“Alright! I accept your challenge!” I had to accept because they wanted to prove themselves to me.
“Great!” They cheered at the bottom.
Xing Ya, Elena and I walked back into the room. I began to take off my dress.
“This is so exciting! I"d like to try too!” Xing Ya took off her dress too.
Elena looked at us helplessly, saying, “The Eye of the Planet"s Core is very deep. You have to be careful.” Elena put our dresses away and exhorted, “I will wait for you to return to the sh.o.r.e.”
Xing Ya and I changed into Hagrid Island"s ocean blue battle uniform. It was a multipurpose suit. It could be used as a diving suit, and its design and print were beautiful and modern.
We went downstairs together and Xing Ya said excitedly, “Whenever there"s an occasion, there is a tradition to pluck symbiotic flowers from the Eye of the Planet"s Core without using a ventilator. Symbiotic flowers are beautiful, but they only grow there.”
“Has anyone succeeded?” I looked at Xing Ya and Elena, and they shook their heads.
“Without bringing a ventilator, and only relying on a single breath of air... as of now, no one has succeeded.” Elena shook her head and smiled.
Xing Ya"s eyes glistened in confidence. “But everyone was trained by Luo Bing. We might be able to pluck it. Didn"t my brother almost succeed last year? Didn"t my brother want to pluck a flower for you?” Xing Ya winked at Elena playfully.
Elena immediately blushed and smiled lovingly.
The Xing Chuan here treated Elena so well. Maybe it was just like what Xing Ya had said - if the Xing Chuan in the outside world had had Elena to keep him company, he wouldn"t have become the way he was.
When we came out, the guys were in two lines, like two rows of princes escorting three princesses. Xing Ya lifted her chin proudly. There hardly seemed to be such eye-catching sights on the island, and it immediately caught everyone"s attention.
I thought the Eye of the Planet"s Core would be beneath us, but unexpectedly, everyone walked uphill.
In a short while, we saw a few guys at the peak, including Xing Chuan, who was preparing.
Xing Chuan was surprised when he saw us. He saw Elena, Xing Ya and me. He was stunned when he saw me, but he didn"t seem to recognize me with my makeup on.
We walked up to Xing Chuan, and he continued to look at me blankly. Suddenly, he seemed to recognize me and was lost in thought.
“Hahaha, His Highness couldn"t recognize Luo Bing either!” The guys seized the chance to make fun of him. They echoed all our mockery of them toward Xing Chuan. They wouldn"t give up a chance to make fun of their Highness.
Xing Chuan then came back to reality, and Elena smiled at him. She stood behind me and placed her hands on my shoulders. “I put makeup on Luo Bing. Isn"t she beautiful?” Elena sounded proud.
In the dimming light, there was a glimpse of embarra.s.sment on Xing Chuan"s face.
“Brother is embarra.s.sed! Hahaha!” Xing Ya seemed to catch Xing Chuan"s tail and shouted loudly. Xing Chuan became even more embarra.s.sed and his ears were red.
He looked at Xing Ya solemnly, “Xiao Ya, stop fooling around. We are preparing to challenge the Eye of the Planet"s Core!”
“Who"s fooling around? We can take up the challenge!” Xing Ya lifted her chin, “Don"t forget who reaches the finish line first when we jog!” Xing Ya said smugly; she had great endurance and always reached the end of the track first.
Xing Chuan sighed. It was the helplessness and speechlessness of a brother.
Xing Ya stood and looked at the well-dressed guys, saying, “I"ll date whoever brings a symbiotic flower back for me."
“Oh!”
“Woo!”
The guys immediately took off their clothes. In an instant, their suits were all over the place. In the dim light, we saw the guys in their swimming trunks.
“We"ll go first then.” They ran ahead. There seemed to be a hot spring at the top that bubbled with hot steam.
Then I saw them jumping in, and they disappeared with a splash of water.
“Let"s go too!” Xing Ya ran up with me.
“Xiao Ya! Be careful!” Xing Chuan was a brother who was always worried about his sister.
I followed Xing Ya to the top. In the middle of the hot spring, there was a faint red light that resembled a huge red eye.
“You can see the lava here, right? Isn"t it cool?!” Xing Ya said excitedly.
I was surprised. So, I"m going to the planet"s core? Impossible! Although I hardly ever studied in the past, I know that the planet"s core wouldn"t be exposed like this!
“Stop bulls.h.i.+tting, sister!” Xing Chuan became solemn. He took off his s.h.i.+rt and his muscular chest could be seen. He put his hands on his waist and looked at the hot spring, saying, “It was a volcano once; but don"t worry, we sealed it. We"re going to the center.”
“Why did you tell her, brother? That"s no fun, taking away the mystery. Look how nervous Luo Bing was earlier,” Xing Ya sn.i.g.g.e.red.
Elena shook her head with a smile, saying, “Alright. Be careful. Chuan, this is Luo Bing"s first time. Lead the way!”
Xing Chuan nodded. Then he looked at Xing Ya and I, instructing, “Follow closely.” He dived into the clear spring water. The glow beneath looked almost like a red light that had been installed manually.
Xing Ya and I immediately took a deep breath and dived in together.
A trail of bubbles was left in our wake as Elena"s figure disappeared from view.
After we dived into the spring, I saw some of the guys, who were swimming in front of us. Some of them were heading back. Because of the red light from the deep end, the magical underwater world was brightly lit. The guys who were swimming forward looked like warriors flying through the air in slow motion.
I was confused at first. How were we going to reach if it was too deep? The water pressure would be hard to fight.
However, the underwater world was much wider than what I imagined. The others weren"t swimming deeper; instead, they were moving forward. I saw a huge cave in front of us that the guys were swimming toward.
It turned out that the Eye of the Planet"s Core was simply a metaphor; we were not really swimming into a deep chasm.
Xing Chuan swam in front of us. His muscular body propelled him forward powerfully. Some of the guys were returning in defeat, and they waved at us as they pa.s.sed by.
We continued forward.
As we entered the cave, the long water tunnel was lit not by the red light, but by bioluminescent organisms. Their faint blue light made the long tunnel look beautiful and magical. Tentacle-like organisms grew along the walls. They looked like the hair of a G.o.ddess, fluttering by our sides.
Xing Ya suddenly waved at me and began to return. I continued behind Xing Chuan.
Only Xing Chuan and I were left in the silent waters. He turned back to look at me occasionally. He seemed to be worried that I would drown behind him.