48 Hours a Day

Chapter 909: Thrones

Zhang Heng got rid of human-frogfish monster with the knife. After that, he checked his diving equipment, especially the oxygen cylinder, and confirmed that it was not damaged when the monster threw him around earlier. After all these were completed, Zhang Heng gestured to Nellie and asked if she was fine.

Nellie was a little confused, but she could not ask all those questions underwater. However, she did feel good to meet her partner again. If it were not for Zhang Heng’s interference, Nellie believed she would’ve died or ended up like one of those pearl divers where they were snatched by those hideous and terrifying monsters.

Unfortunately, this was not the time for her to feel relieved or express her gratitude to Zhang Heng. Nellie had consumed a lot of oxygen when she attempted to open up the crack on the rock wall with her hands. She also figured that Zhang Heng too must have used up a considerable amount of oxygen during the fight with the monster earlier. The two were still trapped in the tunnel and if they failed to return to the surface before they exhausted all the oxygen in the cylinder, they would die here with all those terrifying wall carvings around them.

Nellie had initially thought that Zhang Heng would develop a gentlemanly demeanor, that he’d take the initiative to find a way out for them. To her surprise, however, Zhang Heng gestured to her to go first. It seemed he intended to continue hiding behind her. It explained why he followed behind her earlier and refused to show up. Clearly, he was using her as bait.

But Nellie wasn’t stupid. She quickly realized why Zhang Heng did such a thing to her. She had seen the human-fish-frog monster swim faster than the Olympic champion. If it weren’t for the sneak attack just now, and even if Zhang Heng could hurt that monster, he couldn’t stop it from escaping, let alone kill it.

Though Nellie managed to find out the truth, she still couldn’t get rid of the fear ravaging her mind apart. She has been an avid diver for so many years, and she had encountered her fair share of strange underwater creatures. However, this was her first time encountering a real monster under the sea—a part fish, part human monster. Whenever she thought of the creepy smile the monster flashed her, Nellie could not help but shudder. What she saw and heard during this dive had completely subverted her common sense and cognition.

Part of the reason why Nellie chose to be a diving guide was her father’s influence. The other was her passion for diving and the underwater world. There were many hidden beauties under the sea, waiting to be unfurled by divers. To Nellie, every dive was a new sweet encounter.

Those were Nellie’s thoughts about the ocean before she encountered this human-frogfish monster. Now, she had witnessed first hand the horrors hidden in the calmness of the ocean. As long as she remembered that monsters still lurked at the bottom of the sea, she was unsure if she could muster enough courage to go into the sea again.

As of now, she could not afford to think of such a thing. All she had to do right now was to move forward and find a way out. Fortunately, she now knew that Zhang Heng was behind her and that he would rescue her whenever she was in a crisis. Unconsciously, it gave her a touch of comfort. When she saw how calm Zhang Heng was, the courage in her heart was reiterated.

Nellie could not figure out how Zhang Heng did not feel afraid when he fought with the monster. Considering that Zhang Heng almost had zero diving experience, most people would’ve allowed fear to petrify their bodies. It was great that Zhang Heng did not run away. Nellie completely did not expect Zhang Heng to stand up against the monster, and that he showed no hesitation when he attacked it with only a stone that he picked.

Nellie could not help but wonder about Zhang Heng’s identity. Was he a soldier or policeman? Or, was he a frogman who received special underwater training? He certainly didn’t look like a military man. In fact, when she took a good look at him, Nellie found she couldn’t figure out what temperament Zhang Heng possessed. He was like a drop of water that could blend into the sea anytime, anywhere.

Other than that, Nellie also wanted to apologize for her previous misunderstanding of Zhang Heng. At that time, all she wanted to do was to save Han Lu and she believed he had stopped her out of selfishness. She now realized that Zhang Heng’s motive was pure and simple. He was simply trying to remind her of the threats she was about to face. Nelly regretted not listening to Zhang Heng’s advice. If she did that, she wouldn’t have exposed herself to unnecessary danger.

Those thoughts ran through Nellie’s mind as she swam ahead.

Considering how little oxygen remained in the cylinder, she neither swam fast nor slow. Nellie’s anxiousness crept up again when the dive computer reminded her that the depth was increasing.

Fortunately, when she reached about forty-five meters deep, she felt that she was swimming upward in the tunnel, which also meant that they had finally stopped diving deeper into the ocean. At this point, Nellie knew that she could not turn around anymore. Even if the crack opened up miraculously, she probably wouldn’t make it to the surface before she exhausted all the oxygen in the cylinder. Hence, she could only hope that there was another way to go back to the surface at the end of the tunnel.

Compared with Nellie’s anxiety, Zhang Heng, who followed behind, was much calmer. Looking at the wall carvings, these half-human, half-fish-frog creatures would abduct ordinary people to reproduce with them from time to time. Since the people they abducted could not stay underwater as long as they could, they would’ve definitely found a secret place to store them.

Since these creatures were targeting him, it was obvious that they were using Han Lu to threaten him. If they wanted to do that, they had to keep Han Lu alive. That was also the reason why Zhang Heng deduced that the end of the tunnel was not a dead end.

And he was right about that.

The two swam a little further, when Nellie suddenly realized that her vision had widened suddenly. At the same time, the red tide gradually disappered. When Nellie glanced at her surroundings, she realized that she was in a building. It was a magnificent underwater palace. Unlike the ruins that they had come across before this, this palace was manmade at first glance.

The ancient stone pillars were supporting the dome of the palace. Those stone pillars were so big that they required at least three to four people to circle them. They were at least twenty meters tall, and there were dozens them around the palace.

Other than that, the top of the palace was occupied by a giant stone carving. It was different from the easy-to-understand wall carvings that she saw earlier. The carvings on this stone were more obscure and incomprehensible. It looked like an interstellar map or just some unintelligable graffiti. The frantic drawings seemed like they were going to break the stone wall. Nellie stared at it for a while, and she felt dizzy. So, she had to withdraw her gaze quickly.

After that, she laid her eyes on the two thrones behind the hall.

They were made of some kind of gold-like metal, still shining bright after thousands of years. Since they were as big as the stone pillars, Nellie knew that they were not meant for humans. Then, Nellie remembered the leader of those human-frogfish monsters that she saw on the previous wall carvings.

These two thrones were meant for them.