Lu Chen dropped into the upright shaft, and the water took him like a vat of liquid lead.
Freezing canal water clamped around Lu Chen’s skull, pressing against his ears with a relentless, crushing weight.
Twelve deep-water lengths.
Eighteen deep-water lengths.
Twenty-four deep-water lengths.
At this depth, the water-pressure load exceeded thirty pounds of pressure.
A mortal diver’s ribs would have buckled inward. It splintered into their chest around the lungs like brittle bamboo under a cart wheel.
Lu Chen’s chest didn’t yield.
