Chapter 352: Strange Cave

The next few minutes, I will never forget in my entire life.

In the pitch-black waterway, there were no monsters, nothing terrifying. Although my conscious mind didn't want to admit it, my subconscious already knew clearly that in a very short time I would inevitably die—a real, genuine death, and this time there was no escape.

The horror of this feeling is completely beyond words.

I suddenly regretted every decision I had made before. On one hand, I told myself I couldn't give up, that I had to fight to the very end, but inside I was utterly hopeless. My brain uncontrollably churned out all kinds of thoughts. Then I started to zone out—one moment thinking about what would have happened if I had surfaced back then, the next imagining how my family would react if I died. Regret and fear left my mind in complete chaos.

The oxygen gauge had long stopped showing any reading; I couldn't determine when I would suffocate. I could only keep making a final effort while waiting for that moment to come.

At the very end, I was almost anticipating the feeling of suffocation creeping in bit by bit. As the oxygen I could inhale grew less and less, everything stretched out. Fear made me sob uncontrollably; I couldn't calm down at all. There was only one thought in my mind: I'm going to die.

Soon, the oxygen was completely gone. I kept sucking on the respirator, but nothing was there. I held my last breath, held it until the limit, and under the intense pain, I instinctively breathed through my mouth. A sour, choking rush slammed into my lungs, and my whole body instantly convulsed.

I was underwater. I didn't have a second breath to cough the water out of my lungs. After a few choking spasms, that sour numbness spread through my entire chest, and it felt like my chest was about to explode.

I can't describe what I felt afterward, and I had no idea how long I struggled. Slowly, those sensations faded away. Everything around me grew quiet. The light in front of my eyes gradually shrank. I heard some strange sounds in my ears, like someone talking, or maybe the sound of water.

In the next instant, everything went dark.

At that moment, I thought I was dead, with no chance of turning back. I didn't die at the hands of a zombie—I drowned instead. Grandfather was right: since dying by a zombie's hand is death, and drowning is also death, why fear zombies but not water? Humans really are ironic creatures.

Fortunately, that final sense of calm wasn't bad. If everyone could be so peaceful and serene when they die, then there's no need to fear death itself—it's the time leading up to death that's harder to bear.

When I woke up again, I felt a hint of surprise at first, but for a long time, my ability to think wasn't functioning, so I couldn't understand that surprise. I had no idea what it meant.

Gradually, little by little, my consciousness returned.

The first thing that came to me was pain. A fierce pain started in my hands, then slowly spread, and finally reached my lungs. It felt like there was a wire mesh in my lungs; every breath I took made me feel like I was about to die again.

I put all my energy into enduring the pain. I don't know how long passed before I realized I had adapted. Then, my other senses gradually revived.

Everything I had experienced before now began to surface in my mind: coming back from Fangchenggang, going into the water, the strange green light in the ancient village at the bottom of the lake, the strange Han-style ancient building, the iron figurines, the well, the final suffocation... bit by bit, I remembered it all. Then I wondered—I was definitely going to die then, so how did I wake up again? For a second, it felt like a dream, like I had been sleeping here all along, and the drowning was just a nightmare. But the pain all over told me that was impossible. I must have been rescued for some reason.

I tried to move my hand and found it very difficult, but I could feel the dampness around me, like I was on a wet rock. My ears and eyes began to respond. I heard sounds beside me, gradually becoming clear. Someone was humming a song, and...

It was Fatty's voice!

The singing was awful, but I got excited instantly. I used all my strength to turn my head and look, but the pain made me cry out.

The singing stopped immediately. Fatty shouted, "He's awake! He's awake!" Then light appeared in front of me, and a fat face covered in stubble came into view. At the same time, I also saw Poker-face, standing behind Fatty, holding a torch.

I stared at these two idiots, at first not believing it. Fatty started talking, and my mind still couldn't fully understand what he was saying, but I clearly knew it wasn't an illusion—I really saw them! Suddenly a flood of emotions hit me. The intense fear, hope, worry, and all the other feelings I had been holding onto finally let go. I didn't know how to express it. Tears wanted to fall, but I couldn't help laughing.

Having been through so much, the intense panic in utter loneliness, the despair of brushing past death—and then finding oneself safe and sound—such wild joy could drive a person crazy. But that wasn't why I was so overwhelmed. What I thought was: no matter what the situation is now, I'm finally with them again, finally not alone! It felt so good! Twitching and laughing at the same time must have looked very strange. Fatty obviously thought I was having a fit. He immediately helped me up, slapped me twice without a word, then pounded hard on my back and said, "Breathe! Breathe! Take deep breaths!"

He hit very hard. My head buzzed, and my out-of-control emotions were knocked right out of me. When he pounded me again, I suddenly felt extremely nauseous and started vomiting and coughing. I don't know what came out.

After vomiting, I turned my head to look at them with difficulty. My vision grew clearer, and all kinds of sounds became more layered.

