After midnight

Su Ziling woke up and sat up. He was stunned for three seconds before slowly crawling out of the tent to stretch his muscles. The air was fresh and the sun was bright. Su Ziling continued to stretch his body and suddenly saw a sleeping figure not far from him.

"Brother Yin~Brother Yin~hurry up and get up! The sun is…"

The man turned his head and opened one unfocused and blurry eye.

This person was An Yan. Su Ziling felt a little embarrassed as he had recognized the wrong person.

Seeing no movement, An Yan fell asleep. Su Ziling came to his senses and suspected that An Yan didn't even see who he was. But when did An Yan come back?

Su Ziling noticed that An Yan's breathing was slowly becoming steady again, so he tiptoed back. They were not far apart, only two or three meters apart.

After a while, Yin came back with some freshly picked fruits. Su Ziling immediately leaned over to his ear and spoke, but his eyes could not stop glancing at An Yan. "When did An Yan come back?"

"About three or four o'clock in the middle of the night." Yin thought for a while.

"Oh." Su Ziling nodded and took the fruit from Yin's hand. The fruit was a little dry, not wet.

At about ten o'clock in the morning, after An Yan woke up, they sat together to eat breakfast.

Because Su Ziling talked to Yin more often, he was always very close to Yin during breaks, but he always let An Yan be in his sight. Therefore, the distance between the three of them when they were resting was not far, not to mention sitting together for breakfast. But today, although Su Ziling was still next to Yin, he was closer to An Yan than before.

Yin looked at An Yan, who was chewing silently across from him, and tore off a piece of bread and stuffed it into his mouth. As soon as he saw An Yan, the emotions that had surged up yesterday came rolling back, unable to subside and irresistible.

He understood that the three of them had unknowingly become closer to each other.

Yin sighed silently, someone had to break the deadlock. But Yin didn't expect that person to be An Yan.

"Su Ziling." An Yan called him.

"Huh?" Su Ziling, whose name was called, was a little confused.

"I'm sorry... I have something I have to do."

"Ah? What's the matter?"

An Yan did not answer directly.

“…I see. It’s okay. Go ahead.”

"You go ahead, I'm fine." Su Ziling emphasized again, as if trying to convince himself. But his expression was pitiful, not at all as relaxed as he said.

"...Thank you. After dinner, please go and pack up your things. We will be on our way soon." An Yan looked at him, feeling a little surprised.

"Ah? Oh, I'll go then." Su Ziling went there quickly, with a look of joy on his face. He almost immediately realized that he had misunderstood An Yan just now. He thought An Yan would ignore him, but An Yan would not ignore him.

"An Yan." Seeing Su Ziling happily packing up his things, Yin turned his gaze back to An Yan. "Are you still not going to tell me? Maybe, no, I will definitely help."

An Yan was indifferent, even expressionless.

“Isn’t it nice to get free help?”

"No, thank you." No one could tell what An Yan was thinking.

"Think about it. After all, we have formed an alliance... and I want to ensure that your secrets will not infringe on my interests." Yin was not going to give in.

"No, as long as you don't mind your own business."

"But whether I meddle in other people's business or not is not your decision." Yin's tone left no room for doubt, a little complacent and a little bit dishonest.

"I won't tell you anyway." An Yan seemed to be unable to do anything to Yin. After saying that, he stood up without hesitation and walked towards Su Ziling.

Yin sat there and thought for a while before he understood. An Yan had compromised. After all, he would not stop him.

"Is there anything else that hasn't been cleaned up?" An Yan's voice exploded in Su Ziling's ears, scaring him.

"No, it's all done."

An Yan took the backpack from Su Ziling and said, "Let's go. No matter what happens next, trust me."

Su Ziling nodded as a matter of course, because in his opinion, he always believed in An Yan. But he didn't know that it was just his instinct for survival, and he had no choice but to believe in An Yan. Otherwise, he wouldn't have felt that An Yan was going to abandon him today. So even though he nodded briskly, he didn't know what he would face next.

When Su Ziling followed An Yan, Yin was already waiting for them in front. Su Ziling walked side by side with Yin and heard Yin say lightly, "The fun is about to begin."

"What's the matter?" Su Ziling asked him, but Yin didn't answer.

In this way, they followed An Yan and kept walking forward. They didn't know how long they had walked, but An Yan was still walking tirelessly.

"Listen." After a while, Yin suddenly said to Su Ziling in a low voice.

Su Ziling pricked up his ears and listened carefully. It was the sound of gurgling water. Were they finally there? But was there anything special about this flowing water?

Sure enough, not long after, An Yan stopped and stood there looking around. Yin and Su Ziling walked up to him and stood beside him.

When he came to An Yan's position, Su Ziling saw a large clear lake in the lower terrain below. The lake was calm, and there was a tall tree growing on the grass on the lakeshore. The sound of flowing water he heard just now was the sound of a stream flowing into the lake.

This is really a great place to rest. Su Ziling praised and followed An Yan and Yin down the path until they reached the lakeshore.

