Seeing the lake below, Tangmo instantly remembered this was the lake they crossed before entering the Lining River Valley, which meant they had already escaped from Ronisca’s territory.
With great effort, Baiyue maneuvered the transport plane into the center of the lake, according to the inertia of the aircraft, they should glide on the surface of the lake for a while before sinking to the bottom, this way they could perform an emergency landing near the shore, instead of having to swim from the center of the lake to the edge.
At this point, the transport plane was less than ten meters from the lake surface. The two fighters behind them seemed to realize their intentions, the two planes alternately dive-bombed, a barrage of bullets swept towards the transport plane.
Luckily, the top of the transport plane was built with components like antigravity and spiral engines, the sturdy protrusions effectively blocked bullets from penetrating into the cabin. Bullets hitting the steel plate emitted a chilling metallic collision sound. Some bullets hit the lake surrounding the plane, causing columns of water to blast into the air, making the tranquil lake surface churn.
"Everyone hold on, get ready for impact!" shouted Baiyue loudly.
With her command, the transport plane could no longer maintain its position and slopingly plunged into the lake, causing lake water to rush against the bulletproof glass of the cockpit. Under the tremendous resistance of the water, the transport plane stopped less than ten meters into the lake, then slowly submerged.
The sudden impact was incredibly powerful, so it was only after the entire transport plane was swallowed by lake water that everyone managed to recover from the dizziness caused by the crash.
Cheng Ziang was the first to react. He pulled out a sharp throwing knife from his body, forcefully cut his safety rope and passed the knife to Luo’er who was looking for daggers.
Luo’er was by the cabin door, he took the throwing knife from Cheng Ziang, struggled to cut his own safety rope. Then he made an ascending gesture at Cheng Ziang, turned around, and started to assist Hu Daoke who was attempting to untie the safety rope.
Luo’er swam to Hu Daoke’s side, seeing him still struggling to untie the safety rope. Due to the hurry, he seemed very nervous, constantly releasing bubbles in the water.
Luo’er swam over, cut off his safety rope with a single stroke, and then pushed him out through the nearby cabin door. Floating there, Hu Daoke touched his body and realized he hadn’t taken his gear, and attempted to get back in the airplane to retrieve it.
But before he could get back into the cabin, Luo’er grabbed his wrist. Luo’er shook his head fiercely at Hu Daoke, then cut off his own rifle strap, wrapped his arms around Hu Daoke’s waist, and kicked off the fuselage, carrying him towards the surface of the lake.
The further they floated upward, the more light reached them, the visibility also improved. Finally, the pair broke the surface, Luo’er let go of Hu Daoke, they floated on the surface gasping for breath. The operation just now exhausted their remaining oxygen, before they reached the surface, both of them felt everything turning black.
After regaining their strength, Hu Daoke turned towards Luo’er and asked, "Chief, are we leaving the gear behind?"
"Leave it, let’s swim to shore first," Luo’er gasped, looking utterly exhausted.
Shortly after, Cheng Ziang also surfaced, carrying Tangmo. Tangmo had apparently taken in a few mouthfuls of water and started coughing violently as soon as she surfaced, while Cheng Ziang was holding her from behind.
Seeing Tangmo’s distress, Luo’er waved his hand, signaling Cheng Ziang to take her to shore first, he then couldn’t help but ask, "Where is Yue’er?"
"I’m not sure, you go down and check!" Cheng Ziang said while swimming towards the shore.
"Move to shore first!" Luo’er patted Hu Daoke’s shoulder and informed him.
"Be careful, Chief!" Hu Daoke nodded, turning around to swim to shore.
After sending away his teammates and looking at the deep lake, Luo’er gritted his teeth, took a deep breath and dove into the lake.
The place they crashed was about seven or eight meters deep, but since it was a lake, the bottom was full of silt. After the transport plane sank to the bottom, a cloud of silt curtained the sky.
But Luo’er couldn’t care less now, the deeper he dived, the harder the light penetrated. After diving about five meters, he could finally see the silhouette of the transport plane in front of him. Luo’er swam several strokes to the side of the plane and grabbed the handle of the cabin door.
It was then that he saw Baiyue struggling near the cabin door, attempting to drag her beloved sniper rifle out of the cabin. However, the gun was apparently stuck near the cabin door, so she had not surfaced yet.
Her stored oxygen was almost depleted, Baiyue’s vision was growing darker, and her mind began to drift. She was starting to regret her idea of taking the rifle. In her fuzzy state of mind, she lifted her head and thought she saw the figure of Luo’er, but her vision was so dark that she could not see the face of the rescuer.
