Chapter 70: Raging Sea: Break Out

I yelled, "Not good! That Poker-face is way too fast! We're still charging in from outside—if it explodes all at once, we'll definitely be in trouble."

But by the time I realized it, it was too late. I saw a sudden flash of white light, and Fatty had already tackled me to the ground. Then there was a deafening explosion, the entire tomb chamber shook violently, and a scorching blast wave hurled us into the air. I spun around six or seven times in midair, was thrown over thirty feet away, and smacked my head against the wall.

That hit really was solid. Luckily Fatty had knocked me down, or my neck would have snapped. The moment I hit the wall, I lost consciousness. I couldn't see anything, only heard a ringing in my ears, and thought I was dead. But after a while, light suddenly appeared before my eyes. I tried to open them and immediately saw the world spinning, my vision full of yellow dust, so dizzy I wanted to vomit.

I struggled to my feet, already hearing a jumble of chaotic noises, but I couldn't make them out. I only felt terribly loud noise and a splitting headache. In the confusion, Poker-face came coughing out of the smoke and asked, "Are you all right!"

I bit my tongue trying to speak and waved at him to indicate I was okay. The two of us covered our mouths and went looking for Fatty. After two steps, I saw Fatty sitting there, a piece of broken brick had scraped a patch of skin off his shoulder. When he saw Poker-face, he cursed, "Holy shit, your goddamn movements were way too fast! At least wait for us to back off a few steps first. Another two centimeters to the side and one of my hands would be wrecked."

Poker-face spread his hands and showed us the temple of a pair of glasses in his hand. "You've

"Ah! It's not you!" We were both taken aback.

The force and precision just now were definitely from someone extremely formidable. If not him, then who? Fatty was right beside me, and from the look of it, his aim wasn't nearly that good. As for me, it was even more impossible. If we're talking about anyone else, there's only one person—a sudden flash of insight struck me, and I quickly turned to look for A Ning.

Fatty and I thought the same. We ran over to the corner to check, but there was no trace of her. Fatty cursed, "It's that woman! Damn, she really was faking it!"

Poker-face showed an expression of disbelief. It seemed he had been very confident in his earlier judgment and hadn't expected to be wrong. I had to reevaluate this woman and said, "This woman is truly a master. I think she's an old hand in the underworld. I've never seen anyone play dumb so convincingly."

Fatty said, "I think she's not just an old hand; she's a goddamn Oscar-worthy actress. Next time we catch her, I won't believe any act she puts on." With that, he grabbed his weapon and was about to go after her, but Poker-face quickly stopped him and said, "No time. Forget it."

I also urged him, "Don't stir up trouble. The most important thing now is to see if we've blown open the dome! If you can't swallow this anger, we can settle it after we get out." Before I finished speaking, a long, mournful sound came from above, as if something else was slowly cracking. The sound wasn't loud, but it made my heart leap into my throat. I thought, No way, one blast like that and it's going to collapse? You're giving me too much credit.

Fatty was still unwilling, but his face turned pale at the sound. He asked, "What the hell is that noise? Xiao Wu, from the looks of it, it seems more serious than just blowing a hole, doesn't it?"

I looked up at the hole we'd blasted and couldn't help but gasp. The bomb inside the dried corpse was more powerful than I'd imagined. The iron strips above were all blown apart, creating a hole less than half a meter in diameter. The waterproof layer on top of the brick dome was shattered, and seawater gushed in, forming a small waterfall. The strange sound I'd heard earlier was the growing roar of the waterfall. I figured that soon, the opening would be completely washed away.

Meanwhile, the golden-thread nanmu pillar beside us was blown apart, with a huge crack running from top to bottom, showing signs of collapse. This priceless pillar was now completely ruined.

It seemed that the broken pillar had affected a crossbeam above, which might really collapse. From the sound, the crossbeam must have already cracked. Even if it didn't collapse now, it would definitely be doomed later.

I tried to reassure Fatty, "Don't worry. This tomb is sturdier than most. As long as there's no earthquake right now, it won't collapse."

Before I finished speaking, the floor beneath our feet began to tremble. I had already anticipated that the airtight structure of this underwater tomb would be compromised, and the seawater below would keep surging up. I just hadn't expected the commotion to be this violent. I felt dizzy with tension.

The trembling grew more intense, terrifyingly so, and it was all too real. If it kept accelerating, the dome might not collapse first, but the floor we were standing on would.

Fatty was scared out of his wits. He shouted, "Holy shit! Why is the earth shaking and the mountains rocking now? It's not really an earthquake, is it? I say, Xiao Wu, what exactly did you blow up just now?"

