Chapter 161: An Eternal Kiss

By noon, Zhang Can gently supported Su Xue, who was still weeping beside the wooden cabin, leading her to the edge of the pool. He then pulled his fur overcoat over her head and, to ensure they would not be separated, used a sturdy vine to bind their waists together. This guaranteed that no matter what unknown perils they might face, they would remain connected. He gently wiped away Su Xue's tears and pressed a tender kiss to her delicate, rosy lips. Amidst her dazed and hazy state of lingering affection, he silently and softly embraced her, slipping together into the pool.

Because the pool waters were mixed with warm spring water, they were not freezing, though temperature hardly mattered anyway. Protected by the energy of Zhang Can's water-repelling bead, the water temperature had no adverse effect on either of them. While continuously transferring breath to Su Xue, Zhang Can activated his X-ray vision and swam toward the downstream exit of the undercurrent tunnel that had originally swept them here.

There was not a single flicker of light within the channel, but fortunately, the cavern was wide enough—over four meters in diameter—allowing Zhang Can and Su Xue to pass through without the slightest obstruction. Moreover, the current was far less violent than above, having grown much gentler.

Yet this gentleness lasted only for the first few hundred meters past the pool. Beyond that threshold, the current surged fiercely once more, and the downward slope seemed to steepen. Bound together, Zhang Can and Su Xue could no longer control their speed or maintain a steady posture, leaving them entirely at the mercy of the rushing torrent. Zhang Can could only do his best to keep their bodies from crashing against the jagged rock walls to avoid injury—especially for Su Xue, whom he swore to protect from harm at all costs.

Once submerged in the current, Su Xue lost all sense of direction. She simply clung tightly to Zhang Can, yielding entirely to the buffeting impact of the water while breathing in the air he continuously passed to her. Immersed in such an environment, whether they lived or died no longer mattered, and even fear faded away.

Su Xue may have been disoriented and fearless, knowing that even death would be shared with Zhang Can, but Zhang Can was far more tense. With complete concentration, he scanned the topography of the undercurrent. His primary task was to prevent collisions between themselves and the rock walls, and the second was to make split-second choices whenever they approached branching tunnels, selecting the path with the least danger.

Thanks to the energy of the water-repelling bead, Zhang Can could use the water's medium to probe conditions hundreds of meters ahead, granting him an immense advantage. Underground topography was volatile; just a few hundred meters away, conditions could transform drastically. Being able to anticipate these changes in advance was a vital blessing. His X-ray vision alone would have been woefully insufficient, as it was limited to a depth of six or seven meters—meaning he could not see beyond that distance when penetrating solid rock.

As they drifted further, the water temperature began to drop, gradually growing colder until it hovered around three or four degrees Celsius.

In his mind, Zhang Can estimated the time. They must have been drifting through the subterranean undercurrent for three or four hours, and at no sluggish pace either—easily maintaining a speed of thirty to forty kilometers per hour, if not faster.

Ahead lay a boundless, unpredictable realm of the unknown. Zhang Can had no idea where the end might lie, nor whether this perilous adventure would end in tragedy or salvation. The underground river seemed endlessly infinite. Because he alone was supplying breathable air for two, all while keeping his senses razor-sharp for hazards without a single moment to let his guard down, his physical exhaustion was catastrophic. He began to feel as though he could no longer hold on, a wave of deep anxiety washing over him!

Su Xue could only kiss him with tender gentleness—though this was merely mouth-to-mouth respiration rather than genuine romance. Having mentally prepared herself beforehand unlike the sudden, panicky struggle of their previous encounter, which had rapidly depleted Zhang Can's energy, this time went much more smoothly.

Furthermore, their previous ordeal had lasted only about an hour, whereas this time they had already been journeying through the dark, icy river for nearly four hours, far exceeding the previous duration. Had Zhang Can been alone, he might have endured for this long or even longer. But now he carried the burden of two lives, and his concern for Su Xue far surpassed his care for himself, which made the drain on his stamina all the more severe.

The consequences of such rapid energy depletion were glaringly obvious. Zhang Can felt increasingly as though the oxygen his skin extracted and converted from the water was growing weak and failing to keep up. If this lasted for even another hour, he and Su Xue would surely transform into two cold corpses!

Panic gripped his heart, yet he was helpless. Pouring every ounce of his remaining strength into a dual exertion of his X-ray vision and the water-repelling bead's energy, he probed the terrain ahead. Yet his X-ray vision encountered only endless darkness, and his sensory probe through the water met only boundless subterranean fluid, without the slightest sign of open air above the surface!

Just as despair threatened to consume him, Zhang Can suddenly sensed vast patches of a brilliant blue hue up ahead on the water's surface—a sure sign of open air. Although his vision could not reach quite that far, his instincts told him that this very well might be the surface of the earth!

This surge of joy was truly monumental. Sadly, he could not communicate this to Su Xue, and the realization was something Zhang Can had to experience alone. Amidst his elation, he noticed the current of the underground river beginning to slow down. Within five or six minutes, it had dropped to a pace comparable to a walking human. Moreover, the space within the cavern had expanded significantly, with some sections measuring over a dozen meters in diameter, eliminating any fear of collisions!

Zhang Can intensified his X-ray probing. The very instant they burst out of the subterranean passage, he caught sight of brilliant light shimmering in the water. Probing with his internal energy, he calculated that they were still over a hundred meters below the surface. Above them, however, there were no longer any obstructing barriers; Zhang Can could clearly perceive that the surface more than a hundred meters above was canopied by a brilliant blue sky!

