Wang Jue swam on, holding his breath, straining to discern the sounds beneath the water. Not far ahead, the sound of Hou Dayong and Zhang Yuqiu paddling was incessant. After a while, having barely advanced five or six meters into the tunnel, a colossal surge of water erupted from ahead. If his guess was right, this tunnel was not long, perhaps less than ten meters. Hou Dayong and Zhang Yuqiu must have reached the exit and surfaced. Listening again, he confirmed there was no further sound; the two had likely already pulled themselves ashore.

At this point, Wang Jue felt the oxygen in his lungs dwindling, the tightness in his chest growing intense. Driven purely by willpower, he kept paddling forward, waiting only for the moment the exit would appear, ready to surge his entire body to the surface and gulp down the long-desired air. Yet, the tunnel was proving longer than he had imagined. He swam until his limbs felt weighted with lead, utterly immobile, without spotting even a glimmer of an exit, unable to hear Zhang Yuqiu or Hou Dayong’s voices either. Wang Jue’s vision blurred, and Hua Gu appeared beside him, her face radiant with a gentle smile, teasing him from side to side like an angel, seemingly unwilling to let him leave the water. Wang Jue smiled, gazing into Hua Gu’s bright eyes, which he felt were the most beautiful in the world, and gradually ceased struggling, allowing himself to slowly sink to the tunnel floor, inching down into the depths of the water. Unbeknownst to him, the real Hua Gu was a thousand miles away in a sanctuary under A'li's care; though the eyes of 9457 had been transplanted to her, the fatal blow struck by Xiao Yu during a neural convulsion had already plunged her into the abyss of unconsciousness—a condition far beyond the scope of one or two minor surgeries.

Just as Wang Jue was drowning in the tender oblivion intentionally crafted by the illusion, forgetting where he was and about to slip into unconsciousness bit by bit, a large, furry hand suddenly shot out from ahead, grabbing him and hauling him out of the tunnel. There, at the bottom of the pool, he received two sharp slaps that jolted him awake from that marvelous yet soul-destroying hallucination.

Everything before him seemed like a dream. As Wang Jue blinked and looked closely, the vision of Hua Gu had been replaced by Hou Dayong. The suffocating pressure in his chest arrived like a tidal wave, instantly consuming every corner of his body. The instinct for survival drove him to paddle frantically toward the surface; air was now the only thing he craved. But Hou Dayong wouldn't let him swim up. He pulled an oxygen stick from somewhere around his waist and unceremoniously jammed it into Wang Jue’s mouth. Once Wang Jue had adjusted to breathing from the stick, Hou Dayong pulled him back down to the bottom of the pool, concealing them both near the pool wall facing the exit.

Wang Jue greedily sucked the air from the oxygen stick, straining his ears to catch any sounds above the water. Clearly, Zhang Yuqiu had already climbed out of the pool. He could hear a group of people clamoring, demanding she be tied up. Some suggested using the Man-Eating Nether Worms to finish her; others argued it was best not to start a massacre until the situation was fully under control; still others, with lecherous expressions, spat vulgarities at Zhang Yuqiu. Once the crowd surrounding Zhang Yuqiu had slowly moved away, Wang Jue listened intently again. When he was certain there were no breathing sounds or footsteps nearby, he gave Hou Dayong a thumbs-up and made a gesture to swim upward. Hou Dayong then separated from him, and the two swam off in different directions, one east and one west.

When Wang Jue finally broke the surface, he realized he was in a crystal mine. The surroundings were riddled with hexagonal crystal columns of various sizes growing from the rock walls. Torches were planted around, illuminating the crystals until they gleamed with translucent brilliance, transforming the entire cavern into something resembling a fantasy kingdom.