Yanzi seemed startled by the situation too, pausing for a beat, glancing back at us before resuming her descent. I looked back at Geng Wei; seeing him gesture for us not to be afraid, I hesitated, then mustered my courage and followed Yanzi down.

Slowly, the corpses encased in white shells became clearer before our eyes. We could distinctly make out the outlines of their faces, vaguely discerning male from female. We also noticed a strange pattern: those whose features appeared soft, resembling women, were all leaning backward, while those leaning forward were men.

Through the dense field of bodies, we could see a wall covered in moss, perhaps one or two feet away from the nearest corpses. I took a careful look, but saw no piles of treasure like gold or silver—the lakebed beneath the bodies was remarkably flat. A small wave of disappointment washed over me; I had expected to immediately see countless gleaming piles of treasure, but instead...

Yanzi beckoned Geng Wei over, pointing to the lakebed beneath the corpses, asking him to examine it. Without a word, Geng Wei lowered his body and glided over. It was truly something to behold how fearlessly he probed the ground beneath the assembly of bodies. We all watched as he searched, stirring up nothing but murkiness; there was genuinely nothing unusual. After watching for a while, Yanzi also called Geng Wei back, clearly disappointed, and instructed him to stay behind us as we moved on. She continued to lead us elsewhere.

For some inexplicable reason, a sense of unease settled in my gut. Despite being mentally prepared, the places Yanzi led us to were still full of people—corpses, bodies crusted with white shells. We could even make out the faint expressions on their faces: each one serene and still, barefoot, hair tied up, the white strands swaying gently with the current. As the few of us moved, we created significant ripples, and the corpses seemed to shift with the water, as if about to follow. A chill began to creep up my spine.

After a while, the leading Yanzi removed something from around her neck and looped it onto her wrist—it was the metal tag whose function we had never deciphered. I blinked, suddenly recalling her earlier comment that if Tang Mingsheng had been taken by Granny Ma and the others but hadn't died, he would at most become a key to open a door. Could this thing she held now be that key?

Communication underwater was incredibly difficult. I could only speculate privately, wishing to discuss it with Old Li and Xu Zhiwu, but they were focused intently on following Yanzi, completely oblivious to the signals I was making to them.

We continued diving past vast expanses of corpses. I don't know when this stretch ended, nor what Yanzi’s plan was; we hadn't seen a shadow of any treasure all this time. And Geng Wei—who had been reliably covering our rear—suddenly propelled himself next to me, gripping my hand tightly. Alarmed, I struggled hard against him. He opened and closed his mouth, his head repeatedly jerking towards the side, urging me to look.

Beside us lay countless bodies. To steady my nerves, I had almost deliberately forgotten about them. Seeing his panicked state, I turned my head to look: nothing strange, just one corpse, a man's. Like all the others, hair tied, bare feet, face serene and still.

I shook my head, signaling I didn't understand.

Geng Wei pointed at his own face, then at that face, urging me to look closely. Only then did I notice the anomaly: the features of that corpse, barely visible beneath the white shell, bore a striking resemblance to Geng Wei. My heart hammered. Could this person be a relative of Geng Wei's?

Seeing my expression, Geng Wei seemed to confirm his own suspicion. His face turned instantly ashen. Without a word, he turned and gestured for me to continue following Yanzi, taking up the rear himself.

Still flanked by dense walls of corpses, I wondered if Tang Minghao would also suddenly recognize one of his own relatives among this multitude.

In reality, however, I had worried needlessly. As we swam past all the bodies, no one else showed any abnormal reaction. Yanzi, meanwhile, kept agitating the metal tag until, in a spot where the current was perfectly still, the tag suddenly ceased moving as well.

Yanzi’s face lit up with joy. She beckoned behind her, and we all gathered around. She scanned our faces, signaling that we would proceed downward from this point.

My expression darkened; I was about to object. This was clearly the edge of a vortex; who knew what lay beneath? Stepping in meant being dragged to the bottom with no way back. However, Geng Wei was quicker than me. He swept his hands forward in anger, pulling me, Old Li, Xu Zhiwu, and Tang Minghao close to him, and stared right at Yanzi with righteous indignation, demanding to know her intentions.

Yanzi met our gaze fearlessly, offering a scornful smile. She mouthed the words: "Do you think treasure is just lying around everywhere? If that were true, the treasure down here would have been stripped bare long ago, it wouldn't be waiting for us."

