Chapter 165: Jungle Escape

Chapter 165: Jungle Escape

That faint sound was jarringly loud in the deathly stillness of the swamp.

Dominic's crimson eyes contracted sharply, every muscle in his body tensing instantly.

"It's a micro suicide bomb. He's rigged with explosives. Move!"

Without time for explanations, he swept Penelope up by the waist and bolted toward the deeper jungle.

The moment they'd cleared barely thirty yards, a brilliant orange fireball erupted from the swamp behind them.

The deafening explosion nearly tore their eardrums apart as the shockwave, laden with metal shrapnel, swept toward them.

Dominic, still holding Penelope, was thrown to the ground by the blast. He rolled them into a shallow crater, shielding her with his back from the flying debris.

Several metal fragments embedded themselves in his shoulder. He grunted, yanked them out, tossed them aside, and kept running with Penelope in his arms.

"Dominic, put me down! I can run on my own! Your body can't take this kind of strain right now!"

Penelope struggled frantically in his arms, tears streaming down her face again as she heard his chest heaving like a broken bellows.

But Dominic only tightened his grip, his lips curling into a weak yet defiant smirk.

"Shut up. As long as I'm still breathing, you're not walking. Stay put."

The perfect antibodies inside him were still battling the neurotoxin. The poison had clearly been suppressed for the most part, but waves of dizziness from blood loss kept crashing over him.

Dominic felt his legs grow heavy as lead, his vision blurring with dark spots.

Yet those crimson eyes remained fixed ahead, navigating through the dense primeval jungle on near-feral instinct alone.

Just then, a low rumble of rushing water reached them from ahead, accompanied by a blast of cold, damp air.

"There's an underground river up ahead. Preston's men are definitely still behind us. We jump. It's our only way out."

Dominic gasped for air as he burst through the underbrush with Penelope.

Before them yawned a bottomless cliff.

Below, a raging river churned with icy white foam in the dim light, the current frighteningly fast.

Without a moment's hesitation, Dominic leaped off the edge with Penelope.

They plummeted like falling stars, crashing into the bone-chilling water.

The massive impact swallowed them whole, the freezing river piercing their skin like countless steel needles.

Penelope shivered violently, struggling to steady herself in the violent current, only to realize Dominic had let her go.

The man who'd been as immovable as an iron tower now had his eyes shut tight, his body sinking toward the river's depths like a heavy stone.

He'd exhausted every ounce of strength during their mad dash. Blood loss and toxin backlash had finally crushed him.

"Dominic, wake up right now! You promised me you'd survive!"

Penelope screamed silently in her mind, her icy eyes flashing with unprecedented resolve as she dove into the deep water.

She swam desperately toward Dominic's sinking form, grabbing his tactical vest with both hands, trying with everything she had to pull him toward the surface.

But the undercurrent at the river bottom was too fierce, and Dominic's heavy frame was more than she could handle alone.

Watching tiny bubbles escape from his mouth, Penelope felt like someone had driven a blade straight through her heart.

She closed the distance, cupping Dominic's pale face without hesitation and pressing her lips to his, breathing what little oxygen she had left into his mouth.

The cold touch mixed with a strong metallic tang, spreading between their entangled lips and teeth, carrying a life-and-death bond that shook the soul.

In his oxygen-deprived stupor, Dominic sensed the warmth against his lips. His lashes trembled violently as he finally opened his eyes.

When he saw Penelope desperately giving him air, those crimson eyes surged with enough emotion to consume everything.

He wrapped an arm around Penelope's slender waist, crushing her against him, and used the current's force to kick toward the surface with all his might.

The two of them tumbled through the raging underground river like helpless leaves, swept forward by the brutal current.

After what felt like an eternity, a massive hidden whirlpool appeared ahead, sucking them both violently inside.

After a disorienting spin, Dominic and Penelope were thrust by the powerful current onto a shallow bank littered with stones.

"Are you trying to get yourself killed? Who told you to give me air down there? Do you realize we both could've died?"

The moment Dominic surfaced, he spat out several mouthfuls of foul river water before rounding on Penelope with an angry roar.

But his voice was clearly weak, his fury tinged with trembling exhaustion.

Penelope collapsed onto the rocky shore, soaking wet, her black tactical suit clinging to her body. Between violent coughs, she dragged a hand roughly across her face and glared at Dominic with reddened eyes.

"You saved my life. What I do with it isn't for you to decide. Even if you're going to hell, I'm dragging you back from the Grim Reaper myself!"

Her words were domineering, leaving no room for argument. Dominic froze completely.

His Adam's apple bobbed several times before he let out a low, hoarse laugh that rumbled through his chest.

"Good. That's the woman I chose."

Still speaking, Dominic struggled to fish a military-grade cold flare from the waterproof pocket of his tactical vest and twisted it open.

With a sharp hiss, a dazzling blue-white light instantly illuminated the vast, deep underground cavern.

Penelope used the flare's glow to scan their surroundings warily. Her gaze suddenly locked onto the massive stone wall directly ahead.

The warmth in her eyes vanished instantly, her blood seemingly freezing in that moment.

In the center of that moss-covered wall was carved an intricate, enormous totem.

A crimson phoenix.

It wasn't some native Aurelian symbol—it was the Hartwell family crest, passed down for over a century and known only to core family members.

"What the hell is this? Why is there an underground cavern with the Hartwell family crest carved into it hidden deep inside Preston's secret base?"

Penelope's voice trembled uncontrollably.

She stared at the wall, feeling as though she'd fallen into a terrifying black hole.

She suddenly remembered the yellowed map she'd found in Jonathan's study years ago.

The location circled in red had been right here.

Jonathan had known about this place all along.

Dominic shot to his feet, yanking her behind him.

Penelope smoothly slid the silver pistol—now low on ammunition—into her palm and aimed into the darkness ahead.

"Looks like Jonathan's been up to plenty behind your back that he didn't want you knowing about. This place is definitely hiding something big."

The cold flare flickered in the damp air.

The crimson phoenix on the wall seemed to come alive, silently watching these two battered intruders from above.