??

  This dragon brother, from his body I vaguely saw the shadow of a soldier, my father is a soldier, even if he took off that military uniform and returned to the countryside, his words and deeds, his demeanor still revealed that proud air everywhere, this proud air can only come from the army's tempering, only absolute loyalty will be practiced. This man who looks very handsome as Cha Wenbin said, for the first time gave me a kind of inexplicable respect, even though what he did was not so bright and clean.

  He no longer spoke, he was silent. As a scholar, he needed to respect what he had learned, but as an elder, he needed even more to respect the present.

  "You've convinced me, I have just one request: minimize the damage."

  "This is natural, last time I took my younger brother and his people in, we already explored the bottom. Over the years, traveling south and north, I've walked a lot and encountered many ghosts. Tomorrow morning, we'll clear the way and enter the mountain, I will open up a path for you."

  The underworld has its own path, and the righteous path naturally has its own path. Just like because of our different identities, I and Fatso were tomb robbers in Xi'an, if caught, we would be put behind bars; but He Lao and Gu Qinghe, they are actually licensed tomb robbers, what they excavate is called achievement, it's a contribution.

  Long Ye is a character who exists between the underworld and the legitimate world, just like Luo Men. In extraordinary times, Luo Men is the king of the underworld. They don't follow principles or reason; they won't stop until they achieve their goal. However, when they need to use their legitimate power, Luo Men changes his attire and puts on a sharp suit. They can carry documents with red stamps and freely enter any place they want to go. The phrase "both good and evil" is the most fitting description for these people - they are a group of true professional grave robbers.

  By the river, a steel ship with a loud rumble and puffing black smoke had a big guy with steel teeth and claws, with tank-like tracks. The bustle by the river and the quietness of the village formed a stark contrast. Early in the morning, a dark green truck with canvas took away all the villagers without any conditions or room for negotiation, this is the power of the white way.

  Women were not allowed, and since Yuan Xiaobai was posing as a student of Gu Qinghe, he was still stopped. Even I, an "outsider", was almost blocked, but in the end, it was Cha Wenbin who stepped forward to coordinate and barely squeezed into the team. On the other hand, Ye Qiu was treated with even more courtesy by Longye than Cha Wenbin.

  Gu Qinghe, who had participated in the previous event, did not follow this time. He voluntarily asked to withdraw from the activity, which is indeed not suitable for older people. An injured team member often requires three normal members to take care of them, and a blow to combat effectiveness can be extremely fatal.

  He Lao was originally supposed to go as an exchange condition, but similarly, his age was also not suitable for the subsequent actions. His students were also rejected, and in the end, only I, Cha Wenbin, Ye Qiu, and Dragon's four people were able to reach the other shore, totaling seven people.

  Before departure, I secretly thought: "Seven people, this number is unlucky." However, they were well-prepared with almost everything from medicine to equipment. Each person also brought a set of waterproof clothing and a small oxygen tank, which added up to a huge mountain pack.

  He seemed to have noticed my worries and patted me on the shoulder, saying: "Little brother, don't be nervous, I haven't personally led a team down in ten years."

  "After thinking for a long time, I finally said those words: 'They all say you're handsome, but you really are quite handsome.'"

  "Thank you!" Then he spread out a paper and beckoned everyone to gather around, saying: "This is a diagram of the possible collapse and route after the last explosion. I had some experts analyze it, and the conclusion is that this mountain is made of granite and does not produce coal mines. The biggest characteristic of granite is its hardness and brittleness. Based on the amount of explosives I used in the last blast, the experts concluded that the waterway you escaped from may still exist, but we need to clear away the debris around it. The mechanic should be able to finish clearing it within an hour. So we need to dive in, and if any of you don't have diving experience, you can follow my team members, they will lead the way. First, let me teach you some basic underwater hand gestures, and once we're down there, we'll communicate using these gestures."

  I'll also get wet, Wen Bin is a land duck, at this time he can only go up with a hard scalp, but fortunately Long Ye has prepared a special person for him. Each of us has a leather belt around our waist, the belt has a buckle, and all the belts are connected by climbing ropes, which can at least prevent falling behind.

  As the mechanic on that side said "OK", we came to the riverbank one after another, each with a diving mask and an oxygen bag. The water was still quite cool this season, I've forgotten how long I walked before being washed out.

  The river water here is very clean, but because of that explosion, the underwater rocks are dense and the water conditions are more complicated. Several people have been unstable. One person brought by Long Ye has a nickname called Water Ghost, who can dive 50 meters without equipment and stay underwater for more than five minutes, he is our pioneer.

