Chapter 25: Diving into Darkness

Ike and Negan were not very good at swimming, and Negan, in particular, was afraid of swimming. Tom had taken swimming training as a child and also trained in diving. It was years ago, but he was a much better swimmer than Ike.

They had a large swimming circle, which belonged to Tom. The four moved slowly around the swimming circle.

As soon as Regus entered the water, he felt the bone-chilling temperature.

There was a lot of debris in the water, and the buoyancy was slightly larger than that of a swimming pool. Although the garbage in the water had little impact on their floating, some houses had not been completely submerged. With the help of the swimming circle and the houses, they could smoothly move along the edge.

More dangerous was the location of the gap between the houses, where there was no house barrier, and the water was very fast, low, and had undercurrents.

Regus needed to swim first, holding the rope on the other side, so the guys on this side could barely swim.

The muddy yellow water emitted a foul smell. Swimming through this residential area, they needed to cross a road about 10 meters wide. Across the road was the vegetable market, and behind the vegetable market was the wholesale market. The wholesale market, on the fifth floor of the shop, sold natural gas. But the market was squat, now flooded, and Ike and his men could only see a vast expanse of yellow water. It was at least fifty meters from their current position to the building where the natural gas was sold.

The current on the horse road was very strong.

"Make the rope longer. I'll swim across first," said Regus.

They had two ropes. Regus untied the old one and tied the other long one to his belt. He put on his goggles and jumped into the water with a splash.

Regus was a very experienced person in the game, and the last time they saved the environment was more difficult. He didn't even have goggles. At least Regus had goggles this time. They protected his nose and allowed him to breathe in the water.

Regus, in one breath, charged upward with the inertia of his kick and reached the surface in a much less direction than he had expected, indicating that the impact of the water had not affected his judgment. Regus was holding onto the anti-theft bars of a building. The rope on his body had stretched straight.

The rope was only twenty-five meters, so it seemed that the distance was just about twenty-five.

On this side, Ike tied the other end of the rope to the security net, and the other three people grabbed onto the swimming circle along the rope to swim to the other side. Everything was fine.

This building was not far from the fifth building they were trying to reach, and the men reached the fifth building again without much effort. Next, Regus and Tom, who were better swimmers, would go into the water and explore the situation below first.

"Listen to me in the water, everything. If you can't hold up, immediately come up, don't insist," Regus urged.

"Understood," Tom responded.

Regus and Tom first went into the water one or two meters to balance out the ear pressure, feeling almost adapted to the underwater environment. The two people then dived into the house.

The remaining rope was tied to Regus and Tom at each end, with Ike and Negan on each side. If Regus and Tom pulled the rope twice underwater, Ike and Negan had to quickly pull it up.

Before going into the water, Regus and everyone carefully checked for hand signals and danger signs.

As soon as Regus and Tom dived into the water, it was completely dark and they could not see anything at all.

The water pressure came from all sides, and Tom could tell where he was by touch alone. The first thing he touched was the concrete wall outside the house. He stepped on a piece of tin, guessing that it was something to keep out the rain on the anti-theft window. He continued to go down and, sure enough, he touched the anti-theft guardrail.

He couldn't hear any sound from his ears, only the indescribable sound of his breathing apparatus. His eyes were black, and fear and the unknown became instinctual. The touch of his hand was intensified. Tom stroked the rough cement wall, stepped on the second iron sheet, and his slow thinking judged that he should have reached the first floor.

But his goggles weren't over his nose, so he couldn't breathe. He was starting to feel dizzy.

The pressure on his ears and chest became too much for him. He touched Regus next to him and gave Regus a gentle blow on the shoulder and a double tap. Tom motioned for himself to go up.

Without waiting for Regus to respond, Tom kicked with his feet and rose to the surface of the water. Out of the water, Tom gasped, then shook his head and said, "It's too dark to see anything at all.""Is there any foreign object?" Ike asked.

