The characters carved here are very rough and the shapes are ugly, but they are extremely forceful and clear. The flashlight has been scratched to the point of deformation; that might be why it keeps flickering. There’s a thick layer of waterproof tape on the glass cover of the flashlight, and its color is green—this is where the eerie glow comes from! I can’t help but mutter under my breath; that fat guy has completely taken my soul away! Even if a search team were to see it, they would probably be scared to death.

The meaning of these characters is very clear: it tells me that they are still alive, but they need rescue. The clue to finding them is the siphon tide. A flashlight like this won’t last more than ten hours at most, and since it’s still emitting such bright light, it hasn’t been tied to the giant salamander for long; they must be doing quite well.

That fat guy is really something! This giant salamander has only just appeared, clearly indicating he predicted I would go into the water at this moment. However, this place is at least over a thousand meters away from where they went missing. How did they manage to reach the bottom of the well without oxygen tanks?

Forget it, I don’t want to think too much about it. I just feel a sense of clarity wash over me, as if a vague weight has finally sunk. Knowing they are definitely still alive makes everything else unimportant.

What matters most now is to rescue them. When I saw the siphon tide phenomenon on the shore before, I speculated that the bottom of this lake might be connected to an underground river. Looking again now, that inference was correct, and the place where they are trapped is near that opening.

The fat guy said to follow the water flow, but the siphon tide hasn’t started yet; how could there be any water flow? I tossed aside the flashlight, wanting to feel the water flow around me with my hands, but the icy lake water left my hands numb. I could feel rough objects, but my sensitivity to the water flow was completely ineffective, and from what I could see, the water flow was still.

After thinking for a moment, I came up with a method: I grabbed a handful of sediment from the iron man and let it disperse in the water. Under the light of the exploration lamp, the white floating particles quickly spread out. I watched closely as they gradually settled in the water, and then, extremely slowly, began to move toward the well opening.

Sure enough! There is indeed a very, very slow water flow moving downwards toward the well. The siphon tide still exists, but it’s too weak to be perceived by the naked eye. Looking at the direction now, the oxygen pressure on the other side might be very low, causing the water flow here to be drawn back that way.

I glanced at the oxygen gauge; there’s still some time left. I only brought this set of oxygen equipment. If I can’t find them this time, I might have to wait for A Gui to bring in the other equipment for a second chance, which would be two to three days later. I must confirm whether they can hold on for that long. If possible, given the short distance, I hope I can bring them out all at once.

I estimated the time: after the oxygen gauge hits zero, the compressed air inside can still last for twenty minutes. As long as I control the return trip to around ten minutes, I’ll have at least ten minutes left for exploration.

There’s no time to waste! I unfastened the oxygen tank on me, held it in my hand, and sank it into the well before diving in headfirst. The well is very narrow, but fortunately, it’s been dug straight down. I sank down quickly, watching the altitude gauge; soon the oxygen pressure exceeded seven atmospheres, and the depth was approaching ninety meters.

With my head down, the discomfort in my body reached its limit. Previously, I hadn’t felt it due to the intense mental strain, but now that I was slightly more relaxed, the overwhelming pressure began to cause nausea that surged at the back of my throat.

At this moment, I absolutely could not vomit. There was gas trapped in my organs, and if I threw up, the pressure might force everything into my trachea. I had to bear it, using almost all my strength to focus on the light spot from the probe.

Soon, the blue bricks disappeared, revealing the veins of the rock. Clearly, their work had only reached this point, and below was just simple excavation. It was then that I began to sense something was wrong; I heard a strange sound coming from the depths of the well, and the flow of water was gradually increasing.

The more I listened, the more I felt something was off. It sounded like the roar of very turbulent water. Just as I was about to stop and listen carefully, the oxygen tank below was suddenly yanked by a force and began to shake.

I was biting down on the respirator, with the breathing tube attached to the oxygen tank, which was already quite laborious. With that shake, I lost my grip, and the respirator slipped from my mouth, sinking deeper.

I immediately rushed forward to grab it. Fortunately, I had taken precautions; there was a strap around my neck, so I tried to pull the oxygen tank back up using the strap. Unexpectedly, the tank sank more than a meter and quickly disappeared from my sight.

In that moment, I saw the bottom of the well. It turned out that beneath the well shaft was a vertical waterway, and the water flowing through it was extremely turbulent, swiftly pulling the oxygen tank away. Just as I was about to curse, the strap connected to my neck tightened first, with such force that it nearly choked me.

