The Informal Tomb Raiding Diary: She is the occupant of the tomb!-Chapter 136: Some People Disappear While Running
Then his body recoiled backward, like a sack tossed aside, flung under the tree.
Only then did we see that something resembling a nine-section whip extended from within the tree’s crown. Its pale green color blended with the surrounding leaves, which is why we hadn’t noticed it earlier.
The trees in this jungle, many are carnivorous plants, and the deadly part is when they remain still, we can’t distinguish them.
The skinny guy’s corpse was thrown to the ground, and suddenly the ground split open, swallowing the body whole.
Old Shi’s team members furiously fired at the tree, splintering its bark and trunk into flying wood chips.
The leader’s shout was drowned out by the intense and frantic gunfire. He was yelling at them to stop shooting, not to move.
But Old Shi and his team couldn’t control their emotions, having lost two comrades in one day, and they attacked the tree with a vengeance.
The trunk was violently broken, and crimson blood oozed from the break. This blood further incited Old Shi’s men because they were pretty sure it belonged to the skinny guy.
The trunk snapped, and that thing like a nine-section whip didn’t appear again. As the dust settled, no one felt the joy of victory.
With two lives lost, Old Shi was also seething with rage, but he couldn’t blame anyone else. It was because his men were lacking in vigilance and skill, and survival here relied on one’s abilities; help from others had its limits.
The leader’s expression was stern. The others didn’t heed his warnings, but he couldn’t lash out; it was clear he was suppressing his anger.
Their team leader was Meng Qingyu, and since she had said nothing, he felt it wasn’t appropriate for him to say much either.
"Everyone be careful, do you see the marks on the ground? Follow those signs in a while," the leader just finished speaking when Bi Shi, carrying He Su, was the first to land on the ground.
She had evidently jumped down before the leader finished his words. Once she landed, she immediately shouted at me: "Get down quickly, there’s something in the tree." 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶
Unfortunately, she shouted a little too late; someone on our tree had already been hit.
The person hit was pierced in the shoulder by something like a vine, but fortunately, Chen Qinghan was quick-eyed and quick-handed. He grabbed it and sliced it off with a single stroke.
Another one came at me from behind, but I sidestepped and caught it with my hand, and without smacking my head, the vine in my hand crumbled to dust.
Others were also suddenly attacked, jumping down from the tree, but the safe path the leader marked was very narrow, not enough for everyone to stand in the same spot simultaneously.
I had no choice but to throw the injured person down and then pretend to fight alongside Chen Qinghan against the vines, but in reality, I was incinerating all the vines inside the tree.
By the time we descended, the surrounding trees had turned into disheveled ’wake-up trees,’ with their vines standing on end like static-charged long hair, then simultaneously attacking us.
No one knew how long they were; even ten meters out, they hadn’t let us go. The ones Old Shi’s team took down before were definitely the ’little ones.’ Now, the grown-ups were coming for revenge.
Our group had injured members and some who lacked stamina, making it impossible to outrun those vines, so the leader had to leave a few people behind to hold them off, buying time for everyone else to escape.
Meng Qingyu asked me to stay back, and I had no objections, but she didn’t ask Chen Qinghan to stay back, and Chen Qinghan didn’t comply.
Lu Xiaodao and Professor Liu voluntarily joined us, and Lu Xiaodao certainly lived up to his nickname; his flying knife was no ordinary tool. With one throw, he could sometimes sever several vines.
Unexpectedly, Professor Liu also had a special skill. His marksmanship was extraordinarily accurate, breaking a vine with each shot, but the most destructive was still Chen Qinghan. He could sweep through a whole area with his big treasure sword.
I drew my dagger, ready to pick the leftovers, slicing any that slipped through.
After the others disappeared from view, we began to retreat, withdrawing over a hundred meters, until the vines finally could not catch up.
But the ones ahead were also gone. All four of us saw them run in this direction.
When we caught up, we didn’t see any trace of them. Even if they performed extraordinarily or used some sort of acceleration skill, the branches they bumped into and the plants they stepped on should’ve left some trace.
Yet along this route, there was no sign left by them. Chen Qinghan confirmed that no one had passed in this direction.
"We clearly saw them running this way." I looked at the nearby trees, thinking if I should climb up to have a look.
But the jungle had too many obstacles blocking the view, and climbing up wouldn’t necessarily let us see far.
"Did they change direction?" Professor Liu asked.
"There are many of them; they would make a lot of noise while moving. Listen carefully." Chen Qinghan was clearly hinting at something.
Professor Liu listened intently for a while, but aside from the chirping of birds and insects, there was no other sound in the woods.
Earlier, when they were rushing forward, there was considerable commotion—rustling steps, heavy breaths, and the cries of the injured.
Now it seemed the jungle had returned to its natural state, devoid of uninvited guests causing chaos.
"Did they fall through?" Professor Liu first considered the possibility that they fell into a pit.
The area we discovered might be just a corner of the ’minefield.’
"No, they didn’t drop anything." Chen Qinghan stated confidently.
If they suddenly fell into a pit, the gear on them—at the very least, guns or backpacks—might have been left outside. The chance of everything falling in without a trace is minimal.
Our only option was to backtrack along the original route. Luckily, those vines were not guarding the way back.
From the spots with tracks, we followed the footprints bit by bit.
Then we returned to the place where we had previously lost their trail. Judging from the footprints, they disappeared one by one.
It was as if a door existed in the middle of the woods, and they walked through it one by one. Next, the door closed and vanished, leaving us trapped outside.
"Xiao Guan... Cong..." Professor Liu slumped to the ground in despair, "I shouldn’t have... It’s my fault for leading them here."
Professor Liu must have realized that this island was one that devoured people. Escaping one danger meant countless threats remained.
Pressing forward seemed only to lead to despair; every one of us would be worn down sooner or later.
"Don’t lose hope; someone did survive and make it out, didn’t they?" I thought of that madman. His existence indicated that there was still hope for survival here.
"But I want them both to leave alive." Professor Liu painfully covered his eyes.
Um... those two pale student types, letting them leave alive would really be challenging.
Such guarantees are hard to make because there have been too many life-and-death situations I’ve faced, and life is not only fragile but death can come suddenly.
Many Tomb Robbers in my tomb died from diseases like a cold. This had nothing to do with traps, nor were they defeated by any creature—instead, the tomb was too cold, they caught a cold after sleeping, and then that was it.
"Not until the last moment can anyone be sure; feeling hopeless now is a bit premature." What I said was the truth; this is just how life is.
