Yi Sa gradually regained consciousness.
This “underwater journey” had been too long, and with all the moving and swimming around, she had expended considerable energy. This blackout was particularly deep – even drums and gongs wouldn’t have roused her; she could only wait to regain consciousness naturally.
Almost as soon as she opened her eyes, her brows furrowed, her facial features instantly turning cold and severe.
There was a heavy weight on her body – someone was pressing on her. That body odor belonged to a man.
She opened her eyes to look.
It was Zong Hang, lying on top of her, his head drooping to one side. Looking further down, she noticed his upper body seemed to be bare.
What the hell…
These days, Zong Hang hadn’t just grown smarter, he’d grown bolder too. Did he believe she couldn’t dismantle his bones from his flesh one by one…
Yi Sa’s anger flared up, and just as she was about to throw him off, she suddenly felt something strange where her hand touched.
It was Zong Hang’s back, somewhat sticky with blood, and he had been lying there motionless, his breathing weak.
Yi Sa sat up, and only then realized something was wrong: Zong Hang’s body was covered in small wounds, blood stains everywhere, some dried, some still sticky.
Each small wound seemed to have irregular tiny fragments embedded in it. Yi Sa reached out and pulled one out to examine.
It looked like a thin shell fragment, the bottom half blood-red from being embedded in flesh, its edges very irregular, likely from shattering.
Yi Sa stood up and looked around.
Not just on Zong Hang’s body, but on the nearby ground and cave walls were similar tiny fragments, and she also found some scattered bits of fishy clam meat.
Nobody would use these things as weapons. Judging from how the fragments and meat bits were scattered and stuck, they must have exploded in mid-air.
The most reasonable explanation Yi Sa could think of was: a bomb wrapped with many clams, when it exploded, the clams were also blown apart – that would explain this effect.
But the question was: who threw the bomb?
Moreover…
Yi Sa sniffed around, moved closer to the rock wall with clam meat stuck to it, then bent down to examine where fragments were embedded: the smell here was very primitive – fishy, watery, wet mud and stone – absolutely no nitrate or gunpowder smell of bombs.
She dusted off her hands as she stood up, paced a couple of steps, and then looked down at Zong Hang again.
His posture suggested he had been protecting her.
A man with little capability, whom she often despised and ordered around, was protecting her?
It felt a bit strange.
Why would Zong Hang be so protective of her?
She had only casually saved him once or twice, not expecting anything in return – not because she was particularly noble or generous, but because she felt that people nowadays couldn’t be trusted. Do good deeds for your entertainment, don’t expect gratitude or repayment.
Unexpectedly, she had encountered someone so genuine.
Yi Sa sat down cross-legged. The wounds on his back, especially those half-embedded, half-exposed shell fragments, were horrifying. She felt around her waist: apart from the Wugui dagger, she had nothing. Who would bring medicine and bandages underwater? Even if you expected to get hurt, you’d wait until you got to shore to bandage up.
She had nothing, but she couldn’t leave it untreated.
Yi Sa pulled out the fragments one by one, using her saliva-moistened hand to wipe his wounds – it would have to do. Saliva contains small amounts of lysozyme and blood coagulation factors; when there were no other options, it could be used.
One large shell fragment was embedded quite deeply. When she pulled it out, Zong Hang convulsed slightly – even unconscious, he must have felt the pain, his brow furrowing into a knot.
Yi Sa didn’t know what came over her, but as if possessed, she reached out and stroked the back of his head.
His head was round, his hair tough and fine, pressing densely against her palm.
Zong Hang’s brow relaxed somewhat.
Yi Sa startled, lifting her hand as if electrified, even shaking it quickly, as if she had done something shameful.
From childhood to adulthood, she had never shown gentleness to anyone. As a child playing with dolls, while other little girls would cuddle their dolls like treasures, her dolls all ended up dismembered, missing arms and heads. They say pets need affection – Wugui counted as her pet, right? But she always kicked and pushed it around, occasionally calling it “retarded.”
What was this now?
Yi Sa found a reason for herself: she had dealt with all sorts of complicated people, but never someone like Zong Hang; she had decoded countless obvious and hidden schemes, but Zong Hang simply had none.