  After the water ghost dived down, the river surface was calm again except for a few ripples. About three minutes later, he emerged from beside me and shook his head at Dragon Lord: "Can't see clearly, the water below is very rapid and chaotic, there's a hidden undercurrent that's particularly vicious, I'll go down again to take another look and see if we can avoid it."

  After another four or five minutes, the water ghost didn't come up this time. I was watching from the shore, and it was really a beautiful day with clear skies. The weather was particularly good that day, and I could see the underwater grass clearly while in the water. Suddenly, the surface of the water began to churn violently, just like when you're fishing and there's a big fish on the hook about to be pulled out of the water. I realized something bad might happen, and at this moment, the water ghost finally surfaced, but his diving goggles were gone. This guy stretched out his hands and splashed around on the surface of the water before quickly sinking back down. I saw his mouth open for a moment, but instantly, water rushed in.

  "The situation is not good." Zhang Wenbin said while pulling me back, at this time Longye also took two steps back and said: "First retreat, all retreat, quickly, prepare the ropes!"

  That water ghost as a scout, the buckle on his body is not connected to us, and the remaining six of us are a string of gourds, one falls down and brings a string, everyone realizes that something unexpected may have happened, several people on the shore are also pulling and dragging, when I got ashore, there were still three people in the river, including Cha Wenbin, Long Ye and Ye Qiu.

  When the water ghost emerged from the water for the third time, only a small part of its nose was exposed. Just as it did, the waves in the river surged again. At that moment, Dragon King threw out the rope in his hand and shouted: "Hold on!"

  I don't know if the water ghost heard me, but it was only a matter of two seconds. A huge force came from my waist and abdomen, like being dragged by a car. I only saw three people in the river being pulled into the water instantly, while I and another two people on the shore were dragged down with flying posture. The buckle between us was still connected, no one would have thought that the change would come so quickly, it was an unreasonable brutal force, I didn't even have time to react before I heavily hit the water, then like a hooked fish, I was tightly pulled by the fishing line in front of me, dashing around in the water without direction.

  I don't remember how many stones hit me, one second I knew it hurt, the next second an even more painful impact came again, at this moment I was like a rag being pressed into the water and swayed at will. I also didn't know how long it took, I probably fainted, when I woke up, almost every inch of my skin was not good, the bruises and gashes made me feel that even breathing was a luxury, this pain told me, thank goodness, at least I'm still alive.

  "Xiao Yi." A voice beside me was struggling to call out my name, it seemed like it was Zha Wenbin, only he would call me that.

  I made a slight "hmm" sound as a reaction, the water in my ears was still gurgling loudly, and I had no idea where I was now, everything around me was pitch black. Suddenly, someone turned on a flashlight, followed by another one, and my consciousness began to slowly clear up. When I turned my head to look at the situation nearby, I almost threw up.

  Less than half a meter away from me, there was a man lying down. At this time, about half of his head had gone somewhere, and the pink unknown thing mixed with white brain pulp. The burst eyeball was floating up and down on the water surface, and the key was that the eyeball was still staring at me!

  "Ah!" I shouted, desperately trying to escape, but my body felt heavy. With great effort, I managed to move a little, and that half-dead head followed me. It was then that I realized the buckle on my body. After a flurry of frantic movements, my will to survive overcame the pain in my body, and I finally crawled away from that damned corpse.

  "Come!" Zhang Wenbin stretched out his hand to me, it was clear that he was also badly hurt, and his voice had no strength. One of the lanterns was broken by him. With a bit of effort, I was pulled up onto a rock by him, on which there were two other people, one was Ye Qiu and the other was Long Ye, all panting heavily.

  "What about others?" I asked.

  "Nothing's left, it's all in the water."

  I looked down and saw that at this moment, there were three corpses floating in the water. Honestly, I had never seen such a miserable sight before. These three corpses were almost completely unrecognizable, with wounds all over their bodies, as if they had been hacked to pieces by thousands of knives. Their clothes had long since been torn to shreds.

  I cried, I couldn't help but cry. One was pain, one was fear, and the other was despair. "Why is it like this?" I trembled with a crying voice: "Why! Aren't you all elites? Aren't you all experts? Haven't you designed routes before? Why!"

  "Slap" I felt a burning pain on my face, it was Long Ye, he mustered up the strength to come over and slapped me, then grabbed my clothes and said: "You take a good look, all the people lying down below are my brothers, they were still tightly holding onto you two before they died. Take a closer look at his wounds, they were all for you, for your sake! I'm telling you, my men will only die in battle, there's no cowards!"