Seeing myself being dragged into the rushing water, I bit down hard, trying to use the strength of my neck to pull the oxygen tank out, but after just a few seconds, I realized it was impossible. Moreover, because the blood vessels in my neck were constricted, my brain was starting to starve for blood.

I cursed the fat guy in my heart, wondering why he hadn’t written this down. I thought about trying to unfasten the strap with one hand, but if I did that, wouldn’t I die anyway? At this point, I could hardly think, so I simply relaxed my limbs and sank down, letting the current carry me along. After all, the fat guy had told me to go with the siphon tide.

Before I could even register what was happening, I was pulled down by an immense force. Half a second later, I was already dragged into the waterway, spinning as the current swept me along. I tried to maintain my position, but my shoulders kept bumping against the sides. Fortunately, the waterway was two or three people wide and had been smoothed out by years of rushing water. Otherwise, if there were any sharp corners, I would surely have been injured.

By chance, the oxygen tank was also spinning in the water and ended up next to me; a slight delay caused it to collide with me. At this point, I was already short of breath and could hardly hold on, so I grabbed it without thinking.

After a struggle in the turbulent water, I finally found the snake-like breathing tube and hurriedly shoved it back into my mouth. I hadn’t even taken a breath yet when I hit a steep drop, tumbling down several times, my head bouncing off the walls like a pinball.

This fall completely dazed me, and for a long time, I didn’t know what was happening. I instinctively bit down hard on the respirator, not knowing how long I was carried forward until I suddenly heard a loud crash as the oxygen tank collided with something blocking the waterway.

I woke up, wanting to protect my head but had no time to react, and then I crashed into that thing with a dull thud, leaving me disoriented. I wasn’t as resilient as an oxygen tank; after the impact, I could only be pressed down hard by the water flow. I raised my hand to feel around and discovered it was an iron railing. I used all my strength to turn around and feel for an opening, but there was none.

Could this be the destination? Looking up, I saw no way out; all around me were solid rock walls—a dead end. I couldn’t believe it. I adjusted my position and carefully shone my flashlight around, but indeed, there was nothing.

Damn it! This is really strange! The fat guy said I could find them by following the siphon tide, so why is it a dead end now?

Then I suddenly broke out in a cold sweat, thinking, oh no, could it be that the fat guy is located in the middle of the waterway? Did I miss it when I was knocked out just now?

The speed was too fast earlier; I hadn’t even thought about looking around, and it was impossible to react quickly enough to find an exit and get in. Fortunately, I felt I hadn’t been swept away for long, and if that entrance was indeed in the passage, it should be nearby.

This place was relatively spacious. I strapped on my oxygen tank and began to try to push against the current, grabbing onto the rocks to move back. But after just two steps, I realized it was quite dangerous—the current was too strong! Even where I could grab hold, I had to use all my strength to move, not to mention the rock walls were incredibly smooth.

I tried various methods and angles, but all resulted in failure. The most successful attempt was about ten steps away from the iron railing, but when my foot slipped, I was immediately sent back to square one, completely exhausted.

Pressed by the current, I increasingly sensed that things were not looking good.

This place seemed quite ordinary, but it was definitely a dead end; I was essentially trapped in a place without a cage. Why didn’t the fat guy mention this detail? If I can’t get out, he’ll be the reason for my death!

I looked at the oxygen gauge; the reading was already unreadable, clearly indicating that it could run out at any moment. I started to panic and shook the iron railing vigorously, hoping to see if I could remove it and move back, but found it was all secured with iron mortar in the stone crevices—solid as a rock.

Behind me was pitch black. Shining the flashlight, I saw the waterway sharply descending, with the current becoming more turbulent. Perhaps that was the reason for the iron railing here, to prevent people from being swept into the narrower waterway.

For a moment, I truly panicked; even my breathing apparatus felt like it was slipping away. I quickly took a deep breath and told myself to stay calm.

In the past, I always managed to think of some way out when trapped because humans are creatures that can unleash tremendous potential as long as there’s a glimmer of hope. I began to think rapidly, continuously looking and feeling around, trying to find a spark of inspiration.

At first, I was full of confidence, believing that there was always a way out. But what left me despairing was that this time was different from before; although it was an open environment, it was incredibly simple. After feeling around for a long time, I only confirmed that I couldn’t overcome the current or dismantle the iron railing.

Despite continuing to think, a vague thought began to form in my mind: this time, there was no escape!

It was certain death.