"Wait! Wen Jing, this is Miss Cheng." The young man hurriedly stood in front of Miss Scream, pushing me aside.
The burly man walked closer, squinted at Miss Scream, and finally put down the gun in his hand.
Generally, people with severe myopia squint like this when looking at things without glasses.
"Sorry, Miss Cheng, sigh~ I only brought one pair of glasses when I went out, and they got crushed halfway. I couldn't see clearly, couldn't see clearly!" The burly man said, then glanced over at me.
"She is the survivor from the tomb, you can just call her Little Fu," Chen Qinghan introduced first.
"My goodness, I thought it was a zongzi earlier and fired a series of shots, sorry about that, are you okay?"
I tried to squeeze out a smile to show friendliness, but alas, my facial muscles were uncoordinated, only one side of my mouth twitched up.
"Oh dear, Little Fu, don't be angry, well, don't worry, I'll definitely get you out to make up for it!"
This Wen Jing really misunderstood me, but he said he would get me out, words I liked to hear, even though I knew it was impossible. To me, these words were as good as New Year blessings.
I had watched many zombie-themed movies on tomb robbers' phones, my favorite being Mr. Lin's series, since in his movies, regardless of how long the zongzi are trapped in the tomb, they always return to the human world by a stroke of luck.
I tried again to show the burly man a smile, and this time, the other side of my mouth twitched up.
"Professor Chen, please help me explain, Little Fu is still upset with me."
"Brother Wen has severe myopia, when he fired at you earlier, he couldn't see clearly and mistook you for some evil spirits in the tomb. Give him a chance to make amends." Chen Qinghan explained on his behalf.
Having been misunderstood twice, I gave up trying to make a friendly expression, recalling the 'friendly' body gestures I had seen and made an 'OK' hand sign.
Feeling neglected, Miss Scream stomped her foot in annoyance, reminding the others she remained there, "Are you going to find a way out or not?"
She had already pulled the fake donkey hoof from her mouth; although speaking to Chen Qinghan and the others, her gaze fiercely nailed on me.
Some people are naturally at odds. I hated her screams, she hated every aspect of me, so it seemed unlikely we'd become friends.
"Miss Cheng, could you return the black donkey hoof to me? Thank you~" The young man looked shy in front of Miss Scream, like a naïve boy from a teen movie, newly experiencing love.
But Miss Scream seemed around twenty-eight or twenty-nine, while the young man was just hitting puberty; their sibling-type relationship appeared improper?!
"Yuck, yuck, yuck~ What is this rubbish? Superstitious nonsense. This thing is useless; throw it away. It's filthy." Miss Scream tossed the fake donkey hoof onto the young man, spat three times, and cast her disdainful gaze my way.
If I understood correctly, she suggested that the fake donkey hoof was ineffective against me, which made me laugh; indeed, it wouldn't work against me, let alone a fake.
Miss Scream needed to put on makeup for every tomb she entered, indicating her strong concern with appearance; I had stuffed the dirty fake donkey hoof into her mouth, and she was clearly holding a grudge against me.
But I didn't care, she would soon find out that in this tomb, shouting so loudly would only bring disaster upon herself.
"The trap in this tomb passage is called Beauty's Tears, only visible when a woman cries." Chen Qinghan's words were astonishing, and it was the first time I heard of such a thing.
I suddenly questioned the previous 316 team of tomb raiders; were they really professionals?
Could they simply be part-time workers?
"Well... Miss Cheng, could you lead the way? We'll follow you." Wen Jing pointed the gun upwards, squinting like an old man, indicating severe myopia.
"Me?" Miss Scream, who had just cried messily, was now tearless.
"Yes, Beauty's Tears, and you are the beauty." The young man blushed as he spoke.
Miss Scream's smile uncontrollably widened at his praise, not only didn't cry, but laughed instead.
She certainly had connections in the team, whether a sponsor's girlfriend or a relative of the initiator; in any case, she couldn't be a tomb robber.
"Little Fu, could you lead the way, is it possible?" Chen Qinghan's gentle voice fell atop my head; he was a whole head taller than me.
Tomb robbers are usually neither tall nor stout; being tall makes movement cumbersome in and out of tomb tunnels, wasting a lot of time due to inflexibility.
Also, calling him Professor Chen indicated he wasn't a tomb robber either.
As for the other two, the highly nearsighted gunner and the small, fake donkey hoof-buying young man, they didn't seem like professional tomb raiders.
"She with that deadpan look, hardly likely to cry; I'll do it instead because I'm a professional actor." Miss Scream seemed increasingly averse to me.
I knew professional actors can cry at will, but since waking from the coffin, tears were foreign to me, making me cry was like climbing a mountain, even while watching tearful dramas, I shed no tears.
Miss Scream pulled an item from her backpack, and within seconds tears flowed down, prompting my curiosity in the liquid she had dripped into her eyes as it seemed magical.
"Eyedrops won't work, genuine tears are needed." Chen Qinghan said.
"Oh, then..."
"I have wasabi oil meant for snacking with jerky, want some?" Wen Jing asked.
Fighting for the title of 'beauty', Miss Scream guzzled a large mouthful of wasabi oil, which I hadn't tasted, but proved even more miraculous than eyedrops, as she instantly burst into tears.
"There! I-I see it, there's light—" Despite not being a tomb robber, Miss Scream's contribution to the team deserved remembrance.
We followed her towards the light; however strangely, none of us saw that light, not even I with my ability to see in the dark.
,For thousands of years, few female tomb robbers descended, occasionally a few who were true iron-blooded warriors under the guise of beauties, were incapable of tears.
Hence they never discovered the correct path through this labyrinth tomb passage. They either sacrificed companions to pave the way with blood or became stuck for ten to fifteen days until almost paralyzed waist-down, finally exiting.
Chen Qinghan's image in my mind suddenly became grand; he understood this tomb perhaps more than I, the landlord!
Miss Scream's eyes resembled two red peaches from all the crying, but we ultimately exited the labyrinth tomb passage.
"Ah—" Miss Scream let out another scream; she walked ahead, reaching the exit first, thus seeing the scene outside before us.
This time, Chen Qinghan intervened before me, he covered Miss Scream's mouth with a towel, promptly knocking her out.