The Informal Tomb Raiding Diary: She is the occupant of the tomb!-Chapter 127: Three Lost in a Row

Cong Zhibo was just squatting under a stone pillar vomiting; we could still hear him retching a moment ago, but now he’s gone.

Originally, the leader was a bit suspicious of Gangzi. Now that he’s witnessed this unsettling scene himself, if someone harmed Cong Zhibo, then any of us could be suspect.

The leader asked if anyone noticed Cong Zhibo, and everyone exchanged bewildered looks.

Indeed, we only heard him there vomiting, our eyes weren’t really on him, subconsciously assuming he was still there.

This incident happened right before us, and the Stone Forest is more dangerous than the leader anticipated.

This time, he dared not let everyone spread out; one followed another, moving forward in single file.

Professor Liu wanted to search for Cong Zhibo, but the leader advised him against it. Splitting up now isn’t wise.

If something happens to Professor Liu...

The leader left his sentence unfinished, but Professor Liu clearly understood; he glanced at the surrounding Stone Forest, his eyes shifting from pain to determination, and stepped forward to follow the leader.

Professor Liu never struck me as a scholar; his gaze lacked warmth, possessing more sharpness.

There were no other living beings in the Stone Forest, so the missing people couldn’t have been taken by birds or beasts.

Encountering such unexplainable events, psychologically, people develop a fear of the unknown.

The team became even more cautious than when we faced the Flying Ants. Qinghan held my hand tightly, not just as a gesture as before; this time, he clutched my hand as if he feared I might suddenly fly away.

After walking for about two minutes, the leader suddenly turned back again, asking if everyone was present.

He looked from the front to the rear, and I followed suit looking back. This time, it was Junior Brother Sha at the end of the line.

But at the end of the line, there was no sign of him, which unsettled everyone.

Once, twice, but not thrice – with three people disappearing consecutively, the next to vanish could be anyone.

We hadn’t even traversed a third of the Stone Forest; continuing this way, half of us might be gone before reaching the midpoint.

The leader finally stopped urging us forward more hastily because he realized speed wouldn’t guarantee our safety.

What’s happening here must be figured out first. We sat in a circle in a relatively open area.

Where we could all see each other, the leader wanted everyone to analyze together, say anything that comes to mind, not dismiss any possibility.

Three people vanished without a sound, without signs of struggle or fighting. For me, they definitely fell into spatial gaps.

But I didn’t voice my thoughts. Making such a sci-fi speculation public would just be dismissed.

The leader spoke first; he leaned towards believing there was an array here, similar to an illusion, meaning that the three didn’t disappear but were affected by the illusion, wandering elsewhere instead.

They thought they were still with the group, so there was no struggle or shouting.

And we simply couldn’t see them; perhaps they were circling around somewhere else in the Stone Forest.

His explanation seemed practical, being an experienced old hand. Yet, Guan Hai pointed out that if they just got lost and were circling, we should’ve been able to hear their footsteps. The ground was stone, and the sound of boots on stone would be especially clear in such a silent setting.

Unless the illusion and lost array that the leader mentioned could affect hearing too, which seemed improbable.

After all, eyes can deceive, but ears rarely do. Besides, we’d walked for nearly ten minutes, and not hearing a peep from them would feel odd, prompting them to call out to us.

"Perhaps they were trapped in some sort of illusion, where someone is speaking to them," the leader said, as if having experienced such things before. Even using the uncertain term ’perhaps,’ his tone was quite confident.

Guan Hai was still caught up on the sound issue. He said Cong Zhibo’s nausea was serious; even away from us, he’d still vomit, and vomit would make a noise, loud at that.

But we heard nothing now. He noted illusions could have conversations, but they couldn’t walk away with Cong Zhibo on their back, nor could he walk himself.

"Perhaps he’s stuck in an illusion, unable to move forward?" Meng Qingyu interjected.

"Then they should still be in place; why can’t we touch them?" Guan Hai retorted.

After realizing Cong Zhibo went missing, Professor Liu had checked that stone pillar, walking around it twice. If Cong Zhibo was still squatting there, only invisible to our eyes, then Professor Liu should have kicked him while pacing.

Everyone with ideas spoke, and the leader asked Qinghan, who shook his head, saying he had no clue.

This guy’s an ace at acting, no clue? Yeah, right~!

Lu Xiaodao looked at Bi Shi, who was a man of few words; occasionally when the leader spoke to him, he would respond with single words, if he could split a word in half to answer, he’d definitely do so.

This taciturn man uttered his longest sentence surprisingly to Bi Shi.

"What do you think?"

Lu Xiaodao’s four words drew the leader, Meng Qingyu, and Professor Liu’s attention there.

Bi Shi, sitting next to me on the ground, calmly said, "Space division."

"What do you mean?" Meng Qingyu asked.

"Dividing space into several parts, like a nine-grid hot pot."

"The grids in the nine-grid are fixed; how do the ingredients move to other grids?" Professor Liu asked seriously.

"Aren’t there these pillars? They function as junction points."

"How to activate them?" Professor Liu pressed.

"You’d have to ask the designer for that." Bi Shi smirked in a particularly irritating way.

"You mean, as long as we know how to activate the junctions, they should be able to come back?" Guan Hai felt a mix of excitement and eagerness, about to stand when Professor Liu held him down.

This time, Professor Liu seemed to scrutinize Bi Shi with his gaze and then glanced at Meng Qingyu.

The look was obscure and hard to read; who knew what he was thinking. Having nothing to do, I silently pondered their relationships.

Professor Liu and Meng Qingyu were teammates, yet their relationship seemed poor. When Meng Qingyu met He Su, she insisted on bringing us into the forest, perhaps needing He Su for something. Then again, Bi Shi said He Su was with her, so for Meng Qingyu to use He Su, she’d need Bi Shi’s consent. Would these two reach a consensus and become allies?

If they allied, Professor Liu might find himself opposed to Bi Shi; how should he handle his relationship with her now?

Should he try to win her favor, hoping to bring her onto his side, or ignore her, leaving her to interact with Meng Qingyu?

To consider a worse scenario: Has Meng Qingyu already formed an alliance with Bi Shi, and if so, can Bi Shi’s words now be trusted?