Xia Chuan naturally wouldn't let Shen Lan down regarding his confidence in his skills. A single Pyroraptor was not much of a challenge for him. Although it wasn't as effortless as it was for Shen Lan, he definitely wouldn't be overwhelmed.

Judging from its physique, the Pyroraptor was clearly built for speed, and it caught up to Xia Chuan and the other two with ease. Xia Chuan was on high alert, escaping with a weak and an old man in this hellish place required him to be vigilant at all times.

So he heard something approaching from behind long ago, and immediately realized that a Pyroraptor had escaped Shen Lan's containment. He quickly said in a low voice, "It's coming! Dennis, give me a hand!"

As he spoke, he abruptly stopped, shoved Professor Linton from his back into Dennis's arms, and smoothly drew out the military dagger from the sheath at his waist, flipping it at his fingertips and gripping it steadily in his palm.

"Get out of the way!" He pushed Dennis and Professor Linton to the side.

The Pyroraptor that had already caught up let out a roar, baring its upper and lower rows of sharp teeth as it pounced over, its dark red body blurring into a shadow in that instant, so fast that it was almost impossible to see clearly.

But it was fast, and Xia Chuan's reaction was equally swift.

He bent his knees, lowered his head and body, while changing his grip on the dagger, grasping the hilt with both hands in the most forceful grip. He stabbed directly into where the Pyroraptor's neck and chest connected, and with the momentum of its pounce, he sliced all the way down to its lower abdomen.

Instantly, blood spurted out from the huge wound. Xia Chuan rolled to the side on the spot, dodging the heavily falling body of the dinosaur.

Even so, he didn't let his guard down, and immediately flipped up, maintaining the utmost vigilance as he watched the fallen dinosaur.

It had to be said, dinosaurs of this small to medium size were both difficult and easy to deal with—

Difficult in that they were fast and liked to attack in groups; easy in that the flesh of these dinosaurs was much thinner and softer than those towering behemoths, at least with the length of Xia Chuan's military dagger, he could strike the vitals.

The Pyroraptor struggled on the ground with shrill cries for quite a while, snapping a patch of shrubs, shattering a tree fern, its sharp claws grazing past Professor Linton's belly, nearly disemboweling him as well, before it gradually weakened and its breath faded...

Only when it was completely still did Xia Chuan walk over with his dagger in hand. He examined it thoroughly, confirming that the dinosaur was truly dead, before saying to Professor Linton and Dennis, "Let's go." With that, he flicked his dagger, leaving a trail of blood on the ground.

Dennis saw that his face didn't look too good, even colder than usual, and thought he had been injured somewhere by the Pyroraptor in that instant. He couldn't help but ask with concern, "Chuan, are you hu—"

Before he could finish saying "hurt", he saw Xia Chuan looking down at his own shirt with disgust, and immediately understood the reason for his stern face—

Half of Xia Chuan's shirt was stained red with blood, and naturally his pants didn't escape either. The blood-soaked parts stuck to his arms and legs, which probably didn't feel too good.

He watched as Xia Chuan expressionlessly wiped his face with the back of his hand, then slightly lowered his head to sniff his dinosaur blood-soaked clothes, and instantly had an indescribable look on his face... Dennis almost wanted to swear to the heavens that in that moment, he definitely captured a certain emotion called "wishing he was dead" on Xia Chuan's face.

Having known Xia Chuan for three years, Dennis was quite clear about some of his quirks, for example— When Xia Chuan took action, he was neat and thorough, without any extra thoughts, simply stable, accurate and ruthless.

However, after taking action, when the crisis was resolved or the mission was completed, his picky and particular quirks would surface.

Based on Dennis's understanding of Xia Chuan, he felt that Xia Chuan must have a feeling of "damn it, I reek" in his heart right now, and the urge to find a place to wash up would be incredibly strong.

Sure enough, he saw that Xia Chuan, who had just fought a dinosaur, showed no signs of wanting to rest. He picked up Professor Linton with a stern face and walked towards the northwest, his pace even faster than when they were escaping earlier, as if he "wished he could fly directly out of the dense forest, jump into a river and never come up again".

Perhaps it was because the territory occupied by the group of Pyroraptors was quite large, or perhaps it was because the smell of Pyroraptors on the three of them, especially Xia Chuan, was too strong. They hurried for a long stretch without any disturbances. Except for some poisonous insects and two highly nearsighted snakes, they didn't encounter any more opponents.

It was so smooth that even they were a bit surprised.

The light leaking through the branches had shifted positions unnoticeably, and the sun was slanting heavily to the west. It was estimated that in a while, the sky would begin to darken.

"There are also dinosaurs that are active at night..." Professor Linton glanced at the sky and muttered.

He had already gotten off Xia Chuan's back. Even if one of his feet was lame due to injury, he really couldn't bear to let someone carry him and run for an entire afternoon. So he broke a thick wooden branch on the way to use as a makeshift crutch, occasionally getting down to walk for a bit to let Xia Chuan and Dennis catch their breath.

"Judging from the density of the trees and the growth of the plants on this stretch of the path, we shouldn't be far from getting out." The professor casually pointed ahead, "If we haven't deviated too much from the direction along the way, and if we're lucky, we should be able to see the wetlands before dark."

Of course, being in the right general direction didn't mean they could go to the area where Professor Linton had fallen unconscious. Although according to Professor Linton, that area was relatively safe, otherwise he would have been eaten by some carnivorous creature long ago if he had passed out there for half a day.

Hearing what the professor said, Dennis wanted to take out the "universal oscilloscope" from his backpack to take a look, but he was afraid that if something blocked their way halfway, not only would he fail to take the measurement, but the precious instrument might also be dropped or lost, which would be a huge loss. So he hesitated for a moment, but in the end, he just hugged the backpack on his chest a little tighter.

Xia Chuan, as always, gave a light "hmm" to indicate that he was listening. He and the professor had similar judgments, also feeling that this forest was about to come to an end, but they didn't know what would be waiting for them ahead...

He was now in a state of doing three things at once, thinking about how to respond if an emergency situation occurred, paying attention to the subtle movements around him, and at the same time, he was also calculating the distance, picking a tall tree every segment of the road to make two marks with a dagger - because Shen Lan hadn't caught up yet.

Xia Chuan was very concerned about this point. After all, with Shen Lan's skills, dealing with the remaining Pyroraptors would be more than enough, and it shouldn't take too long. But roughly estimating, at least more than three hours had passed, yet he still hadn't come over, which was really a bit strange.

Did he encounter some difficult opponents along the way?

Xia Chuan decisively threw this thought out. With Shen Lan's capabilities, this kind of situation was absolutely impossible.

"Did our Big Thigh* become uninterested again this time, solving a wave of monsters and then clapping his hands to go home?" Dennis couldn't help but speculate.

*T/N: Hugging a big thigh means to hold onto someone more powerful to get their support

Xia Chuan: "..."

Although he was speechless, he also felt that this possibility was more likely in his heart, but guessing was guessing. He still made marks along the way.

And soon, they saw the end of this forest.