Walking onto the flat grass, Su Ziling threw away his backpack and lay down, letting the warm sunlight shine on him. There was plenty of sunlight here, which was completely different from the cool feeling under the shade of the trees before. Su Ziling squinted his eyes and stretched comfortably.

Su Ziling turned over, sat up, and beckoned them to sit down.

An Yan and Yin sat down one after another. At this time, Su Ziling noticed that An Yan had been staring at the lake since he came here, so he turned to look at the lake, but the lake was calm.

"Is this the place?" Yin asked, looking at Anyan's profile.

"Yeah." An Yan nodded.

"Let's take a break and eat first."

"it is good."

Su Ziling pulled the grass and listened quietly to their conversation.

"You can't swim, right?" After lunch, when they were getting ready to go, An Yan suddenly asked Su Ziling. In fact, he knew that Su Ziling couldn't swim, and he was just reminding him in a tactful way.

"......Hmm." Su Ziling looked down on himself and then felt a little confused. Why did An Yan ask this?

"That's a bit troublesome." Yin took over the conversation.

"What trouble?"

"I'm afraid we'll have to go into the water soon."

"Go into the water? What for? Take a bath?" Looking at Yin's expression, Su Ziling knew that his answer was obviously wrong.

"Are you going to teach me how to swim?" Su Ziling was a little scared.

This time Yin simply laughed, and even An Yan slightly curled the corners of his mouth.

This really annoyed Su Ziling. He didn't know what the two of them were plotting, and he didn't want to know anyway. But now not only did they hide it from him, they even dared to laugh at him. What's wrong with not being able to swim?

When Su Ziling racked his brains to fight back, An Yan suddenly explained: "You have to be mentally prepared. This is not about swimming."

"What is that?" Su Ziling took a breath and stared at the lake.

An Yan could easily divert Su Ziling's attention with just one sentence, making him forget that he was angry just now.

"That's it." Yin replied and pushed him.

Su Ziling fell into the lake, the water choked his throat, and a fatal feeling of suffocation followed. Su Ziling couldn't breathe and began to struggle subconsciously. He tightly grasped the only thing he could hold, An Yan's hand.

Su Ziling sank quickly, and they were dragged into the abyss together. The water in the lake was extremely cold.

As Su Ziling struggled in extreme pain, a scorching heat rose from his palm. Suddenly, Su Ziling's body floated up, and the suffocating feeling disappeared.

Su Ziling didn't dare to move, he just breathed hard, and then tentatively opened his eyes. The azure blue water was scattered with waves of different depths, which dazzled him.

What's going on? He looked at An Yan, who was beside him, holding his hand tightly. Su Ziling's heart was pounding, and he tried his best to calm the turbulent waves in his heart, because he found that he could breathe underwater, and they were swimming forward in the water like fish.

Su Ziling carefully turned his gaze back to the front. Under the light, what was blocking him was something like bubble film. Su Ziling finally came to his senses. This was An Yan's omnipotent ability.

Su Ziling tried to relax himself and stop being so tense because he felt his left arm was very heavy and sore. He looked over and saw that he was holding An Yan's hand tightly, leaving a circle of red marks on An Yan's hand.

Su Ziling didn't know that he had used so much strength, but he didn't dare to relax now, and An Yan didn't show any abnormality. Now was not the time to worry about this, Su Ziling tried to swing his feet, because Yin and An Yan were now swimming diagonally downward with all their strength.

The lake is not particularly large, but when I got into the water I realized how deep it is and that the current is getting faster.

They were still going down, when suddenly An Yan stopped moving, Su Ziling gasped, and his body trembled uncontrollably. It was a whirlpool! Suddenly, a huge, turbulent whirlpool appeared before their eyes!

Su Ziling was instinctively terrified when he saw this scene. He could not feel anything now, and could only stare blankly at the vortex spiraling up at high speed, and then suddenly dissipating.

The bottom of the whirlpool was bottomless, but the surface of the lake was so calm. How could this be possible? Su Ziling finally realized the strangeness of the lake. He didn't see any living creatures.

Su Ziling's hand was held tightly, and An Yan pulled him forward. Although fear and terror followed him everywhere, Su Ziling clearly understood that he had to move forward little by little. He had no say, because this was what An Yan had to do.

Su Ziling took a deep breath and continued forward.

This is an indescribable feeling. Facing fear directly is terrible. Even when you think you are ready, it will unexpectedly shatter your innocence. When Su Ziling thought he was still far away from the behemoth, it couldn't wait to stretch out its claws.

An Yan led them forward carefully, step by step, but at a certain critical point, their bodies suddenly became uncontrollable and they were quickly drawn into the vortex.

For a moment, the sky spun and the earth shook. Su Ziling felt nothing but pain, but during this huge tearing, his hand was always tightly held by An Yan.

The air seemed to become thinner again, and Su Ziling subconsciously closed his eyes and began to breathe heavily. His heart, chest, and limbs seemed to be squeezed by heavy objects, and the pain was unbearable. Su Ziling felt that his whole body was about to break apart.

"Ah!" Su Ziling screamed in pain. The three seconds at this moment seemed like ten thousand years.

However, before he lost consciousness, he actually felt heat. He only felt heat! So hot! His chest felt like it was on fire!!!