Chapter 32: Underwater
“Did you see that wave of zombies?” Kevin slumped weakly in the back seat. “They were probably officers or something originally.”
“The military is also exposed to extremely high infection risks,” Fang Yue concluded. “Internal infection could happen among them at any moment.”
Chi Xiaoxian was still catching his breath. Ever since moments ago, his heart rate had been behaving strangely, like matching the string tone of a certain frequency—likely influenced by that horde of zombies earlier.
A terrifying thought suddenly popped into his mind: that group of zombies was using an unknown frequency to draw him in, to compel him to belong.
A chill surged up from the soles of his feet, running wildly through his limbs and meridians.
Gradually, his vision blurred. He seemed to see his hand clutching his chest transform into an unidentified shape composed of white silk threads.
Chi Xiaoxian was startled. Yet after a blink, his arm returned to its original state.
He extended that hand, staring at it repeatedly, somewhat shaken.
“What’s wrong?” Fang Yue detected Chi Xiaoxian’s anomaly, slowing the vehicle speed down.
Another severe headache struck. Chi Xiaoxian was forced to curl his body up on the seat, clutching his head as he let out low groans.
In that single second when Fang Yue got distracted looking toward him, Kevin suddenly cried out in terror: “Ahead! Ahead!”
Fang Yue slammed on the brakes.
Less than two meters away from the car, a massive rift tearing through the bridge deck stretched across their path. Because it sat right at the crest of the bridge’s slope, it had remained hidden in their visual blind spot all along.
The rift was as wide as an entire car length, with pitch-black river water below. Had they not braked in time, they likely would have fallen straight down.
“Look,” Kevin pointed ahead.
On the ground lay a massive patch of charred blackness, the edges of the bridge rift jagged, exposing steel structures inside, with a semi-circular hole right in the middle of the bridge deck.
It looked as though an explosion had occurred here.
Chi Xiaoxian slowly lowered the hands clutching his head. The buzzing noise in his ears vanished temporarily, replaced by a fine, subtle sound—resembling glass that had already been smashed into a spiderweb, the cracks expanding further.
Gazing at the intact glass of the front window, Chi Xiaoxian suddenly realized what that sound was.
“Reverse! Reverse back fast!” he blurted out.
Fang Yue’s reaction was lightning-fast. Almost the instant his words left his mouth, he pulled the gear lever into reverse and slammed his foot on the accelerator.
Shattering sounds originated almost from beneath the tires as broken pieces of the collapsing bridge plummeted into the river with loud thuds.
Everyone felt their bodies sink downward—the front-left tire caved in, trapped at the broken gap.
Fang Yue had already stomped the reverse gas pedal to its lowest point, yet the vehicle was still sliding subtly downward.
“Get off the car fast!” Fang Yue urged.
Before his sentence landed, with a sharp *CRACK*, the entire section of the bridge deck snapped completely, the front of the car plunging headfirst toward the water surface.
*SPLASH—!*
The off-road vehicle plummeted into the river, kicking up a massive spray of water.
All three had their feet pointing up and heads down, crashing almost straight toward the ceiling. Fortunately, at the final moment, the seatbelts’ cushioning pulled them back.
Hanging upside down was thoroughly uncomfortable—blood rushing to the brain, top-heavy, with a faint urge to vomit.
The car continued to sink non-stop, gradually becoming enveloped by river water and silt.
Through a single beam of light from the headlights, Chi Xiaoxian saw countless dancing particles of silt and impurities in the water, along with strings of tiny bubbles rising continuously upward.
Finally, just as the car was about to sink to the bottom, the sound of a heavy object crashing into the water echoed above the surface once more.
Everyone felt a shock beneath their feet. Following a heavy *BANG*, the car sank downward once more, the ceiling together with the glass windows upside down, practically embedded into the silt at the bottom of the riverbed.
As the car body descended continuously, the field of view outside the window at the riverbed vanished inch by inch. The entire world was reduced to a tiny patch of space inside the car and that faint light on the ceiling.
