I was preparing to hear the next competition rules from Xiao Shan, but he stopped and pursed his lips, saying, "Brother Xiang, you must be careful when you go down later..."
I was startled, not quite processing it. The Fatty asked, "Why would he go down?"
Xiao Shan took a breath and said, "Sister Gu said you wanted to... towards her before..."
"What about her?" I asked, frowning deeply.
"In any case, you have to go down today. If you don't, even Lord Gui can't protect you," Xiao Shan said.
"What's going on?" The Fatty leaned in excitedly, "Why should he go down? Isn't this your dispute over the river section? Besides, we aren't from here."
"The North River mine owner said you touched Sister Gu, so you must give an explanation. Lord Gui, to protect you, said you are his man, and also the vanguard he called to compete for the river section... If you don't go down today, Lord Gui will have no recourse. Then, the North River mine owner will definitely not let you leave alive..."
As Xiao Shan spoke, my eyes drifted towards the North River mine owner and Sister Gu not far away.
"You just said Sister Gu said I touched her?" I asked.
"She didn't exactly say that, but Sister Gu said you had the thought..."
What on earth did this woman want?
I frowned, unable to understand why she would do this.
Did she not want me to help her smuggle gold anymore?
Or were everything she said false?
Just as I was in a fog, Ni Li finally glanced over at me. She gave me a strange look.
I couldn't quite decipher what her look meant, but from it, she seemed to want me to participate in the first round of competition.
Why?
"Master Xiang! I told you, lust is a double-edged sword, but you wouldn't listen! What do we do now?" The Fatty said with a distressed face.
I ignored him, my mind racing to figure out what was going on.
After thinking for a long time, I still couldn't figure it out. Xiao Shan quietly slipped me a small knife: "Brother Xiang, once you're underwater, don't hold back..."
I took a deep breath and said nothing more.
Scanning the surroundings, Lord Gui had brought quite a few people, and the North River mine owner also had many men, all of whom were armed.
If I wanted to escape, there were only two paths: one was the water, and the other was into the jungle.
However, no matter which path I chose, my chances of escape were slim to none.
The water route involved speedboats, and the river was quite open. As soon as they fired, I would be dead.
If I ran into the jungle, these areas were all mining sites. I was disoriented, with no way to find my way out. I might even be captured alive.
This meant that escaping was impossible for me right now.
Why did that woman do this? What did she want? Should I trust her?
Just as I was in a quandary, a gong sounded, and someone shouted something on the riverbank.
A robust young man beside the North River mine owner stood up. Ni Li then took a bottle of wine, poured a bowl for that man, and said something to him with a smile.
She then whispered a few words to the North River mine owner, and finally, she walked towards me.
She handed me a bowl. Just as I was about to speak, she said, "Take the bowl and don't say anything!"
I quickly complied. As she poured wine for me, she said, "I've arranged everything... Don't worry..."
Her voice was low, her lips barely moving.
As she finished pouring the wine and turned to leave, she said again, "The item is in the water..."
Lord Gui looked at me at this moment, his expression somewhat troubled: "Xiang, although you were brought by Zhu Li, our rules here are just like this... Your life or death depends on your fate! If you can come back alive this time, it will be a great help to me, and you will surely be rewarded. If you die down there, I will hand over your body to Zhu Li."
Xiao Shan came to my side and patted my shoulder: "Originally, I was supposed to go for this first round today... I shouldn't have let you go see Sister Gu that night..."
Seeing his self-blame, I smiled and said, "This is not your fault. Since trouble has found me, I can't hide. I'll face it."
With that, I picked up the wine bowl and drank the wine in one gulp.
The Fatty still seemed to be in shock. Seeing that I was about to go down, he grabbed me: "Master Xiang! You're really going?"
"What else?"
"But..."
"There's no 'but'. If I die, I'll entrust An Yuan Tang to you."
"Ah?!"
The Fatty blinked a few times: "But... that... isn't that..."
I shook off his hand, took a deep breath, and walked from the stands to the riverbank.
I no longer had a choice. I could only trust that woman. Although I didn't know how she had arranged things, I had to take a gamble.
In fact, I could also see that Lord Gui didn't want to cause trouble. If I didn't go down, he might not truly protect me.
Why did Xiao Shan only tell me this today?
He actually wanted to say it earlier, but Lord Gui must have warned him, which is why he delayed until today to mention it.
Everything seemed to happen suddenly, but in the minds of others, it had been considered countless times.
And I was simply kept in the dark.
Arriving at the water mine entrance, I looked at the mud pit before me and tried to calm my emotions as much as possible.
Someone handed me a waterproof flashlight and a pair of swimming goggles.
The robust young man who was going down with me saw me and sneered, making a gesture across his throat.
I glanced back at the anxiously worried Fatty in the stands and waved to him, saying, "Fatty, make me a cup of tea. I'll drink it when I come up."
As the gong sounded, an old man standing by the water mine entrance threw a piece of gold the size of a fingernail into it. After about five minutes, the man pointed at the two of us who were about to descend.
Judging by his gesture, we could go down now.
Before I could make a move, the robust young man dove directly into the water mine, splashing a lot of muddy water.
Watching him descend, I took a deep breath and then jumped in.
It was scorching hot outside, but the water in the water mine was very cold.
After descending for more than ten seconds, the murky water began to clear, and the space started to widen.
I noticed the breathing tube that had been lowered and was about to reach for it when something wrapped around my neck.
I saw a pair of strong hands firmly encircling my neck from behind. I tried to pry them open with my hands, but found that the hands were like steel clamps, immovable!