Rich Cat A Would Never Fall in Love with a Fake Heiress - Chapter 41

The moment the sensation of suspension ended, Mo Li’s head slammed heavily against the car’s roof. In the few seconds she lost mobility, blood gushed out, blurring her vision.

The vehicle’s warning system was blaring frantically. Perhaps in just a few more seconds, the car would completely lock down, trapping them with no chance of escape.

Though her mind was clear, her body refused to move. Mo Li distinctly felt the water rising past her knees.

Mo Wang coughed twice and straightened up from Mo Li’s abdomen. She leaned in first, examining Mo Li’s wounds with tense eyes.

“Can you hear me? How are you?”

The numbness throughout Mo Li’s body had slightly receded. She moved her fingers, her tongue so stiff it hardly felt like her own.

She drew a long breath of precious air.

Hearing her breathe, Mo Wang relaxed slightly and patted her shoulder.

In just that short time, the water had already reached their chests. The car let out one final mournful groan before all light vanished, the doors locked, and every indicator light shut off at once.

Looking through the window, all they could see was the deep blue darkness of the river swallowing the car, while the water level inside continued to rise.

At the last moment before the water submerged the window completely, Mo Wang twisted the handle and kicked the door.

The door didn’t budge.

“This should be the easiest time to open it. What a shame.”

Undaunted, Mo Wang pulled open the pull-out storage compartment beneath her feet and retrieved a safety hammer.

“Get ready to swim out. If you can’t swim, hold your breath now, I’ll get you out.”

She decisively smashed the window beside her. The glass shattered, and water rushed in instantly. Mo Li only had time for a short gasp before the incoming river water swallowed her.

Her eyes stung from the icy water, and the car beneath her feet wobbled unsteadily, accelerating its descent into the deeper depths.

Mo Li forced her eyes open. Mo Wang was busy knocking away the remaining shards of glass.

Once the window was just wide enough for a person to pass through, she signaled to Mo Li, gripped the window frame, and kicked her way out of the car.

Mo Wang didn’t let go. Instead, she turned back, holding onto the car handle, and reached out her hand to Mo Li.

Mo Li grasped Mo Wang’s wrist, but the airbag, buoyed by the water, swelled stubbornly in front of the passenger seat. The white, semi-transparent nanomaterial seemed like the most impenetrable barrier in the world, no matter how hard Mo Li pushed, it wouldn’t yield an inch.

Oxygen running out, Mo Li fought the overwhelming urge to breathe, squinting through the water.

Mo Wang wasn’t strong enough, but she clung tightly to Mo Li’s hand. Light from the river’s surface filtered through her floating hair, illuminating her grave, determined expression.

They couldn’t afford to wait any longer.

Mo Li didn’t consider herself selfless, she didn’t want to die alone at the bottom of the river.

If possible, she truly wished Mo Wang could stay with her.

With effort, Mo Li pulled her hand back.

But Mo Wang refused to release her. Reacting swiftly, she used the momentum to pull herself back into the car.

She grabbed the safety hammer that had fallen inside and struck the airbag with its sharpest edge. Struggling to find leverage in the water, she tried several times but couldn’t make even a scratch.

Then she picked up a shard of broken window glass and slashed at the airbag.

The pale, semi-transparent bag finally burst with a loud pop, releasing a large bubble before defiling completely.

Mo Li’s withdrawn hand was seized once more. Summoning her strength, she followed Mo Wang, swimming desperately out through the car window.

The shards of glass from the car window cut into her legs, but the pain sharpened her oxygen-deprived consciousness a little more.

Her lungs were nearly collapsed, screaming in agony as if begging for mercy. The waterlogged clothes felt heavy, dragging her deeper into the abyss.

Mo Li looked up, sunlight filtered through the silt in the river, casting a warm glow into her vision.

Just a little higher, and she could breathe.

Mo Li kicked her legs with all her might, pulling Mo Wang upward as she swam with desperate strength. The power an Alpha could unleash in dire situations was absolute, in just a few strokes, she had closed a surprising distance.

But then a resisting force tugged at her forearm. Suppressing her desperate craving for air, she whipped her head around.

