Chapter 31: So His Last Name Is Xie

Yu Chu began to laugh, and covered his chest to choke and cough. He felt something shaking on his wrist, reached out to touch it and found it was a chain with a cross and small ball at the end, wrapped around his wrist a few times.

This should be from when he had fallen off the cliff, taken from Yu ShiQing’s neck. After he fell unconscious, it wasn’t swept away by the sea, but wrapped around his wrist.

Yu Chu fondled the gold chain, unclasped the clasp and hung it around his neck.

But he went to touch his phone and found his pocket empty, he thought that he had worked hard for nothing, and couldn’t help but smile bitterly.

“I can’t seem to see,” he said to Zhou Mu.

Zhou Mu, “I can’t see either. Don’t worry, you’re not blind, we’re in a tunnel in the ground.”

Yu Chu noticed when the two spoke there was an echo, confirming this was a confined space. Beneath his body, the stone was also very wet, and the air was full of a seawater fishy smell. He moved and tried to sit up, but Zhou Mu grabbed his arm, “Don’t move. We’re next to the sea, so if you fall in, I’ll have to rescue you. I really don’t want to move, just let me rest for a while.”

Yu Chu just woke up from his near drowning and his body was also very tired. After listening to Zhou Mu, he closed his eyes and no longer dared to move.

After a few moments, Yu Chu suddenly asked, “Zhou Mu, why did you save me?”

Zhou Mu replied in a perfunctory tone, “I saw you after I fell into the water, so I gave you a hand.”

Yu Chu laughed and said, “You’re so good in the water that even if Yu ShiQing threw you off the cliff, you could swim a few kilometers. You could easily go to the shore. Since you dragged my unconscious body into this hole, it should be because you were purposely looking for me and came in, right?”

“Maybe.” Zhou Mu returned noncommittally.

In the darkness, Yu Chu turned his head and said, “So why did you save me? It was very dangerous. In fact, if it were me, I would certainly not hurry to save you.”

“You are frank.” Zhou Mu suddenly laughed, and Yu Chu felt that the air around him seemed to follow his chest vibrations. He said after a moment of silence, “My parents died when I was very young, and the only people close to me were my sister and your grandmother, and they left one after another. I can only take care of people when they are still here in this world.”

Yu Chu’s heart welled up with a feeling he couldn’t put into words, and said, “Oh.”

The two of them stopped talking and closed their eyes to rest, and Yu Chu soon fell into a deep sleep. He didn’t know how long he had slept, but when he woke up, he found himself lying in a warm, solid embrace. His head was resting on Zhou Mu’s chest, his steady heartbeat was in his ear, and his body was surrounded by two strong arms.

Yu Chu’s body tensed up for a moment, and he didn’t want Zhou Mu to be alert in his sleep, but he woke up instantly, asking him with a hoarse voice, “Awake?”

His voice had a little nasal sound after waking up, which diluted the cold and hard temperament of his body.

“Yes.” Yu Chu whispered.

Zhou Mu lifted his head and moved his neck, which was now sore after he fell asleep against the cave wall. Yu Chu inched away from him bit by bit, trying to move out of his embrace.

This space in this hole was indeed very small. He had moved a little, but his leg was hanging in the air, and he almost fell into the water.

Zhou Mu’s arms tightened and he lazily ordered, “Don’t move.” 

Yu Chu really didn’t move, and lay obediently in his arms. But after such a sleep, he felt his body had recovered, his arms and legs had strength again, and even his chest didn’t hurt so much.

Zhou Mu said, “We now have to think about getting out of here. Do you know how to dive?”

Before he swam in the sea, Yu Chu was lying in the shallow sea, like a motionless turtle, so he suspected that this man couldn’t swim at all.

“I know a little.”

“How much is a little? How long can you hold your breath?” Zhou Mu.

Yu Chu frowned, “I used to be able to hold my breath for eight minutes and twenty seconds in the water, but now I can’t.”

