After being universally criticized online, I went viral on military-themed variety shows.

Chapter 487 Drainage, One Less Step

A few seconds later, Que Bingchen also surfaced. The two looked at each other from more than two meters away, and after a short while, they swam toward the shore.

Upon reaching the shore, Li Chengxiao deliberately slowed down, falling behind Que Bingchen.

When Zhu Heng squatted on the shore and pulled her husband up, he also lifted him up a bit.

Then it was his turn.

Seeing Zhu Heng's actions, Jiang Hanying followed suit, kneeling down on the shore and grabbing the hand of her cheap master before he could retract it, then pulling it upwards forcefully.

Li Chengxiao was only stunned for a moment before using the force to brace himself against the shore with his other hand and nimbly emerged from the water.

"Did it hurt?"

"Hmm, I forgot about it," Jiang Hanying said, rubbing the lucky bracelet on her wrist. The beads near the inside of her wrist had left several red dents on her skin. She rubbed them nonchalantly, "It's okay, they'll go away in a bit."

Before she could finish speaking, her wrist was grabbed and red marks were rubbed onto her still-wet fingertips. "I'll have to go down again later."

Jiang Hanying was watching her cheap master massage her wrists when she heard this and suddenly looked up, "Going down again?"

“Hmm,” Li Chengxiao said without stopping his work, “I see the water valve, it’s underwater.”

But we had to dive a few more minutes to reach it, and we were almost out of breath, so we had to surface to rest.

Que Bingchen's voice came from the side, "Aheng, you really guessed right. There really is an underground river. I just don't know if it was there originally or if it was dug out by man. If it's the latter, the amount of work involved is not small."

Since it's a river, it must have a source.

The fact that it's naturally good suggests that the location was advantageous.

But if it was dug out by hand, then it's like creating a tributary hidden underground out of thin air at the source.

It's easy to imagine how much manpower and resources it would require.

He actually prefers the latter.

Otherwise, they wouldn't have made a second guess.

Zhu Heng understood her husband. The couple exchanged a glance and both saw the increased seriousness in each other's eyes.

Lan Palace is located on this side of Que Mountain, and its location is not far from the Que Mountain range. If an underground river is to be dug, then the river originating from the Que Mountain range should be chosen first, otherwise it would be going the long way around.

However, the Que family was completely unaware of such a large-scale project.

"Let's settle this matter first, then we absolutely must find out the source of this!"

After resting on the shore for a while, Li Chengxiao released Jiang Hanying's wrist and got up to go back into the water.

Que Bingchen also stood up, but before he could reach the shore, Li Chengxiao called out to him, "Uncle Que, let me go down this time. Valves, you can go down together after the water is released."

Jiang Hanying opened her mouth to speak, but the person in front of her, as if expecting this, said, "Be a good girl and wait on the shore."

Hmph, I'll wait and see.

Que Bingchen hesitated for a moment but nodded. After all, he was getting old and couldn't compare to his younger days.

"Then be careful. There might be whirlpools when the water is released. Protect yourself in the water."

"Mm." Li Chengxiao nodded, turned around, and jumped into the water without hesitation.

This time, instead of diving directly, I swam to the center of the pool first, then took a deep breath and dived down.

Jiang Hanying looked into the water with her hands behind her back. Five meters, six meters, seven meters... Hmm, it stopped moving. It seems to have reached the bottom.

As soon as Li Chengxiao stepped onto the bottom of the pool, he touched the drain valve and forcefully pulled it upwards. As the drain opened, the suction combined with the impact of the water rushing towards it caused him to sway.

Fortunately, I reacted quickly, pressing my back and palms against the stone wall beside me to steady myself, barely managing to maintain my balance between the two drains. At this point, there was no point in trying to float upwards; maintaining my current position required complete concentration and all my strength, and I had to keep going until the water in the pool had almost completely drained away.

Time passed second by second, and a noticeable burning sensation came from the palm of my right hand, which was pressed against the pool wall.

My palms were already a little warm when I went into the water, but the feeling wasn't as noticeable while I was in the water.

But now, he even doubts whether the stone he's pressing his palm against has been warmed by the heat of his own palm.

"Qiang!"

With a barely audible whistling sound, a sword-shaped phantom suddenly appeared before him, almost as tall as a man, standing in front of him.

It was as if a barrier had been formed, and the powerful suction force was immediately weakened by about 80% or 90%, completely unable to prevent him from swimming up.

Li Chengxiao quietly watched the sword-shaped phantom that seemed to be staring back at him from underwater. He felt the heat in his palm subside and pursed his lips without moving.

Seemingly realizing that he didn't intend to move, the phantom boldly moved closer and even rubbed its sword tip against his chin.

Li Chengxiao: "..."

Is this considered flirting?

The exact amount of water that has flowed out from underwater is unknown, but people on the shore can see it clearly.

Not long after Li Chengxiao submerged, the water level in the pool changed.

Furthermore, because the pool is shaped like a stepped funnel, the water volume decreases as you go down, and the water level drops faster and faster.

As they descended each step, the group continued down one step. After descending seven or eight steps, when they were about five meters below the shore, they could see Li Chengxiao standing against the stone wall next to the underwater valve.

Li Chengxiao also heard the commotion of everyone going down the steps, and immediately tensed up, subconsciously glancing up at the top of his head.

When he looked away, he saw that the sword-shaped phantom standing in front of him had disappeared, and he breathed a sigh of relief.

Once all the water had flowed out of the pool, everyone stood at the very bottom, on a circular flat area that was about ten square meters in size.

Que Lu looked around and touched it. "This doesn't look like there's any underwater passage. Could it be that we jumped down from this drain?"

He gestured to indicate the size of the drain outlets, saying, "These are a bit small." He felt that only a head could fit inside.

“Since there was no water in the pool when the child entered, it shouldn’t have been through this drain hole,” Que Bingchen walked to the valve that Li Chengxiao had previously turned up, turned it down, and the drain hole was immediately blocked again. “Let’s look again.”

Everyone immediately resumed their serious search.

"one two Three……"

Just as Jiang Hanying handed the coat to its new owner, she heard a soft counting voice from the side. She turned her head and asked, "What are you counting?"

Li Chengxiao casually wrung out his still-dripping shirt, put on his jacket, and then looked at the child. After the child finished counting and put his hands down, he asked, "Counting the steps?"

The child nodded. "Missing, one layer is missing."

The crowd, who were still searching for clues nearby, stopped in their tracks and all turned to look at them.

"One floor is missing? Is it one step that's missing?"

While the others were still checking with the child, Jiang Hanying looked directly down at her feet.

Then he lifted his foot and stomped down hard.

A muffled thud.

Zhu Heng and Que Bingchen's ears twitched, and they found that the space underneath was still empty!