ATLA, In A Darker World

Chapter 40 Alarms 2

Hearing the girl who laughed with her several hours ago speak in such a chilling voice, made the blonde girl shudder slightly.

Ultimately giving no response, she carried herself up and followed the group.

Right now, it didn't matter what she said or what excuse she gave. The fact that she had sold her teammates out was set in stone, and the damage had already been done.

Meilin's attitude was quite normal from a regular person's perspective. Not to mention, she wasn't the only one.

Both Peng and Dandan had given her similar cold looks when they found her huddled at the side of the tunnel, a distance away from the Captain's corpse.

If it were other people, she would have probably been knocked out and left in that tunnel until the explosion took place.

But Mingxia wasn't like other people.

“All this happened because of me”. Back in the tunnel, Mingxia uttered those words solemnly.

“My carelessness had Fenfang's mother arrested. She had to choose between us and her only family, and I don't blame her for it”.

“.... Then … What do we do with her?” The question felt like invisible hands gripping her heart.

There were only two options. Take him with them, or leave her there.

Not taking her with them would mean she would be left to fend for herself. But that meant problems.

If Fenfang was left to navigate her way back to the Refugee quarters herself, then she would be caught before bypassing the first patrol.

At that moment, she would be forced to reveal everything she knew or face painful consequences.

So unless she stayed in the cave, leaving her on her own wasn't plausible. But could they leave her underground? No. Simply because they were about to blow it up.

The blasting jelly would destroy everything close by, and Fenfang would surely die. This was something Mingxia would not have no matter what.

In that case ….

“We'll bring her with us. Just like we planned to. Despite what's happened, no one will be left behind”. Mingxia uttered firmly. “Escaping is our main priority. Once we do that, we can decide our next course of actions”.

Which led to their current position.

Fenfang was taken along, despite betraying them once. And although there was slight dissatisfaction, everyone else knew that this was the best arrangement.

They weren't cold-blooded at heart and were willing to accept it … For now.

They moved through the corridors with quick steps as silently as they could.

'Twenty seconds'.

She thought while looking upward.

Her eyes widened as she raised her hand, signalling them to stop and hide.

Everyone quickly hid behind whatever they could find.

Up above on the inner walls, a patrolling guard could be seen making his rounds.

Ten seconds later, his figure turned to face another direction.

'Go, go, go'.

She signalled.

Everyone got up and rushed past while the sentry wasn't looking. And so they passed through the first patrol area while moving on.

“Hide”. She uttered. Everyone else obeyed and hide where they could.