Chapter Sixty-One: Water Accumulates and Gives Rise to Life

  Logically, this underground water should be present in the voids of rocks below the ground surface. It's basically impossible to have voids, and at this moment our only stake for life and death is the faint wind sensation that just appeared in the alleyway and the unchanged data from the gas detector.

  It seems that the wind is coming from above our heads, so maybe there's a layer of karst caves on top of us? Anyway, at most it's just death, no matter what situation, at least it will be better than being ravaged by those golden ants and having our souls scattered.

  It seems that even if I die, this land has my ancestors and iron-clad ancestors to guard it, and after death, I will become a formal yin messenger. Thinking about it, in an instant, I feel that even if I really hang out here, as long as I am not ravaged by the golden ants, it's actually not that scary.

  We slowly feel the chill of the icy water beneath our feet, who is slowly rising rapidly, and all we hear around us is the sound of rushing water. What awaits us? A dead end or a path to life?

  My gaze kept wandering between the coal wall in front of me and the torrential water column above my head, fearing that the impact would be too strong and cause the coal wall to collapse. According to Tie Yi's words, this ** has a body that secretes acidic substances stronger than aqua regia, and its soul is also burned by it. I couldn't help but worry anxiously while waiting, fearing that this pool of underground water would suddenly turn into a rolling, bubbling strong acid.

  This guy is really open-minded, on the one hand waiting for the water to fill up the space, on the other hand taking out some dry rations. When I indicated that I had completely lost my appetite, this guy was eating with gusto, a piece of bread in his hand being gnawed at like it was a roasted goose leg, seemingly without a care in the world, as if the danger we were in had nothing to do with him. His acting skills are so strong that I couldn't tell whether he's incredibly brave or just pretending to be fearless.

  The water flow finally began to slow down, and fortunately, there was no sign of the coal wall being washed away. I didn't know if that group of gold-digging ants on the other side of the wall were still waiting outside.

  There's no turning back now, as time slips away, the passion that was just full is almost gone, the body temperature starts to drop linearly under the icy water, and breathing becomes a bit tight. The water has almost reached our necks, in a few minutes, we will float up to the top of the alley through the water inlet, what awaits us will soon be revealed!

  To conserve oxygen, up until this moment, we have started wearing isolation-type chemical oxygen self-rescuers.

  Although I was a coal mine technician for a year, this thing has never been used in reality. Fortunately, before coming here, I specifically practiced it several times, and unexpectedly, it really came in handy. At that moment, I decided that if I could survive, I would definitely buy a book called "1000 Questions on Escaping and Self-Rescue" to study thoroughly. Life is full of unexpected events, even a dry well can encounter a flood!

  I stuck to the iron clothes' ear, loudly repeating the usage of the isolated chemical oxygen self-rescuer, but looking at the iron clothes' appearance, it seemed more familiar than me. What's this guy doing learning this for nothing?

  But this loud shouting actually made me feel less tense, so I continued to shout out in my own world.

  First, hold the life jacket in front of your abdomen, one hand supporting the bottom and the other immediately pulling open the Velcro strap.

  Second step, remove the outer cylinder on top, then use the hand strap to pull out the life raft and discard the lower outer cylinder.

  Third step, hurry up and put on your headband, tidy up your airbag, everything is ready.

  Fourth step, quickly pull out the mouthpiece plug, rapidly start the oxygen candle. If the oxygen candle fails to start, take a deep breath and then exhale through the mouthpiece into the canister to force oxygen production.

  The fifth step is to put the mouthpiece in your mouth, with the mouthpiece between your lips and teeth, biting tightly on the tooth pad, using the nose clip to hold your nose, and start breathing through your mouth.

  It's fine, the life raft is working normally, German Ruhr's high-priced goods are indeed reliable.

  It is said that even with a thousand precautions, there will still be one mistake.

