Fu Ying didn't speak, but her brows were furrowed. She had heard Zhou Xuan and Wei Xiaoyu's conversation clearly, and Zhou Xuan's private words to her seemed even more real. But she couldn't believe it, because she couldn't accept a complete stranger without any prior impression of them.
Two of the twelve diving suits that An Guoqing brought were destroyed, leaving only ten. There are now seven people, including himself, who can explore the skylight with him. If they find more people, there are three more spots available. However, it will be difficult to find several skilled divers. Generally speaking, skilled divers are usually found in Western countries such as Europe and America. Easterners have an innate fear of mysterious and dangerous places such as underground rivers!
Upon arriving at the entrance of the city hospital, Zhou Xuan got out of the car after parking it. He saw An Guoqing and several of his men carrying Long Zhengjiang and his nephew out of the car, so Zhou Xuan walked over.
Long Guo's face was deathly pale as he stared at Zhou Xuan, his chest heaving as he gasped for breath. Zhou Xuan lowered his head and whispered in his ear in a voice only he could hear, "Long Guo, actually, if I wanted to save you, I could have done so before you got hurt. But I didn't. I waited until you were crippled before saving you. Now you're crippled. Do you find it interesting to be alive? Hehe, you really want to show off to me? You really want to compete with me? Let me tell you, you're far from qualified!"
Volume 1, Chapter 390
Zhou Xuan's words and actions towards Long Guo seemed normal to everyone else, and of course, no one knew what he was really saying.
Long Guo's eyes flashed with an indescribable look of frustration, but the excruciating pain from his wounds made him realize that, no matter what, he had suffered a complete defeat. Regardless of whether Zhou Xuan was truly capable, at least Zhou Xuan was standing perfectly fine in front of him, while he himself had become a cripple. Moreover, he was far from being a wealthy man. An Guoqing had compensated each of them one million yuan, which was a huge sum for ordinary people, but for the rich, it was nothing. What could one million yuan buy now? Not even enough to buy a decent house in the city!
Zhou Xuan stood up, smiled at Long Guo, and said, "Take good care of your injuries!"
After An Guoqing's men took Long Zhengjiang and his nephew to the hospital, Wei Xiaoyu quietly asked Zhou Xuan, "What did you just say to that dragon fruit?"
Zhou Xuan smiled faintly and said, "It's nothing!"
Seeing that Zhou Xuan was unwilling to speak, and Fu Ying's expression was indifferent, Wei Xiaoyu stopped talking.
Although Fu Ying didn't say anything, her heart was in turmoil. Zhou Xuan's words kept her on the edge of her seat. Just as he had said, she hadn't believed him when he first mentioned it. Zhou Xuan had also said that just before this time, he had been forced by Ma Cun to use the Nine Dragon Cauldron, which drained his supernatural power. He had regained his power after this time, but it was very weak and not strong enough to convert matter into gold and absorb it.
At that time, Fu Ying thought Zhou Xuan was definitely making up a lie. How could a person have such magical abilities? She also thought that Zhou Xuan was just playing some magic tricks when he used his detection ability on her. But last night, Zhou Xuan performed the Strange Skull on her. That was real evidence right in front of her. If a person could have such magical abilities, like those in novels and movies, then the Nine Dragon Cauldron that Zhou Xuan mentioned was not impossible. And now, even if Zhou Xuan said he was an alien, Fu Ying would probably believe him to some extent.
However, Fu Ying was very resistant to it. She could never accept the idea of reaching the level of intimacy required for marriage with someone she had no memory of. So even though Zhou Xuan had reached the level he described, Fu Ying was still unwilling to admit it.
However, during her private interactions with Wei Xiaoyu, Fu Ying managed to glean some information from Wei Xiaoyu and learned that Wei Xiaoyu's status was no less than hers. Although she was proud, she had to admit that Wei Xiaoyu's appearance, temperament, family background, and other aspects were no less than hers. Perhaps she was not as wealthy as Wei Xiaoyu, but for a family of Wei's status, money was naturally not a concern.
When Fu Ying was talking to Wei Xiaoyu, Wei Xiaoyu also openly expressed her love for Zhou Xuan. From this, we can see that Zhou Xuan has such a beautiful and special girl by his side, but he doesn't love her. Instead, he chooses to suffer from this unfamiliar girl. Is what Zhou Xuan said really true?
