Chapter 47: Escaping with One's Life

  We had just lifted our feet to leave when I suddenly heard the sound of a stone moving. I signaled to He Ying and Ma Si Zhe to be quiet. After looking around, I found that the turtle-shaped stone that had previously sunk down was slowly rising again. However, it only rose like that, and the altar did not change in any way.

  "Don't be so surprised," said Ma Si Zhe to me. I still felt that something was not quite right. But after a while, nothing seemed to happen, and just as I was about to let out a sigh of relief, suddenly a loud sound of rushing water came from under the altar.

  I listened carefully to the source of the sound of water.

  "On the altar," said Huo Ying.

  I walked over and put my ear against the steps in front of the altar, and indeed, the sound of water was coming from below. I picked up my flashlight and shone it on the steps, and amazingly, I saw white pebbles churning with ripples of water. The pebbles were pure white and opaque, they shouldn't be like this now.

  "What's going on here?" I was shocked speechless.

  Huo Ying and Ma Si Zhe also hurried over. "It's bad," Huo Ying said.

  What's wrong?

  Huo Ying's expression was tense, and although I didn't know what the situation was, my heart also tightened up.

  "We've probably triggered a mechanism, this tomb is going to be flooded soon." Huo Ying looked at me.

  I quickly thought about the road we came from in my mind, looking for a way to get out, and found that this road was going back and forth, I had completely lost my direction.

  At this time, a column of water rushed up from the place where the pillar sank, and the pressure was so great that it directly rushed to the top of the tomb. Huo Ying pulled me and Ma Si Zhe who was stunned 'Run quickly'

  We hastily ran out from the copper mirror door, and only after coming out did we discover that outside was already a vast expanse of water.

  "My goodness", I stared at the massive flood outside in shock and didn't know what to say.

  "This is a self-destructing mechanism, it seems the tomb owner didn't plan on letting us out." said Huo Ying.

  It seems that the tomb owner had long anticipated this day, a mechanism that has been rotating for thousands of years. If it is forcibly stopped one day, it will trigger the self-destructive mechanism in the tomb.

  The water in the tomb has risen to my waist, and even walking has become difficult. At this time, a rush of water from the mountain cave swept us away in an instant. Even if I knew how to swim, I couldn't control my body under such a strong current. Not to mention Ah Ma Si De Zhe. The water was getting bigger and bigger, and the entire tomb passage became an underground river.

  What surprised me was that Huo Ying, as agile as a fish, swam over from underwater, lifted Ma Si Zhe up with one hand and swam towards me. I barely floated up from the water, grabbing onto the mouth of the cave beside me.

  Ma Si Zhe coughed twice "What's going on now? Cough, cough. The whole tomb passage is flooded, even if we go back the original way, we can't get out"

  I looked at the rushing water, and it was about to overflow. If we still can't find a way out of this underground place, we may be drowned here.

  "This water must have a source, looking at the amount of water it's definitely groundwater. If we follow the water flow, we can only go deeper and can't get out, now we need to walk against the current. The exit must be above."

  I looked up and suddenly felt weak all over. The water rushing down from above kept slapping us in the face, and Ma Si Zhe was slapped so hard he couldn't open his eyes. Huo Ying pulled a rope out of her bag and tied a knot for me.

  Tie it up with rope

  I took the rope and tied it around my waist. I understood what Ho Ying meant, in this situation, rushing out was no different from death, at least later when the body is found, it won't fall on anyone.

  After I finished, Huo Ying tied the rope to Ma Si Zhe again. Ma Si Zhe was confused and wondered why he needed to be tied up. Huo Ying gave me a signal with her eyes, I nodded, and asked Ma Si Zhe "Are you ready?"

  Ma Si Zhe's face was puzzled 'prepare what'

  I held my breath and dove into the water with Huo Ying. Ma Si Zhe was caught off guard and was also pulled down. The three of us were not very close together, leaving me enough space to maneuver. I wondered how long the rope Huo Ying had brought was.

  I swam in front with Huo Ying, and Ma Si Zhe was hung behind us. The water current was still rapid, and it would consume a lot of physical strength every few meters. I looked back worriedly at Ma Si Zhe, hoping that we wouldn't be swimming in the front while he drowned in the back. When I turned my head back, unexpectedly this guy miraculously floated up by himself.

  "Ma Si Zhe, you're not going to die, are you?"

  "You're dead, I'm still alive, it's just that I swallowed too much water and feel a bit uncomfortable."

  What I couldn't learn back then, swimming, now in this situation, I can do it naturally, what does this show? Human skills, still need to be tempered in a harsh environment.

  I floated up and took a breath, then dove back down. I couldn't see what was at the bottom of the water, but just followed Ho Ying's behind all the way. Ho Ying swam like a fish in the water, unobstructed.

  It wasn't long before the tomb passage was filled with water. We didn't even have room to stick our heads out for a breath of air, and our bodies were exhausted to the extreme, with our ankles slightly trembling. There's a bad omen.

  It's not good if I cramp up now, Huo Ying alone can't take care of the two of us. My physical strength has reached its limit, and I can no longer hear any water sounds around me, just keeping my head down and swimming forward. Following Huo Ying's twists and turns, I don't know where we've ended up.

