Everyone set off with their own thoughts, I walked at the front, and the terrain on this side was the same as the other, with a natural dome above and a shingle beach below.
Without the phosphorus fireflies for illumination, Chen Qinghan and the others turned on their flashlights, the beams of light moving back and forth inside the cave.
"Little Fu, call out to see if there's anything else alive here."
"You're so scared. Even if there were living things, Boss Lu and his men would have lured them away. We're definitely safe."
Wen Jing and Shunfeng chatted away, while I looked around, taking in this area I had never ventured into.
Miss Scream muttered about how creepy the place was while trying to get closer to Chen Qinghan.
In a trance, I felt like they weren't here to loot tombs but to go on a team-building trip and maybe find romance.
In this leisurely atmosphere, we walked slowly, chatting and looking around as if we were strolling through a marketplace.
Until we discovered the fourth corpse along the way.
"Who?" A second ago, Wen Jing was still discussing a uniquely shaped stone with Shunfeng; the next second, he had his gun aimed at the corpse ahead.
He hadn't realized it was a dead body because it was twitching, as if it had been electrocuted.
When several flashlights illuminated the corpse simultaneously, the first to react was Miss Scream. She let out a howl and used a Dizziness Skill, fainting on the spot.
Then Shunfeng acted swiftly, throwing his Money Sword, but in the suddenness of the moment, he forgot to unfold it. The Money Sword landed on the corpse's head like a grenade with the pin still in.
The result was only a row of imprinted Copper Coins with simplified characters on the corpse's forehead.
Wen Jing was the third to act, firing a series of shots into the body, but unfortunately, not hitting any vital spots.
Their reactions were quite normal, as this corpse was extraordinary, covered in green pustules. The pustules burst when the corpse twitched, revealing wriggling creatures like strands of female hair.
This body was parasitized by some unknown creature, likely filled with those hair-like creatures inside. Its twitching was due to their rapid growth.
I had seen similar corpses in the outer tomb corridors, and parasitic organisms don't cause immediate death upon entering a human body.
The time of death varies depending on people's constitutions. This person might have been parasitized shortly after entering the ancient tomb but died only upon reaching here.
"It's no use, get the alcohol!" Chen Qinghan was the most knowledgeable, instructing Wen Jing to quickly take out some alcohol.
At this stage of parasitism, shooting any part of the corpse couldn't entirely kill the parasitic organisms. Burning the corpse was the only way to ensure they were eradicated.
"Eek~ Eek~ Eek~"
"Ah! Ah! Ah!"
Shunfeng and Wen Jing screamed as they fled to the side, with the hair growing from the corpse trailing closely behind.
It was normal for the parasitic creatures to seek new hosts; they bypassed me, chasing after Shunfeng and Wen Jing. With Miss Scream on Wen Jing's shoulder, he ran no slower than Shunfeng.
Naturally, Chen Qinghan gave chase too, as the alcohol was in Wen Jing's backpack. They had to complete the handover while in motion.
The black hair emerging from the corpse seemed to have a tracker; no matter where they ran, it followed accurately.
Chen Qinghan and Wen Jing synchronized their movements; Chen reached for the side pocket of the backpack, where the metal box with solid alcohol blocks was stored.
"I can't, I can't run anymore…" Just as Chen was about to retrieve the box, Shunfeng tripped and fell.
Chen had to abandon the box to help, as Shunfeng was exhausted, but stopping would allow the hair to ensnare him. Reluctantly, Chen carried him to evade the hair's attack first.
Wen Jing's burst power was considerable, but his endurance was lacking, and carrying Miss Scream slowed him down further.
I looked around, a bit embarrassed to just stand by and watch, as my conscience began to nag at me.
I rummaged through my pockets. I usually carried small items like cigarettes, matches, osmanthus candies…
The matches were soaked in the lake and unusable. After searching, I fished out a perfume bottle.
The perfume had evaporated, and I usually filled it with kerosene. Ever since the Tomb Raider brought in kerosene lamps, they became ornaments in the main tomb chamber, occasionally lit to enjoy some light.
Noticing Chen Qinghan and the others about to be overtaken by the hair, I quickly pressed the perfume bottle's nozzle, spraying kerosene onto the corpse.
Chen saw my action and shouted, tossing me a small object.
The hair only chased the living, uninterested in the small object. I picked it up and saw it was a rather high-end lighter.
A Tomb Robber never lacked these; I had a bunch stored in my side chambers. But Chen Qinghan's lighter looked special; its casing seemed more like stone than metal.
I used it to ignite the body. The burning corpse made the advancing hair retreat, possibly instinctively trying to protect the body but ending up like moths to a flame.
Seeing the crisis averted, Wen Jing quickly dropped Miss Scream to the side, collapsing to the ground, panting heavily.
Chen Qinghan also set Shunfeng down, wiping a bead of sweat from his forehead.
"Goodness… What on earth was that? So disgusting." Wen Jing took out his flask, guzzling down a few large gulps of water.
"It might be a type of fungus." Chen Qinghan approached with the solid alcohol, breaking it up and tossing it onto the corpse.
"Little Fu, what kind of perfume did you use? It worked like gasoline." Wen Jing had seen me spraying liquid onto the corpse, but he didn't know it was kerosene in the bottle.
"Eh? The dead guy... it looks like Jack!" Shunfeng pointed at the corpse's left arm.
We looked at the corpse's arm and noticed his left hand had fallen off from the arm.
"Wow? It really is him. His left hand is a prosthetic." Wen Jing craned his neck to look over.
"Jack was the team doctor. If even he got infected by the fungus, then what about the others…" Shunfeng glanced around the dark surroundings, quickly moving closer to us.
The corpse was already just a skin away from being reduced to ashes by the fungi inside.
Shunfeng refused to retrieve his Money Sword, wrapping his sweat rag around his face like a mask, urging us to move on quickly.
Now we knew that Boss Lu's team had lost four members: Mr. Wrongly Dead, stabbed in the back, Mr. Scumbag attacked by phosphorus fireflies, Mr. Cured Meat favored by the Water Monster, and the team doctor, Mr. Changmao.
After setting off again, Chen Qinghan maintained a thoughtful demeanor. I asked him what he was pondering, and he replied he was considering what Boss Lu's real intentions were.
"The four who died weren't the core members of her team."
"You suspect she's eliminating dissenting voices?"
"Exactly."