This body hadn’t been trained and he wasn’t sure how long he could hold his breath. If it was at the level of ordinary people, he may be able to go up to four or five minutes or so.

Zhou Mu said, “Try it. You were unconscious in the water for nearly ten minutes, but you still survived. At most, after swimming out of the hole, I will rescue you again.”

Yu Chu: … 

Despite this, Zhou Mu didn’t intend to really let him in the water. After carefully placing the person on the ground and squeezing him over to sit, he said, “Wait here, I’ll go see how long this cave is. If I’m not wrong, not far ahead should be the entrance to the cave, and we can go ashore.”

Yu Chu’s heart rose with a trace of panic and he reflexively wanted to pull his arm. His hand was half way held out before he hurriedly retracted it and calmly returned, “Okay.”

Zhou Mu couldn’t see his movements, only said, “Then sit still and don’t move, beware of falling into the water. I won’t be next to you, so if you fall in, no one will be here to fish you out.”

“Okay.” Yu Chu repeated.

The warmth around him suddenly disappeared, before there was a splashing in the water. Yu Chu knew Zhou Mu had entered water, but he could only touch the wet cold stone platform.

The splashing gradually went farther away until it disappeared. The cave again returned to quiet and the only sound was from the wind blowing against the cave wall causing a whistle.

Yu Chu sat in the dark, slightly sideways, ears listening to the far movement, as he silently counted the time.

Fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen… He should’ve swam quite a distance.

Fifty-six, fifty-seven, fifty-eight, another minute had passed… 

The time passed slowly, Yu Chu’s heart became more and more uneasy, as he began to imagine that Zhou Mu encountered undercurrents, and in the darkness hit the rocks, becoming unconscious in the water.

He didn’t want to be left alone in the infinite darkness, trapped in this cave.

With these random thoughts, time seemed to have passed a few minutes, his heart was gradually occupied by panic, his heartbeat becoming faster and faster.

No, no, I have to go see. He muttered.

Just as he was preparing to enter the water, the sound of the splashing came from not far away, and he paused in his movement, his voice trembling, “Zhou Mu?”

“It’s me.” A familiar, low voice returned. Zhou Mu’s hand touched the wall of the cave and swam forward, touching the stone when he flipped over and leaped up, the water flowing on the ground.

“I explored the cave. I swam for eight or nine minutes, and the bottom of the cave began to rise. The water is also clear and we can certainly go out. If we swim out of the distance of four minutes, there’s a piece of the top of the cave exposed to water, so you can change the air midway. But the space is relatively small, and can only allow one person to breathe, but this is no problem at all. We can take turns to breathe in the air.”

Zhou Mu was wringing the water out of his T-shirt, while telling Yu Chu about the cave. When he finished, he thought Yu Chu would be happy about this but didn’t think that he wouldn’t say a single word.

“What? Do you not want to leave?” Zhou Mu’s tone was a bit teasing, “Or are you scared of staying here alone?”

Yu Chu still didn’t speak, and his breathing was also a bit rapid. Zhou Mu noticed a hint of something different, and reached out to probe Yu Chu’s forehead. His hand touched the soft hair in the darkness, so he followed it to, resting on Yu Chu’s forehead, “Is there something wrong?” 

Yu Chu’s forehead was slightly cool to the touch. He had no fever, and everything was quite normal.

“Why did you take so long to come back?” Yu Chu’s tone was sharp, as if he was mad.

“Didn’t I have to figure out the route? That’s definitely—” Zhou Mu first explained, but stopped in the middle of the sentence. After two seconds of silence, he carefully answered, “Don’t worry, I will definitely come back to pick you up.”

Yu Chu gave a low ‘hmm’, changed the subject, “Since you explored this cave and can go out, then we can go in the water.”

“How’s your body recovering?”

“I feel fine.”

“Good, then we should go.” Zhou Mu said. He was holding his hand on the stone in the water, when he suddenly felt the back hem of his T-shirt being pulled. He didn’t force himself to break free or push away Yu Chu’s hand, but only moved his fingers to his waist, saying, “Grab here.”

