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: "..."