[{"content_id":632,"novel_id":16,"chapter_no":1,"chapter_title":"Chapter 1","content":"

32°20′ North, 64°45′ West, Bermuda Triangle, midsummer.

About two hundred kilometers above the surface of the sea near the Bahamas, a disaster was raging--

The surging seawater was sucked up to thousands of meters high by the fierce winds, connecting with the dark, wave-like cumulonimbus clouds. It was like a sea dragon rising straight into the clouds, twisting and rotating as it moved through the sea. Everywhere it passed was a mess, with countless fish that couldn't escape in time being wrapped up and rolled into the sky, even including a ship with too small tonnage and not enough grip.

Such waterspouts are not uncommon in summer, but it's troublesome when they occur in the Bermuda Triangle, especially when four waterspouts appear in succession...

More than a hundred meters deep underwater, Xia Chuan's hands and feet, submerged in the sea, had already begun to go numb, as if drunk and out of control of the brain, with buzzing sounds in his chest.

Xia Chuan was no stranger to this state. When diving to a certain depth in the sea, this kind of \"anesthetic\" reaction will occur. And he had more than once, without any breathing apparatus, relying on a single breath, dived to nearly a hundred meters underwater and returned safely.

But this time, his past diving experience was of no help to him at all...

Because the sea area he was in was really too strange.

Just ten minutes ago, he was still safely on a cruise ship. In the blink of an eye, the cruise ship was pushed into this strange area at an extremely fast speed by four waterspouts.

The color of the seawater in this area was obviously darker than the surroundings, gloomy, with an indescribable aura of death. Even the waterspouts raging on the surface strangely bypassed it.

At that time, a blond man had been staying beside Xia Chuan, who was still on the cruise ship. He was Xia Chuan's mission focus this time - an important researcher of Wes Company, Dennis Perry.

He was about the same age as Xia Chuan, and looked quite handsome and energetic. But when the waterspouts appeared, he grabbed Xia Chuan's arm and howled like a pig being slaughtered, as if his screams could be heard eight miles away, almost howling for the whole ship's share.

Xia Chuan was very disgusted. Unable to find anything suitable to block his mouth, he could only look out the window with a cold face and let him shout.

It wasn't until the four sky-reaching water columns finally left the cruise ship and twisted away that the embarrassing guy let Xia Chuan's ears off and sighed, \"Thank God they're finally gone!\"

Most of the people on the ship, like him, thought they were temporarily safe. Only Xia Chuan, who was close to the window, saw the obvious boundary line between the light and dark circles on the sea surface, and his heart inexplicably thumped.

As if in response to his uneasiness, after only a dozen seconds or so, there was another commotion on the ship, because one after another people found that the seawater had silently submerged the windows in an instant--

After falling into that area, the cruise ship sank straight into the sea, like throwing a stone into a shallow pool, without even making a splash, it just sank like that.

The ship immediately exploded. No one was willing to be trapped inside and sink with the ship, especially since the ship was sinking too fast. As soon as people started to move, the surging seawater had already poured in.

In an instant, no one paid attention to the escape arrangements of the captain and crew anymore. The instinct for survival prompted them to rush towards the exit like crazy.

Xia Chuan picked up Dennis and even pulled out two more people who were stuck.

But when they broke free from the cruise ship, they encountered an even more helpless situation - they couldn't float at all in this strange sea area.

Those who could swim and those that couldn't, like the heavy-tonnage cruise ship, sank straight into the deeper sea. All struggles were in vain, except for increasing the consumption of oxygen, they were of no use.

It was as if the buoyancy of this sea area had been removed by someone...

Xia Chuan had been sinking in such a sea for more than two minutes, which was different from free diving without breathing apparatus.

Free diving at least had a diving suit, but he entered the water in a shirt and trousers, without any preparation, and Dennis, who was almost the same size as him, was still hanging on his right leg. This guy's skills in pulling arms and hugging legs were first-class in terms of agility.

Even with Xia Chuan's experience, he was powerless under such circumstances.

There will always be a time when oxygen is exhausted, but the deep sea seems to be endless...

The feeling of suffocation was worse than death, but his hands and feet were so heavy that he couldn't even struggle to lift them.

In a daze, Xia Chuan saw a large cluster of bubbles gushing towards him from the Shen Lan depths, accompanied by an extremely severe headache, tearing at him until his vision went black, and then he completely lost consciousness.

It is said that before a person dies, all the things and people experienced from childhood to adulthood, remembered and not remembered, will emerge from the depths of the mind and replay life in a very short time.

This statement is probably nonsense.

Xia Chuan had lived for twenty-eight years, not long but not too short either. Even if he had always been cold and didn't get along with people much, and his main activity in the past six or seven years was licking blood on the knife's edge, there should still be some moments worth recalling before his death.

But the fact is just that.

He only dreamed that he was standing on a water surface, swaying, as if his legs were not strong and he couldn't stand steadily no matter what.

The ripples under his feet made people dizzy, and it was easy to lose balance and fall in headfirst if he wasn't careful.

He saw the ripples spreading out in circles, and then one pale face after another slowly surfaced from the depths.

The features of those people appeared distorted and blurred due to the ripples, but the Xia Chuan in the dream always felt that they looked a bit familiar. He narrowed his eyes and leaned closer to the water surface, wanting to see them clearly, but they always disappeared when they were still a short distance from the surface.

This scene appeared over and over again many times.

The closer Xia Chuan got to the water surface, the farther away those faces were, always separated by a layer, and he could never see clearly...

If this is the last scene seen before death, then God is probably deliberately messing with people with obsessive-compulsive disorder, not even letting them die in peace.

The Xia Chuan in the dream finally couldn't help frowning, no longer having the patience to endlessly wait. When the face appeared again, he directly leaned over and reached out to fish in the water.

As a result, his five fingers were entangled by something cold and slippery underwater. That thing had a shockingly powerful force. With a fierce tug, Xia Chuan lost his balance and fell into the water.

In that instant of falling, his heart jolted. He instinctively took a deep breath, inhaling a big mouthful of bitter and salty water, coughing so hard his heart and lungs hurt.

With that cough, the deep, swaying water surface and pale, cold face in the dream completely disappeared. Replacing it was a rustling sound by his ears, gradually changing from fuzzy to clear, accompanied by the buzzing tinnitus brought by the violent coughing, and the drum-like heartbeat, which was quite noisy.

Among it were the sounds of water, wind, the swishing of branches and leaves rubbing, sharp bird calls, and even...something similar to an elephant's trumpeting?!

The more Xia Chuan listened, the more he felt something was off. After coughing for a while, he finally tried to open his eyes.

The dazzling sunlight made his eyes sore and swollen. He couldn't help frowning, raising his still somewhat heavy hand to shield for a while before slowly adapting.

In his eyes was a vast expanse of blue sky without any obstruction. There were a few slightly larger birds circling high above, but they were too far away, only silhouettes could be seen, unable to tell if they were seagulls or something else...

Xia Chuan squinted, staring at those few seabirds in the high distance for a good while. His heart suddenly let out a sigh of relief - it seemed he really had great luck, to still have the chance to open his eyes again in that kind of situation.

The place he was lying on was very hard, with a few protruding edges, making his flesh numb and prickly with pain. It was probably a reef rock near the shore.

Enduring the soreness all over his body, Xia Chuan frowned and wanted to sit up, but felt something heavy pressing on his legs, making half his body almost numb.

Xia Chuan: \"...\"

Thinking of the previous scene in the sea, he twitched the corner of his mouth and raised his upper body to take a look - sure enough, that guy who had been clinging to him like a life-saving straw since falling into the water was still hanging onto his legs.

Only, his clothes were somehow torn into several strips, crumpled and sticking to his body, with patches of mottled salt stains. Coupled with his posture of hanging on the reef like a dead dog, he simply looked like a piece of salted meat being air-dried, so unsightly one couldn't bear to look a second time.

Xia Chuan was about to pull his legs out from under Dennis when he felt that 6-foot piece of salted meat move. It then hugged his legs and let out an earth-shattering cough, spitting out a mouthful of seawater it had choked on.

Xia Chuan: \"...\"

He glanced expressionlessly at that small puddle of water and without hesitation pulled back his legs. Salted meat Dennis was flipped over, sprawled spread-eagle on the reef, gasping for air.

The two rested on the reef for a good while before fully recovering.

\"Are you okay, Chuan? Weren't we sinking into the deep sea before? How come we're lying here now? Could a rescue team have arrived? Then where are they... This is really strange, is this still the Bermuda?\" Dennis started spitting out questions like popcorn as soon as he had energy. He sat up and looked around as he asked, \"Why do I feel like...something's not right?\"

Xia Chuan's head hurt from his string of questions. He simply ignored all the previous ones and only responded to the last sentence: \"Indeed not right.\"

They didn't know how long they had been drying on this reef. Xia Chuan's shirt was already mostly dry, just like Dennis's, with a few patches of salt stains.

As he answered, he was frowning and rolling up his shirt sleeves to his elbows. He didn't even lift his eyelids, let alone raise his head to scan their surroundings. His tone was also flat, as if he was too lazy to exert any effort, and the timbre a bit cold. In this kind of situation, coupled with the content of his words, it made the hairs on the back of Dennis's neck stand up with a \"swish\".

He looked in the direction Xia Chuan pointed, and indeed saw that the color of that stretch of seawater was a bit strange, as if some sea beast was lurking about a dozen meters below the surface.

But if all the oddly colored areas were that thing, then it was too...big...

Dennis silently swallowed, rigidly staring at that expanse of sea, not daring to noisily spout anymore, afraid of startling that thing.

But just because he behaved didn't mean the other party would too.

After a few seconds, he watched with his own eyes as that shadow moved, getting deeper and deeper, closer and closer to the surface...

Soon, with a \"splash\" of water, that behemoth completely surfaced, less than 5 meters away from the reef the two were on.

Dennis's eyes nearly crossed, his whole appearance that of being unable to breathe.

Xia Chuan's face was cold. While staring at that behemoth, he inconspicuously raised his hand and placed it on Dennis's wrist, seeming ready to take action at any time.

He didn't know if it was his misconception or what, but he always felt that sea beast's chilling eyes seemed to hold a strange meaning...

Dennis trembled a bit at his touch. His nearly rolled back eyes finally returned to their normal position and clearly saw the sea beast's appearance.

But with this look, he shuddered again.

Xia Chuan frowned: \"...What are you shaking for?\"

As a result, he saw Dennis shrink back, stiffen his neck and say to him in an extremely soft voice: \"...Why do I feel this sea beast looks a bit like a Plesiosaurus?\"

Xia Chuan: \"...\"

Before he could speak, Dennis dry laughed a couple times to negate himself: \"No no no, I must have stayed too long in the lab before, or haven't recovered from nearly drowning. After all, Plesiosaurs are creatures from the Cretaceous period, long extinct along with the dinosaurs. How could they appear here, heh heh heh heh-\"

His string of \"hehe\" hadn't finished yet when a sound similar to an elephant's trumpet came from a distance, the same as what Xia Chuan heard when he was half-awake.

Xia Chuan glanced at the huge creature floating on the sea surface. Seeing that it was temporarily motionless, he looked diagonally behind him in the direction of the \"elephant trumpet\" - about a hundred meters away from them, the seawater ended, and after a narrow beach, there was a vast and boundless dense forest.

The \"elephant trumpet\" came from that dense forest, but the forest was too dense. Looking from afar, apart from the wave-like branches and leaves, nothing else could be seen.

The two frowned. Just as they were about to turn their heads back to continue staring at the huge creature in the sea, they saw the trees on the edge of the dense forest shake a few times.

Then, a huge head poked out from the forest, a little taller than many trees. Its appearance was almost no different from the dinosaurs commonly seen in movies and TV shows. If one had to pick a difference, it would probably be that the one in the forest looked even more ferocious and frightening...

Dennis froze like a stuck tape, and after a long time, his neck stiffly turned and he looked at the sea beast in the sea, whose shape and size were very similar to a mosasaurus. After being dazed for a while, he finally rolled his eyes, let out a howl, and completely passed out.

Five meters away, the mosasaurus, which was quietly floating on the sea surface staring at him, silently opened its mouth and stuck out a forked tongue like a snake. The rows of white, sharp teeth could pierce a person through, and it was clear that it was not playing around!

Xia Chuan: \"...\"

","published_time":"2024-05-12T00:00:00.000Z","paid":false,"show_flag":true,"show_scheduled_time":"2024-05-12T00:00:00.000Z","unpaid_scheduled_time":"2024-05-12T00:00:00.000Z"},{"content_id":633,"novel_id":16,"chapter_no":2,"chapter_title":"Chapter 2","content":"

Everything before his eyes was so absurd that it felt like a dream. Either the heavens had gone mad or he had gone mad; one of them must be mentally ill.

But whether it was his vision, hearing, or touch, everything felt so real that not a single flaw could be found. Even if it was a dream, it still made people tense and instinctively want to struggle to escape.

However, Xia Chuan had always had a strong adaptability and acceptance. Regardless of whether it was real or fake, avoiding becoming lunch for this behemoth was the top priority. So he was only stunned for less than a second before quickly collecting his thoughts.

But for someone who ran around everywhere after accepting a mission, and rarely had free time except to disassemble and assemble guns or collect cold weapons to play with, expecting him to study prehistoric creatures like dinosaurs was simply a pipe dream.

Xia Chuan's entire knowledge of the huge creature in front of him was limited to one sentence - this guy was the overlord of the deep sea in the Cretaceous period and had no natural enemies after reaching adulthood.

He had long forgotten where he had gleaned this knowledge from, let alone being able to uproot more information. But even with just this one sentence, it was enough for him to realize how dangerous the current situation was.

Before the mosasaurus surfaced from the water, Xia Chuan had already silently adjusted his posture. At this moment, he had one knee pressed against a protrusion on the reef, his feet storing strength, muscles tense, ready to spring up for attack or evasion at any time.

His right hand was still on Dennis's wrist without letting go, but his left hand was behind his back, fingertips grasping an inconspicuous-looking gun.

This was an SPP-1M, a Russian underwater gun.

Xia Chuan had previously kept it hidden close to his left ankle, concealed under the relatively loose trouser leg of his suit, making it difficult to notice.

He had originally kept it just in case, but who knew that after a deep-sea struggle for survival, it would become the only weapon he could use.

Fortunately, it was this SPP-1M that was left. If it were any other firearm, after soaking in the sea for so long, it would have exploded.

Just now, when he finished rolling up his shirt cuffs, as the huge shadow of the mosasaurus gradually surfaced, he had taken out this gun from his lower leg. The critical thing was... the magazine hidden at his waist had disappeared.

Xia Chuan maintained this posture and silently confronted the huge mosasaurus in front of him, not daring to make any extra movements. However, his heart was rapidly calculating the possibility and route of escaping from the mosasaurus's jaws and leaving this reef-

There was one arrow-shaped bullet in each of the SPP-1M's four barrels. With the magazine lost, these four bullets became the only treasures left. Firing one shot meant one less.

However... this type of bullet had strong attack power and penetration underwater, but its trajectory in the air was not very stable, and its effective range was only twenty meters. Faced with a behemoth like a mosasaurus, its effect was really quite limited.

\"It should still be barely enough to save the day, every second counts...\"

Just as this conclusion emerged from Xia Chuan's mind, it was interrupted by a sharp bird cry.

The mosasaurus floating on the water surface quickly spat out its forked tongue again, moving it left and right as if probing for something.

This living prehistoric creature was indeed Xia Chuan's first encounter, but he was no stranger to snakes. Encountering snakes during missions was commonplace, so naturally, he understood a lot - that slender forked snake tongue was an olfactory organ, used to capture and track prey.

Since the mosasaurus's tongue looked so similar to a snake's, Xia Chuan felt that its function was probably not much different. So when the mosasaurus stuck out its tongue, he maintained the utmost vigilance, even suppressing his breathing to the lightest point.

The mosasaurus's tongue tip rotated a few times, then suddenly retracted. Its huge body then silently sank back below the water surface, so quietly that the sound of splashing water could barely be heard.

Xia Chuan frowned, his gaze fixed on the giant beast disappearing from the water surface. The hand holding the gun behind his waist moved slightly, shifting to the most convenient position to exert force, but still did not act rashly-

Such a fierce sea beast nearly twenty meters long surfacing from the water would definitely not just have a staring contest with him before sinking back.

Sure enough, just as Xia Chuan adjusted the force in his hand, he felt something entangled sweep over his head, casting a large shadow on the reef, accompanied by a rhythm of chaotic flapping and familiar sharp cries.

Without even raising his head, relying solely on the rapidly moving shadow and the source of the sound, he nimbly lowered his body, accurately avoiding the entangled things. At the same time, with a flip, he retreated a body's length towards the back edge of the reef, a few steps further from where the mosasaurus had sunk.

Only after Xia Chuan stabilized his body and raised his eyes for a glance did he clearly see what had flown over his head!

It was two... pterosaurs, entangled in a fight for some reason.

Two pterosaurs, large enough to wrap around his entire body with their wings spread...

Xia Chuan: \"...\"

He lifted his eyelids with a cold face and woodenly swept his gaze into the distant sky, then woodenly retracted his gaze-

So those things he saw when he opened his eyes earlier were not some large seabirds at all, but \"fossils\" that could only be seen in a paleontology museum, screeching and dancing in a frenzy in front of him.

Alive...

Fortunately, the two pterosaurs started fighting each other, crashing to less than two meters above the sea surface, temporarily unable to pay attention to him. Otherwise, with just Xia Chuan's four arrow-shaped bullets, he and Dennis would likely have become lunch for these prehistoric ancestors.

However, just as this thought emerged, the sea surface less than ten meters in front of him suddenly erupted with a huge splash. The foam-covered waves rolled up more than a meter high, rushing straight towards the reef.

The mosasaurus that had inexplicably sunk back into the water earlier surged up several meters amidst the white waves and foam. It opened its jaws full of sharp teeth, fast and accurate, its lower jaw even folding back, and bit down on the two pterosaurs with wingspans larger than a person, effortlessly locking them between its teeth.

The struggles of the two pterosaurs were like tickles to it, having no effect at all.

The mosasaurus twisted its body, crashing back into the sea like a small mountain, stirring up even bigger splashes, drenching the two people on the reef from head to toe.

Dennis had passed out and had no reaction.

Xia Chuan, who was fully conscious, tightened his fingers at the sudden commotion. Even though he had been on edge and mentally prepared, witnessing such a predatory scene at such close proximity was still heart-stopping.

He suddenly felt that his previous estimation was simply overconfident and a bit foolish. With just an underwater gun, in the face of such a creature, even using it for emergency rescue might be a joke--

He had never seen a fool trying to fight for his life by tickling.

But in the current situation, even if he knew he was being foolish, he had no choice but to give it a try.

At the moment when the mosasaur fell back into the water, Xia Chuan raised his hand to block the spray in front of him and quickly scanned the surrounding water surface amidst the splashing water droplets.

For creatures like mosasaurs that hunt by lurking, even with their huge size, they are experts at concealing their movements. There must be some fish and beasts in the sea that were previously unaware of the danger and are now startled by this huge commotion, hurriedly fleeing.

Obviously, Xia Chuan's judgment was correct. He did see a fish fin gliding across the sea surface to the left, about to pass behind the reef and leave this sea area, avoiding the mosasaur.

In a desperate situation, one takes desperate measures. Moreover, this reef was still nearly a hundred meters away from the shore. No matter how good a swimmer he was, he couldn't be faster than those born to live in the sea.

Xia Chuan glanced at the sea surface where the mosasaur had fallen back. The waves were still surging and the water was splashing, but obviously the two pterosaurs didn't have much breath left. The red blood spread from that area of the sea and was diluted beyond recognition in an instant.

Seeing that the mosasaur seemed to be temporarily ignoring everything else, and the fish fin gliding through the water happened to reach a distance he could take advantage of, Xia Chuan made a nimble and agile side flip, intending to roll into the sea along the sloping surface of the reef to reach that fish fin.

Just as he had grabbed the fish fin and raised the underwater gun in his other hand, he heard another loud splash from the direction of the mosasaur behind him.

Xia Chuan was startled and instinctively looked back, only to see the mosasaur's huge tail, which accounted for half its body length and was nearly ten meters long, slamming down towards him.

Xia Chuan: \"...\"

The first thought that popped into Xia Chuan's mind was actually a phrase like this: \"Eating from the bowl while looking at the pot, never letting go of any food as long as it's edible.\" He almost couldn't react--

Because before he could react, the tail had already hit his back. He only felt a mouthful of blood surging up, and before he could spit it out, his vision went black and he lost consciousness again.

On the side, the fierce-looking mosasaur gulped down the food in its mouth with a plop, then opened its mouth and stuck out its forked tongue, probing in Xia Chuan's direction a couple of times but not detecting any obvious signs of life.

It floated on the surface for a few seconds, then twisted its body to the side and dived underwater with a swoosh, swimming to the vicinity of the unconscious and sinking Xia Chuan. It then swayed its tail and bent the tip to poke Xia Chuan a couple of times.

The other party was completely motionless, as if he were dead.

Mosasaur: \"...\"

","published_time":"2024-05-12T00:00:00.000Z","paid":false,"show_flag":true,"show_scheduled_time":"2024-05-12T00:00:00.000Z","unpaid_scheduled_time":"2024-05-12T00:00:00.000Z"},{"content_id":634,"novel_id":16,"chapter_no":3,"chapter_title":"Chapter 3","content":"

Within a single day, Xia Chuan was knocked down twice in a row, for reasons that were difficult to explain. It was the first time in his professional career, as if he had used up eight hundred lifetimes of bad luck.

However, despite being hit by the double whammy of a \"sea disaster\" and a \"critical hit from a prehistoric beast\", which would have sent eight out of ten people straight to heaven, he still managed to hold on to his life. This could probably be considered a stroke of incredible luck amidst the terrible misfortune.

The two mixed together, slamming into him from head to toe, to the point that when Xia Chuan gradually regained consciousness, he couldn't find a second suitable emotion besides being speechless.

Of course, when Xia Chuan truly regained his senses and opened his eyes from the coma, he had no energy or mood to feel any emotions at all—because the pain in his body was unbearable!

The feeling was like lying on a road full of gravel, being repeatedly crushed by several tons of container trucks. His bones were shattered, more loosely than bean dregs. Just grabbing a handful, one could scatter them in the sea.

Even for someone like Xia Chuan, whose pain tolerance was at the max level, he was sweating profusely from the torment.

His brows were locked in a deathly furrow, his lips pale. His eyes were half-squinted but could never focus, his vision blurred into a piece by the pain. Except for color patches, he couldn't see anything clearly.

It took a long time before he could barely adapt to this feeling of his whole body being crushed. He gradually recognized the outlines of the objects in his field of vision—

The place where he was lying now should be a stone cave. The ceiling was extremely high, but it was not very spacious. Although Xia Chuan couldn't move much and his hands and feet were a bit numb, he could still feel his not fully stretched feet touching the stone wall.

The cave was a bit damp, especially in the corner where Xia Chuan was lying. The stone walls were all wet, covered with a thin layer of moisture, smelling of a lingering sea scent that made Xia Chuan frown.

The sound of waves hitting the reef could be vaguely heard in his ears, intermittently, sometimes loud and sometimes small. It allowed him to determine that the stone cave was either located in the sea or right next to the shore.

However, none of this was anything special. What really made Xia Chuan's nerves tighten after waking up was a fire in the stone cave.

It was a bonfire set up with a pile of messy wooden branches, just about five or six meters away from Xia Chuan, near the entrance of the stone cave.

The bonfire was built with great skill, not stuffy or scattered, burning with a \"crackling\" sound, the momentum very strong. The flames danced and jumped very high. From Xia Chuan's lying angle, it seemed to almost lick the top of the stone cave, just blocking the entrance, making it impossible to see the scene outside...

In short, no matter how you look at it, that bonfire was set up by someone other than him to help him, and it was someone who had experience in outdoor living...

Xia Chuan's gaze slowly moved to the other person lying in another corner. That person was about the same height as him, around 1.83 meters, which was not tall among Europeans and Americans, but definitely not short either.

But the place where he was curled up was a size smaller than Xia Chuan's, causing his whole body to twist in an extremely ungraceful posture, contorted in a unique way.

That was none other than Dennis, who had done nothing but take one look at the Mosasaurus and passed out with a \"roar\".

Xia Chuan: \"...\"

With one glance at Dennis, he was absolutely certain that this bonfire with a decent technical level was definitely not set up by this guy...

Actually, the moment he saw the bonfire, a thought surged in Xia Chuan's mind—perhaps those prehistoric beasts he saw before were just a dream he had while he was unconscious, just like those few faces that floated up from under the sea, except that the sensation was too real. They were still in the original normal world, and were fortunate enough to be rescued when they were about to die, temporarily placed in such a stone cave.

However, as soon as this thought emerged, he instantly regained his composure and suppressed it again. At the same time, a distant, vague \"elephant trumpet\" confirmed that his calmness was not without reason.

Although extremely absurd, the fact was that they had really come to a place where prehistoric creatures were rampant.

The Bermuda Triangle had been well-known for a long time, with endless legends, including things like time-space travel. Xia Chuan had heard a lot about it, but didn't believe much.

But he never thought that such a thing would fall on his head, for better or worse.

If he had known earlier, half a month ago, when the Wes Company contacted him, he should have resolutely and simply said that he didn't have the free time for now, and rejected the task of \"protecting research products and researchers\" in one go.

To be precise, if Wes hadn't offered that special \"commission reward\", he wouldn't have come on this trip anyway.

But now it was too late to say anything.

Xia Chuan frowned and swept his eyes around the cave again, and his vigilance grew stronger and stronger—in this alien space where dinosaurs roamed, as far as he could see, the only ordinary people who appeared here yesterday were him and Dennis.

He had just woken up from a coma, and Dennis, not far away, was still sticking out, without any movement...

So... who exactly lit the fire for them?

With even time-space travel happening, Xia Chuan felt that even if he was told now that the one who lit the fire for them was not a person but a ghost, he would accept it without a second word, without even frowning.

As soon as this thought emerged, Xia Chuan saw the bonfire five meters away suddenly shake. Then, the entrance of the stone cave, which was largely blocked by the firelight, suddenly showed a blurry human figure outline, out of nowhere, as if it had appeared out of thin air.

Xia Chuan's breath suddenly lightened.

If it were normal times, he would have concealed himself in a proper position in the blink of an eye, changed to a suitable attacking posture, and put his finger on the trigger.

However, he was now in so much pain all over his body that he couldn't even lift a finger, only the tips of his fingers twitching subconsciously.

Xia Chuan narrowed his eyes and roughly made out the appearance of the person at the entrance under the illumination of the firelight—

It was an extremely tall man. When entering the stone cave, he had to lower his head to pass through the entrance, so much so that the first thing Xia Chuan saw was his brown-black short hair, dripping with water droplets as he moved.

When he raised his head after entering the cave, Xia Chuan saw his face. His features were very handsome, but his brows and eyes looked a bit fierce.

But this was not the point.

The key point was... as he walked step by step towards the cave, less and less of his body was blocked by the firelight, and more and more was exposed...

Xia Chuan discovered that this water ghost-like person had not a single piece of cloth on his entire body, just walking up to him completely naked, without any cover at all, his expression quite unperturbed, as if the concept of \"shame\" didn't exist at all, so he had no fear of losing it.

Xia Chuan: \"...\"

If his hands and feet were free to move at this moment, he would have surely grabbed this shameless lunatic in front of him and thrown him straight out of the cave.

Unfortunately he wasn't...

So he could only watch expressionlessly as the tall man stopped in front of him, and with a \"clang\", heavily planting in front of his body the large millstone-sized object he had been carrying in his hands, and then lowered his head, staring at him as if in a staring contest.

That expression was very familiar to Xia Chuan - a week ago, when Dennis was looking at the two new fish he bought through the fish tank, his expression was exactly the same as this tall man's. Then, not two days later, Dennis accidentally killed them...

","published_time":"2024-05-12T00:00:00.000Z","paid":false,"show_flag":true,"show_scheduled_time":"2024-05-12T00:00:00.000Z","unpaid_scheduled_time":"2024-05-12T00:00:00.000Z"},{"content_id":662,"novel_id":16,"chapter_no":4,"chapter_title":"Chapter 4","content":"

The tall, completely naked man looked down at Xia Chuan for a few seconds. Probably finding the distance too far to see clearly, he squatted down with that huge \"millstone\", kneeling on one knee, his right hand horizontally propped against the edge of the \"millstone\".

Because his chin was resting on the back of his hand, his tightly pursed lips were slightly raised, softening the fierceness between his brows and eyes. In his expression, there was more curiosity and inquiry, without any hostility mixed in.

In fact, when this oddball with an exhibitionist streak calmly entered the cave, Xia Chuan already understood in his heart - he and Dennis had most likely been dragged into the cave and taken care of by this weirdo, who even conveniently started a fire for them.

But influenced by his professional nature, Xia Chuan on one hand loved adventure, while on the other hand was extremely cautious, never easily letting his guard down in front of anyone. After all, starting a fire was not only for \"driving away dampness and cold\", sometimes it could also be used to \"barbecue reserve rations\"...

And this oddball in front of him was definitely not someone easy to deal with. The solid muscles all over his body were visible, the lines clearly showing explosive power, neither thin nor overly bulging, definitely not the kind just for show through training.

Moreover, even if Xia Chuan fainted a couple more times, he wouldn't misread the situation -

He had been knocked out by the mosasaurus's tail. That legendary deep-sea overlord ancestor of the Cretaceous era couldn't possibly just hit and run, abandoning its food, right?

Yet this oddball in front of him was actually able to drag him and Dennis back to the cave right under the mosasaurus's nose, squatting here completely unscathed. If told to others, it would simply be an Arabian Nights tale.

And this oddball living in this hellish place with dinosaurs running all over, obviously couldn't be escaping the tiger's den so smoothly for the first time...

In short, no matter how you look at it, this is an extremely terrifying person.

So, when this oddball, with an expression of \"still can't see clearly\", lowered his head again to get closer to Xia Chuan, Xia Chuan's tiger claw bone on the side of his ear moved. Almost as a conditioned reflex, he raised his left hand, curling it into an eagle claw shape, instantly pressing it against the oddball's carotid artery.

The explosive movement pulled at the muscles on his shoulders and back. Xia Chuan only felt the pain on his body suddenly intensify, his face instantly turning another shade paler.

His skin was already very white to begin with. With this movement, even the last bit of color on his lips faded away completely, making him look extremely weak. But the force in his hand remained taut, not relaxing in the slightest.

However, that oddball didn't mind his vital point on the neck being pressed against, as if the other person wasn't preparing to attack, but tickling him. He didn't even pause for a moment before getting into a face-to-face position with Xia Chuan, even twitching his nose tip, not knowing what he was smelling.

Earlier when he was a bit farther away, Xia Chuan didn't pay attention to this oddball's eyes. Now with a distance of less than ten centimeters, those eyes occupied most of his field of vision - they were a very beautiful deep blue, rich and pure, like the deep sea thousands of meters below.

However, no matter how beautiful or rare these eyes were, even if they flashed in seven-colored neon, Xia Chuan had neither the time nor mood to appreciate them, because this oddball really didn't act according to common sense -

After getting close to Xia Chuan's face, almost nose-to-nose, and looking for a while, he frowned again, pondering for a bit with an expression of \"still don't quite understand\". Then he directly lowered his body, straightening his slightly cool nose bridge to press directly against Xia Chuan's neck.

Xia Chuan's entire body stiffened abruptly. He almost wanted to ignore the pain, sit up and throw this lunatic straight into the sea to die! But the moment he made a move, a finger accurately pressed on his numbing acupoint, making half his body go numb and tingly without sensation.

That oddball restrained Xia Chuan with one hand, while using his nose tip to move bit by bit along Xia Chuan's neck with the other, seeming to be searching for something.

A moment later, this oddball with deep blue eyes finally settled down a bit. His nose tip stopped near Xia Chuan's carotid artery close to the collarbone, not knowing what he was thinking.

After staying still for a long time, he suddenly stuck out his tongue and touched that spot of skin with the tip.

Xia Chuan: \"...\"

What a tall freak.

Just as Xia Chuan's face completely cooled, that oddball finally lifted his head from his neck. He seemed to have confirmed something, and the inquiry and curiosity in his expression were put away.

When this oddball had no emotions, his fierce and cold aura would become especially obvious, diluting a bit of the \"pervert\" image...

If he could find a piece of cloth to cover up.

The oddball didn't continue provoking Xia Chuan's temper, but stood up frankly, picking up that \"millstone\" in his hand and turning to walk towards the fire.

As he turned around, Xia Chuan glimpsed something like a tattoo on the back of his right shoulder, a short line in Shen Lan, the words not very big. As that oddball walked farther and farther away, it became a bit hard to make out.

Xia Chuan frowned and focused for a good while before seeing clearly what it was.

It was a simple combination of English words and numbers - shenlan02

This kind of combination looked too much like a password or code name... Xia Chuan was more inclined to the latter.

Then the code name of this oddball in front of him was Shen Lan? As for 02, it meant... he wasn't alone, there was at least a 01 before him.

The appearance of this line of tattoo indicated that this person with the code name Shen Lan should be like Xia Chuan, entering this world full of dinosaurs due to some reason by mistake.

But why did he enter by mistake? How long had he lived here? Had he tried to find a way back?

...Questions popped up one after another in Xia Chuan's mind, causing him to have quite an investigative interest in this Shen Lan. It's just that with his current inconvenient movement and lack of strength, he could only temporarily hold back some questions and observe for now.

Shen Lan picked up that \"millstone\", walked to the edge of the fire, reached out to touch the leaping flames, then flipped the \"millstone\" front and back. He propped it up vertically and pushed it towards the fire, letting one side be completely immersed in the flames.

Previously, Xia Chuan's attention was entirely focused on Shen Lan, not noticing what exactly that \"millstone\" was. Moreover, the side facing Xia Chuan earlier was stained with some mud, obscuring its true appearance. Now that it had been flipped over, with the side facing the fire exposed, the patterns on it were suddenly revealed.

It had a spiral pattern, radiating from the center, with one line making a complete circle... like a giant circular conch.

Xia Chuan had an impression of such things, classified together with dinosaur fossils in prehistoric fossil museums, very similar to nautilus shells, also living in the sea, but he couldn't recall the specific name at the moment.

However, regardless of what it was called, he had only seen fist-sized or plate-sized ones... but the one in Shen Lan's hands had a diameter of nearly one meter.

After supporting that thing for a while, Shen Lan's expression became a bit impatient. He swept his gaze to both sides, his eyes falling on a rock on the ground behind him. The height of that rock was probably just above the knee, and it looked quite heavy.

However, Shen Lan lifted that large rock with ease, smashing it on the ground in front of his feet, perfectly propping up that millstone-like giant conch, preventing it from falling over.

After securing it, he retreated a few steps to the side. Although he dared to directly touch the fire, he didn't seem to like it. Xia Chuan noticed that he preferred to lean against the slightly damp stone wall in the corner.

After fixing the giant conch and standing by the stone wall for a while, Shen Lan seemed to finally remember that he was still completely naked. He glanced at Xia Chuan, then looked down at himself, and without a word, walked towards Dennis's direction.

Xia Chuan watched as he squatted down, grabbed one of Dennis's hands, and roughly flipped him over. Without hesitation, he reached his claws towards Dennis's shirt.

Back on the reef, the shirt had already been torn in several places. Now, under Shen Lan's hands, it was like tofu skin, easily torn off with a casual pull. Shen Lan held up the shirt, shook it, looking very disgusted, but still pinched his nose and wrapped it around his waist like a towel.

Dennis, who was thrown back to the ground, moved his hands and feet, seeming to show signs of waking up. However, after struggling a few times, he became still again.

Xia Chuan suspected that he might have hit his head earlier and passed out again.

As for Shen Lan... who knows what was wrong with this guy. After wrapping the shirt around his waist, he circled around Xia Chuan again, as if he had gotten a new toy, studying Xia Chuan intently. He always stared for a long time, and eight out of ten times, his gaze would fall on the area near Xia Chuan's collarbone, not knowing what he was studying.

Xia Chuan was puzzled by his stares. It took a long time before he remembered that more than ten days ago, he had been grazed by a bullet near his collarbone, and there were still some traces left after the scar had faded. But scars are something everyone has, so it shouldn't be enough to make someone stare at it over and over again...

Apart from that... Xia Chuan frowned and thought for a long time but couldn't think of anything else.

Fortunately, after staring for a while, Shen Lan's attention returned to the bonfire. One side of the giant conch had already turned black at the edges from the fire. Shen Lan touched it, seemingly unafraid of the heat, directly picking up the giant conch and flipping it over again, letting the other side soak in the fire.

At first, Xia Chuan didn't understand why he was fiddling with that millstone-like giant conch, until he smelled the fragrant aroma of meat being roasted.

Xia Chuan: \"...\"

The aroma quickly permeated the entire cave, wave after wave, growing stronger and stronger.

Shen Lan looked down at the giant conch, feeling that it was about done. He carried it to the side of the stone wall and smashed it against the wall without a word. The hard shell, which had been roasted over the fire for quite a while, had become much more brittle. Unable to withstand his force, it cracked with a sound.

Xia Chuan watched as his slender fingers touched the crack. Somehow, his fingertips inserted into it, and with a light twist, the shell was completely split open. From the crack, it could be seen that the shell was not thin, but Shen Lan's fingers didn't even have a single cut, as if he had just peeled open an egg.

With the shell peeled, the meat inside was exposed. Instantly, the aroma of barbecue became more intense, hot and fragrant, rushing into the nostrils.

Before Xia Chuan could react, he heard a rustling sound not far away. He turned his head and saw Dennis, who had struggled a few times earlier without waking up, had opened his eyes at some point.

