You're my wife, don't doubt it!

"..." Xiao Yao knew that saying more would be useless, but his mind raced, searching for a last resort to escape.

"Should we offer last prayers?" Johns asked Xiao Yao.

“Yes, yes, absolutely,” Xiao Yao nodded vigorously. “I need to see my parish priest to make my last confession.”

Johns the butler smiled slightly, raised his right foot, and kicked the sack.

Xiao Yao felt a chill in his heart, and his whole body was already airborne.

The evening breeze whistled past my ears, and beneath my suspended body lay an unfathomable, pitch-black maw.

Xiao Yao's 16 years of life flashed before his eyes like a revolving lantern.

No, I can't just leave it like this...

"Pfft!"

The sack fell into the Yellow River.

Johns the butler, Xiao Liang, and the other men in black went to the riverbank, turned on their flashlights, stood on tiptoe, and craned their necks to look down.

After waiting for a few minutes, I only saw some bubbles rising from the water, and then there was no more movement.

“The matter is settled, let’s go.” Johns put his white gloves back on and turned to his entourage, “Is all the surveillance footage taken care of?”

“No problem, Mr. Butler.” Xiao Liang stepped forward and bowed in reply.

“Let’s go,” said Johns, the butler.

After everyone left in a van with the license plate covered, the desolate beach on the west bank of the Yellow River returned to its deserted tranquility.

The north wind howled, the night was cool and still.

Chapter 417 Escape

2024-06-26

Xiao Yao opened his eyes.

All I could see was pitch black.

When he was young, when he was trying to fall asleep at night and facing the wall in contemplation, he often couldn't help but wonder, who could tell him what death really felt like?

Xiao Yao asked his parents, and his father replied that those who could answer this question could not answer it.

Xiao Yao didn't understand, nor was he shocked; he could only speculate.

In Xiao Yao's childhood imagination, after his death, the sun would still rise, the mountains would remain still, the water would still flow, the waterfall would still rush, and the crowds would still be bustling, getting up, lying down, sitting and standing, everything would remain the same, the only difference being that "I" would no longer exist.

Xiao Yao always found it strange what it felt like for "I" not to exist, and he couldn't figure it out no matter what, but it was always something that made him feel uncomfortable.

Xiao Yao felt displeased and deeply fearful and worried about it.

In the boy's philosophical conjecture, death might also take the following form.

He will remain in an eternal dark space—because he is dead, his eyes cannot see, so there is only darkness; because he is dead, his ears cannot hear, so there is only utter silence; because he is dead, he cannot feel his body and limbs, nor will he have any sense of touch or smell. The dead should just be a consciousness floating in the etheric space, forever engaging in long, boring thoughts that he is not even qualified to feel pain.

Xiao Yao believes that if hell really exists, it doesn't need inextinguishable fire or immortal insects; the above-mentioned things are enough.

When he grew up, Yu Bo told him with great conviction that heaven and hell were real. Xiao Yao hoped he was right, but he couldn't help but have some doubts.

Judging from this, my guess about hell was correct, and I really did go to hell.

Xiao Yao was not convinced.

Although he has not been physically baptized, he is generally a very good person and has not refused to learn about the Bible. It is really inhumane for God to arrange for him to stay in hell like this.

Thinking of this, Xiao Yao couldn't help but feel worried and terrified. He opened his mouth, not knowing whether he was going to pray or curse.

Immediately afterwards, the icy river water poured straight into my stomach.

Xiao Yao coughed instinctively, breathing subconsciously. The river water went directly into his trachea and rushed to his head. Then came further coughing and drinking water until his belly became swollen.

To be fair, it seems their sense of taste is still intact; the taste of this wretched river water is truly extremely unpleasant.

That is to say...

Am I not dead yet...?

Xiao Yao obediently shut his mouth and stopped breathing.

A few minutes later.

He began to wonder if he had returned to hell.

Why can one maintain vital signs and consciousness without breathing?

The feeling of suffocation still exists, but every time he is about to open his mouth and nose, a small airflow enters his lungs, making him feel like he has been reborn.

Overall, it still feels like the suffocating feeling before a summer thunderstorm, but given the current situation, just being alive is good enough, so there's no time to pursue livability.

Xiao Yao couldn't help but wonder if he, like the protagonists in those stories, had awakened some kind of superpower in a desperate situation. Could it be that he had evolved... gills?

Will it turn into a mess?!

The boy frantically tried to touch his cheek, but he failed—he couldn't move his hand.

He then realized that he was still tied up in a sack.

Xiao Yao raised his head, looking up towards what should be the water, trying to find that ray of light in the darkness.

He succeeded.

He didn't know how far away it was, 5 meters? 10 meters? He seemed to see, from an underwater perspective, the shimmering water surface and the dim starlight.

Suddenly, Xiao Yao remembered the time he and Shen Jie went scuba diving together during the Dongqi summer camp.

The boy's heart was tugged, and he felt a little pain.

Reason told him that now was not a good time to be sentimental.

If you tilt your head back, it seems like the water will automatically go into your trachea, which is quite uncomfortable.

Xiao Yao lowered his head.

He began to wriggle and crawl laboriously along the bottom of the river, like a shadowy reptile.

Because his head and below were wrapped in a sack, which was tied with thick rope, Xiao Yao could only move his neck and chin. His legs formed a single unit, like a mermaid's tail, and he struggled to move slowly and laboriously in coordination with his upper body.

He didn't know how much time had passed or how far he had progressed. Along the way, Xiao Yao frequently bumped into a fish, and the slippery feeling of it gave him a fright—luckily, it wasn't a carnivorous fish.

Xiao Yao finally found what he was looking for: the bedrock.

Should it be called a bedrock? Whatever, it's a large rock with relatively sharp edges...

Xiao Yao used his handsome face to probe for the "Blade" he was looking for.

Then, like a fat pig scratching an itch, he began to cut the thick hemp ropes on the outside of the sack.

This was not easy. Xiao Yao was exhausted and had to rest for a while until he saw the light on the water become brighter, which meant that the sun had risen.

Throughout this period, Xiao Yao felt his body becoming increasingly numb, and his trembling became more and more severe.

Considering the season and the fact that it was nighttime, the boy worried that even if he could breathe underwater, he would die of hypothermia.

But such a thing never happened. Just like breathing, whenever his body temperature dropped to a critical value, a warm current would flow back to him.

As dawn approached and the darkness deepened, Xiao Yao felt as if he were wrapped not in this damned sack but in a soft blanket, and his lower abdomen was constantly enveloped by a warm current... It felt like... a hot water bottle?

Yu Luying, Yu Luying, is that you? Can you hear me?

As Xiao Yao rubbed against the last thick rope, he silently asked himself a question.

The only response he received was deathly silence.

Symbiosis.

Xiao Yao wasn't quite sure, but he suspected it was symbiosis.

Whether it's a remnant, final stage of symbiosis, or a symbiotic revival, Xiao Yao couldn't make a definitive conclusion.

Was it Yu Luying's concern for him that activated the symbiosis and saved his life?

Is it because Shen Jie still has some feelings for herself that the symbiosis won't completely disappear?

Xiao Yao finally cut the last rope and struggled to climb out of the sack.

I took a deep breath, and then choked half to death.

Xiao Yao tried hard to suppress his urge to breathe, curling his body up like a baby.

He was lying face down, knees bent, and his hands holding his knees.

The boy's body floated slowly and steadily to the surface of the river.

Shen Hongsheng, you old scoundrel, just you wait.

This isn't over yet!

Xiao Yao silently recited this in his heart.

Chapter 418 "Paying Respects" to My Father-in-Law

2024-07-13