"No, the neighborhood should be pretty clean." Tom took off his goggles, rubbed his face with sewage, and gave his ears a little shake. "... This water stinks. There can't be bodies under the water."

After about a minute or so, Regus also resurfaced. He told the group, "The curtain door is closed, there is a lock. The axe won't work, it's better to use the steel pipe to pry it open."

They were carrying an axe and a steel pipe, both weapons left behind by the intruders who robbed the convenience store the last time. The steel pipe was round, and Regus flattened it a bit with the back of his axe before diving first to pick the lock.

This time, Regus was alone in the water.

Underwater, Regus first dove to the road and felt a stone to cushion it outside the door lock. He then inserted the steel pipe near the lock head. Regus pressed the steel pipe with all his strength. After about three or four attempts, Regus heard the sound of the door lock. He pressed four or five more times, and Regus could feel the gap of the door lock becoming larger

Tom couldn't stay underwater for too long, so Regus, with experience, quickly pulled him outside the rolling door, providing a place for Tom. Regus touched the side of the pole, and the two of them worked together to pull the rolling door up.

The shutter door was pulled upward, and Tom felt a mild surge of water pressure enter. But he was ready to resist this little pressure.

However, pulling the shutter door was Tom's limit. After pulling it, he quickly signalled Regus, and he was already floating up rapidly. As soon as he emerged from the water, Tom swallowed a mouthful of water. Underwater, the curtain door had been pulled apart by about 20 centimeters. Regus took a breath and finally managed to pull the curtain door open wide enough for a person to pass through.

Regus got out of the water once, then went back in, entered the door, felt the long space, and encountered debris a few times. After removing a piece of fabric, he finally touched two or three tin cans piled in one place.

Regus first tested their weight in the water but couldn't tell if they were empty or had gas. "There's no way. Regus, pull them up first," Negan said happily as the gas tanks surfaced. "Is the water pressure in the room high?" Ike asked. "Not really," Rex responded.

"I'll try going underwater," Ike proposed. "Don't you know how to dive? It's too dangerous, so don't," Tom quickly warned Ike.

"There's always a first time, Uncle Regus. Give me your goggles. If I can't handle it, I'll pull the rope," Ike said.

Now that Ike insisted, the others said nothing more. These days, it wasn't a bad thing to gain an additional skill.

Ike put on Regus's goggles, with one end of the rope hanging from his body and the other tied to his wrist. Following Regus's instructions, he acclimated to the underwater environment and did a dozen ear pressure balances before attempting to enter the water along the chamber.

Ike's first attempt only got him to the second floor. He couldn't hold on, but he managed to take a breath through the goggles. Breathing through the goggles was a bit challenging for him on his first dive, and the water pressure was heavy. He could only breathe for two seconds.

After his second and third attempts, Ike succeeded in getting inside the shutter door. Following Regus's memory, he located a natural gas tank.

Untying the rope from his hand and attaching it to the tank, Ike pulled the tank out of the shutter door, pushed off with his feet, and floated smoothly to the surface.

Then the four of them worked together to retrieve two gas tanks.

When crossing the road, which was over 20 meters wide, with the help of swimming rings and ropes, transporting the natural gas tanks wasn't particularly difficult. They just had to make the extra trip back and forth.

Tom's idea had given them access to two tanks of the scarcest fuel.

On the way back, they carefully avoided the prying eyes of the surrounding crowd and transported the natural gas tanks to Regus's house first.

In the evening, everyone gathered at Regus's house for dinner and enjoyed fried ham. After dinner, Ike reminded everyone that they must exercise to avoid catching a cold. Anna was training in the living room.

Ike said to Anna, "I asked Mom to make you some hot water so you and Nami can take a bath."

Rex had an old barrel that the original house owner had left unused, and Ike had cleaned it just now. "Whoa! So extravagant? Will it be too much of a waste of gas?" Anna said happily. Can she still take a bath during a power failure and water supply shortage?

"Go ahead," Ike said.

Anna was thrilled and immediately went to Nami, calling out her name.

Nami was reading in her room.