46: Chapter 46 Missile Barrage, the System Wants Me to Attend a Feast?

Underwater. Murky and unbearable.

Li Li opened his eyes.

The dull aftermath of the explosion was still reverberating in the water, and his eardrums ached from the water pressure.

The blue text on his left wrist penetrated the murky, muddy water, flashing frantically.

"Ding! System detected that the host's current environment is suitable for social activities."

"Main Mission Update: Lead the entire Production Team to attend the Abu Dhabi royal banquet."

"Mission Reward: The more participants, the richer the reward. If everyone attends, you will receive the Ultimate Gift Pack."

"System Comment: You still need to discuss with Fahd how to bring the Production Team to the royal banquet."

Li Li spat out a string of fine bubbles.

"Insane."

"Absolutely insane."

With missiles carpeting the ground above and anti-aircraft guns filling the sky with sparks, this broken System wanted him to take a bunch of Dating Reality Show guests to a royal banquet?

"More like a funeral banquet!"

He had no time to deal with this mentally disabled task, and kicked his legs hard against the water.

Splash.

He broke through the water.

The air was filled with the acrid smell of gunpowder and burning.

The afternoon sun of the Persian Gulf was obscured by thick smoke, and the sky was as dark as dusk.

Water World was gone.

The towering fiberglass slide was broken into three sections, crashing into the middle of the wave pool. The palm trees on the shore were burned down to black charcoal, sparking with embers. Debris from scattered lounge chairs and the wreckage of inflatable mats floated on the water surface.

Wailing was everywhere.

Water World staff and the Production Team's floor managers were rolling on the shore, clutching their wounds.

A layer of gray-white dust floated on the water, and people couldn't even be seen clearly from two meters away.

Li Li wiped the mud from his face and quickly scanned his surroundings.

To his front left, the wreckage of a deflating inflatable castle hung on a twisted piece of metal.

On the edge of the fragment, a wisp of red fabric was hooked.

It was that one-piece swimsuit with cutouts on the waist worn by Jiang Rumu.

Li Li dived into the water.

Underwater visibility was almost zero.

He kept his eyes open and dived down in the direction of the current.

The back of his hand touched a soft body.

He grabbed a handful of hair and pulled it up.

Splash.

It was Cen Ye.

This kid had choked on water, rolling his eyes, and the Mirage Dragon tattoo on his neck was covered in mud and sand.

Li Li grabbed him by the back of the collar with one hand and swam to the side of the pool. His arm muscles bulged, and he threw him hard, using the buoyancy of the water.

Bang.

Cen Ye was thrown onto the tiles on the shore, coughing up a mouthful of muddy water on the spot.

"Cough, cough... Damn it..."

Li Li ignored him and turned to dive again.

He felt around the bottom of the pool.

He touched a mass of long hair spread out like seaweed.

He grabbed it. Pulled it up.

Qi Wanyin.

The literary singer who usually held an air of superiority had no image left now, bubbles gurgling out of her mouth.

Li Li dragged her to the shore and did the same.

Bang.

Threw her up.

Qi Wanyin lay on the ground, spitting out water three times in a row, not even having the strength to cough.

The third time he went into the water.

This time he fished up two people.

Director Pei Zhao in his left hand, Han Xubai in his right.

Two of the luck-transfer beads on Director Pei Zhao's wrist were broken, the string of the bracelet had snapped, and the beads had fallen into the muddy water.

Han Xubai's gold-rimmed glasses had long since flown off, and his hands were grabbing wildly in the air.

Li Li smashed the two of them onto the shore.

Han Xubai was face up, his hands still groping on the ground.

"My contacts... where are my contacts..."

Li Li wiped the water droplets from his chin and supported himself on the edge of the pool to look at the shore.

Four people.

No Jiang Rumu.

He stared at the piece of metal debris that had the red fabric hooked on it.

The fragment was sinking.

Li Li took a deep breath and plunged into the bottom of the water for the fourth time.

He dived all the way to the bottom.