He hadn't lost half his life from being hit by the mosasaur's tail, so he was much more lively than Xia Chuan. The most serious injuries on his body were just some scrapes and bruises. So after opening his eyes, he quickly sat up. Before his mind had even cleared, he was already sniffing with his nose, mumbling, \"Ah, food... ah, so hungry...\" He had really lost all his dignity.

He sniffed and groggily moved towards Shen Lan, following the fragrance. After a few steps, he blinked, fully waking up.

With his mind completely clear, Dennis abruptly stopped moving. He first looked at Shen Lan with a blank expression and muttered, \"Who are you?\"

Then he moved his gaze to the giant conch in Shen Lan's hands, rubbing his eyes hard and said, \"Is this... an ammonite?!\"

Even in this situation, he could still recognize that it was an ammonite, quite impressive.

Xia Chuan glanced at Dennis, rarely having the patience to listen to his nonsense. He thought that with Dennis's expression, he might say something meaningful. But unexpectedly, he opened his mouth, then closed it, swallowed, and asked, \"Is it cooked?! Can we eat it now!\"

Xia Chuan: \"...\"

Shen Lan completely ignored his existence from beginning to end, not even sparing him a single glance.

","published_time":"2024-05-24T00:00:00.000Z","paid":false,"show_flag":true,"show_scheduled_time":"2024-05-24T00:00:00.000Z","unpaid_scheduled_time":"2024-05-24T00:00:00.000Z"},{"content_id":690,"novel_id":16,"chapter_no":5,"chapter_title":"Chapter 5","content":"

After a series of babbling, Dennis finally realized that no one in the cave seemed to pay attention to him. He awkwardly shut his mouth and stared eagerly at the huge ammonite that Shen Lan was processing in his hands.

He was already used to Xia Chuan's reticence, after all, it wasn't the first day he knew Xia Chuan.

Three years ago, when Wes Company needed to deal with a batch of important experimental embryos, they had spent a lot of money to hire Xia Chuan. At that time, Dennis was only an assistant researcher.

He always remembered what Xia Chuan looked like when he first met him--

His skin was strikingly white among the other two Asians. When the sunlight shone on him, it seemed to be able to penetrate through him. His features were very good-looking, but because he always kept a straight face, he looked cold and aloof, exuding a strong \"stay away from strangers\" aura.

His 1.83-meter height was not very tall among a group of Europeans and Americans, but because of his good proportions, he looked tall and straight. He was dressed in a smoke-gray shirt and straight trousers, which was refined and neat, without any extra decorations.

In short, no matter how you looked at him, you couldn't tell that he was a person with high combat power. He looked more like someone who came out of an actuarial firm in the financial district across the street. Whenever he was there, Dennis's several female colleagues were particularly abnormal.

At that time, Dennis would go to the gym every week to put on a show, and also developed a set of muscles that looked pretty good. At first, he was very skeptical that Xia Chuan, whose \"arms were not as thick as his\", was a paper tiger. When his brain-dead disease attacked, he ran to test Xia Chuan several times, and each time ended with a dislocated wrist.

It was crisp and clear, making Dennis almost cry. And the duration never exceeded two seconds, the process was so straightforward that it was very predictable--

It was always Dennis who sneaked over to launch a sneak attack. Before he even touched a hair, he would jump up holding his wrist and howling. Before he could jump twice, his wrist was reconnected in seconds. The gap was simply that Xia Chuan unilaterally \"beat up a kid\", as if playing.

After several times, Dennis finally heard the only comment from Xia Chuan's mouth, who was as precious as gold. It was concise and to the point--you're sick.

It must be said that this comment was not wrong at all. Dennis was probably really a little sick, not something else, just a little cheap.

Of all the things he could believe in, he believed in an oriental proverb--\"You can't make friends without fighting\". He didn't care that other people's fights were evenly matched and well-matched, while he was unilaterally beaten up. He stubbornly felt that Xia Chuan's personality was particularly to his liking, and he was eager to make friends with him.

It had been three years.

In fact, in these three years, Xia Chuan had always been like a dragon, showing his head but not his tail. His contact with Dennis was not much. Nine out of ten times, it was Dennis who went to find him, and the remaining one time was a chance encounter. For Xia Chuan, they were more like casual acquaintances, but in fact, even if it was only to a casual degree, he had saved Dennis's life several times.

Moreover, with Xia Chuan's personality and invisible whereabouts, his so-called \"casual acquaintance\" had basically reached the top.

It's just that having an iceberg in your life circle is quite refreshing and cooling, but having one more makes you feel a little frozen...

Dennis quietly glanced at Shen Lan, who was sitting against the rock wall. This guy seemed to be half a pound and eight ounces with Xia Chuan, and also seemed to be a guy who was unwilling to pay attention to people. His eyes paused for a moment when he swept over the white cloth wrapped around Shen Lan's waist, feeling a little familiar for some reason.

He looked at his own bare upper body while touching it, feeling that he had fallen into such a miserable state, and even had a piece of clothing robbed, which was simply miserable and inhuman...

But when he looked from Shen Lan's fierce-looking eyebrows and eyes, all the way to his solid and full pecs and chocolate bar-like abs, he could only touch his own belly that had emerged in the past two years, and silently admitted his cowardice.

After drooling over the fragrant ammonite for a long time, he finally discovered something was wrong--

He originally thought that it was Xia Chuan who had dragged him to such a cave where he could temporarily stay. He had drowned in the water and consumed a lot of energy, and was a little overworked, so he had been lying down and was too lazy to move. In addition, under the illumination of the firelight in the cave, everything was a warm yellow, and it was not easy to see whether a person's complexion was pale or not.

But when Dennis came back to his senses from the temptation of food, he thought about it and felt puzzled. Xia Chuan had always been very vigilant. In such a godforsaken ghost place, would he lie down at ease and watch a stranger process food? Would he eat what was processed?

So he shuffled over to Xia Chuan's side and looked at him with some concern, saying, \"Are you not feeling well, Chuan?\"

At this time, Xia Chuan's throat was dry and astringent, and full of a bloody smell. He was too lazy to open his mouth, so he nodded his head meaningfully, then raised his right hand with three fingers, waved them, meaning \"go back to where you came from, don't block the light\".

Dennis subconsciously did as he was told. As soon as he turned his head and moved a step, he seemed to remember something and stopped, turning his head to look at Xia Chuan, \"By the way! Before I passed out, wasn't there a Mosasaurus floating very close to us?! How did you drag me into this cave? Could it be that the Mosasaurus wasn't hungry, floated up to bask in the sun, and after getting enough sun, it sank back?\"

At the mention of the Mosasaurus, Xia Chuan felt the pain in his back intensify, and couldn't help frowning. He was about to wave his hand again to drive away Dennis, who was \"bringing up the unmentionable\", when he heard two crisp \"click\" sounds coming from beside him.

The two of them looked in the direction of the sound and saw that Shen Lan had already broken the hard shell of the ammonite with his bare hands, neatly and cleanly, without even a drop of blood, and pulled out the flesh hidden in the shell of the ammonite in one go.

Xia Chuan had only seen fossilized ammonite shells in museums, and had never seen what an ammonite actually looked like inside the shell.

Now, when Shen Lan pulled out a whole ammonite flesh, the first thing he saw was a bunch of tentacles clustered underneath...

Because it had been roasted by the fire for a while, those tentacles had curled up, circling and entangling together, shortened by a section, making the head above look particularly large, somewhat out of proportion--overall, it looked like a close relative of an octopus or cuttlefish, and even the smell after roasting was somewhat similar.

Dennis silently wiped the corner of his mouth, \"I've only seen the restoration diagram of ammonites, and haven't seen what they look like after being roasted...\"

Xia Chuan took another look at the ammonite flesh, then silently turned his face away.

Shen Lan picked up the grilled cuttlefish and looked around to confirm it was cooked properly. He then stood up and strode over to Xia Chuan.

Despite there being plenty of space to stand, he purposefully and unabashedly squeezed himself between Xia Chuan and Dennis, essentially isolating Dennis behind him as if he didn't exist at all. He then held up the large grilled cuttlefish in front of Xia Chuan and waved it around.

Xia Chuan had a look of exasperation on his face.

Shen Lan was too tall and muscular, leaving Dennis helplessly stuck behind him. Dennis could only crane his neck out and stare longingly at the cuttlefish.

He explained on behalf of Xia Chuan, \"This guy is superficial. He doesn't eat ugly-looking things, especially squids and octopuses with their big heads, tentacles, and a mix of cunning and stupidity...\"

Shen Lan paused the waving motion of the cuttlefish in his hand upon hearing this.

Dennis continued, \"Most importantly, those little suction cups on the tentacles really creep him out. If he looks at them for too long, he wants to slice them all off...\"

Shen Lan: \"...\"

He grabbed a tentacle, pulled it straight to examine it, then quickly flipped it around a few times. Xia Chuan wasn't sure what he did, but when he turned to look, he saw Shen Lan holding a smooth tentacle without any suction cups, waving it in front of him as a sign to eat it.

Where did the suction cups go?

Just as Xia Chuan was puzzled, he noticed Dennis behind Shen Lan staring with a dumbfounded expression.

Following Dennis' gaze, he saw Shen Lan holding a pile of sliced off tentacles, all with the suction cup side facing up...

Xia Chuan: \"...\"

\"How...how did you do that...do you have a blade hidden in your hand?\" Dennis gaped as he picked up one of the tentacles, noticing the sliced surface was smooth and clean as if cut by something extremely sharp.

Unsurprisingly, this question was once again met with no response from Shen Lan.

Dennis was no longer bothered by being ignored. Rarely did his highness bestow him with food, and he was starving. Without being picky about hygiene or seasoning, he immediately picked up a tentacle and started eating.

This guy had a special trait - no matter what he ate, he always made it look delicious, making those around him feel a bit hungry too.

Xia Chuan watched for a bit, then lifted his heavy hand to take the much more appealing suction cup-less tentacle from Shen Lan. He took a small bite.

He had thought something so casually grilled would taste awful, but it actually wasn't bad once he put it in his mouth. Perhaps it was due to expending so much energy and being hungry for a long time.

Seeing that Xia Chuan was finally willing to eat something, Shen Lan quickly sliced off the remaining suction cups, leaving them for Xia Chuan and Dennis. He then took the cuttlefish head and walked around the fire towards the cave entrance.

Xia Chuan watched as his silhouette was mostly obscured by the firelight. Then with a leap, he jumped out of the cave entrance, followed by a loud splash.

But the splashing sound seemed a bit strange...it felt like a normal person diving into the water shouldn't make such a big splash, let alone Shen Lan, whose swimming ability was undoubtedly excellent, making it even less likely for him to cause such a commotion.

Dennis stood there dumbfounded with a grilled tentacle in his mouth. After a while, he scrambled to his feet and ran to the cave entrance. After looking around for a bit, he retreated back inside with a pale face, patting his chest in lingering fear.

He said to Xia Chuan, \"Heavens! Outside the cave is the sea...a boundless sea. The moon is huge, and everywhere I look it's all glimmering. I can't even see where the shore is. How did you drag me here? And who was that guy just now? Is he mute? He doesn't seem to be able to talk...Is it really okay for him to jump into the sea like that? Will we see a floating corpse tomorrow?!\"

Xia Chuan: \"...\"

As it turned out, they wouldn't be seeing any corpse, because a while later, just as the two were about to finish the large cuttlefish tentacles, a soft splash was heard and Shen Lan's familiar dark brown hair appeared at the cave entrance again.

He had made himself look like a drowned ghost again, dripping wet from head to toe. He walked around the fire, leaving a trail of wet footprints, and casually tossed a black object in front of Xia Chuan and Dennis.

","published_time":"2024-05-31T00:00:00.000Z","paid":false,"show_flag":true,"show_scheduled_time":"2024-05-31T00:00:00.000Z","unpaid_scheduled_time":"2024-05-31T00:00:00.000Z"},{"content_id":691,"novel_id":16,"chapter_no":6,"chapter_title":"Chapter 6","content":"

The dark, clumpy thing seemed to have some weight to it, making a heavy thud as it hit the ground. At first glance, it appeared to be covered in hair-like strands, tangled and knotted, spreading a large puddle of water on the ground - a rather unsettling sight.

\"What the heck is that!\" Dennis exclaimed in shock, shrinking back towards Xia Chuan after just a quick glance, the last grilled tentacle falling from his mouth.

His strong reaction was understandable. After all, in this godforsaken place, the appearance of any deadly thing was a real possibility.

Xia Chuan, on the other hand, remained calm, not even furrowing his brow, as his intuition told him that Shen Lan wouldn't bring anything threatening.

In fact, as Dennis perceived, Xia Chuan was a very guarded person. Generally speaking, when faced with people of unknown origin and unusual skills, Xia Chuan would never let his guard down, let alone eat food they prepared.

But Shen Lan was an exception.

The first time Xia Chuan's eyes met Shen Lan's, he felt that this strange, naked man bore no hostility towards him.

Over the years, he had encountered too many people - young and old; enthusiastic and simple-minded, thoughtful and scheming; those with simple identities and those with complex backgrounds... But he had never seen an adult's eyes as pure as Shen Lan's.

All his emotions were plainly written in his eyes, without any concealment, like a child with little experience, forming a stark contrast to his enigmatic identity and background.

This contrast strongly aroused one's curiosity, yet it was difficult to reject or dislike.

It was under the influence of this mentality and his consistently accurate intuition that Xia Chuan temporarily let down his guard against Shen Lan.

As it turned out, the thing Shen Lan brought into the cave indeed posed no threat to Xia Chuan and Dennis.

After throwing it on the ground, Shen Lan glanced at Xia Chuan and Dennis. The former had difficulty getting up due to his immobility, while the latter stood there with his mouth agape as if he had lost the ability to speak, seemingly scared silly.

So Shen Lan simply bent down, picked the thing up again, tore off the hair-like stuff in a few motions, revealing its true form, and tossed it back in front of the two before walking to the fire pit and throwing the strands tangled on his fingers into the flames.

The hair-like stuff made a soft \"poof\" sound and was completely incinerated, leaving not a trace behind.

As Shen Lan withdrew his hand from the flames, the stunned Dennis suddenly spoke up, his voice filled with utter surprise, \"Ah - this, this is my backpack, isn't it?!\"

Without the seaweed-like strands entangled on it, the dark object's silhouette became distinct under the firelight. It was clearly unrelated to sea beasts and the like, just a plain black backpack with a very simple design. On the lower right corner of the bag, a silver metal plate about two centimeters wide was attached, engraved with two letters - d.p.

\"It's actually... actually found my backpack?\" Until he had fished the black backpack into his arms and felt it over and over, Dennis could hardly believe it.

After muttering to himself several times, he seemed to remember something and said to Xia Chuan, \"...Come to think of it, when you pulled me out of the boat, I think I grabbed the bag, but later when I was struggling in the sea, I accidentally threw the bag away. It actually followed us to this hellish place?\"

Xia Chuan frowned.

After all, time-space travel was not as simple and commonplace as eating and drinking. Not just anyone could travel through time and space at will, right? He originally thought that the reason he and Dennis woke up together in this alternate world was that Dennis had clung to his leg and refused to let go as they sank into the sea, and the two of them happened to hit some trigger together to arrive here.

But now it seemed that the conditions for this time-space journey were a bit loose - if Dennis had lost his grip on the backpack during the struggle, the backpack should have continued sinking about one or two meters away from them, or even farther. Yet now, this backpack, like them, had also arrived in this alternate world, which meant...

\"There were so many people sinking in the sea at that time, and there must have been quite a few around us, right? Do you think--\"

Dennis pondered for a moment and speculated, \"Could it be that the people and objects within a certain range around us have all come over? That sea area was so strange, with abnormal buoyancy and pressure. There have been incidents of entire ships disappearing before, right? Could they have encountered the same situation as us? Thinking about it this way is a bit exciting! If that German guy who always has a long face also came, at least there would be someone to treat the injured! And Professor Linton, he's a severe dinosaur fanatic, at least he knows more about these big guys than we do! And...\"

As he spoke, his voice lowered again...

The people he mentioned were on the same cruise ship as them, together forming a complete research team. Several of the researchers were on Xia Chuan's task list.

When they encountered the four utterly unexpected sea tornadoes, those people were still within Xia Chuan's sight, not one missing. But the subsequent series of changes happened too quickly and too incredibly, so much so that at the moment they struggled out of the sinking ship, aside from Dennis, Xia Chuan only had time to grab two of them and pull them out of the cabin.

If all of Dennis's speculations just now could come true, of course nothing could be better. But the reality was... now, the only living beings in this stone cave were the two of them, and a water-soaked backpack.

What were the chances of successfully struggling out of the ship's cabin?

After struggling out, what were the chances of not drowning in the endless sea?

What were the chances of coincidentally hitting the trigger to arrive in this alternate world?

And after waking up in the sea of this alternate world, what were the chances of not becoming lunch for those prehistoric giant beasts?

...

Doing some quick calculations, the results were all desperately low.

So Dennis gradually fell silent. A long time later, he sighed, shook his head to shake out these thoughts that only added to the sadness, and then began to rummage through his backpack.

When Xia Chuan saw Dennis's backpack, he did not immediately feel relieved.

In the three years since they had known each other, he had only traveled with Dennis a handful of times, but he still knew a bit about Dennis's habits - whenever this guy packed for a trip, there was never the slightest bit of order, and he never categorized anything.

He would just grab whatever came to mind and toss it into the nearest suitcase or backpack until it was time to leave. So his bags were often a hodgepodge mess. If lucky, you might dig out something useful, but if unlucky, the whole bag might be filled with all sorts of bizarre \"junk\".

Xia Chuan stared at Dennis's hands, watching as he pulled things out of the bag one by one -

Two bundles of soaked clothing, two small bottles of soda water, a Swiss army knife... as well as a circular disk engraved with numbers and rulers of various sizes. Its purpose was unclear, but it matched the strange style of things Dennis usually collected.

Dennis sat there and emptied over half of his backpack, but so far there were only a handful of things that looked like they might come in handy.

Shen Lan watched from the side for a while, then picked up the Swiss army knife to fiddle with it for a couple turns before tossing it back into the pile of items. Then, seeming a bit bored, he leaned against the cave wall and glanced at Xia Chuan a few times. Without a word, he circled around the fire pit and dove straight into the sea at the cave entrance.

Dennis glanced towards the entrance and muttered, \"Huh? What's he going out to fish for now?\"

As he spoke, he pulled the last bundle out of the backpack - it was a sealed waterproof bag where many items that couldn't get wet were stored.

Xia Chuan saw him take out a leather notebook with a pen clipped to it, a limited edition lighter, a spare cell phone, a power bank, a blue and white striped square pouch... and a black box, about the size of a business card and half a finger tall. It had a row of varicolored knobs on it, but the craftsmanship was a bit crude. The whole box didn't have a single letter visible, and the knobs had no corresponding labels, making it impossible to tell what the thing was at a glance.

After taking out these items, the first thing Dennis did was power on the spare cell phone to see how much battery was left, to know if it would be enough in an emergency, even just to use as a flashlight.

But after just a couple glances, he froze, staring unblinkingly at the phone screen. His brows furrowed tighter and tighter, as if he saw something that made him very puzzled.

","published_time":"2024-06-07T00:00:00.000Z","paid":false,"show_flag":true,"show_scheduled_time":"2024-05-31T00:00:00.000Z","unpaid_scheduled_time":"2024-06-07T00:00:00.000Z"},{"content_id":692,"novel_id":16,"chapter_no":7,"chapter_title":"Chapter 7","content":"

But at this moment, Xia Chuan's attention was not on Dennis' face.

Scattered around him were a pile of things that had been dumped out of Dennis' backpack, and Xia Chuan's gaze was fixed on the blue and white striped square bag.

He was quite familiar with this bag. Having known Dennis for several years, he felt that the only habit of Dennis worth encouraging was to carry this small square bag with him wherever he went, which contained some commonly used medicines.

Xia Chuan unceremoniously scooped up the square bag, unzipped it, and rummaged around inside with his thin, pale index finger, occasionally picking up a box to read the instructions in the firelight.

After some picking and choosing, he finally found a small bottle of painkillers and a box of anti-inflammatory medicine.

\"It's strange, in this godforsaken place, the cell phone signal is actually - huh? What medicine are you taking? What's wrong, Chuan?\"

Dennis was holding his spare cell phone, wondering what to say to Xia Chuan, but before he could finish, he saw Xia Chuan unscrewing the lid of a bottle of medicine and pouring two soybean-sized white pills into his palm.

He stopped talking, turned his head and scanned around, found the soda he had taken out, and hurriedly unscrewed it, \"Hey, the water is here - holy shit you -\"

Before Dennis could hand over the soda, he saw Xia Chuan casually toss the two pills into his mouth and swallow them dry, just like that.

\"Won't you really choke to death swallowing them dry like that?!\" Dennis held the water and stared at Xia Chuan for a few seconds, then grabbed the medicine bottle from his hand and took a look, \"Painkillers? You're really hurt? How did you get hurt? Where are you hurt? Is it serious?\"

He asked questions like a machine gun, one after another, making people's ears buzz, not knowing which one to answer first, so Xia Chuan simply didn't answer any of them.

His throat was already burning and extremely dry. Having just eaten ammonite meat and dry-swallowed two large bitter pills, his throat felt even more uncomfortable. He was too lazy to open his mouth and find trouble for himself, so he took the small bottle of soda from Dennis' hand and drank a small mouthful to moisten his throat that was dry to the point of catching fire.

Then he took apart two more capsules with anti-inflammatory effects and swallowed them down with a small mouthful of water.

Dennis: \"...What medicine are you taking now? Is it okay to take two kinds together? Don't you look at the side effects and instructions?\"

In the three years they had known each other, Dennis had never seen Xia Chuan get sick, but he had seen him get injured. When it came to treating his own injuries and illnesses, he was so perfunctory that even a dog wouldn't be able to stand it.

Whether it was a gunshot wound or a cold weapon injury, he would just take out a couple of anti-inflammatory tablets and swallow them, then simply disinfect the wound, his movements so rough that just watching made one feel a searing pain, but he wouldn't even furrow his brow, as if he was treating someone else's injury.

Then he would wrap a bandage around the wound a couple of times to make a point.

Xia Chuan had an extremely low affinity for things like bandages, because once they were wrapped on, they always made his movements much more stiff. So he could only endure it for two days at most.

As long as the wound began to show signs of scabbing and scarring, he would tear off the cumbersome bandages and do whatever he needed to do.

Dennis had nagged him many times about his habit of treating anti-inflammatory drugs as a \"panacea\".

He himself felt that his tongue was going to develop calluses, but that moving iceberg just let it go in one ear and out the other, not taking it to heart at all, and the next time he was injured, it was the same - he was as particular about eating as he was perfunctory about taking medicine, never able to get on the same track.

Xia Chuan took the painkillers and anti-inflammatory capsules, drank a couple more small mouthfuls of soda to moisten his throat, and felt that his throat was more comfortable than before. Only then did he open his mouth and say to Dennis, as if words were gold, \"What about the signal, continue.\"

Dennis: \"...\" Great, a whole string of questions asked, not a single answer.

However, he also knew that Xia Chuan never liked to mention his injuries, so he didn't continue to ask. Reminded by Xia Chuan, he finally remembered what he was going to say before -

Dennis held up the spare cell phone in his hand, waved it in front of Xia Chuan, turned the screen towards Xia Chuan, and said, \"See the signal bars in the upper left corner, please take a good look, and then tell me loudly if this is fucking full bars or not? Let me confirm if I'm blind! In this godforsaken place, with nothing but prehistoric animals, primeval forests and the sea everywhere... there's actually a signal? And full bars? This is fucking ridiculous!\"

But who knew that after staring at the phone screen for a few seconds, Xia Chuan suddenly said, \"No signal.\"

\"Huh?!\" Dennis blinked, retracted his hand, lowered his head and took another hard look at the screen, almost gouging out his eyeballs and sticking them directly on the screen.

The upper left corner of the spare phone, where the signal was displayed, did indeed show three words - \"No Service\".

\"Huh? How can that be - so before it was just because it had just been turned on and the phone status hadn't reacted yet?\" As Dennis spoke, his eyes remained glued to the screen, puzzled, when he saw the three words \"No Service\" flash twice and disappear, and then the signal bars became full again.

Dennis: \"...What's going on?\" As soon as he finished speaking, the signal bars started going crazy again - one bar for a while, three bars for a while, then full bars again.

In less than a minute, the entire signal bar flashed crazily as if it had lost its mind.

Seeing him staring at the phone in a daze for a long time without moving, Xia Chuan frowned and asked hoarsely, \"What's wrong?\"

Dennis gave a dry laugh and said in an almost monotonous tone, \"Hehe, I think it's probably really haunted... If I get a call at this time, I won't be surprised -\"

Before he could finish his sentence, the spare phone in his hand suddenly started vibrating, \"Buzz - buzz -\".

\"Surprised... indeed...\" Dennis squeezed out the last two words from his throat, then his hand trembled and the phone dropped to the ground with a \"plop\", the glowing screen facing up, continuing to vibrate \"buzz buzz\" against the uneven stone cave floor.

Xia Chuan glanced at Dennis, then let his gaze fall on the phone screen, which displayed the caller's name - Gerald Weimer.

This person was not a stranger to Xia Chuan. Rather than his name, he was more accustomed to another way of referring to this man - that German guy who always had a stern face. This was how Dennis described him every time he mentioned him, and Dennis had just talked about him less than ten minutes ago.

This person, just a day ago, or roughly a day, had been on the same cruise ship as them. Later, like them, he had broken out of the cabin and fallen into the sea.

The only difference was - Xia Chuan and Dennis were still alive, while Gerald... was probably sleeping in the deep sea by now.

In this seemingly prehistoric hellhole, the cell phone actually still had a signal and could receive incoming calls, and this call came from a dead man...

The color drained from Dennis's face almost instantly as he stared at the phone, but he didn't dare to reach out and touch it.

Xia Chuan, whose courage knew no bounds, glanced at him, then simply picked up the phone, hit the answer button, and put it to his ear.

","published_time":"2024-06-14T00:00:00.000Z","paid":false,"show_flag":true,"show_scheduled_time":"2024-05-31T00:00:00.000Z","unpaid_scheduled_time":"2024-06-14T00:00:00.000Z"},{"content_id":693,"novel_id":16,"chapter_no":8,"chapter_title":"Chapter 8","content":"

Dennis, who was standing beside Xia Chuan, gasped in shock at his actions. After thinking for a moment, he held his breath and nervously moved closer to the phone.

After the call connected, Xia Chuan didn't make a sound. He just listened to the phone with a cold, expressionless face--

At first, there was a deathly silence on the other end of the line, as if challenging one's psychological endurance, so quiet that it made people feel uneasy.

Fortunately it was Xia Chuan holding the phone. If it were Dennis, he probably would have dropped the phone from trembling before the other party made a sound.

After about ten seconds of silence, a strange electric current noise suddenly started, buzzing and chirping, somewhat shrill, grating on the ears uncomfortably, making Xia Chuan frown.

The electric current noise fluctuated, seemingly affected by the intermittently strong and weak signal, stuttering on and off.

Xia Chuan patiently endured this ear-scraping noise and listened for a good while without saying a word. Then the electric current noise suddenly stopped as if a pause button had been pressed. After a one-second pause, a \"beep beep\" busy tone started.

He took the phone away from his ear without even lifting an eyelid, and slapped it back into Dennis's arms, telling him, \"Stop shaking, it's already hung up.\"

Dennis fumbled to hold the phone, finally stopping his sieve-like shaking. He took a deep breath to calm himself a little, then opened the recent call log again.

Staring at the name at the very top, he patted his chest with one hand and muttered to himself like a lunatic for a long time, \"Horror movies are all fake, horror movies are all fake...\" Then he straightened his expression, and said to Xia Chuan with a serious face, \"I think there's a problem.\"

Xia Chuan: \"What problem? Explain.\"

\"This place is very strange. Whether it's the randomly jumping phone signal or that weird phone call just now, it makes me feel... that this place may not be as simple as just a prehistoric world.\" Dennis explained slowly, seemingly unable to find the right words to express his thoughts.

In fact, after hearing this, Xia Chuan was silent for several seconds before resisting the urge to roll his eyes at him, thinking this was simply nonsense.

As long as one has eyes and a brain, one can notice that something is wrong. Does this really need to be stated with a serious face saying \"I think\"?

People's minds can easily short-circuit in tense situations, and Dennis was probably in this state right now. He gestured with both hands many times but just couldn't express what he wanted to say. In the end, he could only give up and shrug, \"Alright, there's too little information. Let me observe some more.\"

With that said, he put down the phone, spread the wet pile of clothes and backpack on the rocks by the fire, stuffed the items he took out back into the waterproof bag one by one, then picked up that strange-looking, crudely made black box and started fiddling with it.

Watching him move back and forth, accompanied by the light crackling of the burning fire, Xia Chuan felt that the pain medication and anti-inflammatory drugs he swallowed seemed to be taking effect at the same time. The crushing pain all over his body eased quite a bit, gradually becoming not too hard to bear.

The events that happened on this day were complex and bizarre, not something that could be figured out in an instant. As for what kind of situation the world they were in now was exactly in, that was even more impossible to fully understand so quickly. Drawing conclusions now was really a bit too rash.

But one thing was certain - although this stone cave could serve as a shelter, it was only temporary. They couldn't possibly stay put here, huddling in the cave all day long.

Maybe tomorrow, maybe the day after... they would have to return to the shore eventually. After all, humans are creatures who feel at ease with their feet on the ground.

And before facing more unknown dangers, Xia Chuan decided to seize the temporary safety to rest up and recharge. Most importantly, he needed to heal his lower back as soon as possible -- in this kind of world, relying on someone like Dennis who barely had any muscle was no different from courting death.

Due to the special nature of his profession, Xia Chuan had maxed out his skill points in sleeping -- once he decided to sleep to recharge, he could quickly put himself into a sleep state within two to three minutes, then wake up at the appropriate time.

Therefore, even though the pain in his body had only eased a little, far from relaxed and comfortable, he still closed his eyes and quickly fell asleep.

From the time he suffered the shipwreck and sank into the deep sea, whether in a coma or asleep, Xia Chuan kept dreaming of the same scene -- several ghastly pale faces gradually floated up from the depths of the sea. Then, when they were about to reach the surface, allowing Xia Chuan to see their features clearly, they would suddenly scatter cleanly like bubbles in the water, leaving no trace to be found.

After this scene repeated itself several times, Xia Chuan vaguely heard howling wind in his sleep, one gust after another, continuous and unending.

About a dozen seconds later, Xia Chuan suddenly opened his eyes. His pupils were a bit light, a watery brown color, looking very bright and clear under the dancing firelight, not at all dazed like someone who had just woken up from sleep.

Rather he seemed like someone who had been resting with his eyes closed, pondering over matters.

\"You're awake?\" Dennis's voice rang out. Xia Chuan looked over and saw the guy crouching at the cave entrance, not knowing what he was looking at. His speech was quite a bit faster than usual, his voice tense, sounding very nervous. \"That's good then. Trouble is coming.\"

\"What trouble?\" Xia Chuan frowned and listened carefully for a moment, then understood what Dennis meant -- a storm was brewing, it was really unsafe to stay out at sea.

\"This cave is too low, the sea surface outside is at a very dangerous distance from the bottom of the cave. If a storm kicks up, triggering giant waves to crash this way, it will only take a few hits before this stone cave is flooded. By then, it will be hard for us to leave. The feeling of drowning to death is really too miserable, I don't want to experience it again in this lifetime.\"

The weather here was even more capricious than the Bermuda, changing on a whim. Before Dennis spoke, the wind wasn't that strong yet. By the time Dennis finished a sentence, the howling outside had intensified by at least double.

The sea surface was stirred into chaos by the sudden storm, with giant waves one after another. White, foaming waves splashed into the stone cave several times, showing no signs of abating, but instead growing stronger... Soon, the floor of the stone cave was covered in a layer of water.

The water was rising rapidly. What was originally just a thin layer of water had already submerged half of their lower legs after two huge waves crashed in.

It all happened in the blink of an eye. If it continued at this speed, most of the stone cave would be flooded within just three or four minutes.

Xia Chuan was thankful that his waist and back were strong and resilient. Despite being hit by the mosasaurus's tail, his spine wasn't broken. Though it hurt, with the help of medication and gritting his teeth, he could at least stand up.

The blue flame that Shen Lan had ignited in the cave had been extinguished by the incoming waves. The cave was now pitch black. Fortunately, Dennis had already packed his scattered belongings into his half-dry backpack earlier, saving them the trouble of fumbling for things in the water.

But even with everyone awake and their belongings gathered, it was of no use because they couldn't find anything to help them reach the shore.

Watching the water level rise higher and higher, with the huge waves unrelenting and the howling of the storm growing louder, Xia Chuan grabbed a protruding rock at the cave entrance. He stuck his head out to scan the outer cliff face, then turned to Dennis and said decisively, \"Let's go, climb out!\"

\"Cl-climb out? What do you mean?!\" Dennis was startled. With his backpack on, he also poked his head out and looked at the outer wall of the stone cave, following Xia Chuan's gaze.

He then said in a near-crying tone, \"Do we have to climb? The top of this stone cave is so high, and the outer wall is even taller and shaking so much. What if we accidentally fall halfway?\"

If there were any other temporary shelter options, Xia Chuan wouldn't have suggested this. But now, apart from leaving the cave, climbing along the outer wall to reach higher ground, and finding some cover to rely on, there was no second path to choose.

Seeing that the water had already reached their waists and even higher giant waves were still crashing towards them, Xia Chuan was already half out of the cave when suddenly, with a \"splash,\" Shen Lan's handsome face emerged from the water. He stood steadily beside Xia Chuan, wiping the water droplets from his face and shaking his hair. He grabbed Xia Chuan's wrist, stopping his movement.

Xia Chuan was stunned by his sudden appearance and hadn't yet reacted when he heard Shen Lan actually speak, his voice low and slightly hoarse, with a somewhat strange pronunciation, saying, \"Come, I'll take you ashore.\"

\"What about... me...\" The forgotten Dennis felt like crying at that moment. He held back again and again, but finally couldn't help himself and said to Xia Chuan, \"Did you two really not know each other before? Or did I offend him in the past and then lose my memory?\"

Xia Chuan: \"...\"

","published_time":"2024-06-21T00:00:00.000Z","paid":false,"show_flag":true,"show_scheduled_time":"2024-05-31T00:00:00.000Z","unpaid_scheduled_time":"2024-06-21T00:00:00.000Z"},{"content_id":719,"novel_id":16,"chapter_no":9,"chapter_title":"Chapter 9","content":"

Indeed, Shen Lan's attitude was quite strange--

It was already evident when they were dividing the ammonite meat in the cave earlier, just not as obvious. At that time, Dennis was starving and Xia Chuan was in extreme pain. Their minds were in a chaotic mess from the successive changes, so they couldn't pay attention to it.

But now, Shen Lan was clearly only speaking to Xia Chuan, only concerned about Xia Chuan's life or death. As for Dennis, it was as if he didn't exist at all, never entering Shen Lan's eyes...

Such differentiation not only puzzled Dennis, but Xia Chuan was also very confused.

He prided himself on having a good memory, especially sensitive to people's appearances. Even if he just glanced at someone he brushed past on the street, he could basically remember them the next time. People he knew when he was young, even if it had been over a decade and they had grown up and changed, he could still recognize them at a glance.

He could be certain that in his decades of memories, there had never been someone like Shen Lan, let alone any ties or history between them.

Xia Chuan was rapidly recalling some details in his mind, but his face remained calm. He just subtly shook his head at Dennis, indicating that he was also unclear.

Dennis subconsciously glanced at Shen Lan, then opened his mouth and said in an extremely low voice: \"Or maybe he had seen you before on his own?\"

Xia Chuan shook his head again: \"Impossible.\"

Because he had made eye contact with Shen Lan, and that was definitely not the look in the eyes of someone seeing an acquaintance.

When Shen Lan looked at him, although there was no hostility in his eyes, there was also no emotion, only the purest curiosity and inquisitiveness. In the end, he was still looking at a stranger. Even just now when Shen Lan said \"take you ashore\", there was nothing extra like familiarity in his gaze, rather a bit...

The expression Dennis had when looking at pet fish inappropriately popped into Xia Chuan's mind again.

Xia Chuan: \"......\" What nonsense is this!

He impatiently waved away the fleeting thoughts in his mind--they were all lively people. At most Shen Lan had an advantage in skills and physique, but it wasn't to the point of looking at him and Dennis like ants or fish. He just felt that the medicine's side effects were a bit strong and his mind wasn't clear enough.

In the time it took for Xia Chuan and Dennis to hesitate for two sentences, the water had already submerged their chests.

Shen Lan had obviously heard their conversation. His gaze shifted from Xia Chuan to Dennis, sweeping over him very indifferently.

The latter's pitiful appearance clearly had no effect on him. Shen Lan expressionlessly withdrew his gaze, his large hand grasping Xia Chuan's wrist. Without even taking a deep breath, he plunged into the water, making a move to swim out.

The instant he dove in, he saw the half-torn shirt tied around his waist. He seemed to remember that it had been stripped from Dennis. So he stopped his forward momentum in the water, blinked, and poked his head out again.

But the force of his hand was incredibly strong, unlike what a normal person could have. Even for the agile Xia Chuan, it was difficult to steady himself. In the tightening and loosening, he was pulled out of the cave entrance by inertia. His left hand, trying to grab Dennis, heavily scraped against the cave edge, stinging fiercely. He didn't know if the skin had been broken.

Shen Lan changed his mind because of a barely concealing shirt, but his attitude towards Dennis didn't change in the slightest.

He gestured to Xia Chuan who had fallen into the water, signaling him to wait a moment. Then he dove into the water, made a stroke towards the cave entrance, and pressed against the cave wall.

His movements in the water were even more agile than on land. His left hand grabbed a protruding rock at the cave edge, his right hand reached out and accurately grabbed Dennis' ankle in the water. Without a word, he simply and roughly pulled Dennis directly from the cave edge into the sea.

