Ignoring the pain of his numb hands and feet and burning lungs, Ryan gritted his teeth and went downstream.

In the midst of the current, Ryan felt an even colder current, which seemed to come from a deeper depth, so that the surrounding water seemed warm.

The cold current wrapped around his body like a dark snake, and it was pitch black in front of him, if it weren't for the rattan rope wrapped around his waist, it was reassuring, and Ryan really had a feeling of being swallowed by the abyss.

There was a touch of Western characters in his hand, and he didn't need to recognize Ryan to know that it was "night", which was the last mark.

Ryan didn't know how his father left marks on this stone wall, he must have overcome many difficulties and worked hard many times, this depth should also be the limit of the Ark people's ability to dive.

Ryan pulled out the bone knife he had borrowed from the sandman, groped around the stone slowly, and then, as expected, he felt the faint cracks

He thrust the bone knife into the gap, moving slowly, and a small piece of stone came loose, and he carefully removed the stone.

What Ryan didn't pay special attention to was that he was standing upright in the water without much effort, and he didn't notice that there was a force pulling his feet.

The stone finally moved away, and Ryan reached for the back of the stone, and he touched a hard, wrapped, round object.

In the darkness, Ryan held the thing in his hand, and although it was wrapped through the layers, from the touch and shape, Ryan could guess what it was.

The water was flowing and the oxygen in his lungs was depleted, Ryan put the thing in his chest pocket and pulled the rattan rope around his waist, he had no strength, hoping that Shaman could help him surface quickly.

Suddenly, he sensed something pulling his foot down, spinning, dragging him down.

The force under his feet was incomparably huge and irresistible, Ryan struggled upward, but it had no effect, and in a trance, Ryan remembered Shaman's words: Whoever defiles the holy water will be swallowed by the water god.

Ryan felt himself falling rapidly, the vine rope around his waist taut, and Ryan seemed to hear the cries of the sand man.

The dark snake wrapped around his body, and before he could lose consciousness, Ryan used his last strength to untie the rattan rope around his waist.

……

***

There were drops of water on Ryan's face, and Ryan slowly opened his eyes.

A stream of water came up and gushed out of his mouth, and Ryan spat out the water in his stomach before Fang slowly sat up.

Reaching out and touching it, the contents of his breast pocket were still there, and Ryan breathed a sigh of relief.

It was all wet and the sound of running water, and Ryan realized that he was sitting next to a river.

It was supposed to be an underground space, the light was extremely dim, almost completely dark, and Ryan felt that there was a large river in front of him, and the water was very abundant, and the sound of the water hitting the surrounding stone walls reflected back from all directions, sounding like a roar, and the damp water vapor enveloped his body.

Ryan pondered whether the scene was real or "hell" as prehistoric legends say, and then decided that it didn't matter anything, as long as the thing on his chest was there, he had the motivation to stand up again.

The rattan rope around his waist was gone, and he thought that the bottom of the pool must be connected to the river, and he was swept away by the current at the bottom of the pool, and then washed here.

I don't know what happened to the sandman, she must be dying, Ryan can imagine her helpless around the waterhole. Not knowing how to go back, Ryan had to walk upstream along the river.

The river soaked through Ryan's shoes, it was cool, Ryan squatted down, put his hand into the river, and the roaring river water slapped on his hand, it felt very novel. Ryan picked up a handful of water, only to feel that the water was so cool that people couldn't help but want to take a sip.

Ryan tried to taste a small sip, the taste was clear and sweet, indescribably delicious, Ryan simply drank it.

In the past, this was unthinkable, and he must have gone crazy with the raw water outside the cabin directly entering the mouth. But he instinctively thought that the water was good, at least, the water of the ark with the smell of medicine could not be compared with the sand of the desert.

The cool liquid went down the esophagus, Ryan felt refreshed, as if he was moistened by something, Ryan washed his face by the way, and then he realized that he was not wearing a rubber breathing mask, but there was no suffocation, the air was moist and comfortable, and everything was just right.

There were constant drops of water falling on Ryan, and it must have fallen from the stone wall above, Ryan thought, this is probably the "underground river" mentioned in the book, some of which are very old and can exist for a long time. It seems that the changes on the ground have not affected it much, and the water on the surface (even if it is very small) has seeped here through the rock formations, so that it can still retain the amount of water, and the layers of rock layers filter to keep it from pollution.

Ryan felt the damp fluffy stuff on the stones by the river, if he didn't guess wrong, it might be moss, the light was too dim to see what was in the river, but Ryan thought, maybe there was life in the river.

It's an ecosystem, at least in this space, it's in equilibrium, it's functioning on its own.

Ryan further thought that if the wild people were able to survive the catastrophe, it was also because their ancestors hid in such a cave, isolated from the radiation environment, there was water, there was air, and if they could find food again, think about it, it was not impossible......