From the gaps in the car doors drifted the damp, muddy stench of river water.
Fang Yue switched on the flashlight, a stronger beam illuminating the inverted faces of the three inside the cab, all flushed slightly red due to blood rushing to their heads.
“Can everyone swim?” Fang Yue asked.
They had to escape quickly; the car wasn’t completely sealed. If they waited for river water to pour in completely, things would become even more troublesome.
Chi Xiaoxian shook his head. Kevin, on the other hand, nodded—he had just jumped off the bridge earlier and swum back up.
Fang Yue: “Then I’ll take Chi Xiaoxian up first. Pay attention to your own safety. You can find a plastic bag to inflate to help you float up.”
Hearing him say this, Chi Xiaoxian quickly rummaged around for the plastic bag containing food supplies.
Due to the vehicle being inverted, the bag originally placed at his feet had fallen onto the ceiling. Hanging upside down, Chi Xiaoxian fished around for a long time before locating those two bags.
One large, one small. He rolled the larger one into a ball and tossed it across the space to Kevin. The two filled the plastic bags with air and tied tight knots, creating auxiliary floats to help them rise.
Fang Yue pulled the hammer out of his backpack, located a spot where the silt was buried relatively shallow, reminded Chi Xiaoxian and Kevin to prepare themselves, then swung the hammer down with force.
*BANG, BANG!*
A crack appeared from the point of impact, followed by two, then five, spreading out like a spiderweb.
Unbuckling his seatbelt, Fang Yue braced his back against the seat, planted both legs at the center point of that crack, and kicked hard. A massive sheet of glass shattered completely, river water pouring in rapidly with loud gurgles.
Chi Xiaoxian and Kevin had unbuckled their seatbelts long ago. River water submerged up to their calves in an instant, the water level rising rapidly.
“I’ll go out first, then catch you on the outside,” Fang Yue turned to say to Chi Xiaoxian.
Having spoken, he held his breath, kicked off the seat back with his feet, used the reaction force to grab hold of that broken opening, hauled himself up with all his arm strength, and squeezed his way out.
Not daring to delay for a split second, Chi Xiaoxian strapped the plastic bag to his waist, followed behind Fang Yue, and moved to squeeze through that hole as well.
However, right as he squeezed outward, he realized a problem—the width of the inflated plastic bag was larger than this hole opening.
Fang Yue was still waiting for him outside. Chi Xiaoxian could only decisively abandon that inflated plastic bag, hold his breath, and squeeze out in one go—he trusted Fang Yue.
Fang Yue held his arm, kicking his legs rapidly in the water, bringing him toward the water surface.
Though Chi Xiaoxian couldn’t swim, he knew the rules of underwater rescue—never entangle the rescuer. Even though holding his breath had reached his limit and brought on a sense of dizziness, he still relaxed his limbs, entrusting his safety entirely to Fang Yue.
During the process of floating upward, Chi Xiaoxian’s heart suddenly began pounding wildly once more, the frequency matching almost the exact same rhythm as before.
Chi Xiaoxian wanted to open his eyes underwater to look around. He knew that in theory humans could open their eyes underwater, but when it came to doing it himself, his eyelids felt sealed shut by the river water, instinctively held tight.
*Three, two, one,* Chi Xiaoxian counted down in his head, then opened his eyes abruptly.
The cornea coming into abrupt contact with river water burned with pain, so intense that Chi Xiaoxian felt as if his skull were being peeled open.
In a state of grogginess, he saw a blurred shadow float past among the falling debris of the bridge, not far behind Fang Yue.
In the next second, however, the water pressure overhead vanished abruptly as Fang Yue pulled him out of the water surface.
Chi Xiaoxian gasped heavily for air.
They were in a section of rapid river currents. Before Chi Xiaoxian could take two full breaths, a wave slapped straight onto his face, choking him into a fit of coughing.
Fang Yue brought him close to the riverbed where the water was very shallow, and Chi Xiaoxian scrambled onto a reef.
