Chapter 41: The Mystery Beneath the Lake

Sal returned to the dorm in the latter half of the night, with only about three or four hours left before wake-up call.

Following behind her was Rain, who had also been kicked out by Xingxuan and was heading back to the staff dorm in the same direction.

Even if Xingxuan hadn’t chased them away, Sal and Rain knew staying would be useless.

“I think I finally get why that bastard Bost suddenly surrendered.”

As Sal spoke, she vented her frustration by kicking a cylindrical cleaning robot resting beside the road.

These robots, responsible for keeping the campus clean, were nothing special in appearance—just thick metal shells and sturdy builds.

She didn’t understand why the Alchemy Department reinforced them so heavily when mass-producing them…
But according to official explanation, they could even withstand low-level offensive spells.

So one random kick did nothing—
And instead, it was Sal’s foot that hurt for a while.

“Great… we can’t keep him, so the Lucia situation still can’t be solved.”

Sal continued complaining as she walked, only to realize she had gotten no response from Rain.

When she turned her head, she saw him standing still by the artificial lake, leaning on the railing, staring across the water illuminated by the lamps.

“What are you doing?”

Sal asked, but didn’t walk any closer.

She had zero interest in standing beside a lake in the cold late-night wind.

If she caught a cold, what then?

“If you don’t move, the sun will be up soon… can you even wake up for class tomorrow?”

But Rain ignored her completely, eyes fixed on the lake’s surface.

It was as if he had noticed something.

“Sal, come here.”

He didn’t respond to her complaints—he asked her to take a look.

Now her curiosity was piqued, so she jogged over to him.

Following the direction of Rain’s pointing finger, she looked out at the lake.

At first, she saw nothing unusual.

Just a normal lake surface.

Under the surrounding streetlamps and the moon above, the rippling water shimmered gently in the night breeze.

“Nothing weird.”

Sal genuinely didn’t see anything odd.

But when Rain spoke again, and she looked a second time—her expression changed.

“Look at the center of the lake.
Doesn’t the reflection there seem… stronger than the rest?”

“Now that you mention it…”

Even though Sal passed by here every night, she had never spared the lake more than a glance.

Tonight, walking together with Rain for the first time, she finally spotted something strange:

At the bottom of the lake’s center, there was clearly a light source.

It was weird.

Very weird.

Annoying as Rain’s attempt to change the subject was, Sal had to admit—
She also wanted to know what that bright object under the lake was.

Rain clearly had the same idea.

“Grab on.”

Sal blinked as Rain suddenly reached out his hand.

“Grab my hand.
Hold tight.”

“What are you planning?”

“Grab first.
You’ll know.”

Reluctantly, yet trusting him, Sal placed her hand in his.

After all, aside from the bracelet incident, Rain had never tricked her.

Still, she muttered under her breath:

“I’m warning you—don’t try any stu—”

She didn’t even finish her sentence.

Rain pulled her up onto the railing—
And before she could react, before she could scream—

He dragged her into the lake with a perfect low-angle dive.

…

Sal had barely opened her mouth to say she couldn’t swim—

But Rain already pulled her under the water.

Yet the expected icy shock and suffocating fear never came.

Instead, she felt Rain grip her hand tightly.

Sal opened her eyes.

She was underwater—
But completely surrounded by a transparent barrier.

The water was kept entirely outside.

“What… is this?”

Her words died in her throat.

All her insults toward Rain instantly evaporated.

Because the scene before her was—

Magical.

Beautiful.

Unbelievable.

The bubble around them emitted a faint glow, making the dark lake bright enough to see through.

And since it was night, the only other illumination came from naturally glowing plants and creatures in the water, along with moonlight refracted from the surface.

Sal was stunned.

This was the first time in her life she had seen the underwater world from this angle… like this.

Then Rain gently squeezed her left hand, reminding her he was right beside her.

Sal, face heating up at how flustered she’d acted, quickly changed the topic and began scolding him again.

“Why did you jump without warning?!
You could’ve at least asked if I can swim!”

Rain looked at her puffed-up cheeks.

Like a tiny, angry hamster.

Combined with her small golden-haired child form, she was irresistibly cute.

Truly, painfully cute.

But cuteness aside—he had a job to do.

“Just trust me.
I’d never harm you.”

Of course he wouldn’t.
Who would harm their future wife?

“You still should’ve warned me!”

Sal wanted to continue, but considering the oxygen issue in an enclosed bubble, she decided to drop it.

“Fine, fine. Hurry up and investigate.”

Rain nodded.

“Hold my right hand tightly.
It keeps your side of the barrier stable.”

Sal’s eyes twitched—
She remembered very well the long-distance barrier he gave her earlier during the fight.

She clearly didn’t buy that excuse.

But she didn’t expose him.

This was underwater.

And drowning was not on her to-do list.

Soon, they reached the source of the strange light.

A…
modern-looking underwater gate.

With a ring of glowing locator lights around it.

“So this is the light source.”

Sal stared at it.

Her composure shattered completely.

Because she recognized it.

Why did it look so familiar?

It looked exactly like those she had seen on TV before travelling here—

A missile silo hatch.