  As the water flowed, floating and sinking, it was probably over an hour later. At this time, I felt that the rope on my waist seemed to be pulled by someone. I barely opened my eyes, and it turned out that Huo Ying was pulling the rope. She kept gesturing to me in a certain direction, and following her gaze, I saw light!

  I don't know how long it's been since I last saw natural light. Now, in front of me not far away, I see a very bright beam of light shining through the water surface.

  I suddenly felt all my strength being drained away, and I couldn't feel the existence of my arms and legs. Like seeing a mirage in the desert, my willpower was instantly crushed, and the thread that held me together seemed to have snapped.

  My limbs were numb and unable to move, my body slowly sinking down.

  It was extremely quiet around me, no sound of water, nor any human voice. It felt like there was a flow of water in my blood vessels, and I was floating lightly all over, so much that I didn't even feel like opening my eyelids, my fingers trembled uncontrollably for a moment, making me realize I was still alive.

  "Are you awake?" a sobbing voice sounded in my ear.

  What the fuck! This is my mom!

  I struggled to open my eyes and saw my mom sitting in front of me, wiping away tears. I took a glance around, white bed sheets, an IV drip, and a flower basket on the bedside table. I was actually in the hospital.

  My mom saw me open my eyes, and she hugged me tightly, bursting into tears. My dad was originally facing away from me to fetch water, but when he saw that I had woken up, he quickly came over too. The pain in my shoulders reminded me that this wasn't a dream as my mom's tears wetted my head.

  "You're such a worrywart, that reservoir is so treacherous! I've told you before, but you still had to go there. Look at the injuries you got!" As she spoke, my mom's tears started falling plop plop down her face.

  "Mom, don't cry again later. How did you know I went to the reservoir?" Now my mind is a bit fragmented and I can't recall what happened.

  "You also said that if it weren't for your wife calling me from the front yard, I wouldn't have even known you were in trouble"

  It turned out that I was rescued by a person named Guo Song from the previous hospital. That day, when he passed by the reservoir, he found that the water in the reservoir had actually dried up! Curious, he went over to take a look. Oh my god, there were several people lying in the reservoir. Frightened, Guo Song quickly called the police. Only then were we rescued.

  I suddenly thought of 'what about those two people?'

  My mom was taken aback and stuttered, saying "Ah, it's nothing, those two people are fine too."

  I looked at my mom's expression and felt a chill. What about Ma Si Zhe and Huo Ying? My head buzzed with the thought, unwilling to consider this outcome. My mom patted my head, "Son, as long as you're okay, that's all that matters."

  "Mom, tell me the truth, what's going on with those two?"

  My mom withdrew her hand, sighed, thought for a moment and said 'Originally, I didn't want to tell you, but you had to ask. Those two people, they're gone.'

  "He's gone," I muttered to myself, a surge of sorrow and self-reproach welling up in my heart.

  I was wrong, I thought I was the savior, but in fact I am a sinner. The sacrifice of one life for hundreds of lives is not worth it. Dying as an innocent yet guilty me might be the best ending, unrelated to dedication, only about liberation.

  I was laughing and crying at the same time, which made my mom very worried. 'Son, if they leave, then just let them go. What about women? There are plenty of other fish in the sea. Tomorrow, Mom will find you a better one.'

  Woman? The more I listen, the more it doesn't sound right 'What woman?'

  "That woman who was with you, after waking up, left with that person. A big car came to pick her up and hurriedly went somewhere."

  I listened and my right eyelid twitched. 'The two of them left, they took a car.'

  "Yeah, I left this for you before I left." I took a look and it was an envelope. "This kind of thing requires mutual affection, if the two of them have already hit it off, then don't interfere, you see they're even too embarrassed to say it to your face."

  "What nonsense are you talking about? Those two are my friends."

  "Mom understands, but friends doing this kind of thing is even more chilling, listen to mom..."

  "Hey, you don't understand, get out first. My headache is severe."

  My mom still wouldn't give up, stubbornly continuing to speak. My dad walked over and pulled my mom out by the shoulder, and as they were leaving, my mom turned her head back and said "What's going on? I wasn't finished talking!"

  It wasn't until the door closed that the house became a bit quieter. I rubbed my temples and tidied up a bit.

  It seems that the water was all poured into the tomb from the reservoir, and we accidentally found the exit and were sent to the same hospital. However, Huo Ying and Ma Si Zhe suddenly had something to do and left first.

  I unfolded the note and found two simple sentences written on it: "Knowing you're lucky, nothing will happen to you. Something's come up at home, I'm leaving first." It was Ma Si Zhe's handwriting.

  I folded up the note and smiled. Now what I most urgently want to do is go back to the village and see how those people are doing, will they still be like that at night?

  I found my backpack in the cabinet beside the bed, rummaged through it for a while, and found those two silver turtles. Under the sunlight, I couldn't tell any difference either, even if they were fake, they were incredibly well-made fakes.

  Taking the prison from the tomb, can it really solve the problem? I start to worry, what I've done is right or not.