Race to One Billion (2)

Li Nuxie stopped as rock formations blocked their way. She signaled to her brother to look for an opening.

As Li Chao moved forward and looked around for it, he disappeared from their sights behind those rocks. Huang Wensheng stayed still beside Li Chanying, his legs were moving back and forth.

Not long after, Li Chao emerged, indicating for them to follow him.

As they swam nearer to the other side of the rock formations, they saw the opening. It was small but enough for one person to pass through.

Li Chao signaled to his cousin to go first. Li Chanying gave a thumbs up sign before swimming towards the opening. As she successfully passed through, Huang Wensheng followed.

After him, it was Li Nuxie followed by Li Chao. When all the members passed through the opening safely, they started swimming towards the surface.

The team turned on the lights attached to their suits to see inside the underwater cave, unlike in the open sea. They needed to turn on the lights attached to their suits.

Li Chanying was the first to resurface from the water. She climbed up to the part of the cave which was dry before removing her diving gear.

Huang Wensheng soon followed. Li Chanying extended her hand towards him, pulling him out from the water.

"Thank you elder sister Chanying," he said as soon as the diving gear was removed from his face.

Li Chanying just nodded as her eyes darted back to the water. "Xiexie is behind you, right?"

"I-I don't know," Huang Wensheng stuttered. He lowered his head as he waited for the Li Chanying to burst out.

Not knowing what to say, Li Chanying just pressed her lips. She cannot blame Huang Wensheng because she knew Li Nuxie's behavior.

Five minutes turned to ten. Li Chanying paced back and forth at that part of the cave. "What was taking them so long?" she muttered under her breath.

Huang Wensheng stared at Li Chanying. He can feel that she was worried. "Elder sister Xiexie will be safe. You just have to believe in her," he said as his eyes followed Li Chanying's movements.

Li Chanying raised her head. Her hand rubbed the exposed skin of her neck. "Yeah, I know. It's just that, my cousin doesn't know how to swim."

It was true that Li Nuxie cannot do freestyle swimming. And she has the tendency to panic when something happened in the water.

Although Li Chao was with her, one can never know what would happen underwater. The depths of the bodies of water were the most mysterious and dangerous.

Li Chanying sighed once again. She cannot help but shivered when she remembered what a fortune teller has foretold about Li Nuxie's future.

'Stay away from the water for it will bring you demise.'

The words of the woman with a bandana on her forehead rang repeatedly inside Li Chanying's mind.

Her footsteps came to a complete halt. "If they haven't emerged yet for the next minute, I'll coming down again," Li Chanying declared.

"I'm coming too!" Huang Wensheng seconded.

Li Chanying shook her head. "No, just stay here. It would be dangerous," she said, picking up her diving gear.

"You will need help, elder sister Chanying. If they haven't emerged then something must have happened with one or both of them," he insisted.

Li Chanying scratched her nose. Well, Huang Wensheng has a point. She would indeed need help if it was the scenario. She took a deep breath.

"Okay, let's do it."

Meanwhile, underwater, Li Nuxie clenched her jaw as she tried to pull her brother upwards. Li Chao suffered cramps on his right leg that made it difficult for him to move his legs up and down.

Li Nuxie has to drag him literally. But with his weight that added to the equally heavy diving gears, she had to take one flap at a time.

She looked up and can vaguely see the light. She sighed inwardly upon realizing that she was already near at the surface.

She moved her legs faster but stopped when she felt a searing pain that tore through her right leg. Her eyes went wide as her breathing accelerated.

Did she just suffer cramps too?

Li Chao's eyes went round too. He didn't know why his sister stopped but seeing that her oxygen tank was nearing the critical level, he indicated for her to swim faster on the surface.

His sister doesn't know how to swim without any gear. Li Chao can swim freestyle and as he can already feel his right leg, he was confident that he can swim towards the surface even without the aid of the oxygen tank.

However, Li Nuxie seemed not to realize what her brother was saying. Her mind was focused on her numb right leg and how she felt the air gradually escaped her throat.

Without realizing what was happening, Li Nuxie's view of her brother became blurred. She extended her hand to reach for him but everything went black.

-0-

At an undisclosed location in Country L, Xu Wei accidentally knocked a glass of water. It fell on the floor, shattered into pieces. His breathing became labored as he stared at the broken pieces.

Heng Jun looked at Xu Wei, a weird feeling clouded his senses. "Are you hurt, Wei?"

"No," Xu Wei answered while shaking his head. "I just have a bad feeling," he added.

Heng Jun went to the stock room and picked up a broom and dust pan. He went back in the kitchen, sweeping the shattered pieces of glass. "Do you think something happened to your woman?"

"Xiexie is a fighter. Nothing will happen to her," Xu Wei declared but his voice cracked. Although he doesn't believe in superstitious beliefs, his heart rammed against his chest violently.

You need to be strong, Xiexie! You should be, he chanted inside his head as he clenched his fists.

-0-

Li Nuxie felt like she was floating. Her body felt light. She haven't experienced this kind of lightness in her life. If only she can always feel like this. No worries. No problems. Just the right kind of peacefulness. It would be nice to stay like that forever.