They had emerged! They had truly broken through!

Though he had no way of knowing whether the environment above would mirror the desolate valley they had previously escaped from, Zhang Can knew one thing for certain: he and Su Xue had once again eluded danger. At the very least, they had returned to the open surface world. Even if the surrounding terrain proved hostile once more, he would still have the opportunity to rest, recover, and dive back into the waters to search for another way out if necessary.

Despite his bone-deep exhaustion, the exhilarating wave of triumph fueled a sudden, involuntary recovery of his stamina. Embracing Su Xue tightly, he propelled them upward toward the surface!

It took Zhang Can over ten minutes to swim up through the hundred-meter depth. When his head finally broke the surface with a loud splash, he eagerly scanned their surroundings.

A massive lake!

That was Zhang Can's first impression. Ringed by towering mountains whose peaks were draped in eternal glaciers, the snow-capped heights nevertheless featured clear, visible trails winding below. More importantly, along the shores of this immense lake stood a multitude of people!

Zhang Can cried out in joyous relief—this time, they were truly saved, truly escaped!

As long as there were people, this place could never be the desolate trap they had previously encountered. Though he was tired almost to the point of fainting, he frantically reached up to pull back the fur overcoat covering Su Xue's head, completely exposing her face to the fresh air.

"Someone has fallen into the water over there... Someone's in the water..."

Before Zhang Can could even shout, frantic voices rang out from the shore. Several manually rowed rubber boats darted rapidly across the lake toward them. The rescuers rowed with all their might, but lacking mechanical engines, their speed was inevitably constrained by human muscle power. Several minutes later, two of the boats arrived, each carrying two men, followed closely by a third boat that pulled right up beside Zhang Can and Su Xue.

Securing the rubber boat, the men worked together with practiced urgency to haul Zhang Can and Su Xue aboard. Because the two were bound together by vines and wearing heavy fur coats soaked completely through with water, they were exceptionally waterlogged and heavy, making the rescue arduous.

With no small effort, the men finally hoisted Zhang Can and Su Xue onto the craft and hurriedly untied the vines binding them. Yet they were struck by profound astonishment. Zhang Can and Su Xue had suddenly surfaced right in the middle of the lake—if they had fallen in, how had the lifeguards failed to spot them? If they had slipped from the shoreline, the guards certainly would have seen it. How could there have been no trace of their entry?

Furthermore, their mountain-climbing attire set them apart from the typical tourists visiting the area, and Su Xue's breathtaking, astonishing beauty left the men momentarily thunderstruck!

According to common sense, anyone falling into the lake in such freezing temperatures for an extended period would face grave danger to their lives, particularly with regard to extremities like hands and feet. Frostbite in such glacial waters often necessitated amputation. Anyone suffering exposure in the snowy mountains or freezing depths usually sustained varying degrees of frostbite, causing the rescuers to panic slightly. They feared what condition this man and woman might be in, estimating that the time spent in the water could not have been short since no one had witnessed their fall.

Once pulled aboard, Su Xue took a short while to recover. Sustained by Zhang Can's energy, she was entirely free of frostbite, suffering only from mild dizziness caused by her prolonged stay underwater. Regaining her full awareness, she immediately sat up, cradled Zhang Can's body, and cried out anxiously, "Zhang Can! Zhang Can, wake up... please wake up..."

Zhang Can was naturally unharmed; he was merely suffering from severe exhaustion and physical collapse due to the monumental expenditure of stamina. The low temperatures had inflicted no damage on either of them.

The two men on the rubber boat rowed furiously toward the shore, desperate to rush the pair to land for emergency treatment—which meant first stripping away their wet garments, restoring their body heat, and awaiting the arrival of an ambulance.

Yet they noticed that although Su Xue was soaked to the skin, she showed no signs of shivering, even as droplets of water continued to stream down from her hair. Her expression remained remarkably natural, reflecting nothing more than a profound, consuming concern for the unconscious man beside her.

The journey to the shore took over ten minutes. Waiting at the landing were two stretchers carried by attendants, surrounded by a throng of curious tourists chattering and buzzing with questions, bewildered by the mystery of how the pair had ended up in the deep waters without a soul seeing them fall.

The moment the boat touched the shore, several hands reached out to lift Su Xue onto a stretcher, but she waved them away. "Leave me be! Get my husband on the stretcher first! Save him, I'm completely fine..."

Su Xue's movements proved her words true; though soaked through, her coordination was swift and agile, showing no signs of debilitating cold or stiffness.

The attendants hurriedly placed Zhang Can onto a stretcher, and Su Xue clung closely to his side the entire way, urging them onward with anxious intensity, desperate to know his condition.

A few hundred meters beyond the shoreline stood a cluster of single-story buildings surrounded by meticulously landscaped grounds and fully equipped facilities. It was clearly a designated tourist resort, though unfamiliar to Su Xue, who had never visited this region before.

Carrying Zhang Can indoors, the attendants led Su Xue inside as well. The interior was pleasantly climate-controlled and comfortably warm.

The men who had carried Zhang Can turned to Su Xue and said politely, "Miss, would you please step outside for a moment? We need to change this gentleman into dry clothes while we wait for the ambulance from the hospital down the mountain. This is all we can manage for now; treating deep hypothermia requires professionals, and it's beyond our capabilities!"