Xia Chuan was so startled by these words that for a moment he thought he must be hallucinating from hunger and exhaustion after a full day. "What?!"

Shen Lan was holding two pieces of Boavus meat in his hands, looking not at all like he was having a serious conversation, but he solemnly repeated what he had just said: "I said I never intended to leave this place at all."

"Never intended to leave?" To Xia Chuan, nothing he had encountered here was more surprising than these words from Shen Lan.

Xia Chuan had gleaned many things from Shen Lan's actions and words—

He had lived here for a very long time, two or three years or even longer; he had sufficient skills and abilities to deal with the various bizarre creatures in this hellish place; he had been in the military or a similar place before, and so on...

Xia Chuan had always thought that the reason Shen Lan had not been able to get out of this place was because he had not found any clues to the exit, after all, he did not have Dennis's all-purpose oscilloscope in his hands, and he had forgotten so many things, making it very difficult to find a breakthrough.

But it had never occurred to him that Shen Lan had no intention of leaving at all...

This was not something a normal person would think, it was simply too unconventional.

However, on second thought, Shen Lan was indeed not a normal person. The reason why ordinary people do not want to live in such a place is nothing more than danger, inadaptability, lack of their own kind, and lack of a sense of belonging.

But Shen Lan was different. With his strength, there was no danger at all here. When he turned back into a Mosasaurus, he was at the top of the food chain in the sea, and nothing could pose a threat to him. Eating and drinking freely, of course, there would be no situation of inadaptability. As for his own kind and sense of belonging...

To be honest, Xia Chuan felt that even in human form, Shen Lan's way of thinking and behavior always carried a bit of an animal feel in some aspects. Let alone when he turned back into a Mosasaurus...

Mosasaurs had a terrifyingly strong sense of territory, typical lone rangers, not tolerating any rivals in their domain. It was said that the biggest natural enemy of young Mosasaurs was adult Mosasaurs. How could one expect them to have a sense of belonging with their own kind?

Hehe...

If this was really the case, Xia Chuan could understand why Shen Lan looked so calm when he heard about the purpose of Dennis's oscilloscope, with an attitude of "it has nothing to do with me, I'm just listening casually", and even followed up with: "I told you to go into the woods early on, but you wouldn't listen."

This was clearly a tone that excluded himself.

And when Xia Chuan had said "don't turn back next time" just now, the strange look that flashed across Shen Lan's face for a moment... It clearly meant that he had no intention of going far with them in the first place, and there was no such thing as "next time".

Seeing it this way, his turning back to retrieve the ammonite and Plesiosaurus was indeed because "my friends are leaving, I'm here to give them some local specialties".

Xia Chuan: "..."

"Since you never intended to leave this place at all, why did you follow us this far?" Xia Chuan thought for a moment and couldn't help asking.

Shen Lan blinked, switched the piece of meat in his left hand to his right, and held up one finger to Xia Chuan: "It's a novelty to meet people, only happened once every few years."

Xia Chuan: "..."

Shen Lan held up a second finger: "The aura on your body is very special, it makes me feel very comfortable."

Xia Chuan: "..."

Shen Lan held up a third finger: "Sending you out early will put my mind at ease."

"Huh?" Xia Chuan didn't understand what he meant by this for a moment, at least it didn't sound like concern.

Sure enough, he heard Shen Lan explain: "As you've seen, you have some impact on this place."

Xia Chuan immediately thought of the scene in the forest where they chanted "caterpillar, caterpillar", and the fact that Professor Linton's wish came true. Combined with Shen Lan's words now... It turned out that the overlord just disliked them for affecting the development here and wanted to send them out as soon as possible?

"Why does it have this kind of impact?" Xia Chuan asked.

Shen Lan shrugged: "I'm not sure about that, I only know the result, not the cause."

Since he put it so bluntly, Xia Chuan had nothing more to ask. The two didn't say anything else, but just sped up the processing of their dinner. Soon, the two called Dennis over to help move all the butchered meat to the edge of the fire pit, then went to the bushes to break off a bunch of branches, skewered the meat, and roasted it over the fire.

There was too much meat, and roasting it over one fire pit was a bit slow. Xia Chuan had originally set up this medium-sized fire pit with safety in mind, to avoid attracting things that were not afraid of fire.

Now with Shen Lan here, the safety level had suddenly risen several notches, and Xia Chuan was not so cautious anymore. He simply set up a few more fire pits with Shen Lan and divided the meat into piles to roast.

After roasting for a while, the meat on the sticks began to sizzle and ooze oil, and the four of them turned the sticks in a timely manner to allow the roasted oil to fully coat the entire piece of meat. The aroma of the seared meat slowly wafted out...

They had been hurrying on their way, highly focused, and had not had time to fill their stomachs. Now, smelling the aroma, they suddenly realized that they had been hungry for a whole day, and this was their first meal.

When one is starving, everything looks delicious, and it feels like swallowing a whole cow would be no problem. Professor Linton and Dennis, and even Xia Chuan, all felt at that moment that Shen Lan was simply too wise, and the amount of meat he had prepared was just right. Any less and it might not have been enough to share.

