A cloud of rock powder erupted, choking the remaining explorers. Particles of fine dust found their way into hair and under clothes.

“Mister Taobao, Mister Minho!” Yuri recovered and shouted down the dark well. There was no response. “Are you okay?” she shouted again, worry and fear now plastered on her face. Grandpa Kang and Ling mirrored her concern.

Seeing as Yuri was inching precariously close to the edge, Jin gripped her arm to prevent the girl from accidentally falling into the gaping hole. The ground around them had begun to form cracks - now looking rather unstable. Who knew if the rest of the floor would give way soon.

‘An active colony of mandibalores,’ Jin cursed under his breath, clearing the dust in the air with a conjured gust of qi. ‘They must have been eating away at the foundations beneath us for days. They dug deep, no wonder I couldn’t sense them.’

Mei looked him in the eyes, understanding passing through between them without a need for words. However, for everyone else’s benefit, Jin voiced his conjecture out loud.

“I suspect we’re dealing with Mandibalores. They’re like oversized ants,” he added when they gave him confused looks.

“Mandibalores...how do you know?” Ling asked.

“You can smell a rancid odor in the air - it’s some type of acid secreted by them to melt the rocks. They must have caught on to our scent when we first entered the caves and have tracked our movements ever since. Smart creatures. They tried to collapse the bedrock underneath to trap us. Fortunately, we weren’t all bunched up together.”

“So what do you think we should do?” Ling responded, scared. She was still processing the chaos.

“We leave. If we stay, we're as good as dead.”

Paralyzed by the sudden gravity of the situation, not a single person reacted to his words. “I mean NOW!” Jin barked. His elevated voice jolted everyone into action. While the others scrambled to retrieve as many blue candle weed boxes as they could, Jin immediately pulled Yuri in the direction of the exits. What was the point of money if they were dead?

“Jin, what about Mister Taobao and Minho?” Yuri argued, squirming to free herself from his grip as she looked back. “We have to rescue them!”

After a brief struggle, Jin let her go. “Their lives don’t mean anything to me, but yours does,” he emphasized, trying to shake some sense into her. Jin noticed that tears had formed around her eyes and softened his tone. “I can’t risk your life, especially to save some random strangers.”

“It’s mine to risk, and they’re not strangers,” Yuri retorted. She pushed him away and rushed back. “I don’t want to become someone who ditches their companions.”

Watching Yuri’s misplaced sense of loyalty gave Jin cause to massage his temples in frustration. They had only known the two missing men for two days - effectively still strangers. Why risk it?

As an early-stage qi master, Jin was fairly sure that he could survive the depths alone. Even then, a rescue mission in this case involved unhedgeable risk. If they got swarmed by too many mandibalores or somehow got trapped by a cave-in, Jin would have doubts about their survival.

“Wait, Yuri,” Jin called after her. In a few strides, he caught up to Yuri before she could muster the courage to jump after Taobao and Minho. “Never go in blindly.” He dropped a sun stone into the sinkhole; it appeared there was an entirely new tunnel system fifty feet below them, probably connecting to another system of accessways that the mandibalores used to get around undetected.

“What are you two doing?” cried Mei, noticing Jin’s and Yuri’s intentions. “You’re not seriously thinking about going down to save them? It’s practically suicide. For all you know, they could already be dead, or worse.”

“Bad idea,” Gaebuk agreed.

Jin looked Yuri dead in the eyes and perceived her resolve. Her violet irises never shone with such determination before.

‘She’s just like him. It’s scary how similar they are,’ he mused.

“The rest of you take what you can and head out. I will catch up to you after I bring Taobao and Minho back,” Jin instructed Mei and the others.

“No, I’m going with you,” Yuri insisted adamantly, this time being the one to clutch his arm tightly.

“Are you sure?”

The look on Yuri’s face told Jin what he needed to know.