"How do you feel? Still hurting?" I heard Fatty ask.

Afraid he would hit me again, I immediately waved my hand, but I couldn't speak.

He was clearly relieved and said, "Thank God, you're awake. Damn it! I thought for sure you'd end up a vegetable this time, and then I'd be really guilty."

"What the hell happened? How am I not dead?" I asked instinctively.

"You'll have to ask the King of Hell about that," Fatty said. He helped me up and leaned me against the stone wall, telling me to relax.

I was fully alert now. I looked at them again. Two weeks without seeing each other, and they both looked like they'd been working as illegal miners in a small coal pit. They were only wearing underwear, looking utterly bedraggled, faces covered in stubble, and they'd lost a lot of weight. What relieved me was that despite their rough appearance, they seemed in good spirits and clearly hadn't been injured.

I turned my head to look around. In the distance, a small campfire was burning, though I didn't know what it was made of. It illuminated the surroundings. This was a flat, man-made cave, about thirty square meters in size. Standing up, I could touch the ceiling with my head. Water was seeping everywhere, like rain, and the ground was wet. The rock was a mix of dark green and other colors, beautiful under the torchlight. On the other side, there was another opening about half a person's height but very narrow and long, like it had been stabbed out with a knife. I had no idea where it led. "Holy shit! Where is this? What happened to you guys? I was so worried, I thought you were dead," I cursed.

Fatty grinned and said, "It's a long story. We were worried you wouldn't find us. So, did you find this place because of my 'messenger'?"

Mentioning that "messenger" made me furious. I wanted to strangle Fatty on the spot, but I didn't have the strength, so I gave up and cursed, "Your messenger was so damn unprofessional, he nearly killed me!"

"Hell! I'm lucky I even found that thing," Fatty said. "Hurry up and tell me—how did you get here?"

I was annoyed by his question. "How should I know? Didn't you guys rescue me?"

Fatty was excited at first, but when he heard that, his expression suddenly froze. "We rescued you?"

"Yeah!" So I told him the whole story: how I found the giant salamander, then went down the well.

After listening, Fatty made a very strange face. He turned to look at Poker-face, who was sitting on a rock behind him, his expression uncertain.

"What's wrong?" I asked, puzzled. "Isn't that how you saved me?"

Fatty shook his head slowly and said, "You have absolutely no idea how you got here?"

I was completely baffled: "Know what?" Looking at their expressions, I suddenly felt something was off and immediately asked, "What’s going on? What happened to me?"

Fatty slumped to the ground, cursed under his breath, looking utterly defeated. He sighed and said, "If you don’t know, then we know even less."

I couldn’t help getting angry and snapped, "What the hell is going on? What kind of charade are you playing? Tell me now!"

Fatty gestured for me to ask Poker-face. I looked at him, and he said, "About five hours ago, you appeared right where you’re lying now, deeply unconscious, almost no sign of life. We performed some basic first aid, and then, after five hours, you woke up."

I waited for Poker-face to continue, but he shut his mouth.

"That’s it?" I asked in surprise.

"That’s it," he said in a low voice.

"You didn’t mention how you rescued me," I said.

Fatty looked at me. "You’re missing the point. We didn’t rescue you at all. Five hours ago, you appeared right where you’re lying now." He emphasized each word, "Appeared—meaning there was nothing there before, and suddenly you were lying there."

I frowned, taking a moment to grasp what he meant. "Are you saying I just showed up here on my own?"

Fatty nodded. "Me and Xiao Ge were in another cave—it was drier there—but I came here every now and then to get water. When I found there was suddenly another person in this cave, I nearly shit myself. But your Fatty爷 immediately recognized you, called Xiao Ge over, and we brought you back together. You had already stopped breathing, so if you need to thank someone for saving your life, your Fatty爷 is qualified to play that role. Later, afraid you might have some fractures, we didn’t dare move you and just waited here for you to wake up."

Seeing the look in Fatty’s eyes, I knew he wasn’t bullshitting, and I fell into deep thought.

This development was completely unexpected. I had thought that after passing out, I might have had some adventure and that Fatty and Poker-face had found me in time and rescued me, but that wasn’t the case. Yet I couldn’t have gotten here on my own while unconscious, nor could I have teleported. What was going on?

Could it be that someone else had rescued me? Someone else had saved me and brought me here?

That place was a disused well shaft at the bottom of the lake—no one would just pass by. That meant someone had been following me.

I told Fatty my thoughts and asked if there was any trace of that, but he and Poker-face didn’t react, as if they disagreed.

Fatty gave a bitter smile, patted me, and vented loudly, "Fuck! That’s impossible. If someone could bring you here, then damn it, it definitely wasn’t a 'person.'"

"Why?" I asked.

He smiled bitterly again and said, "Can you stand up? Let me take you around this cave—you’ll see for yourself and know what the problem is."