Bai Han Yan stared at me for a few seconds, a hint of vulnerability in her eyes, before sighing and saying, "Alright then. Be careful when you go down. If you encounter any trouble, don't push yourselves; come back first."
My heart leaped with joy, but I kept my expression neutral, nodding and replying, "You be careful up here too."
After changing into our diving gear, the three of us headed into the cave.
At first, the water wasn't very deep, but it gradually deepened as we went further, eventually forcing us to dive underwater.
The underwater space was clearly much larger than the area above, and we couldn't see how wide it was at all.
As soon as Wang Yang came down, he gave me a thumbs-up and pointed upwards.
I knew what he meant, but I couldn't be bothered to engage with him.
To be honest, I wasn't intentionally playing mind games with Bai Han Yan. It was just that if anything unexpected happened to her, a girl, while underwater, it would be difficult to handle.
Besides, that girl was easily startled. Last time in Yuncheng, we didn't encounter any zombies, but she almost scared herself to death.
We continued to dive deeper, and soon the familiar resistance reappeared.
Song Bing clearly felt it too and shone his searchlight on me.
I wagged my searchlight in response.
We submerged another four or five meters and discovered an underwater opening about seven or eight meters in diameter.
Song Bing took the lead, squeezing into the opening, with Wang Yang and me following behind.
The moment we entered, the resistance increased dramatically. If I hadn't actively pushed forward, I might have been forced back out.
Once inside the opening, the space expanded again, and vaguely, I saw a colossal object in the water.
Shining my searchlight on it, the giant stone turtle appeared once more!
If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn't have believed it.
Could this stone turtle be alive?
Otherwise, how did it end up here?
Or perhaps this was its lair, and it had gone out for a stroll before?
A wry smile touched my lips, and I stopped overthinking.
Wang Yang's searchlight flickered ahead, and the water's resistance made progress difficult.
Soon, the three of us stopped. Wang Yang waved us over.
We formed a circle, and he gestured wildly, but I couldn't understand anything.
Then, he extended his ring finger and waved it in front of me.
It was then I understood what he was trying to say. Back in Guangling, he and I had devised a code, which we used for antique collecting.
The thumb meant good, the index finger meant average, and the ring finger meant not good.
He was now waving his ring finger in front of me, implying that continuing like this was not working and that we needed a solution.
I pointed to my oxygen tank and then upwards.
He hesitated for a moment, then without a word, began to unstrap his oxygen tank.
A magical scene unfolded. The oxygen tank seemed to be pulled by something and floated towards the surface, disappearing before we could react.
Wang Yang blinked in surprise. I quickly handed him my spare air hose.
He put it in his mouth and began gesturing again, clearly wanting to go down and investigate first.
I nodded, signaling him to be careful.
He took a deep breath through his regulator and plunged downwards, darting forward several meters like a swordfish, his searchlight leading the way.
I had to admit, his swimming skills were far superior to mine.
Soon, he reached the vicinity of the stone turtle's mouth.
Song Bing and I directed our searchlights towards him, and without any hesitation, he swam inside.
About ten seconds passed, and he didn't reappear. Just as I started to worry, Wang Yang's searchlight shot out from within, moving incredibly fast, as if it had been thrown by something.
The searchlight whizzed past me, almost grazing my body!
I had no doubt that if it had hit me, it wouldn't have been pleasant.
Another ten seconds went by, and Wang Yang still hadn't emerged.
It had been nearly a minute. Had something happened to him?
Song Bing and I exchanged glances. I couldn't see his expression clearly, but I could imagine he was very worried.
After a moment's thought, I started unbuckling my equipment. Seeing this, Song Bing did the same, removing his oxygen tank.
Holding the oxygen tank to my chest, I held up three fingers. He nodded at me.
Three... two... one...
As my fingers dropped, we simultaneously took a deep breath from our regulators, then released our oxygen tanks and swam downwards.
As we reached the stone turtle's mouth, the resistance grew stronger. The inside was pitch black, with almost zero visibility.
I shone my searchlight inside and, gritting my teeth, swam in.
Upon entering the stone turtle's mouth, the resistance vanished instantly, almost disorienting me.
If there was no resistance inside the stone turtle's mouth, why had Wang Yang thrown his searchlight away earlier?
I didn't dwell on it, as I had no oxygen tank and no time for contemplation.
I swam forward with all my might, hoping to find Wang Yang quickly.
But the passage seemed to stretch endlessly. The further I went, the more uneasy I felt.
I could no longer hold my breath and exhaled some air from my lungs.
"Gurgling" bubbles brushed past my face.
I could hold on for about ten more seconds at most. If I didn't find Wang Yang by then, I'd likely drown!
Soon, my lungs began to ache, and my body felt weak.
Just as I was about to give up, a hand grabbed my arm and yanked me forcefully.
Feeling dizzy, I instinctively opened my mouth to take a breath.
I expected to fill my mouth with seawater, but to my surprise, it was air!
I gasped for air, only then realizing my head had emerged from the water.
My body from the neck down was still submerged.
"Are you alright?" Wang Yang's voice rang out.
After catching my breath, I picked up my searchlight and finally saw his face clearly.
Before I could speak, another head surfaced nearby – it was Song Bing.
I looked around and realized we were crammed into a narrow passage, my head almost touching the ceiling.
I hadn't expected this area to not be completely filled with water!
It was unbelievable.
Logically, we were over twenty meters underwater.
"What's going on?" I asked instinctively.
Wang Yang replied, "I don't know. When I came in just now, something hit me, and I almost choked on water. That's how I ended up here."
"What hit you?" I asked.
Wang Yang shook his head. "I'm not sure. Maybe a fish?"
"Are you sure?"
"Not entirely. I didn't get a clear look."
"Could it have been a person?" I asked.
Wang Yang pondered for a moment. "Doesn't seem like it... probably just a fish."