Chapter 46: Awakening

Chapter 46: Awakening

While the two of them were completely unaware, a flash of green suddenly appeared beside Wu Yu. Trembling, it gently let the water cradled between its two leaves flow into Wu Yu's mouth, and then vanished once again.

For the past three days, little Si Teng had been caring for Wu Yu in this exact manner. Every time it gathered even that tiny bit of water, it had to make a round trip that took seven or eight hours, repeating the process over and over again without a single moment of rest.

Their water had run out as early as yesterday. Neither Fatty nor Wu Tianzhen had consumed much, saving it all for Wu Yu and the闷油瓶 (Silent Brother), but even so, it was like a drop of water in a blazing fire.

There was no helping it. Generally speaking, tomb raiding expeditions did not last very long, and often people didn't even carry much food or water. Who could have anticipated that such an unexpected disaster would occur this time?

Just like that, another two days passed.

This time, even Fatty and Tianzhen could no longer bear it.

One could hold on a bit longer without food, but a human simply could not survive for long without water!

"This is bad, Fat me feels like I'm starting to hallucinate!" Fatty lay on the ground, watching a green shadow flash swiftly ahead of him, and muttered, "Tianzhen... are we really going to die here?"

Tianzhen no longer had the strength to reply to Fatty. After hesitating for a long time, he finally decided to get up and search for a water source. Doing so might attract other creatures, but at the very least, it gave them a fighting chance.

If they continued to stay here, certain death was the only outcome!

Dragging his exhausted body, Wu Tianzhen stumbled forward step by step toward the direction of the doorway. It was a distance of barely a dozen meters, yet every step felt overwhelmingly arduous.

His legs turned to jelly, and just as he was about to collapse once again, a pair of strong hands caught him from behind.

"You've worked hard!" Wu Yu stood up, looking at the condition of both Tianzhen and Fatty, feeling deeply moved. "Get some good rest!"

"..." Tianzhen looked at Wu Yu, and after making sure he wasn't hallucinating, the corners of his mouth lifted into a faint smile before he passed out.

"Hah, have I been unconscious for several days?" Wu Yu murmured. Little Si Teng lay extremely weakly beside his feet, lacking even the strength to crawl up onto Wu Yu's shoulder.

After all, it was still too young. Although Si Teng was a miraculous entity of untold rarity, unfortunately, it had only recently sprouted and couldn't even leave the soil for long periods, let alone anything else.

Though it had absorbed quite a bit of energy, it would take time to digest and transform it.

"You've worked hard, you must be exhausted, I really caused you trouble!" Wu Yu looked apologetically at little Si Teng. Its delicate roots were completely fractured, leaving only the two thickest ones. Over the past few days, thanks entirely to the little creature's daily journeys back and forth for barely a mouthful of water, they had managed to hold on; even so, the little fellow had never given up and had persisted through it all.

Gently lifting Si Teng and placing it back onto its favorite spot—his collar—Wu Yu picked up the canteen and quickly departed.

Tianzhen and Fatty were physically weak and dehydrated from hunger and thirst. The Silent Brother had lost excessive blood and had also employed a secret technique, so relatively speaking, he required more professional medical equipment and quiet recuperation.

Therefore, Wu Yu decided that this trip to the undersea tomb would end right here. In any case, they had already reached the Heavenly Palace in the Clouds, and over the past few days, Tianzhen had already photographed and documented everything here; they could simply go back and conduct their research later.

After fetching the water and feeding it to the three of them, Fatty and Tianzhen woke up shortly after.

However, due to their extreme hunger, they were still very weak.

"I'll go fetch another canteen of water, you two drink slowly!" With little Si Teng leading the way, it only took Wu Yu a little over ten minutes for the round trip.

"What about the Silent Brother, brother?" Tianzhen asked.

"Don't worry. Since you guys bandaged his wounds, there shouldn't be any major problems as long as he doesn't suffer any further complications. He'll be fine once he goes back and rests." As he spoke, Wu Yu retrieved a few pills from his instrument case and had the Silent Brother swallow them.

"I say, Master Yu, don't you have any food on you?" Fatty asked with a wry smile.

"I didn't expect things to turn out like this this time!" Wu Yu chuckled bitterly when he heard this. "Besides, I can practice *bigu* (abstaining from grain) when necessary; going ten or twenty days without eating doesn't really matter much to me."

"Fine, pretend I didn't ask!" Fatty sighed, knowing that Wu Yu was essentially a living immortal sort of figure, so what else could he say?

Wu Yu, on the other hand, stood up, feigned a curious look as he glanced around, and tossed scanning devices into various locations. After all, this place could be considered the core of the entire sunken undersea tomb, and once it was blown up, the chances of salvaging anything afterwards would probably be extremely low—it would depend entirely on the capabilities of the Eleven Warehouses.

Therefore, he had to scan and preserve as much as possible.

Of course, there was also the most important point... checking in!

"Ding!"

"Congratulations to the host for a successful check-in: Sunken Undersea Tomb!"

"The rewarded internal energy will be distributed all at once after the mission is completely finished!"

"Damn it, system, you really aren't leaving me any way out!" Wu Yu sighed inwardly. He had anticipated this outcome long ago, but he still wanted to give it a try.

"Let's go!" Wu Yu said. "The aura of those ten water monkeys is already very weak; I'm afraid something else will soon break in here to investigate, and by then, we will undoubtedly face another fierce battle!"

"Then let's hurry up and leave, Fat me just wants to get out right now!" Fatty sighed.

"Over there, brother!" Wu Tianzhen pointed to an inconspicuous corner. "There's a path leading upwards. If we need to blast our way through, we can head over there; doing so will bring us much closer to the surface!"

Four people—one unconscious and two weakened—would face nine deaths and a lifetime of misery in the ocean in this state, so getting closer to the surface was definitely the best option.

"Oh?" Wu Yu walked over to inspect it and only then discovered that this blind spot was ingeniously designed!

Because that place looked as though there was no path at all; only when viewed from a specific angle would the entrance of that passageway be exposed to your eyes. If you merely walked past it, you would never discover that an entrance was hidden there!

"Let's go!" Wu Yu gripped the Chengying sword tightly in one hand while carrying the explosives Fatty had brought on his back, taking the lead to clear the path.

Tianzhen and Fatty supported the Silent Brother as they followed closely behind.

Yet none of the four noticed that the mummified corpse dressed in grand official crimson robes, seated atop the golden model of the Heavenly Palace in the Clouds, eerily broke into a smile before slowly lowering its head again, as if everything that had just happened were merely an illusion.

Moving upwards along this secret tunnel, they could already sense the increasing dampness in the air, which served as undeniable proof that they were drawing closer to the ocean surface.

However, looking at the stone door before them, Fatty muttered strangely, "This Wang Canghai really knew how to play games. This place should correspond directly above the main hall, right? Why build another room to store things? It defies common sense—did he want to find something to suppress himself?"

"That must be a great treasure!" Wu Tianzhen smiled. "Is that what you're thinking in your heart?"

"Heh! Fat me went through nine deaths and a lifetime of hardships coming down here this time, yet I haven't fished out any ancient treasures!" Fatty complained with some dissatisfaction.