Chapter Fifty-Three: Struggle and Survival

  The seawater rose at an extremely fast speed, and soon it reached Tang Jie's feet. He punched the rock with both fists, his knuckles almost shattered, and blood dripped down, but he seemed to feel no pain at all, still crazily pounding the rugged rock face in front of him.

  "Stop it! Stop it!" Liriel covered her ears, enduring the thunder-like sound, and shrieked loudly.

  Tang Jie heard her voice and turned around, only to see that Lili had already been soaked by the seawater up to her waist.

  He didn't care about the grudge between them at this time, and immediately rushed over to pull her to a higher place, pointing to a small pit he had just crazily blasted out, saying: "Try your magic! Hurry up!"

  Lilith shook her head desperately: "No, no, such a big commotion will trigger the Stardirock magic array again!"

  Tang Jie pulled her forward and shouted: "What's the difference whether it's triggered now or not? Stop stalling!"

  Lilith was so frightened by Tangie's roar that she trembled all over, but she knew that what Tangie said made sense, so she began to recite the incantation with a quivering voice.

  Although she was afraid, her incantation didn't have the slightest mistake, and a fireball suddenly burst out of her hand, shooting towards the depression on the rock surface.

  Corliss hadn't realized that she and Tong Jie were standing too close, the fireball exploded, a powerful blast of air suddenly sent them all flying backward, tumbling into the water.

  Tang Jie fell into the water and immediately swallowed a mouthful of salty and astringent seawater, which made him dizzy.

  He gritted his teeth, stomped his foot on the ground, and tried to stand up. However, as soon as he exerted force with his feet, his body straightened up, only to find that the water level had already risen above his head!

  This is no small matter!

  Tang Jie quickly floated up to the water's surface, took a breath, and looked around, but couldn't see Lili's figure anywhere.

  He dipped his head into the water, but saw that Lirien had been shaken by the previous shock and fell into the water, fainting.

  He was about to dive in and rescue her, but suddenly remembered a phrase from Old Bar: Even lions know when to give up.

  If she is rescued and brought up, what if there's not enough oxygen? Who knows where the water will rise to? How long will it last?

  And she nearly killed me several times and killed Old Baal. I couldn't bring myself to kill her, so it's only right that I shouldn't save her now!

  Tang Jie's mind was a battlefield of heaven and man, his eyes changing unpredictably.

  But this surge in front of me was caused by me, she wasn't killed by my own hands, but she died because of me!

  Even if revenge is sought, it can be done openly and justly; what kind of thing is this?

  Tang Jie gritted his teeth and dove down, swimming quickly to Liru's side, pulling her into his own, then resurfaced.

  "Hey, wake up!" Tang Jie's feet were treading water, one arm holding Lilith, the other slapping her cheek.

  Lilith murmured and woke up, she was stunned for a moment, looked at Tang Jie who was holding her, saw the water level around her rising continuously, suddenly let out a sharp cry, like an octopus, tightly wrapped her arms and legs around Tang Jie.

  Tang Jie was entwined by Lilith, his eyes rolled back, and he barely managed to speak in a stuttering tone: "Let go, let go quickly, I'm almost being strangled to death by you!"

  Lilith was now nervous and terrified, she couldn't listen to his words, her hands and feet were like vines wrapped around Tang Jie, she wouldn't let go no matter what.

  Tang Jie was both anxious and angry, so he slapped Lily's neck with a palm, knocking her out. Then he pulled her down from his body, swam to her side, and gently slapped her face again, pinching the middle of her face to wake her up.

  Lilith woke up again, just in time to struggle, but heard a thunderous roar by her ear, shaking her whole body.

  "Don't move if you don't want to die!" Tang Jie's voice almost pierced her eardrums, and Lirisis' body stiffened, unmoving.

  "Don't hold me so tight, we'll both drown! Can you swim?" Tang Jie asked as he paddled through the water.

  Lilith opened her big azure eyes, which were filled with terror and fear, looking flustered, making one's heart ache. She shook her head.

  Tang Jie let out a sigh: "Two feet like mine treading water, understand?"

  Lilith gazed at him with tearful eyes: "Like you? How did you tread water?"

  Tang Jie was taken aback: "You won't put your head in the water to look, will you?"

  Lilith is now afraid of water as if her life depended on it, and she doesn't dare to dive into the water. As soon as she heard Tang Jie's words, she immediately shook her head desperately.

  "Tang Jie's mouth was extremely bitter: 'Have you seen a duck? Two legs kicking wildly will do.'"

  Lilith immediately nodded quickly and started kicking her legs wildly.

  What a coincidence, one foot kicked right between Tang Jie's two legs...

  Tang Jie's vital spot, which even the fierce Nia couldn't hit before, was actually kicked by this little girl. He was both angry and furious, and under the intense pain, he almost passed out!

