Actually, Xia Chuan didn't clearly see what that red, mushy thing was in his hand, but his intuition told him, based on Shen Lan's expression and tone...

"It's for eating." he said firmly.

There couldn't be a second possibility.

Shen Lan was stunned for a moment, maintaining his Statue of Liberty pose while floating in the water: "Huh? You know it... have you eaten it before?"

"No," Xia Chuan said calmly, "First time seeing it." It would be truly strange if there was anything here that they had eaten before!

While he could remain calm, the group of people sitting or sprawled beside him couldn't. Dennis was the closest and heard the most clearly, nearly jumping into the river. His upper body had already moved, but remembering that he was holding the oscilloscope, this precious baby, he desperately stabilized his lower body. With the upper and lower halves going in opposite directions, he nearly sprained his waist.

And apart from these two, there was not a third composed person to be found on the entire riverbank. Everyone seemed to come back to life like they were on their deathbed, "whoosh", surrounding them, staring at Shen Lan's hand like wolves, eyes turning green.

Shen Lan: "..."

In his limited memory, this was probably the first time he had been stared at by other creatures like this... it nearly brought out his beastly nature, making him want to turn back into a mosasaur and stare right back.

Fortunately, at the critical moment, his human nature prevailed and suppressed this thought, otherwise there would have been five more floating corpses in the river. Except for Xia Chuan and Dennis, not a single one would have escaped, definitely scared to death.

Shen Lan expressionlessly swept his gaze over the crowd, then turned his head and dived back into the river with a splash, splashing water that was even bigger than before, drenching the seven people on the shore from head to toe, clearly intentional.

Xia Chuan: "..."

Dennis: "..."

The two of them, one truly calm and one pretending to be composed, once again suffered an unjust disaster, their clothes that had just dried becoming completely soaked again.

This time, Shen Lan spent a longer time feeling around at the bottom of the river, and having been alerted by Shen Lan, the others no longer sat idly waiting to be fed, but began to walk towards the river on their own initiative.

They didn't have Shen Lan's ease, and even those with good swimming skills normally didn't dare to venture into the deep areas in this state of severe physical exhaustion and lack of oxygen. Otherwise, not only would they fail to help, but they would also trouble others to come and rescue them, which wouldn't be good.

So they only wandered in the shallower areas near the shore, bending over and feeling along the river, and they actually managed to find some things that looked similar to river snails.

"They're quite big!" The bald man said with some excitement.

That river snail was even bigger than a fist. Those who were lucky and went into the water had three or four in their arms, while those who were unlucky spent a long time groping in the mud only to find an empty shell. Fortunately, with many people going into the water, the spoils they gathered could be shared, and everyone could still get two each, which was not a bad result.

Just as everyone dumped all the "river snails" in their arms onto the shore and sat down to catch their breath, Shen Lan, who had been submerged in the deep river area for a long time, finally emerged again. His agility in the water was even higher than on land. Holding a large pile of red and green things in his hands, he maintained his head above water just by kicking his feet, making his way to the shore.

The crowd simply couldn't understand how he did it.

But they didn't have the mind to think about it, because their attention was quickly drawn to another place--

Like them, as soon as Shen Lan got to the shore, he dumped everything he was holding in his arms onto the shore. Because the quantity was quite impressive, they rolled all over the ground.

However...

Xia Chuan's gaze shifted from Shen Lan's feet back to what was in front of him, staring at one of the things that had rolled over, and his expressionless face collapsed even more--

The things Shen Lan brought back looked a bit... hard to describe.

It looked to be about the size of an egg, half red and half green, not like a complete and mature fruit, but more like a tuber plucked from some plant. That wasn't a big deal, it's just that this tuber-like thing was covered in bumps of all sizes, with no smooth areas.

Xia Chuan only glanced at it before turning his face away: "..."

Shen Lan didn't see his expression, because as soon as he got these "tubers" ashore, he jumped back into the river with a splash. So Xia Chuan, who had been calmly staying in the same spot, was once again drenched.

This time, Shen Lan didn't silently dive and stay under for a long time. Soon, there was a "splash" from the surface of the water, and an arm-length fish flew out from the deepest part in the middle of the river, landing on the shore. When it hit the ground, it trembled and opened its huge mouth, revealing teeth as sharp as a saw. If that huge mouth really bit down, it could directly tear off half a person's face.

Crowd: "..."

Just as everyone was stunned by the fish's mouth and didn't dare to move for a long time, Shen Lan threw out a few more fish one after another from the river. He darted through the water faster than the fish, and the location he threw from each time was different and quite far apart.

As for the shore... no one dared to stay within a one-meter radius of wherever the fish landed.

After finally throwing out another scary-looking big fish, Shen Lan finished and came ashore. As he walked, he said regretfully, "There are only a few fish."

Twenty minutes ago, apart from the people lying in all directions on the riverbank, there was only a mess of trampled wild grass. And now, there were a dozen "river snails", a pile of "tubers", and enough ferocious big fish for everyone present to eat two meals.