If he were like Ding Xi or Chen Tu, she would know at a glance what face to put on when talking to him, when to be firm within softness, when to avoid reality and stick to appearances.
But he wasn’t like that at all, and she hadn’t figured out how to interact with him yet.
When crossing an unfamiliar river, you have to feel for stones as you go.
Yi Sa continued pulling out the clam shell fragments.
She inadvertently glanced at the back of his head again.
Honestly, it felt quite nice – that dense, soft hair covering his round head.
And Zong Hang seemed to respond well to this comfort.
Yi Sa thought that as a child, Zong Hang must have been very easy to soothe – pat his head or rub his back, and he’d sleep soundly through the night; give him a pacifier, and he’d play quietly for hours.
Unlike her – Yi Jiuge had said that she had a fierce temper even as a tiny child, crying loudly, and spitting out pacifiers whenever they were put in her mouth.
When Zong Hang woke up, he found himself lying face down.
Hey, where was Yi Sa?
He raised his head in confusion and saw Yi Sa sitting against the cave wall not far away, brows furrowed, turning the Wugui dagger in her hands.
Zong Hang quickly tried to get up, but as soon as he moved, the row of wounds on his back pulled painfully, making him grimace.
The dark memory of the clam swarm loomed over him again.
His heart beating wildly, he looked around frantically: “Where are those man-eating clams?”
Yi Sa glanced at him sideways: “What man-eating clams?”
“You know, a huge swarm, black masses of them, with teeth, they could fly, and they would self-destruct without warning… didn’t you see them? Then what did you see when you woke up?”
Yi Sa said: “When I woke up, I was lying on the ground, and you were lying over there…”
She pointed to a spot three or four meters away.
“So I dragged you over here and cleaned your wounds.”
Zong Hang looked toward where she pointed: “How did I end up there?”
“Where do you think you were?”
“I was…”
Zong Hang didn’t continue, feeling a bit disappointed: most likely the clam swarm had dragged him over there. He was so unlucky – nobody ever witnessed his heroic moments.
Suddenly remembering something, he quickly reached back to feel his back, then his buttocks.
He remembered those fragments had pierced him everywhere, including his left buttock.
Yi Sa said: “Don’t worry, I didn’t take off your pants. The fragments went through, leaving holes in your shorts. I just widened the holes to see the fragments, then pulled them out.”
Zong Hang’s face alternated between red and white as he remained silent.
In TV dramas, when the male lead gets injured and the female lead helps bandage him, why are their injuries always so strategically placed? Either exposing strong chest muscles or broad, powerful backs – why did he have to get injured on his buttocks?
Why do people need buttocks? He didn’t want buttocks anymore.
Just as he was feeling frustrated, Yi Sa asked something.
Zong Hang didn’t catch it clearly: “Huh?”
“I was asking what happened after the incident, and what’s the story with those flesh-eating clams.”
Zong Hang collected his thoughts.
Indeed, this was an important matter.
He recounted everything that happened after they got separated, from seeing the white light to encountering the flying clams, then suddenly having his blood vessels burst and losing consciousness. He didn’t mention how he tried to protect her—seeing is believing, and without any proof, saying it would seem like he was deliberately making up stories to claim credit.
Yi Sa listened carefully without interrupting, continuously flipping the dagger in her hand.
She had also seen the white light.
Like long tentacles churning in the water, she was directly swept into the swirling white light, became dizzy, and then lost consciousness.
After waiting for Zong Hang to finish, she spoke.
“While you were unconscious, I walked through this cave once. Although there are many branch passages, it’s not very large. I marked each branch entrance with my dagger and discovered three things.”
Her tone was a bit off, making Zong Hang nervous: “Which three things?”
“First, this is a dead-end cave with no exit. Seven branches either lead to dead ends or to the large dissolution cave with the clam nests you mentioned. No exit means no entrance—how did we get in?”
Zong Hang said: “Maybe you missed it? There could be hidden mechanisms or secret doors.”
Yi Sa gave him a side-eye: “You think you’re so clever? You think I wouldn’t have thought of that?”
