48 Hours a Day

Chapter 1099: Vanishing From the Face of the Earth

Zhang Heng climbed down the uneven wall toward the bottom of the pit. As he had to maintain his weight balance during the climb, he couldn’t move too quickly. The 30-meter-distance wasn’t too great either, and he quickly reached the bottom of the pit. After taking a quick look at his surroundings to ensure no danger, he waved his flashlight upward.

This was the signal that Zhang Heng and Ma Lu had agreed on. When Ma Lu saw the light from the flashlight, he knew that Zhang Heng had landed safely. He then tossed his bag down.

Zhang Heng heard the sound of falling from the top of his head. He moved aside and waited for a muffled sound before his bag fell to the ground beside his feet.

Zhang Heng picked up his bag and dusted it off. Only then did he start to look at his surroundings carefully.

In front of him was an underground pit with a diameter of about 60 meters. Other than the tunnel he came down from; there was no other entrance. However, there was a pool in the middle, but strangely, there was no sound of water coming from the surroundings. The entire pool was unusually quiet. Not even a single ripple was visible on the surface of the water.

Zhang Heng shone his flashlight down, but he could only vaguely see the outline of a huge shadow.

Due to the distance and the lack of light, Zhang Heng was able to make out what that thing was. Hence, he took out his Filter Lens. This time, however, the Filter Lens that had worked so well before failed as well. It did not allow Zhang Heng to see the true face of the thing below.

However, to be on the safe side, Zhang Heng made preparations in advance for the battle.

After the incident with the island, he had accidentally gained the ability to breathe underwater and control water flow. Now, he did not need any oxygen equipment to stay underwater for a long time and controlling the flow of water allowed him to move faster, or he could use the flow of water to disrupt the enemy’s movements.

Even the best diver in the world could not move underwater as freely as he did now. However, Zhang Heng knew very well that if he were to compare it to the legendary nightmare that had always lived at the bottom of the deep sea, his underwater ability would not be able to gain many advantages.

Furthermore, his primary offensive weapons, be it Hidden Scabbard or Pestilence Bone Bow or the Parris Arrow were all equipment that needed to be placed on land for maximum effectiveness. Therefore, Zhang Heng preferred to place the main battlefield on the ground.

Therefore, the first thing Zhang Heng needed to do was lure Gad’s nightmare out of the pool.

Since there was no one else around, Zhang Heng took off all his clothes and placed them in the corner of the pit along with the props in his bag. These were not professional diving suits. They could not maintain his body temperature after entering the water; the loose clothes would increase his resistance in the water and slow his movement speed.

Even though this wasn’t a great distance—considering the opponent he was facing this time, any small difference could affect his life and death. In the end, Zhang Heng only chose to bring a Hidden Scabbard to protect himself.

In any case, if everything went as planned, he would soon come out of the pool. He hid the Pestilence Bone Bow and Paris Arrow behind a rock closest to the pool so he could retrieve them as soon as he came ashore.

After that, Zhang Heng returned to the pool and tested the temperature of the water with his foot. He realized that the water wasn’t as cold as he had imagined, and he did not feel any discomfort after waiting for a while. Thus, Zhang Heng completely submerged his body into the water.

Tying the Hidden Scabbard around his waist, he controlled the flow of the water to allow himself to sink toward the shadow below. Zhang Heng was unsure if it was just his imagination, but after jumping into the pool, he didn’t feel as nervous as before the great battle. On the contrary, when the water surrounded him, he felt a vague sense of familiarity. Zhang Heng could also feel slight changes in his body. Ever since he returned from the island, he had become more and more fond of water.

This reminded him of the huge astrolabe-like dome in the palace on the island. The half-man, half-fish creatures wanted to use him for some kind of ritual, but he interrupted them halfway and escape. Zhang Heng, however, knew that something had already begun.

In fact, after returning, Zhang Heng had dreamed of the underwater ruins several times. In the dream, he had crossed the underwater tunnel alone and returned to the underwater palace. He raised his head to look at the dome.

The stars were rotating continuously there as if responding to a certain desire in his heart.

.....

Zhang Heng collected his thoughts and pulled himself together from his memories. He had already dived about ten meters, but there was still some distance between him and the shadow. The shadow did not react. It was as if he did not realize that an uninvited guest had arrived at his house.

Therefore, Zhang Heng intentionally increased his diving speed to avoid attracting the other party’s attention. He soon realized he was wasting time.

As the depth grew, Zhang Heng was finally able to see what the thing at the bottom of the pool looked like.

It was a huge snakehead almost the size of the pool! It had a pair of cunning and evil eyes, sharp teeth, and a net-shaped grayscale. Its mouth was wide open, and it maintained its hunting posture as if it was going to jump up from the bottom of the pool in the next moment and swallow the prey on top.

When Zhang Heng first saw it, he was shocked as well. He thought that ye Mengadde was waiting for him to fall into the trap and almost controlled the current to send him ashore. However, after he rose five meters, he realized that the snakehead below showed no reaction. It was still eager to pounce, so Zhang Heng stopped again.

After a moment of hesitation, Zhang Heng pulled out his Hidden Scabbard and tried to slow himself down again. This time, he finally saw the real face of the snakehead.

It was not a living thing at all, but a stone statue!

However, the extremely realistic carving gave off a lifelike feeling, especially when its two red eyes were directly inlaid with rubies. If Zhang Heng hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, it would have been hard to believe that there was such a large ruby in the world. Its diameter was more than two meters, and it gave off an indescribable feeling of evil luster under the water.

Zhang Heng slightly increased his speed of diving. Allowing himself to get close to the stone carving snakehead.

Only by standing in front of it could one realize how outstanding its carving skills were. It was not inferior to the masterpiece of any artist in the world. However, when Zhang Heng saw that his gaze had shifted away from the snakehead and looked around the bottom of the pool, there was no sign of its owner.

If everything went according to plan, it would return to the pool after dragging the sperm whale to the station. Unless it simply disappeared into thin air, it should still be here.