Chapter 43: The Flood Arrives

  I stuck my head out to take a look at Jiang Liu, who had already turned into a puddle of blood. I didn't know what I felt in my heart. It was an ending that had been destined from the start, no matter how many twists and turns there were in between, the outcome was still the same.

  At this time, Ma Si Zhe, who was lying down, coughed twice and sat up from the ground. Supporting his own neck, "Fortunately, my head is small, otherwise this neck would have collapsed long ago."

  Huo Ying lowered her head and looked at him 'Are you okay now?'

  Ma Si Zhe waved his hand. "Something's up, my brain is a bit oxygen-deprived. However, Sister Huo, what's going on? Are you now considered one of us?"

  When Marx woke up, I felt a bit relieved and joked, "Just now, didn't we all kick in unison towards Marx?"

  "No way, I'm on my way up, Marx gives me a kick and says 'get out of here, go back down and swap with Sun Yi'"

  "Get out of here!"

  Huo Ying chuckled twice, Ma Si Zhe looked at Huo Ying "Sister Huo, to be honest, is it because you've taken a liking to our Sun Yi that you decided to turn over a new leaf?" I couldn't say the words out loud, but Ma Si Zhe's upper and lower lips touched and the words slipped out.

  I was startled 'Oh, I don't dare, how could I dare to compete with Master Ma for a woman?'

  Ma Si Zhe suddenly pulled his clothes together, "So you've taken a liking to me?"

  I squatted down and patted Marx's head 'What are you thinking about? Why would anyone fall for you?'

  "Depend on me, I'm special"

  "Are you particularly short-sighted?"

  "You just said you didn't dare to compete with Ma Ye for a woman"

  I shook my head helplessly and said "I told you that horse is your uncle"

  Ma Si Zhe's shock reached new heights 'Ah? My uncle, my uncle is no good, he's too old, already over 50'

  I felt that Huo Ying was a bit uncomfortable and quickly stopped the topic of Ma Si Zhe. 'Take a look elsewhere to see if there's anything else, can you still get up'

  Ma Si Zhe slowly got up from the ground. "Nothing's wrong elsewhere, just my neck hurts and my head is dizzy." Ma Si Zhe patted his head. "Right, where's Uncle Cheng?"

  Ran away

  "What about the silver turtle?"

  Still in your backpack

  Ma Si Zhe opened his backpack and rummaged through it until he found the silver tortoise. Huo Ying asked, "Where did you two find this silver tortoise?"

  Ma Si Zhe said 'I and Sun Yi discovered a secret room, next to the coffin there was a box, it was right in that box'

  Box?

  "Uh-huh, there are several stone pieces in the box, and this silver turtle is just inside the mechanism of that box."

  I continued saying 'Just like the box you picked up on the coral, the stone slab records the first half of that story' After I finished speaking, it seemed like I thought of something!

  There were four words written on the box, "Tong Tian Tong Yu". If this one in our hands is called "Tong Yu", then there should be another one called "Tong Tian"! I rushed out of the cave and the box should still be here. Before Uncle Cheng finished reading the content on the stone piece, he threw the box away here. I searched around but couldn't find it anywhere. Could it be that Uncle Cheng took the box away? That's impossible, the box is not small in size, it's not convenient to carry at all, it must still be here.

  Huo Ying and Ma Si Zhe also came out to help me find it. Before long, Ma Si Zhe shouted from the opposite cave entrance: "I found it!"

  I rushed over and Ma Si Zhe touched the bottom of the box as he had before. Sure enough, with a creaking sound, the box slowly rose up from the ground.

  The three of us gathered around in a circle, looking at the box with anticipation. After it finally rose to the bottom, we were all disappointed, and there was nothing on top, empty as can be.

  "Will it be taken away by Uncle Cheng?" Ma Si Zhe asked me.

  Huo Ying said 'No, I've been following him all along, and didn't see him take anything out of the box'

  That's strange, it should be there in theory. My eyes scanned the bottom of the pit and locked onto something.

  "Look, isn't the coral rising again?" I pulled on Ma Si's sleeve, and he and Huo Ying turned their heads to look. In the muddy pit, something was slowly rising up from inside, surprisingly it was the "coral" that had been standing here before, also known as the murderous vine.

  "My god! Let's get away quickly!" We several people hurriedly moved towards the nearby cave.

  "What to do now?" The 'coral' rose at a speed that was only a blink of an eye, and more than half of it had already been exposed. If the poisonous moth above is still there, if we don't leave and continue to stay here, it's equivalent to waiting for death.

  What should I do?

  Ma Si Zhe thought for a moment and said 'can only go back to the mountain cave'

  I was driving Mustafar towards the cave when Ho Ying stood there with a tense expression and said 'No, we can't go in'

  I turned back just wanting to ask her why, she stretched out her hand and pointed inside the cave 'you listen'

  That was the sound of rushing water, different from the previous sea waves and water flow. This was clearly the sound of opening a floodgate. I turned my head to look at the mountain cave, only to see that dozens of caves were filled with water and suddenly burst out.

  Damn it, I knew I was destined for a watery grave

  As soon as the words fell, a large amount of water rushed out, and we several people took turns finding a place to land.

  "It won't work, look upstairs, I'm afraid it won't be long before this place is also flooded." As soon as Ho Ying said that, Ma Si Zhe and I looked up at the floor above. Sure enough, the water on the second and third floors had already started pouring into the pit.

  "Hurry up and climb onto the coral," said Ma Si Zhe.

  "No, the moth above is poisonous"

  "Look at yourself, those who are dead are dead, those who have flown away have flown away, what butterflies are left?"

  "That won't work either, what if I get entangled by those vines again?"

