Rising from the Ashes (Andrew) novel Chapter 1554

Fighting through the searing pain in his back, Andrew held Chantelle tight and dove toward the bottom of the river. The Desert Eagle was useless now, but fortunately, some unknown phosphorescent glow flickered faintly underwater, barely allowing him to see ahead.

Chantelle's eyes were wide with terror as she tried to cry out underwater. She swallowed two huge gulps of water before quickly shutting her mouth and frantically gesturing to Andrew with her hands.

Andrew knew what she was trying to ask, but now was not the time to worry about other problems.

Two spots on his back burned with intense pain—those were the bullet wounds. Luckily, Andrew had maintained good body positioning when he jumped, avoiding any vital areas, so while he was shot, it did not affect his mobility.

However, this could not continue for long. The blood loss alone could kill him, so they needed to reach dry land quickly to treat his wounds.

Surfacing where they had jumped from was impossible because they would just become sitting ducks for the shooters above.

After hitting the water, Andrew desperately swam toward the bottom, though this was incredibly risky since no one knew where the underwater passages led. One wrong move, and they could both drown in the depths.

Diving without any equipment was a life-threatening endeavor. After just 20 seconds, Chantelle's face was flushed red, and she could not keep up anymore.

Andrew cursed silently, grabbed her hand, and continued diving down. Yet, this underground river source seemed bottomless.

The darkness below revealed nothing about its depth, and Chantelle was already showing signs of passing out, struggling desperately.

Andrew turned around, wrapped his arms around her, and pressed his lips to hers. The usually cold woman's eyes widened with shock and indignation, but Andrew could not worry about decency. After transferring what little air he had left in his lungs to her, he continued swimming toward the bottom.

However, due to density differences, the hot spring water would float above the cold water, so after Andrew endured about seven seconds of agony, the surrounding water temperature finally returned to normal as the scalding water rose to the surface.

With the last bit of strength left in his body, Andrew continued diving with Chantelle, then relaxed and let the underground current carry them toward an unknown destination.

After what felt like an eternity, Andrew felt like he was about to drown with not a breath of air left to squeeze out.

Meanwhile, Chantelle had long since lost consciousness underwater, kept alive only by the air Andrew transferred to her.

With a splash, both their heads broke the surface. Andrew felt like every bone in his body was about to fall apart, but he did not care. He just greedily gulped down air with his mouth wide open, looking almost fierce in his desperation.