"What is life..."
"In nature, life is a rushing river, an endless starry sky, the red soil of our homeland..."
"Life... Life is actually just a cycle. Life comes from death, and death is the return of life. Everyone rejoices in life and fears death, little knowing that death is merely the destination of life, the beginning of another new birth."
"In my eyes, life is nothing more than 'quantity' — the law of conservation that all things obey. Within the [domain] of true sight, life merely transfers from one object to another..."
"Hey, hey, can you be normal for once?" Yujie yelled at Xi.
"Unaware of the preciousness of life, ignorant of the loneliness of death..."
Yujie was too exhausted to retort. As the golden threads extracted vitality and channeled it into Little Yinglong's body, outwardly it looked like a withered flower blooming anew.
"Life is precious, so we must hold it in awe."
...
Xi spoke very little, but whenever he did, it was always some bizarre stuff. Lin Xi felt that Xi's remarks sounded more like a deity presiding over life and death. If the Yinglong were real, then having a deity hiding in their midst wasn't all that strange.
"Are you a deity?" Lin Xi looked at Xi curiously.
⊙?⊙! Could he be this direct? If he really were a god, he certainly wouldn't expose his identity so easily... What if... Yujie suddenly felt a chill down his spine.
"Ah? No, my mother told me all this, haha..." Xi was silent for a moment, then suddenly smiled.
"So that's how it is. Then your mother must be an immortal, definitely a beautiful fairy."
Xi thought about it. It seemed there really were people who constantly hovered around his mother. And in Xi's impression, his mother was a very warm and gentle woman.
"Boom..."
Just as the few of them were chatting idly, a deafening explosion rang out. It sounded like an angry giant slamming a fist onto the ground, sending dust and shattered stones flying.
Spiderweb-like cracks spread across the stone wall, and river water poured in continuously.
"We're done for, done for, done for, done for..." Yujie swayed back and forth, panicking thoroughly both inside and out. (A true case of outer appearance matching inner turmoil.)
Misfortunes never come singly; an angry roar echoed from deep underground, and immediately afterward, the ground began to collapse as well. The few of them could only do their best to swim toward the surface.
The outside World was chillingly quiet, with the black tide wrapping around everything, swallowing even sound.
The water pressure would be the death of them... Fortunately, Little Yinglong woke up. It flickered its tail, and the three of them were instantly enveloped in a bubble.
"We're saved..." The heavy stone in Yujie's heart finally dropped.
Xi looked toward the depths and froze. In the pitch-black deep water, a pair of deep crimson eyes opened. An evil aura crept into every pore, and he even felt as if the water had turned into thick, viscous blood.
Xi felt as though a hand was gripping his heart. The current lashed against his face, and an invisible force dragged him downward.
Seeing this, Yujie tried to rush forward, but Xi glanced back at him. Although no sound could be heard, Yujie understood that Xi was telling him not to come over.
While Yujie was still hesitating, Xi was dragged down into the abyss, while Yujie and Lin Xi were lifted out of the water by a gentle force...
"Report, two people have been found on the water's surface."
"Begin rescue immediately."
...
When Yujie and Lin Xi woke up again, they were already in the hospital. Wanyan was sitting to one side, and seeing the two of them wake up, he secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
"You're awake."
"Captain Wan? Why are you here — no, what about Xi!"
"That young man? We only found the two of you. What, was he with you as well?"
"Captain Wan, you have to listen to me. There's a monster in the deep water, and before long, disaster is coming. Really, it's really coming."
"Yujie, calm down and get some proper rest."
"How can I possibly calm down? My brother is trapped, his life or death is unknown, and yet I'm just sitting here unable to do a thing!" Yujie shouted and yelled, acting as if he had lost his mind.
"You're so noisy, you look like you just escaped from a psychiatric ward," Lin Xi roared impatiently.
Yujie was about to say she was being too heartless, but then he saw Lin Xi secretly signaling to him. As witty as Yujie was, he instantly understood what Lin Xi meant. He immediately calmed down.
"Ah, Captain Wan is right. Only by getting a good rest can I do what I need to do. I'll rest properly right now."
"Captain Wan, you can go. I can take care of myself."
Seeing this, Wanyan didn't think too much of it. He simply told them to rest well and promised he would handle everything. Then he left.