The Informal Tomb Raiding Diary: She is the occupant of the tomb!-Chapter 124: Is Secrecy Meant for Disclosure?

Chapter 124: Chapter 124: Is Secrecy Meant for Disclosure?

We returned once more to the clearing in the forest. The bonfire lit by Big Beard’s group had already gone out, but there were no corpses around.

"This is the plaza, follow the passageway." The leader squatted on the ground and began digging with a shovel, clearing away dead leaves and soil from the surface. To our surprise, there were slabs of stone underneath.

Just as he said, the place had indeed been a plaza, and the plaza had passageways leading to... a city?

This bold speculation got me a bit excited. If there’s an ancient city on this island, perhaps we’ll find some valuable treasures.

Like a royal treasury, underground secrets, gold artifacts in the temple...

"Why are you laughing?" Junior Brother Sha was still beside me. He had just asked why I used him as a human shield, and I replied, wasn’t it you who told me to hide behind when I encounter danger?

My words left him speechless. I don’t know what he’s trying to prove, insisting on staying by my side.

Maybe he’s waiting for the next dangerous moment to teach me a lesson in tit for tat.

"I thought of something funny." I suppressed the smile I hadn’t realized I had and answered seriously.

"What was funny?" he pursued the question.

"Uh... I enjoy square dancing, and seeing a plaza makes me happy." I blurted out some nonsense.

"Mrs. Chen, you’re quite amusing, loving square dancing at such a young age?" Meng Qingyu interjected suddenly.

She called Chen Qinghan, "little brother," but referred to me as Mrs. Chen, the disparity in treatment couldn’t be more obvious.

"Haha, I look young, but I’m actually ten years older than Qinghan. Sigh, it’s only a ten-year difference, yet others say we’re in a mother-son relationship." I deliberately emphasized "ten years" and "mother-son" because she had just teased Chen Qinghan, claiming she was ten years older than him, and asked if she looked that old.

This Chen Taohua is really annoying. Why do I always have to play the role of antagonizing a love rival?

I now suspect that it’s not just that Chen Qinghan’s destiny is to attract women; he might be under some witchcraft or poison, or perhaps there’s a spell-cast item on him that makes women inexplicably drawn to him, despite him having made it clear he is a married man.

"Pfft... cough cough!" Another student of Professor Liu’s, Guan Hai, covered his mouth and fake-coughed, but his amusement was too evident to hide.

"What are you laughing at?" Junior Brother Sha asked rather cluelessly.

"I also thought of something funny." Guan Hai rubbed his face as he replied.

"Do you also like square dancing?" Junior Brother Sha glared at him with slight annoyance.

"No, I remembered today is the day of exams at school, and since I don’t have to participate, I’m delighted."

Meng Qingyu maintained a neutral expression, as if she hadn’t grasped my earlier innuendos, but I was convinced she understood. She’s in a league of her own, never displaying her emotions on her face.

"Let’s keep moving. Be on your guard." The leader, having identified the right passageway, beckoned everyone to follow him.

Chen Qinghan and Meng Qingyu had run out of conversation. He returned to my side, likely wanting to speak privately, but with Junior Brother Sha trailing right behind me, there was no opportunity for private talk.

With someone keeping a close watch, I naturally had to be cautious. I grabbed hold of Chen Qinghan’s sleeve, walking forward, trying my best to act the part of an affectionate companion.

Fortunately, we three had just disguised ourselves in time, without anyone noticing anything unusual. Their team was quite strong, with no serious injuries or fatalities among their members. Our unscathed state didn’t appear unusual.

It seemed Big Beard’s team was also in search of this ancient city. Chen Qinghan had chatted with the leader, but the fellow kept his lips tight. He also exchanged a few words with Professor Liu, who only discussed academic issues, never touching on the real purpose of their expedition.

Chen Qinghan probably feared that asking too much would make them wary, so he stuck to casual conversation without prying deeper.

Meng Qingyu came out to smooth things over, claiming their mission was confidential and could not be disclosed.

If they brought us along, what’s left of secrecy to speak of? If it were truly confidential, they shouldn’t have invited us. Otherwise, what are they going to do in the end? Kill us to ensure silence?

I joked that we could sign a nondisclosure agreement, assuredly keeping our mouths shut.

The leader responded that the confidentiality level of this mission was so high that a mere agreement wouldn’t suffice.

And so, they should’ve left us on the beach to begin with; bringing us along only complicates matters for everyone!

No matter what the old passageway was like, the path we now walked was overrun with green vegetation, requiring the leader to crouch down every so often to shovel the ground.

We walked for about twenty minutes before a set of bones blocked our path.

The skeleton dangled from a branch, unusually fresh, with scraps of red flesh still attached. Although the tattered clothes were dirty, they weren’t old.

Moreover, I recognized the style of clothing; it was the same as those worn by Big Beard’s team.

Their team’s role appeared to be marking where danger lay, using a corpse as a warning sign.

As if on cue, upon spotting the bones, the leader immediately called for everyone to stay alert, as small-sized and numerous carnivores might be nearby.

Larger animals typically swallow a person whole or only eat the viscera; to gnaw a person down so cleanly, it was likely the work of creatures like rats or ants.

There were bullet holes on the surrounding tree trunks, and the leader warned us about a potential airborne threat.

Because the bullets alternatingly fired from below and above, it indicated that whatever attacked Big Beard’s group could navigate back and forth in the air.

"Look over there." Zhou softly alerted the leader to another skeleton hanging five meters away on a different tree.

"Why are they all hanging on trees?" Cong Zhibo quietly asked Professor Liu.

"Because the trees are alive, feeding on their marrow." Professor Liu, braver than his two students, approached the skeleton and examined the point of connection between the bones and the tree branch.

Although the flesh had been stripped from the bones, the tendons kept them intact without disintegrating completely.

The branch’s tip coiled around the neck bone, and without a careful look, one wouldn’t notice that the branch had penetrated the bone.

My gaze shifted to the tree trunk, curious to see what kind of tree had a taste for humans.

That’s when I saw a crack open in the trunk, releasing red ants with translucent wings crawling out from within.

"There are Flying Ants in the tree." I quickly informed everyone.

"Prepare fire." The leader, appearing experienced, immediately called for a fire attack.

If we waited for them to fully emerge, we’d be too late, so the leader ordered us to ignite the tree trunk as soon as they started poking out.

Such actions indeed risked sparking a forest fire, but it was better than waiting for the Flying Ants to come and devour us.

"This one, that one, and the one over there!" The trees harboring Flying Ants differed from ordinary ones. I couldn’t name them, but that didn’t stop me from identifying them to others as accomplices.