The past two days trapped in the tomb had left most people utterly exhausted.
Even a formidable figure like Su Yinchuan, who usually remained unfazed when Mount Tai collapsed before him, was experiencing despair.
Now, seeing Li Chonglou rise with agitated excitement despite his weakness,
He too struggled to get Blue Ying to help him up, wanting to follow and assess the situation.
“Godfather…” Blue Ying’s face was filled with worry.
Su Yinchuan waved his hand, stopping her unspoken words: “Rather than wait for death, it’s better to seek survival in danger.”
“Let’s go…”
With that, the two supported each other and hobbled along.
Behind them, Liu Zhibo slumped onto the ground, his eyes glinting with malice.
He was now utterly alone; even if he made it out alive, he would surely die.
The cave entrance was sealed shut, yet these people still intended to find a way out.
“If you want to live, I’ll make sure you don’t!” Liu Zhibo’s heart seethed with resentment. He struggled to his feet and, stumbling, followed them.
Li Chonglou, having undergone several days of solitary confinement without food or drink, was greatly weakened, though his bones and muscles remained intact. His frailty was not yet fatal.
Supported by Xu Lie, he reached the cliff edge and looked down.
The chilling wind howled.
After the LED lights shone down for a dozen seconds, all light was swallowed, plunging into darkness where nothing could be seen.
Li Chonglou bent down and picked up a stone, tossing it out.
*Plop!*
Immediately, the sound of splashing water could be heard.
“Less than two seconds. Calculating based on the stone’s volume and weight, the descent rate should be between three and four meters per second,” Li Chonglou’s eyes lit up as his mind rapidly calculated. “This means the water surface is approximately ten to twelve meters below where we are standing.”
“If the water is deep enough, a person jumping from this distance won’t die.”
The moment Xu Lie mentioned a pool here, Li Chonglou’s heart surged with elation.
In places like the belly of a mountain, a water pool often signified an underground river leading to the outside.
The passage was blocked and impassable, but an underground river could be a way out.
Though the specifics of what lay below were unknown,
It was still far better than the agonizing wait for death above.
“You mean we should all jump down and escape through the water route?” Xu Lie’s expression was not optimistic.
Even from just ten meters, it was uncertain whether the current condition of everyone would lead to accidents.
Furthermore, this was inside the mountain, surrounded by rocks.
A collision with a rock during or after the jump would almost certainly be fatal.
The risk was too great.
“This is the only way. I’ve thought a lot these past two days; we cannot die here,” Li Chonglou said, his eyes firm as he nodded. “There are many things waiting for us outside.”
“My mother, Qianqian, Jiang Yuxin, along with my master and senior sisters…”
“No matter how dangerous it is below, it’s worth a try!”
Choosing the lesser of two evils and the greater of two goods.
Let alone ten meters, even twenty meters, he would have to jump.
“I didn’t expect you to be so brave; I admit I underestimated you,” Blue Ying, supporting Su Yinchuan, walked over and overheard Li Chonglou’s last words.
In the glow of the lights, Blue Ying’s pretty face was no longer as proud as before.
Adversity reveals true character.
Li Chonglou and Xu Lie were not ordinary people, far superior to the likes of Zhu Mingzhe. She felt guilt for her previous judgment based on appearance.
However, her more pressing concern now was how to survive.
“Twelve meters. Do you dare to jump?” Li Chonglou ignored her comment and, pointing to the cliff, asked her back.
Blue Ying’s pretty face turned pale, and she quickly shook her head.
If the bottom were visible, she might consider it. But in this pitch-black abyss, what if she died from the fall?
After all, as a girl, she wanted to die with dignity if she had to die.
She didn’t want her remains to be scattered.
Su Yinchuan’s eyelids twitched: “Xiao Li, we’ll follow your arrangements.”
He certainly didn’t want to die. With a fortune in the hundreds of billions, a beautiful wife at home, and the dream of resurrecting his daughter,
How could he be willing to bid farewell to life at this moment?
Li Chonglou’s plan was risky, but it might not be a path to certain death.
It was certainly better than the uncertainty of being trapped in the cave.
In the current situation, uncertainty itself was the path to survival.
“Alright, we don’t have much time to deliberate,” Li Chonglou replied solemnly. “The longer we delay, the weaker we become.”
“Based on the path we took to get here, this place is at least ten li from the West Sea.”
“If there’s an underground river, it must lead to the West Sea. To swim out alive, we must go all in!”
“To ensure safety, I’ll jump first!”
Saying this, he was about to leap down.
Xu Lie, with quick hands, grabbed him by the waist and pulled him back.
He sternly reprimanded, “Do you still think you’re the same as before? If anyone jumps, it should be me. Even if something goes wrong, my physical condition can withstand it better.”
Though his voice was stern, it was filled with genuine concern.
He had already come to regard Li Chonglou as a close brother.
He would absolutely not let Li Chonglou take the first risk in such a life-or-death situation.
Li Chonglou felt a surge of warmth.
He remained silent for a few seconds, then nodded in agreement: “You jump first.”
Indeed, Xu Lie’s cultivation and physique were superior to his own. If even Xu Lie met with an accident, there would be no point for anyone else to jump.
This was not the time to argue about who was braver; finding a way out was the primary objective.
“Await my news.” As soon as he finished speaking, Xu Lie leaped into the darkness.
*Clang!*
Soon, a powerful splash, far more forceful than the stone’s impact, was heard.