The bottom of the pool was full of gravel and rubber, and the water was as murky as mud.

He felt around among the wreckage.

A flash of red.

It was stuck in the gap between two huge pieces of slide wreckage.

Li Li swam over.

Jiang Rumu was stuck in the gap, eyes closed, black hair spread out, lifeless.

Li Li reached out to pull her arm.

He couldn't pull it.

The wreckage was pressing firmly on her legs.

Li Li swam to the side of the wreckage. He stepped on the tiles at the bottom of the pool with both feet, and braced his shoulders against the hundreds-of-pounds fiberglass slide fragment.

He exerted force from his waist and abdomen.

The muscles strengthened by the System bulged one by one in an instant, and his tactical vest was stretched tight.

"Ugh—"

A large amount of air bubbles gushed from his mouth.

The fiberglass wreckage was forcefully pushed open by half a meter.

Li Li grabbed Jiang Rumu's waist with one hand, pulled hard, and brought her out of the gap.

He kicked his legs and shot straight to the surface.

Splash!

The two broke through the water.

Li Li panted heavily, hugging her with one arm and swimming toward the shore.

He supported the edge of the pool with one hand and flipped onto the shore. Then he bent down, grabbed Jiang Rumu's arm, pulled her up, and laid her flat on the tiles.

She had no reaction.

Her face was gray and pale.

Li Li knelt beside her, his gaze falling on her right shoulder.

One shoulder strap of that red one-piece swimsuit was broken.

On her fair skin, there was a shocking wound. It was grazed by ultra-high-temperature bomb metal fragments, the skin and flesh were rolled back, and the edges were charred black.

Li Li gritted his teeth.

The muscles on his jaw bulged.

He raised his hand and felt her carotid artery with two fingers.

Very weak.

He checked her breath.

None.

"Don't die."

Li Li crossed his hands and pressed them on the lower part of her sternum.

He straightened his arms. Using the weight of his upper body, he pressed down vertically.

One, two, three, four.

He pressed thirty times.

Li Li pinched Jiang Rumu's nose and lowered his head.

He pressed his lips onto hers.

He blew air.

Jiang Rumu's ribcage lifted slightly.

He let go.

He blew again.

He continued pressing.

One, two, three, four.

Cen Ye was coughing his lungs out nearby, and just as he caught his breath, he turned his head and saw this scene.

He was stunned instantly.

"Brother Li..."

Li Li didn't stop, and didn't even lift his head.

"If you have strength, go save the others!"

Sweat mixed with muddy water dripped from his chin onto Jiang Rumu's collarbone.

Thirty compressions.

Two rescue breaths.

Second round.

Jiang Rumu showed no movement.

Li Li's movements became faster and faster, the veins on the back of his hands popping out one by one.

Third round.

"Wake up."

Li Li pinched her nose and leaned down again.

Just as his lips touched hers.

A dull "gurgle" came from Jiang Rumu's throat.

Li Li lifted his head instantly.

"Cough—"

Jiang Rumu turned her head violently.

A mouthful of murky pool water was spat onto the tiles.

Accompanied by violent coughing.

She curled up, her shoulders trembling violently, taking deep gulps of air into her lungs. Her chest heaved violently.

She coughed for a full minute.

Finally, she caught her breath.

She slowly turned over and lay flat on the ground.

Her vision was blurry.

After a few seconds, her focus aligned.

The gray sky, the rolling black smoke.

And Li Li kneeling beside her.

Li Li's hair was all plastered to his forehead, and water droplets were dripping down from the tips of his hair.

Jiang Rumu's gaze moved down.

Li Li's hands were still hovering in mid-air.

Maintaining the compression posture, directly facing her chest.

Jiang Rumu was stunned.

The hazy sensation from just a moment ago flashed through her mind.

Heavy pressure.

And then the temperature on her lips.

Whoosh.

From the base of her neck to her earlobes, it turned red enough to bleed.

Li Li followed her gaze and looked at his own hands.

He pulled them back violently.

