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.