Upon reaching the lake bottom and seeing this scene, Luo’er was really angry. He hadn’t expected that Baiyue, usually a cool and composed girl, would make such a grave mistake. Seeing her now, he guessed that she was probably on the verge of passing out. Even if he pulled her to the surface of the lake now, she would likely faint anyway.
Gritting his teeth, Luo’er swam to Baiyue, grabbed her in front of him, and leaned his head close to hers, kissing her lips.
Of course, Luo’er was not taking advantage of her in this situation. Rather, he was supplying her with some oxygen to prevent her from fainting during the rise to the surface.
Baiyue was dumbfounded, her wide eyes staring directly at Luo’er, who was close at hand. The oxygen transmitted from his mouth allowed her brain, which almost came to a halt, to regain vigor. However, she didn’t know how to react to the current situation.
The two floated in the water, holding each other face to face, their mouths pressed together. Their surroundings were filled with sediment and sludge stirred up by the transport plane, but Baiyue felt as if they were sparkling with ambiguous light, turning the entire lake floor pink.
In a daze, the hand she had been using to grab the sniper rifle suddenly stopped, and the sniper rifle, taking advantage of the misfortune, successfully escaped from the cabin.
But how Baiyue wished that everything in front of her would stop and solidify. She desired to stay at the bottom of the lake with Luo’er, hugging each other, kissing each other forever...
However, Luo’er did not think as much. He let go of his mouth, had no time to pay attention to Baiyue’s expression, and instead looked down. Seeing that Baiyue had successfully pulled out her sniper rifle, he immediately embraced her and darted towards the surface of the lake.
With the equal distribution of oxygen, the two finally surfaced successfully. As soon as Luo’er emerged out of the water, he gasped for breath and looked at Baiyue, asking with concern, "Are you alright?"
Baiyue didn’t speak, but shook her head slightly while looking down. She was held tightly by Luo’er, one hand clutching his clothing tightly, and the other holding the strap of the sniper rifle.
Luo’er didn’t detect any abnormality in her expression. Seeing that she was unharmed, he swam towards the shore with her in a backstroke position.
Hu Daoke was waiting for them waist-deep at the edge of the water. Seeing them come together, he took the sniper rifle from Baiyue’s hand. Luo’er assisted Baiyue to the shore.
Tangmo was curled up under a tree on the shore, shivering from being drenched, his expression somewhat dazed, and he coughed from time to time. Cheng Ziang, on the other hand, was checking his equipment while wringing out his sleeves.
Seeing Luo’er helping Baiyue onto the shore, Tangmo disregarded his discomfort, stood up and walked quickly towards her, asking anxiously, "Yue’er, are you okay?"
Baiyue looked at Tangmo, but couldn’t bear to look him in the eyes for a moment. She just lowered her head and shook it, without speaking.
"Are you still coughing up water?" Luo’er asked Tangmo with concern, noticing his occasional coughing.
"No, Ziang gave me a simple treatment, and I’ve coughed up all the water," Tangmo shook his head and said, then took Baiyue from Luo’er’s hands.
Just then, while sorting out his equipment, Cheng Ziang suddenly spoke up, "Everyone, hide in the forest. The two fighter planes are coming!"
With his reminder, the team, regardless of their discomfort, quickly dove into the dense bushes. The primeval forest was so dense that unless the two fighter planes flew under the foliage, it would be very hard to spot them.
One of the fighter planes slowly dive from the other side of the lake, gradually slowing down. By the time it reached above the lake, it was already moving entirely by inertia. The plane then slowly moved above the crash site of the transport plane and hovered, as if it was planning to lie in wait. The other circled the lake, apparently patrolling.
However, their effort proved to be futile. As they were adjusting their posture to descend, all the Advance Team members had swam to the shore and were slowly moving away from the lake.
The team hid in the nearby forest, resting in a relatively open space. The Skylark fighter was still hovering over the lake. Due to its anti-gravity engine, the lake didn’t show any signs of turbulence. From time to time, a breeze would cause ripples to form on the surface.
After hovering for about an hour, upon determining no one was emerging from the water, the fighter plane gradually ascended. It then met up with the other plane, and the two fighter planes flew off in the direction of the northwest.
"Are these pilots idiots or what? After an hour, anyone in the lake would be sleeping with the fishes. How could there be anyone left to surface?" Hu Daoke exhaled in relief as he watched the fighter planes leave.
"Check your weapons and gear, then we prepare to evacuate," Luo’er ordered.
"We’re leaving the stuff?" Hu Daoke pointed to the lake and asked.
"Yes, their airship should arrive soon. If it discovers us, escaping won’t be so easy," Luo’er responded, shaking his head.
"My precious rifle!" Hearing this, Hu Daoke turned to glance at the lake, his face a picture of regret.