He wiped his hands on his body indiscriminately.

"That... what."

He cleared his throat.

"Basic operation. Basic first aid."

Jiang Rumu didn't speak, just stared at him fixedly.

A burning pain came from her right shoulder. She gasped.

Li Li immediately reached out, wanting to check the wound.

His hand reached halfway.

He stopped.

Jiang Rumu's swimsuit strap was broken, the neckline was crooked, and a large expanse of spring scenery was exposed.

Li Li quickly averted his gaze, turned his head to the other side, tore off his own T-shirt, and threw it over Jiang Rumu.

Jiang Rumu immediately grabbed the edge of the T-shirt, pulled it tightly under her neck, covering herself completely.

She looked at Li Li's turned-away profile.

His jawline was very tight.

"Li Li."

She spoke, her voice as dry as if it contained sand.

Li Li didn't turn back.

"What?"

"Thank you."

Very soft.

Softer than the one by the pool at the Burj Al Arab.

Li Li rotated his left wrist slightly.

"You're welcome."

He stood up and turned to look around.

Director Pei Zhao was leaning against a broken railing, standing up, his legs still shaking.

Han Xubai was crawling on the ground, feeling around.

"Lawyer Bai, stop feeling around. If you're blind, just stay put." Li Li walked over and pulled him up.

"My glasses..."

"As long as you're still alive."

Li Li scanned the whole scene.

"Where is Shen Jue?"

"Where is Gu Zeyan?"

"Where are Yin Ruoying and Fang Ruowei?"

Including Wen Zhuotang, five people were missing.

Director Pei Zhao's legs were weak, his megaphone had long since flown off somewhere, his voice floating.

"Li Li... what... what is going on here?"

"It's war."

Li Li walked to a charred piece of wreckage and kicked away a piece of iron.

"Israel carpet bombing. We hit the jackpot."

He looked up at the sky.

The air defense alarm was still sounding, and the thick smoke in the distance shot straight into the sky.

Cen Ye was stunned on the spot, turning his head to look at Qi Wanyin, who was vomiting her guts out, and then at the blind-like Han Xubai.

"Damn? Is this really a frontline battlefield?"

"Eh? Where is Shen Jue?"

As soon as he finished speaking, the deflating inflatable castle not far away was overturned.

Shen Jue, Gu Zeyan, Yin Ruoying, Fang Ruowei, as well as Old Zhou and a few staff members, crawled out from underneath, tumbling and crawling.

They had been pressed under the inflatable mat just now, and instead, they didn't suffer major injuries, just stunned by the shockwave.

Shen Jue shook his head, his face covered in mud.

"Damn, who stepped on my face just now?"

At this moment, a girl walked limpingly to Director Pei Zhao's side, hugging a camera tightly in her arms.

It was the follow-up cameraman, Xiao Zhao.

"Director Pei, I filmed it." Xiao Zhao panted heavily, "The most explosive rescue scene just now, Li Li saved four people and even gave Jiang Rumu mouth-to-mouth resuscitation! It was all recorded!"

Director Pei Zhao's originally pale, terrified face changed the moment he heard this.

The fear receded.

A kind of almost fanatical light burst from his eyes.

He grabbed the camera and lowered his head to replay it.

"Not bad!"

Director Pei Zhao raised his head violently, his voice trembling.

"Xiao Zhao, you are too dedicated! I'll give you a big merit this time! Two months' bonus when we get back!"

He looked around at the ruins, the thick smoke, and the wailing crowd, his hand gripping the camera tightly, his knuckles turning white.

"The material is saved. When this episode airs, the ratings will definitely blow up the entire entertainment industry!"

Li Li looked at Director Pei Zhao, who had fallen into madness, and rotated his left wrist.

This woman, there's no saving her.

He was just about to speak when the ground under his feet suddenly transmitted a violent tremor.

The frequency of the air defense alarm in the distance rose sharply, becoming sharp and ear-piercing.

The second wave of carpet bombing.

It was coming.