I conceded the point. If it were that simple, even dozens of mountains of gold would have been carted away. Still, we certainly couldn't just blindly plunge into that vortex.

Yanzi seemed to read our minds. She offered another slight, contemptuous smile, and without a backward glance, turned and swam straight toward the vortex. Before we could react, the water suddenly swirled violently, and Yanzi vanished quickly. Everyone gasped; it was too late to rush to her aid. We could only watch as the vortex churned a few times before settling back into calm.

I hadn't expected such a vibrant, blooming life to disappear before our eyes so swiftly. My limbs went cold, and though I tried to swim away with all my might, my body felt limp and powerless. Looking at the others, they too stood frozen, staring at the vortex like statues.

What now? Geng Wei was the most skilled swimmer among us. As soon as he snapped out of his shock, everyone's eyes turned to him. His face pale, he hastily waved his hands, insisting, "No, no, go in there and you die instantly."

I didn't know what to do either. It felt impossible to sacrifice ourselves meaninglessly to "save" Yanzi when we knew rescue was likely impossible. Yet, if we made no move to help, four grown men abandoning a helpless woman seemed unforgivable.

Over the past few days, Old Li and I had developed a certain unspoken understanding. He swam quietly to my side and asked what to do; I shook my head. I glanced at the others—they were all distraught. Fine, let’s wait and see what happens before discussing retreat. But... if we returned, what would Zhaxi say when he asked where Yanzi was? How would we answer? Should we admit we saw her certain death and just abandoned her? If word of this reached the unit, could I still hold my head up?

Hesitating, unsure what course of action to take, Old Li silently swam over and stood stock-still by the edge of the vortex. Just then, the vortex suddenly shifted, and a small black diving hood surfaced, followed by the entire hood, and then a face behind a diving mask appeared—it was Yanzi! Yanzi! She was blinking her eyes at us with a look of disdain. Old Li quickly dragged her out of the vortex.

I let out a long, deep breath, the tension finally easing from my chest. I urgently signaled Old Li to pull her further away. This woman was simply trying to kill us!

Old Li hauled Yanzi over to us as if she were a small chicken. Geng Wei’s face flushed and paled repeatedly; having declared it certain death to enter, seeing Yanzi reappear safe and sound was a direct affront to his expertise as a 'water spirit.' But his feelings were the last thing on our minds. Now, we needed to know how she got out. Everyone knew that vortex was lethal.

Yanzi first shot us a look of contempt, then studied Old Li meticulously. Suddenly, she let out a sharp laugh. After laughing, she shook the metal tag on her wrist and gestured for us to follow her back to the vortex.

I remained uneasy, wanting to consult Old Li about whether we should go down, considering our mediocre swimming skills, and what about Xu Zhiwu... But Xu Zhiwu didn't even spare us a glance; as soon as Yanzi stopped gesturing, he followed Geng Wei toward the vortex. Tang Minghao trailed closely behind, signaling Old Li and me to hurry up. After a moment's hesitation, we followed.

Yanzi swam swiftly to the vortex edge and spread her arms, blocking Geng Wei and the others who were about to foolishly dive in. Her expression shifted from scorn to severity. She instructed everyone not to rush, not to panic once inside, and not to struggle; we were simply to relax and let the current carry us to our destination. If panic set in and we struggled, disrupting the flow, the consequences wouldn't be limited to just one person.

She said it so casually. What if the bottom was a massive deep pool? Wouldn't we be finished? I quickly voiced my concern.

Yanzi answered directly: "The vortex is narrow, leading into a flight of stone steps. As long as you don't struggle wildly, theoretically, everyone will be safely delivered to the steps."

She had been sucked into that terrifying vortex herself, yet she had returned unharmed. I realized I had worried too much. Honestly, to think that I, a grown man, had become so timid... I subjected myself to a severe internal critique and said no more.

Xu Zhiwu, looking quite scared now, stopped following Geng Wei and pressed close to Old Li and me. Seeing that none of us had further objections, Yanzi led the way back into the vortex. We entered in single file.

The moment we were inside, a tremendous suction pulled us in, leaving no room for resistance. I panicked and instinctively tried to fight it, but as soon as I moved, my mind cleared: wasn't Yanzi telling us to relax and let the water guide us? This realization brought a clarity, and I allowed the force to pull me down. My chest felt slightly compressed, breathing a little labored, and my ears ached. There seemed to be solid walls of water surrounding me, and I could sense that the suction force remained contained within these boundaries.