The four men of different ages were not very particular about eating when they were hungry. After starving for so long, they could swallow dinosaur meat without hesitation. Without salt, sugar or sauce, it could still rival the delicacies of the human world, let alone the ammonite, which was fresh, fragrant, and had a slightly crispy texture...

Even Xia Chuan, at that moment, temporarily put aside what he had talked about with Shen Lan by the river.

Of course, even if Xia Chuan and the others were starving, they were still normal people. In the end, they didn't really sweep away all the meat like they had imagined. In fact, they each only ate one piece of Pyroraptor meat, one piece of Plesiosaurus meat, and shared a bit of ammonite.

And Shen Lan, who was obviously not normal, single-handedly polished off two Pyroraptors, one Plesiosaurus, half a ammonite, and a whole Boavus.

Professor Linton: "..."

At this point, having fully witnessed Shen Lan's skills, strength, speed, and appetite, the old man would have to be crazy not to see that there was something wrong with him!

Although he noticed, he was not the type of person who spoke without thinking like Dennis. He looked around at the other two companions and found that although their expressions were also surprised, they were not to the point of being disbelieving, just a little bit.

He had a rough idea in his mind - Dennis and Xia Chuan should both know about the peculiarities of Shen Lan. Dennis didn't say anything, and Xia Chuan must be a person with enough vigilance. He knew the peculiarities of Shen Lan but didn't show too much guard, which meant there was nothing to worry about.

Except for his own research and his Tyrannosaurus, the old man kept his curiosity about other things within an absolutely moderate range. He immediately put away his surprise, stood up and silently moved his old arms and legs, no longer staring at Shen Lan.

After finishing the last piece of giant snake meat, Shen Lan swept around with some regret and said, "No more?"

"...You're still not full?!" Dennis was really shocked this time.

Shen Lan gave Dennis a look of "what the hell are you looking at", moved his neck, making two "click" sounds, and said reluctantly, "It's okay, almost."

Dennis: "..."

Xia Chuan said bluntly: "...Glutton."

This time Professor Linton and Dennis looked at him with admiration, probably not expecting that he dared to say that to Shen Lan.

Shen Lan was not angry either, but looked as if it was a matter of course, and said, "Thirty tons, isn't it normal to eat these?"

Xia Chuan: "..."

Everyone was tired for a whole day, and now they finally found a relatively safe place to rest. They were extremely satisfied, and after eating, they were a little lazy to move. Sleepiness came in waves...

Of course, this mainly refers to Dennis and Professor Linton. As for Xia Chuan, he was still thinking about washing the blood off his body, and Linton and Dennis could sleep, but he couldn't sleep too, after all, he was the main fighting force.

Thinking about these things from time to time, Xia Chuan said, "I'll go and have a look." Then he got up and walked towards the shallow river.

Earlier, when it was not completely dark, he had carefully looked at it. There was nothing special in the river, and a few fish were all caught by him, and there was nothing left. He went around to a half-man-high grass growing along the water, intending to clean up.

As a result, as soon as he finished unbuttoning his shirt, Shen Lan's voice sounded behind him: "This kind of wetland depression is not suitable for bathing at night."

Xia Chuan: "...Why?"

"Not safe." Shen Lan replied.

Xia Chuan thought that the living things that could be seen in the water had been taken out, and the danger Shen Lan said probably meant that nocturnal animals might appear around.

His hand that was unbuttoning the buttons paused for a moment, and he said to Shen Lan, "It's okay, aren't you still here?"

It shouldn't take Shen Lan more than a few minutes to deal with general nocturnal animals, right?

Hearing what he said, Shen Lan shrugged, obviously agreeing with his statement. He didn't stop him anymore, gestured to Xia Chuan to "continue", then turned around and sat down somewhere on the shore, proving with his actions that when encountering threats, he could help Xia Chuan.

As for the bonfire over there, he could ensure safety just by watching from a distance.

By the bonfire, Professor Linton and Dennis were sitting against tree trunks, chatting casually. Dennis started fiddling with his oscilloscope again, and Professor Linton would look at it from time to time.

There were still two waveforms on the oscilloscope interface, and the stability had changed, but no new, more obvious signals appeared.

Dennis fine-tuned the knob and muttered, "It would be nice if we could get to the end as soon as possible..."

In the shallow river, Xia Chuan finally got his wish and soaked himself in the water. The blood-stained shirt on his body could not be washed clean without a trace for the time being. He simply washed off the bloody smell and didn't bother anymore, but carefully washed the blood on his body.

Although it was a shallow river, it could be over the chest, which was just right for Xia Chuan. Any shorter and it would be suffocating.

Under his feet was soft mud, not sticky, so it was still bearable.

However, a moment later, he felt something was wrong -

In the soft mud under his feet, something was clearly digging out.

Xia Chuan's reaction was always very fast. The moment he felt the movement, he had already lifted his foot, but people in the water would always be affected by the water pressure and current, which reduced the speed of movement a little.

The thing in the water was also powerful. With just this slight reduction, it couldn't avoid its attack. Xia Chuan only felt a piercing pain in the sole of his left foot, ankle, and the lower part of his right calf. Then, a numbness spread throughout his body in an instant, and his legs lost their support and cramped painfully.