They waited for a short while, yet Kevin didn’t surface.
That shouldn’t be—Kevin should have broken through the window and come out right on their heels. Furthermore, swimming alone, he definitely should have swum up far faster than Fang Yue bringing someone along.
“I’ll go find him; he might be low on stamina.”
Fang Yue made a decisive choice. Knowing every second underwater was crucial, he wiped the water from his face quickly, preparing to submerge again.
Chi Xiaoxian grabbed his wrist in a firm grip. “There seems to be something under the water. Be careful.”
“Mm,” Fang Yue nodded. “I will.”
Chi Xiaoxian released his grip on his wrist, watching with his own eyes as Fang Yue submerged back to the riverbed.
The river water lacked a single speck of light, resembling a deep, dark hole that swallowed Fang Yue whole.
Chi Xiaoxian shivered uncontrollably from the cold, squatting down to hug his knees, staring unblinkingly at the water surface.
His heart continued to pound wildly in his chest, like a frantic bird trapped in a cramped cage, seeking to break free at all costs.
Moving his lips, he silently chanted “tick-tock,” each repetition marking one second.
Having silently chanted nearly a hundred times, neither Fang Yue nor Kevin had surfaced.
*Perhaps he was counting each second a bit too fast,* Chi Xiaoxian comforted himself.
Counting another hundred times, Chi Xiaoxian could no longer comfort himself. Clutching the wet clothes over his chest tightly, he took a deep breath, replaying Fang Yue’s swimming posture repeatedly in his mind.
*Just hold breath, kick water, stroke arms… very simple. He learned everything quickly.*
Stepping off the reef, he entered the river water.
The icy water made him shiver twice in close succession, his feet quickly losing sensation from the freeze once more.
Suddenly, with a loud *splash*, water spray erupted from the river surface, and a withered yellow head emerged from within.
“Kevin!” Chi Xiaoxian said in delight.
Kevin thrashing his arms wildly as he paddled toward the riverbank, looking like a bird fallen into water. Chi Xiaoxian quickly ran two steps forward, grabbed him in a firm grip, and hauled him toward the riverbank.
Choking on some water, Kevin lay on the riverbank coughing violently. Before he could recover, he heard Chi Xiaoxian ask in urgency, “Where’s Fang Yue? Why isn’t he with you?!”
Kevin shook his head in pain, pointing at the river surface, coughing several times before saying, “We got entangled by something underwater. I couldn’t open my eyes—I only know he gave me a push, and then I couldn’t touch him anymore.”
“Was it a zombie underwater?”
Kevin shook his head again: “I didn’t see; I only felt movement. Fang Yue should have seen it.”
Chi Xiaoxian released the hand gripping him, took a deep breath, and turned to walk into the water. Taking merely two steps, his pant leg was yanked back by Kevin.
“Are you crazy? You don’t know how to swim—how are you going to save him? Going down won’t do a damn thing!”
Chi Xiaoxian knew doing this might prove entirely useless, yet the emotional wave deep within his heart had conquered rationality. He couldn’t sit idly by and continue waiting; with every passing second of waiting, hope ebbed away further, meaning he would have to watch Fang Yue’s hourglass of life run out bit by bit with his own eyes.
He could not tolerate that.
Anyway, he was already a zombie; if he died, perhaps it would even ease the survival pressure and danger for those around him…
Fang Yue was different, though!
He had to take this gamble!
Taking a deep breath, Chi Xiaoxian plunged beneath the water, the icy currents stabbing into his muscles and bones like cold blades, causing his muscles to contract abruptly.
Having failed to stop Chi Xiaoxian from entering the water, Kevin stomped his foot hard and let out a deep sigh.
He lacked the strength to submerge again to help; he had eaten too little, and jumping off the bridge earlier and swimming back up had exhausted his remaining stamina. Had it not been for Fang Yue, he likely would have drowned at the riverbed.
Kevin felt a deep sense of helplessness.
