She Was the Treasure All Along novel Chapter 754

Lucian stared deeply into her eyes, then threw his head back and swallowed the pill she had given him. He squeezed her hand—the one tethered to his by the rope—and gave a curt nod.

Loyce guided him into the icy water. "That was a fast-acting stimulant. It's going to artificially spike your adrenaline and force your body to ignore the exhaustion. It's basically a highly concentrated performance enhancer, but the crash is brutal. Once it wears off, you'll likely hallucinate and temporarily lose all motor function. Don't panic; I'll use nerve-repair meds to fix the damage later."

With his leg in such bad shape, she had no other choice.

They had just waded deeper into the water when the frantic barking of hounds echoed from the cave entrance. Several attack dogs sprinted to the shoreline, snarling and snapping at the water where the two had just been.

Flashlight beams danced wildly across the cave walls. By the time the heavily armed backup reached the shore, Loyce had already pulled Lucian beneath the surface. Bullets rained into the water around them, narrowly missing their bodies.

Almost immediately, enemy soldiers dove in, giving chase. But after swimming only a short distance, one frantically turned back and broke the surface.

He looked up at a lieutenant on the shore. "The tunnel is completely capped with solid rock! Even if there's an exit, they can't hold their breath that long. They'll drown down there!"

The lieutenant glared at the freezing, dark water and ordered coldly, "Get the scuba gear and oxygen tanks. I want them found—dead or alive."

Beneath the surface, the darkness was absolute, thicker than the blackest night. The crushing pressure of the deep pressed in from all sides.

With one arm securely wrapped around Lucian's waist, Loyce used her free hand to paddle fiercely, relying on the faint flow of the current to guide them. Above them was solid, unforgiving rock. A suffocating sense of despair wrapped around them.

Fueled by the stimulant, Lucian kicked with everything he had, though his ruined leg was virtually useless.

The freezing water rapidly sapped their body heat. The only sounds were the rush of water and the pounding of their own hearts. Behind them, the fully equipped enemy divers had entered the water and were closing the distance.

Time lost all meaning. The burning in their lungs grew agonizing. Just as Lucian felt like his chest was about to cave in, Loyce spotted an air pocket and yanked him upward.

Splash!

They broke the surface, the sound echoing loudly in the enclosed space.

Loyce's heart hammered against her ribs. She had to move faster.

The second air pocket was slightly larger, but still only gave them enough room to expose their heads and necks. They had just broken the surface and hadn't even caught their breath when the sound of splashing and muffled shouts echoed nearby.

Loyce instantly unclipped the tether binding her to Lucian. "Wait here," she whispered.

She slipped back into the dark water. Moving like a silent serpent, she evaded the sweeping beams of light, using jagged rock formations and thick patches of algae for cover. Gripping her combat knife, she waited until a diver realized something was wrong, then slashed with lethal precision across his throat.

Warm, thick blood bloomed in the freezing water. By the time the second diver noticed his partner had gone dark over the comms, he panicked. He swung his rifle around, staring at the cloud of crimson, ready to pull the trigger.

Fighting through the numbness in his body, Lucian slammed into the diver from the side, crushing him against the rock wall. Loyce darted in and finished him off with a single thrust.

When they surfaced again, the air pocket was filled with nothing but their ragged breathing and the heavy scent of copper.