Fu Ying became more and more distressed. She didn't want to continue to be distressed like this, but she couldn't get rid of the desire to continue like this with Zhou Xuan. Of course, this didn't mean that she had fallen in love with Zhou Xuan, but rather that Zhou Xuan gave her an incredible sense of mystery, and she wanted to lift this veil of mystery until she saw the bottom layer of Zhou Xuan.
An Guoqing had to deal with the thorny issue of Long Zhengjiang and his nephew, so he didn't have time to be polite with Zhou Xuan. He had his men take the three of them back to the hotel to rest. An Jie, however, was greatly agitated and couldn't calm down at all, so An Guoqing didn't ask her to accompany Zhou Xuan anymore.
Back at the hotel, Zhou Xuan went to her room alone. An Jie's expression today showed that she was just An Guoqing's secretary and didn't know anything about An Guoqing's behind-the-scenes affairs. She thought that An Guoqing just liked adventure and other sports, and that rich people liked to do such special things. But she never expected that someone would almost die. This scared her to death!
Wei Xiaoyu and Fu Ying returned to their respective rooms. Surprisingly, neither of them seemed too frightened by what had happened that day, acting as if nothing had happened.
Actually, this was just Zhou Xuan's opinion. Fu Ying had heard Zhou Xuan recount all the things that had happened between them, including his experiences at the bottom of the sinkhole in America and at the bottom of the underground cave in Luoyang. Compared to the danger she was facing today, those were nothing. Judging from Zhou Xuan's expression and actions, Fu Ying was increasingly convinced of what Zhou Xuan was saying, but she just couldn't bear it psychologically.
After Zhou Xuan went down into the Black Dragon Pool today, he always regarded her and Wei Xiaoyu as the people he was protecting, no matter what.
When danger struck later, Fu Ying clearly felt that Zhou Xuan had helped her and Wei Xiaoyu escape from danger, while he stood behind them. This kind of care could never be directed at a stranger.
Zhou Xuan took a shower in his room, then poured himself a glass of water. He thought back to his experience at Black Dragon Pool today. Although it was dangerous, it was nothing to him. With his superpower, it couldn't harm him at all.
However, Black Dragon Pool is on the surface and is not an underground river. Relatively speaking, it is not difficult. The rapids and depths of underground rivers, as well as the labyrinthine underground waterways, are worlds apart from the surface water of Black Dragon Pool. In an underground river, one wrong move and you could be swept into the ground and unable to get out. Even if Zhou Xuan had the most powerful superpowers, it would be useless; he would still die inside!
Holding a glass of cold water, Zhou Xuan pondered what he should do if Wei Xiaoyu and Fu Ying were to join him on the adventure through the skylight and encounter danger. He was confident about everything else, but he had absolutely no confidence about the underground river.
Thinking of this, Zhou Xuan realized that the temperature of the underground river was much colder than the surface water. If the diving suit was damaged or torn, it would not be able to keep warm or withstand the pressure. He would then have to use his superpower to share the physical pressure on the two of them. With a flick of his solar flame, a wisp of energy swept through the cup, and the cold water in the cup immediately boiled and steamed.
Zhou Xuan was taken aback. He hadn't expected that a mere thought in his mind would activate his superpower on its own. However, his hand holding the cup wasn't burned. Because of his superpower, his physical constitution had undergone a great change. Extreme cold and heat had little effect on him.
Zhou Xuan was certain that if he put his finger in boiling water, it would feel similar to putting it in cold water. Of course, he wouldn't dare try those extremely high temperatures, like a furnace.
Before going to sleep, Zhou Xuan did his usual routine of practicing his superpowers. His current superpowers were a strange combination of ice energy, solar flames, and internal martial arts passed down by the old Taoist priest. He had obtained the solar flames ability from the Nine Star Pearl. Zhou Xuan didn't know what other unique abilities would appear, but from the current perspective, the benefits that solar flames brought him were still very real.
The ability to withstand both hot and cold environments, and the current ability to use both extreme cold and extreme heat, is similar to the ancient internal energy cultivation techniques of ice and fire. This gives Zhou Xuan the ability to protect himself, instead of the situation before where he would be beaten and bullied if he didn't dare to devour the opponent's book when encountering a martial arts master.
But now it's different. Zhou Xuan can use extremely cold ice or extremely hot solar flames to repel enemies with extreme cold or heat, instead of the fact that when he used ice energy, the transformation and absorption would definitely cripple or kill the opponent. Now, his ability can only injure the opponent without crippling or killing them, which is a huge change.