I explained to him and then said, "Don't worry, it's normal. We need to be prepared. Maybe soon water will burst out from every crack here. Be careful not to get hit by the spray—the pressure is huge, like a punch. It could knock you over." Just as I finished, a strange sound erupted, and the green stone slab covering the thief hole was blasted into the air by a powerful current. Seawater shot up like a fountain, reaching seven or eight meters high. Before I could react, another object was ejected from the thief hole, slammed into the dome, and then fell onto the stone platform in the middle. It happened so fast I couldn't make out what it was, but there was nothing else in the hole, so I guessed it was the corpse woman.

This thing being flushed out was a minor nuisance, or perhaps a major one. We couldn't light a fire underwater, and if it got entangled with us, it would be disastrous. But I had no time to worry about it now. The entire floor around the thief hole had bulged up, like a volcanic eruption, surging violently. The water level was rising extremely fast. Almost instantly, we were already floating five or six meters above the ground.

I looked around for A Ning. By now, the smoke from the explosion had almost cleared, but I still couldn't see her. I figured she might be behind one of the pillars. Fatty wasn't a great swimmer and was struggling, so he couldn't bother with her. But since there was only one exit, we'd inevitably run into her later. Fatty kept shooting me meaningful looks, probably wanting to settle the score with her later. But I couldn't bring myself to hurt a woman, so I ignored him.

We floated for a few more minutes until our heads touched the dome. Suddenly, Fatty swam off to the side. I didn't know what he was up to and yelled, "This place will be completely submerged in less than a minute! What are you doing? Do you want to die?"

He swam straight to a night pearl, knocked one off with his weapon, stuffed it into his underwear, then swam back and said, "Grabbing a little souvenir to compensate for my mental distress. Just for good luck."

I almost wanted to strangle him, but at that moment I had no words to curse him and no time to. In an instant, the water had already reached below my eyes. I tilted my nose up, greedily taking in the last few breaths of air. Seconds later, my ears went cold, and I was fully submerged.

I made a gesture to Fatty. He was the worst swimmer, so I signaled him to go first. He shook his head, hinting that he was too fat and might get stuck in the hole, which would kill us all. I nodded and swam into the broken hole first. The hole was wider at the bottom and narrower at the top. As I stuck my head through, I encountered about seventeen or eighteen palm-thick layers of sea sand. The loosest sand on top kept collapsing, forming a white haze. I couldn't open my eyes, so I just kicked hard and swam upward.

The timing was perfect. The water was still shallow at that point, but I had already reached my breath-holding limit. Almost frantically, I swam up. As soon as I broke the surface, I nearly fainted. I gasped for air and panted heavily.

A few seconds later, Fatty and Poker-face surfaced almost simultaneously. Fatty choked on water as soon as he came up, coughing and laughing at the same time: "Holy shit! I never thought we'd actually make it! I, Wang Fatty, am finally out! Haha!"

I steadied myself and looked around. It was sunset. The fiery clouds on the horizon were reflected in the sea, exceptionally enchanting. The sun was deep red, casting a dim yellow light, wrapping everything in a gentle hue—a magnificent and peaceful scene.

I had seen a few sunsets along the way, but never one this beautiful. I was filled with emotion. But then my leg started to cramp. I quickly turned to look for our boat and found it moored not far away near a reef. I felt a bit relieved. With a boat, we could escape this bitter sea soon and get some good sleep.

After Fatty came to his senses, he remembered something and suddenly dove underwater again. I followed him down and saw A Ning stuck in the hole, struggling desperately but unable to get out.

Strange. This woman was much slimmer than Fatty. If Fatty got out so easily, there was no reason for her to be stuck.

A Ning's breath was running out. Suddenly, her throat tightened, and a stream of bubbles came out of her mouth. Her eyes rolled back. Fatty and I dove down, each grabbing one of her hands, and pulled her out.

That's when I realized there was another force pulling her downward from inside. But with two of us, we had the advantage in strength. In one pull, we yanked A Ning out of the hole. I saw a large tangle of hair wrapped around her and immediately understood what had happened.

The hole was now filled with black hair. It looked like the corpse woman might crawl out soon. Better not stay in the water. We surfaced, and Fatty checked her breathing. Her body was limp, as if she had lost all strength, but she was still breathing. The three of us swam back to the boat and pulled the woman aboard. She kept vomiting water and rolling her eyes. It looked pretty bad.

I didn't know much about drowning, so I shouted, "Captain! Someone's drowning! Come out and help!"

I called out twice, but there was no response at all. Becoming puzzled, I first told Fatty to keep watch, then went into the cabin to look around. To my surprise, there wasn't a single person. A strange feeling suddenly welled up inside me. This was impossible—we were far out at sea, how could the entire crew just vanish? Even if they went swimming, at least a few should have stayed to watch the boat.

I shouted a few more times, but still no response. It was Fatty who answered me. He ran in and asked what was going on. I pointed for him to see and said, "Something's wrong—there's no one on the boat!"

Fatty was taken aback. He looked around as well, then scratched his head and said, "There really is no one. But the fish in the hold are still alive, which means they were fishing just half an hour ago. In such a short time, where could they have gone?"