The startled Dennis, who didn't react in time, let out a miserable scream as he was pulled into the water by the sudden force on his foot. He swallowed a large mouthful of bitter seawater, his eyes stinging so badly that he couldn't open them.

Xia Chuan, floating to the side, saw Dennis wailing and rolling out of the cave, splashing up countless sprays of water. When his hand accidentally touched Xia Chuan, he clung to him like a lifeline, using both hands and feet, sticking to Xia Chuan like an octopus: \"Help--Ow--Help!\"

Shen Lan rolled his eyes to the sky, peeled the guy off Xia Chuan. Ignoring his struggles, he tilted his head at Xia Chuan and uttered a word: \"Breathe.\"

His pronunciation was still very strange, and his tone was very low, as if he was unwilling to expend effort to speak. Coupled with Dennis' struggles beside him and the huge crashing waves, it was almost impossible to make out what he was saying. But Xia Chuan instantly understood his meaning and nodded, taking a deep breath.

As soon as the oxygen entered his mouth, Xia Chuan felt his wrist tighten. A huge force dragged him through the waves in the sea. Countless splashing waves and spray hit his face, making it impossible for him to open his eyes.

Because his eyes were closed, he couldn't see the surroundings, only hearing the constant sound of breaking water beside his ears and Dennis' intermittent screams--just from the feeling of the waves hitting his face, he could sense that the speed at which Shen Lan was leading them forward was terrifyingly fast.

It was as if he and Dennis were not being pulled forward by a person, but being propelled by a water thruster.

After a good while, he finally understood why Shen Lan specifically reminded him to take a deep breath before setting off. It was because Shen Lan swam at a deeper position than normal, and he could hardly feel Shen Lan's movements of surfacing to breathe.

From beginning to end, he and Dennis had no chance to poke their mouth and nose out of the water to take a breath of oxygen. They were relying solely on that one breath before departure.

It was just that the air in this alternate world seemed to have a higher oxygen content than the normal world. Xia Chuan felt that the duration supported by this one breath was longer than usual.

When he finally began to feel suffocated and uncontrollably anxious, he felt Shen Lan, who was pulling him, suddenly pause. Then his waist and back were scooped up by someone, and his whole body was straightened. He took a deep breath and wiped the water from his face with his hand. As he straightened up, he instinctively paddled with his feet to keep himself afloat on the surface.

However, during the motion, his feet seemed to touch something strange. The object was quite thick, and the feeling of his feet hitting it was like touching very firm muscles, yet somewhat different - the texture was slippery and a bit cool.

Xia Chuan paused in the motion of wiping the water from his face and instinctively looked down, but the night was dark, the storm unabated, and the sea was full of spray and foam churned up by the waves, making it impossible for him to see what was beneath the surface.

Did he hit a fish? But it wouldn't have stayed put after being bumped by his feet several times, would it?

Still puzzled, he paddled again with his feet, but this time he didn't touch anything.

At this point, Shen Lan had already let go of his hand and paddled a few steps to the side, then raised his hand and pointed. Xia Chuan looked in the direction of his finger and saw dark trees stretching endlessly, extending to the horizon not far from them - they had reached the shore.

Because Shen Lan had stopped abruptly, the half-dead Dennis flailed in the water and howled a few more times, \"God! Don't... ugh... don't let go! I... I'm not good at water... Ow...\"

Sputtering out a couple words while gulping down water was simply unbearable to watch.

Xia Chuan grabbed him and paddled forward a few steps, then patted his shoulder and said coldly, \"Shut up and straighten your legs.\"

Dennis was crying and shouting, not taking in Xia Chuan's words at all. As a result, Shen Lan clicked his tongue impatiently beside them, shaking his head, seeming very intolerant of this kind of high-decibel noise. He dived into the water and rummaged around for a while, then emerged and, without a second word, unceremoniously stuffed a round, snail-like object directly into Dennis's mouth.

Dennis: \"...\" Startled by this sudden action, he instinctively kicked his feet, only to step on a soft patch of ground.

","published_time":"2024-06-28T00:00:00.000Z","paid":false,"show_flag":true,"show_scheduled_time":"2024-06-07T00:00:00.000Z","unpaid_scheduled_time":"2024-06-28T00:00:00.000Z"},{"content_id":746,"novel_id":16,"chapter_no":10,"chapter_title":"Chapter 10","content":"

After stumbling out of the water and onto the shore, the three of them took a few more steps and found a giant rock on the shore that was shielded from the wind to lean against and rest for a bit.

Of course, it was mainly the injured Xia Chuan and the half-dead Dennis who needed to catch their breath. As for Shen Lan, who had done the real work, he was fine, leaning against the rock with his arms crossed. His eyes glinted with a hint of light in the darkness, staring intently at the woods ahead, as if pondering something.

That half-torn shirt was still tied around Shen Lan's waist. Who knows how he tied the knot, but even after swimming through the waves for so long, it hadn't loosened. However, because it was soaked with seawater, the fabric clung tightly to his body.

Fortunately, it was the middle of the night and there was a storm, so it was very gloomy with little light. Otherwise, whether the shirt was wrapped around him or not probably wouldn't make much difference.

Of course, Xia Chuan's attention was not on the shirt. During the break, he glanced at Shen Lan's legs a few times.

With such a tall stature, Shen Lan's legs were naturally long and straight, with beautiful, symmetrical, and sturdy muscle lines, full of strength. His bare feet had distinct tendons and bones, with protruding ankles and a clear depression behind them, looking very lean, but a size larger than Xia Chuan's and Dennis'.

Such legs and feet were indeed suitable for swimming, so it was understandable that he could swim fast.

But... no matter how fast, it couldn't be as fast as having a motor installed, right?

Xia Chuan turned his head and looked towards the sea. In his line of sight, the white waves were howling, and he couldn't see the reef where they had been before, let alone calculate the distance.

Dennis was half-collapsed like a dead dog, sitting against the ground. From time to time, he would pinch his nose and cough up some water. Seeing Xia Chuan's action, he couldn't help but peek out from the edge of the boulder and look back, then clicked his tongue and said, \"We must have swam several hundred meters just now. The splashing water hitting the face was no different from bullets, making it numb.\"

Shen Lan, who was standing beside them with his arms crossed, glanced at him from under his eyelids, neither refuting nor agreeing, and continued to stare at his woods.

But Xia Chuan did some calculations in his mind - when he freedived on weekdays, he could hold his breath for a little over three minutes after taking a deep breath before going down and coming up. This time, when they reached the shore, he was just starting to feel a bit anxious.

According to Dennis, they swam several hundred meters. Taking the middle value and assuming five hundred meters, completing it in three minutes was a bit too exaggerated, not to mention the wind and waves on the sea, and Shen Lan was dragging two men who were over 1.8 meters tall.

Moreover, judging from the force of the splashing water hitting their faces along the way and the sensation of the water flowing past their bodies... Based on his past experience, Xia Chuan determined that Shen Lan's speed should be even faster than what he had just calculated.

Is this something an ordinary person can achieve?

Xia Chuan couldn't help but glance at Shen Lan - this man was full of mysteries from head to toe.

Shen Lan, who was running around naked with a body full of mysteries, finally ran out of patience. He straightened his body and looked down at Dennis. He moved his right foot, probably wanting to kick him a couple of times to indicate that he could get up and move his muscles and bones, but then he thought about it and was too lazy to touch him.

So he took a long step, straddled over Dennis' legs, walked to Xia Chuan's side, patted his shoulder, then raised his hand and pointed to the woods, saying, \"Go in.\"

His stiff pronunciation and the habit of spitting out one word at a time made it clear that he hadn't spoken for a long time.

Xia Chuan didn't find it strange or ridiculous, as long as he could understand. But Shen Lan himself seemed to mind a bit. Basically, if he could express it with body movements, he would resolutely not open his mouth, appearing extremely sparing with his words.

However, being taciturn did not affect the weight of his words.

He was strong, skillful, and seemed to have lived in this strange place for a long time, having some experience and no obvious hostility. So Xia Chuan had not opposed his previous suggestions and actions.

But this time, Xia Chuan did not move towards the woods as he said.

Dennis, hugging his distress backpack, leaned against the boulder and stood up. Not paying attention to his footing, he stumbled a couple of steps towards the woods after being tripped by a protruding rock. But as soon as he steadied himself, he swallowed his saliva and retreated.

Shen Lan turned his head and looked at Xia Chuan in confusion, pointing to the woods again, obviously not understanding why the two of them weren't moving.

\"This... this is the woods we saw during the day, right?\" Dennis slowly raised his head, looking at the trees in the woods, his voice seeming to be squeezed out of his throat.

Although he spoke vaguely, Xia Chuan knew what he was referring to - during the day when they woke up on the reef and saw the Mosasaurus in disbelief, they had heard the sound of dinosaurs from the woods not far from the shore, a mixture of elephant trumpeting and lion roaring. They also saw a dinosaur head poking out from the woods...

Xia Chuan \"hmmed\" and paused for a moment before shaking his head and saying, \"Maybe not.\"

In this weather, with no stars or moon, it was very difficult to determine the direction. Who knows if it was the same woods where dinosaurs appeared during the day.

But even if it wasn't the same one, it didn't mean anything. He had never heard of an area where one patch of woods was full of dinosaurs while another was full of game suitable for settling down.

Xia Chuan didn't think it was a wise move to rashly rush into an unknown primeval forest at night with limited visibility. The possibility of delivering a late-night snack to the dinosaurs was greater.

So he shook his head at Shen Lan and flatly refused, \"It's too risky to go in at night.\"

Dennis silently retreated a couple of steps behind Xia Chuan, taking a stand, \"This forest looks too scary. Who knows what we'll encounter if we go in. Let's wait until daylight to talk about it.\"

The two of them sat back down against the reef rock that shielded them from the wind, looking very much like they were going to tough it out for the night here first.

Shen Lan blinked and looked at them, then at the woods, his gaze going back and forth several times. Finally, he couldn't help but say in his stiff accent, \"It's cold here.\"

Xia Chuan didn't know where this place was geographically, whether it was south or north, or in which zone. But the temperature during the day was indeed a bit lower than in Bermuda, and it was also quite cold at night. It was fine in the cave with a fire before, but now that they had come to the shore, relying only on a boulder to block the wind was not enough.

They had just swam all the way here from the sea, soaking wet. Now, the cold and sticky clothes clinging to their skin felt very uncomfortable.

But being cold was always better than losing your life.

Shen Lan pointed at the woods and said, \"What are you afraid of?\"

Dennis couldn't help but say, \"Dinosaurs. You don't know, when we woke up on the reef during the day, we couldn't believe we had arrived at such a ghostly place. As a result, we turned our heads and saw a Mosasaurus floating on the water, less than five meters away from us! There was also a head that looked a bit like a Tyrannosaurus, right in the forest by the shore!\"

He seemed to be afraid that Shen Lan wouldn't understand the sense of crisis, so he emphasized, \"The Tyrannosaurus is a killer-level creature on land! There's nothing in its living area that can contend with it! And the Mosasaurus... Mosasaurus! The Mosasaurus is at the top of the food chain among sea beasts. Basically, if you enter its eyes, you're on its menu. It dares to eat anything! I was so scared I almost peed myself...\"

Shen Lan: \"...\"

Xia Chuan wasn't sure if it was an illusion, but he felt that Shen Lan's expression was a bit hard to describe, as if he had a toothache for a moment.

However, it only lasted a few seconds before Shen Lan's expression returned to normal. Then he moved his lips and rarely said a long sentence, \"It's just a Tyrannosaurus. There seems to be one, but most are something else. There's nothing to be afraid of.\"

Dennis: \"...\"

Xia Chuan: \"...\" Very good, now it was their turn to have a toothache.

","published_time":"2024-07-05T00:00:00.000Z","paid":false,"show_flag":true,"show_scheduled_time":"2024-06-14T00:00:00.000Z","unpaid_scheduled_time":"2024-07-05T00:00:00.000Z"},{"content_id":765,"novel_id":16,"chapter_no":11,"chapter_title":"Chapter 11","content":"

Living in such a bizarre alternate world, yet still having all limbs intact, without even a single hideous wound... this was enough to prove that Shen Lan handled all kinds of dangers with ease. Both Xia Chuan and Dennis could figure this out.

However, no matter how experienced or capable they were, what they were facing were dinosaurs - gigantic beasts that were several stories tall, weighed tons, and had bite forces and attack powers that could scare ghosts to death! Was it really okay to be so nonchalant about it?!

But Shen Lan's expression was solemn, without a hint of joking.

Xia Chuan and Dennis were stunned into silence by his words for several minutes. Finally, following the topic, Xia Chuan said, \"It seems you have a lot of experience dealing with these behemoths... Have you been here for a long time?\"

Shen Lan was taken aback by the question, \"Here?\"

\"Yes--\" Dennis raised his hand and casually gestured around, \"This place crawling with dinosaurs. To be honest, I still don't know what word to use to describe it. Region? World? Era? Is this time travel, or did we accidentally stumble into some area?\"

Shen Lan slightly furrowed his brows, as if not quite understanding what Dennis meant, or as if trying hard to recall. After a good while, he finally spoke, \"Can't remember.\"

\"Huh?\" Dennis opened his mouth.

Xia Chuan also looked up at him, happening to meet Shen Lan's eyes, which were a beautiful color.

Shen Lan shrugged and added, \"Didn't count the days.\"

\"Uh... I know you didn't count the days, but...\" Dennis looked at Shen Lan in a daze, then turned to Xia Chuan.

But normally, when encountering such a bizarre situation and coming to such an abnormal place, wouldn't people think about when they could get out? They would subconsciously be very sensitive to time. Some would keep track day by day, and even if they didn't, they would have a rough number, like it's been over a week or almost a month.

But Shen Lan's reaction made it seem like he hadn't paid any attention to time at all. Sunrise and sunset were just natural phenomena to him, and he continued to live his life, surviving in this alternate world.

With this mentality... it was completely as if he intended to live here from now on!

Seeing Shen Lan's reaction, Xia Chuan felt that pressing this one question wouldn't yield much information, so he changed the subject, \"By the way, where did you find us? I lost consciousness after being hit by the mosasaur's tail, and thought I had no chance of surviving. But when I woke up, I saw you. Thank you.\"

He felt there were too many mysteries surrounding Shen Lan and wanted to extract some information - such as how he managed to rescue two people from the jaws of a sea beast like the mosasaur and escape safely. After all, it was a bit unbelievable.

As a result, after listening intently to his question, Shen Lan solemnly replied, \"You're welcome.\"

Xia Chuan: \"...\"

On the other hand, Dennis exclaimed, grabbing Xia Chuan and shouting, \"What?! What did I just hear? My God - you were hit by a mosasaur's tail?! So earlier in the cave, the reason you couldn't move was because you were injured by the mosasaur?\"

Xia Chuan swatted his paw away and grunted in affirmation.

\"What exactly happened?\"

Dennis pestered him several times, so Xia Chuan briefly summarized, \"I wanted to pull you away from the reef, but the mosasaur's tail slammed into my back. That's it.\"

Shen Lan suddenly turned his head to look at the sea, his gaze deep as he... scratched his cheek, as if the sound of the waves was too loud and drowned out what Xia Chuan said, making it seem like he didn't hear it.

Although Xia Chuan was talking to Dennis, his attention was always on Shen Lan, trying to glean information from his every move.

So when Shen Lan made a movement, Xia Chuan glanced at him. He wasn't sure if it was his imagination, but he felt that Shen Lan's little action of scratching his chin somehow exuded a sense of awkwardness. But before he could think more about it, Dennis grabbed his arm and started making a fuss.

His train of thought interrupted, Xia Chuan impatiently turned his head and coldly said, \"What?\"

\"What?\" Dennis repeated Xia Chuan's words in a tone of disbelief, \"You're actually asking me what? Do you know how big and heavy a mosasaur is? The one we encountered today was nearly twenty meters long, so based on proportions, it must weigh at least thirty tons! Even if the tail accounts for half, that's still fifteen tons! Imagine being whacked on the head by a fifteen-ton object.\"

Xia Chuan: \"...\"

Dennis only realized after saying the last sentence that the person in front of him had already experienced it, so he patted his mouth and said, \"That's not the point. The point is... don't you find it incredible, Chuan? A fifteen-ton object slammed into your back, and you just took some painkillers and anti-inflammatory medicine. Now you can still stand here alive and well...\"

He deliberately emphasized the words \"alive\" and \"stand\".

Xia Chuan was stunned for a moment - when he experienced it himself, he only felt fortunate to have survived and didn't have the energy to think about anything else. Now, hearing Dennis describe it this way, it indeed sounded incredible.

He couldn't help but reach back and touch his waist and back. It still hurt when he pressed his fingers, and there was a tearing pain in his muscles and bones if he bent over or straightened up too much. But the fact was that he could indeed stand up without external support, and it had only been a few hours since he woke up from unconsciousness.

\"Maybe--\" Xia Chuan opened his mouth and had just said two words when he heard Shen Lan beside him scratch his cheek and turn his head to interject, \"Maybe it was just a light tap.\"

Then he quickly turned his head back and continued to gaze at the sea with a profound look.

Xia Chuan: \"...\"

Dennis chuckled dryly a couple of times, then raised his hand to gesture, \"For a mosasaur, a light tap is like a four or five hundred pound fat man being airdropped from a hundred meters high and landing butt-first on your waist. Crack - if not dead, then crippled.\"

He even mimicked the sound effect of bones breaking in his vivid description.

Xia Chuan, who had nearly ended up dead or crippled: \"... Alright, shut up.\"

Shen Lan turned his face again and looked at Dennis for a few seconds with a \"how can you be so annoying\" expression, which made Dennis feel a bit apprehensive and bewildered.

He was too lazy to waste time with Xia Chuan and Dennis on this issue, so he raised his hand again, pointed at the woods, and asked for confirmation, \"Are you sure you don't want to go in and freeze for the night here?\"

Dennis silently hugged his backpack tightly, stiffened his neck and said, \"Yes, I'm not afraid of freezing. I brought medicine.\"

Hearing him mention entering the woods repeatedly, Xia Chuan asked, \"Is the place you're staying also in these woods?\"

Shen Lan had been living in this alternate world for so long that he had lost track of the days. He must have a place to stay, after all, he was human, unlike the animals scurrying around everywhere. He couldn't just find a random place to sleep every day and move on the next.

According to normal human habits, when you finally meet some fellow sufferers in such a desolate place, the first reaction would probably be to bring them back to where you're staying and settle them in.

Who knew Shen Lan would shake his head and say, \"No, it's not.\"

Xia Chuan was stunned, \"Then where do you live?\"

Shen Lan pointed to the turbulent sea and said, \"I live there.\"

Dennis: \"...\"

Xia Chuan: \"...\"

Before they could react, Shen Lan impatiently moved his neck left and right, as if he had finally lost interest in a toy he had been playing with for most of the day. He lifted his foot and walked towards the sea, leaving only a sentence to the two behind the boulder, \"Suit yourselves.\"

Then he plunged into the dark seawater.

Dennis gaped for a long time, pointed to where Shen Lan had disappeared, and blurted out, \"Is this guy kidding me?\"

","published_time":"2024-07-12T00:00:00.000Z","paid":false,"show_flag":true,"show_scheduled_time":"2024-06-21T00:00:00.000Z","unpaid_scheduled_time":"2024-07-12T00:00:00.000Z"},{"content_id":783,"novel_id":16,"chapter_no":12,"chapter_title":"Chapter 12","content":"

By this point, Xia Chuan and Dennis finally realized that all their assumptions about \"what a normal person would do in this situation\" were completely useless when it came to Shen Lan. This guy simply did not follow common sense and was always striving to go against it.

Dennis hugged his black backpack in disbelief and chased after him for another dozen meters or so, his feet almost stepping into the seawater lapping the shore.

He craned his neck to look around the sea, then hugged his backpack and ran back with one foot deep and one foot shallow, sitting back down behind the boulder.

He pointed his thumb towards the sea and said to Xia Chuan, \"He... he really jumped in, disappeared as soon as he dove in, it's really weird!\"

After saying that, he swallowed his saliva and stared blankly for a while, then seemed to remember something and lowered his head to rummage through his bag. After only a few moments, he suddenly raised his head to look at Xia Chuan, his lips trembling, \"Chuan... you don't think he's really a ghost, do you?!\"

Xia Chuan gave him a cool look, \"What kind of nonsense have you been studying in the lab all day?\"

\"It's a different matter...\" Dennis argued, \"I do energy efficiency calculations, although I occasionally visit the biology group next door, but that's just to chat with Professor Linton, and nine times out of ten he's telling me about his little dinosaur babies. Now that I think about it, it's a good thing I listened to some of it, otherwise coming to this kind of ghostly place would be like being in the dark--\"

He glanced at Xia Chuan and rubbed his nose, adding, \"Well, I guess being able to tell what kind of dinosaur it is doesn't seem to be of much use.\"

Xia Chuan didn't respond to him, but instead scanned the surroundings.

The wind and waves on the sea still showed no signs of stopping, and the sound of the tides came one after another, never ceasing. The temperature also gradually dropped along with it. Although it couldn't be described as \"cold\", it was still chilling to the bone, especially for two people who were soaking wet all over.

Dennis was almost counting his goosebumps as they popped up one patch after another. He rubbed his arms, and just as he was about to shiver, he saw Xia Chuan stand up, leaning against the boulder.

\"You... why are you suddenly standing-- eh? Where are you going?\" He had only said half of his sentence when he saw Xia Chuan suddenly walk towards the direction of the woods.

He hesitated for a moment, but still hugged his backpack and followed, \"Chuan, you don't want to go into the woods, do you?\"

As soon as he finished speaking, he saw Xia Chuan turn his head and raise his hand at him, making a \"stop\" gesture. Dennis was very obedient and stopped in his tracks without a second word, even holding his breath.

Dennis stopped, but Xia Chuan himself did not stop, and instead continued to walk a few steps towards the woods. His legs were straight and slender, and when he took big strides, he walked very fast, but his landing was light and steady, like an agile and elegant black panther, silently walking to the edge of the woods in the deep night.

It looked fine from a distance, but when he got closer, Xia Chuan felt that the trees in this forest were all ridiculously tall, looming overhead in a dark and oppressive manner, with a very strong sense of pressure.

There was really no daylight at night, and it was so dark that even the outlines between the trees were indistinguishable, let alone identifying what kind of plants they were. However, Xia Chuan's purpose in approaching them was not to recognize their species.

He walked around the edge of the woods, carefully searching the ground between the trees with his eyes. Dennis, who was standing still in his original spot, didn't even dare to move his neck, and could only wait for Xia Chuan to return, stiff and apprehensive.

After a while, Dennis finally saw Xia Chuan leave the woods and walk back, and he breathed a sigh of relief.

It wasn't until he got closer that he realized that Xia Chuan was holding a pile of dry branches of varying thicknesses in his arms, and who knows how long he had spent in the woods picking out these not-too-damp ones.

Back at the boulder, Dennis very conscientiously dug a pit in the ground, while Xia Chuan piled the dry branches on top of the pit. His stacking of the branches was no less skilled than Shen Lan's, with just the right gaps, neither too dense nor too loose.

After stacking the wood pile, he took Dennis along the coast to gather a bunch of rocks of various sizes. He placed the two largest ones on either side of him and Dennis to block the wind, and used the slightly shorter ones to half-surround the wood pile, blocking both the diagonal wind and some of the firelight.

With everything arranged, he finally pressed his somewhat dully aching back and sat back down against the boulder, reaching out to pat the black backpack in Dennis' arms, saying, \"Lighter.\"

Dennis rummaged through his bag for a while, found the lighter from his waterproof bag and handed it to Xia Chuan, feeling for the first time that having a bag on him when going out was the most fortunate thing in the world.

However, Xia Chuan took the lighter and turned it around in his hand, but did not go to start the fire. Instead, he unceremoniously pulled open the mouth of Dennis' bag, his pale, slender fingers rummaging inside for a moment, and then pulled out Dennis' leather-bound notebook from the still-unsealed waterproof bag.

\"Hey-- that's my diary.\" Dennis called out instinctively.

Xia Chuan didn't even lift an eyelid, and said lightly, \"I'm not bored enough to want to peek at the contents of your diary.\" With that, he opened the notebook, tore out a blank page from the middle, and then handed the notebook back to Dennis, folding the page in half as he did so.

He held the paper in his left hand, turned the lighter in his right hand, and with a flick of his thumb, a thin, warm yellow flame lit up.

Xia Chuan singed the corner of the paper with the lighter, then tossed the rapidly burning page onto the stacked dry branches.

With the help of the paper for ignition, the dry branches quickly caught fire and began to burn quietly. Because the number of dry branches Xia Chuan had found was not too many and the thickness was just right, the resulting fire was not too big or too small. With the rocks blocking it, it was just enough for two people to warm up and dry their soaked clothes, but not so conspicuous as to attract unwanted things.

They had essentially used the rocks to surround themselves in a nest, with a not-too-big, not-too-small fire inside. The dry branches crackled as they burned, but were drowned out by the sound of the ocean waves and did not seem out of place. The heat dissipated with the flickering flames, warm and cozy, making the soaked clothes feel less cold and sticky, and instantly making the two of them much more comfortable.

Dennis rummaged through his bag for a while, and very considerately took out the previously opened bottle of soda and the medicine pack and handed them to Xia Chuan. In the current situation, Xia Chuan didn't have the time to study why his healing ability had become stronger.

Since the anti-inflammatory and pain relief medications were effective for his injuries, he continued taking them. The wound on his lower back significantly affected his agility, so the sooner he could recover, the better.

However, this time he didn't take the pain relief pills, only swallowing two anti-inflammatory tablets with a tiny sip of water before handing the items back to Dennis. Then, with his arms crossed, he leaned against the boulder and closed his eyes to rest, his breathing even and light, barely audible, as if he had fallen asleep in an instant.

Dennis carefully scanned the surroundings, thought for a moment, and scooted closer to Xia Chuan's side, nearly pressing against him as he sat. In this situation, the fact that this ancestor beside him, with his frighteningly strong psychological endurance, could rest calmly was something Dennis couldn't do. Let alone sleep, Dennis now felt that even blinking was a dangerous act, as if the moment he closed his eyes, a huge creature would dart out from the woods and bite off his head with a howl.

Although he was also very tired and sleepy, he could only force himself to stay awake by pinching and squeezing himself, torturing himself for a while. Finally, he couldn't resist taking something out of his bag to pass the time—

It was a black box, about the size of a large-screen mobile phone on the lid, and about ten centimeters high. One side had a simple electronic display, while the other had a row of knobs, red and yellow, filling up an entire palm.

When Xia Chuan saw this gadget before, he was completely baffled, having no idea what it was used for. But Dennis skillfully adjusted the row of knobs, some of which he turned several times without hesitation, while others he fine-tuned bit by bit with the tip of his finger.

From time to time, he would pick up the adjusted black box, hold it to his ear to listen for a while, then frown and continue, doing who knows what strange things.

It turned out that this hands-on activity was not much better than spacing out in terms of rescuing Dennis from his heavy drowsiness.

He hadn't fiddled with it for long before he started nodding off like a chicken pecking at rice. In the end, he simply hugged the black box as a hard pillow, curled up and lay on the lid, falling into a deep sleep...

After an unknown amount of time, the sky began to show a hazy light. The storm gradually subsided, the waves calmed, and just as the entire coast seemed much quieter, the black box in Dennis's hands suddenly emitted two \"buzzing\" sounds. The sound was slightly lower than the flapping of a mosquito's wings.

Even if someone was awake, a moment of distraction could easily cause them to overlook the sound, let alone if they were asleep.

However, Xia Chuan, who was leaning against the boulder, suddenly opened his eyes. His eyes were originally a light brown color, and with the flickering firelight reflected in them, they appeared exceptionally clear and bright, without a hint of sleepiness, clearly not the appearance of someone who had just woken up.

He frowned and sat up straight, then raised his hand to push Dennis's head aside and took the black box that Dennis was hugging.

Although Xia Chuan's movements were not large, they were definitely not small for Dennis. However, even after being moved around like this, Dennis still did not wake up. He only waved his hand as if shooing away flies, muttered a couple of indistinct words with a frown, then changed his posture and curled up to sleep again.

Xia Chuan looked at him with admiration: \"...\"

Xia Chuan had only seen the black box in his hands a few times in total. It looked a bit like a voltage and current meter used in laboratories, but with many more knobs and a different screen.

His slender fingers held the black box, turning it front and back, left and right. Then he turned to the side with the screen and carefully looked at the display for a while—just like the design of the black box, the display on the screen was also extremely simple. There was only a single line, fluctuating like an electrocardiogram.

Of course, it was difficult to discern the cycle.

The amplitude of the fluctuations was so small that at a glance, it seemed no different from a straight line. Only upon closer inspection could one see the tiny fluctuations on it.

However, there was not even half a letter of explanation on the screen as to what this fluctuating line corresponded to. The workmanship was so simple that it looked like a semi-finished product.

Xia Chuan frowned and looked at it for a long time but couldn't figure it out. He could only stuff it back into Dennis's arms.

He glanced left and right. The entire coast still seemed to have only him and Dennis as the two larger breathing creatures. Shen Lan, as he himself had said, had gone with Xia Chuan and the others. After diving into the sea, he had not appeared again, and it was unknown where his so-called landing place was in the sea.

Previously, Dennis had jokingly and fearfully said, \"He's not a ghost, is he?!\"

Although Xia Chuan had mocked him verbally, he had other thoughts in his mind. He felt that Shen Lan certainly couldn't be a ghost. After all, in a nonsensical direction, he at least had feet and a shadow, so what kind of ghost could he be? But as for whether Shen Lan was human... he really didn't dare to be certain.

Although this definition sounded equally absurd.

Just as Xia Chuan's thoughts were about to run in a philosophical direction, he vaguely smelled a scent of sea brine soaked in moisture. This fishy smell came faintly and inexplicably, as if it had silently come ashore and drifted to Xia Chuan's nose.

Normally, even if the fishy smell by the shore was strong, after resting here for a night, he should have long adapted to this scent and become numb to it, barely noticing it. But now, this smell suddenly became strong, and there was only one possibility—

Xia Chuan abruptly stood up, turned around in a swift and light motion. When his feet landed, there was almost no sound, like a feline with paw pads.

He stepped on a rock, leaned against the boulder, and glanced towards the sea. With just this one glance, his whole body tensed. However, he slapped his palm over Dennis's upturned face and said in a low voice, \"Get up!\"

Dennis was startled awake by the slap, the black box in his arms rolling to the ground. The sharp corner happened to poke his sole, causing him to cry out in pain. Hopping on one foot, he fully woke up.

Seeing Xia Chuan looking towards the sea, his first reaction was, \"What's wrong? Did that guy turn into a floating corpse and drift ashore?\"

","published_time":"2024-07-19T00:00:00.000Z","paid":false,"show_flag":true,"show_scheduled_time":"2024-06-28T00:00:00.000Z","unpaid_scheduled_time":"2024-07-19T00:00:00.000Z"},{"content_id":801,"novel_id":16,"chapter_no":13,"chapter_title":"Chapter 13","content":"

Xia Chuan's face remained expressionless, not responding to his words. He simply tilted his chin towards the direction of the sea and raised his index finger to his lips, making a shushing gesture. His fingers and face were both pale, lacking color due to his injuries. Against the dim light of dawn, they appeared especially cold.

Startled by his chilling demeanor, Dennis fell silent. He crouched down and crawled onto the boulder, poking his head out like a ferret stretching its neck to look around.

It was fine until he looked, but the moment he did, his calves trembled and he nearly fell back onto the ground in shock.

\"What is that!\" The words had barely left his throat before he swallowed them back, finally squeezing out a whisper. Xia Chuan narrowed his brown eyes, staring at the coastline for a moment before mouthing the answer: \"Snakes.\"

Black and white striped, bizarrely fake-looking snakes...

These were not some two-finger wide, half-meter long, rope-like thin snakes. Xia Chuan estimated that the snakes were thicker than tree trunks, at least ten meters long. Their size and eerie appearance immediately brought to mind the giant snakes from horror movies.

With one gaping maw, they could easily swallow a person whole, not even needing to tear them apart. A coil of their long tails could strangle an ox to death.

Dealing with one or two such snakes would be tough enough, let alone a whole group of them! But Xia Chuan and Dennis' luck was just that bad - as far as the eye could see, the entire coastline was densely packed with these snakes, if not hundreds, then at least seventy or eighty of them.

They probably normally lived in the shallow sea near the coast, but for some unknown reason, they had collectively come ashore and were now grandly slithering towards the two men. However, due to their large numbers, they appeared entangled and crowded, their patterns crisscrossing, making one's eyes go dizzy. So much so that when Dennis first glanced over, he didn't even realize what they were.

Although these strange snakes looked thick, heavy, and were crowding each other, their speed of advancement was astonishingly fast. One second their tail tips were still trailing in the fine white sea foam, and the next second they were nearly upon them!

It was precisely because of this that Xia Chuan had only woken Dennis up, but did not hurriedly pull him away from the boulder. In the face of these incredibly fast giant snakes, making a big commotion would only draw more of their attention. By then, forget escaping, they probably wouldn't even leave behind a corpse.

Seeing the giant snakes approaching, Xia Chuan abruptly turned Dennis around, pulling him to crouch with his back pressed against the boulder, one foot in front and the other behind, braced against the rock, maintaining a posture ready to exert force at any moment.

His right hand's three fingers supported him on the ground, while his left hand nimbly felt around his waist. A military knife emerged from its sheath into his palm, the blade thin but strong, gleaming with a chilling light.

This was a knife Xia Chuan had tossed to Dennis before setting out. As a result, this guy had exclaimed \"So cool!\" before stuffing the knife into the bottom of his black backpack, as if the knife wasn't meant for self-defense, but was a blessed talisman.

But it was fortunate that Dennis had stuffed it at the bottom of his bag as a talisman, otherwise Xia Chuan would now be facing the plague of giant snakes empty-handed.

The bonfire in front of them hadn't gone out yet, but the flames were much weaker than before. Still, having it was better than not.

Normally, when encountering a snake in the wild, playing dead is better than trying to outrun it. If you haven't drawn its attention, it generally won't take the initiative to attack. Moreover, most snakes fear fire.

But in this place where even humans don't follow common sense, the former couldn't be counted on, while the latter probably still had a tiny bit of logic to it -

In the blink of an eye, those black and white giant snakes had gathered around the boulder. When they were still some distance from the two men, they all stopped their forward motion and raised their huge heads high, their golden pupils contracting, revealing a ferocious appearance.

Earlier when the distance was too great, Xia Chuan couldn't see clearly, but now with the giant snakes no more than two or three meters away, it was enough for him to make out their appearance.

They differed somewhat from modern snakes. The scales on their bodies looked much thicker and harder, layered one over the other, more like lizard skin than snakeskin. Their bodies were also not completely round, but slightly flattened, especially their heads, as if they had been pressed flat, probably to adapt to the pressure in the shallow sea.

Their front portions were raised ramrod straight, supporting their heads as they looked down on the two men pressed against the back of the boulder from on high, maintaining a safe distance from the burning bonfire. During this standoff, their flattened heads seemed to inflate bit by bit, like they were being pumped with air, becoming rounder as they adapted to the pressure on land.

This bizarre and odd scene disgusted Xia Chuan and Dennis. No matter how brave a person was, being surrounded by such a group of grotesque giant snakes would make anyone feel a bit sick. Let alone Dennis, whose courage was smaller than a soybean. Xia Chuan could clearly feel him trembling... at a high frequency.

In this standoff where even the wind had nearly stilled, Dennis' shaking was a bit too much.

Those giant snakes hissed, flicking out their forked tongues. Almost simultaneously, they moved their heads, uniformly turning towards Dennis, causing his legs to immediately go weak. He nearly knelt down before them right then and there.

Unfortunately, even if he really did kneel, it would be useless in front of these giant snakes. They flicked their tongues in Dennis' direction, then tilted their heads towards the bonfire, going back and forth a few times as if hesitating.

But after only a few seconds of hesitation, they tried slithering forward another short distance, getting closer to both the fire and Dennis.

The two giant snakes closest to the fire drew their heads back a little, but then discovering that the fire couldn't reach them for the time being, they confidently moved closer to Dennis again.

Xia Chuan's fingers gripping the knife tightened further, his eyes moving slightly as he repeatedly scanned the giant snakes, paying attention to their every move.

Suddenly, one of the burning dry branches lost its support and abruptly snapped, causing the entire bonfire to collapse, scattering sparks all around. In that instant, the dozens of giant snakes that had been tense suddenly moved. Their reared heads shot towards Dennis and Xia Chuan like arrows, their mouths gaping open, upper and lower jaws stretching to nearly 180 degrees.

Dennis stared in shock as the snake's mouth charged straight at him. The dark maw was like a huge, hollow net, engulfing him. The strong smell of the sea and blood sprayed onto his face, and the gleaming fangs were aimed right at his eyes. If the giant snake closed its mouth, his eyes would be pierced and his body torn apart.

He even felt the sharp teeth about to touch his eyeballs. Instinctively wanting to close his eyes, he instead felt his right arm tighten as he was pulled to the side by a tremendous force, nearly falling to the ground.

He heard the whoosh of a blade slicing through the air, followed by warm liquid splattering onto his face and body, the pungent smell of blood instantly filling his nostrils. The moment he opened his eyes, he saw a huge snake head being completely severed, snake blood gushing from the neck like rain, spilling all over the ground.

The remaining dozens of giant snakes were stunned for a moment. Xia Chuan didn't wait for them to react before grabbing Dennis and shouting, \"Get the fire!\"

Although timid, Dennis wasn't stupid. Hearing Xia Chuan's words, while being dragged away, he snatched a few dry branches from the fire and gripped them in his hands.