Even a good horse can stumble sometimes—what if you missed something? But facts speak louder than words, so Zong Hang stayed quiet, secretly deciding to search the cave himself later.
“Second, Jiang Jun and Jiang Xiaoguang and the others aren’t here. Only the two of us are in this cave.”
Zong Hang made a sound of acknowledgment.
This plain “mm” also irritated her. Yi Sa said: “You’re not worried?”
Worried about what? Aren’t we discussing it right now?
Zong Hang tried to comfort her: “Haste makes waste. Let’s take it slow and think of solutions calmly.”
Yi Sa laughed in frustration: “How long have we been unconscious? Usually, opening a Jin Tang takes at most an hour or two, understand? It’s possible that while we were unconscious, Jiang Jun and the others had already opened the Jin Tang and left.”
“We’re trapped in a mysterious cave at the bottom of the lake, with no exit, no water, no food, and there’s a group of clams with terrifyingly sharp teeth that might come to gnaw on us at any time, and you want to stay calm?”
Zong Hang was stunned for a while before squeezing out: “Well… not being calm… won’t help either.”
Yi Sa stared at him, knowing he had a point—the more desperate the situation, the more one should avoid panic. If Jiang Taiyue had said this, she would have thought the elder showed true composure, but coming from Zong Hang…
Having so little life experience yet acting so serious and pretentious, it was particularly annoying.
Feeling uncomfortable under her stare, Zong Hang quickly changed the subject: “So what’s the third thing?”
“Third is that a sealed cave should have no light, but there’s light in this cave. Have you noticed?”
Zong Hang couldn’t help but exclaim “Ah!”
It was true.
Having no outdoor survival experience, he had just focused on what he could see when he opened his eyes, never really thinking about the light source.
Zong Hang looked around repeatedly, finally raising his head to look at the layered limestone above.
Having studied physics, he knew there were only two ways for human eyes to see things:
One was that objects themselves emit light that enters the eyes.
Two was that a light source illuminates objects, and the reflected light enters the eyes.
The current situation was like an overcast day without sun—you couldn’t find the light source, but the sky was still dimly lit.
As he looked, Zong Hang suddenly felt chilled and rubbed his eyes hard.
Strange—the limestone was grayish-white, but why did he just feel like the color was writhing?
He looked at Yi Sa.
Yi Sa shook her head, indicating she didn’t understand what was happening either.
What was it? Is some unknown luminescent creature good at camouflage?
Zong Hang’s skin crawled—this was scarier than the clam swarm. Though the clams were strange, he could at least describe their general characteristics and dangers. What’s most frightening was this completely unknown, silent yet sharing the same space…
Yi Sa’s voice lowered: “When I explored the cave earlier, I only saw the mud flat you mentioned and some meat and shell fragments. I didn’t see large groups of clams—they must have returned to their nests, but they might come out again anytime. From your encounter with them, it seems these creatures explode when injured and enraged…”
Right, Zong Hang remembered clearly—the first clam that exploded had one of its shells damaged, and the ones after probably were similar.
“But I can’t figure out why it explodes. If you say it’s gas pressure, how much force would it take to burst the shell like that… Think carefully again, was there anything special about how it exploded?”
Zong Hang pondered hard: “Just fragments hitting my body, and it felt like being hit by sand particles, but clams naturally contain sand—at home when cooking, we soak them in water to let them spit out sand for a long time.”
Probably couldn’t get more information by asking, Yi Sa propped her head with her arm, fingers running through her hair, mind racing.
Ding Yudie had once firmly stated that Jin Tang must be together with the sunken ships.
Under the lake, Jiang Jun “inputs” the password, equivalent to “opening the door.” If the white light was considered “guidance,” they should have been led to where Jin Tang was hidden—how did they end up trapped here?
After a while, Yi Sa finally raised her head, choosing her words carefully: “I suspect we were detected. Opening Jin Tang is only suitable for water ghosts of the three families…”
Zong Hang couldn’t help but interject: “You’re a water ghost too.”
Yi Sa glared at him: “Shut up!”
Looking to get chopped up, bringing up the worst possible topic?