Yu Chu grabbed his T-shirt near his waist with one hand, his other hand supporting the stone. The two inhaled deeply together, sinking into the water. The water was still dark, and the cold penetrated into their every cell. Yu Chu had just experienced drowning, and this feeling really made him feel bad, as if he was on the verge of death again, causing his heart to clench.

But he clutched Zhou Mu’s clothes in his fingers, and his knuckles could touch warm skin, so he wasn’t too frightened. He clutched the fabric tighter, fearing it would slip out.

The water flow and Zhou Mu both carried Yu Chu forward. He was afraid that strenuous exercise would speed up the use of oxygen, so he didn’t use much force, only gently swung his legs. Yu Chu knew how powerful Zhou Mu was, so even if his lungs began to swell and he felt pain again, he didn’t panic.

When they got to a certain position, Zhou Mu suddenly stopped, backhandedly grabbed Yu Chu’s arm, who was also rushing forward, and pushed him upwards. Yu Chu immediately understood his action, waved his legs, and touched the cave wall with one hand. Then tilted his head, his face was abruptly exposed on the surface of the water, eagerly breathing heavily.

This was the place where Zhou Mu said he could breathe midway. The space was small, only one person could show half of his face, Yu Chu opened his mouth to breathe, Zhou Mu was beside him, holding his waist with both hands.

Yu Chu took a deep breath, then sank into the water, Zhou Mu floated up. He changed his breath this time for a full half minute, then held his breath before sinking back down. Yu Chu thought they would then continue to dive, but Zhou Mu tapped up, his hand patted his waist, signaling Yu Chu to breathe again.

After Yu Chu breathed for a long time, Zhou Mu led him to continue to move forward. After swimming along the cave wall for about three minutes, Yu Chu felt that the current around him had accelerated, and the water temperature was no longer as cold and harsh, but had increased by at least several degrees. The front view began to brighten, and a hazy light appeared in the water waves.

This was the way out. His heart slammed in his chest.

Zhou Mu also accelerated his swimming speed. Yu Chu clutched his T-shirt, suddenly remembering the television show about marine fish. One of them was called the remora, and it was lazy, with a long and thin body, that loved to attach to sharks’ bellies to swim.

He felt that he was now in a similar situation. He was like a remora, and was attached to Zhou Mu, the shark, as he was pulled through the waves.

The light was getting brighter and brighter, they could already see the dark cave walls on both sides, and also look at the foot a few meters under the sea.

The sea became shallow, and they would soon be able to surface.

It looked like a very short distance to swim after being in a small cave, trapped in deep water. Yu Chu’s breath was about to run out, before he saw the sudden appearance of two swimming figures.

The figures carried oxygen tanks and long flippers on their feet; they were two divers.

The divers noticed them and swam towards their direction. When the divers swam closer, the one in front took off his oxygen mask and made a move to snap it on Zhou Mu’s face.

Zhou Mu waved his hand and pointed to Yu Chu behind him, instructing him to put it on Yu Chu, and then swung with the two forceful legs, swimming like a fish as he rushed forward.

Yu Chu was strapped with the oxygen mask, breathed greedily for two mouthfuls, and then returned the mask to the diver. The diver grabbed his back collar and burst forward. A minute later, with a splash, he took him out of the water.

Yu Chu wiped the water off his face and turned his head to look around, visibly relieved when he saw Zhou Mu gasping for air on the surface, floating in the water not far away.

“Team Leader Xie!” A startling shout came from behind them.

Yu Chu turned around and saw that there was a large motorboat with several people standing on the deck, waving their hands at them. One of the figures leaned over the side of the boat, jumped into the water, splashing, puffing and breaking the waves.

Yu Chu turned his head quickly and saw that Zhou Mu also had a smile on his face, raised an arm and waved at them. He smiled pleasantly, the moonlight revealed white teeth, and the lines of his handsome face softened into a relaxed expression Yu Chu had never seen before.

So his last name was Xie.

This was the first thought that came to Yu Chu’s mind.