Partner

"Partner?" Li Ming Hao had an upheaval in his heart. On one side he was happy that she was hinting at accepting him as a partner. On the other hand, she was upset for another person, who was not him. As of this moment, he wanted all her focus for himself. Was it being too selfish? Most certainly.

But they were two people who were going through life and death. Why could she not see him as a man?

He finally got up from her arms and sat down on the floor with her, looking into her eyes. There was an unexplainable sadness in her eyes, like she was longing for a long lost lover. Li Ming Hao felt incredibly jealous.

"Yeah, I had a best friend when I started high school. She did not belong to my tribe but she was my classmate. Despite the extra affection from your dad, she never judged me. Slowly, I had opened up with her," Su Xin Yu started narrating the story of her best friend.

"She?" The only thing on Li Ming Hao's mind was that a girl was her partner. He heaved a sigh of relief. He still had a chance.

Su Xin Yu was startled at his question. Why? Could two girls not explore dungeons on their own? Did they really need strength of a guy with them? She still nodded for she was reminiscing about her friend from long ago. Now that this guy had opened up the pandora box, it was inevitable that she did not tell him the full story.

"Your dad gave her permission to explore dungeons with me. He wanted it so that there could be someone to call for help at least, if nothing else, if something were to happen to me. I don't think he did not have ulterior motives there, but she came from a good family. I knew she could not be his pawn."

"So then…?" Li Ming Hao was not sure. She talked as if this girl was dead. But if she was from a good family, why did they not pursue the matter. Would Su Xin Yu be not dead by now as well if that were the case?

"I usually took her to the places we had already explored. She was too much interested in history, so sometimes her enthusiasm went overboard. One day, she by mistake entered a door which I had not explored. And she ended up being attacked with a trap similar to flame arrows," Su Xin Yu confessed, slightly trembling. She had always felt regret over this.

Li Ming Hao looked at her and his heart ached at once. It was now his turn to pull her into his embrace. He swiftly put his arm around her shoulders and patted her slowly. No wonder she had become so frantic that day. Otherwise, he had only seen her cool and calm all the time, which was quite unusual for people their age.

Su Xin Yu was never able to express her grief for her friend, a dam broke inside her and tears flowed freely.

"I-I am sorry," she sobbed, her face buried in his chest.

"It's alright. What happened next?" Li Ming Hao probed her further. This girl perhaps never got to deal with her emotions regarding her friend. It would be better if the girl let it all out today. It did not seem like they were going anywhere anyway.

"The trap was similar to todays arrows. The poison was lethal. She was saved in the nick of time but she lost her memories. That was still fine but…," she paused, wiping her dropping snot with a tissue from her pocket. It was indeed very painful for her to recall it.

"But she would react very violently whenever she would see me after the accident. I am not sure why that happened, it's not like I was responsible for her injury. She moved away soon after," Su Xin Yu was just glad at that time that her friend had nor died. That lessened her guilt.

"It's okay Xin Yu, it was not your fault. You should not feel guilty," Li Ming Hao stroked her hair to comfort her. It must have been especially painful to see similar things happen to other people. She did mention that she organized tours for other archaeology and geology students in the college. He had no idea what she would go through every time she took a new group inside.

"I… I know. But I could not help her at all, what use is this blood of mine then? Everyone keeps telling me that since I belong to the tribe, these caves favor me and help me out. But I can count the number of instances like that on my fingers but the number of people who have lost their lives in front of my eyes is just overwhelming," she wailed.

"I will make sure that does not happen to me, okay? I will be your best partner. And I will be more careful from now on. So don't cry," he said, his arm tightening around her petite frame, while other hand wiping her hot tears. How much pain this girl must have been.

But they also needed to continue their journey.

"Xin Yu, let's work on the second lever, okay? We won't be able to make out of here like this," he urged her.

Su Xin Yu calmed down promptly and realized how foolishly she had lost her cool in front of this guy once again. Why was she so impulsive? It was like all her cultivation of calmness and aloofness all these years was a waste in front of him.

But those words from Li Ming Hao about being the best partner were like a cooling balm to her ailing heart. Those were the words she had been longing to hear, from someone, from anyone.

"Let's get to the work then," she stood up and went to the lever right opposite to the first one.

"East should be the best, then West's trap should be the strongest. I rate the trap we just encountered to be intermediate, so this should be North. It will either be the mildest trap, or some kind of path. I pray to my ancestors to show us the way. Let's do it," Su Xin Yu pulled at the other one, which was easier to pull this time. The lever turned with a clunk and thud, and rain started pouring inside the closed dome.

"Take shelter under the roots! This could be poisonous as well," Su Xin Yu grabbed Li Ming Hao's hand and slipped under the roots of the big tree.

"Sh*t," she cursed. This particular dungeon seemed like it was not going to end anytime soon. They had been stuck here for God knows how many hours.

Both of them checked the drops hitting the ground. The water seemed ordinary. But again, one could never be careful enough. Su Xin Yu smelled it, nothing. She summoned enough courage to taste it too, nothing.

"This just feels ordinary water. I don't know what it means," she said, looking at flabbergasted Li Ming Hao who was staring into the distance.

"Look in the front!" he exclaimed.

She turned her head and was shocked. The concrete walls were nowhere to be found. Around the skull tower, were pots full of gold and other riches. And at the end, there was an exit!