Mo Wang, lips sealed, shook her head at Mo Li, gripping her arm tightly and pulling her downward.

Behind her lay the pitch-black riverbed.

Mo Li had never learned to swim. With only one last breath left in her lungs, she was already at her limit.

Fighting the instinct to break free, she took one last look at the warm, bright surface of the water, then kicked her legs toward Mo Wang.

As soon as she drew near, Mo Wang’s lips met hers, and a faint stream of oxygen passed between them.

Mo Li’s eyes widened as she realized Mo Wang was helping her sustain her breath.

Mo Wang was calmer, better at conserving air, clearly, she had practiced holding her breath.

But that small amount of air was like a drop in the bucket. In the prolonged suffocation, Mo Li choked on a mouthful of water. It flooded uncontrollably into her nasal passages and airways, her lungs burning as if sliced by knives.

Suddenly, Mo Wang released her hand, her gaze cold and serious, like a beautiful yet deadly water spirit.

Mo Li struggled in agony a few more times before her vision plunged completely into darkness.

…

When Mo Li regained consciousness, every part of her body ached.

But her clothes were soft and dry, and she lay on a gently swaying cushion, as if in a moving vehicle.

Right, she and Mo Wang had been forced off the bridge and trapped in the water.

Her eyes snapped open as she sat up abruptly, startling the person beside her.

“So energetic?”

It was Lin Qianying.

The cuts on her legs from the broken glass had been carefully bandaged, with only a faint, throbbing pain reminding her of what had happened.

Only the driver and Lin Qianying were in the car. The driver focused intently on the road, while Lin Qianying leisurely sipped tea from a thermos.

Mo Li turned sharply, her voice urgent. “Where’s Mo Wang? Did you pull me out?”

“As much as I’d love to spin a heroic rescue story, I’m afraid I’d end up like the princess in The Little Mermaid.”

Lin Qianying half-joked, but when Mo Li leaned in, earnest and anxious, her expression turned serious.

“I didn’t go into the water to save you. A passerby recognized you and called my company. By the time we arrived, you were already lying on the riverbank.” Lin Qianying recalled carefully.

“After all, you are my publicly known fiancée.”

She lowered her eyes. “You were lying on your side, no obstructions in your nose or mouth, breathing smoothly. All necessary first aid had been administered.”

“We just had to bring you back.”

Mo Li didn’t look away. She was waiting for the answer to the most crucial question.

“You two are really nauseatingly sweet,” Lin Qianying said with a click of her tongue. “I didn’t see Mo Wang, not even a shadow of her, but I have a feeling we’ll run into her soon.”

“How so?” Mo Li coughed twice, suddenly struck by a thought. Her eyes turned wary. “Why are you here? Did you release Luo Licheng?”

Lin Qianying blinked, feigning innocence. “Why does everyone always assume I’m behind every bad thing that happens?”

“Would I release Luo Licheng and give Luo Liming an advantage?” She curved her lips into a smile, poured more hot tea into the lid of her thermos, blew lightly on the steam, and took a delicate sip.

“Wishful thinking.”

Mo Li accurately grasped the implication behind her words. “Are you saying Luo Liming wants Luo Licheng out of prison? How could that be? He went to great lengths to put Luo Licheng away.”

“A person who has lived for years with revenge as their sole purpose suddenly achieves it, only to realize that in the process, they’ve become disconnected from society. They have nothing left, no skills, no way to return to their former life or identity.”

“Tell me,” Lin Qianying countered with a smile. “What would such a person do?”

Mo Li relaxed into her seat, leaning back without answering.

She knew there were only two choices: either abandon everything and start over, disappearing into obscurity, or continue the cycle of revenge, seizing everything the enemy possessed, following every clue relentlessly, even to the point of killing the enemy with their own hands.

Even if revenge brought momentary satisfaction, the cycle of vengeance would never truly end. And it wasn’t just Luo Licheng and Luo Liming trapped in this cycle.

Mo Li gazed out the window as the continuous stretch of trees blurred past. They were speeding along the river, heading into the wilderness downstream.