this time.
They had made an opening above the Reservoir. They calculated it precisely, using the previous Test Pit's location. Finding the Reservoir's relative position to the Ground was relatively easy.
Their entry point into the underground was different from ours, but their ultimate goal and method to achieve it were the same; they chose to cross over from above the underground lake.
There were enormous Giant Octopus Monsters lurking in the underground lake, and their danger was evident, but the Underground Passage was like a maze, making it highly likely that once you entered, you wouldn't come out again.
The last time we exited through another hole and encountered a Giant Millipede on the other side of the underground lake. It wasn't a path we chose ourselves; we were chased out by an Ironclad Pillbug. We didn't have the ability to navigate through the maze-like Underground Passage again.
So choosing to cross the underground lake was both feasible and reasonable.
Xiao Guolin and his team entered deeper through a crack at the edge of a stone platform in the Underground Water Reservoir. The crack was large enough that with the help of hoisting equipment, they sent down three inflatable Landing Crafts directly into the water, heading towards what we believed to be the Dam on the opposite shore of the underground lake.
Good luck ended there. Shortly after entering the depths of the underground lake, as expected, the Giant Octopus Monster launched its attack.
The Landing Craft had lighting capable of penetrating over ten meters of lake water, but they failed to spot the Giant Octopus Monster first; instead, it launched a sudden assault that capsized and shredded one of the Landing Crafts. Not a single person from that craft emerged from the water; all perished.
Xiao Guolin subtly noted that at that moment, gunfire and explosions stirred up massive waves in the lake, turning the water red. It was hard to determine how many died at the hands of the Giant Octopus Monster and how many fell victim to chaotic gunfire and grenades.
However, Xiao Guolin did not blame anyone, including himself. The situation was essentially out of control; aside from him, no one had ever seen such a Monster before. Everyone was terrified, those with weaker mental fortitude had already collapsed, firing recklessly into the water and around them.
The Giant Octopus Monster's tentacles waved both in air and water could strike down at any moment, crushing them and their inflatable Landing Crafts. It was already difficult not to accidentally harm those on board; who would think about rescuing those who fell into the water or avoiding hitting them?
After they repelled the Giant Octopus Monster's attack, when they tried to rescue those who had fallen overboard, they realized it was unnecessary; corpses floated on the pavement, each with bullet holes. They couldn't determine whether these victims died from the Giant Octopus Monster or from their own people’s fire.
Two people fell into the water from the two Landing Crafts that were not overturned by the Giant Octopus Monster. This was due to their own missteps, but anyone not on the Landing Crafts was dead.
At that moment, another unexpected event occurred. They lost contact with Base Camp.
Xiao Guolin's team had established a communication system upon entering the Underground Water Reservoir, maintaining contact with Ground Base Camp.
While lowering equipment and the Landing Crafts, communication had been smooth. However, after repelling the Giant Octopus Monster, communication was cut off.
Fortunately, only their connection with Ground was severed; the Support Team remaining in the Underground Water Reservoir could still be reached. But the situation was dire; the message relayed by the Support Team was: the entrance had disappeared.
This seemed similar to what had happened after they descended, but their entrance had been sealed by Ground personnel for their own safety to prevent the Giant Mosquito from flying out. In contrast, I knew that for Xiao Guolin's team, the entrance had inexplicably vanished.
When I verified this information with Xiao Guolin, he paused for a moment before saying, "I don't think so. Ground Base Camp has the capability to eliminate any Giant Mosquito that flies out; there’s no need and it’s unlikely they would seal off the entrance. The two situations are similar; something has artificially sealed off the entrance. It wasn’t our people who did it."
(To Be Continued)
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