She continued: “Jiang Xiaoguang wanted to secretly film, Ding Yudie wanted to peek, I don’t know what my sister wanted to do, but these three weren’t successful—meaning they couldn’t even pass the first checkpoint. Only we two, by coincidence, kept following them, saw them push the water, and followed them through the ‘door.'”
“But this Jin Tang has more than one security measure. We passed the first checkpoint but not the second, that’s why we were thrown here,” she gestured at their surroundings, “Doesn’t this place feel like a prison? With those man-eating clams that might come out anytime, and those strange limestone formations above… Isn’t it like being thrown into a beast cage after committing a crime? To be dealt with directly?”
Zong Hang swallowed.
It did.
No wonder—if there were underwater caves under the lake, they should be enormous, otherwise how could they hold countless sunken ships? The God-ho Maru alone was several thousand tons—this cave was too shabby, most likely a prison cell.
He suddenly thought of something: “At the time, I thought we would be devoured by the clam swarm, but when we woke up nothing had happened. Why would they spare us?”
Yi Sa couldn’t explain clearly: “Maybe it has something to do with your blood vessels bursting…”
She felt that the Jin Tang scripture of the three families was quite intriguing.
All along, when mentioning “Jin Tang scripture,” the three families focused on Jin Tang itself—in plain terms: precious metals and jade, rare treasures that could be converted into money.
When opening Jin Tang, they focused on whether they could “open” the treasures; when they failed, they regretted missing out on a huge fortune.
Even in 1996, when they mobilized everyone to search for the drifting cave, it was because of consecutive failures and weakening abilities—who wouldn’t be frustrated sitting on the treasure but unable to access it?
Plus, water ghosts would lose consciousness after consulting the cards for Jin Tang, so no one paid attention to the mysteries of the Jin Tang cave.
Until this time, when she accidentally witnessed some things, she suddenly realized that the setup of the Jin Tang cave itself was far more intriguing than mere monetary treasures.
How was this seamless, elaborate process designed? Who designed it behind the scenes?
Everyone laughed at the story of the man from Zheng who bought the box but returned the pearl, but perhaps he was the clever one. He had a unique insight, seeing that the box’s value far exceeded the pearl—but common people judged by worldly standards, thinking the pearl was valuable and that the man from Zheng was foolish.
The three families were the same—for thousands of years they had been right next to an earth-shattering secret, yet they only saw money.
The urgent matter was getting out—below were clam swarms, above were unknown creatures, and the longer they stayed the more dangerous it became.
Understanding this, Zong Hang became frightened but actively searched and knocked around the cave, hoping to discover some hidden exit. When hope was lost, he looked at the black mud flat, his spine chilling, and carried broken stone pillars to pile up—best if it could block it, if not, when the clam swarm attacked again, it could hold them off for a while.
Yi Sa helped him carry at first but later seemed to suddenly think of something and went to knock on the stone walls again. She would knock twice with her dagger handle, then put her ear against the wall to listen for a while, changing spots more than ten times. Finally, she called out to Zong Hang: “Stop carrying.”
Zong Hang, sweating profusely, came over following her voice, and saw her digging grooves at the base of the stone wall with her dagger.
Zong Hang was puzzled: “Yi Sa, what are you digging for?”
Yi Sa gestured at the stone wall in front of her: “Comparing them, this section seems thinner.”
Stone walls are like regular walls—thick or thin ones sound different when knocked.
Zong Hang frowned: Just dig like this? They only had one dagger between them—it wouldn’t get far before the blade broke.
Yi Sa seemed to know what he was thinking: “Not digging.”
“Then what?”
“Blasting.”
“You have explosives?”
“What do you think?”
What do I think? What am I supposed to think? Zong Hang stared at her puzzled, and as he watched, a spark suddenly lit in his mind and he blurted out: “You want to use the clams to blast?”
Yi Sa made a sound of agreement.
Use what you have where you are—if you send a vicious dog to eat me, you must accept the risk that I might train it to bite you instead: just need to be quick enough to grab three or five injured clams together, stuff them in the groove, and you’ve got an improvised bomb.