The Explosion

The earth shook. The bats flew in panic. There was a huge explosion and although Su Xin Yu had noticed that suspicious person outside the cave throwing something in from the corner of her eye, but she had no idea what it was. The decision she had to take was instant, so she took the chance.

Her mind raced, they would have either thrown something to rattle the biological species here or it could be something physical. For the former, they had to know what resided here which was impossible unless they had explored this cave before which had never happened. Then it was the other possibility only. The nearest person to her was Li Ming Hao, and also because both the people in her group were her responsibility, she just ducked with him.

The bats had started attacking them but falling debris helped all three of them out to secure them. Fortunately, they were inside the tunnel, enough to avoid the sharp limestone formations at the entrance, otherwise, their bodies would have become a sieve by now.

"Cough, cough," Li Ming Hao woke up first. His face was out of rubble but his body had something soft on the top of it. He looked down and saw black locks, scattered on his chest. The girl's body on top of his, was covered with rocks.

The cave entrance was still open for the most part, but the bats were nowhere to be seen.

"Xin Yu!" Ming Hao removed they rocks from her body one by one, but the weight was too much. Unless the girl woke up by herself, he was trapped underneath her.

"Chen Chen!" Li Ming Hao called the cousin. That guy was alone, if he survived, then he could help them out.

"Young master! Cough, cough, are you alright." Chen Chen's voice sounded a bit far away.

"Where are you?" Li Ming Hao asked him. Now there was no fear of bats, so they were freely shouting. Their voice echoed in the cave and they were unaware of the presence of any fourth person around them.

"I… Ahhh!!! Something… Is flowing under me… It feels like I am in water?" Chen Chen said with a confused tone.

"Are you sure it's not blood?" Li Ming Hao frowned. What if Chen Chen had hit something and the blood was oozing out and he was not aware of it? That would be disastrous!

"No, I am drenched basically, so it has to be water unless all those bars died and…"

"Okay, okay. Can you get up and help your sister out? We need to check her wounds, this dirty environment could flare those up. Ugh, I should have made her rest some more", Ming Hao interrupted the other guy's thoughts and worried about the girl. He was regretting rushing her to come here. He should have given her more time to heal.

"My sister is strong okay? Let me check," Chen Chen got up and dusted his clothes first. He was in a weird situation, dripping from behind and dry and dusty from front. He had cuts and bruises all over.

Thankfully, his rash from poison ivy had subsided completely, otherwise those blisters would have festered as well.

"Ugh, I feel I need to take a bath. How did the explosion happen anyway? We did not step on a mine, did we?" Chen Chen kept rambling on, looking around him, not to spot the couple but just to know where the explosion had happened.

"If we did step on a mine, one of us would have lost their leg. Can you just come here and help the poor girl out?" Li Ming Hao was getting irritated, this guy talked so much but when it came to work, this fatty was really lazy.

"Yeah yeah, let me get out of this", the slightly heavy guy wobbled his way out of all uneven rocks on the ground.

Li Ming Hao tried tapping Su Xin Yu's head to see if there was some movement. Why was she not waking up? Did any of the rocks hit her and break something? This girl was too fragile to begin with, why was she putting herself in danger again and again for him?

"Cough cough," her chest vibrated over Li Ming Hao, sending some weird sensation into his whole body, and it was really hard to ignore.

"F*ck!" He cursed under his breath. He did not want his body to have any reaction but her soft body was just so tantalizing… *Su Xin Yu get up fast before you see me embarrass myself!*

"Oh, hey sis! You're up? let me help you," By this time, Chen Chen had reached the two. He did not like how the new guy had put his arm around her. He removed the debris slowly from their top and Su Xin Yu groaned.

"Why, is something wrong?" Li Ming Hao asked her worriedly. Regardless of his dad's instruction to get something useful out of this trip, if she had injured herself for him once again, he would abandon this whole mission right here right now.

"Ugh, this dust is killing me," she spoke in disgust. Chen Chen had finished removing the rocks. Why were they encountering so much on the beginning of the journey itself?

Su Xin Yu pulled herself up and saw a few cuts across her full sleeves shirt which were bleeding profusely.

"Aiyya, we should treat this first. Wait, where is my backpack?" Su Xin Yu could not locate her bag. She began searching for it frantically, without worrying about the pain. Where could it go?

"We can search for it later, let's first treat your wounds," Li Ming Hao opened his own bag and took out the first aid kit. His every move was precise, like he had been trained for it. Chen Chen observed it and kept in the back of his mind. This guy did not seem like just a student. There was definitely more to this guy than met the eye.

"No!" Su Xin Yu was really panicking at the moment.

*Calm down Xin Yu, calm down. Let's think what was in there. Did it have anything that could put me under suspicion? That bloody Dean Li. Did he send that person? And did the person steal my bag?*

All the thoughts ran through her mind at once, her head throbbed with pain.

Other than that notebook, there was nothing, right? She bit her lip so hard that it started bleeding.

"Xin Yu!" Li Ming Hao clutched her shoulders and shook her a bit. "Come on! Stop looking around. We still have enough rations. It is okay if we lost your bag. It's not more important than treating your wounds," he almost yelled at the girl. Her shirt sleeve had been colored red already.

She finally looked at him, her eyes full of disdain. Since when were they in a first name basis?

But the guy was correct. She was always careful with that old man. She did not carry anything with her since his own son was here. More importantly, she was more relieved that this guy's bag was not stolen. Real material that needed to be hidden was in his bag, those secret diaries!

"Psst, can you check that those diaries are safe in your bag? I am not sure but I think I saw a person over there. They might have stolen my bag," she whispered to Li Ming Hao, since the diaries were a secret even from Chen Chen. And she intended to maintain that secrecy.

Li Ming Hao raised his eyebrows at her but still went ahead and checked. Chen Chen grew suspicious at the back.

"What are you two talking about?" he raised the question.

Su Xin Yu was at a loss but Li Ming Hao also seemed an expert in fabricating lies. "She was asking if I had menstrual pads with me in my first aid kit since her bag is sto… lost," Li Ming Hao came up with an amazing excuse but almost gave away the little information this girl had just provided him.

Chen Chen did not pick it up and blushed hard on knowing the answer. These two people were making fun of him.