The elevator went straight to the first floor. From the tourist reception area and a small supermarket selling local specialties, he bought a pair of swimming trunks. The shop assistant was slightly surprised that with an average room temperature of 20 degrees, there were still guests who wanted to swim, but still pointed out the direction to the pool.
It was also an inconspicuous small door. Only after pushing it open were there directional signs. The stairwell was smaller than expected. Ningma guessed if there was an elevator that went directly there.
But it didn’t affect the excitement of facing a pool of turquoise water. It was fully two to three hundred square meters with almost five lanes, enough to host a small swimming competition. Even more surprising was that the water quality was clean and clear, suggesting it was regularly maintained by someone.
After changing into his swimming trunks, Ningma couldn’t wait to walk towards the pool. He wanted to find the ladder to get into the water, but found no one around, so he simply jumped in!
“Splash!”
Water splashed all over his head, and he plunged straight underwater. The water temperature was slightly cool, just enough to neutralize the inexplicable heat all over his body. After emerging from the water, he only felt every pore on his body exuding comfort!
This was a rectangular pool. If he guessed correctly, it was about thirty meters long and fifteen meters wide, a small pool in a high-end hotel. Directly opposite was also a miniature diving platform about 2.5 meters high.
Ningma freely enjoyed the pleasure of being in the water. The bottom of the pool should also have been built with a gentle slope. At this moment, what he was standing on was the shallowest part, about 1.5 meters according to his height. The opposite side should gradually deepen to about two and a half meters.
A mere thirty meters was simply not worth mentioning. After Ningma slightly moved his hands and feet to adapt to the water temperature, he pressed his feet against the pool wall, arched his body, and grabbed the edge of the pool. With a standard freestyle start, he shot out like a torpedo!
[You see this text, please exit reading mode, or go to “source web page” to read normally]
[Please go to the source web page to read, the following content is automatically replaced by anti-crawler] you──I, big──small, more──less, up──down, left──right….
The sound of water breaking rang out in the silent swimming pool. The clean and simple strokes stirred up black waves on the still water surface. He reached the opposite bank extremely quickly. Not only that, but he also did a beautiful turn, piercing through the water and only lightly surfacing after swimming about two-thirds of the pool.
Arriving at the starting point again, he did another neat turn. This time, Ningma prepared to swim to the end underwater, diving and swimming underwater until he reached the opposite bank and surfaced to breathe.
The distance of thirty meters constantly shortened. Besides the ripples on the water surface, there were only bubbles gushing out from underwater. Ningma felt the flow of the pool water passing over his body, gliding like a nimble fish.
Twenty meters, ten meters, five meters, two meters, one meter…
A perfectly executed underwater swim. When his outstretched arms touched the pool wall, after holding his breath for nearly a minute, his lungs urgently needed fresh air. He stepped on the bottom of the pool and leaped upward—
“Thump!”
But suddenly a surprising scene appeared!
There was only a muffled sound, and Ningma’s head didn’t know what hard object it hit. His whole body tilted and lost his balance, and the top of his head throbbed with pain. The key was that the way to the surface was cut off!
In a panic, he looked down. The water rippled, and the refracted water surface was clear and bright. There were no obstacles at all. How could he have bumped into something?
At the same time, the pressure in his lungs warned him that if he didn’t surface, he would be in danger of drowning! Enduring the urge to breathe, if he couldn’t hold back, he was afraid he would drown here!
Ningma gritted his teeth, his eyes bloodshot. Steadying himself, he stretched his arms and increased the frequency of his strokes, floating towards the surface until his hands felt a smooth surface!
The width of this thing exceeded the maximum distance his arms could reach. In other words, Ningma used almost all his strength but couldn’t touch the edge of the object, as if a transparent glass cover covered the entire surface of the water!
His mind was already showing signs of oxygen deprivation, and his lungs felt like they were about to explode. He exhaled bubbles from his mouth, forcibly suppressing the urge to breathe in the water. If he opened the glottis, pool water would pour into his lungs like a funnel, quickly filling every alveolus. At that time, he would be powerless to recover!
Ningma’s eyes were blood red, and his vision began to blur. The only remaining consciousness was that he couldn’t give up. The depth here was about two meters, providing enough buoyancy, but being in the water, there was nothing to hold on to. The only way to escape was to try to swim back until his feet could touch the bottom of the pool and then use the reaction force to burst out of the water!
The process of swimming back was extremely difficult. The only thing he could rely on was his familiarity with the water. After persevering for a few more seconds, he roughly estimated the depth to the surface, exhaled the last bit of air in his lungs, and sank accordingly. At the moment his toes touched the bottom of the pool, he used all his strength to break free towards the surface!
If he was blocked by something again at this moment, the only outcome would be to die in a foreign land, and die in an unimaginable way, inexplicably…
“Splash!”
Fortunately, the top of his head was open. Ningma burst out of the water like a drowning dog!
Violently coughing, his lungs were once again filled with long-awaited air. After breathing heavily for a few seconds, he finally calmed down. Water flowed down his soaked hair, mixed with a strand of bright red.
Ningma touched a break in his forehead. Fortunately, the wound was not large, but due to prolonged hypoxia, his entire brain was as heavy as lead. Daring not to linger in the water for fear of encountering something that could block him, he carefully tiptoed on the bottom of the pool and leaned towards the nearest shore.
Only when he touched the solid wall paved with tiles did he completely breathe a sigh of relief. He rolled over, struggled ashore, and completely collapsed, deeply breathing the life-saving air.
He was only a little short, the line between life and death was precise to the second. If the pool wasn’t big enough, if it were a standard swimming pool, he should be floating quietly face down with the slightly rippling water surface.
In a daze, he felt a sense of relief at escaping death, which quickly turned into anger about what the hell almost killed him!
Ningma propped himself up and looked towards the deepest part of the water. At first glance, it was still clear pool water rippling with waves. Then he discovered a clue—there was indeed something floating in the pool, but it was transparent, and the spread of the water waves was completely stopped.
“Fuck!”
After cursing, Ningma got up and walked closer, staring intently for a long time. Finally, he confirmed what it was—
It was a square-meter plastic transparent sheet floating underwater. No, not just one piece. Ningma approached and counted—there were six pieces, floating underwater and drifting with the waves, constructing “islands” with an area of five or six square meters!
They were close together, and due to the thrust of the water waves, they could be said to be inseparable. No wonder he couldn’t find the edge when he wanted to explore underwater, because even if there were gaps, they were close together under the force of the water!
And each piece was the size of a square table, made of a material that could float on the water surface but was sturdy enough, similar to bakelite and very familiar. He felt like he had seen it somewhere?
After leaving the water, his body temperature dropped. Ningma was unable to guess about these large plastic sheets that seemed to appear out of thin air. Wrapping himself in a bath towel, he planned to change back into the clothes he had just worn. He looked up and suddenly realized—
He saw that several pieces were missing from the outer facade of the women’s changing room on the opposite bank. After a slight count, there were no more and no less than six pieces, the same size, the same material. There was also a piece of paper posted in a conspicuous position:
“Swimming pool equipment is being replaced and maintained, temporarily closed!”