The Frail Guide Who Devoured an Entire Pollution Zone

Chapter 59: Chapter 59: Give Me Your Hand

”Everyone, pick up the pace! Stay close to the person in front of you. Don’t fall out of formation.”

The team members passed by them one after another, and Lu Jingyu silently counted them.

Ten people had entered this instance in total. Excluding Tian Teng and Lü Jia, who were already missing, that left eight.

”Five, six...”

Once the count was right, Lu Jingyu immediately pulled Xu Qingsui along to follow them.

But they had only taken a few steps when the ground began to shake violently beneath their feet.

Xu Qingsui instinctively glanced back, and her heart leaped into her throat.

At some point, a fissure had split open in the space behind them. It seemed almost alive, relentlessly pursuing the team.

Anyone who slowed down would be caught by the advancing fissure and swallowed into the abyss.

Xu Qingsui didn’t dare to be careless. ”Hurry!” she shouted, picking up her pace. ”The fissure is catching up!”

Hearing Xu Qingsui’s words, Lu Jingyu also looked back.

Just then, the fissure seemed to accelerate, reaching their feet in an instant.

Lu Jingyu’s pupils contracted. He instinctively pushed Xu Qingsui forward.

”Don’t leave me behind! Don’t forget, the rules said that no matter what we see, we have to stay close to our teammates. I don’t want to lose sight of you.”

Xu Qingsui’s words exploded in Lu Jingyu’s mind. He wasn’t thinking about the rules anymore, only about her saying she didn’t want to lose sight of him.

With a sudden burst of resolve, Lu Jingyu pushed off the ground, leaping toward Xu Qingsui.

’This is it. Make or break.’

Suspended in mid-air, Lu Jingyu caught a glimpse of the fissure closing in beneath his feet.

He couldn’t help but give a bitter smile. ’Looks like this is the end.’

As his body began to fall, Lu Jingyu yelled, ”Don’t worry about me! Keep going! Clear the instance as fast as you can. Maybe we can see each other again then!”

Of course, Xu Qingsui saw what was happening below Lu Jingyu. But she completely ignored his words and strained to reach out her hand. ”Grab me!”

”Leave me, just go!” Lu Jingyu shouted with all his might.

But Xu Qingsui remained where she was. ”Grab my hand.”

The determination in Xu Qingsui’s eyes made her stance clear.

Seeing this, Lu Jingyu finally reached out his hand.

The moment their fingertips touched, the fissure surged, widening like the gaping maw of an abyss awaiting its meal.

They were just a hair’s breadth apart. Lu Jingyu brushed past Xu Qingsui, and his body began to plummet.

Xu Qingsui’s pupils constricted. Ignoring the chasm at her own feet, she desperately leaned forward.

Just as Lu Jingyu was about to fall into the abyss, she grabbed his hand.

But the moment she caught him, the momentum pulled her off balance, and she began to fall along with him.

”Why are you so foolish!” Seeing this, Lu Jingyu let out a bitter laugh.

Xu Qingsui just shook her head, saying nothing.

As their bodies fell, they both closed their eyes.

They expected to be met with an endless feeling of weightlessness, or perhaps the excruciating pain of being smashed to pieces in an instant.

But what greeted them was the feeling of solid ground under their feet.

The sensation of standing on firm ground clearly confused them both.

They opened their eyes at the same time, exchanged a glance, and looked around.

They were still in the same corridor. The fissure beneath their feet had vanished without a trace.

Ahead, they could hear the noisy shuffling of footsteps. The teammates who had run past them were just a short distance ahead, continuing to backtrack the way they had come.

The two of them looked astonished. ’What in the world is going on?’

They watched as their teammates walked further and further away, as if they hadn’t noticed the recent events at all.

At a time like this, the two of them didn’t dare waste any more time and hurried to catch up.

Only after they caught up to the main group did they speak again.

”Was all that fake? An illusion?” Lu Jingyu voiced his thoughts.

Xu Qingsui nodded. ”Probably a hallucination created by the rules. If we had stopped because of the fissure, we might have been separated from the group, just like Tian Teng and Lü Jia.”

In these instances, many inexplicable events were ultimately attributed to the workings of the rules.

They both accepted this explanation. When their eyes met again, a thick, charged atmosphere suddenly formed between them.

”Just now, you...”

”You’ve been protecting me this whole time and never gave up on me. How could I be a coward who clings to life!”

Xu Qingsui cut Lu Jingyu off, offering this rather flimsy excuse.

Seeing the faint blush rising on Xu Qingsui’s face, Lu Jingyu’s heart stirred, but he didn’t press the matter further.

Since there were no forks in the path, the team soon returned the way they came, back to the previous intersection.

Back in the main corridor, Lu Jingyu was the first to act. He took out his dagger and carved an X on the wall next to the entrance of the passage they had just explored.

After making the mark, Lu Jingyu looked at Xu Qingsui again. ”Like we said before, it’s your turn to pick a path.”

Xu Qingsui nodded. After scanning their surroundings, she raised her hand and pointed to the path to the right of the one they had just left.

”With so many options, I’m a little overwhelmed myself. I’ll just pick one that feels right. Like I said before, everyone can state their opinion, and we can vote on it.”

”I trust you. Let’s go with this one,” Lu Jingyu replied decisively, just as Xu Qingsui finished speaking.

Seeing Lu Jingyu agree so readily, the other team members also followed his lead.

In the blink of an eye, only Shen Ling’an and Xu Ruming had yet to state their opinion.

Seeing the hatred in Xu Ruming’s eyes as she was about to speak, Lu Jingyu cut in, ”The result of the vote is already clear. Out of the seven of you, five have already agreed. The last two votes are now irrelevant.”

His words left Xu Ruming speechless. Seeing Lu Jingyu so brazenly siding with Xu Qingsui, she flew into another rage.

Filled with resentment, she was about to lash out again, but this time, Shen Ling’an stopped her.

”We have no objection. We’ll follow Captain Lu’s arrangements.”

Xu Ruming glared fiercely at Shen Ling’an, unhappy with his decision.

Shen Ling’an just glanced at her and cursed inwardly, ’What a sentimental fool,’ before ignoring her completely.

As he saw it, the situation was already clear. The worst-case scenario was that they would have to explore every single passage—either they’d encounter danger in one and get wiped out, or they’d find the correct path was the very last one they checked.

So, in this situation, the order in which they explored the paths didn’t make much of a difference.

There was no need to provoke Lu Jingyu’s displeasure over something so trivial.

Lu Jingyu, however, merely glanced at him without a flicker of expression before ordering the team to rest. They would enter the passage in five minutes.

After giving the order, Lu Jingyu looked at Xu Qingsui again.

After everything they had been through, looking at Xu Qingsui now stirred a restless feeling deep in his heart.

The words came to his lips but just circled there, repeated several times in his mind, but ultimately remained unspoken.

Just then, the time was up. He had to collect himself and prepare to enter the passage.

”Captain Lu, last time I chose the path, so I led the way. Since Xu Qingsui chose this time, shouldn’t she be the one to lead?”