Chapter 127: Silent Land of the Living Dead (16)
More Living Dead, drawn by the commotion, kept falling into the river. For safety, Ji Ning and her group kept swimming forward while staying several dozen meters from the riverbank.
After swimming for a while, Ji Ning surfaced as planned and instructed, "Let's dive down now."
If they kept swimming without concealing their movements, the Living Dead would keep watching the water's edge, and they would have no way to get ashore.
Having considered this in advance, the four decided to hold their breath and submerge for a while to divert the Living Dead's attention.
After Ji Ning spoke, the men nodded, took deep breaths, and plunged into the water one after another.
On the surface, only the tires and the things they were carrying remained.
With no living people visible and no scent, after the first batch of pursuing Living Dead fell into the water, the ones following behind could only hear noise. Without a target, they gradually turned and dispersed.
Only a few scattered Living Dead were still loitering by the river embankment.
Underwater, Ji Ning's lung capacity was nearly depleted, and her face was starting to twist in distress.
Suddenly a hand pressed against her waist, fingers slightly spread, guiding Ji Ning against a broad chest.
Immediately, her lips were sealed tightly, a tongue pried open her mouth, and breaths of emergency life-saving air were passed to her, one mouthful after another.
Ji Ning opened her eyes, somewhat surprised. Underwater and at such close range, the other's face was a bit blurry, but from the feel of the hand on her waist and the sensation of the lips, she was certain it was Xing Ye giving her air.
Watching TV dramas, she used to doubt whether the classic scene where the male lead gives the drowning female lead mouth-to-mouth was actually useful or just a romantic plot device to advance their relationship.
Now, having experienced it firsthand, Ji Ning knew it really could work.
She didn't know how great Xing Ye's lung capacity was, but Ji Ning felt he had given her a lot of air. Worried he might run out, she pressed a hand against his chest to push him away, but he forcefully held her waist and gave her several more breaths.
Song Weiyang and Sheng Churan watched in amazement.
By now they had been submerged for two or three minutes. Even though they were in decent condition, they couldn't have given Ji Ning air so recklessly.
What kind of monster was Xing Ye? Even now, they still couldn't fully gauge his combat power and abilities.
They even felt that what they had seen was only the tip of the iceberg of his true capabilities.
When she was finally released, Ji Ning anxiously held Xing Ye's arm to check his condition. She was afraid that Xing Ye had focused only on saving her and neglected his own oxygen supply.
Seeing Xing Ye still looking relaxed and even smiling at her, Ji Ning felt relieved.
A few more minutes passed. Song Weiyang quietly surfaced first. After confirming there was no danger by the embankment, he dove back down to signal the others with a hand gesture.
Having held her breath for so long, Ji Ning's taut nerves finally relaxed as Xing Ye helped her surface.
Afraid of being discovered by the Living Dead again, the four swam with as little splashing as possible, which slowed their pace.
A distance of nearly four hundred meters could be easily walked in six or seven minutes, but swimming this slowly was very exhausting.
Fortunately, as Song Weiyang had promised, he swam in front of Ji Ning, let her rest one hand on his shoulder, and half-carried her along as he swam, sparing her a great deal of effort.
By the time they neared their destination, there was no sign of the Living Dead on the embankment.
Xing Ye and Sheng Churan climbed over the guardrail first, then pulled up Ji Ning, who was supported by Song Weiyang, one on each side, before quickly retrieving their weapons.
Once all four were ashore, they hid behind some bushes to rearrange their gear.
To make swimming easier, Ji Ning's protective gear had been removed and bundled together; now it needed to be rewrapped, which would take a little time.
Xing Ye stood watch on the side, while Sheng Churan and Song Weiyang assisted Ji Ning. Everything was going smoothly.
After finishing, Ji Ning poked her head out from the bushes and looked toward their next destination—the street leading to the second crossroad.
If Ji Ning's spawn point was taken as due south, then the Kaimao Building was in the northeast direction, at the two o'clock position from the spawn point.
After the four of them regrouped, they first headed west to Diagonal Street. On their way toward the central crossroad, they took a detour to Riverside Street.
In other words, during this time, the team had been circling counterclockwise as they drew closer to their destination.
At that moment, the Kaimao Building was at the team's eleven o'clock position, with a straight-line distance of about 1,700 meters—still quite far.
But distance was secondary; the biggest problem Ji Ning and the others faced now was passing through the crossroad ahead.
The despairing part was that the density of Living Dead here was no less than at the previous crossroad.
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