At this point, he didn't care about the heat at all. His completely dumbfounded brain was half paralyzed. He clutched the torch like a lifeline, as if he would never let go, as Xia Chuan pulled him to hide behind the black rock surrounded by the giant snakes.

Of course, those giant snakes wouldn't give up easily. They immediately chased after the two, pouncing directly at them.

Xia Chuan swung his dagger extremely fast, the blade flashes almost weaving together. His explosive power and agility were simply astonishing. Moreover, this military dagger was quite long, and the blade was extremely sharp, able to cut through iron like mud, let alone slicing off snake heads.

Almost one or two heads per strike, like cutting melons and vegetables.

However, Dennis knew that Xia Chuan was injured. Everything he was doing now was forced, and he definitely couldn't last long, yet the giant snakes kept lunging forward relentlessly.

The tails, much thinner than the bodies, had tremendous force. Several times when they missed and whipped the ground, they made a crisp sound like a steel whip, stirring up a layer of sand.

No matter how capable Xia Chuan was, he was still just one person, and he had to protect Dennis as well. Soon, his dagger swings started to slow, and the dozens of giant pythons, seeing this, pounced even more excitedly.

Finally, Xia Chuan failed to decapitate one of the lunging giant snakes. The four fangs nearly pierced his heart. Just as he desperately rolled to the side trying to dodge, he heard Dennis let out a miserable scream.

When he turned back, he found that he and Dennis had been forced very close to the sea by the giant snakes, and Dennis' legs were wrapped by a snake tail, dragging him into the sea like a dead dog.

With Xia Chuan distracted for a moment, a giant snake's tail also slapped him on the waist. He had just grunted from the dull pain when he felt the snake tail tighten around his waist, then suddenly yank, also pulling him into the sea.

The instant before he entered the water, a familiar figure appeared on a reef not far away. He didn't know which side the man had climbed up from. Backlit by the hazy dawn light, his tall silhouette was outlined.

Before Xia Chuan could make a sound, he heard Dennis struggling and shouting in that direction, \"Hey! You... come back... help!\"

That man was none other than Shen Lan.

Obviously, he heard Dennis' cry for help. He looked in the direction of the two while crossing his arms. When his eyes met Xia Chuan's, he finally put down his arms, moved his neck from side to side, then leaped forward—

When he jumped up, he was still in human form. The moment he descended, his outline began to distort and expand rapidly.

At the edge of the sea, the sun finally revealed a bit of light, casting a faint golden glow on the changing silhouette, making each transformation starkly clear.

The moment he entered the water, the transforming outline finally took shape, solidifying into a huge, colossal body—about twenty meters long, almost comparable to a boat.

In the slightly opened maw, two rows of conical fangs gleamed coldly. The enormous tail made up more than half the body length. When it hit the water, it splashed up huge waves and a deafening sound.

","published_time":"2024-07-26T00:00:00.000Z","paid":false,"show_flag":true,"show_scheduled_time":"2024-07-05T00:00:00.000Z","unpaid_scheduled_time":"2024-07-26T00:00:00.000Z"},{"content_id":819,"novel_id":16,"chapter_no":14,"chapter_title":"Chapter 14","content":"

Such a huge and terrifying sea creature, there could be no other than a mosasaur. At least the two struggling men had only seen this one so far.

Xia Chuan: \"...\" He had never shown such a surprised expression in his life.

At this moment, what giant snakes coiling around the body and suffocating the chest, all of that was nothing! Even if those snakes used a little more force and could directly break their waists, Xia Chuan and Dennis had no mind to worry about it anymore.

Everything that happened before their eyes had instantly emptied their minds of all things, not leaving a single bit behind.

Dennis' mouth and eyes had reached their maximum size in his life. Let alone stuffing eggs, even if the giant snakes coiled around his body were stuffed into his mouth, he wouldn't blink an eye.

He was completely shocked silly.

Of course, this was not embarrassing, because the creatures shocked silly in this shallow sea area were not just him, but also included the group of giant snakes coiled around him and Xia Chuan.

When the mosasaur, known as the top predator of the late Cretaceous period, entered the water, the huge splash and waves pushed Xia Chuan and the others to the side.

However, whether it was people or snakes, they were all like stiff wooden logs without any reaction, just drifting back and forth with the water's push, following the shaking ripples, without even changing their postures.

Shen Lan: \"...\"

In its mosasaur form, it probably had never encountered such a... still hunting scene, and for a moment doubted if it was not awake.

It swayed its powerful long tail and swam a short distance forward, coming face to face with two of the giant snakes, their flat and round heads, and then slowly, as if in slow motion... opened its mouth.

The forked tongues of the two giant snakes were still hanging out, dangling limply in front of their mouths, without the slightest reaction.

Shen Lan: \"...\"

With the food being so dumb, it made it a bit embarrassed to take a bite. If it was in human form, it might have scratched its cheek and looked at the sky again.

Of course, embarrassment aside, eating still had to be done. It couldn't let the food drag down its IQ.

So it opened its mouth and swayed its tail again, and those two silly snakes naturally entered its mouth.

Even like this, the snakes remained stiff as wooden boards without any movement. Shen Lan had no choice but to reluctantly close its mouth, fulfilling their conscious sacrifice.

The conical sharp teeth pierced into the giant snakes' scales, tearing open flesh, and crushing bones and tendons. Bright red snake blood quickly spread out on the sea surface, and the fishy smell mixed with the salty taste of seawater filled the air...

As this stimulating scent diffused, the remaining dozens of giant snakes finally stirred. As if just startled awake from a dream, they suddenly contracted their bodies, then fled in a rout, scattering in all directions like a disturbed hornet's nest, their bodies twisting into waves, as if they weren't the ones looking down on people from the shore before.

This was the scene Shen Lan was familiar with. It finally mustered some interest in hunting, lazily snatching seven or eight more snakes to swallow, as if playing.

However, it did not completely wipe them out. After casually catching some, it picked up one last giant snake, dangling it from its mouth, and dove back, coming to Xia Chuan and the others.

Before in the water, with the giant snakes coiled around their bodies, the snakes' bodies helped balance them against the water's force, so they could still struggle to the surface amidst the chaos. Now that the giant snakes had fled, they instead lost their support.

Xia Chuan's waist was tightly constricted by the giant snakes before, almost breaking. Now even though he was released, he had little sensation and let alone free movement. He could only instinctively paddle with his hands, barely maintaining floating on the surface. Only his expression had not recovered from the shock, his whole person appearing wooden and mechanical.

But he could already be considered performing very well. The other living person on the sea surface was different.

After being released by the giant snakes, Dennis neither closed his eyes nor shut his mouth. He didn't even have the slightest movement of his limbs, completely forgetting about paddling.

To be precise, it was as if his brain had been taken away by those giant snakes, leaving his head completely empty. Knocking on it would probably produce a hollow echo.

So, when Shen Lan, who had scared away the giant snakes, turned back, sticking out its forked tongue, what it saw was the expressionless Xia Chuan, and Dennis whose eyeballs were about to fall out.

The former was floating, while the latter, due to his inaction, was slowly sinking, like a 6-foot stone statue.

Shen Lan: \"...\"

Its eyes full of ferocity silently rolled upwards, as if making a huge eye-roll at the sky, then watched as Dennis slowly sank, a string of bubbles rising to the surface.

Its tongue tip brushed across Xia Chuan's face, only to feel that this person barely maintaining his composure had an abnormal body temperature. Soaking any longer would likely lead to trouble. So with a swish of its tail, it dived head-first, lifting Xia Chuan and the submerged Dennis onto its back, breaking through the waves like a gust of wind, and in the blink of an eye... ran aground.

Shen Lan: \"...\"

The huge body of the mosasaur slid to the shore, slowly decelerating, finally hitting a pile of dark rocks like messy clouds and stopping.

The morning sun leapt out from the edge of the sea, its pale golden light showering the coast like a thin mist. Under the enveloping light, the silhouette of the beached mosasaur shrank, instantly transforming back into human form.

The two people originally hanging on its back, having lost their support, tumbled onto the beach.

When Xia Chuan landed, he supported himself with one hand, coughed up some water, then struggled to sit up. One leg stretched out straight, the other half-bent, elbow resting on knee, fingertips still loosely gripping that military knife.

That knife gleamed coldly, not a trace of blood remaining, not at all showing that it had slain over a dozen giant snake heads just minutes ago.

As for Dennis... he lay on the ground like a dead dog, without even the strength to cough, apparently having choked quite a bit in the sea.

Shen Lan looked at these two seriously weakened people, snorted, and lazily walked to Dennis' side. It picked up the black backpack wrapped around his hand, unceremoniously unzipped it, and took out his spare clothes. A set of shirt and trousers, a set of black vest and light-colored casual shorts.

Shen Lan picked up the clothes with three fingers, looking at them with disdain. He was much taller than Xia Chuan and the others, so naturally the shirt and pants wouldn't fit. He quickly changed into a vest and shorts. The black vest was stretched tightly by his strong chest and abdominal muscles.

He probably hadn't worn clothes for a long time and felt a bit uncomfortable with the restriction. He moved his arms and legs a bit to slowly adapt.

Until he threw the backpack back in front of Dennis, Xia Chuan still maintained that posture, motionless, only his eyes constantly following Shen Lan, silently expressionless, not knowing if he was using a poker face to hide his inner shock or what.

As for Dennis... After being stunned for a long time, he finally sat up, his wet golden hair sticking to his face, but unable to hide his dazed expression. He stared blankly at Shen Lan for a while, opening his mouth, then opening it again, but never making a sound.

It was Shen Lan who spoke first. He glanced at Dennis, but his eyes finally settled on Xia Chuan. In a tone that said \"I'm really fed up with you guys\", he said a long sentence: \"I just went back to the sea for one night, and you managed to get yourselves into the mouths of those big fools?\"

Long after he finished speaking, the always silent Xia Chuan finally opened his mouth hoarsely: \"You are that mosasaur...\"

Shen Lan blinked at him: \"Yeah.\"

These words seemed to be some kind of switch. After they fell, the dumbfounded Dennis finally found his voice. He swallowed, looked at Shen Lan in a daze, then raised his hand and pinched himself hard, hissing in pain at the real sensation, then muttered: \"I... I need to pee...\"

Shen Lan: \"...\"

On one hand, he felt that this guy, who could be considered half his kind, was really embarrassing, actually getting scared enough to pee just from seeing his true form. On the other hand, he also felt a bit of arrogant pride and pleasure...

Just as he was about to speak up to show some domineering demeanor and let Xia Chuan worship him a bit too, Xia Chuan spoke again.

He heard him say coldly, with a blank expression: \"So, that tail that nearly cost me half my life was yours?\"

Shen Lan's so-called domineering aura instantly drained away completely: \"...\" Not good!

","published_time":"2024-08-02T00:00:00.000Z","paid":false,"show_flag":true,"show_scheduled_time":"2024-07-12T00:00:00.000Z","unpaid_scheduled_time":"2024-08-02T00:00:00.000Z"},{"content_id":837,"novel_id":16,"chapter_no":15,"chapter_title":"Chapter 15","content":"

Despite Shen Lan's face being several meters large when he transformed back into a mosasaur, both literally and figuratively, he still felt a bit guilty at this moment. After all, if luck wasn't on his side, a single tail swipe could have ended someone's life.

He originally sat on the black rock in a very carefree and arrogant posture, with his chin slightly raised, giving off a sense of looking down from above. Now, due to his guilty conscience, he subconsciously changed his posture.

He sat upright and looked at Xia Chuan with a serious face, saying, \"I told you, I actually only wanted to lightly pat you.\"

His brow ridge was very high and his eye sockets were a bit deep. His eye color was also a deep and pure blue, which made him look particularly sincere when he looked at someone with a slightly gentle expression.

Xia Chuan was fooled by this look the first time he saw Shen Lan, but now he was no longer falling for it.

He glanced at Shen Lan and repeated what Dennis had said before, \"A fifteen or sixteen ton thing, and you're telling me it's a light pat?\"

Shen Lan scratched his cheek, thought for a moment, and said, \"...Before this, I never thought about how heavy I was.\"

Xia Chuan: \"...\"

He looked quite speechless, as if he couldn't find the right words to respond for a moment.

Shen Lan looked him up and down carefully again, feeling quite amazed - these two in front of him were clearly the same species, but their reactions were so vastly different.

One had already come to his senses and was asking for compensation, while the other was still in a daze with a look of \"either I'm crazy or the world is crazy\". In comparison, Xia Chuan seemed even more special.

Thinking of this, Shen Lan couldn't help but add, \"At that time, I saw you were about to run, so I wanted to stop you.\"

Xia Chuan glanced at him with a look reserved for lunatics and said, \"...Anyone who's not sick would want to run in that situation, it's human instinct.\"

After saying that, he paused for a moment, then added indifferently, \"Those who aren't human wouldn't understand.\"

Shen Lan: \"...\"

He looked down at his hands and feet that weren't much different from Xia Chuan's, and was about to retort. He hadn't spoken for many years, so he had to think a little before opening his mouth each time. Just this one pause allowed Xia Chuan to block him.

\"I've never seen a thirty-ton person,\" Xia Chuan said.

Shen Lan twitched the corner of his mouth and honestly said, \"I haven't either.\"

Xia Chuan: \"...\"

These two were not talkative people to begin with. On weekdays, they rarely spoke a word and cherished each word like gold, too lazy to open their mouths unless necessary. One had a speaking style that was a bit cold, while the other was unconventional. They unintentionally reached a state of mutual choking, and unusually became more talkative.

\"...At that time, I had food in my mouth and couldn't free up space, so I could only use my tail,\" Shen Lan thought about it and continued to explain.

After hearing this, Xia Chuan was silent for two seconds with a blank expression, then said in an even colder tone, \"So, if you didn't have that pterosaur in your mouth, instead of slapping me with your tail, you would have directly bitten me to death?\"

Shen Lan: \"...Of course not!\"

\"No? You think your teeth are made of plastic?\" Xia Chuan weighed the military knife in his hand, snorted coldly, and glanced at him. \"Why don't you transform back into a fatty and let me use this knife to cut out your tongue, then I'll tell you I'm just testing how fast the blade is, lightly cutting it, how about that?\"

Shen Lan had a head full of question marks: \"Fatty?\"

Xia Chuan reminded him, \"Thirty tons in weight.\"

\"...\" Shen Lan silently lowered his head, unzipped his vest, glanced at his chest and abdominal muscles without any excess fat, then raised his head and seriously thought about the scenario Xia Chuan described.

Then, with a pained expression, he moved his tongue that hadn't been cut yet, licked his upper lip and said, \"Okay, I was wrong, I apologize.\"

Joking aside, he knew that after transforming back into a mosasaur, he was practically highly nearsighted. Hunting, predation, and perceiving his surroundings all relied on that forked tongue. If it was cut off, he'd be done for.

Xia Chuan didn't really intend to settle the score with him. Let alone the fact that his current state limited his skills, even if he was uninjured, he was no match for Shen Lan. Moreover, he could actually see that Shen Lan meant no harm, but if he didn't make Shen Lan realize his uniqueness as a mosasaur, the next time something happened, Shen Lan might have another brain fart and come to \"lightly pat\" again, and then the joke would be on them.

So when Shen Lan admitted his mistake, Xia Chuan no longer dwelled on that topic. Instead, he asked about another thing he didn't quite understand, \"Why did you come to save us time and time again?\"

Especially after already saying \"suit yourselves\".

Shen Lan looked at him with a pained expression, \"I wanted to say it's because you can be considered half of my kind. In a place like this, humans are a very rare concept, but...\" But he had just been expelled from the human race due to his thirty-ton weight.

Xia Chuan glanced at him impatiently, \"...Besides that.\"

\"Besides that, it's...\" Shen Lan's gaze swept over Xia Chuan's face and landed on his neck, pausing for a few seconds. \"That day when I surfaced, it was because I detected a very...scent.\"

Xia Chuan: \"Very what? What's with the missing words when you speak?\"

Shen Lan: \"...Strange yet familiar, and most importantly, it made me feel quite comfortable, making me want to go over and take a look.\"

Xia Chuan thought of the situation that day and Shen Lan's reason for slapping him. He frowned, \"So, you think that scent was emanating from Dennis and me? What do you mean by scent? Smell?\"

\"It's not smell, but you can temporarily understand it that way. I can't describe it, don't make things difficult for someone who hasn't spoken for years,\" Shen Lan retorted, but his tone wasn't hard at all. He glanced at Xia Chuan and added, \"And I believe that scent was emanating from you, and has nothing to do with that idiot.\"

Dennis, who was inexplicably attacked, looked at Shen Lan in a daze, obviously still in a trance and not keeping up with the rhythm.

Hearing this, Xia Chuan couldn't help but frown and lower his head to sniff himself a couple of times. Apart from the smell of seawater on his clothes, he really couldn't smell anything else. If what Shen Lan said is true, regardless of what that scent is, it at least to some extent constitutes a reason for Shen Lan's special attitude towards Xia Chuan, which is understandable.

However... what could this scent be? Xia Chuan lowered his head and thought for a long time, but couldn't come up with any possible explanation.

\"...You said you haven't spoken for several years, so originally—\" Xia Chuan wanted to ask about Shen Lan's background to see if there was any overlap with his own, which would help guess the origin of that scent. However, he suddenly heard a \"zz zz\" sound.

","published_time":"2024-08-09T00:00:00.000Z","paid":false,"show_flag":true,"show_scheduled_time":"2024-07-19T00:00:00.000Z","unpaid_scheduled_time":"2024-08-09T00:00:00.000Z"},{"content_id":855,"novel_id":16,"chapter_no":16,"chapter_title":"Chapter 16","content":"

Both of them were stunned for a moment, stopping mid-sentence to listen intently for a couple of seconds. Following the sound, they simultaneously turned their gazes to Dennis' side. His bulging black backpack was lying there.

Since Shen Lan had taken out a set of clothes, the zipper wasn't fully closed, and that strange \"zz zz\" sound was coming from inside the bag.

Xia Chuan suddenly remembered the black box.

Under the stares of the two, Dennis, who had been in a daze, finally came back to his senses after a while. However, his attention and thoughts were probably still stuck on the moment when Shen Lan turned into a Mosasaurus.

He pointed at Shen Lan with trembling fingers, blurting out several crude curses to express his shock, stuttering \"you you you\" three times without managing to squeeze out a second coherent sentence.

Xia Chuan, who was closer to his hand, directly slapped it away, saying impatiently, \"What's with your reaction time of a tortoise? Check what's making noise in your black box first.\"

Shen Lan reached out and felt around the edges of the black rock he was sitting on, picking out a pinhole-sized brachiopod fossil. He flicked it in Dennis' direction.

The strange shell with edges and small holes, having hardened on the shore for who knows how long, accurately hit the black backpack with a crisp \"pa\" sound, drawing Dennis' attention.

He let out an \"ah\", finally noticing the strange \"zz zz\" sound. Returning to reality from the fantasy world at last, he slapped his thigh, looking quite excited. He grabbed the black backpack, rummaged inside for a bit, and pulled out the black box.

As soon as it was taken out, the \"zz zz\" sound was no longer so low and muffled. From Xia Chuan's angle, he could see a small red light on the box's screen, flashing in rhythm with the sound.

\"It also made this kind of sound when the day was about to break,\" Xia Chuan added.

Dennis didn't even bother to raise his head, replying, \"Really!\" But his tone was very excited.

He was seen holding the black box, raising his hand to pinch a red knob, carefully fine-tuning it while staring intently at the screen, as if it could sprout a flower, with an unprecedented focus and seriousness in his expression.

Shen Lan sat far away on that black rock, watching for a while. Unable to hold back, he lifted his chin in Dennis' direction and asked Xia Chuan, \"What is that?\"

Xia Chuan shook his head, indicating that he didn't know either. So he pointed at the black box and said to Dennis, \"This is?\"

Dennis was biting the tip of his tongue, finely adjusting the knob, his brows tightly furrowed. After a good while, he finally spared a moment to answer, \"Hard to say, you can think of it as a modified version of a universal oscilloscope.\"

His mind was entirely on the oscilloscope screen, so he answered offhandedly. Therefore, his voice wasn't loud, and generally speaking, only someone close like Xia Chuan could hear clearly. But after he finished speaking, Shen Lan, who was sitting far away on the black rock, picked his ear and repeated, \"Universal oscilloscope?\"

Obviously, even sitting so far away, he heard Dennis' words loud and clear. Xia Chuan looked at him in some surprise, but thinking that this person could transform into a Mosasaurus, having good hearing seemed nothing to be astonished by. So he turned his head to Dennis again and said, \"So what you're doing now is...\"

\"Remember that incoming call in the sea cave? At that time, my cell phone signal was very strange, appearing and disappearing. I told you then that this place was fishy, and we might not have simply traversed space and time.\" Dennis finally deigned to raise his head. He held up the black box in his hand, propped himself up from the ground and stood up, saying, \"So I turned this on. Allen made it himself, originally stuffing it to me to take out and test around. Didn't expect it to actually come in handy...\"

He paused after saying that, shrugging and adding, \"Uh - maybe.\"

Dennis always spoke whatever came to mind, prone to being long-winded. Xia Chuan couldn't help but remind, \"The point.\"

\"Oh right, look at this screen.\" Seeing that Xia Chuan had also stood up, Dennis brought the \"universal oscilloscope\" in his hand close to him, explaining in terms Xia Chuan could understand, \"When I turned it on in the sea cave, there was only one waveform on the screen, and it was intermittent, appearing and disappearing, perfectly corresponding with my cell phone signal. This indicates that this place is measurable.

\"Of course, I don't believe this dinosaur-infested ghostly place would have cell towers, so I'm inclined to believe there are waves very similar to it existing here, although this is also quite... magical.\"

Xia Chuan listened to his explanation while looking at the screen of the black box.

When the day was about to break, he heard the \"zz zz\" sound and had taken out this \"universal oscilloscope\" to look. But by the time he took it out, it was already silent, with only one waveform on the screen.

But now, after it had been \"zz zz-ing\" non-stop for a while, and after Dennis' fine-tuning, two different waveforms actually appeared on the screen.

Dennis pointed to the relatively more regular waveform and said, \"This is the original one, the kind of wave I just mentioned. And this one -\"

His finger moved to the other obviously chaotic waveform and continued, \"Since we might not have simply traversed space and time, that is to say, this ghostly place may have an end. Since we could enter, we should be able to exit. This end... signifies the junction between one region and another, like the border between countries.

\"You know, at such intersections, it's always very chaotic. I believe the closer we get to that end, the more the relatively stable waves here will be affected, becoming disordered, and even other interfering waves will appear -\"

As soon as he said this, Xia Chuan instantly understood the reason for his excitement - the other chaotic waveform that appeared on the screen was very likely the interfering element he was hoping for.

If Dennis' guess was correct, then the appearance of this interfering element meant they were one step closer to the \"end\".

\"In that case, being here, we're closer to the end than when in the sea cave -\" Xia Chuan looked towards the sea in the distance and continued, \"The sea cave is in that direction, so... to go to the end, we should head in this direction.\"

As he spoke, he raised his hand and pointed in the opposite direction of the sea - that perilous forest.

Dennis was so excited about discovering the interference waves that he forgot about this detail. Now, looking at the direction Xia Chuan was pointing, he finally realized where the information from this black box was going to take them. His legs instantly went weak, and he was about to collapse on the spot.

Xia Chuan was just about to speak when a low, slightly hoarse voice suddenly rang out beside his ear: \"I advised you to go in long ago.\"

\"Holy shit--\" Dennis was startled. Turning around, he saw that Shen Lan, who had been sitting on the black rock just now, had silently stood beside Xia Chuan, looking down at the \"universal oscilloscope\" with a very curious look.

\"How did you--\" Xia Chuan began, somewhat speechless. He was about to say something when suddenly there was a rustling sound from the woods ahead.

The three of them looked up, and their eyes met a pair of faint eyes in the woods. Dennis's hand trembled, and he almost threw the precious oscilloscope away.

","published_time":"2024-08-16T00:00:00.000Z","paid":false,"show_flag":true,"show_scheduled_time":"2024-07-26T00:00:00.000Z","unpaid_scheduled_time":"2024-08-16T00:00:00.000Z"},{"content_id":875,"novel_id":16,"chapter_no":17,"chapter_title":"Chapter 17","content":"

The other party appeared silently, catching both Dennis and even the bold Xia Chuan off guard with a start. But in the next second, he felt much more at ease, because Shen Lan was still there.

He still remembered what Shen Lan had said before about the dinosaurs in the forest - just a Tyrannosaurus, there might be one, but most of the rest were something else, nothing to be afraid of.

At the time, he and Dennis felt exasperated hearing this, but now knowing Shen Lan's true situation, they felt it was perfectly normal for him not to be afraid of those dinosaurs. So with him here, the one in front of them was not so scary either. However, he forgot one fact...

Just as Xia Chuan and Dennis were slightly relieved by Shen Lan's presence, Shen Lan suddenly raised his hand and poked Xia Chuan.

The dinosaur in the forest still had its eyes fixed on them, the crisscrossing branches and leaves blocking most of its head and body, making it difficult to distinguish what species it was and how dangerous it was. However, just seeing its exposed white teeth, Xia Chuan didn't want to make any big movements under its watchful eyes.

So he didn't turn his head, and barely moving his lips, he squeezed out three words to ask Shen Lan, \"What's up?\"

His voice was so low that it was even less than a whisper.

However, Shen Lan still heard him clearly. He was already close to Xia Chuan, his left hand just happened to be hidden behind Xia Chuan's back. As long as the movement was not too big, it would not attract the attention of the dinosaur in the forest.

So Shen Lan started writing words on Xia Chuan's back with his fingers to answer his question.

Xia Chuan: \"...\"

For people who have experienced real gunfire and danger, the back is a very special place, a weak point in defense that is easily ambushed. So they are usually extra sensitive and attentive to movements behind their backs, and Xia Chuan was naturally no exception.

Shen Lan's unintentional action was simply a test of Xia Chuan's endurance. It took a lot of effort for him to restrain himself from instinctively turning around and attacking at that moment. But the hairs on the back of his neck had already involuntarily stood up, like a cat with its fur puffed up.

Fortunately, if Shen Lan wrote with more force and strength, it would be barely tolerable. But in order to avoid making the movements too obvious, Shen Lan was barely moving his wrist, and the force of his fingertips was very light. It made Xia Chuan's back tense up, stiff as a wooden stick, his face even more expressionless.

\"This guy is tough, avoid him.\" Xia Chuan concentrated, recognizing the words Shen Lan wrote down one by one, piecing together this sentence.

Xia Chuan: \"...You're afraid of him?\" Who was the one who said 'there's nothing to be afraid of about dinosaurs' before?

Hearing this, Shen Lan suddenly became a little agitated and immediately started writing on Xia Chuan's back to explain.

Xia Chuan, who dug his own grave and jumped in: \"...\"

\"Me, afraid? How is that possible? It's just that this one's situation is a bit special. Besides, our activity areas are different, it's in the forest and I'm in the sea, the well water doesn't interfere with the river water*.\"

*T/N: An idiom that means 'minding your own business'

This time Xia Chuan didn't say anything more, lest Shen Lan write another string of words on his back.

After all, Shen Lan was much more familiar with the survival situation here than he was. So since Shen Lan had spoken up, and it indeed made sense, there was no reason not to listen.

So Shen Lan walked two steps forward from behind the two, standing about a meter in front of them.

As he moved, the dinosaur in the forest suddenly raised its head and took a step forward, stepping on the grass and wood, making another cracking sound. With the \"rustle\" of branches and leaves, its head was completely exposed, large and hard, as if hard skin was directly wrapped around the bones. Its pointed long mouth opened, the conical fangs looking even more frightening.

Just as it lowered its head to charge at Xia Chuan and the others, Shen Lan suddenly raised his hand, his five fingers moving quickly for a few times, as if making some kind of gesture. Then he made a few strange sounds from the bottom of his throat, the sound close to a lion's purr, but with a different feeling.

Hearing his voice, the dinosaur actually hesitated and lifted a front leg, looking as if it wanted to back away.

While making this sound that normal people could not imitate, Shen Lan waved at Xia Chuan and Dennis, pointing to the other side of the forest, indicating for them to walk there and make way for this dinosaur.

Xia Chuan held the military dagger in his left hand close to his side, his body slightly hunched, carefully moving with Dennis step by step to the other side, not slow in speed but with very small movements.

Although Dennis was timid, he was not stupid. Seeing Shen Lan and Xia Chuan's movements, even without hearing Shen Lan's explanation, he more or less knew what was going on. So he also imitated Xia Chuan's movements, tightly hugging the black box in his hands, carefully following Xia Chuan step by step.

Shen Lan, on the other hand, \"communicated\" with the dinosaur in a strange way while maintaining a two-meter distance from Xia Chuan and the others, also moving towards that patch of forest.

A moment later, the dinosaur disappeared behind the tall trees, showing no intention of chasing after them. Only then did Shen Lan stop making sounds and put his hand down, closely following Xia Chuan and the others into the forest.

Looking at the forest from the outside and looking up at it from inside the forest were completely different feelings, and seeing it in the dark and in the light were two different experiences. This forest was much deeper than they had thought last night. The trees were frighteningly tall, comparable to dozens of stories, at least 180 meters high.

Even such huge dinosaurs appeared like ordinary beasts among them, let alone humans.

The exposed roots of any random tree outside could reach above Xia Chuan and the others' knees, making them look as if they had run out of Lilliput.

Even after entering the forest, Xia Chuan never relaxed his grip on the dagger, even holding it tighter. His eyes still remained on the place where the dinosaur had disappeared, somewhat unable to let down his guard. His right eye twitched a few times, always feeling a bit uneasy.

Dennis, on the other hand, didn't think too much. Seeing that the dinosaur had disappeared, he breathed a sigh of relief, took off his backpack that had been a bit cumbersome hanging on his arm, checked the wavy lines on the black box, confirming it, and then put the black box back into the waterproof bag and into his backpack.

As he was just about to slip his hand through the strap of the backpack, intending to sling it over his shoulder, something whooshed past, so fast that he could only catch a glimpse of a dark shadow.

\"Watch out!\" Xia Chuan's voice suddenly rang out.

Before Dennis could react, he felt a sharp pain in his arm. Something had grabbed onto his backpack, and with his arm still caught in the strap, it dragged him a considerable distance.

","published_time":"2024-08-23T00:00:00.000Z","paid":false,"show_flag":true,"show_scheduled_time":"2024-08-02T00:00:00.000Z","unpaid_scheduled_time":"2024-08-23T00:00:00.000Z"},{"content_id":893,"novel_id":16,"chapter_no":18,"chapter_title":"Chapter 18","content":"

At the moment Dennis was snatched away, Xia Chuan clearly saw the sneak attacker that suddenly appeared. With a pointed head and short arms, it looked like the most common and ordinary type, much smaller in size than the previous dinosaur, but much faster.

Almost as a reflex, he kicked off the towering tree beside him, using the momentum to leap up and pounce directly onto the dinosaur. As he landed, the dagger tightly gripped in his left hand accurately pierced the junction between the dinosaur's neck and back, while his right hand grabbed onto Dennis' clothes.

Dinosaur hide is very tough and the flesh is thick, not easily penetrated. So Xia Chuan chose the spot behind the neck where the skin and flesh are thinnest, closest to the bone.

After the military dagger went straight into the gap between the vertebrae, Xia Chuan gave it a fierce twist. The dinosaur under him let out a painful howl, its feet stumbling. Its body, still enormous to Xia Chuan and the others, lost balance and was about to crash to the ground.

When it opened its mouth, Dennis and his backpack that were clamped in its jaws were freed from restraint and tumbled to the ground.

\"Run!\" Xia Chuan shouted at Dennis. At the same time, he braced himself against the dinosaur's back, trying to use leverage to pull out the dagger. However, the blade was caught between the dinosaur's vertebrae. Due to its thrashing movements, it seemed to be stuck and wouldn't come out no matter how much force he used.

The dinosaur, due to the pain between its bones, became like a drunkard. It looked like it was about to heavily slam into a tree with Xia Chuan on its back. With the dinosaur's weight and force, Xia Chuan would undoubtedly be crushed to death if he cushioned its impact.

So he decisively let go, abandoning the military dagger. Using the momentum of the dinosaur's backward toss, he did a back flip. After landing, he immediately rolled to the side behind a tall tree.

From his position, he could see Dennis not far away behind another tall tree, clutching his backpack and hiding there. He was gripping one arm with his other hand, probably injured. With his back tightly against the tree trunk and a worried look on his face, only after confirming Xia Chuan had also gotten off the dinosaur's back did he breathe a sigh of relief and give Xia Chuan a safe gesture.

Xia Chuan nodded, then leaned against the tree trunk and slightly peeked out, wanting to see the situation with that dinosaur in order to find an opportune moment to leave this area.

But as soon as he was about to turn his head, he heard a howl, like a mixture of a lion's roar and an elephant's trumpet, startling the surrounding insect chirps into silence.

Xia Chuan was also taken aback. He thought to himself that his stab shouldn't have caused a fatal wound to the dinosaur, so how could it be howling like this?

However, the howling still didn't stop, crying out several times in succession. The \"bang bang\" of impacts kept ringing out, as if the dinosaur was stumbling and bumping into tree trunks in its struggle. The branches and leaves in the forest rustled violently, adding a few more degrees of chaos and intensity.

He frowned and listened for a while with his back against the tree, his doubts deepening. He calmed his mind and couldn't help peeking out again to look in that direction.

As a result, he saw that the dinosaur that had been charging around the forest for a long time had now collapsed some distance away. Its body was still heaving and he could hear its heavy breathing, mixed with rumbling sounds from its throat, only getting weaker with each breath, clearly on its last gasp.

Several tall tree branches were smeared with blood, and a heavy, musky, bloody smell permeated this part of the forest.

And at a slightly closer spot, a tall and strong figure was striding over this way. The black vest was tightly stretched over his body, outlining his sturdy muscular contours, not thick and exaggerated, just making him look broad-shouldered and narrow-waisted, with long straight legs full of power.

It was indeed Shen Lan.

Xia Chuan felt it was a matter of course, yet couldn't help feeling a bit shocked.

Although both had great skills and lean, beautifully defined muscles that were not overly bulky, Shen Lan and Xia Chuan exuded completely different auras.

Xia Chuan had formally served in the military. Even though he later left due to some reasons and became a mercenary, he still gave people a sense of strictness. Although his features were clean and handsome, he couldn't help constantly emitting a cold air, with a 'keep away' aura all over.

Shen Lan, on the other hand, was the opposite. When he walked, his posture was also very straight. His every move looked like he had received professional training, yet he didn't have a shred of seriousness. When interacting, he was obviously more approachable than Xia Chuan, but still made people very wary, probably because his entire being exuded a fierce, wild aura.

This was how he looked as he walked over at this moment, his expression lazy and casual, as if he hadn't just been in a fight but had taken a nap, yet making people not dare to approach him carelessly.

A moment later, he arrived at where Xia Chuan was, paused his steps, then raised his hand in front of Xia Chuan and lifted his chin, saying, \"Here - your dagger.\"

The quality of this dagger was quite good. After being twisted in dinosaur bones, there were no nicks on the blade. The dark red bloodstains on the shiny blade surface couldn't hold on and flowed down in several streaks, dripping clean.

Xia Chuan was stunned for a moment, then reached out to grip the dagger handle and took it.

\"Thanks.\"

Dennis, seeing the crisis temporarily resolved, immediately rushed over and looked Xia Chuan and Shen Lan up and down, front and back. After confirming there were no injuries, he took off his backpack and hung it on his chest.

He first took out the black box and straightforwardly handed it to Xia Chuan, saying, \"It's still safer with you. Didn't you say there's a saying in your hometown about bullies picking on the weak? I'm probably the weakest target in this hellish place. Don't know if I can safely make it to the exit. With this universal oscilloscope on you, even if I have terrible luck, you'll at least have a direction.\"

Xia Chuan glanced at the oscilloscope but didn't take it. Instead, he casually flicked off the last few drops of blood on the dagger while surveying the forest.

He coldly said, \"Give it to me and where do I tie it? Can't be a hitter, forget it, but still want to slack off carrying something. Don't push your luck. Keep your life-saving charm safe. Lose it and I'll use you as food.\"

As soon as he said this, before Dennis could feel moved, they heard another set of footsteps approaching nearby, still sounding like a big fellow.

Dennis let out a low cry of \"Geez, here we go again!\" and darted behind Xia Chuan.

The three of them stared at the source of the sound and saw the newcomer looked a bit familiar. It was clearly the dinosaur that had confronted and communicated with Shen Lan at the edge of the forest earlier.

It walked closer, and when it clearly saw Shen Lan, its steps hesitated slightly. Seeing that Shen Lan had no intention of moving, it felt at ease and put its feet down.

At its feet, the dinosaur lying on the ground was obviously no longer breathing. It glanced at Shen Lan, then lowered its head and bit the dead dinosaur's neck, half-lifting it up, and dragged it forward a couple of steps.

However, after walking a few steps, it stopped, turned its head to look in the direction of Shen Lan and Xia Chuan, moved its head, and then continued walking forward. After a few more steps, it stopped again, turned back, and moved its head towards the three of them.

Dennis blinked and muttered in a low voice, \"Oh no, I must have been scared out of my mind. I actually feel like it's signaling us to follow it.\"

Xia Chuan, for once, did not coldly refute his words, but instead frowned.

Then Shen Lan said, \"Mm, you're not crazy. That's exactly what it means.\"

With that, he crooked his finger at Xia Chuan, \"Come on, let's follow it and see.\"

","published_time":"2024-08-30T00:00:00.000Z","paid":false,"show_flag":true,"show_scheduled_time":"2024-08-09T00:00:00.000Z","unpaid_scheduled_time":"2024-08-30T00:00:00.000Z"},{"content_id":910,"novel_id":16,"chapter_no":19,"chapter_title":"Chapter 19","content":"

And so, in this perilous deep forest, the following scene unfolded - a nearly two-story tall dinosaur walked in front, looking ferocious, with prey almost as big as itself clenched in its jaws, its sharp teeth glinting coldly.

