Mono turned his head to look, and his eyes suddenly lit up.
He saw a half-rotted tree stump protruding from the water not far away.
Wasn't this exactly like those stumps used to evade searchlights in games?
Mono gauged the distance and said to Little Six:
"We'll dive and swim to that stump. Can you hold your breath?"
If they kept their heads above water, they would definitely be spotted, so they had to swim underwater.
Little Six nodded.
Although she rarely dove, if Mono could do it, there was no reason she couldn't.
Mono, however, didn't know he was being used as a benchmark by the Sixth Master.
Otherwise, he would definitely have cursed her out.
"Alright, then let's go." Mono took her hand.
He took one last look down at the murky water, a hint of hesitation appearing on his face.
This water looked truly filthy and stinking.
The thought of submerging his head and entire body into it was revolting.
If one were to swallow this water, they'd probably die.
"Ready?"
Mono took another deep breath.
For survival, sometimes you have to eat a bit of—ptui, eat my foot, he was going to keep his mouth tightly shut no matter what.
Mono banished the messy thoughts from his mind.
Little Six nodded.
"Okay, I'll count to three, then we swim across together."
"One, two, three... Go!"
*Splash~*
Two small splashes rose gently, and the two heads instantly vanished from the surface, leaving only a few softly drifting ripples.
Beneath the murky surface, Mono kept his eyes and mouth tightly shut.
He felt his skin itching.
The sensation and experience this water provided were absolutely terrible.
Little Six also held her breath as the two slowly dived and swam forward.
On the shore, the Hunter seemed to hear something and suddenly swung the light over, illuminating the water's surface.
Fortunately, Mono and the Sixth Master were entirely submerged, so he didn't detect his targets.
However, he continued to shine the lantern across the wide expanse of water.
Although Mono didn't open his eyes, he could feel the light shining over.
The Hunter's searchlight was truly powerful; he could feel it even with his eyes tightly shut.
Seeing that no gunshots rang out, Mono slowly began to feel at ease.
It seemed the tactics from the game were working.
The Hunter didn't suspect they would be under the water.
However, just when Mono thought they were safe, the Sixth Master, who was holding his hand, suddenly tightened her grip.
"Holy crap, what are you doing? Trying to squeeze me to death?"
Mono felt a pang of pain in his small hand.
Who would have thought the Sixth Master's grip would be so strong?
Is this person starting to go crazy? Trying to screw me over?
Mono instinctively let his thoughts wander.
It wasn't his fault for thinking this way; the Sixth Master's thoughts were always hard to fathom, and it wasn't like she hadn't committed random murders later on.
However, Mono soon realized something was wrong.
He saw Little Six's limbs begin to kick and thrash, her movements becoming sluggish.
"She couldn't be running out of breath, could she?" Mono realized.
In fact, he was right.
Although Little Six's constitution was better than Mono's, she hadn't relaxed her body properly before diving into the water.
Moreover, she hadn't taken a proper deep breath.
Her entire muscular state had remained in a tense, ready-for-action mode.
While this state allowed for quick reactions to unexpected situations when running on the ground...
Under the water, this state easily caused the oxygen consumption of the body's cells to increase rapidly.
This resulted in her being unable to hold her breath for long.
In other words, holding one's breath isn't a matter of brute strength; the Sixth Master suffered from her lack of experience.
Mono cursed inwardly; they couldn't possibly surface for air right now.
He didn't have time to hesitate. Seeing that the Sixth Master was about to give in, he hurriedly pulled her over, endured the stench from the water, and guided by feel, he pressed his mouth against hers...
Little Six was struggling when she suddenly felt a breath of air being passed to her. She instinctively clung to the source of the air, gasping.
Mono was restrained and couldn't swim.
He really wanted to curse.
This taught him a lesson: one must be cautious when saving a drowning person.
Mono quickly patted her shoulder.
Little Six gradually regained her senses and realized what was happening.
She felt a sense of panic in her heart and quickly let go.
Mono pulled her again and swam forward.
But soon, with her heart racing, Little Six felt she couldn't hold on again.
And so, the familiar scene played out once more.
Mono felt like he was running out of air too.
Fortunately, things didn't happen a third time. Before Little Six could reach her limit again, he finally touched the edge of the tree stump.
Mono quickly swam behind the stump.
"Splosh, splosh~"
Two heads popped up from the water.
"Huff, puff, huff~"
Mono gasped for air greedily.
Sixth Master was also panting.
However, Sixth Master's recovery speed was clearly much faster than Mono's.
In just a few seconds, her chest stopped heaving.
She stared blankly at Mono without saying a word.