  Lilith's kick wasn't in the right place, although she didn't know what it meant to a man, but she knew that kicking her lifesaver at this time was very ungrateful.

  She looked at Tang Jie with a faint gaze, her voice as small as a mosquito, both wronged and distressed: "It was you who made me fall..."

  Tang Jie was in so much pain that he curled up into a ball, his legs tightly closed, and only one hand was paddling the water. When he heard Lilith's words, the corners of his eyes twitched, and when he opened his eyes to see her harmless and pitiful expression, he couldn't help but feel a surge of evil fire in his belly that he couldn't vent out.

  "You stop pedaling, I'll paddle instead......" Tang Jie clenched his fists and didn't let go for a long time.

  As soon as his pain had eased a bit and he could stand on both feet, he found Lirien's whole body tense, stiff like a stone, like a thousand-pound weight pulling his body into the water!

  Tang Jie was exasperated: "Can't you relax a bit? You're so tense, how can your body float up, it's going to kill us!"

  Lilith's voice trembled as she said, "How can I not be nervous? Look, the Stardirock magic array is getting closer and closer to the outside. If the water rises soon, we'll be killed by the magic contained in this magic array if we touch it!"

  Tang Jie was startled and quickly raised his head, and indeed the Star Di Luo magic array was already less than seven or eight meters away from them. With the naked eye, they could clearly see the blue crystal stones deeply embedded in the rock wall.

  These blue crystals are about the size of a thumb, each embedded in the top of the cave, and every point emits a faint glow, forming a huge magic array. When you get closer, you can see that the surface of this magic array is flowing with a layer of faint light waves, like a protective cover protecting this powerful and ancient magic array.

  Tang Jie thought of the stone he had thrown and how it had shattered into pieces, and couldn't help but shiver with a chill.

  "What should we do?" Tang Jie asked unconsciously.

  Lilith didn't respond, she just cried with a sad face: "I don't want to die..."

  Tang Jie had always been an atheist, but at this critical moment, he couldn't help but temporarily turn to Buddhism.

  Omni-potent sea god Tira, benevolent and loving sea god Tira, have mercy on us, hurry up and let the tide recede quickly, or else we'll drown!

  Lilith also prayed in a flurry, begging for the spirit to appear.

  What made the two of them despair was that this seawater continued to rise, and in a short period of time it had already risen to a height of over ten meters. They only needed to stretch out their hands to touch the Stardirock magic array!

  Tang Jie's eyes widened as he stared at the shimmering magic array in front of him. Even though he was someone who didn't understand magic and had no magical senses, he could still feel the powerful and unyielding force emanating from it.

  He had no doubt that once the sea water pushed them onto this magic array, they would definitely be strangled to death by this magical power.

  What's wrong?

  Tang Jie felt as if he was in a huge millstone, being pushed and driven by a powerful force, grinding him bit by bit, crushing him, gradually pushing him into the depths of death.

  Tang Jie gritted his teeth, his eyes scanning the surroundings with a sharp gaze like electricity, unwilling to miss any detail in the cave that could help him survive, but no matter how he looked, he couldn't think of anything.

  At the rate at which the tide is rising, in just one or two more minutes, the seawater will fill this cave, and by then, their only options would be: to be strangled to death by the magic array, or drowned to death by the seawater!

  Which way of death is better?

  Lilith's face was covered in tears, and she sobbed: "I heard that when a person drowns to death, their whole body is like being burned by fire, their face turns purple and swollen, their whole body swells up like a radish, and it's very hard to look at after they die, right?"

  Tang Jie was sweating profusely and angrily shouted: "How would I know? Shut up!"

  Lilith burst into loud sobs: "Waa, Lilith really shouldn't have sneaked out alone! Teacher, I was wrong, I don't want to die in such a miserable way!"

  The wailing was deafening, making Tang Jie's heart even more annoyed. He turned his head and viciously said to Lilith: "Shut up! I haven't drowned yet, but you're almost driving me crazy!"

  He had just finished speaking when he suddenly saw several large bubbles emerging from the sea water beside Lirien.

  Tang Jie was taken aback and subconsciously said: "You're full of crap!"

  Lilith was stunned for a moment, her mouth agape, staring at Tang Jie in shock. She quickly regained her composure, and her small face turned bright red as she stopped crying. Despite being innocent and naive, she was still a girl after all. Lilith understood the natural bashfulness of women, and with a flushed face, she said: "You're the one who's talking nonsense! I didn't!!"

  Great God of Heaven Rafael is above, this guy must be the most hateful person in the world!

  He, he actually framed me, saying Lili, fart, fart!

  How hateful! How detestable!!