Yet behind it followed three people not even as tall as its legs, with the one in the lead looking as carefree as if he was out on a spring outing.

Xia Chuan felt that the atmosphere was so peaceful that it was simply bizarre.

Although the dinosaur in front of them did not show any hostility, he still did not relax enough to put away his dagger. He just casually held it behind his back as he walked beside Shen Lan, keeping about a shoulder's width distance, and quietly headed deeper into the forest.

As he walked, he unobtrusively noted the distance and direction, while also staying alert to any movements around them.

Logically speaking, in such a deep forest, there should be countless creatures living here. Just in terms of dinosaurs, there should be at least dozens of species, right? However, the areas they passed were all empty, with only the chirping of insects and the rustling of branches and leaves, as if all the larger animals had avoided them.

Dennis originally walked at the back carrying his backpack, but after a few steps, he kept worrying that something would pounce on him from behind. So he hurried a few steps to walk shoulder to shoulder with Xia Chuan, almost hugging Xia Chuan's arm for a sense of security.

Of course, at first he really wanted to hug him. He had just reached out his hand and hadn't even touched Xia Chuan's arm yet when he saw both Xia Chuan and Shen Lan glance at him from the corners of their eyes.

So he inexplicably chickened out and sheepishly retracted his hand...although even after walking more than ten meters, he still couldn't figure out why Shen Lan had glanced at him.

At first, following behind that dinosaur, Xia Chuan and Dennis were still a bit uneasy, always feeling that the big guy might drop its prey at any time, turn around and take a bite out of each of them. But after walking for quite a while, the dinosaur still showed no signs of changing its demeanor.

Dennis slowly let out a sigh of relief and muttered, \"I never would have thought that a carnivorous dinosaur could be so friendly...\"

Xia Chuan snorted coldly, \"Have you already forgotten who was almost killed after being carried off by a dinosaur just now?\"

\"...\" Dennis choked on his words. He raised his hand to touch his scraped arm, a bit worried. \"What will happen if you don't get a vaccine after being bitten by a dinosaur?\"

Shen Lan's ears twitched as he said, \"You'll die.\"

Dennis: \"...\"

Just casually chatting, and he could die twice in four sentences. Dennis felt that with his constitution, he really couldn't be well.

But he couldn't keep his mouth shut. After holding back for a long time, he still couldn't help but curiously ask, \"It shouldn't be like this. This forest can't possibly be home to only two dinosaurs, right? We've walked so far and haven't seen any living things besides us. It's so strange...not to mention anything else, there should at least be a few insects, right?\"

His words expressed the doubts in Xia Chuan's heart, but Xia Chuan didn't know the reason, so he didn't respond. He just continued to pay attention to the movements around them.

It was Shen Lan who raised a finger to his lips beside them and said, \"Don't talk nonsense.\"

His tone was casual and lazy, not like a warning, but more like a casual reminder.

However, as soon as he finished speaking, Xia Chuan heard an extremely faint movement overhead. He reflexively stopped in his tracks while raising his hand to block Shen Lan and Dennis's chests, stopping the two of them.

The moment the three of them stopped, they saw something falling from high above, pattering onto the thick, soft leaves at their feet.

\"Ow - what hit me on the head!\" Dennis was still scared in this forest after all. With something suddenly falling on him, he was so startled that he almost jumped.

As he was hopping around, Xia Chuan had already clearly seen the things that had fallen at their feet - three...caterpillars...

If looking similar could count, that is.

The three bugs that had fallen to the ground looked very similar to caterpillars, except the bristles on their bodies were much thicker, and their size was more than twice as large. Their diameter was as big as a commemorative coin, about a dozen centimeters long.

Lying stiffly on the ground, they looked just like smoked sausages rolled in a pile of prickly pears, really not very attractive.

Xia Chuan looked away with disgust, not wanting to take a second glance. He lifted his foot to step over them when he heard Shen Lan say, \"These things wouldn't even be enough to fill the gaps between my teeth, but quite a few creatures love to eat them. You guys-\"

Originally, when Xia Chuan heard him speak, he paused and turned to look at him, thinking he was going to say something very useful. But what he got instead was this kind of comment. Without waiting for Shen Lan to finish the second half of his sentence, he walked away without looking back.

Shen Lan blinked and scratched his cheek, then turned to Dennis to finish the rest of his words, \"Might as well pick them up and roast them to try, if you're too lazy to bend down...the one on your head is not bad either, fat enough.\" With that, he strode off to catch up with Xia Chuan.

Dennis was stunned for two seconds, then let out a howl and hopped around in a flurry of flailing. He wanted to get the bug off but didn't want to touch it with his hands. He shook his head and flailed his face for quite a while before finally shaking off the fat caterpillar perched on top of his head.

He looked down at the four fat bugs on the ground in a self-tormenting manner, then made a retching sound and chased after Xia Chuan and Shen Lan, clutching his chest.

\"I've lived this long and never discovered that I have the skill of being a jinx...\" Dennis said weakly.

Shen Lan glanced at him and lazily repeated his earlier reminder, \"Don't talk nonsense here.\"

\"Why?\" Xia Chuan hadn't taken his words to heart before, but hearing him repeat it again, plus the coincidence of the bugs appearing right after mentioning them, he couldn't help but ask, \"Is there something fishy going on?\"

Shen Lan shrugged but didn't answer.

The leading dinosaur finally stopped after a long time, moving its head as if indicating that they had arrived.

The three following behind circled around its massive body and finally saw what it was facing - a small elevated area in the forest, not too steep a slope. Below the slope was an earthen hole, about half a person's height. The entrance was hidden behind a clump of bushes, dark and gloomy. They were unable to see what was inside.

That ferocious-looking dinosaur opened its mouth and dropped its prey on the ground, then raised its thick, long tail and whipped it at the entrance of the hole a couple of times, as if summoning something from inside.

","published_time":"2024-09-06T00:00:00.000Z","paid":false,"show_flag":true,"show_scheduled_time":"2024-08-16T00:00:00.000Z","unpaid_scheduled_time":"2024-09-06T00:00:00.000Z"},{"content_id":927,"novel_id":16,"chapter_no":20,"chapter_title":"Chapter 20","content":"

The dinosaur whipped its tail for a while, and finally there were some rustling sounds coming from the cave, but the movements seemed a bit sluggish.

The dinosaur became a bit impatient and raised its tail again, fiercely lashing at the outside of the cave with great force, causing even the cave entrance to start crumbling and dropping dirt clods.

\"Cough cough - ptooey!\" Finally another voice came from the cave, but this voice...

No matter how you listen to it, it's a person, right?!

\"An old man?!\" Dennis was stunned for a second and exclaimed in surprise, \"Holy crap, why is there an old man in a dinosaur cave? Is it a monster?\"

Just as he finished his definition, the person inside the cave finally crawled out sluggishly - his white hair and beard of the same color were covered in fallen dirt, even the wrinkles on his face were caked with gray, his eyes squinted into slits from the dust, and his clothes were covered in nothing but bloodstains and mud prints, the original color completely indiscernible.

It wouldn't be an exaggeration to describe him as a mud dog, except that it's not very respectful.

However, even such a disheveled appearance and the falling gray dirt couldn't stop the old man's mouth. As he struggled to crawl out of the cave, he said, \"Which damn kid called me a monster--\"

He glanced outside from the gaps in his messy hair, then widened his eyes and said, \"Dennis!\"

Dennis was just about to say that even monsters these days are so down on their luck, but upon hearing this shout, he jumped in surprise. He carefully confirmed with his eyes and finally recognized the old man's appearance amidst the mottled mud clumps.

\"Professor Linton.\" Xia Chuan called out the old man's name before him. His surprise was no less than Dennis'.

This Professor Linton was the dinosaur enthusiast that Dennis had mentioned before, who often grabbed Dennis to tell him stories about his little dinosaur darlings. Their last casual chat took place on that cruise ship, and not long after that, the ship encountered those four sea tornadoes...

Although Dennis had fantasized in the stone cave about the possibility of other people on the ship being alive, he never expected that fantasy to come true one day.

\"My God--\" Dennis was both shocked and overjoyed, and simply didn't know what to say. He hurriedly stepped forward and pulled Professor Linton out of that small dirt hole.

Professor Linton seemed to have quite the air of an old rascal. He hugged Dennis and bounced several times to express his excitement, slapping Dennis a couple times as he bounced, \"You little rascal actually called me an old monster!\"

With this bouncing, Xia Chuan and the others finally noticed that one of the professor's legs was injured. During the bouncing process, he maintained a golden rooster standing on one leg posture the whole time, looking quite comical.

\"Professor, how did you--\" Xia Chuan slapped a hand on the two bouncing people.

Before he could finish his question, Professor Linton took over, \"You're asking how I ended up in this cave, right?\"

Using Dennis as a large crutch to lean on, he shook his head and said, \"Actually, I'm not too clear myself. When the ship sank, it seems you guys pulled me out of the cabin. After that, I only remember struggling in the sea for quite a while until I lost consciousness. When I woke up, I was already here, of course not in the cave, but next to a swamp up ahead. Then I ran into Yaya*--\"

*T/N: Ya is the character for teeth

\"Yaya?\" Xia Chuan didn't understand.

\"Tyrannosaurus, characterized by shark-like teeth.\" Professor Linton explained while reaching out to try to pat the dinosaur's neck, but the dinosaur turned its head and snapped, fortunately the professor retracted his hand quickly, otherwise he would have fed \"Yaya\" a beggar's chicken claw.

\"Hehe--\" Professor Linton laughed with a kindly face, \"Still shy.\"

Xia Chuan and Shen Lan both got goosebumps at the same time. Shen Lan scratched his cheek and leaned over to Xia Chuan's ear, saying, \"This old man is really damn bold...\"

Xia Chuan glanced at him with a strange expression.

\"What?\" Shen Lan touched his own face, not understanding.

\"Nothing...\" Xia Chuan thought to himself: It's just that hearing such commonly used crude language from the mouth of a near-primitive man feels really unsuitable.

\"Shen Lan, what did you do before coming to this world?\" Xia Chuan finally couldn't help but ask.

\"Shen Lan?\" Hearing this name, Shen Lan was stunned for a moment, seeming to think for a good while before understanding the origin of the name, then said \"Oh\" and replied, \"I forgot.\"

Xia Chuan: \"...\"

If it weren't for the fact that Shen Lan's expression showed no trace of lying or brushing off the question, he really would have thought this person was trying to act mysterious.

Not remembering his own origins, carrying strange code names and numbers, physical qualities clearly surpassing ordinary people, not to mention having the inconceivable ability to transform into a Mosasaurus... Xia Chuan's train of thought uncontrollably rushed towards the direction of \"experimental subject\".

The various circumstances surrounding Shen Lan really fit too well with the plots in movies and TV shows. Other than the legendary \"experimental subjects\", he really couldn't think of any other possibilities.

Just as his mind was filled with fantasy movie scenes, the dinosaur finally had enough of Professor Linton's harassment.

It opened its mouth and roared a couple times, startling the leaves in the forest to rustle loudly, then whipped its tail in front of the group, its impatient mood very obvious. It might as well have had a sign on its head saying \"Scram, scram, scram! I gave you two meals, I returned a person to you, we're even, scram as far as you can and don't bother me!\"

Professor Linton, who had been leaning in just before, suddenly behaved himself. He hopped a couple steps to the side while leaning on Dennis, waving his hands and shooing the group like herding chickens, saying, \"It's really annoyed now, go, go, go, let's hurry and leave. If I remember correctly, going further past the swamp, we can find a river. That area should have more herbivores than carnivores, at least it's a bit safer than this forest...\"

Xia Chuan just felt speechless hearing the word \"safe\" coming from someone who had hung out with an unfamiliar Tyrannosaurus for a day.

\"Although this place can't really be judged by common sense...\" Professor Linton added when he jumped onto Dennis' back, shamelessly having him carry him.

The group was driven out of the Tyrannosaurus' territory and had Professor Linton point out the direction of the swamp. Dennis took out the black box to compare and found that the direction was actually consistent, so he no longer hesitated and resolutely headed towards the swamp.

\"Professor, what did you mean just now when you said this place can't really be judged by common sense? Could it be that you also encountered scenarios of bringing things to life or words becoming reality?\"

Professor Linton gave him a look and said, \"What nonsense is this about bringing things to life? It's like a self-fulfilling prophecy... Well, it does have that meaning to some extent, but it's not a bad thing.

\"Just like Yaya earlier, okay, that Tyrannosaurus... I've always believed that although different creatures speak different languages, there is a kind of interoperability between them. As long as you let the other party feel your goodwill, you may be able to avoid unnecessary attacks. But how can I put it? The chances of success are actually pitifully small, especially when you're on the other party's menu.\"

He shrugged and said, \"So when I encountered that Tyrannosaurus, I only hoped for a one percent chance of survival, praying that it would let me go. Unexpectedly, it really didn't treat me as lunch and even placed me in that cave. While in the cave, I prayed again that if I could meet my companions, it would be a great fortune, and as a result...\"

As a result, that Tyrannosaurus brought Xia Chuan and the others right to him.

After experiencing the caterpillar incident and hearing Professor Linton's words, Xia Chuan and Dennis looked at each other, feeling that the world was becoming more and more strange and mysterious.

\"Moreover,\" Professor Linton surveyed the surrounding environment, \"Tyrannosaurus fossils have mostly been found in areas with obvious tropical desert climates. During the Cretaceous period, global temperatures were much higher than in modern society, even hotter. So it shouldn't appear in a place like this at all. The climate and temperature here can only be considered temperate at most!\"

","published_time":"2024-09-13T00:00:00.000Z","paid":false,"show_flag":true,"show_scheduled_time":"2024-08-23T00:00:00.000Z","unpaid_scheduled_time":"2024-09-13T00:00:00.000Z"},{"content_id":945,"novel_id":16,"chapter_no":21,"chapter_title":"Chapter 21","content":"

Professor Linton was right.

Whether it was the plant species in the forest, the temperature, or the humidity level, this place seemed more like a temperate region. Of course, if one were to truly compare the regions from tens of millions of years ago to modern times, this place could probably be considered a cold temperate zone, after all, both the temperature and humidity were much higher in the Cretaceous period than they are now.

Compared to the frigid or tropical zones, being able to land in this place was already considered lucky for Xia Chuan and the others.

However, this also meant that in this relatively mild climate zone, there were many more species than in other places, especially in areas with rivers and wetlands.

\"So don't think this dense forest is habitable just because of an abnormal Tyrannosaurus. The sooner we get out of here, the better.\" Professor Linton said while patting Dennis on the shoulder. \"If you walk any slower, we might not even get out of here by next year. I might as well hop down and go on my own...\"

On one hand, the old man was very dissatisfied with the performance of this human-shaped mount named Dennis. On the other hand, seeing the bloody wound on his arm, he felt quite distressed. So he made this remark to strike up a conversation, intending to get off Dennis' back.

Since they left the Tyrannosaurus and carefully walked for about half a kilometer, this eerily empty dense forest seemed to have suddenly turned on a switch, becoming a bit lively. In addition to the ever-present insect chirps, there were many other sounds in the dense forest--

From time to time, there were flapping sounds overhead, which were pterosaurs of various sizes gliding. They seemed unable to fly long distances and always stopped to rest on the tops of tall tree branches. Occasionally, they would dive towards another tall tree at an extremely fast speed, probably because they saw food, but most of them were still gliding towards the sea.

Even if the group of people traveling in the dense forest were very careful, they were still a sizable target.

Three pterosaurs swooped down from the sky, accurately targeting Dennis and Professor Linton on his back, fully embodying the principle of picking on the weak. The leading one was frighteningly large, with wings that could wrap up the two people even when half-spread, scaring Professor Linton so much that he almost fell off Dennis' head.

\"Ah-- Get away!\" Dennis was heavily slapped by one of the pterosaur's wings, and his footsteps were in a panic as he tried to dodge. Professor Linton was even more flustered, holding his head with one hand and waving the other in the air. As a result, a pterosaur bit his arm, its teeth as sharp as steel saws piercing into the skin, and beads of bright red blood rolled down in strings.

The two were thrown into disarray by this sudden attack. Dennis' vision was blocked by the pterosaur's wings and he couldn't see the ground at all. He tripped and fell heavily to the ground, and the slightly overweight Professor Linton also rolled to the side.

Shen Lan and Xia Chuan almost immediately turned back. The former grabbed one pterosaur in each hand and directly snapped their necks; the latter pinned the remaining one to the tree trunk with a dagger, swiftly and decisively resolving the crisis.

The one pinned to the tree didn't die right away and cried out miserably for a while, its huge wings flapping in spasms with great force. If Xia Chuan's dagger hadn't been stuck deep, it wouldn't have been able to hold it at all.

Shen Lan was already sensitive to sound, and this high-decibel cry was simply killing him. Hearing it made him dig at his ears. Unable to bear it any longer, he threw the two pterosaurs over his shoulder, freeing up a hand to grab the mouth of the one on the tree. \"I still prefer dealing with these things in the sea.\"

Turning back into a mosasaur and swallowing it in one gulp, there was no need to suffer from this noise.

Seeing that the pterosaur had finally quieted down, Xia Chuan reached out to pull Dennis and Professor Linton up from the ground. In the collision, he inadvertently hit the back of his hand against the trunk of the tall tree.

Xia Chuan frowned and instinctively withdrew his hand to take a look. He saw several blood spots on the back of his hand, with a few long, white, hair-like thorns stuck in it, thin but tough, only visible when looking at the light filtering through the branches and leaves.

\"Hiss--\" Dennis, who had stood up, took a long breath and spread his hands, looking at his palms. He was much worse off than Xia Chuan-- his palms, forearms, elbows, and knees were all injured. His muscles were not as firm as Xia Chuan's, so more thorns were stuck deeper, almost covering entire areas, as if he had experienced a hail of needle rain.

However, Professor Linton was the worst off. With age, his skin was loose and his flesh thick. Some of the thorns that had pierced him had simply disappeared entirely into the skin, leaving only some black spots that couldn't be pulled out.

\"What kind of tree is this! How can there be hidden weapons on the branches!\" Dennis didn't know where to put his hands. It was impossible to just sit down and deal with it slowly, so he had to roughly pull out the parts that could be pulled out first, enduring the tingling pain, and looked the culprit up and down.

\"This is an early fern plant, of course it's fuzzy.\" Professor Linton looked at the height of the tree and the branches and leaves above, and explained, dejectedly squeezing the black spots on his palms as if this would squeeze the thorns out.

\"...A fern... several stories tall?!\" Dennis had a face of despair, feeling that this forest was simply uninhabitable. He couldn't care about the thorns stuck in his hands and feet, and just wanted to carry the professor on his back and leave this ghost place as soon as possible.

The pterosaur nailed to the tree had also completely died at this point. Shen Lan pulled out the dagger and tossed it to Xia Chuan, then threw this third one over his shoulder to carry.

Professor Linton stared at him, dumbfounded: \"You, you...\"

\"What about me?\" Shen Lan looked back at him.

\"Such a large pterosaur must weigh at least two or three hundred kilograms each, you...\" Can you really handle carrying three?

Shen Lan was obviously used to his own physical functions and didn't feel there was anything abnormal. Hearing Professor Linton's halting words, he thought he was asking why he was carrying such heavy pterosaurs while traveling, so he patted the pterosaur's back and explained succinctly: \"Tastes good.\"

Xia Chuan: \"...\"

Dennis: \"...\"

These two had eaten plate-sized ammonites before, so although they were a bit speechless seeing the pterosaurs, they were somewhat mentally prepared.

Professor Linton was the only one who suffered. He was not young, and had just been pricked by thorns and then scared silly by Shen Lan's brutal recipe. For a long time, he was in a daze, not even reacting when the person carrying him changed from Dennis to Xia Chuan.

It wasn't until they had walked a long way out that he said in a trance-like manner, \"Eh-- the speed seems to have gotten a lot faster.\"

With the change in configuration, the entire team's marching speed indeed increased significantly. Denise only needed to protect the black bag on his chest and didn't have to bear much weight, making it less strenuous to keep up with Xia Chuan and Shen Lan.

\"Chuan, is your lower back really okay?\" Denise couldn't help but ask, feeling a bit annoyed with his own physical fitness. If he could be a bit stronger, he could at least help reduce some of the burden on Xia Chuan and the others.

\"It's fine.\" Xia Chuan carried Professor Linton on his back and walked a long way behind Shen Lan, but he didn't seem to be struggling much.

At least his tone remained steady, and his breathing didn't become rapid or heavy. His voice was always very low, as if he was too lazy to make an effort to speak. In a slightly noisier environment, it was easy for people to not hear him clearly.

However, for Shen Lan, it was just right, not too high or too low.

He turned his head to look at Xia Chuan while carrying the pterosaur on his back. His gaze swept over Xia Chuan's waist, and seeing that his walking posture was normal without any signs of enduring pain, he turned his head back and continued to lead the way.

Although Xia Chuan's personality was always very tough, completely ignoring minor injuries and pains, and even enduring major injuries and pains without making a sound, this time he really wasn't putting on a brave face. At the seaside, his lower back still had some difficulty exerting strength, and large movements would cause tearing pain. Now, after just half a day, there was almost no impact, and he moved freely as if his back had never been injured.

In comparison, the burning pain on the back of his hand was more noticeable, but this level of pain was not a problem for him and could be directly ignored.

Their marching speed was much faster than before, but this dense forest seemed endless.

Professor Linton, lying on Xia Chuan's back, wasn't idle either. Along the way, he judged their position based on the density and height of the plants in the forest.

\"We are approaching the central zone of this forest,\" he said to Xia Chuan and the others, looking around.

\"Only reaching the center—\" Denise was about to express his surprise when he received a glare from Xia Chuan. He immediately lowered his volume by half and said softly, \"We've only reached the central area after walking for so long...\"

\"What did you expect?\" Xia Chuan said impatiently.

It turned out that their earlier perception of few living creatures in the forest was entirely because they were still at the edge of the woods, and at that time, the Tyrannosaurus was there. This kind of terrestrial predator had a strong sense of territory and was fierce in combat. Creatures on its menu all wanted to avoid it, so that area was relatively empty.

Now, the closer they got to the center of the dense forest, the more living things they encountered—

Moths with wingspans as large as books flew in groups of three to five. If one wasn't careful, they would flutter onto people's bodies, and the thick powder on their wings would rub against the skin, making people very uncomfortable;

The small dinosaurs scurrying between the branches were not much larger than those moths. They specialized in digging out soft-bodied insects from tree holes to eat. Occasionally, if they didn't grab firmly, the insects would fall from a height, just like the scene with the caterpillars Xia Chuan and the others encountered before;

There were also snakes coiled on the horizontal branches of some tall trees, but those snakes were somewhat different from modern snakes. In addition to their particularly large size, some looked more like legless lizards.

Fortunately, most of these snakes were lazy and only interested in the small dinosaurs in the trees. One snake that unwisely decided to attack Shen Lan ended up becoming the fourth reserve food item, also carried on Shen Lan's shoulder.

Xia Chuan looked at Shen Lan's trailing silhouette with some exasperation, feeling a sense of bizarre humor—

It was as if a wilderness survival situation that should have been full of crises was forcibly twisted by Shen Lan into a spring outing... and a spring outing with the whole family in tow.

This sense of incongruous \"leisureliness\" surrounded them until Shen Lan suddenly stopped in his tracks and pressed his hand on Xia Chuan's shoulder, preventing him from moving forward. Xia Chuan was startled by his obstruction and didn't react for a moment, but the next second, his face changed color—

Suddenly, there was a rustling sound in the surrounding bushes, and then, one by one, shadows appeared behind the low trees, silently surrounding Xia Chuan and the others in the middle...

","published_time":"2024-09-20T00:00:00.000Z","paid":false,"show_flag":true,"show_scheduled_time":"2024-08-30T00:00:00.000Z","unpaid_scheduled_time":"2024-09-20T00:00:00.000Z"},{"content_id":962,"novel_id":16,"chapter_no":22,"chapter_title":"Chapter 22","content":"

At first glance, Xia Chuan thought they were surrounded by a group of giant birds, because they had a thick layer of feathers on their bodies, with a structure very similar to birds.

The back was covered with hard and long thin feathers, while the sides to the abdomen were covered with a layer of fine down, all dark red in color, just like the color of blood after it had dried, which looked a bit creepy in this deep forest.

However, when Xia Chuan got a clear look at one of them, he realized that these strange creatures with bird feathers were not birds, because they neither had wings, nor did they have two more claws than normal birds. Their appearance, no matter how you look at it, was like a group of feathered dinosaurs.

Having seen those traditional dinosaurs with very short forelimbs and lizard-like skin along the way, it was quite a novelty to suddenly see a group of these non-mainstream styles, of course, it would be even better if it wasn't this kind of encounter.

Their feathers were very glossy, and you could even see a pool of water-like light where they curved, from a single look they could tell that these dinosaurs were clearly carnivorous and good hunters, otherwise they wouldn't be so well-fed.

This was not only noticed by Xia Chuan, but also by Professor Linton and Dennis. Xia Chuan could even hear the two of them quietly gasping behind him, seemingly very uneasy. And he himself also felt a tightness in his heart--

The forelimbs of these unknown species of dinosaurs were not much shorter than their hind limbs, and they looked as sharp as their bared teeth. They were about two to three meters long, as tall as a person.

Compared to the shark-toothed dinosaurs encountered before, they were simply petite and exquisite, which meant that their speed might also be much faster, their movements more agile, and they were group-attacking hunters, which might be much more difficult to deal with than a single large beast!

\"Pyroraptor...\" Professor Linton muttered in a low voice, giving out the name of this group of hunters.

However, just knowing the name did not provide any helpful information. Nearly twenty Pyroraptors were slowly shrinking the encirclement, looking like they were going to trap and kill the prey in this circle.

\"Pyroraptor, Pyroraptor...\" Professor Linton was still repeating their species, trying hard to recall their characteristics, muttering like a machine gun in his mouth, trying to get some information that would be beneficial to deal with them, \"They are relatively light in weight, with very sharp teeth and claws, and a strong lower jaw with great biting force... That's right! Fragile skull! That's it! Their skulls are relatively fragile!\"

He finally remembered the weakness of the Pyroraptors and was a bit excited for a moment, not controlling his volume well, and almost shouted out the last sentence.

However, this was exactly the kind of movement that both sides of the confrontation were waiting for--

The group of Pyroraptors that had them tightly surrounded suddenly sprang up when Professor Linton raised his voice, leaping over the low bushes and pouncing on the surrounded people. The speed of this kind of dinosaur was almost as frightening as the Velociraptor's.

In just the blink of an eye, they had already darted in front of everyone. Their forelimbs were not as short as those of the Tyrannosaurus rex, and a swipe of their claws brought up a sharp sound of wind.

Fortunately, Xia Chuan reacted quickly, ducking down to avoid it, followed by a side roll, knocking Dennis and Professor Linton to the side, and also just in time to avoid the sharp claws of two Pyroraptors. The empty claws hit a tall tree on the side, scraping off a thick piece of bark. If it really fell on a person's body, at least a large piece of flesh would be cut off.

Xia Chuan was not the only one prepared. Shen Lan also leapt up at the same time as the Pyroraptors moved. Although the speed of the Pyroraptors was unbelievably fast, Shen Lan was even faster.

This person's physiological functions and qualities could not be judged by normal standards. Both his strength and speed had long exceeded the maximum value of the normal range, and not just by a little bit. He was like a fast shadow among the Pyroraptors, dazzling people's eyes as he came and went.

As early as when the Pyroraptors had surrounded them, Shen Lan had already spotted the positions, so at this moment, he almost went straight for the target he had aimed at in advance.

He flashed in front of one of the Pyroraptors, raised his hand to grab its neck, flipped over and leapt onto its back, then stretched out his long arm and grabbed the back of the head of the Pyroraptor beside it before it could jump out, and then exerted force with both hands towards the middle.

The heads of the two Pyroraptors collided with a \"bang--\", and the force could be heard just from the sound. There was even a crisp sound of bone shattering mixed in with the impact.

The weakness that Professor Linton had shouted out was thus utilized by Shen Lan, and he neatly took care of two of them in one move.

Even if the Pyroraptors with fractured skulls did not die immediately, they had lost their combat effectiveness. These two were shaking their bodies and struggling wildly in a sharp howl, as if trying to get rid of the pain.

Of course, Shen Lan would not waste any more time on them. He immediately leapt up and landed in front of another Pyroraptor, blocking its forward-swinging sharp claws with one hand, seemingly unafraid of being injured, and grabbed its two forelimbs with the other hand, swinging the Pyroraptor hard into a tree on the side.

Obviously, the lighter weight was also used very well by Shen Lan. Of course, if it were someone else, they would have been swung instead.

Although Xia Chuan's speed of resolution could not be compared with Shen Lan's, it was not slow either. When Shen Lan crushed the fourth one, Xia Chuan had already cut off the forelimbs of one Pyroraptor and broken the spine of another. The military dagger, no matter how good its quality, was now covered in blood, and even splashed all over Xia Chuan's hands.

Even with two such people present, Professor Linton and Dennis were still in grave danger.

Those Pyroraptors pounced forward one after another, and although they seemed chaotic, they were still shrinking the encirclement. One of them opened its mouth full of sharp teeth and bit directly at Professor Linton's head.

The strong smell of blood and the roaring sound frightened Professor Linton so much that he even forgot to scream, only staring at the two rows of sharp teeth, his mind going blank. Dennis beside him reflexively pulled him hard towards himself.

However, this did not have much effect. The sharp teeth of the Pyroraptor almost closed on Professor Linton's scalp, and the huge biting force made the sound of teeth colliding particularly crisp. It made people's hair stand on end.

One strike missed, another strike rose.

The Pyroraptor turned its head and took another bite, attacking Professor Linton and Dennis again.

Just as it looked like Dennis's head was about to be pierced by the sharp teeth of the Pyroraptor, a dagger was inserted horizontally, blocking the row of sharp teeth.

\"Chuan!\" Dennis shouted Xia Chuan's name as if he had seen a god.

Xia Chuan didn't even bother to respond. With a flick of his hand, he thrust the dagger from the Pyroraptor's mouth upward, piercing through its upper jaw. Then, with a powerful pull, he used the force of the dagger to fling the Pyroraptor onto its side on the ground, while simultaneously pulling the dagger back out.

However, pack-hunting predators never attack in an orderly queue. As Xia Chuan flung off one, the other two Pyroraptors had already pounced. At this moment, Xia Chuan's posture was not conducive to attacking, let alone blocking two at once.

This time, even Xia Chuan instinctively closed his eyes for a moment.

Just as he felt the hot, fishy breath spraying on his body and the sharp teeth touching his skin, an arm wrapped around his waist with a force as strong as a shackle.

Before Xia Chuan could reflexively resist, the arm exerted force—Xia Chuan felt a sudden dizziness, and when he abruptly opened his eyes, he found himself already hoisted over someone's shoulder.

It could be no one else but Shen Lan.

However, as soon as he realized what was happening, he felt his body lighten again as Shen Lan threw him out.

\"Northwest! Run!\" Shen Lan blurted out these words in an instant as he threw him.

Of course, Xia Chuan wouldn't just let himself fall to the ground without reacting. Instead, he rolled as he landed and quickly stood up. At this point, Shen Lan had nimbly tossed him out of the battle circle, and Professor Linton and Dennis were also pushed out at the same time.

Where the three of them landed, several half-dead Pyroraptor bodies lay. Clearly, Shen Lan had already aimed at the position and cleared out such a gap.

When they were inside the circle, they couldn't see it, but now that they had been thrown outside the battle circle, the three of them could clearly see that even the siege of nearly twenty Pyroraptors was not a particularly dangerous battle for Shen Lan. At most, it would just take more time to resolve.

Instead, the three of them inside would attract the firepower of the Pyroraptors, causing Shen Lan to be distracted and very much in the way.

\"What are you standing there for?\" Shen Lan, while fighting, still turned his head to glance at them. Seeing that they hadn't moved yet, he called out with great exasperation.

Urged on by Shen Lan, Xia Chuan no longer hesitated. He picked up Professor Linton, pushed Dennis, and ran in their predetermined direction.

In the time that Shen Lan spoke to the three of them, a Pyroraptor on the periphery had a brain fart. It abandoned the group attack and actually chased after Xia Chuan and the others alone.

Shen Lan was dealing with two with his hands and had to block the seven or eight in front. He was too lazy to chase after it. He merely glanced at it and then focused on dealing with the ones in front of him.

Having lived here for many years, he had forgotten many things and even couldn't speak fluently at first. But he dared to be certain that with Xia Chuan's skill, he could be considered an expert whether in normal society or here.

It was just a mere Pyroraptor. He believed Xia Chuan was completely capable of dealing with it. He still remembered how clean and beautiful Xia Chuan's knife moves were in the group attack just now.

","published_time":"2024-09-26T00:00:00.000Z","paid":false,"show_flag":true,"show_scheduled_time":"2024-09-06T00:00:00.000Z","unpaid_scheduled_time":"2024-09-26T00:00:00.000Z"},{"content_id":980,"novel_id":16,"chapter_no":23,"chapter_title":"Chapter 23","content":"

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.

","published_time":"2024-10-03T00:00:00.000Z","paid":false,"show_flag":true,"show_scheduled_time":"2024-09-13T00:00:00.000Z","unpaid_scheduled_time":"2024-10-03T00:00:00.000Z"},{"content_id":997,"novel_id":16,"chapter_no":24,"chapter_title":"Chapter 24","content":"

At the edge of the forest, there were still trees, but the vegetation had noticeably changed--

The towering tree ferns comparable to the giant sequoias of North America became sparse and scattered, replaced by a patch of shrubs.

Xia Chuan took the lead and walked to the front, taking advantage of the remaining bit of sunlight to look a little further ahead. Through the shrubs, lush grass and trees could be seen, with something reflecting light in between, slightly dazzling.

Xia Chuan's brows relaxed, clearly in a good mood.

\"Water!\" Dennis raised his hand, pointing to that area and exclaiming, \"It's a wetland, Professor! Is this where you woke up before?\"

Professor Linton leaned on a stick and looked around, then shook his head hesitantly, \"It doesn't look quite like it, probably not...\"

Dennis was stunned for a moment, \"Huh? Then--\"

\"Doesn't matter, as long as there's water.\" Xia Chuan interjected decisively, then started finding footholds to walk forward through the shrubs, reminding as he went, \"There's bound to be creatures near the water, watch your step.\"

The shrubs here were uneven in height. In shadier areas, they grew thick and tall, looking not much different from normal trees. Only in brighter spots were they relatively shorter, but still past Xia Chuan's waist. Their branches and leaves were stiff, some with barbs, and grew densely, easily scratching arms if one wasn't careful, very likely to add more injuries to the already wounded trio.

Xia Chuan occasionally used his knife to clear the shrub branches beside him, barely clearing a narrow path wide enough for one person.

\"There are many creatures in a place like this, but probably not many big ones.\" Professor Linton walked between Xia Chuan and Dennis, leaning on a stick. Looking at the extremely dense shrubs, he said, \"But past these shrubs, a bit further ahead, it's hard to say. There might even be crocodiles floating in the wetlands.\"

Dennis' teeth chattered, \"The Deinosuchus?!\"

\"The Deinosuchus are in Africa!\" Professor Linton turned his head and gave him a look. \"But just because they're not Deinosuchus doesn't mean it's much better. The crocodiles of this era aren't that much smaller in size.\"

Xia Chuan, who was leading the way up front, listened without even raising an eyebrow and just continued chopping branches and walking.

Crocodiles are creatures with frightening combat power. Few people wouldn't be afraid of them. In fact, if it were in the past, if Xia Chuan knew there might be crocodiles nearby, he would definitely take a detour if possible, not needing to directly confront such animals.

But now, especially after walking through a jungle mixed with terrestrial carnivorous dinosaurs, giant snakes, and pterosaurs for a day, crocodiles could no longer bring him any sense of excitement...

Compared to the dense forest, their speed through the shrubs was much faster, perhaps also due to having more motivation after seeing water. The three rushed with the last ray of light out of the shrubs, then walked a distance over the grass and trees, finally arriving at a place with a glimmer of water.

However, the water was still very shallow, only accumulating in low-lying areas, scattered and hidden among the grass and trees. The three no longer spoke and immediately headed forward along these scattered puddles.

As they walked farther and farther, the puddles in sight became larger and more elongated. The ground underfoot gradually turned wet and soft, sticking to their pants with dampness. Before long, the advancing trio stopped in unison--they had found a place where they could temporarily settle.

After the increasingly numerous scattered low-lying areas, they finally saw a shallow river-like area. Of course, it was still essentially a puddle, just with a larger area and deeper water, and quite a few live fish. The best part was that there were several tall tree trunks lying beside this \"shallow river\". Who knows how long they had fallen, whether blown over by the wind, hit by something, or perhaps washed over and piled up here by water flow in the past.

In any case, those few broken tree trunks were piled haphazardly, about half a person's height. When resting in such a perilous place, one always needs to rely on some cover to feel a bit more secure. These remnant broken trunks were a good choice.

Xia Chuan quickly scanned the surroundings, then led Professor Linton and Dennis to the edge of the pile of trunks and squatted down with his back against them. His knife was already sheathed at his waist, and in his hands were the shrub branches he had chopped down to block the way.

He looked at the ground for a moment, found a relatively dry spot, and threw down the shrub branches, quickly setting up a pile of wood for a fire. He then stretched out his hand towards Dennis.

Without needing him to speak, Dennis very cooperatively rummaged in his bag, took out a lighter and placed it in Xia Chuan's palm, \"Here--\"

Only upon seeing this kind of thing did Professor Linton seem to notice that Dennis was still carrying a black bag of considerable size on his back.