  "That thing is afraid of blood. Use water to rinse off the blood on your body and it will fade away. Before the vines react, see if you can find a way out. It's better than being stuck here."

  Huo Ying suddenly remembered something 'I know, you guys follow me'

  "No... I'm still hesitating."

  "It's no use, let's go," said Ma Si Zhe, pushing me forward. He and Huo Ying pulled and dragged me to the bottom of the coral. I looked up and saw that the coral had all risen again, restoring its original posture connecting directly to the top of the tomb.

  I stood at the bottom, hesitating. Ma Si Zhe shouted impatiently: "What are you thinking about, hurry up! If you don't go up now, you'll drown!" At this time, the water had already submerged my knees and was rapidly rising as it continued to flow out of the cave.

  I looked around and saw no other way out, so I gritted my teeth and climbed up.

  Ma Si Zhe seemed to have thought of something, turned around and ran over to pick up the gun on the ground. Then he ran back and followed closely behind me with Huo Ying, climbing onto the coral. Fortunately, the vines did not react at all, perhaps it was true that the bloody smell on our bodies had been diluted, and the vines did not detect anything for the time being.

  I hastened to quicken my pace, but it was easy to say below, the more I went up, the sparser the branches were, and I had nowhere to step. Huo Ying patted my foot, and I quickly made way for Huo Ying.

  Huo Ying pulled out the rope from my waist, tied a knot, aimed and threw it upwards. Then she pulled it twice with her hands and turned back to ask me "Can you climb up?"

  I thought to myself, isn't this underestimating people? I was just about to pull the rope with all my might when I turned around and saw Ma Si Zhe, who had been submerged up to his chest. The water current was getting stronger by the second, and it could have swept us away at any moment. Luckily, I knew how to swim a little, but Ma Si Zhe was a complete landlubber. Thinking of this, I stretched out my hand and pulled Ma Si Zhe upwards from the water, handing him the rope head 'Can you climb up?'

  This rope is not as easy to climb as I thought, hanging on it is basically vertical, relying entirely on the strength of both arms. But my power has been exhausted long ago, and now my arms are sore to death.

  The water behind me slowly rose, slapping against the back of my head, occasionally flowing into my ears. I had to desperately lift my head up, which made my arms and neck ache.

  Ma Si Zhe and Huo Ying have climbed up to the top, and I'm less than three meters away from them, but these three meters, no matter how hard I try, I just can't make it. Ma Si Zhe is anxiously shouting from above 'Hurry up, there's a hole up here'

  I was slapped by water and couldn't open my mouth, Ma Si Zhe was still shouting 'Come on, or I'll give you a nickname?'

  After finishing, he shouted "Hee-yah!" on top of his voice. I struggled to get my face out of the water and yelled at Ma Si-ze: 'Shut your mouth!'

  Ma Si Zhe hadn't stopped yelling, I furrowed my brow and slowly climbed up, finally making it just before the water flooded over. Ma Si Zhe stretched out his hand and pulled me up to the top of the coral reef.

  The water is still flowing closer step by step. I asked Ma Si Zhe where the cave he mentioned earlier was. Ma Si Zhe pointed to a place at the top of the coral and said "It's right here".

  I've been feeling around left and right, but I don't see any hole anywhere?

  Huo Ying pinched a branch, lifted it up slightly, and saw that below the branch was a small hole. It turned out to be a mechanism. I stuck my head in and actually saw stairs leading down. I lay at the entrance studying, Huo Ying urging anxiously "hurry up and go down"

  I had no choice but to step inside the cave, with Huo Ying following closely behind. As soon as we entered, she quickly moved the branches back to their original position, blocking the rushing water outside.

  The cave was pitch black, Huo Ying walked at the end and turned on her flashlight. 'When I came up for the second time, I actually reached the top and found this cave.'

  "But won't this thing leak?" Ma Si Zhe said worriedly as he looked around.

  I shook my head from side to side and dug out the water in my ears with my hands. 'I'm not afraid of getting wet, I'm just worried that the vines will react again and wrap around me once more.'

  It didn't look like it from the outside, but this giant coral was actually hollow, and there was even a spiral staircase inside. I felt around with my hands and found that the entire outer surface of the coral was made up of those vines wrapped around it, like a finely crafted woven product. The steps were steeply spiraling downward, and I took each step very carefully, afraid of slipping and falling at any moment.

  Through the vines, I could still hear clearly the sound of water crashing outside like a turbulent wave. The whole person was like being thrown into the water tank of a sprinkler truck, pitch black and extremely unsafe.

  Just walking along, I suddenly felt a void beneath my feet and fell. Ma Si Zhe grabbed my hand in the first instance, and I was left dangling on the stairs.

  "Straining upwards", Ma Si Zhe pulled me up, but both of us were injured and couldn't exert much strength. The steps inside the cave weren't very big, only one person could pass through at a time, so even if Huo Ying wanted to help, there was no room for her to stand. She could only pull tightly on Ma Si Zhe's leg from behind.

  My hand slowly slid down, and Ma Si Zhe was also pulled over by me.

  I reached out and felt around below me, discovering that the stairs ended here, and there was no path below.

  "Let go, Ma Si Zhe," I said slowly.

  Ma Si Zhe listened to me saying that, looked at me and said "What are you talking about? Are you giving up just like this? Don't make it sound like you're going to your death!" His voice was filled with anxiety.

  It seems that Ma Si Zhe thinks I want to learn from TV dramas and give up my own life for the sake of my brother.

  "My point is, the tree hole isn't that deep, we haven't walked far either, and now if we fall down, we shouldn't die from the impact."

  Ma Si Zhe reacted for a moment, as if he understood, and let out an "oh" sound as he released his hand. I wasn't prepared, and I fell freely downwards.