Even Xia Chuan was impressed in his heart-- it seemed that no matter where they were, no matter how bizarre and harsh the situation, Shen Lan could always find food before everyone starved to death, cheap and plentiful, with ample portions. Not to mention staving off hunger, this was completely enough for a full meal.

Well... except for Shen Lan himself.

With his appetite, even if he ate all of this, it would only be enough to line his stomach.

Although being underwater was more comfortable for Shen Lan than being on land, it didn't mean that all this activity didn't take effort. After all, he was already very tired before going into the water. So after coming ashore, he didn't rush to claim the food, but sat down next to Xia Chuan to rest for a bit.

Nowadays, he already completely treated Xia Chuan as one of his own. Switching to the mosasaurus mode, it meant that Xia Chuan had already been included as part of his territory. So he unscrupulously pointed his chin at Xia Chuan and said, "Let me rest for a bit."

For a moment, Xia Chuan didn't understand what this "let" referred to.

As a result, before he could react, Shen Lan had already unceremoniously pulled away Xia Chuan's hand resting on his knees, and very consciously moved Xia Chuan's legs, putting the two straight long legs together, and then lay down with his head tilted back.

Xia Chuan: "......"

Actually, Shen Lan's mentality was very simple - if you're tired, I'll lend you my legs to lie on; if I'm tired, of course I also need to borrow your legs to lie on.

Fair and reasonable, irrefutable.

If it were anyone else, Xia Chuan would have long slapped the person to Siberia, but facing Shen Lan, he couldn't bring himself to do it. To be precise, anyone with a bit of conscience couldn't do it.

For the first time in his life, Xia Chuan deeply understood the principle of "it's hard to refuse favors from those you've accepted favors from". Before coming to this world, he generally always played the role of that "person giving favors" in this saying. But now he had become the one accepting and taking favors. If he still remained stubborn and unyielding, then he would be no better than a beast.

However, this was indeed the first time in his twenty-plus years that he had contributed his legs in this way. He was truly a bit unaccustomed to it. So in order to alleviate this strange feeling, he unprecedentedly took the initiative to strike up a conversation with Shen Lan: "Aren't you a sea... ahem, don't you live in the sea? How come you're so familiar with things in the freshwater area?"

He almost habitually said "aren't you a sea fish", the word "sea" was already out of his mouth, but he forcibly twisted off the second half of the sentence.

Lying on his legs with eyes closed to rest, Shen Lan righteously answered: "Sometimes when I get tired of things in the sea, I'll go ashore for a stroll and find some things I haven't eaten before to try. After a long time, I naturally know."

Xia Chuan: "......"

This reason was so simple and crude that one didn't know how to respond, but it was indeed something Shen Lan could do.

"What are those things you dug up?" Xia Chuan didn't really want to take a second look at that "tuber", and at this time, looking at Shen Lan from this angle was a bit strange. So he could only let his gaze fall on the river surface, his face still indifferent, without much expression.

As soon as Shen Lan heard it, he wanted to turn over and take a look at that "tuber" to explain it to Xia Chuan.

As a result, the bone on the side of Xia Chuan's cheek, who was looking straight ahead, suddenly moved a couple times, seeming to clench his teeth without any change in expression. His face became even more taut.

Two seconds later, Xia Chuan finally lowered his eyes expressionlessly, unable to bear it anymore, and said to Shen Lan: "If you want to lie down, just lie down properly. What are you moving around for?!"

Shen Lan's short brown-black hair looked like it would feel good against one's hand, but it was actually a bit hard. As he moved, it poked at Xia Chuan's legs through his trousers. It wasn't painful or itchy, it simply felt like ants crawling all over his legs...

When Xia Chuan said that, Shen Lan had already lifted his head up a bit, just about to conveniently hook a "tuber" over from the ground. As a result, being scolded by Xia Chuan like this, he silently retracted his hand and very cooperatively "lay back down properly". The bristly hair poked Xia Chuan again.

Xia Chuan: "......"

Sometimes he really couldn't tell if the Heavens arranged such a bizarre encounter and journey together to let Shen Lan repay him, or to let him repay Shen Lan...

Fortunately, Shen Lan was not like other people who might sleep for a day and a night without recovering their energy. When he said "a bit", it really was just a very short period of time. So very quickly, he had rested enough and lifted his head from Xia Chuan's legs, sitting upright again.

As a result, when the two of them looked up, they discovered that the surrounding people had squatted and sat in a circle around the big fish and tubers, but none of them made a move. And the people's gazes did not fall on the ready-to-eat food surrounded in the center, but stared unblinkingly at the two of them.

The corner of Shen Lan's mouth twitched. He nudged Xia Chuan with his elbow and scratched his cheek, falling into idiocy again: "...These greedy eyes? Is the fish not enough to eat, so they want to take us as an additional meal?"

Xia Chuan: "..." Who would dare to take you as an additional meal?