He grabbed the edge of the black bag, almost burying his entire head inside, and rummaged through its contents before staring wide-eyed and raising his face, \"That's cheating! Why is it that when I woke up, there was nothing around me, my luggage had long disappeared, and I even have a lame leg, but your bag is still with you? Are you the only one who still has luggage on them?\"

\"When I woke up, I still had an underwater gun on me.\" Xia Chuan answered offhandedly while using the lighter to start the fire.

\"Oh my! That's a good thing to have! Although it may not be of much use against big creatures, it should work against smaller ones, especially underwater. Can that thing catch fish?\" Professor Linton said, glancing at the shallow river and subconsciously swallowing. \"I'm a bit hungry, haven't had a proper meal in over a day.\"

Xia Chuan: \"...Don't get your hopes up, it's lost.\" That underwater gun had long been swatted into the boundless sea by a certain someone's tail, never to be found again.

Professor Linton had a look of despair on his face, muttering, \"How could it be lost, such an efficient hunting tool...\"

Xia Chuan: \"...\"

The fire quickly ignited, not too big or too small, just right. Xia Chuan tossed the lighter back to Dennis, then took out the knife from his waist, deftly spinning it on his fingertips, and said, \"No underwater gun, but this works just as well.\"

With that, he walked towards the \"shallow river\".

Taking a closer look at this newly formed \"shallow river\", Xia Chuan saw that apart from a few fish, there were no other conspicuous creatures inside. They had probably just flowed in with the water.

In this kind of small pond, catching a few fish of decent size without any other interfering factors was not difficult for Xia Chuan. In just a few minutes, he brought several fish to the campfire. \"I just cleaned them in the water. You guys can start grilling them first,\" he said as he tossed the fish to Dennis.

\"Huh? What about you?\" Dennis asked, holding the fish.

\"I'm going to wash up.\" Xia Chuan pointed to his shirt, half of which was covered in blood.

Dennis had long noticed that he couldn't stand it and immediately understood, waving his hand. \"Go ahead, we'll start grilling. Come eat when you're done washing.\"

Xia Chuan didn't wait for him to finish before striding towards the \"shallow river.\" The river was surrounded by dense grass and trees, half-concealing and half-revealing, with thin streams of water meandering above and below, proving that the water in the river was quite active.

He found a spot hidden by the grass and trees downstream, swiftly unbuttoned two buttons of his shirt, and was about to take off his top to clean the blood stains when he heard some movement not far away, a rhythmic rustling sound.

Footsteps!

Xia Chuan abruptly looked up towards the source of the sound and saw Shen Lan's familiar figure appear in his field of vision, but the silhouette was a bit strange, as if there were things hanging on the shoulders, hands... and even the waist, and they were not small.

After taking a closer look, he was completely speechless. \"...\" This guy really brought back everything edible along the way!

","published_time":"2024-10-11T00:00:00.000Z","paid":false,"show_flag":true,"show_scheduled_time":"2024-09-20T00:00:00.000Z","unpaid_scheduled_time":"2024-10-11T00:00:00.000Z"},{"content_id":1014,"novel_id":16,"chapter_no":25,"chapter_title":"Chapter 25","content":"

The creatures slung over his shoulders hung their necks, swaying with Shen Lan's steps. As the wind blew, a layer of fine fuzz on their bodies would be lifted... They were unmistakably two Pyroraptors.

Loosely coiled around his neck in two loops was the giant snake that Xia Chuan and the others had encountered before. As for what he was carrying in his hands, on one side was the ammonite that Xia Chuan and Dennis had eaten at the very beginning, while on the other side, it looked somewhat massive, with a neck as long and curved as a snake's, dragging lifelessly on the ground at the moment, but its body somewhat resembled that of a seal, with fin-like fore and hind limbs.

Xia Chuan couldn't quite recognize what that thing was for a moment, but Shen Lan's fully loaded appearance truly stunned him.

Along the way, he had actually grasped a bit of Shen Lan's characteristics - when judging other creatures, the criteria he used in most cases were \"tasty\" and \"not tasty\", and only for a few things he hadn't eaten before could he say a couple of serious words.

Based on this alone, Xia Chuan felt that Shen Lan placed quite a bit of importance on the aspect of eating, but he never thought this person could value it to such an extent. Just looking at the things hanging on his body and what he was carrying in his hands, Xia Chuan finally understood why he took about three hours longer to catch up -

The Pyroraptors and giant snake could be considered as being picked up and carried after defeating them, but the things he was holding in his hands... were clearly not something that would be found on land.

\"...You went back to the sea to fish these out?\" Stimulated by Shen Lan's appearance, Xia Chuan didn't have the mood to take a bath for the time being. While casually buttoning up his already unbuttoned shirt, he rolled up his sleeves and walked up to Shen Lan, raising his chin towards the two big fellows he was holding in his hands.

\"You could even tell that?\" Shen Lan tilted his head to look at the Pyroraptors slung over his shoulders and explained, \"Originally, after dealing with this bunch, I planned to casually grab a couple and catch up with you guys, but then I ran into this snake again. Thinking its taste was quite fresh too, I brought it along as well. But when it comes to freshness, naturally seafood tastes even better, so I simply turned back and caught these two.\"

He bounced the things in his hands at Xia Chuan. \"You've eaten this one before, the taste is not bad, right? This one tastes even better, I'll let you have a taste of its freshness.\"

Xia Chuan was simply at a loss for words. \"...\"

What kind of spirit was this, Xia Chuan couldn't comprehend it. He only knew that anyone with a slightly normal mind wouldn't turn back on the original path after rushing for most of the day, just for the sake of eating some local specialties...

In other words, during the time he was missing, Shen Lan not only beat up a group of Pyroraptors and a giant snake, but also retraced the entire long stretch through the dense forest they had traversed during the day, and caught two seafood goods along the way...

Calculating it this way, he actually only delayed for a little over three hours? Even with eight legs one wouldn't be faster than him!

But regardless of whether his mind was good or not, he ran this errand in order to let people have a taste of freshness. Xia Chuan couldn't stand there foolishly without appreciating the sentiment.

He swept his gaze up and down, and reached out to the millstone-like ammonite within his capability, saying, \"Give it to me, I'll help you carry some.\"

\"Oh.\" Shen Lan responded, but instead of handing over the ammonite, he offered his own neck. \"If you want to help, take this snake. It's a bit suffocating hanging there.\"

Xia Chuan said without any good temper, \"...You even know it's suffocating?\"

His height of 1.83 meters wasn't short, but Shen Lan was still more than half a head taller than him. Usually it didn't matter, but at times like this, untying that snake took some effort. Xia Chuan reached out to lift the giant snake's head and tested its weight. Then, with a face full of dark lines, he waved at Shen Lan. \"Lower your head.\"

Shen Lan obediently complied, and lowering his head wasn't enough. He simply bent over as well.

The position he leaned in was really too handy. That head of deep brown short hair was right in front of Xia Chuan's eyes. It looked a bit prickly but not too stiff, seemingly having a good hand feel... So Xia Chuan subconsciously raised his hand and patted the top of his head, stopping his tendency to continue lowering. \"Alright, I'm not that short.\"

After patting, he froze.

After all, this action was indeed not very suitable to do to an adult, especially to such a tall and sturdy adult who was a whole size bigger than Xia Chuan... Moreover, although they had traveled together for a while and had some rapport, they couldn't be considered close friends who were very familiar with each other.

The last time he patted a head so naturally and handily was to a shepherd dog...

When Shen Lan wasn't paying attention, Xia Chuan gave his head a slightly apologetic look, then raised his hand and untied the giant snake coiled around his neck.

The snake's weight was heavier than imagined. Xia Chuan's hand strength wasn't small, but when he fully took it into his hands, he felt a sudden heaviness. He wasn't as wild as Shen Lan and naturally wouldn't coil the snake around his neck or sling it over his shoulders. Instead, he directly grabbed the half-open snake's mouth and dragged it to the edge of the bonfire.

Thump, thump, thump, several things fell to the ground. Dennis and Professor Linton, who were guarding the bonfire and roasting fish, were scared silly.

The two were petrified for a while, then loosened their hands, and the wooden skewers with fish fell to the ground with a plop.

\"Wh-what are these things!\" Dennis took a long time to find his soul back and asked, stammering.

Shen Lan said with an overbearing air, \"Dinner.\"

This answer was too terrifying, scaring Professor Linton into a shiver. He probably never dreamed that one day he would have dinosaur meat for dinner...

\"Pyroraptors... Boavus*... Ammonite... Plesiosaur?\" The professor counted the dinners lying on the ground in a daze. When he counted the last two, his expression became even more dazed. \"Were these two stranded in the forest?\"

*T/N: The prehistoric snake

\"He went back to the sea to fish for them,\" Xia Chuan answered for Shen Lan.

Professor Linton looked at Shen Lan with an incredulous face, as if looking at a beast. \"Went back to the sea... to fish? You finished fishing so quickly and caught up?\"

Shen Lan had unloaded his full load and was shaking his neck to loosen his muscles and bones. Upon hearing this, he was too lazy to open his mouth to explain and just very nonchalantly shrugged his shoulders.

Xia Chuan continued Professor Linton's words and said to Shen Lan, \"Don't turn back next time, in case the road gets long and complicated and you can't find your way back. Tasting fresh food can be done anytime, and it's not like we won't run into rivers and seas later.\"

This would have been a normal word of caution, but when the words fell, Xia Chuan noticed a fleeting peculiarity in Shen Lan's expression, but it quickly returned to normal. Just as Xia Chuan was feeling a bit puzzled, Shen Lan, now with a normal expression, raised his hand, pointed behind him and said, \"I saw the markers you left.\"

Actually, the way Xia Chuan left markers carried a strong military habit. Ordinary people might not easily find the correct path following those markers right away. He had left most of the path before he reacted, and was too lazy to change it.

\"Looks a bit familiar.\" Shen Lan gave a simple and concise evaluation of the markers. After saying that, not only Xia Chuan was stunned for a moment, but Shen Lan himself also looked a bit dazed.

Combining Shen Lan's experience of losing most of his memories, along with the habits and postures he revealed from having received professional training, as well as the various incredible characteristics and abilities he possessed...

Xia Chuan was more firmly convinced that Shen Lan must also come from some military unit, and for some reason, got involved with some unknown experiments, which turned him into what he is now.

But since Shen Lan himself didn't remember, there was no use in Xia Chuan asking, so he didn't bring it up.

Dennis, who had been dumbfounded on the side, suddenly spoke up and asked, \"How do we deal with this... for dinner?\"

Shen Lan decisively said, \"Eat it.\"

\"Um... I mean, shouldn't we process it a bit? Like remove the hair, skin it, wash it or something?\" Looking at the hard feathers and down all over the Pyroraptor, Dennis felt his throat getting a bit itchy. \"I really can't... bite into it directly.\"

Xia Chuan and Shen Lan were stunned for a moment, obviously having forgotten about this. Without a word, they dragged this huge behemoth to the shallow river.

If you asked him to seriously cook, he certainly wouldn't, but he was very experienced in catching things in the wild to fill his stomach. It's just that this experience definitely wouldn't include dinosaur as a type of game.

So Xia Chuan pulled out the dagger from his waist, wanting to hand it to Shen Lan to let him demonstrate. But then he saw the latter had already knelt down on one knee, nimbly slicing open the Boavus's belly with his hands and feet, not using the dagger at all.

Xia Chuan: \"...\"

Although this pile of dinner was troublesome to process one by one, with the two of them working together, the processing was not slow. Very quickly, the giant snake was split in half, the internal organs removed and aired on the shore. The Pyroraptor lost all its feathers, plucked into two bald chickens...

Seeing that the processing was almost done, Xia Chuan walked to the shallow river and carefully washed the blood from his hands. While washing, he couldn't help but recall Shen Lan's fleeting strange expression. After thinking it over several times, he spoke up and asked, \"You've been here for so long, have you really never tried to find an exit?\"

Shen Lan swiftly dismantled the Pyroraptor and Boavus into pieces. He picked up a piece of meat and waved it at Xia Chuan like he was presenting a treasure, answering a question that wasn't asked, \"Do you want to eat raw dinosaur sashimi or roasted dinosaur meat?\"

Xia Chuan: \"...\" I'd rather dismantle you.

Shen Lan continued talking to himself, \"When I transform into the Mosasaurus form, I feel raw meat is fresher, original flavor and tender. But when I'm human, I still feel roasted tastes better...\"

Xia Chuan: \"...\"

After chatting about this and that for a long time, Xia Chuan simply stood up, shook the water from his hands, walked back in front of Shen Lan, and looked at him with light brown eyes, not speaking or refuting, letting him blabber on, giving off a vibe of quietly watching someone show off.

After being stared at for a while, Shen Lan finally couldn't continue his nonsense anymore. He paused his words, was quiet for a good while, then raised his deep blue eyes, shrugged at Xia Chuan and said, \"I never intended to leave this place at all.\"

","published_time":"2024-10-18T00:00:00.000Z","paid":false,"show_flag":true,"show_scheduled_time":"2024-09-28T00:00:00.000Z","unpaid_scheduled_time":"2024-10-18T00:00:00.000Z"},{"content_id":1031,"novel_id":16,"chapter_no":26,"chapter_title":"Chapter 26","content":"

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.

","published_time":"2024-10-25T00:00:00.000Z","paid":false,"show_flag":true,"show_scheduled_time":"2024-10-04T00:00:00.000Z","unpaid_scheduled_time":"2024-10-25T00:00:00.000Z"},{"content_id":1048,"novel_id":16,"chapter_no":27,"chapter_title":"Chapter 27","content":"

That wrenching pain came so unexpectedly that even someone with high endurance like Xia Chuan couldn't stand steadily at that moment. He staggered and fell into the shallow river, choking on a mouthful of water, then half-knelt in the soft mud, stirring up a big commotion in the small river.

However, this choking on water didn't last long. He felt that as soon as his knees touched the soft mud at the bottom of the water, he was pulled out of the water by someone holding his arms.

The force supporting him was so strong and steady, as if his 6-foot tall male body was as light as a feather.

Xia Chuan didn't even need to open his eyes to know that the person who fished him out of the water was Shen Lan. It's just that the tendons in his legs had already knotted into a ball, and that knotting pain was rapidly spreading upwards through his blood, quickly causing even his heart to ache.

Xia Chuan closed his eyes with his brows tightly knitted, sweating coldly from the pain. He couldn't care about anything else, just treating Shen Lan as a lifesaver, enduring this pain, waiting for it to pass.

In a daze, he felt someone grasp his ankle, using a very strong force to massage the tendons in his calf for quite a while, then moving to his back, massaging a few points at the center of his back.

After massaging like this for a while, that knotting pain finally slowly lightened, and then gradually disappeared. The numbness that had spread throughout his body also faded bit by bit, eventually returning to normal.

Xia Chuan narrowed his eyes and let out a sigh of relief, his tense body finally relaxing.

As a result of this relaxation, the attention originally focused on the pain was finally normally distributed to various senses. Only then did Xia Chuan feel a little embarrassed--

When he was fished out of the river by Shen Lan in extreme pain earlier, he only wanted to find a point of support during the spasm. Now that his mind was clear, he took another look and realized that his entire body was clinging to Shen Lan, while Shen Lan's two hands had passed under his armpits, rhythmically massaging his back in an almost embracing posture.

This in itself was actually fine. The problem was that he had just been bathing...

No normal person would bathe while wearing clothes, so...

Xia Chuan, who had cosplayed as an iceberg for over 20 years, felt for the first time that he had lost face to an unbelievable degree, embarrassed beyond words.

He kept a blank expression on his face, silently getting off Shen Lan and landing back in the water. The moment his feet touched the soft mud, he remembered the lesson he had just learned. He was about to lift his foot to quickly leave here when Shen Lan pressed down on his shoulder and said, \"Alright, don't run. I'm in the water so they don't dare show themselves.\"

Xia Chuan: \"...\"

Only then did he realize that what Shen Lan had said earlier about it being dangerous to bathe at night probably referred to the kind of thing Xia Chuan had just encountered.

\"What bit me just now?\" Xia Chuan asked with a dark face.

\"Night-crawling insects, I guess.\" Shen Lan answered, thought for a moment and added, \"I don't know what they should be called either.\"

Xia Chuan asked, \"The danger you mentioned was them?\"

Shen Lan nodded, \"Yes.\"

Xia Chuan was speechless for a moment, \"Then why didn't you tell me directly?\"

\"You said it would be fine as long as I was here. I thought about it and felt it made a lot of sense, so I didn't mention it.\" Shen Lan felt his reason was sufficient.

Xia Chuan: \"...\" If it were Dennis, he would definitely sarcastically ask, \"Overlord, is your brain really not missing a piece, Overlord?!\"

Xia Chuan couldn't do anything about him. With these couple of exchanges, that bit of embarrassment from earlier was completely swept away.

What was there to be embarrassed about in front of this \"wild man\" who appeared naked the first time they met? Their ways of thinking were simply not on the same wavelength.

Xia Chuan waved at him, letting him stand a bit behind the water grass. After all, it still felt quite uncomfortable to fish out his clothes and put them on while being stared at, especially since Shen Lan's gaze was unwavering when he looked at people, appearing particularly serious.

\"These... night-crawling insects? Are they highly venomous?\" Xia Chuan's speed was quite fast, quickly fishing out his clothes and putting them on as he waded through the water towards Shen Lan.

\"Actually there's not much impact, it's just a bit numb right after the bite, not much different from a mosquito sting. I told you it was dangerous earlier mainly because I was afraid your feet would go numb and you'd drown.\" Shen Lan said while parting the water grass and walking towards the shore.

Xia Chuan followed behind him. Hearing this, he had a numb expression and said, \"Don't tell me you were bitten by them in your mosasaurus form...\"

Shen Lan nodded, \"Yeah.\"

You're a 30+ ton thick-skinned and thick-fleshed beast, no matter how much venom enters your body, it can be ignored after circulating once, right?!

Xia Chuan felt that saying one more word to this guy would likely shorten his lifespan. Without any blood, he wanted to spit out a couple mouthfuls. So he simply shut his mouth and didn't speak again.

When the two returned to the bonfire one after the other, Dennis was already fast asleep hugging his oscilloscope, and Professor Linton was also nodding off with low snores. Several of the bonfires used for roasting meat had been extinguished by them, leaving only two of them.

Xia Chuan, with his body soaked in water, sat down by the other bonfire to dry his clothes. He also casually gently pulled the oscilloscope out of Dennis's arms, carefully put it into the black bag, wrapped it in a waterproof bag, and zipped it up.

When he finished doing all this and sat up straight again, he found that Shen Lan had also sat down in a patch of shadow beside him, a little farther from the bonfire compared to the others. Once it quieted down, what Shen Lan had said earlier entered his mind again.

Since he had no intention of leaving here at all, and was following Xia Chuan and the others simply out of curiosity and novelty, how long would he actually follow them for? Would it be after tonight, before tomorrow night, when he saw the next sea, or all the way until they safely left this strange world?

Xia Chuan leaned against the pile of tree trunks, watching the dancing orange-red flames, his mind constantly turning over these questions. He wanted to ask Shen Lan, but felt drowsiness deepening. He didn't know if it was the effect of the night-crawling insect's venom, but an unprecedented feeling of fatigue swept over him, quickly submerging his consciousness.

Fortunately, Shen Lan was still here and hadn't left for the night, so he could sleep relatively at ease for a while...

Perhaps it was another near-drowning experience in the shallow river that brought about the recurring, familiar dream. Just like the previous few times, he dreamed of a dark, deep sea. He stood on the surface of the water, his feet stepping on the rippling waves. The cold, damp sea mist hit his face and neck, causing goosebumps to involuntarily rise.

His body was icy cold, but his heart seemed to be even colder than his body temperature.

As his heart contracted, a few pale and blurry faces slowly floated up from the bottom of the sea beneath his feet, gradually approaching the surface. He could see their deep, shadowy eye sockets and purple-blue lips... but no matter what, he couldn't make out their specific features.

Just like the previous times, as those faces were about to reach the surface, they suddenly disappeared, as if dissolving into the sea foam...

At that instant, Xia Chuan startled awake, his eyes snapping open--

Gradually coming into focus before his eyes was a flickering orange-red firelight. Not far from it, another pile had already completely burned out, leaving only a heap of charred branches and ashes.

Beside him, Dennis and Professor Linton were still sound asleep leaning against the woodpile, showing no signs of waking up anytime soon. The night was still deep.

Without any way to keep time, there was no telling if it was the middle of the night or early morning, or if dawn was approaching.

He was in a daze for a moment before realizing that something seemed to be missing--

No! Where was Shen Lan?

Xia Chuan abruptly sat up straight. The clothes that had been soaked earlier were now dried by the fire, no longer sticking to his body with the added weight of water, making his movements much more nimble. He quickly stood up and circled the woodpile, but did not see any sign of Shen Lan.

\"Could he have gone to soak in the river?\" Remembering that Shen Lan didn't like being by the fire and wasn't used to staying on shore for too long, he guessed and headed towards the shallow river.

Circling past the grass and shrubs, he walked to the other side of the shallow river. Finally, in the darkness of night, he found that tall figure with a somewhat blurry outline. He let out a sigh of relief, and then suddenly realized that he seemed to care more about Shen Lan's absence than he had imagined.

Perhaps it was because having this person around indeed made him feel much more at ease...

Xia Chuan shook his head to clear out the jumbled thoughts. He then walked over to Shen Lan, asking as he approached, \"Why are you standing here?\"

He was standing about a dozen meters from the river, not seeming like he came to soak in the water, nor appearing to be heading back to the sea along the original path. He was just standing there, looking up at the sky, as if lost in thought.

As soon as Xia Chuan's words fell, Shen Lan abruptly turned his face. In that instant, Xia Chuan saw a very unfamiliar emotion in those deep blue eyes.

It seemed to be agitation and... unease?

Xia Chuan thought he must not be fully awake and was hallucinating. For someone as powerful as Shen Lan, what could possibly make him feel agitated and uneasy? It had to be a joke!

But when Xia Chuan blinked and looked again, he found that he wasn't mistaken after all... There really was a hint of agitation and unease in Shen Lan's eyes. He glanced back at Xia Chuan, then looked up at the night sky again and said in a low voice, \"I don't know why, but I feel very agitated, for no reason...\"

Xia Chuan frowned, \"Did you see or hear anything before you started feeling this way?\"

\"No.\" Shen Lan shook his head. Then he waved his hand at Xia Chuan and said, \"Let's go, back to the fire. I have a feeling something bad is going to happen.\"

His strides back were large and hurried, very unlike his usual demeanor. Xia Chuan stood in place, frowning as he watched for a few moments, before finally quickening his pace to catch up.

So as they turned around, neither of them saw a bright spot streak across the horizon behind them, leaving a faint trail in the night sky that was quickly swallowed up by the darkness again...

Xia Chuan had just followed Shen Lan back to the edge of the fire when he suddenly heard a howl coming from the distance. That sound was like pressing a start button, immediately followed by cries of various pitches ringing out one after another. Some were sharp, some were shrill, some were deep... but they all had one thing in common - they all sounded full of deep agitation and unease.

He was surprised and wanted to look in the direction of the sounds, but found they were not coming from just one place. However, they were mainly concentrated in the dense forest they had just left and the entire southern area.

","published_time":"2024-11-02T00:00:00.000Z","paid":false,"show_flag":true,"show_scheduled_time":"2024-10-11T00:00:00.000Z","unpaid_scheduled_time":"2024-11-02T00:00:00.000Z"},{"content_id":1065,"novel_id":16,"chapter_no":28,"chapter_title":"Chapter 28","content":"

There were indeed nocturnal dinosaurs, and not in small numbers, but it was unlikely for them to all start calling out at the same time for no reason. Clearly, something had happened in the southern area that disturbed the dinosaurs there, and not just the dinosaurs, making them restless and agitated.

In a sense, animals are much more sensitive to danger than humans, and even the dinosaurs that seem huge and somewhat clumsy are probably no exception. But... what kind of trouble could cause such a big commotion?

Xia Chuan looked in that direction, then glanced at Shen Lan, his heart also inexplicably skipping a beat - if it was really big trouble, who knew if it would cross that forest and affect this side. Even if the danger itself couldn't come over, those dinosaurs and giant snakes could move. Who could lock their legs?

So no matter what, it was not suitable to stay here for long!

The distant roars of dinosaurs one after another also affected the people sleeping. In such a perilous place, even with Shen Lan and Xia Chuan standing guard, even with Professor Linton and Dennis's composure, they couldn't possibly sleep soundly. They frowned and tossed a couple of times, finally rubbing their eyes and sitting up.

\"What's going on? What's that sound...\" Professor Linton squinted, adapting to the flickering firelight, his face full of drowsiness and confusion.

\"The dinosaurs in that area. Don't know what startled them.\" Xia Chuan pointed in the direction of the sound, then turned to look at Professor Linton and Dennis, \"Are you still sleeping? Since you're awake, you might as well get moving, let's keep going.\"

\"Huh?\" Dennis responded in a daze, obviously not expecting to continue walking before dawn. He stared blankly in the direction Xia Chuan pointed for a while, raised his hand to grab his somewhat messy blond hair, and mumbled, \"I almost thought I was still dreaming, dreaming all night about the dinosaurs going extinct.\"

\"Didn't expect my old bones to recover quite well, sleeping made this leg much better than yesterday.\" Professor Linton was very cooperative with Xia Chuan's suggestion. He stood up leaning on that thick wooden branch, slowly moving his injured leg around the fire, and hearing Dennis's mumble, casually replied, \"Extinction? What are you dreaming about extinction for when you're fine--\"

\"Thoughts of the day become dreams at night.\" Dennis also stood up, slapping his numb legs, and replied, \"Didn't I just want to get to the end and out of this hellhole as soon as possible, I guess I let it run wild in my dreams.\"

\"Hehe.\" Professor Linton gave a dry laugh and responded, \"Who doesn't, everyone wants to get to the end soon...\"

Not only Dennis and Professor Linton, whose physical fitness was poor, but even Xia Chuan occasionally had this kind of thought. Except for Shen Lan, no one wanted to live here for a long time. They always hoped to get out of here as soon as possible, so when Dennis said this, it first resonated with the subconscious of the other two. But soon, Xia Chuan suddenly frowned.

\"Wait!\" He suddenly blurted out this word out of nowhere, his whole body stiffening, as if he had thought of something very serious.

Dennis and Professor Linton, who were still a little drowsy, were startled by him. Just as they were about to ask Xia Chuan what was wrong, before they could say anything, the two of them also seemed to remember something and suddenly froze there.

\"Holy shit, no way?!\" Dennis's eyes widened as he looked at Xia Chuan, \"Tell me it's not what I think it is!\"

Xia Chuan didn't get any response there, but out of the corner of his eye, he saw Shen Lan. The usually somewhat playful Shen Lan was now frowning, staring at him with an extremely scary look, as if he had done something shockingly bad.

Dennis shrank his neck a little guiltily. Although it wasn't his responsibility alone, he still opened his mouth tremblingly, \"This... this... it can't be! Can this kind of thought really come true with a single utterance?\"

Just as they were worried about at this moment - of the few people present, except for Shen Lan, the remaining three had more or less had the thought of \"wanting to get to the end of this hellhole as soon as possible\". And judging from their previous experiences, the development of that forest, and even this entire place, seemed to be influenced by their words... although the reason was still unknown.

And what was the end of the dinosaur world? Everyone knew the answer--

Mass extinction.

And what was mass extinction like... they didn't dare to think further.

Once this thought surfaced, they no longer had the mind to figure out what exactly happened in the south, only wanting to leave here as soon as possible, as far away from the place where the disturbance occurred, and find the exit of this world early.

\"Go go go go go!\" Without waiting for Xia Chuan to urge again, Dennis almost jumped up, hugging his precious black bag and was about to continue running in the direction they had originally planned, as if he wished his whole body was legs.

Even Professor Linton, whose legs had not fully recovered, followed closely with a \"swish swish\", not slow at all.

Xia Chuan extinguished the fire and was about to set off with Shen Lan, but found that Shen Lan did not respond at all, only silently looking back at the direction of the disturbance for a long time without moving.

Without the firelight, his expression became blurry in the night, only his deep blue eyes flashing with two stars of light, but vaguely containing a hint of coldness...

Xia Chuan was stunned for a moment, then understood the reason for his mood - Shen Lan originally did not intend to leave, he wanted to live here forever, but now because of their influence, this place might be destroyed in an instant...

\"Sorry...\" Xia Chuan's heart was filled with a sense of guilt, but he was used to being cold-faced and cold-spoken, and for a moment did not know what to say to be appropriate.

Shen Lan glanced up at him, opening his mouth as if to say something in response, but in the end, he closed his mouth and waved his hand, then walked ahead with big strides, as if resigned, muttering, \"Forget it, let's go, we'll see how it goes.\"

Xia Chuan: \"...\" So he's not angry anymore?

He was stunned for a moment by Shen Lan's unexpectedly easy-to-coax temper, before quickly catching up.

The two were tall and long-legged, their steps light and fast. In a few steps, they caught up with Dennis, who was all legs, and the old man trailing behind him.

The old man bounced forward but couldn't help looking back, \"Did they catch up, did they catch up?\"

Clearly, they were so shocked by the mass extinction that they were speaking incoherently, and it was unclear who they were saying would catch up.

The commotion in the southern area had actually gradually subsided, and the roars that had been one after another became sparse, as if they had just had a collective nightmare.

Xia Chuan and the others had already walked a long way along the damp grass and wood, and there was a gentle slope ahead, not knowing what scene they would see after climbing over it.

Naturally, the pace of climbing the slope was not as fast as walking on flat ground, and coupled with the diminishing movement in the south, they also had some hesitation.

\"Are we overthinking this?\" Dennis hugged the black bag on his chest, slowed his steps, glanced back at the south, and then asked Xia Chuan.

\"No matter what--\" Xia Chuan had just started speaking when another bright line \"swooshed\" down from the distant horizon.

Everyone: \"......\"

A moment later, a huge boom shook the earth and sky, accompanied by the sound of surging waves, and even the grass on which the four were standing trembled a couple of times.

The roars of the giant beasts that had just subsided started again, a hundred times more miserable than before, and this time it was not just roars, but also accompanied by the \"rumbling\" of footsteps, and it was clear that countless creatures of all sizes were fleeing, chaotic yet magnificent.

Shen Lan, as a mosasaurus, was highly nearsighted, and although his vision improved a lot after transforming into human form, it was still somewhat blurry. But his hearing was very extraordinary. He listened intently, his face changed color and said, \"Not good! A tsunami is coming!\"

And Xia Chuan's eyesight was very good. He was the first to see countless black shadows of varying heights squeezing out of the woods and rushing towards them.

\"Oh crap, run, run, run! Run!\" Dennis screamed in fright and ran up the slope, almost on all fours.

","published_time":"2024-11-08T00:00:00.000Z","paid":false,"show_flag":true,"show_scheduled_time":"2024-10-18T00:00:00.000Z","unpaid_scheduled_time":"2024-11-08T00:00:00.000Z"},{"content_id":1082,"novel_id":16,"chapter_no":29,"chapter_title":"Chapter 29","content":"

At this moment, if someone were to crouch here and measure everyone's running speed, they would probably break records one by one.

Dennis discovered for the first time that his physical fitness was actually this good. His two legs seemed to no longer be his own, swinging so fast they were almost flying.

Professor Linton, who had the dual characteristics of being \"old\" and \"disabled\", hadn't been using his wooden crutch for long before he felt his collar tighten and his feet no longer touching the ground.

Shen Lan, who was passing by him, decisively grabbed him and, relying on his tall and strong physique, carried the old man like a handbag, running up the slope for several hundred meters without even panting.

Only after everyone climbed over the slope did they discover that below was a vast area of grass and trees. Due to the heavy night, they could only see the outlines of the slender and tall grass and trees swaying slightly in the wind.

Like the trees in this world, they had an abnormal height. This was definitely not a modern grassland where people could step on it. The grass here was as far as the eye could see, each blade more than half a person's height, even taller than those by the shallow depressions of the wetland before. It was unknown whether it was due to the lack of tall trees blocking the sunlight and the abundant sunshine all day long.

When looking down from the top of the slope, one could vaguely see patches of mottled black shadows among the vast grassland.

However, the rapidly advancing troops behind prompted Xia Chuan and the others to have no way to look carefully or think too much. They could only run down the slope along the hillside and into the grass and trees that were more than half a person's height.

Fortunately, these grasses and trees were relatively soft and did not cut people as easily as the shrubs. Except for affecting vision, they did not pose much of an obstacle to the running group, especially when there were extraordinary people in the team - Shen Lan, with his hearing more than 30 times that of ordinary people, ran at the forefront.

Although the mottled shadows seen on the slope were not clear, everyone could guess what they were. Most of them were probably herbivorous dinosaurs and other creatures inhabiting this vast grassland. As for the remaining small portion... it was hard to say.

No one was willing to come into conflict with these creatures of unknown danger in the near-blind night, including Shen Lan, whose eyesight was not very good. So, according to the various large and small movements he heard, he nimbly avoided those creatures in the grass.

What Xia Chuan and the others had to do was to closely follow Shen Lan's steps, not fall behind, and not run astray.

When there was a problem in the sea, no matter how high and unstoppable the waves were, there was a range of impact. However, this time, the giant beasts living in the coastal forest smelled something unusual. They didn't care how far the waves could reach, whether it would submerge most of the dense forest or the entire area.

They just ran desperately towards the direction away from the sea, rushing through the shrubs and the uneven wetlands all the way, but showed no signs of stopping. Instead, they continued up the slope and then down, heading straight for the main camp of the herbivores.

The thunderous footsteps were getting closer and closer.

With such a big commotion, except for the dead ones, all the creatures lying in the grass and trees were disturbed. In an instant, the entire grassland was stirred into a pot of porridge, with roars one after another. Necks and heads of varying heights protruded from the grass, with the largest necks comparable in length to Brachiosaurus.

Most of the smaller ones reacted first. In order to avoid being hit by the large troops, they immediately started running in the same direction, while the huge ones were relatively clumsy and reacted a little slower.

Those fierce beasts rushing out of the forest, one by one, had a shockingly large impact force and biting force when they fought. At this time, in order to escape the disaster, they couldn't brake at all, knocking down those clumsy guys who didn't dodge in time, making them fall over with their four feet in the air. It made the entire grassland tremble from time to time.

If Shen Lan had four shoulders, he might have directly carried Xia Chuan and the others on his shoulders and walked away. Unfortunately, he only had two shoulders and two hands in total, and he had to carry a lame old man. He could only try his best to control the speed within the range that Xia Chuan and the others could keep up with.

So, as they watched, the dinosaur troops were about to catch up.

\"Oh my god! The dinosaurs behind me are breathing down my heels!\" Dennis, who was at the end of the line, suddenly cried out.

His words were meant to be exaggerated, but unexpectedly, as soon as he finished speaking, the dinosaur that was originally dozens of meters away from him was really catching up. If it took two more steps, it could lower its head and take Dennis into its mouth.

At that moment, Dennis was so scared that his heart was about to stop.

Hearing this, Xia Chuan in the front reached for the dagger at his waist while running, decisively drawing it out of its sheath, ready to turn back and save Dennis in an emergency.

But just then, another bright light streaked down from the night sky. This time, it was no longer on the horizon, but almost falling right above their heads.

That thing was extremely fast. In the blink of an eye, it was wrapped in orange-yellow flames, accompanied by a howling wind, and \"boom\" it crashed into the grassland not far ahead.

The impact force was so great that it was astonishing, stirring up dust and dirt. The heat directly blew away the dinosaurs closest to it, and when they rolled to the ground, they had already become huge corpses with flames all over their bodies.

The dust floated in the air, and the air in this entire area was heated to an extremely high temperature. The fire quickly spread on the slightly drier ground, and those slender and soft grasses and trees, which were more than half a person's height, could not withstand the burning at all. There was a tendency for the fire to spread across the entire area.

Dennis only felt that the dinosaur behind him, which was about to step on him, suddenly stopped, howled, and turned to run in the direction away from the fireball from the sky. As a result, it collided with the huge dinosaur behind it that didn't react in time, causing a huge mess.

But avoiding being trampled into a meat pie by a dinosaur was not something to be thankful for, because they also had to immediately change direction.

Shen Lan, who was in the lead, was going too fast and almost couldn't stop, nearly plunging into the sea of fire. He was most afraid of this kind of dry and hot environment. He instantly made a sharp turn, leading Xia Chuan and the others in a mad dash in the other direction.

Seeing such a scene with one's own eyes was supposed to be shocking, but they didn't have time to be stunned. The only one who could be slightly dumbfounded was Professor Linton, who didn't rely on his own legs.

However, after being dazed for a long time, the old man could only repeat the same sentence over and over again: \"There's no way to live like this! No way to live!\"

Despite being agitated in body and mind by the heat wave, Shen Lan didn't actually lose his sense of direction while constantly turning around. After circling several times, his overall route still skirted the spreading sea of flames as he ran towards the previously determined northwest direction.

However, they soon discovered that this meteorite that had abruptly crashed in front of them was merely the beginning...

","published_time":"2024-11-14T00:00:00.000Z","paid":false,"show_flag":true,"show_scheduled_time":"2024-10-25T00:00:00.000Z","unpaid_scheduled_time":"2024-11-14T00:00:00.000Z"},{"content_id":1099,"novel_id":16,"chapter_no":30,"chapter_title":"Chapter 30","content":"

On their frantic escape route, meteors of all sizes kept falling from the sky, wrapped in a layer of fire, crashing into the forests, puddles, and vegetation...

Not only did they kick up plumes of dust, but they also turned the place into a sea of fire. The originally balanced ecological zone was left riddled with holes and littered with corpses.

Small and agile animals had a great advantage in this situation. Those that went into the water or burrowed into holes showcased their various skills. Although it couldn't guarantee 100% safety, with a small number of unlucky ones getting hit by meteors even after burrowing underground, most still managed to escape with their lives and find relatively safe hiding places.

