Who would blame a lost little Zhang?
Clearly, the Fatty couldn't, so he could only hug his wounded young heart and squat in a corner, reminiscing about his lost youth.
Wu Tianzhen, who had just been ruthlessly abandoned outside the cave by little Zhang, felt a surge of camaraderie with the Fatty. He sighed and patted the Fatty's shoulder, finally understanding the unusual behavior of the money-grubbing Hei Yanjing.
It was obvious that the more experienced Hei Yanjing, like Zhang Qiling, had seen through the "white jade" at a glance. But could you expect a little Hei to kindly remind you of such a harmless matter?
Wu Tianzhen: ...Speaking of which, wasn't Hei Yanjing toying with me just now? Little Ge didn't have time to speak?!
...Understood, the culprit for all this is Hei Yanjing!!
Hei Yanjing:?
The group inexplicably began an eye-battle here (that no one could understand). However, Xie Yuchen, who had been staying away from the battlefield, suddenly stepped forward and crouched down, carefully picking up the foul-smelling skeletons.
Dirt stained his hand, which he had just carefully cleaned, but Xie Yuchen showed no intention of dodging. He gently placed the bones down and slowly picked up a severely corroded metal fragment from the mess.
The text on the fragment was no longer clear, but the patterns faintly revealed familiarity.
Wu Tianzhen looked at the patterns from afar, and a memory suddenly surfaced in his mind. The patterns gradually overlapped with the family crests on the bodies of the Xie family members in the Changbai Mountain battlefield.
...Little Hua said he was looking for Xie Lianhuan, could this be—
Wu Tianzhen couldn't imagine Xie Yuchen's feelings at this moment. After hesitating for a long time, he cautiously spoke, "Little Hua... are you okay?"
But to his surprise, Xie Yuchen looked up at him for a moment and then suddenly smiled.
"Don't worry, I'm fine," as if he knew Wu Tianzhen's current worries, he explained directly, "This person is not Xie Lianhuan, he was a Xie family member from the team back then."
"Although the patterns on the Xie family crest look similar, they are actually different for each generation. Xie Lianhuan's pattern is different from this one."
"And—"
Xie Yuchen's expression grew solemn, filled with extreme seriousness.
"And I was prepared long ago. Every time I came here, I was prepared to bring back news of Xie Lianhuan's death."
"For so many years, the reason I'm still persisting now is just to be worthy of Xie Lianhuan, to be worthy of the Xie family."
"So, even if he were Xie Lianhuan, you wouldn't need to worry about me," he seriously reburied the skeletons, tucked the crest into his embrace, and stood up with his back straight. "I'm not that fragile."
The space fell silent for a moment, but soon, the Fatty brought the atmosphere back on track.
He was clearly moved by Xie Yuchen's words and actions, completely forgetting his injured young heart. With a stride, he leaped forward and patted Xie Yuchen's shoulder with great admiration.
...This shoulder-patting action was very successful, Xie Yuchen's height cooperated with him perfectly.
"Good!" the Fatty exclaimed, "Hua-ye is a man!!"
This voice echoed repeatedly in the narrow space, its deep tone sounding as if the Fatty was about to swear brotherhood with Xie Yuchen, eating meat and drinking wine heartily.
Wu Tianzhen was still immersed in inexplicable sadness, but upon hearing the Fatty's words, and connecting the word "man" with Xie Yuchen's appearance, he felt a complex emotion of wanting to agree and wanting to question.
Xie Yuchen himself also seemed a bit conflicted. He hesitated to speak, and finally smiled helplessly: "...Thank you for the praise, Fatty Ye."
After this interlude, the group tidied up and continued forward.
Hei Yanjing, relying on his good eyesight, arrogantly detached himself from the flashlight beam, roaming at the edge of the darkness, occasionally appearing to prove he was still there.
Wu Tianzhen had been in a hurry to check on Zhang Qiling's condition and had entered the cave directly, not staying above with Xie, Fatty, and Hei. Therefore, he didn't know what they had discussed above.
He glanced at Hei Yanjing, who had already disappeared ahead, and secretly sidled up to the Fatty: "Hey, Fatty!"
"What were you guys talking about up there? Why—" He pointed ahead, intending to point at Hei Yanjing, but suddenly realized that his gesture could only point to Little Ge, who was leading the way within the beam of light. So he retracted his hand and gestured near his eyes, mimicking sunglasses, "Why is he with us?"
Hei Yanjing joining the team was too natural, and his performance within the team was too seamless, that Wu Tianzhen hadn't even realized anything was wrong for a long time. Now that he had noticed the issue, his doubts couldn't be contained.
"Oh oh, this!" The Fatty lowered his voice cooperatively. Although they all knew that someone with superhuman hearing wouldn't be fooled, they still had to put on a show. This was called a sense of ritual. "He seems to be looking for something again, don't know what. As for why he's with us—"
"He volunteered above, recommended himself, saying he was an unparalleled companion on earth and in heaven. So Hua-ye hired him. Now his salary is..." The Fatty made a gesture, and the number almost scared Wu Tianzhen's soul out of him, "This much!!! Amazing, right?"
"Good heavens, if it weren't for us brothers coming to help, Fatty Ye would be tempted! Let's not talk about us, but shouldn't that Little Ge be a bit higher than that Hei Yanjing?!"
"I'll be damned..." Wu Tianzhen was speechless, unsure if he was shocked by Hei Yanjing's excellent business acumen or by Hua-ye's extravagant spending. They exchanged knowing glances for a while, but the team suddenly stopped.
Ahead, Zhang Qiling cautiously looked at a tangled mass of shadows in the distance, identified it, and softly uttered a word:
"Tree..."