However, with the unexpected incident involving Long Zhengjiang and his nephew today, An Guoqing might have a headache. He also doesn't know if Zhang Ya Ge and the Wolf Brothers will back down. If they withdraw, then only a few of them will be left to explore the skylight. Zhou Xuan doesn't think too much about this.
No matter how many people An Guoqing invites, or even if he invites none at all, it doesn't matter much to him. No matter how many people he invites, they will all be on An Guoqing's side. After all, he takes people's money to solve their problems.
That dragon fruit guy today really hit rock bottom. What's the use of a million dollars in cleanup expenses? Back in the US, Fu Ying's cleanup expenses for the dead and injured included labor costs plus an extra million dollars, totaling two million US dollars. For anyone, that's a considerable sum.
This figure shows how cheap human life is in An Guoqing's eyes.
The next day, An Jie came to the hotel to continue accompanying Zhou Xuan and the other two. Zhou Xuan could tell that although An Jie had calmed down a lot, she was still suffering from the aftereffects of the shock. Her usual affable demeanor was gone. Although she took Zhou Xuan and the others to play around in Fengshan, she was quite dull and clumsy.
Wei Xiaoyu secretly said to Zhou Xuan, "An Jie is terrified!"
Zhou Xuan frowned. He wasn't worried about An Jie's situation, but rather about what kind of dangers awaited them after the skylight.
Regardless, Zhou Xuan could imagine that exploring the Tianchuang Underground River would be even more dangerous than Black Dragon Pool. An Guoqing was no benevolent person, and Zhou Xuan had also detected the terrifying aura emanating from An Guoqing's body using his supernatural abilities. His strength was astonishing. Given his abilities and wealth, the fact that he hadn't been able to find and obtain the Nine Star Pearl from the Tianchuang Underground River gave him an idea of the unknown dangers and horrors within it!
Zhou Xuan was both excited about exploring the underground river through the skylight and inexplicably afraid—a very contradictory feeling. He was eager to return to his original time as soon as possible, unable to bear Fu Ying's coldness and unfamiliarity with him. Yet, he was also afraid and worried that if the underground river was too dangerous and he couldn't come out alive, his life would be over.
This was completely different from the time travel that Zhou Xuan could imagine. After he returned to this time, apart from the very tip of the map, most things were different from the previous history, which confused Zhou Xuan, who didn't know what the ending would be.
For the next week, An Guoqing didn't send any news to Zhou Xuan, but just had An Jie accompany them to travel and eat and drink. This made Wei Xiaoyu and Fu Ying very strange. Although there was an accident at Black Dragon Pool, the test of the diving suit was fine. The diving suit's pressure resistance and cold protection functions exceeded expectations. However, encountering that strange creature was an accident.
For so many days, An Guoqing hasn't made any further plans to explore the underground river through the skylight. Could it be that An Guoqing has harmed Ran? Has he backed down?
Only Zhou Xuan understood that An Guoqing would never give up exploring the underground river through the skylight. The allure of the Nine Dragon Cauldron outweighed everything else, and nothing could stop An Guoqing from doing so.
However, Zhou Xuan still admired An Guoqing's patience. After the diving suit and other equipment arrived and he passed the diving test, he was still able to suppress his impulse and wait. His mentality was enough to make Zhou Xuan pay great attention to him.
An Jie's daily companionship has lost its former vibrancy; it's clear she's just killing time. Zhou Xuan is also waiting, waiting for An Guoqing's final decision.
Both of them were waiting. An Guoqing had done nothing for the past few days, hiding in the villa to meditate and practice his internal martial arts to calm his mind. Over the years, he had never stopped exploring the underground river of the skylight, but he had never actually entered the location of the Nine Star Pearl. The Nine Star Pearl had always been an unattainable wish for him.
Having waited so many years without success, An Guoqing didn't have high hopes this time either. He was still excited, though, as the new diving suit and equipment thrilled him. Of course, he also knew that the chances were slim. He decided to spend the next few days calming himself down and trying to find peace of mind.
At the same time, he hired top-notch divers to fill the vacancies left by Long Zhengjiang and his nephew. Since he had money, he didn't care about money. It was only natural that more people would risk their lives for him. Others might die for money, but he was after the Nine Dragon Cauldron and the Nine Star Pearl. The principle was the same.