"That's Serena!" I frowned.
I didn't know if she'd encountered the monster or the bugs, but after a moment's hesitation, I ran toward the sound.
I had to find Professor Marshall. Right now, he was the only one who knew the truth about this place!
If my guess was right, he'd been here before. He'd recognized this place. And he'd deliberately led us underground.
I needed to confront him about what he was really doing.
Behind me, Marcus had gone quiet. I glanced back, worried.
He managed a tight smile. "Just trying to shake these things. I'm beat."
I nodded and kept running toward where Serena had screamed.
After another twenty minutes of running, the rustling sound behind us finally faded.
I looked back. The swarm of bugs was retreating into the darkness, as if they'd given up the chase.
I exhaled. "I'm... so tired."
My throat burned with an iron taste, and every breath was painful.
Marcus sat down silently. In the dim light, his face was ashen, dark shadows under his eyes.
He pulled off his hat with trembling hands, and I felt my stomach drop.
On the back of his neck, clusters of red bumps were attached like tumors — disgusting to look at.
The red spheres wobbled slightly with his movements, filled with sloshing liquid.
They were bugs — bloated with blood. So full that their translucent bellies revealed the dark crimson inside.
Marcus had been running behind me the entire time, using his body as a shield.
My eyes burned. I fumbled for my windproof lighter and carefully burned each bug off his neck.
As the flame touched them, they curled up and dropped off, their bellies bursting on impact, spattering dark red blood.
My tears fell and froze into tiny icicles before hitting the ground. The frozen tear tracks on my face stung.
Marcus turned to look at me, his pale face managing a weak smile.
"What's with the tears? I've donated way more blood than this. It's fine.
"When we get back, just buy me some pork liver and I'll be good as new."
I didn't say anything. I just wiped my nose.
After making sure every bug was gone, I ran my fingers over his back, checking for any stragglers.
Marcus's hands had always been warm, like a little furnace.
But now they were ice-cold. Colder than mine.
He leaned against the ice wall and grinned. "I've got to hand it to you women. Losing blood for seven days every month and still running around yelling at people."
I rolled my eyes, but a small smile surfaced despite myself.
I knew he was talking about that time I'd lost my temper over a ruined experiment. I'd been furious because he'd broken the sample, but he'd insisted I was just hormonal.
We sat side by side on the ground, bitterly cold air seeping through our clothes and into our bones.
Serena's scream never came again. In the chaos, we'd also lost track of where we were going.
There were monsters below. Corpses. Blood-sucking bugs.
But no way out.
It really seemed like we were going to die here.
I was so cold, and so tired. I turned to Marcus. "If we die here and they dig us up in ten thousand years, you think they could bring us back to life?"
"We'd have to hold each other."
"Why?"
Marcus grinned weakly. "If we're hugging tight, maybe future archaeologists would write a tragic love story about us. Might even get a movie deal."
I snorted, but my eyelids were so heavy.
I'd been running all day, and the cold was getting to me. I could barely keep my eyes open.
Suddenly, Marcus smacked me on the back of the head so hard I nearly face-planted!
"What was that for?!" I glared at him.
But he was staring at me, his hand still raised.
"Don't fall asleep!" He pushed himself up, panting. "Get up, keep walking. I haven't even had a girlfriend yet. I'm not dying here!"
I was too exhausted to argue. I rolled my eyes.
Marcus grabbed my hand, serious now. "If I die here, the Zhang family line ends. No one to inherit the throne. Come on — maybe we're almost out!
"Don't you want a hot shower?"
I did. God, I did.
The thought alone made my whole body shiver with longing.
I gritted my teeth and let him pull me to my feet.
Standing up again, cold and exhaustion wrapped around me like a thousand-pound weight, pressing me down, urging me to just lie down and give up.
I shook my head hard and followed Marcus forward.
His hand was freezing, but it was the only source of warmth in this icy world.
We felt our way along the ice walls. Fortunately, this section didn't have holes or tunnels in the walls, which meant no monsters could suddenly appear and drag us off to join Kevin.
Unfortunately, the path ended in a fork — two tunnels leading in different directions.
"Which way?" Marcus turned to ask me.
I had terrible decision-making skills. Choosing between two options was harder than writing an eight-thousand-word thesis.
After thinking it over, I held out my hand. "Rock-paper-scissors. You win, we go left. I win, we go right."
"Fine."
Marcus put his hands behind his back. "Rock, paper, scissors—"
I looked at my two extended fingers, then at Marcus's open palm, and couldn't help but laugh.
"I win. Right it is!"
Marcus laughed. "You're incredible. I don't think I've ever beaten you at rock-paper-scissors."
The right tunnel curved sharply at the entrance.
Triumphantly, I squeezed past him and took the lead.
The corner was narrow, and Marcus, with his broad frame, struggled to fit through.
I walked ahead, grinning. "Can you even squeeze through? Look at you, big as a polar bear—"
My smile froze on my face.
A massive wave of fear crashed through me.
Around the corner, a pale face was smiling back at me, its lips curling upward in a grotesque grin.