  Tang Jie gave her a white eye: "No farting, where did the bubbles in this water come from?"

  Lilith's face was red with rage and shame, her fists clenched tightly as she pounded Tang Jie: "No, no! I didn't! You're framing me!!"

  Tang Jie grasped her fist with one hand and angrily said: "You've been caught red-handed, are you still trying to deny it?"

  At this critical moment of life and death, the two people actually started fighting!

  Lilith bit her tender red lips and said through gritted teeth: "No, no, just no! You're a bad person, you're an asshole!"

  Tang Jie angrily laughed: "Good, good, good! I really didn't think that I would die with you, this unreasonable dead girl. It's really heaven's blindness! Farting is farting, what's the big deal? Who hasn't farted before?"

  As soon as the words fell, as if to prove Tang Jie's words, a bubble also emerged from Tang Jie's side, big like a football.

  The bubble gurgled up, swelled and burst with a clear "pop" sound.

  This sound was small, but at this time it was no less than a thunderclap.

  Two people stared at this bubble and were stunned, as if petrified.

  Lilith gazed at Tang Jie with a suddenly resentful and indignant look, "You see, just now you framed me, but it was actually you who farted!"

  Tang Jie looked at Lirisi's eyes, like a fire burning his buttocks, and jumped up in the water, almost hitting the magic array. He angrily shouted: "It wasn't me! Really not me!!"

  Death is a small matter; loss of virtue is a great one. Who farted? We must get to the bottom of this!

  Tang Jie glared at Lilith with a burst of anger, and Lilith also stared back at Tang Jie without giving an inch.

  In any case, it's already a foregone conclusion, the two relatively strong guys each rolled up their sleeves, ready to engage in a fierce debate for their own "chastity".

  Just as Kaito was about to speak, he suddenly saw a string of bubbles emerging one after another from the water's surface not far away.

  Huh? What's going on?

  Seeing this situation in front of them, Tang Jie and Lilith exchanged a glance. Even if they were stupid, they knew that this bubble had nothing to do with them.

  Tang Jie was stunned for a moment, and suddenly his heart moved. He immediately buried his head in the water, but saw that there were indeed some bubbles constantly rising up from the bottom of the water.

  Tang Jie was overjoyed and couldn't stop laughing, he floated to the surface of the water, grabbed Lilith's shoulder and laughed loudly: "We're saved! We're saved!"

  Lilith hadn't come back to her senses yet, and she stared at Tang Jie with a mixture of shock and delight: "What? You've got a way?"

  Tang Jie pulled Lili's arm and said to her: "In a moment, take a deep breath and dive down with me!"

  Lilith was terrified and shook her head desperately: "I don't want to dive! I'm scared!"

  Tang Jie angrily said: "Aren't you afraid of death?" He looked up at the magic array that was close at hand, and without saying a word, he pulled Lirisi, took a deep breath, and then plunged down with her!

  "Ah!" Lilies let out a cry of surprise, but before she could even take a deep breath, she was pulled into the water by Tang Jie. She struggled desperately, but Tang Jie's fingers were like steel bars that tightly gripped her wrists, and she couldn't escape no matter how hard she tried to run.

  Tang Jie opened his eyes in the seawater and searched for the location where the bubbles emerged, using his hands and feet to swim there.

  After a while, Tang Jie made an effort to dive to the bottom of the water. The pressure of the surrounding seawater turned his face red and his forehead bulged with blue veins, looking very frightening.

  He is still like this, let alone Liriel.

  What kind of hardships has this girl who grew up in an ivory tower ever experienced?

  She didn't take enough breath when she dived into the water, and now she's suffering from oxygen deficiency. The pressure at the bottom of the water is also very strong, her head is dizzy and she can barely hold on.

  Lilith whispered sorrowfully in her heart: Great Yuna, look at this guy, what is he going to do? Is he coming down to die himself?

  Tang Jie certainly wasn't going to send himself to his death.

  He dove to the bottom of the water, and immediately one hand grasped a huge boulder at the bottom of the water. His two legs were like roots, stuck to the ground at the bottom of the water. He clenched his teeth, exerted force suddenly, and with one hand, he lifted up this huge boulder from the bottom of the water.

  As soon as the stone was lifted, a large bubble like a basin emerged from the gap in the stone and quickly ran towards the water surface.

  Tang Jie's eyes were quick and his mouth was fast, he immediately went over, put his mouth into the bubble, and took a breath.

  He took a deep breath and felt invigorated. Tang Jie immediately pulled Lilith to the side of the next stone slab.

  On this uneven ground, there are often gaps between the stones, and these gaps are filled with air. Once seawater rushes in, the water pressure squeezes the air out of the stone crevices, forming bubble after bubble.

  Tang Jie's clever idea suddenly dawned on him, and with a surge of courage, he managed to turn the tables and achieve his goal!