Later, they slowly walked out of here, evolving the ability of night vision and strong adaptability to the natural environment, although the level of sociality and technology has greatly degraded, almost nothing, but in the end, is this evolution or degradation?

Suddenly something tripped Ryan, Ryan stumbled, almost fell, reached out and touched it, but touched a rope, and touched it again,

Isn't that the rattan rope! Ryan pulled up the rattan rope, but found that the end was very heavy, as if something was still tied to it, Ryan touched the rope and touched a person.

"Sand, sand!"

When Ryan recognized that the motionless man on the other end of the rope was actually Sandman, he couldn't help but cry out in surprise.

Sha Man's face and hands were cold to the touch, his mouth and nose could not detect his breath, and in the darkness, Ryan was in a hurry, not knowing what to do, and finally had to kneel down and press Sha Man's chest quickly with both hands.

At least, that's what prehistoric people did.

Although this practice was scoffed at by the Ark people, in the Ark, if ventricular rest occurred, it could be quickly treated with resuscitation equipment.

"Sand Man, Sand Man," Ryan shouted while pressing, Ryan didn't know how much science there was in this action, and how much prayer there was, and pressed it for a while to probe Sand Man's snort, but it was still silent, Ryan was anxious, and pressed harder.

"Sandman, Sandman!"

Oh, and blow on the mouth! Ryan pinched Sandman's nose, puffed out his cheeks, and blew into her mouth until her lungs hurt, and the people on the ground remained motionless.

Ryan wiped his sweat with his wet sleeves, touched Shaman's face, it was still cold, Ryan tried to calm himself down, she must have been so cold, the body temperature of wild people is low, and her metabolism is slow, she must have been so cold!

But why didn't she breathe?

She just blocked a mouthful of water, yes, she blocked a mouthful of water!

Ryan jumped up, lifted Sand Man upside down, shook it, and grabbed Sand Man's leg again, so that her stomach rested on her shoulders and her upper body hung down behind her back.

Ryan jumped in place, "Quick, spit out the water!" ”

Ryan jumped and said, "How did you come down, I have obviously untied the rope, even if you are pulled into the water, you can go up by climbing the stone wall, how did you come down?" ”

"Shaman, you are so stupid, you obviously can't swim, and you still tie the rope to yourself, you are so stupid, you little fool!

"Shaman, what to do, you won't be dead, I know you won't, you're Peter Pan, you don't need air, how can you die!

"Shaman, Shaman, say something quickly, did you spit out the water, hurry up, you are so heavy......"

"Sand Man ......"

Ryan stopped jumping and wiped his eyes with his hand, he said, "It's all my fault, I shouldn't have dived so deep, I should have gone up and down again, I must have worried you, but I want to get my father's stuff so much......"

"Hey." A voice said.

Ryan stood in place for two seconds, then pulled the man off his shoulder, and the man slid down Ryan's shoulder, and before he could hit the ground, he was hugged.

"Sandman! ……”

The man who was being held said, "...... I couldn't breathe. ”

"Crying?" Sandman's eyes glowed faintly in the darkness, staring at Ryan's face.

"Not really." Ryan turned his face away.

"Ha, I've seen it all."

"That's water dripping from above!"

"Who do you say is heavy?"

Ryan paused, then smiled, "What do you say, who else?" ”

Sand Man pounced on Ryan and grabbed Ryan's neck.

"Hey, you've just recovered and you're so alive!"

Ryan slipped on his feet, unsteady on his feet, and both of them fell to the ground. The sand man fell on top of Lane, who grinned in pain. Sha Man's expression changed, and he was about to ask, but he saw Ryan looking at her and smiling.

Ryan didn't wear a mask, this face looked strange and familiar, Sand Man couldn't help but be stunned, Ryan suddenly wrapped his hands around Sand Man, "Don't go," Sand Man struggled when he saw this, the two twisted on the ground, and finally got tired, but in the end, Sand Man couldn't break free of Ryan's arm.

"Hey, why do you have so much strength?"

"That's how it is."

"You'll have a lot of strength."

“......”

"You don't have to wear a face mask here?"

Ryan took a deep breath, "Well, it feels great. ”

"Got something?"

"Hmm." Ryan nodded and smiled happily at Shaman, but Shaman didn't ask much about what it was.

"When will you let me go?"

The corners of Ryan's mouth crooked, "It depends on my mood." ”

Sha Man simply gave up struggling and said, "I didn't expect that the palace of the water god is such a good place. ”

Ryan came up as soon as he heard the anger, "Hey, I said you, obviously you can't swim, why do you come down, don't you want to die, what do you think?" ”

Shaman leaned on Ryan's body and said slowly: "I'm different from you, I always think about this and that, I don't think about it at all......"