On the contrary, the dinosaurs that usually roamed the continent seemed a bit helpless at this time. Apart from constantly running to avoid those falling fireballs, they couldn't find any other way out.

And the ones in the most difficult situation had to be Xia Chuan and the others--

Not only did they have to avoid the spreading wildfires and the meteors \"whooshing\" down from above their heads, they also had to be careful to avoid the dinosaur herds that were scattering and fleeing without any planned routes, lest they accidentally get stepped on and turned into pancakes by those big guys.

At the same time, they also needed to watch their steps to avoid falling into the holes dug by small animals. Tripping was a small matter, but if they sprained their ankles and hindered their escape, it would be troublesome.

\"This is simply playing minesweeper!\" Dennis howled all the way, following closely behind Xia Chuan with uneven steps.

After they ran along a winding path towards the northwest for a long time, a group of dinosaurs suddenly set their sights on them. At this time, they were not far behind Dennis, like a tail that couldn't be shaken off no matter what.

This group of dinosaurs was not large in number. Xia Chuan turned his head and swept a glance, there were about eleven or twelve of them. The composition of the team was chaotic and complex, with small bird-like dinosaurs and giant ones comparable to several stories high.

Judging from their running positions, there was an obvious leader. That leader looked fierce, appearing murderous under the surrounding firelight, clearly a typical land predator, and--

\"Looks a bit familiar.\" Xia Chuan said in a low voice.

Shen Lan glanced back at them and said, \"Follow or not, it's up to them.\"

He was utterly fed up with this hot, dry, and smoky environment. His words were full of impatience, just wanting to get far away from this patchy sea of fire as soon as possible. He couldn't be bothered with anything else. As for the string following behind, to him, they seemed like just cats and dogs that could be dismissed at any time and were not at all formidable.

On the other hand, Professor Linton, who was being carried by him with his feet off the ground, couldn't help but look back. With just one glance, he recognized the leading dinosaur: \"Yaya!\"

The few people who were only focused on escaping didn't react to who \"Yaya\" was for a moment. A little later, Xia Chuan was the first to remember. It was the Tyrannosaurus they encountered in the forest before, the one that had a momentary lapse in judgment and stuffed Professor Linton into a small dirt hole and kept him there for a day.

\"You can even recognize that?!\" Dennis exclaimed. Although compared to Xia Chuan, Dennis's ability to identify dinosaur species was much stronger, he also had to see clearly the dinosaur's size and overall appearance in broad daylight to make a judgment, and it wasn't entirely accurate.

Professor Linton had only taken a glance just now and didn't look carefully at all.

\"Of course I can recognize it. There's a very deep scar on the left side of its eye. It's not easy to see from the front, but you can see the obviously uneven indentation of the scar under the firelight.\" Professor Linton quickly explained.

He had been carried the whole way without having to use his legs and exert effort. Now that there was a topic, especially one related to his beloved dinosaurs, he naturally wouldn't easily shut his mouth.

\"I carefully observed that scar. It must have been a nasty wound initially, probably even cutting to the bone, so it's still so obvious even after healing. And also, it...\"

Perhaps because he was spared, Professor Linton had a very special affection for that Tyrannosaurus. Once he started talking, it was like an opened floodgate, going on and on.

If this were normal times, Shen Lan would definitely be the first to be annoyed by him. After all, normal voices would be amplified about thirty times when they reached Shen Lan's ears. Except for Xia Chuan's volume, as he was unwilling to exert more effort no matter what, Shen Lan felt that the other two were annoyingly loud whenever they spoke.

But at this moment, during such a tense escape, Shen Lan endured Professor Linton's voice and didn't tell him to shut up and stop talking nonsense. This was because Shen Lan felt that after the old man chattered on and on, the thoughts of Xia Chuan and Dennis following behind would be more or less influenced, following Professor Linton to think about things related to the Tyrannosaurus, and naturally wouldn't let their minds wander to \"extinction\" and \"end\" anymore.

After all, when facing terrifying things, people's minds often unconsciously associate them with even more terrifying and frightening scenarios, which are extremely difficult to control rationally. The only way to break it is to shift attention.

It seemed that this method was indeed quite effective. After Professor Linton chattered on for a long time, Dennis asked a few questions while panting, obviously his attention had basically shifted to the Tyrannosaurus following behind him.

Even what Xia Chuan was puzzled about at this time was why that group of dinosaurs would choose to follow behind the four of them. Could it be that these big guys were smart to this extent and could see through their intentions?

Shen Lan turned his head and glanced at them again, feeling that this method should work. As long as everyone's minds no longer wandered to the scenario of a great extinction, the meteors shouldn't fall like they were free, and might even completely stop.

The heavens seemed to want to fulfill his wish. For a while, there really were no more meteors falling.

However, this good situation only lasted for about ten or twenty minutes before there was another change. This time, the change was even more frightening than the meteors--

\"Holy shit! You guys look up at the sky!\" Professor Linton only took a glance at the sky and cried out in alarm, as if he had seen something extremely bizarre.

In fact, Professor Linton's reaction was not the least bit exaggerated. The scene in the sky was indeed extremely bizarre - the entire sky was covered with dense, irregular patterns at some unknown point, as if it were a huge piece of blue-black glass that had suddenly cracked for some reason.

Fine, dense cracks filled the entire sky, and the light emanating from the cracks was tinged with orange-red, as if behind that blue-black glass was a vast expanse of lava.

The orange-red light was restless, as if the night sky could shatter at any moment, and then an entire sea of fire would pour down from the sky. What could one escape from then? It would be faster to just strike a pose and wait for death on the spot...

\"Who the hell came up with this, do they have too much free time on their hands?!\" Shen Lan was truly a little angry this time.

Such a bizarre scene, like a nightmare, could not possibly have occurred naturally. It could only be that someone had accidentally let their imagination run wild, resulting in it becoming real once again. Although Xia Chuan didn't say anything, his thoughts were exactly the same as Shen Lan's.

He tilted his head slightly and glanced at Dennis.

In the previous few experiences, Dennis' attribute of being a crow's mouth was too severe. To the point that whenever such a situation of wild imagination becoming reality was mentioned, Xia Chuan's first reaction was to think of Dennis. But when he saw Dennis' expression clearly, he couldn't help but frown--

Because Dennis was just as surprised and bewildered as they were, with a look of \"what the hell is this\" on his face, obviously the state the night sky was exhibiting had also exceeded his understanding. This was definitely not the reaction of someone whose \"wild thoughts had become reality\".

The moment Xia Chuan turned his head, his gaze met Professor Linton's confused and frightened eyes...

Obviously, this was another innocent party.

He didn't overthink it, Shen Lan didn't overthink it, and Dennis and Professor Linton were also innocent... then who the hell could explain how this deadly scene appeared?!

","published_time":"2024-11-21T00:00:00.000Z","paid":false,"show_flag":true,"show_scheduled_time":"2024-11-01T00:00:00.000Z","unpaid_scheduled_time":"2024-11-21T00:00:00.000Z"},{"content_id":1116,"novel_id":16,"chapter_no":31,"chapter_title":"Chapter 31","content":"

In fact, there was no need for anyone to explain. Xia Chuan almost immediately came to a conclusion: \"There are still people here!\"

\"Huh? What the hell?\" Dennis answered perfunctorily, but his eyes kept glancing upward, as if he was afraid that during their conversation, the cracked sky would completely shatter into pieces and fall down. |

It was Professor Linton who first understood what Xia Chuan meant. He exclaimed with sudden realization, \"Oh-- so that's why the current situation is completely beyond our understanding! Even if it's extinction, it shouldn't be this kind of extinction method!\" Even though there are many guesses about the true cause of the great extinction back then, and everyone's understanding is different, it still shouldn't be this absurd.

\"This damn thing instantly turned into a fantasy film?!\" The old man couldn't help but curse in the end.

\"...\" Xia Chuan and Dennis quietly glanced at Shen Lan, thinking: With this guy holding you, it's been a fantasy film for a long time...

\"Heh, who's so creative.\" The leading Shen Lan didn't notice the two gazes behind him at all, but said coldly, \"I'll beat him up so bad that even his mother won't recognize him!\"

If it was Xia Chuan and the others' initial thoughts that led to this disaster, then that unknown fellow's wild imagination directly pushed the disaster up several levels. Originally, Shen Lan thought that as long as he could stop Xia Chuan and the others' unconscious imagination, he could end this disaster, and he could still safely stay in this place. But now...

Even if he had eight mouths, he couldn't scold a person he hadn't even seen a shadow of to shut their brain and stop imagining wildly!

Dennis's focus was obviously different from Shen Lan's. After hearing Shen Lan's angry words, his first reaction was: \"There are actually still people alive?! Indeed so lucky! Wanting to survive in such a place is simply a miracle. Could it be that they also encountered a rare opportunity like Professor Linton?\"

\"Yaya's encounter is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!\" Professor Linton argued.

Xia Chuan: \"...\"

He felt mentally exhausted running with these two people all day long, discussing such issues while fleeing for their lives.

Perhaps it was these messy topics that diverted Dennis's attention, making him no longer concentrate on his legs, so he followed Shen Lan and Xia Chuan and ran for who knows how far, yet still had the strength to move his legs. If this were normal times, he would have long been lying dead by the roadside, unable to move a muscle.

But the psychological aspect is one thing, and the physiological aspect is another.

They ran several kilometers northwest, dodging the sea of fire along the way, passing through the entire grassland and woods, and dashing into the lush forest further away. Unlike the flat terrain by the seaside, this lush forest grew along the mountains. When Xia Chuan and the others ran into the mountain forest, the fatigue in their legs finally erupted in full force.

The constantly ascending terrain forced them to take higher and bigger steps, and the tendons and bones connecting their ankles and insteps were extremely sore and soft, making every lift a torment. Xia Chuan's breathing became very heavy, and the hair on his forehead and temples was soaked with sweat, as were his clothes and pants.

Shen Lan, who was leading the way, obviously also noticed his increasingly stagnant footsteps. After climbing a rock, he turned his head and pulled Xia Chuan, asking, \"How is it? Want to find a place to rest for a bit?\"

Xia Chuan, who was already a man of few words, was even more silent when tired. He stood on the rock with the help of Shen Lan's hand, waved his hand, indicating that they could continue forward.

However, Shen Lan raised his hand and pointed behind Xia Chuan, saying, \"If we don't rest, he's about to run out of breath.\"

Dennis, who was pointed at, almost crawled onto the rock surface with his hands and feet, and then directly collapsed on it, panting like a dead dog. His face was flushed red from the heat of the sea of fire along the way, and his eyes were almost rolled back, looking like he was inhaling less and exhaling more.

Xia Chuan bent over, supporting his knees and catching his breath for a few moments, then straightened up and walked back and forth on the rock surface a couple of times, before leaning against a protruding spot to sit down and relax his legs. He didn't have the extra strength to pull up the large Dennis, so he could only lightly kick Dennis with his toes a couple of times and said in a low voice, \"Don't lie down.\"

In the end, it was Professor Linton, who hadn't exerted much effort, who pulled Dennis to sit up.

When Shen Lan said \"find a place to rest for a bit\" just now, he didn't mean \"rest here for a bit\", naturally implying that this place was definitely not safe. In fact, they had a deep understanding of this point, because on the way, they had watched helplessly as the dinosaurs falling behind them became fewer and fewer.

From more than a dozen originally, to only five later on.

And the missing ones had all become charred corpses on the road because they couldn't dodge the densely falling fragments.

Running into the forest under such circumstances of falling heavenly fire, the safety would not increase but rather decrease to an extreme. Once these tall trees caught fire, they would be surrounded, and it would be very difficult to escape again.

But Xia Chuan and the others had no choice. Apart from this forest, they couldn't find any other way forward.

The puddles and rivers running through the grasslands and forests were all too shallow, not deep enough for Shen Lan to splash around in, but they could still play a role in the sea of fire.

As they traveled northwest, they always stayed close to areas with water. On one hand, the smoke and dust would be much thinner near the water, and the air would be relatively more humid. On the other hand, when encountering falling fragments and meteorites, it could also be used for emergency rescue.

Among the five surviving dinosaurs, two of them immediately rolled into a shallow river beside them several times after being hit by fireballs, and only then did they survive. It's just that there weren't many good pieces of skin and flesh left on their bodies...

At this time, there was a stream beside the rock where they were resting, but the stream was pitifully thin, almost flowing down along the surface of the mountain, only one finger deep. If it caught fire again, even rolling a hundred times in this stream wouldn't be of much use.

\"Where are Yaya and the others?\" Professor Linton looked around in the direction they came from.

After running six or seven kilometers, the sky should have been bright by now, but at this time, the sky was only slightly brighter than before, still gloomy, and covered with a layer of cyan-gray smoke, like an old glass that had been used for many years and was very difficult to wipe clean no matter how much it was wiped.

Those cracked traces peeked through the fog, appearing even more eerie and frightening in their vagueness. Professor Linton searched around through the faint daylight, but didn't see any signs of the dinosaurs. To be precise, it seemed they hadn't been seen since entering the forest.

\"They stopped outside the forest.\" Shen Lan lifted his eyelids and answered.

\"Oh?\" Professor Linton was a bit surprised. Could it be that even the dinosaurs knew the danger level inside the forest was higher than outside?

\"Different territory.\" Shen Lan gave a simple explanation.

Professor Linton let out an \"oh\". In the chaotic escape, he had forgotten that large predatory dinosaurs like Tyrannosaurus were very particular about territorial divisions. Obviously, unless absolutely necessary, they wouldn't easily leave their territory or invade the territory of other dinosaurs.

Xia Chuan, who was resting his legs, glanced at Shen Lan upon hearing this - the Mosasaurus was obviously also a predator that valued territory, but this overlord not only left his own territory, but crossed through others' as if it was a game. He had already passed through so many areas...

Before he could retract his gaze, he saw Shen Lan's ears twitch slightly. Then a long arm reached out, and Xia Chuan felt his arm being yanked forcefully. His whole body tumbled down from the small boulder he was leaning against, losing balance and falling directly onto Shen Lan.

\"Hey! You-\" Xia Chuan was startled. If his limbs weren't so weak right now, he would have dodged as soon as Shen Lan reached out.

Shen Lan grabbed his arm with one hand and supported his waist with the other. Seeing Xia Chuan frowning in confusion, he lazily lifted his chin to the side.

Xia Chuan turned his head to look, and saw a fireball descending from the sky, directly smashing into the spot he had just been sitting. That fireball seemed to be alive, struggling a few times after hitting that protruding rock, then directly rolling into a shallow stream nearby, making a sizzling sound before completely going still.

\"Is that - a pterosaur?\" Dennis craned his neck over and saw two half-open thin wings, only they had already shriveled up from the burning, charred black.

Even though it was burned beyond recognition, one could still tell it was indeed a pterosaur. It was probably gliding at high altitudes to avoid the meteors when it was directly hit by falling debris, piercing through the tall tree branches and crashing into the forest. Unfortunately it was too badly burned, and the stream water wasn't sufficient. In the end, it still couldn't survive.

\"Good thing my reaction was fast.\" Still in that posture, Shen Lan casually patted Xia Chuan, bragging and seeking credit.

But this overlord's mind sometimes had holes. While patting, he suddenly remembered Xia Chuan's back had been whipped by his tail before, and he wasn't sure if it had fully recovered yet. So as his palm landed, he abruptly changed the position, avoiding Xia Chuan's back and landing a bit lower.

Xia Chuan: \"...\"

Professor Linton didn't think anything was amiss, but Dennis, who was close with Xia Chuan, turned his face away with an \"aiyo\".

Shen Lan looked at him like he was a lunatic: \"I didn't hit you, what are you yelling for?\"

Dennis coughed and waved his hands repeatedly, mumbling: \"No no no, my tooth hurts, don't mind me, don't mind me.\"

Actually, there was a reason for his neurotic reaction.

About a year ago, Xia Chuan had finished a mission and was staying in F State. Dennis happened to be on vacation, so he eagerly went to harass Xia Chuan. At that time, he had known Xia Chuan for two years. In those two years, besides running around on missions, Xia Chuan either stayed in his rented apartment or did physical training, without showing the slightest interest in recreational activity.

\"Chuan, tell me honestly, how old are you really? You're actually 58 years old just wearing the skin of a young man, right? Like in that legendary story from your hometown, painting skin?\" That's what Dennis asked at the time.

Not too far from where Xia Chuan lived, there was a district that young people loved to go to. The entertainment venues there were quite abundant, and there were a few famous bars. Dennis tried to drag Xia Chuan to go with him many times, but always got a curt \"not interested\" in response.

After over a dozen failed attempts of coaxing, begging, and pestering, Dennis finally couldn't help asking carefully with a pained expression: \"Chuan, is it that you haven't met a woman you're interested in, or is it...\"

He didn't finish the rest, but he believed Xia Chuan would understand his meaning.

As a result, Xia Chuan lifted his eyelids and swept a cold glance at him: \"I'm just completely uninterested.\"

Hearing that, Dennis first had a look of sudden realization and said \"no wonder\". Then he immediately reacted, hugged his chest and cried: \"Ow! You're interested in men, then I...\"

Xia Chuan immediately rolled his eyes and interrupted him with a cold laugh: \"I'm not interested in men either. Even if I was, it wouldn't be you. You can get lost now.\" With that, he decisively shoved Dennis, who had come to gossip about such boring things, out the door.

Although Xia Chuan's words at the time were that he had no interest in either men or women, giving off the air of being completely frigid, Dennis nosily analyzed it secretly and felt that Xia Chuan's words should be interpreted separately.

The first part was a serious answer, while the latter part was obviously intentionally snarky. So as early as a year ago, Dennis had already determined in his heart that Xia Chuan liked men.

As for why he never saw Xia Chuan pay any special attention to men, Dennis felt it was because Xia Chuan's standards were too high, and he hadn't met anyone he was willing to spare an extra glance at.

Of course, he didn't dare say this conclusion out loud. If he did, Xia Chuan would definitely beat him to death.

But not saying it out loud didn't mean he hadn't pondered over it. Unfortunately, in the entire following year, he never saw anyone with the potential to capture Xia Chuan's heart. Forget capturing his heart, with Xia Chuan's annoying habit of disliking people even putting a hand on his shoulder, there wasn't even anyone who could get close to him. What a joke!

So, when he saw Shen Lan pat Xia Chuan's butt while half-embracing him, he couldn't help but cry out - this was simply a once-in-a-century occurrence!

Shen Lan of course had no idea what nonsense he was thinking of, but Xia Chuan could guess a little. He immediately put on a stern face, propped himself up on the ground beside Shen Lan's shoulder, glanced at the suicidal Dennis, and said, \"Since you have the strength to make a sound, it seems you've rested enough. Get up and walk, no one will care if you fall behind.\"

Dennis: Whimper.

Even though he couldn't figure out the situation, Shen Lan very much agreed with what Xia Chuan said. He grabbed Professor Linton in one hand, threw a sentence at Dennis: \"Stop whimpering, let's go!\" Then he took the lead and walked in front again.

Facts proved that their decision to continue the journey was wiser than ever. As soon as they left, a meteorite the size of a washbasin fell from the sky, burned a small patch of forest, shattered the rock where they had rested, and smashed a deep pit in the ground, instantly burying the shallow stream beside it with the splashed dust.

More smoke and dust floated in the air, covering that piece of forest with a layer of gray fog, which showed no signs of dissipating for a long time.

Even before they entered this mountain forest, quite a few meteorites had fallen here. Now with a few more added, the smoke in the forest became even thicker. If the group didn't have a clear direction, they would be completely blind in this forest.

There were definitely no fewer dinosaurs living in the forest than by the sea, but due to the meteorites and wildfires, they had probably fled and scattered from here early on. When Xia Chuan and the others first entered the forest, they had encountered many animals. But as they went deeper into the forest, there were fewer and fewer living creatures, and more corpses lying in the forest.

Even if they were not of the same species, even if in this world, they had more of a hostile relationship with these giant beasts, seeing so many dead dinosaurs, giant snakes, wild animals and insects still touched their hearts and made them feel sad for them.

The four of them hardly relaxed their brows while traversing the entire mountain forest, especially Professor Linton, who couldn't help but look back in the direction they came from a couple of times.

Human potential is limitless, and this saying is not the slightest bit false, especially when lives are at stake. They only rested for a few minutes halfway, and after setting off again, they ran several kilometers.

\"It's not just like having lead poured into my legs, I feel like I simply have two earths hanging on my feet...\" Dennis said, panting heavily while hugging a tall tree like a dead dog.

But the next second, that tall tree was hit squarely by debris. This place was much drier than the forest by the sea. Plus with the deadly wind, the flames almost instantly burned down from the branches, engulfing the entire trunk in the blink of an eye, and quickly spread to the two tall trees beside it.

Xia Chuan swiftly pulled Dennis, preventing him from being burned into a dried human, but even so, a large blister was still scorched on Dennis' arm.

He let out a howl, but ignored the pain and hurriedly followed behind Xia Chuan, running ahead with his legs.

At this time, what they had to face was not only the constantly falling meteorite debris, but also the rolling smoke and dust that had never dissipated and was getting thicker and thicker. Later, they had to lower their bodies and rush through the forest while covering their mouths and noses with their sleeves soaked in stream water.

But this could only withstand for a while, not forever. It was not only the forest that was shrouded in smoke and dust. It could be said that wherever meteorites fell frequently, there would be heavy smoke and dust, and not only that, the content of various gases in the air would be affected; and the high temperature brought by the meteorites baked the area, causing the overall temperature to rise sharply.

Fortunately, most of the meteorite fragments that had fallen so far were small ones. If a few more of those that could cause tsunamis and mountain collapses came, they wouldn't have time to run at all.

\"I feel stuffy and hot...\" Dennis said with difficulty while hurrying.

This time no one refuted or mocked him. Xia Chuan even let out a low \"hmm\".

Without Dennis saying it, they could also feel that the temperature had risen significantly, just like standing in front of an air conditioner outdoor unit, or standing next to a car's exhaust pipe. The hot air currents slapped against them in waves, but the oxygen content inside was very low, making people feel like they had a not very breathable mask over their heads, so stuffy that it made them irritable...

The sky never brightened, remaining gloomy as if it was always shrouded in night.

In such an environment, no one had the energy to calculate how long they had walked, or whether it was day or night now. There was only one word left in everyone's mind - run.

The farther away from these deadly smoke, fire, and constantly falling meteorite debris, the better. Run to a place where people could temporarily settle down, even if it was just to catch their breath...

After they had been disoriented between day and night for who knows how long, Shen Lan suddenly said in a low voice, \"There's a cave ahead!\"

Upon receiving this message, everyone's dazed brains went \"ding--\", like a rusted gear starting to turn again. Xia Chuan quickened his pace to catch up with Shen Lan, trying hard to discern in the direction he mentioned, his feet still not stopping.

\"I hear the sound of water and a faint echo inside the cave...\" Shen Lan said, looking a bit hesitant.

As soon as he finished speaking, Xia Chuan, who had run another stretch forward, finally vaguely saw a dark cave entrance ahead through the heavy fog, right between a piece of steep rock, and it was...

\"The cave entrance seems to have a water curtain.\" Xia Chuan said.

\"A water curtain?!\" Professor Linton repeated, suddenly coming to life. \"A water curtain is great! With a water curtain, the smoke and dust will be blocked outside the cave, and it will definitely be much fresher inside than outside!\" These words undoubtedly greatly encouraged them. Xia Chuan and Dennis' steps became much lighter.

Walking a little closer, everyone finally saw the full picture of the cave -

It was indeed a cave suspended between the cliffs, the inside of the cave was pitch-black with no light visible, and the outside was covered by a curtain of water. The water curtain flowed down the cliff, with ample water volume, just right to block the cave entrance behind it.

Directly facing the cave entrance below was a pool of water. The water curtain fell into it, splashing up a mist-like spray. It was precisely because of this layer of water mist and this pool that this area of a few dozen meters became a treasure land in this chaotic world.

The stream they had been following through the woods, sometimes wide and sometimes narrow, flowed out from this pool.

Shen Lan tilted his chin towards the cave: \"Let's rest here for now--\"

Before he could finish his sentence, Dennis had already excitedly pounced towards the water curtain. However, he overestimated his jumping power while underestimating the height of the cave and the slipperiness of the rock wall. With a loud smack, he hit the rock wall and slid into the pool like a piece of paper.

\"...\" He gurgled a few bubbles and then sank to the bottom of the pool.

\"Wow! This pool is much deeper than I thought!\" Professor Linton exclaimed.

A moment later, Shen Lan and Xia Chuan stood in the pitch-black cave that was taller than a person, with a drenched Professor Linton squatting beside them, squeezing water out of Dennis who was lying on the ground. Tears streamed down Dennis' face from the squeezing...

Just as they expected, after being filtered by the mist and water curtain outside, the air inside the cave was much better, at least no longer so stuffy that it made people dizzy.

\"If I run outside for a while longer, I'm going to have morning sickness...\" Dennis wiped away his tears and struggled to sit up.

\"Take your time giving birth, we'll go in first.\" Even Professor Linton couldn't stand him anymore. He got up and limped after Xia Chuan and the others towards the depths of the cave. Dennis quickly scrambled up to follow.

\"Don't light a fire, where's your emergency flashlight?\" Xia Chuan said to Dennis.

His black bag had been soaked in the water like him, and was now completely wet. Fortunately, he had put many things in waterproof bags, so most were not a problem. He rummaged in the bag for a while and took out a finger-length emergency flashlight, handing it to Xia Chuan.

Xia Chuan pressed the switch, adjusted the light, and then walked shoulder to shoulder with Shen Lan, leading Professor Linton and Dennis into the depths of the cave.

It was unknown how this cave was formed, with twists and turns inside, sometimes wide and sometimes narrow, and even forks. At a glance, it seemed quite deep. If it was just an empty cave, there was nothing to worry about, but if there were hidden beasts or poisonous insects inside, they had to be a bit careful while resting here.

There were sharp-edged rocks and stone pillars on the cave ceiling and walls, some of which were thick at the top and pointed at the bottom, like swords. If one wasn't careful, they could be impaled. There was a thin layer of standing water on the cave floor, probably there all year round, causing a layer of moss-like plants to grow, making it slippery to walk on.

Professor Linton fell twice, and once almost skewered his head on a stone sword tip.

Xia Chuan and Shen Lan guarded on either side to prevent the old and weak from getting themselves killed in this cave. They walked along the main passage of the cave for a while, and then checked the three forks one by one.

The leftmost fork was the shortest, ending after just a few steps. Except for bare rock walls, there was nothing else, so it should be no problem to rest here. The middle fork was only slightly longer than the left one, and the path broke off near the end, with only a deep, dark pool.

Without a word, Shen Lan dived in to take a look, and soon jumped back up with one hand: \"It's quite deep, with a fist-sized hole at the bottom, probably connecting to another water source.\"

Xia Chuan raised his eyebrows, satisfied as long as there was water.

As for the third fork, it was much longer than the other two. They walked for about five or six minutes before reaching the rock wall at the end. However, the rock wall here was a bit strange. It was not a complete wall, but more like several boulders stacked together. Xia Chuan reached out and felt the boulders, then said to Shen Lan, \"There's wind.\"

Shen Lan nodded and pointed to his ear: \"I hear it.\"

Early on when they entered the main passage of the cave, he had heard the sound of air flow inside. Amplified dozens of times, it sounded like howling gales to his ears. The wind noise even interfered with his hearing, masking other sounds.

Otherwise, if there was anything in this cave, he would have known as soon as he entered, and wouldn't have wasted time following Xia Chuan and the others down each passage.

The presence of wind meant that the other end of this third fork should lead outside. However, their current purpose for entering the cave was to find a place to rest and catch their breath, so they didn't investigate further for now, and instead returned along the original path to the leftmost fork.

\"Let's rest here for the night,\" Professor Linton said, finding a drier spot to sit down against the wall.

Actually, they had long lost the concept of day and night, and were just habitually counting in terms of morning and evening.

Dennis and Xia Chuan were both exhausted. The former was too lazy to even find a dry spot and just collapsed on the ground, looking like he could sleep until the end of time if he closed his eyes. In fact, he quickly became dazed, mumbling incoherently before falling asleep, \"Wake me when we leave...\"

Professor Linton was getting on in years after all, and had many characteristics common to the elderly. Although he was the least tired of the group, he started nodding off soon after leaning against the wall.

They say drowsiness is contagious. Xia Chuan was already extremely fatigued, and under the influence of these two, also felt an overwhelming wave of sleepiness. However, he really couldn't stand going to sleep covered in sticky sweat and ash. So he forced himself to stay awake and said to Shen Lan in a low voice, \"I'm going next door.\"

Shen Lan glanced at him and nodded in understanding.

Xia Chuan stood up and walked towards the adjacent passage. After a few steps, he suddenly heard Shen Lan speak up behind him, \"There might be bugs over there, want me to go stand guard by the pool for you?\"

\"...\" Xia Chuan's legs were already weak, and hearing this almost made him stumble onto a nearby stone sword tip.

He wanted to turn around and glare at Shen Lan, but then remembered that this domineering lord was missing a few brain components, and arguing with him would only make himself feel worse. In the end, he just paused and threw back a curt \"No need\" before turning the corner to the next passage.

\"Really don't need me to?\" The domineering lord was a bit worried.

Xia Chuan didn't want to pay him any attention at all.

Just as he immersed himself in the pool, relaxing his muscles and bones, the sound of \"rustling\" footsteps accompanied by Shen Lan's voice came over: \"Alright, it seems like there's really no need for someone to keep watch on the shore.\"

Xia Chuan: \"...\" If you already know, why are you still walking this way?!

While he was feeling puzzled and speechless, Shen Lan had already walked to the edge of the pool. He squatted down, scooped the water with his hand, and then quickly took off his black vest. Just as his fingers touched his pants, Xia Chuan spoke up with a stiff voice: \"Why are you taking off your clothes?!\"

\"Didn't you say there's no need for me to keep watch above?\" Shen Lan blinked his eyes, his hands still not stopping.

Xia Chuan felt that his train of thought didn't align with this guy's again, \"So?\"

\"So I can soak in the water now!\" Shen Lan looked as if it was a matter of course, \"I've been drying for a whole day, completely dried out, am I drying salted fish?\"

Xia Chuan: \"...No, wait a minute!\"

Unfortunately, Shen Lan's speed was always very fast. As soon as Xia Chuan spoke, Shen Lan had already jumped in with a \"splash\", landing beside Xia Chuan, splashing water all over his head and face.

Xia Chuan didn't really want to speak. He felt a bit mentally exhausted. Staying with this group of people for too long was simply life-shortening.

He wiped his face expressionlessly: \"You want to soak? Then I'll come back later.\"

Two tall men, in a situation where they could completely stagger their times, insisted on squeezing into a small pool with a diameter of at most two meters to take a bath... At least one of them had a mental problem.

Xia Chuan felt that he wasn't the one with the problem anyway.

\"Hm? Where are you going?\" Shen Lan was very puzzled by his action. After all, he was someone who had no pressure even when streaking, so it was impossible to expect him to understand the awkwardness in between.

Xia Chuan didn't waste any more words with him and just wanted to get out of the pool on his own. The only thing he was grateful for was that the light in the stone cave was dim enough that even he could barely see a person's outline. Shen Lan's eyesight must be no different from being blind with eyes open in this situation.

But it didn't matter that this person was blind with eyes open since his hearing was good. As soon as Xia Chuan moved, Shen Lan accurately judged his position in an instant and grabbed him with one hand.

Xia Chuan: \"...\" It's not over yet!

\"You're already so sleepy, what are you waiting for? I'm just here to soak for a bit, I won't take up much space. Just pretend I'm not here.\" The more Shen Lan spoke, the more he felt he was being reasonable. He simply wrapped his arms around Xia Chuan, trapping him there, and said decisively: \"That's it, hurry up and wash!\"

Xia Chuan simply wanted to spit a mouthful of blood on his face!

Unfortunately, Shen Lan was completely unaware of this resentment and still stubbornly propped himself there, refusing to let Xia Chuan go no matter what.

Xia Chuan couldn't beat him and had to compromise while holding back his anger. By the time he returned to the leftmost branch passage, he felt his chest was so stuffed it hurt.

No matter how much this overlord's way of doing things made Xia Chuan feel helpless, Xia Chuan had to admit that with Shen Lan around, he felt much more at ease even when sleeping.

Without too much psychological burden, Xia Chuan slept very soundly, and the previous fatigue from running around also quickly melted away.

However, even though he slept well, his vigilance did not completely disappear. When he had slept for a while and was about to wake up, he vaguely heard some movement in the cave, like... footsteps.

He frowned and opened his eyes, carefully discerning in the darkness, and saw a tall figure walking towards the cave entrance.

\"Shen Lan?\" Xia Chuan called out.

\"Mm.\" Shen Lan responded in a low voice, \"Heard some movement.\"

\"What movement?\" Upon hearing him say that, Xia Chuan immediately stood up vigilantly and followed him.

\"There are breathing sounds at the cave entrance and the third branch passage.\" Shen Lan replied.

Xia Chuan was startled: \"Breathing sounds? There are other things here?!\"

The two first quietly walked along the main passage of the stone cave to the entrance, then looked out through the sparse part of the water curtain. They saw three dinosaurs of varying sizes crowded in the pool in front of the cave.

The largest one had a very deep long scar vaguely visible on its eye. Another one was a Pyroraptor half its size. It shrank in a corner of the pool, its feathers drenched and hanging limply on its body, looking listless. The remaining one was about the size of a monkey and was currently curled up on the back of the Pyroraptor, shrinking into a ball.

Xia Chuan: \"...\"

The Yaya that Professor Linton had been thinking about had finally followed.

There was no threat on this side of the cave entrance, so Xia Chuan and Shen Lan turned around and walked along the main passage towards the third branch. A moment later, the two stood in front of the stacked stone wall. Xia Chuan was about to tilt his head and listen when he saw Shen Lan raise his leg and kick.

Xia Chuan had experienced how much strength Shen Lan had. With this kick, half of the stone wall shattered, rolling and falling to the ground. Amidst the clamor of falling rocks, Xia Chuan heard a vague startled cry coming from behind the stone wall.

\"There are people!\" Xia Chuan abruptly raised his head and said.

Shen Lan was also startled for a moment, then sneered: \"Actually found them so quickly!\" As he spoke, he moved his neck left and right, making two crisp \"click\" sounds, looking like he was going to snap the people behind the stone wall into several pieces.

If it weren't for that person, the world would never have turned into this ghastly state!

In the blink of an eye, the stone wall was completely destroyed by Shen Lan. After the dust settled, Xia Chuan discovered that the branch passage behind this stone wall still had a section of road, and at the other end of the branch, there was also a faint light, obviously another cave entrance, just much narrower than this side.

By that cave entrance, someone was clinging to the stone wall, trying to climb out of the cave. But just by looking at the silhouette, Xia Chuan was stunned--

Because there was more than one person. Men, women, old, and young were crowded together, a total of seven or eight pairs of eyes staring at them in horror.

Shen Lan: \"...............\"

","published_time":"2024-11-08T00:00:00.000Z","paid":true,"show_flag":true,"show_scheduled_time":"2024-11-08T00:00:00.000Z","unpaid_scheduled_time":"2024-11-29T00:00:00.000Z"},{"content_id":1133,"novel_id":16,"chapter_no":32,"chapter_title":"Chapter 32","content":"

This overlord not only had a poor brain, but even worse eyesight. After a moment of silence, he raised his hand to rub his eyes, blinked hard a couple of times, then turned to Xia Chuan and said: \"Tsk - my eyes are playing tricks on me, I actually saw seven or eight overlapping images of one person.\"

Xia Chuan looked up at him expressionlessly: \"There are exactly eight people, unless my eyes are blind too.\"

Shen Lan: \"...Maybe you're not fully awake yet.\"

Xia Chuan snorted coldly, turning his head away, too lazy to listen to his nonsense. Although Shen Lan's eyesight was poor, his hearing was excellent. Those eight people were breathing heavily and roughly after being startled, completely out of sync. Even Xia Chuan could hear it clearly, let alone Shen Lan. Apparently, the overlord just didn't want to face reality...

He had finally managed to block the wild imaginations of Xia Chuan and the other two. One more would have been manageable, but suddenly there were seven more...

Seven! Especially since among them was a figure obviously much shorter than the rest, clearly a child - this kind of creature that defies common sense, with an exceptionally bizarre imagination, is simply a walking human weapon in the current situation. Who the hell can control them?!

Shen Lan felt his vision go dark, his whole being not feeling well.

\"I've been running rampant in this place for so many years...\" He stared at the blurry figures of those seven people and slowly said half a sentence in a tone and intonation as if reading an obituary. For the first time, a look of despair appeared on his hardened, handsome face.

The cave was too dark for Xia Chuan to see his expression clearly, but just from hearing his tone, he could guess what the second half of the sentence was. \"Never thought that one day you would be done in by such a little one?\" Xia Chuan glanced at him and finished the sentence for him.

\"Can't even bring myself to hit him.\" Shen Lan sighed with great regret, feeling that his earlier efforts to stretch his neck and limbs had been in vain.

The group gathered at the opposite cave entrance was probably scared senseless, frozen in place like statues, with only the one clinging to the rock wall still trying to squeeze towards the entrance, not even looking back.

Shen Lan was full of pent-up grievances with nowhere to vent. Seeing that person's actions, he instantly slid along the rock wall at high speed to behind that person, grabbed his collar, and ripped him off the rock wall at the entrance, angrily saying, \"With your snail-like speed, you think you can escape?!\"

\"Ahhhh!\" The man screamed, reflexively clutching his head as he was suddenly pulled down. The volume made Shen Lan's head buzz. Without looking, he randomly grabbed something from the side and stuffed it into the man's mouth, forcibly suppressing the scream.