  Who would have thought that when going to the coal mine, you need to carry a set of diving equipment with you? No way, I can only use this self-rescuer temporarily on site. Looking at Tie Yi also quickly put it on.

  We exchanged a look and made an "OK" gesture, Tieyi pointed to himself and then to the water outlet, indicating that he should go up and take a look first. I nodded in agreement, exactly as I had imagined.

  Only to see Tie Yi dragging a self-rescuer with one hand, pulling out Qing Tong Cheng Ying with the other, and kicking both legs to float upwards. When he reached the top of the alley, Tie Yi used his legs to support his body in a single-leg stance, and quickly enlarged the opening with Qing Tong Cheng Ying. The falling rocks made me dodge and weave, but still managed to smash out many large packages. I couldn't help but silently curse Tie Yi's ancestor, Iron Condensation.

  Watching Tieyi waving at me to go up, I imitated Tieyi's movements, without even bothering with the pose, and kicked my legs, but surprisingly, there was no sign of floating up. I thought, with my standard physique, how could I be so heavy?

  I turned around and found that my backpack was hooked on a link hook at the back of the coal mining face, what a bad start.

  It took the strength of nine cows and two tigers, and when I finally opened the hook, I looked up to find that Tie Yi was already gone. I cursed inwardly and hastily ascended to the surface.

  This seemingly calm water surface, who knows that when it reaches the broken mouth, the water is rushing and full of hidden currents. As soon as I poked my head out, I was rolled into a whirlpool, and suddenly I was spinning with all sorts of high-difficulty turns, dizzying me to the point where my stomach was churning. I vomited while spinning, thinking that when the numbing medicine took effect, I would suddenly crash into something hard, instantly turning pale, and fainting away.

  In a daze, I really wanted to see that the space of this rock layer was not the inky blackness I thought it was, but rather resplendent with golden light, filling the white light, could it be the reflection of my dying breath?

  Dazed and confused, I don't know how long it took, but I was awakened by a sharp pain in my chest. As soon as I opened my eyes, I saw Tie Yi approaching me with a sly expression on his face, clearly having ulterior motives towards me. Without hesitation, I slapped him hard, sending the unprepared Tie Yi tumbling to the ground!

  I puffed out my chest, looking at Tie Yi with a stern expression, my hands clasped tightly over my heart, and a look of determination on my face. "Tie Yi, although you're slightly better-looking than me, I have to say that I'm not interested in men at all. If you think... I'll bite my tongue and defend my chastity to the death."

  Tie Yi stared at me in shock, saying "You don't seem to have been underwater for long, did you get brain damage from lack of oxygen? It's all my fault for giving you CPR too late. If I hadn't hesitated and put my mouth on yours sooner, maybe you'd still be saved!" As he spoke, Tie Yi held up three fingers and asked me seriously how many there were!

  I instantly broke out in a cold sweat, artificial respiration? It seems I misunderstood this iron lump.

  It was so embarrassing, I had no choice but to pretend to have a violent cough, as if my heart, liver, spleen, lungs and kidneys were all rushing to my throat. A few minutes later, I spat out a few mouthfuls of saliva mixed with stomach acid, and pretended to be suddenly enlightened and refreshed.

  This acting is so convincing that even I myself believe that my previous slap on Tie Yi was an action done in a state of extreme oxygen deprivation and foolishness!

  I wiped the water droplets from my face and said to Tie Yi, "Tie Yi, what's wrong with you? Are you jealous of my handsomeness or envious of my beauty? Are you out of your mind? What are you doing holding up three fingers?" I pretended to be stupid and confused to cover up the embarrassment just now.

  Tieyi this guy is actually quite honest, just muttered a few words, "Nothing, fortunately woke up not stupid......". Looking at Tieyi's appearance I almost laughed out loud, that angular face with a huge five-finger print, I suddenly felt a little guilty.

  Anyway, my wit saved me from the awkwardness. When I luckily found that Iron Clothes didn't continue to question me, I suddenly realized something - we weren't dead! What I had just glimpsed wasn't an illusion!

