The Informal Tomb Raiding Diary: She is the occupant of the tomb!-Chapter 128: Creature

I find Professor Liu quite interesting. He doesn’t get along with Meng Qingyu, so maybe he could become our ally.

Do you really think Meng Qingyu brought us in just to take us out alive?

It’s impossible to let her manipulate us, so I smiled at Professor Liu with the friendliest expression, trying to convey goodwill.

But then Qinghan pinched me and whispered through gritted teeth, "What are you smirking at? That’s so sleazy."

I was baffled, looked at Professor Liu, who received my smile, frowned, and seemed to glare at me before looking away.

He must suspect that Bi Shi and I are in cahoots, trying to confuse him with sugar-coated bullets.

Meng Qingyu looked at Qinghan with a sympathetic gaze. Her act isn’t over yet—does she have a screw loose? 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

The team leader and Professor Liu discussed starting by studying those small stones to see what material they’re made of.

Could it be that these stones have a special energy field, capable of distorting space?

We’re sitting on these white stones, said to have a special energy field. I pulled Qinghan up and whispered, "Don’t sit there, there’s radiation."

I often read online articles saying this or that thing is radioactive, and prolonged exposure could lead to terminal illness.

Professor Liu squatted in front of a small stone column, not daring to scrape with a knife or chisel with a spade because the brawny man suggested using violence to destroy these connection points. Bi Shi said doing so would likely just remove the grid, resulting in us being trapped forever in a pot, so neither the brawny man nor Professor Liu dared to take any big actions.

After some research, Professor Liu hissed, saying these aren’t stones at all, but some kind of animal bones.

And the entire Stone Forest is a creature’s skeleton, not man-made constructions.

If it’s not man-made, where does its space-dividing effect come from?

So Bi Shi’s explanation started faltering again, and they plunged into a new round of discussion.

The area of this Stone Forest isn’t small, and if all these stones are the remains of a single creature, how big must that creature be?

The largest known creatures on Earth are whales in the ocean, but the size of this creature far surpasses any whale.

"So even in death, it’s still eating people?" I didn’t join the team leader’s discussion, whispering to Qinghan.

"Hmm?" Qinghan raised his eyebrows as if he had a sudden thought and asked, "Say that again."

"Even in death, it’s still eating people." I obediently repeated.

"No..." Qinghan muttered, "Maybe it’s not dead yet."

"Oh, that’s bolder than my idea."

A pile of nearly fossilized skeletal remains, still alive!

However, upon closer reflection, the definition of being ’alive’ isn’t solely based on biology or medicine.

The team leader thought that since the Stone Forest wasn’t an Array, maybe using violence to destroy it might be okay.

Bi Shi mentioned an objection but didn’t elaborate, just stated his attitude.

Finally, the minority deferred to the majority, and the team leader decided to destroy the stone columns to see what changes might occur.

I watched as the brawny man used a spade to topple a bone, and when it fell to the ground, it didn’t break.

It also knocked down a bunch of small bone columns; theoretically, if it were an Array, the scale should be broken by now.

Pull one thread and the whole tapestry shifts; damaging a small area should weaken or completely nullify the effect.

We waited quietly for a while, anticipating the three missing people to appear from somewhere.

After about five minutes, no one appeared and there was no sound. Everything remained deathly silent.

I again whispered to Qinghan, "All digested?"

Qinghan shook his head, unable to figure out anything from his expression. Suddenly, Meng Qingyu spoke, directing her gaze at us, "If there’s any discovery, feel free to share it. Three cobblers are worth one Zhuge Liang. It doesn’t matter even if it’s wrong; it might help expand our thinking."

I replied with a skin-deep smile, "Sorry, I haven’t discovered anything. I’m just scared and need Qinghan for comfort."

After I said this, before Meng Qingyu could respond, Bi Shi first burst into laughter.

She habitually undermines me, and without consideration of the setting. Her laugh was audible to everyone, who looked over with puzzled faces.

"She’s really timid today; she’s been scared too much and needs comfort," Bi Shi said, trying to be serious.

"Oh, I don’t see that. Maybe she has some insight she doesn’t want to share with us," retorted Meng Qingyu rudely, now too impatient to hide her true feelings towards us.

"Fine, then I’ll share my insight with you. I think you’re out of your mind, and I was afraid expressing it might trigger your avoidance of the issue. But since you’re so eager to hear it, I’ll just have to oblige."

"You’re the one who’s crazy!" Meng Qingyu took two steps towards me, and I stood up defiantly.

"What, you want to fight?" I said, hands on hips, meeting her gaze without fear.

"Alright, everyone, calm down." The team leader interceded to break the tension.

"Miss Leng, if you really have any discoveries, please share them. Even if it’s just a guess, none of us have encountered this before; we’re groping our way through. If you truly have no findings or ideas, then I apologize; Miss Meng was overly impatient and spoke harshly. But we’re all trapped here with our lives at stake; let’s be more understanding of each other."

"It’s Miss Meng who insisted on bringing us here, saying we’d look out for each other. Look now, how well are we looking out for each other?" I intentionally said sarcastically to provoke Meng Qingyu, knowing that people are most honest in a rage.

Qinghan spent ages trying to pry information from her but got nothing since she’s highly guarded. Now that she’s lost control of her emotions, we might as well take advantage of it.

If it doesn’t work, we lose nothing; if it does, we could hear some inside story.

"Miss Meng meant well," said the brawny man, standing up for Meng Qingyu the moment I ridiculed her.

"Pretending not to know you’re all in on it with her. She isn’t the one you saved at sea, she’s your leader. Wouldn’t she know how dangerous it is here? She brought us in to die, right? Taking us for fools?" Pretense was meaningless now; we might not even have the chance to leave. This place is easy to enter but hard to exit.

"Miss Leng, don’t get excited. Yes, Miss Meng is indeed our decision-maker. Because of her special identity, we needed to protect her identity and didn’t tell you the truth. There are no safe places on this island; even the beaches are filled with danger. Please believe we mean no harm."

The team leader’s words were sincere, and he suddenly shifted: "But Miss Leng also concealed her power, didn’t she? When chased by Flying Ants, Miss Leng looked unrushed and in control, not at all like someone encountering danger in the jungle for the first time."