—
At the same time, having submerged beneath the water, Chi Xiaoxian kicked hard against the rock wall with his feet, gliding toward the deep riverbed, then forcing his eyes open.
This time he adapted far better than the first, though his eyes still felt a sour, dry pain like salt had been scattered inside.
His somewhat long hair floated through the river water like seaweeds, obscuring his vision from time to time. Brushing his hair behind his ears, Chi Xiaoxian forced his eyes open, searching through his surroundings with great difficulty.
Within this chaotic gloom, however, the only things visible were items within two meters of his body. Any further out, nothing could be seen—an unknown, pitch-black void, with the sole flashlight still on Fang Yue.
*BANG! BANG!* His heart struck heavily twice out of nowhere.
Chi Xiaoxian, descending continuously, halted his thrashing. Realizing something, he simply focused his mind to sense the anomaly originating from his heart.
A moment later, stroking his arms, he kicked his legs back with force in the water, striving to stroke toward his front-right.
*BANG, BANG, BANG!* His heart continued to beat at an abnormal frequency. Something in that direction seemed to be attracting him. Chi Xiaoxian didn’t understand it himself, but he trusted his instincts deeply.
Because his water-kicking posture was non-standard, he moved exceedingly slowly.
Oxygen in his lungs was gradually running out, his chest so stifled it felt ready to explode. Death seemed to arrive quietly, unraveling the rope prepared to throttle his neck bit by bit…
*Just a little bit more, can’t give up like this,* a voice flashed through Chi Xiaoxian’s mind.
Every time they encountered difficulty, Fang Yue had never thought of giving up either, instead thinking calmly through every possible way to break the deadlock. That was precisely how they had walked step by step to this point.
They had zero reason to halt their footsteps here…
It was too dark here, and too cold…
Chi Xiaoxian’s consciousness began dispersing gradually under oxygen deprivation. Just as it was about to turn into an unfeeling blank, he vaguely caught sight of a thread of light.
That light was a hazy, warm yellow, yet fragile and soft, teetering at the riverbed as if ready to be gnawed away by the gloom at any moment.
Immediately after, that light flickered and leaped twice. Right as it was on the verge of extinguishing, Chi Xiaoxian reached out and grabbed it.
That was Fang Yue’s flashlight, resting right in a patch of soft mud.
Suddenly, his other hand touched an icy, hard reef. That reef bore a protruding stone thorn that stabbed fiercely into Chi Xiaoxian’s palm, bringing his nearly chaotic consciousness back to clarity once more.
That dark-lacquered reef glinted with a cool, gloomy light in the water. It stretched across the riverbed like an ancient geological ruin, or like a reclining giant elephant—Chi Xiaoxian couldn’t make it out clearly.
Behind the giant elephant, several gray shadows flashed past out of the corner of his eye.
Chi Xiaoxian tried hard to turn his head, but those shadows vanished again at rapid speed.
An ominous feeling surged into his heart. Stroking his arms, he planted his foot on the reef, kicked hard, and swam toward the back of the reef where the shadows had been.
During this time, he fiddled with the flashlight several times. Hesitating repeatedly, the flashlight finally managed to light up faintly once more.
Only now did he take in everything before his eyes clearly.
That was not a reef, but the broken section of the fallen bridge. The jagged cross-section of the bridge was embedded into the silt of the riverbed, forming an inverted triangular archway.
The arched opening was tiny, seemingly capable of accommodating only one person, yet capable of warding off zombie intrusions as well.
A striking patch of white swayed gently at the opening, seizing hold of Chi Xiaoxian’s heart.
It resembled a tiny butterfly lost in a vast wilderness. Storms arriving abruptly, it fluttered helplessly, swaying high and low in the wind.
And Fang Yue was wearing a white shirt.
…Realizing this point, Chi Xiaoxian had no time to feel joy or excitement.
The final trace of oxygen remaining in his lungs was exhausted, and his physical stamina had reached its limit.
His consciousness snapped like a kite string, plunging straight down into an endless, boundless sky.