  Fortunately, the gaps between these stones were filled with moss, and this layer of moss was like a natural isolation membrane, isolating water from the air in the stone gap. Once Tang Jie opened the stone, the air in the stone gap would be squeezed out, becoming the precious oxygen for Tang Jie, Lili, and others to survive.

  Lilith's eyes widened in incredulity as she stared at Tang Jie, unable to comprehend how this man knew that there was oxygen at the bottom of the water that could keep them alive.

  At this critical moment of life and death, she had already given up hope for survival, but how could this man think of this?

  Tang Jie pried open another stone, Lilith learned from Tang Jie's appearance, put her head next to this bubble, took a breath, and suddenly choked with a purple face, coughing continuously in the water.

  Like this, when breathing in the water, no one can control how much water and oxygen they can inhale, so Tang Jie used his mouth. Even if he inhaled some water, swallowing it would be fine. Although seawater is bitter, at least it won't kill him.

  But Lili was so silly that she inhaled with her nose, and this inhalation caused seawater and oxygen to rush into her lungs together, choking her terribly!

  Lilith was already hypoxic, and now with seawater pouring into her lungs, it was a disaster. Her small face turned blue and her eyes rolled back, with white foam bubbling from the corner of her mouth.

  Tang Jie was shocked and immediately slapped a palm on Lirisi's back, forcing the water that had poured into Lirisi's lungs to come out.

  Lilith opened her mouth and the water that had entered her body from her nose was just about to come out when Tang Jie covered her nose and mouth.

  Tang Jie saw that Lilith's whole body was shaking violently, her hands and feet twitching like cramps, obviously already at the extreme point of hypoxia, almost gone.

  He didn't dare to delay any longer, and immediately pried open another stone slab. He took a quick breath himself, then leaned in close to Lirien's mouth and passed the air on to her through their lips.

  After exhaling three times, Liriel slowly regained consciousness.

  When Derek's fourth kiss came over, Lilies finally felt two hot and warm lips stuck to her lips!

  He actually kissed me!

  Lilith's body shook, her eyes filled with shame and anger, just as she was about to struggle violently, but then Tang Jie glared at her face-to-face, his expression overbearing. He pressed his lips heavily onto Lilith's small red lips, and then sent a mouthful of air into her mouth.

  Lilith suddenly understood, was he trying to save me?

  Why does CPR have to involve mouth-to-mouth contact?

  Lily's mind was a mess, she only felt herself powerless in the strong and powerful arms of this man, her body soft and weak, his eyes, his lips seemed to have magic, tightly binding her, making her unable to exert any strength.

  She remembered what her teacher had once told her: men are all beasts, they want to eat you as soon as they see you!

  Does he want to eat me now?

  Lilith thought unconsciously, but why should I be eaten? My heart is still beating so fast.

  Ah, I see, I must be afraid...

  When he stares with his eyes, it's so scary, how can people not be afraid?

  Lilith felt drowsy and vague, as if she wasn't underwater at all, but rather floating on clouds, her whole body drifting lightly.

  Tang Jie had no idea what was going on in the little girl's mind, so he could only take Lili with him to hold his breath for a while, then move from one rock to another, searching for new oxygen.

  It wasn't until much later, when Tang Jie had almost turned over every stone on the riverbed, that he suddenly discovered the water pressure around him had clearly decreased.

  The pressure in the water decreases, which means one thing.

  The water is getting shallower, the tide has gone out!

  Tang Jie couldn't help but feel overjoyed, and quickly pulled Lili to the surface of the water. He poked his head out to take a look, and indeed they were already five or six meters away from the top of the cave. The water was slowly receding!

  "Haha!" Tang Jie narrowly escaped death, his hands slapping the water's surface wildly "I'm saved, I'm saved!"

  Lilith's eyes were dazed and she hadn't yet come back to her senses, muttering: "Saved? Saved?"

  She stole a glance at Tang Jie, who was laughing wildly with joy, and looked at his masculine and handsome face, looking at the distinct muscles on his body. Her dazed eyes kept wandering back and forth between Tang Jie's lips and arms, her heart racing like a drum.

  Now that we're saved, shouldn't we stop kissing each other?

  Thinking of this, Liriel felt a little lost and melancholic.

  She had a faint feeling in her heart that this guy didn't seem so annoying and scary after all...

  Just at this moment, Tang Jie suddenly glanced at her and found that the little girl was staring at him with a strange gaze. He asked curiously: "What are you looking at?"

  Yesterday at 7 o'clock I felt sleepy and overslept. I didn't wake up until after 11 o'clock and forgot to post the second update.

  Sorry about that, now two in one, let's post a long chapter, making up for yesterday's.

  There is still one more watch at night

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