Accompanied by the sound of water splashing, it echoed through the cave.
Everyone’s hearts leaped into their throats. Not a sound was uttered as they waited for a signal from below.
“It’s safe, jump! It really is a large pool down there!” Four or five seconds later, Xu Lie’s excited voice came through.
Everyone let out a collective sigh of relief.
Li Chonglou didn’t hesitate and jumped down directly.
“Girl, jump!” Su Yinchuan urged Blue Ying from in front of her.
Although Blue Ying was scared, she knew this was the only way. She could only close her eyes, grit her teeth, and scream as she fell.
Finally, it was Su Yinchuan’s turn.
Four people then plunged into the water consecutively.
Liu Zhibo also reached the cliff edge.
Hearing the commotion, he surprisingly pulled a dagger from his embrace.
His eyes filled with venom, and without any hesitation, he followed them down.
Soon, everyone was floating on the surface of the water.
“Liu Zhibo, I thought you’d wait to die in the cave. I didn’t expect you to jump down to find your own death,” Xu Lie said with a cold laugh upon seeing Liu Zhibo’s descent.
He had been suppressing his killing intent, which had only fully erupted when Zhu Mingzhe wanted to eat people.
But the culprit, Liu Zhibo, was still alive.
His revenge was yet to be exacted.
He had thought that if Liu Zhibo died in the cave, it would be settled.
He hadn’t expected the man’s will to live to be so strong that he jumped down as well.
It was perfect; he could just finish him off in the water, and it would be over.
Let him keep Zhu Mingzhe company.
“Brother Xu, strike,” Li Chonglou was no saint. His purpose for coming here was to find Liu Zhibo and exact revenge, so he naturally fully supported Xu Lie’s murderous intent.
Liu Zhibo was treacherous and ruthless.
Keeping him alive was far more detrimental than beneficial. He hadn’t killed him before because there was no need.
Now, to escape, keeping him was pointless.
Rather than hand him over to the law outside, it was better to let him remain in this tomb as company for the spirits.
“Don’t… don’t kill me…” Liu Zhibo’s voice sounded unusually panicked as he pleaded, “I’m willing to accept legal punishment; they can even sentence me to death.”
“But you have no right to kill me…”
“Mr. Su, Mr. Su, save me…”
His voice and expression were filled with panic, but his hand, hidden beneath the water, was tightly gripping the dagger.
Seeing Liu Zhibo beg him, Su Yinchuan simply turned his face away.
He was a business magnate.
Business was like war; how many people had he seen die for profit?
How could he sympathize with a beast like Liu Zhibo, who had deceived him into coming here, failed to steal the tomb, and then kidnapped him for extortion and to silence him?
“Godfather, why don’t we take him out and have the police shoot him?” Blue Ying’s face, still pale, trembled as she said.
A woman’s heart always held a thread of kindness, but this kindness was often misplaced.
Blue Ying was no exception.
Liu Zhibo’s pitiable state almost made her forget how she herself had been treated before.
“What a beautiful white lotus,” Li Chonglou said, glancing at her deeply, his tone laced with sarcasm.
“You… what nonsense are you spouting? I just think there have already been enough deaths!” Blue Ying’s pale face immediately flushed red with agitation as she retorted, “Besides, we are trying to find a way out right now. Wouldn’t one more person mean more strength?”
“Since you guys are here, he won’t be able to escape anyway.”
These words actually held some logic.
Xu Lie glanced at Li Chonglou, and the murderous intent in his eyes gradually receded.
Indeed, they hadn’t even found a way out yet, so rushing to kill was meaningless.
It wasn’t too late to deal with him before they got out.
Li Chonglou understood Xu Lie’s thoughts with just a glance.
He didn’t dwell on it and said, “The water in this pool is flowing. When I fell earlier, I felt an undertow below.”
“But the current wasn’t strong, indicating it’s not the main channel of the underground river.”
“If we want to get out, we must first dive down and follow the current to find the main river.”
“There will definitely be dangers. Everyone, prepare yourselves.”
Having said that, he took a deep breath and was the first to dive into the water.
Xu Lie followed closely behind.
Su Yinchuan and Blue Ying had no choice but to do the same.
The panic on Liu Zhibo’s face disappeared, replaced by a look of malevolence. Holding his dagger, he also submerged.
The water here was surprisingly not that cold, maintaining a constant temperature of around ten degrees Celsius.
Li Chonglou held his breath and desperately swam downwards.
With his superb eyesight, he finally spotted an opening near the bottom of the pool.
The water flow was indeed originating from here.
Without any hesitation, he swam into it.
*Swish!*
As soon as he entered the cave, he felt the water current surge tenfold, turning from a gentle flow into a rapid one.
Like a giant straw, it sent him spinning wildly through the water.
In just a few seconds, he felt dizzy and disoriented.
*Thump!*
Just as Li Chonglou felt he was about to suffocate, his head violently struck a hard rock, and his consciousness instantly plunged into darkness as he fainted.
After an unknown duration.
His consciousness slowly returned.
“Kid, you’re finally awake. I’ve been waiting for you!” In the next second, Liu Zhibo’s laughter echoed in his ears.
Li Chonglou jolted awake and saw Liu Zhibo holding a dagger, pressed against the pale, delicate neck of the bleeding Blue Ying.
With a perverted, sinister grin, he said, “You wanted to kill me, didn’t you? I’ll kill all your friends, one by one, right before your eyes!”