Miss Scream didn't like me whispering with Qinghan and squeezed herself between us to walk.
"Furong, I wonder what line of work you are in?" Miss Scream approached with ill intent, rare to speak with me, but her words were laced with knives.
This little girl, aside from Qinghan, treated everyone else with disdain.
"Recycling old items." I couldn't admit I was a zongzi, idly wasting my days with no job, so I reported my hobby as a profession to her.
"Ha ha ha... isn't that just scavenging!" Miss Scream suddenly erupted in barbell-like laughter, causing dirt to fall from the cave ceiling.
"Tch, didn't you realize Little Fu was joking with you? If she could find the Heavenly Maiden Tomb and survive alone, is she just anyone? Try it yourself — you won't survive past the opening credits! Surely, she's in the antique business, right?" Wen Jing looked at me expectantly.
Antiques? That's exactly my trade, so when Wen Jing asked, I instinctively nodded.
"What's so great about the antique business? My father is in the international antique business!" Miss Scream emphasized the word 'international' heavily.
"Well, you said it's your dad's business, not yours, so what are you bragging about!"
Wen Jing and Shunfeng were used to bickering and undermining each other, so they showed no mercy to Miss Scream, seemingly destined for a single life.
Miss Scream couldn't bear such grievance, so she grabbed Qinghan's arm, demanding he take care of Wen Jing.
Shunfeng saw a chance to show off and immediately joined Wen Jing in a verbal spat, criticizing him for lacking gentlemanly demeanor and for speaking bluntly.
The two of them chattered away, creating their own small world, inadvertently isolating Miss Scream.
Qinghan shrugged, removed his backpack, handed it to me, simultaneously freeing himself from Miss Scream's grip.
"You carry this for me, I need to go up and take a look."
He was talking about the top of the cave, who knows what he discovered this time.
"Hmph, don't think you can deceive Qinghan with a pretty face. I am my dad's only daughter; whoever marries me will inherit the Cheng Group. Any smart person would know what to choose."
"Ah... so, in your eyes, Qinghan is that shallow of a person? Tsk tsk, how pitiful."
"You—"
"Quick, let's get out of here!"
Miss Scream's words were interrupted by Qinghan. His shout drew her attention upwards towards the cave ceiling.
In the darkness above us, numerous red dots had appeared at some point, and due to their dim glow and distance, we hadn't noticed them.
"Ah—what is that?"
"Doesn't matter what it is, listen to Professor Chen, let's go!" Wen Jing, used to carrying 'burdens' in critical situations, ran to the front of Miss Scream, lifted her up, and left.
Shunfeng looked at Wen Jing enviously, glanced at his own small frame, sighed, and hurried after Wen Jing.
"What are you doing? Put me down, you scoundrel!"
I looked at Qinghan, hoping he could knock out Miss Scream as before. Her shrill voice was too excruciating, making me want to hit someone.
At this point, a cracking sound came from the top of the cave, as if something had been shattered by her scream.
That sound grew denser, suddenly merging into a row, resembling the sound of raindrops hitting a tarp.
To keep a distance from Miss Scream, I was at the end of the group, which allowed me to understand the source of the sound.
The red glow we saw was actually the shells of some kind of insects. The cracking sound was them spreading their wings.
Now they had all flown from the cave ceiling, like a cloud of red mist sweeping towards us.
I had never seen such insects. Each was as big as a fist, with wings shaped somewhat like a ladybug's.
Phosphorus fireflies glow with phosphorus fire, while these insects glowed from their own bodies. But unlike the beautiful and gentle fireflies, anything chasing living humans here is likely a dangerous creature.
"There's a cave ahead!" Shunfeng, at the front, shone the flashlight on a part of the cave wall, revealing a partially collapsed entrance below.
It was supposed to be a door, but the bottom half was buried by fallen stones, leaving only the upper half large enough to squeeze through.
Shunfeng's slim figure allowed him to get through with hardly any effort. He asked Wen Jing to throw over the backpack, then Miss Scream.
Miss Scream, seeing the insects chasing, fainted, which I guessed was a self-defense mechanism to prevent her from being frightened to death.
Qinghan reached the entrance as the swarm caught up. He turned back to look at me, reaching out as if to pull me along.
Given the situation, only one of us could make it through. Qinghan slowed his pace, intending to let me go first.
Up against unfamiliar creatures, I was unsure, unable to communicate or determine if they were foes or otherwise.
But if Qinghan stayed outside, death seemed certain, so I decided to give him the chance.
I dodged his outstretched hand, giving him a push forward. Wen Jing and Shunfeng were calling us from the other side of the entrance, Shunfeng had already opened the Vajra Umbrella, ready to block the entrance once we got inside.
"These bugs have strong corrosiveness, get inside!" Qinghan stumbled forward but steadied himself, then turned back to pull me along.
The swarm now upon us, Qinghan yelled for Shunfeng to block the entrance.
This would at least ensure safety for the three of them. Shunfeng, however, threw the umbrella out, which Qinghan instinctively caught and opened, shielding us overhead.
We crouched in the corner near the cave entrance, sitting with our backs to the stone, umbrella overhead.
Shunfeng shouted as cartoon music erupted inside the entrance, followed by Wen Jing's complaint, saying the water gun scare startled him.
Corrosive insects versus Bug Spray Plus—who will prevail?
A flurry of impacts hit the top of our umbrella, which shielded us from the insects. I secretly breathed a sigh of relief, grateful the umbrella wasn't a knockoff.
Shunfeng's water gun killed the lead insects, while Qinghan led me into the entrance slowly. Together with the water gun and Vajra Umbrella, we managed to retreat inside.
The water gun's 'ammunition' ran out, and despite facing wave after wave of insects, we had to wedge the Vajra Umbrella in the entrance as a door.
"Oh, Professor Chen, you're injured—" Wen Jing pulled Qinghan's arm up.
Qinghan's sleeve had several holes, blood staining the surrounding fabric.
"It's fine, just rinse it with clean water."
Qinghan didn't even furrow his brow. If not for Wen Jing's noticing, we would never have known he was hurt.
He must have been wounded while protecting me as we retreated. He covered me securely with the umbrella, his own arm left vulnerable.
Perhaps he knew my true identity, could it be he mistook me for an antique to protect?