He then frowned deeply, head tilted back as if wanting to be eight feet away, and said while digging in his ear, \"Shut up, if you scream again, I'll roast you on the fire, no room for negotiation!\"

Only when he spoke did the terrified man stop moving. As if just realizing, he raised his head, stared at Shen Lan for a long time, and then let out a few surprised \"mmm\" sounds.

Because his mouth was blocked, Shen Lan couldn't make out what he was \"mmm-ing\" about. But the others beside him spoke for him -

\"You are - human?!\" They exclaimed in disbelief.

Shen Lan's expression was even more incredulous: \"Do I really not look human to you?!\"

Xia Chuan, who had just walked over, couldn't help but roll his eyes, feeling that listening to this kind of moronic dialogue too much would definitely lead to brain damage.

Those few people had their mouths wide open, fingers pointing at Xia Chuan one moment and Shen Lan the next. Finally, they said something not brain-dead: \"There are actually still people alive! My God! We thought it was just us few living people in this hellish place!\"

Shen Lan said expressionlessly, \"Oh, what a coincidence, we thought the same until yesterday.\"

\"Huh? Until yesterday?\" They obviously didn't understand what Shen Lan meant by that. But at this moment, they were clearly still immersed in the shock and excitement of discovering fellow survivors.

The young man with protruding ears at the front, who was probably a naturally chatty and overly familiar type to begin with, was even more so in this kind of \"meeting a fellow townsman\" scenario.

He grabbed Shen Lan's arm and began to chatter incessantly, looking for resonance: \"It's so great that there are still people alive! Were you also on that ill-fated cruise ship? All of us were! Originally thought we were done for after falling into the sea, but woke up to find ourselves here. Honestly, not much better than being dead! You have no idea, we encountered dinosaurs before! Real dinosaurs! Alive! Just like the ones that always appear in movies, no, even scarier! Ten-plus meters long, two or three stories tall... Almost pissed ourselves from fright! Luckily they were herbivores, otherwise we definitely wouldn't have survived until now...\"

The others on the side couldn't get a word in and just kept agreeing, \"Yeah, yeah, almost pissed ourselves! Really!\"

Even the one with his mouth stuffed \"mmm-ed\" a couple times in deep agreement.

Xia Chuan glanced at the protruding-eared man's hand grabbing Shen Lan and felt speechless.

This guy and Dennis were probably from the same family from 800 years ago. Fortunately, Shen Lan was in human form now. If he reverted to his original form, they would probably be so scared they'd need diapers and still not be able to contain it.

Unfortunately, Shen Lan, this ancestor who had been dealing with dinosaurs for a long time, was very bad at human conversation. He yanked his arm back from the man's grasp and said bluntly, \"Why didn't I know that? I just roasted a few carnivores for the last meal.\"

Those few: \"............\"

Protruding Ears dug in his ear: \"What?!\"

A middle-aged man who looked to be in his fifties beside him gave a dry laugh: \"You're so funny.\"

Shen Lan was too lazy to waste words with them on this issue. After all, he didn't keep these people around to exchange experiences. He jerked his chin in the direction they came from and said concisely, \"Go in.\"

His handsome features had a sharp edge to them. When he had a serious expression, he appeared somewhat fierce. His voice was also very deep. Suddenly spouting these two words, it was like a tough cop wielding a baton ordering a group of lackeys. Those few people subconsciously shrank their necks and obediently walked towards the cave, sticking close to the rock wall.

With Shen Lan herding them like ducks from behind, everyone's pace was very fast. Before long, they arrived at the leftmost fork in the road. Dennis and Professor Lin, who were originally napping inside, were awakened by the commotion.

They sat up groggily and stared blankly for two seconds before suddenly realizing that there were many unfamiliar figures in the cave, their silhouettes blurry, standing or squatting in the not-so-large space.

\"What the hell is going on?!\" Dennis was stunned for a moment and cried out. He fumbled in the pack on his chest for a while and pulled out the small emergency flashlight, pressing the switch.

The cold white light instantly shone from the flashlight, illuminating the space. The group of people shielded their eyes from the sudden white light, crying out \"Ouch, ouch\" for a good while before slowly adapting. They squinted in surprise, \"There are actually two more...\"

\"Oh my god, there are actually so many people still alive?!\" Dennis almost simultaneously exclaimed this sentence, with even more surprise in his tone.

He was so excited that he forgot it was very impolite to shine the flashlight directly at people. He just held the flashlight and scanned each of them one by one—

Just as Xia Chuan and Shen Lan had counted, there were a total of seven people in this group. There were two young people who looked to be in their early twenties, the thinner one being the big-eared guy who kept talking to Shen Lan, and the other short and fat one looking quite honest and simple;

There was also a man in his thirties or forties with a beer belly, his mouth stuffed with something black, looking a bit disheveled;

Next to him stood a middle-aged man in his fifties, with a bit of a receding hairline, the remaining hair on his head forming a perfect Mediterranean circle.

Protected behind them were two women and a little boy. One was also only in her early twenties, with a simple high ponytail, standing close to the big-eared guy, the two seeming to be a couple. The other woman was already middle-aged, with good features, just a slightly plump figure. She tightly held the hand of the golden-haired little boy, looking like a mother and son.

When Professor Linton saw this group of survivors of varying composition, he also got extremely excited for a moment. He quickly called out to them to sit down and rest, not to be too nervous, and reminded the beer-bellied man to take out the stuff in his mouth.

Only then did the beer-bellied man remember that with his hands free, he could pull out the thing stuffed in his mouth himself.

However, after the excitement passed, Professor Linton thought of that very critical question. He looked up at Xia Chuan and Shen Lan to the side and said, \"So the situation that erupted outside was them...\"

Xia Chuan nodded, \"More or less.\"

He and Shen Lan had left them here to clarify this issue with them. However, before they could speak, the golden-haired little boy tugged on the middle-aged woman's hand and asked softly, \"Mom, why are we sitting here? Aren't we going outside the cave?\"

\"Everyone changed their minds,\" the woman holding him tightly replied in a low voice, \"There's a fire outside, we have to hide here for a bit.\"

The little boy said \"Oh,\" and after a quiet second, spoke again, \"Then Mom, will the sky really shatter? Just like the glass I accidentally dropped on the floor last time?\"

Xia Chuan and the other three: \"............\"

\"Is this how the dinosaurs went extinct? Dad told me before that stars fell, and there were tsunamis and volcanic eruptions. When the sky shatters, will lava flow down?\" The little boy was still solemnly seeking confirmation of the scene at the time of the dinosaurs' extinction.

Shen Lan's temple throbbed, his handsome face turning a vibrant green.

","published_time":"2024-11-15T00:00:00.000Z","paid":true,"show_flag":true,"show_scheduled_time":"2024-11-15T00:00:00.000Z","unpaid_scheduled_time":"2024-12-06T00:00:00.000Z"},{"content_id":1150,"novel_id":16,"chapter_no":33,"chapter_title":"Chapter 33","content":"

Not only him, but the expressions on Xia Chuan and the other two's faces were also quite spectacular.

\"I finally understand why I saw such a bizarre scene...\" Dennis said with a mouthful of blood, struggling to squeeze out this sentence from his throat, \"Is this God's way of messing with us?\"

Xia Chuan knew that Dennis didn't like children. He had heard Dennis complain more than once: \"If they could just sit there quietly and play by themselves all day, without making trouble or dragging me to play illogical and unenjoyable games with them, I might be able to tolerate being with them.\"

Xia Chuan himself had no particular feelings towards children, neither liking nor disliking them. To be precise, he was not good at getting along with such little things, so he avoided them whenever possible. As for Shen Lan... he turned his head and looked at Shen Lan's face that looked like he had swallowed a fly, and felt that he wouldn't be much better than himself and Dennis.

Among the four of them, perhaps only Professor Linton would chuckle and tease children when he saw them, but definitely not in this situation.

Even the most child-loving person, upon hearing this series of descriptions about doomsday at such a critical moment, would inevitably take a healthy step forward to stop it. In fact, Professor Linton did just that - when the little boy was about to open his mouth to continue, he hurriedly raised his hand and covered his mouth.

\"Hmm?\" The little boy looked at him blankly, full of questions.

The slightly plump woman sitting next to him was very surprised by Professor Linton's actions and asked with wide eyes, \"What's wrong?\"

Being asked like this, the old man realized that he had done a stupid thing - what happened outside was related to what people were thinking in their minds, so just covering his mouth was useless!

Just as he rushed to the little boy's face, Xia Chuan beside him reacted. He grabbed the flashlight from Dennis's hand, dangled it on his fingertips and swung it around a few times, sweeping the cold white light around the eyes of those few people, attracting everyone's attention.

He really didn't like to talk much. Many topics he was too lazy to engage in, and even when he did speak, it was always short sentences of one or two lines, which was considered abnormally talkative compared to Shen Lan.

But now, he unprecedentedly took the initiative to start the conversation: \"The few of us are indeed passengers on the same cruise ship as you, and our experiences after the ship sank are generally similar to yours, or even more thrilling. I'm not very clear about where you first woke up, how far you walked to get to this area, how you discovered this stone cave, and how long you have been hiding here, but-\"

When Xia Chuan grabbed the flashlight and was about to speak, Dennis and Professor Linton were stunned. They had known Xia Chuan before and naturally knew his temperament, so they found his actions very surprising. What was even more surprising was that he actually said such a long paragraph as soon as he opened his mouth.

Dennis and Professor Linton looked at him in a daze, their jaws almost dropping.

But in such an urgent situation, was it really appropriate to lay out such a long preamble? The two were puzzled while being surprised, after all, Xia Chuan didn't seem like someone who couldn't distinguish between the important and the trivial.

\"What's going on...\" Dennis lowered his voice and poked Professor Linton's shoulder with his finger.

\"How would I know...\" Professor Linton was equally puzzled. But after running around for the past few days, the two of them had developed the habit of \"following Shen Lan and Xia Chuan basically can't go wrong\", so although they didn't understand, they didn't interrupt.

But Shen Lan was different. He basically had the most say along the way. If it were someone else rambling on like this, he would have slapped them back long ago. But even if it was Xia Chuan, after listening for a few sentences, he couldn't hold back anymore.

This overlord was seen raising his hand to pat Xia Chuan's shoulder, hooking him and pulling him back a step, leaning to his ear and saying, \"Why are you saying so much, just get to the point.\" After saying that, he was about to speak to the crowd.

\"Hey-\" Xia Chuan seemed to want to stop him, but Shen Lan's hand that was hooking his shoulder lifted and conveniently covered his mouth. Then he said to the crowd in a decisive manner: \"Most of the things in your mind will come true. If you don't want to die, don't think about anything unnecessary!\"

Simple and crude, cutting straight to the key point!

That's what Shen Lan himself thought, and even Dennis and Professor Linton had the same thought at that moment. But Xia Chuan, whose mouth was covered by him, seemed quite speechless.

He could feel Xia Chuan sighing the moment he finished speaking, very lightly, but the breath swept over his palm.

Hiss - it tickled.

Shen Lan moved his fingers a little uncomfortably, thinking this way.

His straightforward words obviously had a significant impact - the people huddled in the stone cave were stunned at first, as if they didn't understand what he was saying. A few seconds later, they gradually understood, and then everyone's eyes widened, showing an extremely frightened expression.

At that moment, Shen Lan subconsciously raised his other free hand to scratch his cheek, feeling that something seemed wrong. Immediately after, he reacted with wide eyes: \"Wait!\"

He finally understood why Xia Chuan was so abnormally talkative - to gradually let these people slowly approach the truth, so that when they heard the final sentence, their acceptance would be much higher and their panic level would be relatively lower.

If Shen Lan told them the facts directly without any preamble like this, normal people would have a period of reaction in shock and disbelief - they would subconsciously recall the various things that happened outside, then recall the brain holes they had opened and the words they had said before, find the same parts, and then exclaim \"Oh my God, it's really like this!\" After that, they would remember in a panic \"Oh, I should shut my brain!\"

Even if such a reaction period may only last a few dozen seconds, the combined brain holes produced by so many people in their recollections would be enough to make the outside world even worse!

\"Heavens-\" The first to speak was the bald man, \"It seems, it seems to be true...\"

Shen Lan lowered his head, and the hand that was scratching his cheek silently wiped his face. At the same time, he felt the hand covering Xia Chuan's mouth being removed by someone. He peeked out from between his fingers, only to meet Xia Chuan's expressionless face head-on.

Xia Chuan: \"Is covering your face useful?\"

Shen Lan quickly shook his head, closing the gaps between his fingers.

Xia Chuan: \"...\"

He had just swatted Shen Lan's paw off his shoulder when a huge boom resounded, shaking the entire stone cave. The sharp stone swords on the cave's ceiling were shaken loose and came whistling down. Everyone scrambled to avoid them, screams erupting all around, the noise making Shen Lan's head ache.

He and Xia Chuan moved almost simultaneously - after swiftly pulling away several people who were nearly skewered by the falling stone swords, they cleanly used their hands as blades, knocking out four people in the blink of an eye, one after another.

Just as Shen Lan's hand chop was about to land on the chubby woman's neck, he felt both his legs being hugged tightly.

He paused, lowered his head, and saw the little blond boy hugging his right leg, looking up and saying softly, \"I'll behave, don't hit my mom.\"

Shen Lan's mouth twitched. Who wants to hit her? If he doesn't knock everyone out, they'll all be done for. As he hesitated, the one on his left leg also spoke up. The big-eared man said earnestly, \"My imagination is extremely poor, it makes no difference if I'm unconscious or not, really...\"

Shen Lan: \"...\"

Dennis, who was rolling on the ground hugging his black backpack, lifted his head to sense for a moment and said, \"The shaking has stopped.\"

The big-eared man had an innocent look of \"See? I told you it has nothing to do with me.\" The chubby woman also carefully said, \"I won't let my thoughts run wild, and I'll make sure Allen understands too.\"

As she spoke, she glanced at the little blond boy. Seeing that Shen Lan had no intention of knocking them out, she quickly pulled the little guy back into her arms.

\"If we cause any more problems, don't just knock me out, you can beat me to death and I won't resist,\" the big-eared man immediately vowed. The woman hurriedly nodded in agreement, and even the little boy softly said, \"Won't resist.\"

\"...\" Xia Chuan and the others felt like they had inexplicably experienced what it was like to be a bully.

Shen Lan swept an unhappy glance at the little boy, thinking what does this little thing even understand about not resisting.

But he wasn't really a bully. Since the shaking had stopped, leaving the three of them conscious for a while shouldn't be a problem. Thinking this, he withdrew his hand and patted Xia Chuan's hand holding the flashlight. \"Let's go take a look.\"

Without Shen Lan spelling it out, Xia Chuan also knew he meant to investigate the source of that huge boom just now.

He nodded, signaled to Professor Linton and the others, then picked up the flashlight and followed Shen Lan out of this side passage, one in front and one behind.

But as soon as they walked into the main passage of the cave, they discovered a problem - the faint light from the cave entrance was nearly gone, with only a thin crescent-shaped sliver remaining.

\"It hit the entrance.\" Xia Chuan swept the flashlight and saw the area in a mess. Obviously, the fallen meteorite not only blocked the entrance, but also knocked down a pile of rubble, causing the entrance to nearly completely collapse.

\"That gap is too small even for a child to crawl out.\" After walking some distance, Shen Lan crossed his arms and said this, then turned his head and pointed his chin towards the third side passage. \"Going out that way is the same.\"

As he spoke, Xia Chuan shone the flashlight around each corner. But he must have illuminated somewhere, because a black shadow about the size of a monkey suddenly lunged at Xia Chuan. The shadow seemed to have wings and moved extremely fast. Xia Chuan reacted immediately, stepping back and to the side to avoid it.

But because it was too fast and he wasn't paying attention to his footing, he tripped on a protruding hard rock. He staggered back two steps, his back colliding with Shen Lan's chest, slamming the already wall-leaning Shen Lan against the wall with a \"smack\".

Xia Chuan felt a bit awkward, but also puzzled. With Shen Lan's physique and strength, even if he took a running leap at him, Shen Lan should be able to stand rooted like a tree. How could just staggering back a couple steps be enough to slam him against the wall?

Then he heard Shen Lan let out an exaggerated \"ouch\" and shamelessly point to his chest and back, saying, \"Gravely injured.\"

Anyone who believed him was an idiot.

Xia Chuan didn't even bother lifting an eyelid as he made to stand up straight and walk back. But Shen Lan hooked an arm around his neck, immobilizing him in his unbalanced position.

\"Look how you slammed me against the wall, that makes us even for when I covered your mouth earlier,\" Shen Lan said.

Xia Chuan: \"...Are you in elementary school?!\"

","published_time":"2024-11-22T00:00:00.000Z","paid":true,"show_flag":false,"show_scheduled_time":"2024-11-22T00:00:00.000Z","unpaid_scheduled_time":"2024-12-13T00:00:00.000Z"},{"content_id":1167,"novel_id":16,"chapter_no":34,"chapter_title":"Chapter 34","content":"

He had never had someone draped over the shoulder like this before. If someone had done this in the past, he would have definitely found it sticky and annoying.

But with Shen Lan, aside from feeling a bit speechless, he didn't feel the slightest bit of irritation, just a little uncomfortable, like the slight awkwardness he felt just now when he bumped into Shen Lan's chest.

\"Never went to school.\" Shen Lan, who had been running naked in the dinosaur world for too long and had even discarded part of his memory, was talking nonsense.

Xia Chuan deeply felt that those with a sense of shame could never win against the shameless, so he didn't bicker with him anymore. He just raised his hand to grab the arm hooked around his neck and tried to pry it off a couple times, but that arm was as immovable as if it were cast in iron, physically proving that the earlier statement about being \"seriously injured against the wall\" was bullshit.

\"Can you let go?\" Xia Chuan said irritably, \"This posture is very tiring for the legs.\"

He regretted saying this as soon as the words left his mouth, because not only did Shen Lan not let go, he even very considerately bent one leg and propped it behind Xia Chuan's knee, helping to take some of the strain off, his movements extremely rogue-like but his tone very sincere as he asked, \"Are we even now?\"

Xia Chuan: \"...\"

He realized that if he continued to dwell on this idiotic question, he and Shen Lan would definitely end up in a situation where one was foolish and the other crazy, so he admitted defeat and said helplessly, \"Yes, we're even, now let me stand up straight!\"

Shen Lan, having successfully \"apologized\", immediately withdrew his claws and leg with a carefree and smug expression. He walked sideways a couple steps in the cave, circling from behind Xia Chuan to the front.

Xia Chuan, holding the flashlight, accurately bypassed this human-shaped obstacle and shone the light on the cave passage behind them. The black shadow that had nearly crashed into him earlier had disappeared without a trace, and he didn't know if it had hidden in another corner or scurried out through the third fork.

If he wasn't mistaken, that shadow was a small avian dinosaur, and judging from its appearance, it seemed to be the one that had been roosting outside the cave along with Yaya and the Pyroraptor. Now that a meteorite had fallen outside, he didn't know if Yaya and the others who had originally been there were still alive...

The two returned to the fork where everyone else was staying, only to see Dennis and Protruding Ears, two people who had only known each other for less than half an hour, actually huddled together, head to head, muttering and mumbling, who knows what they were communicating about.

Next to Dennis, Professor Linton was pulling the slightly plump woman and the blond little boy aside, explaining the situation here in detail. The two, one big and one small, were very cooperative, well-behaved and serious, allowing Xia Chuan and Shen Lan to breathe a sigh of relief.

As the two walked into the fork, they turned off their flashlights, and the bit of light from Dennis and Protruding Ears's hands was revealed. Only then did they discover that the thing they were holding on their knees was the oscilloscope that Dennis treasured.

Xia Chuan remembered that when this precious box detected new wave information, it would make a \"zz zz\" sound, but all along the way as they fled, right up until they temporarily settled in the stone cave, the oscilloscope hadn't made any more noise. To the point that as soon as Dennis had a moment to rest, he began to fiddle with it, seemingly wanting to adjust it to be even more sensitive.

\"What's this? You know how to use it?\" Shen Lan walked over leisurely and pointed at the slightly glowing screen of the box, asking Protruding Ears.

Protruding Ears raised his head and nodded very humbly, \"A little, a little.\" After being humble, he said to Xia Chuan, \"Can I borrow the flashlight for a moment? We'll take this thing apart and modify it a bit.\"

Xia Chuan glanced at Dennis and, seeing that he had no objections and instead looked eager to try, handed over the flashlight with a simple reminder, \"Be careful.\"

But he only said this casually. He didn't know what kind of personality Protruding Ears had, but he did know a bit about Dennis. Dennis definitely treasured this oscilloscope more than Xia Chuan and the others did, and if they hadn't discussed a reliable idea, he definitely wouldn't act rashly.

\"What if we think positively?\" The woman who had been listening to Professor Linton ramble suddenly spoke up.

Xia Chuan turned his head to look, exchanging glances with Shen Lan and Professor Linton. Even Dennis, who had been burying his head in the oscilloscope, raised his head at the sound, \"Actually, I've tried to think that way, but it didn't do any good.\"

\"Right?\" Professor Linton said, \"I've also thought about it, carefully imagining it several times in my head, thinking that there was no meteorite impact, no tsunami, no volcano, the world was warm and beautiful, the dinosaurs were living in peace and contentment... But obviously, the result was the same as Dennis'.\"

Xia Chuan hesitated for a moment before adding, \"I also--\"

Shen Lan decisively concluded, \"Alright, it seems everyone has thought about it, it just doesn't work at all.\"

\"Why is that?\" The woman thought for a moment and then said, \"Could it be that we're not thinking concentrated enough, there aren't many people, so the impact isn't big enough to reverse the current trend?\"

The blond little boy Allen, nestled in her arms, listened with a half-understanding and was very supportive, vigorously nodding his head with two \"mm-hmms\".

\"It's possible...\" Professor Linton didn't immediately deny her guess, \"Before, we were almost always on the run, our lives were in danger, let alone finding a place to sit down and meditate together. Now it's quite suitable. So why don't we--\"

\"Give it a try?\" Dennis stopped what he was doing with his hands, and even Protruding Ears lowered the flashlight and raised his head, with a look of \"I'll do whatever you say\".

In the current situation, things couldn't get any worse, so everyone took the attitude of a dead horse being treated as a live one and, leaning against the corner of the fork, put down what they were doing and actually closed their eyes and began to meditate in earnest. Even the little boy was very cooperative, closing his eyes without crying or making a fuss.

This meditation lasted a long time. Long enough that the little guy, curled up, had already begun to doze off, his head nodding back and forth, swaying in all directions before finally \"plonking\" down into his mother's arms, completely dead asleep.

Startled by this bit of movement, everyone opened their eyes one after another. The little boy's mother kept apologizing, \"We've been on the run and haven't had much rest, Allen is terribly sleepy.\"

Professor Linton waved his hand, indicating that it was not a problem: \"After thinking it over, there are only a few scenarios, and it's been a long time. As for whether it's useful or not, we'll know once we take a look outside.\"

At this point, they realized that their imagination was indeed quite poor. The scenes that kept appearing in their minds were nothing more than lush vegetation, fertile soil, and various ancient creatures living freely among them. They couldn't come up with anything better.

Of course, under the current special circumstances, a lack of imagination was not a bad thing.

As soon as he finished speaking, Shen Lan and Xia Chuan stood up decisively and strode out, turning into the third fork in the road and heading straight for the not-so-spacious cave entrance. When they reached the entrance, Shen Lan stretched out his arm and accurately blocked Xia Chuan's body, then poked his upper body out of the entrance and looked around.

\"How is it?\" The cave was so narrow that Shen Lan's body completely blocked it. Except for a little weak light leaking in, Xia Chuan couldn't see the scenery outside at all.

Shen Lan clicked his tongue and didn't answer immediately. After a good while, he withdrew his upper body from the narrow entrance and said, \"It's hard to say. Indeed, no new meteorites have fallen within a radius of tens of meters during that long period of time just now, which is much better than before. As for the strange sight in the sky... the smoke and dust are too thick to see through. But since the little guy has been honestly not thinking wildly, I think there should have been a change.\"

\"So there has been some improvement?\" Xia Chuan asked.

\"Yes.\" Shen Lan nodded, then shook his head, \"But not much improvement.\"

Blocked by Shen Lan's arm, Xia Chuan couldn't poke his head out to look. He could only take a rough glance from the angle visible inside the cave. \"Indeed, if there was a big improvement, this fog should have dispersed.\"

None of the beautiful meditations would include this unsightly and breath-disturbing dust fog. Even just standing by the cave, Xia Chuan felt that the air he breathed in was so dirty that it was disgusting, and it scratched his respiratory tract, as if he was going to cough earth-shatteringly in the next second.

After taking a general look at the situation, the two of them didn't linger at the entrance any longer, but strode back to where everyone else was. They told Professor Linton and the others about the scene they saw, which brought thoughtful expressions to their faces.

\"Although the effect is small, it shows that we can influence and stop this destruction, right?\" Dennis said, \"If we try a few more times, maybe the effect will be greater. And these people who are unconscious, when they wake up, we can educate them. If everyone thinks together, the impact may be much greater.\"

What he said still made sense, and Shen Lan and Xia Chuan didn't object.

\"If we could really restore the outside to its original state just by thinking in our minds, that would be great...\" Professor Linton sighed, although he felt in his heart that it didn't seem that simple.

Dennis nodded in agreement, \"Yeah, if it really works, we might as well collectively think that stepping out of this cave is the exit, so we can hurry back. We wouldn't have to work so hard on this oscilloscope...\" Although he said this, his hands didn't stop, and he and Protruding Ears carefully adjusted the black box.

But... is it really that simple?

Xia Chuan looked at the end of the fork in the road and narrowed his eyes slightly.

\"Why don't you get some more sleep?\" Shen Lan raised his hand and patted Xia Chuan's shoulder, \"It seems you haven't had a good sleep?\"

\"Oh, it's okay.\" Xia Chuan replied casually. With Shen Lan there, he slept much more soundly than that time by the sea. It was just out of habit that he couldn't sleep through the night without any vigilance.

But Shen Lan didn't think of his quirk. He just thought sleeping against the stone wall was uncomfortable. So he simply moved closer to Xia Chuan, then patted his muscular leg, \"I'll lend it to you as a pillow.\"

Xia Chuan: \"...\"

Seeing that Xia Chuan had no intention of moving, the overlord's bad habit acted up again. He poked Xia Chuan's waist with his index finger.

Taking advantage of the moment when Xia Chuan's body trembled, he grabbed him and pressed him down on his leg without asking, and then, quite unscrupulously, held Xia Chuan's wrist with one hand, covered Xia Chuan's eyes with the other, and said decisively, \"Don't move. When we go out, you'll still have to drag your ass and be a burden. How can you not sleep!\"

Ever since he met this 30-ton lord, Xia Chuan felt every day that he was going to die young.

","published_time":"2024-11-29T00:00:00.000Z","paid":true,"show_flag":false,"show_scheduled_time":"2024-11-29T00:00:00.000Z","unpaid_scheduled_time":"2024-12-19T00:00:00.000Z"},{"content_id":1184,"novel_id":16,"chapter_no":35,"chapter_title":"Chapter 35","content":"

Competing with Shen Lan in strength? Xia Chuan felt it was better not to waste his energy...

So when he was immobilized on Shen Lan's legs, unable to move, he very rationally and helplessly chose to close his eyes. After all, he really hadn't slept much before, and since he didn't need to move now, it was good to catch up on some sleep.

Beside them, Dennis quite enjoyed this scene of \"a person with high combat power being suppressed by someone with even higher combat power\". After glancing over a few times and chuckling, he lowered his head and continued to focus on modifying the oscilloscope.

However, after just a few seconds, he paused, feeling that something wasn't quite right...

When Xia Chuan said he wouldn't struggle, he really stopped moving. He lay on the legs with his eyes covered by Shen Lan, his body rising and falling slightly with his breathing, looking calm and peaceful.

\"Seems a bit familiar--\" Dennis muttered, then turned his head and discovered the original posture of the two - Protruding Ears was leaning sideways with his upper body, fiddling with the oscilloscope at Dennis's knees, while his girlfriend who had been knocked out by Shen Lan was moved onto his legs to rest, probably hoping she would be more comfortable even while unconscious.

Dennis looked left, then right, and inexplicably felt a faint sense of melancholy: \"...\"

Perhaps because he had gained an extremely secure human pillow, Xia Chuan slept much longer this time compared to before. He woke up again still due to hearing some scattered noises, like the sound of fabric rubbing against stone, mixed with a few half-asleep mumbles - it seemed that those who had been knocked out were starting to regain consciousness one after another.

At the same time that Xia Chuan roughly came to this conclusion in his mind, his drowsiness had also completely disappeared. He opened his eyes, but found that it was a bit too dark in front of him, and the sounds he heard were also a bit muffled, as if they were being stifled by something.

When all his five senses became clear, he realized that his eyes and the ear facing outward were both being covered by someone's hand. As for who the owner of the hand was, naturally there was no need to say.

Xia Chuan blinked twice, subtly indicating that he was awake. As long as a person's sense of touch is not missing, they would be able to understand this after having their palm brushed by someone else's eyelashes a few times.

However, Shen Lan gave no response at all.

Didn't feel it? Xia Chuan guessed, feeling that he was indeed not very good at being subtle, so he simply moved his hands that had been freed from restraint and directly placed them on Shen Lan's arms, patting lightly and said in a low voice: \"I'm awake, let me get up.\"

Shen Lan still did not react.

Xia Chuan: \"...\"

Blinking could be explained as the movement being too small to feel, but directly patting the arm and still saying he couldn't feel it would be pure nonsense. Obviously, Shen Lan was playing dead in the most fake way possible, expressing his desire for Xia Chuan to sleep a little longer.

\"...\" Xia Chuan was speechless for a moment, then patted Shen Lan's arm again: \"Let go.\"

As a result, this childish overlord not only did not loosen his grip, but pressed Xia Chuan down even more firmly. It clearly confirmed \"I'm not deaf, I can hear you talking, I just want to go against you.\"

Lifting his head forcefully would take too much effort and wasn't worth it. Left with no choice, Xia Chuan could only use the trick he learned from Shen Lan, using his own methods against him. He raised his hand and felt around, figuring out the position of Shen Lan's waist, then without hesitation, extended a finger and poked.

\"Pff--\"

The overlord was deflated by a single finger, and the force on his hands suddenly loosened. Xia Chuan took the opportunity to slap away his claws and nimbly flipped over to sit up.

With the light from the oscilloscope screen, Dennis had vaguely watched the whole process, thinking to himself that just getting out of bed could cause such a fuss, his dog eyes were about to go blind!

Of course, he was just watching with a pure gossiping heart, as if in this world without entertainment sections on TV and computers, he was using Xia Chuan and Shen Lan as a substitute. As for what kind of mentality Xia Chuan actually had, he had no idea. The only thing obvious was that Shen Lan was indeed a very special person--

In the three years that Dennis had known Xia Chuan, he showed a lack of interest and indifference towards most things, with many things he had no interest in doing and many words he had no interest in responding to.

Frankly speaking, he was very passive. Only when encountering difficult matters would the little bit of liveliness in his whole body be mobilized. To the point that Dennis always wondered if this was the reason why Xia Chuan chose to become a mercenary.

But after coming to this different world, in this short period of time, Dennis felt that Xia Chuan was changing every day... to be precise, every moment, becoming more and more human, not so cold and hard anymore.

Perhaps there was a reason of \"sharing hardships in difficult circumstances\";

Or perhaps it was because in this vast world there were only a few scattered living people in total, making him finally remember to make a little room for them under his eyelids;

But Shen Lan was definitely the most significant factor among them.

Faced with a person like Xia Chuan who was like a thousand-year-old clam, it probably took someone with Shen Lan's personality to pry open that crack.

Dennis didn't mind watching Xia Chuan's expression of being upset and speechless yet also helpless a few more times. This kind of thought of watching the excitement and not minding causing trouble was absolutely not something that could be let known to Xia Chuan, otherwise he would definitely be beheaded and his head hung on a flagpole.

So after glancing around a few times, he put his attention back on the oscilloscope.

Just as Xia Chuan had guessed when he woke up, the few people who had been knocked out in the cave were showing signs of regaining consciousness one after another.

Someone with a simple and crude personality like Shen Lan naturally wasn't suitable to have more dealings with them, and he was too lazy to anyway. Xia Chuan had also returned to his usual reticence. Only Professor Linton, who had slept well, silently squatted beside the few people.

He was well prepared, had rehearsed his speech, and had all the words contained in his mouth. From the moment those few people opened their eyes, he began to talk non-stop and at great length, mobilizing almost all his teaching enthusiasm in this life, just to let those few people fully accept and understand the current situation before they could react.

Those few people, before their consciousness had fully cleared, were slapped with a bunch of obscure theories, turning them into four dumbfounded quails of various forms. Professor Linton went on and on, repeating himself several times, almost talking himself into hypoxia. Only after making sure everyone understood did he let out a long sigh of relief and exclaim, \"I have to say, force-feeding teaching is still quite enjoyable.\"

With the idea that there is strength in numbers, Xia Chuan and the others, along with the few who had woken up, tried their guess again. While imagining that the disaster did not exist at all, they also moved the exit they had been desperately searching for to the outside of this cave in their minds.

Some even went so far as to imagine that this cave was the exit itself, skipping the process of exiting the cave altogether.

\"I suddenly feel like I've fallen into a cult den,\" the bald man lifted his eyelids and swept a glance around, unable to resist the urge to be sarcastic.

Xia Chuan and the others: \"...\" Don't say it, it does seem quite like it.

\"Ptooey! Shut up!\" Someone spat at him in a low voice.

What they were doing was indeed quite absurd. If it were in the real world, they would surely sigh and say \"sick and unclear\" if they saw it. But who let this world be even more absurd than them...

After a long time, everyone moved to the entrance of the third fork in the cave, took a look, and muttered, \"Any changes?\"

However, after looking for a while, they were disappointed.

\"How come... I don't see any difference?\" The pot-bellied man poked the bald man and asked in a low voice, \"Is it my eyesight or what?\"

\"I don't see any difference either.\" The bald man rubbed his eyes vigorously. He had stuck his head out too far and choked on a mouthful of smoke outside, coughing earth-shatteringly as soon as he finished speaking.

As for the rest of the people, although they did not speak, they all showed a worried look.

As they could see, the outside was still shrouded in smoke, seemingly thicker than before. Sticking their heads out a little would affect their breathing. Visibility was low, and it was difficult for them to see if any new fragments had fallen in the distance.

\"The fire in the woods is still burning,\" Shen Lan suddenly spoke up.

He spoke somewhat like Xia Chuan, not putting much effort into it, with a very low volume. However, those who were relatively close to him heard him loud and clear.

Those who knew he had exceptional hearing naturally believed his words. Those who didn't, although looking a bit puzzled, didn't ask much. It was the bald man and the pot-bellied man farthest away who said \"ah\" and turned back to ask Shen Lan, \"What did you just say?\"

They still remembered that they had been knocked out by Shen Lan and Xia Chuan before, so they were a bit wary of these two, asking cautiously with a meaning of \"I won't do anything if you don't answer.\"

Shen Lan really didn't pay attention to them. He found these two talkative and loud, a bit noisy.

So the two pouted and asked the little boy's mother in a low voice.

Shen Lan was carefully listening to the movements outside, but these two kept talking non-stop, disturbing him badly.

He frowned and remained silent for a few seconds, finally unable to bear it anymore. He grabbed each of their collars with one hand, effortlessly lifting the two up against the stone wall, scowling with extreme annoyance, \"Open your mouths one more time, and I'll rip them off for you. Try it if you're not afraid.\"

Xia Chuan: \"...\"

If Shen Lan hadn't gotten angry, he would have almost gotten used to this guy's brainless state, forgetting that his other side was an extremely brutal mosasaurus...

With his stern face, even Dennis and Professor Linton's legs trembled a bit, let alone the bald man and pot-bellied man who weren't familiar with him at all.

The two immediately shrank their necks and kept shaking their heads, their mouths tightly pursed, not daring to make any more sounds.

As soon as Shen Lan let go, the two hurriedly slid along the wall, wishing they could be eight feet away from Shen Lan. The others also subconsciously took a couple steps back.

Only Xia Chuan stood beside Shen Lan without any concern, not even blinking an eye. He even raised his hand to pat Shen Lan's shoulder, pointing outside the cave, indicating for him to listen again.

The crowd: \"...\"

Without the disturbance, Shen Lan naturally listened carefully for a good while, then said to Xia Chuan, \"No new fragments have fallen for now, but the sea over there still hasn't calmed down.\"

Xia Chuan frowned. After a while, he turned his gaze to Dennis and Professor Linton: \"...What do you think?\"

\"This...\" Professor Linton was a bit stuck. He had just finished brainwashing this group of people with a long speech and was still a bit unable to recover himself. \"It's indeed strange. Why is it that imagining the worst immediately comes true, while imagining the best never seems to have any effect...\"

It was Dennis who spoke up: \"Um... look, although we say this place changes according to people's thoughts, we've now found that this statement is too one-sided. Haven't you noticed? Imagining the entrance and exit is completely useless, which means that no matter how wild our imagination is, it can't affect the boundaries of this place.

\"Completely unrealistic ideas won't come true either. For example, I hope two bottles of champagne will appear in front of me now, but I can't even see a shadow. Also, ideas about ourselves won't come true. For example, imagining that I or one of you has a stomachache, you won't have any reaction at all—\"

\"How do you know it's completely no reaction, and not that the imagining time was too short to be effective?\" Pointed-ears nudged him from the side.

\"Oh, it's like this—\" Dennis blinked, not hiding it at all, saying bluntly, \"From the moment you guys appeared, I've been thinking about when you could disappear. I've been thinking about it for so long, but it's been completely useless.\"

Shen Lan rarely gave him a proper look: \"Oh, for the first time, I have the same thought as you.\"

The crowd: \"...\"

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Deep Sea Drifter Diary

Deep Sea Drifter Diary

Chapter 31 - Chapter 31

Windwalker