  Above this coal mine tunnel is actually a natural underground cave, with a gentle breeze, and even more incredible is that the top and surrounding stone walls are emitting white light, illuminating the space extremely brightly.

  This scene is similar to a miracle, at that time if there was a betting station, I would definitely buy several lottery tickets, it's really like thinking what comes what!

  Astonished, at this moment I found that the mood of turning danger into safety was really exciting. I stood up and found myself on a stone platform deep in the iron clothes, about six or seven meters below which was a clear and icy underground river.

  I also saw, not far away, a very obvious whirlpool, which should be the gap at the top of the alley where I and Tie Yi floated on the water. My body was wrapped around by the bronze-colored rope for several laps, with the other end of the rope in Tie Yi's right hand. If I'm not mistaken, it should have been Tie Yi who first used the bronze-colored rope to climb up this high platform, and then discovered me from above, before pulling me up with the bronze-colored rope.

  Thinking of this, I quickly looked at the bronze sword hilt on my body. At such a distance, using a rope with a sharp blade to rescue someone, I really don't know if it's because of Iron Pockmark's exceptional skill or my own good fortune!

  As I thought about it, I suddenly let out a sneeze. As the tension dissipated, I realized that my body was drenched, as if I had entered an ice cellar. With my gradually clearing consciousness, my nearly collapsed body slowly came back to life. The sensations returned with my regaining senses, and my body felt like it was melting away, accompanied by a stinging pain like needles.

  Luckily, this backpack is waterproof. I quickly took off my clothes and pants, and met the iron clothes in a straightforward manner. After eating some chocolate to replenish my energy, we waved our clothes and pants like Robinson Crusoe looking at the plane on the island that year. If only I had known, I would have brought more clothes when I came. But who could have thought that there would be such an unexpected encounter with water in this dry well? It's really full of surprises everywhere in life.

  We were shaking off the wind and drying our clothes, I unintentionally checked out Tie Yi's physique, thinking that my abs, pecs, and Adonis belt are all there, although some muscles need to be held in to be seen, but it can also be considered a muscular mannequin.

  But this iron clothes is even more domineering than me, every muscle is like a carving, a vivid illustration of muscles! Looking at the world's top male model physique in front of me, I speeded up my movements, hoping that the clothes would dry quickly and put them on as soon as possible.

  I suddenly turned my gaze, looking at Tie Yi's face and asked, "Tie Yi, what was that just now? If I had known earlier, I would have eaten something with you downstairs, and I wouldn't have fainted from hunger when I came up!"

  Iron Clothes said while waving his clothes, "Just now I arrived at the broken mouth first, worried that the backpack would get stuck and couldn't pass through, so I widened the broken mouth a bit. Just as I was about to signal you to come up, I saw you struggling below. I thought something had happened and hurriedly prepared to turn back and save you when I was sucked into the whirlpool by a very strong suction force, and then entered this rock layer cave."

  When I emerged from the water, I found that this was a natural underground cave, but I didn't know what kind of rock it was that would reflect light.

  I saw a stone pier on the west side of the water, so I tied the rope in my bag to Chengying and got on the pier. After half a day, you still hadn't come up, just as I was about to dive down to look for you, I saw you splashing around like a drunkard, bumping into things everywhere. I quickly swung Chengying out and tied it to you, pulling you back in. After pressing on your people's middle point for half a day, you still didn't wake up, just as I was about to give you artificial respiration...

  "The rest you know."

  When I heard Tieyi mention artificial respiration, I nodded awkwardly and looked around at the rocks emitting white light, saying: "If I'm not mistaken, this should be a luminescent quartz rock, indicating that we're close to the surface. Some of the rocks are exposed to sunlight, so through the refraction and storage of light in the rocks, it creates this visual effect!"

  Listening to my science popularization, Tie Yi seemed to nod in agreement!