"Qing Muye, wake up, Qing Muye? Hey?"
Meng Jingwei patted Qing Muye's face. A few gentle taps, and he didn't react at all.
"Qing Muye, wake up for me… Ugh, forget it!"
Unable to rouse Qing Muye after a few calls, Meng Jingwei raised her hand, almost slapping him, but couldn't bring herself to do it.
As Meng Jingwei was in a dilemma, her gaze fell upon a vessel on the table, filled with water.
Qing Muye knew this bowl of water must be drinkable, otherwise, he wouldn't have placed it there.
Meng Jingwei's throat was parched, and she couldn't afford to be picky. All she wanted was to quench her thirst.
She picked up the water, saw it was clear, smelled it and detected no unusual odor, then drank the entire bowl.
"Hoo~~"
Like a parched plant in the desert encountering water, she instantly felt invigorated.
After drinking the water, Meng Jingwei felt her energy surge.
As she was about to put down the vessel, she suddenly realized a problem.
Water?
Where did this water come from?
Could the place with water be connected to an exit?
Seeing a glimmer of hope, Meng Jingwei's mood immediately improved. She put down the vessel and rushed out.
But after only a few steps, she remembered the unconscious Qing Muye, fearing he might not find her when he woke up.
After much thought, she suddenly thought of her phone.
She turned on her phone and typed a message in the editing field: [I'm going to find the exit, I'll be back.]
After composing the message, Meng Jingwei set her phone to not require a password and placed it directly in Qing Muye's hand.
Then, she took Qing Muye's phone.
Neither of them had used their phones much. After finding the palace lantern, they had both basically kept their phones turned off, preserving battery power.
Qing Muye's phone was a custom-made, rugged phone costing hundreds of thousands of RMB.
It was resistant to theft, water, and drops.
Meng Jingwei took the phone and left. She searched nearby and successfully found an underground river.
She left markers as she walked, lit all the palace lanterns along the underground river, and then stood at the end of the river. She discovered the water was constantly flowing outwards.
Meng Jingwei was overjoyed, knowing that the outside must be the exit.
However, she was still unsure of the situation outside.
After much hesitation, Meng Jingwei mustered her courage, took off her clothes, and prepared to dive in to see if there was indeed an exit.
She was wearing a formal dress, which made diving impossible, so she had to undress.
However, just as she was clutching her phone, turning on its flashlight and preparing to jump into the water, a voice suddenly called out from behind her, "Awei!"
The abrupt sound echoed in the empty underground palace, and in that instant, she was terrified.
Turning around, she saw Qing Muye standing not far away, walking towards her.
Meng Jingwei was in her undergarments. Although she felt a little shy, the situation was dire, and she didn't have the headspace to worry about anything else. "Why did you come here?"
The man raised his phone, and a faint smile touched his gaunt face. "I saw the message you sent me, so I knew you would come here."
"That's right. I saw the bowl of water you left in the room, and I knew there was an underground river nearby, so I came here. Look, the water is flowing, which means there must be an exit. I wanted to dive in and check."
She excitedly shared her small discovery with Qing Muye.
Her demeanor was like a child who had uncovered a significant secret.
"You're very smart."
Qing Muye walked to her side, stood by the underground river, and gazed at the flowing water as he said, "Last night, while you were asleep, I had already found this place and confirmed there was an exit. But it's two hundred meters from the exit, and you can't get out."
The man's obsidian-like eyes held a hint of tenderness. His pale lips parted, and he continued, "The reason I didn't leave was that I wanted to wait for you to wake up, explain the situation, and then I would go out to get help."
He paused, then added, "The end of the water flow is a cliff, with an opening about twenty meters high. It will take some time to climb up. Moreover, there's no phone signal down there."
"200 meters?"
A professional athlete would take one to two minutes to swim two hundred meters. For a non-professional athlete, even one with excellent swimming skills, it would take five to six minutes.
The place where they were standing was the entrance where the water flowed into the undertow. This meant that once they submerged, they wouldn't be able to breathe and could only hold their breath.
Qing Muye's wound was infected, and his hand was injured. For him to swim to the end and climb up a twenty-meter-high opening would be extremely difficult.
"Even if you get out, your hand is seriously injured, and you won't be able to exert strength to climb."
Meng Jingwei was very concerned about Qing Muye's condition.
"What, you don't think I can do it?"
The man raised an eyebrow and smiled.
His smile was gentle, like the spring breeze in March, warming the heart.
He hadn't shaved for two days, and a light stubble had appeared on his chin, adding a touch of mature sexiness and charm.
"It's not that I don't believe you, I just don't want to see you push yourself too hard. If you die, I might die here too."
Facing the harsh reality, Meng Jingwei was not in the mood for jokes.
Although Qing Muye had successfully swum to the end last night, proving his excellent stamina and endurance, it was also possible that his extreme exertion yesterday had accelerated his wound infection, causing his high fever today.
When a person has a high fever, their body temperature drops rapidly, and they cannot be compared to their normal state.
"Awei, you..."
"Stop the nonsense, let's do it together," Meng Jingwei interrupted Qing Muye and said, "There's a reservoir right outside my house. I grew up with my master, so I'm an excellent swimmer."
"No way!"
"You look down on me?"
"This is a matter of life and death, not a joke." Qing Muye deeply felt Meng Jingwei's bravery and intelligence, but he also felt distressed for such a young girl.
He was a man; it was his duty to be at the forefront.
"Bullshit, do you think I'm joking with you!"
Meng Jingwei's expression turned serious. She poked his chest and said, "Qing Muye, let's make a bet. What if I, Meng Jingwei, succeed in swimming through the underground river?"
"What do you want?"
"Uh... if I succeed in swimming across, then stay away from me. Stop talking about liking me. I don't like your type of man, and I don't accept it!"
Qing Muye: ...
Did this damn woman just reject his advances with her life?
Qing Muye suddenly felt insulted, an insult from Meng Jingwei.
Over the years, countless women had thrown themselves at him, but only Meng Jingwei had been so resistant. Not only did she dislike him, but she also actively avoided him.
This is truly... damn it!
"What's wrong, Qing Muye, are you afraid of losing?" Meng Jingwei sneered and shook her head.
The provoked man seemed unable to refuse.
After much deliberation, he knew that even if he didn't let Meng Jingwei enter the underground river with him, she would quietly follow him after he submerged.
Instead of that, it would be better to take her with him for the dive and get out.