The two of them climbed to the bottom of the cave and saw the rope hanging over the lake.
The rope appeared extremely thin in the vast lake, barely able to support the weight of two people. Wu Tianzhen, gathering his courage, climbed up first.
As soon as he reached the top, he felt his body lurch. The rope, pulled by his weight, curved into an arc. He dangled precariously, his heart pounding as he realized the moonworms below were gathering, illuminating his backside.
"Holy crap!"
In his terror, he used all four limbs, unleashing his body's potential. He scrambled up the rope with incredible speed. Fatty, leaning from the edge of the cave, whistled at him from afar.
"You damn fatty, still whistling," Wu Tianzhen yelled angrily. "Let's see if you can keep your composure when you come down!"
"Fatty here isn't as lively as you. Hey, I'm just steady!"
"I'll go to your—"
"Holy hell!!!!"
Suddenly, Fatty let out a howl. Before Wu Tianzhen could react, he felt the rope beneath him swing violently, almost throwing him off.
With a bead of sweat on his forehead, he managed to grip the rope tightly. But then, what happened?
Hey! Fatty had jumped onto the rope too!
As soon as Fatty landed, the rope sank significantly. Wu Tianzhen could even hear the terrifying creaking sound of the rope about to snap.
"What the hell, you damn fatty!" he shouted in despair, frantically accelerating his climb.
"There's something on the cave ceiling!" Fatty also sounded panicked. Hanging on the thin rope, he was like a yo-yo, swinging left and right. His movements were comical, but he wasn't slow, quickly catching up to Wu Tianzhen.
"Fatty here just wanted to look at the scenery outside. As soon as I looked up, a huge face, holy crap, came down, and it was a woman!"
"It's a miracle I didn't wet myself right then. Damn it, why are they arranging wives for us here? Maybe your wife will come looking for you later!"
"Who the hell is my wife?" Wu Tianzhen only heard the increasingly rapid sound of the rope fibers snapping. "Stop your damn babbling and climb faster!"
"Crack!"
"What the hell!" x2
With two splashes, two large plumes of water erupted from the lake!
As Wu Tianzhen surfaced, Fatty descended like a depth charge. The impact was earth-shattering, splashing the moonworms all over Wu Tianzhen's face and body.
Confused by the sudden explosion, the moonworms, having just landed, discovered the麒麟 (Kirin) blood on the two individuals. Terrified and disoriented, they fled in a panic.
Though they ran, their venom had already contaminated the two men. Before the unlucky duo could react, their lips turned purple, and they could only utter muffled sounds. They were on the verge of drowning, if not dying from poison.
Zhang Qiling, watching their performance from the shore: ...
Isn't this a bit too much?
When Wu Tianzhen dazedly opened his eyes, Fatty was by his side, tending a fire to dry their wet clothes.
Seeing him awake, Fatty grinned and asked Wu Tianzhen if he wanted some of the freshly heated canned food.
Wu Tianzhen looked around, unable to find Zhang Qiling, and became anxious.
"Where's Xiao Ge? Where did Xiao Ge go?"
Fatty gestured for him to be quiet and pointed to a corner.
There, Zhang Qiling was leaning against the wall, covered with several dry clothes that Fatty had warmed, resting.
"Hey, I didn't expect Xiao Ge's divine blood to be useful both externally and internally."
"Didn't we two get poisoned and were about to kick the bucket just now?"
"Then Xiao Ge brought us up and fed each of us a mouthful of blood. Wow, I immediately felt better."
"It's just that your body is weak, and you still lay there for a while."
Wu Tianzhen struggled to sit up and smacked his lips. Indeed, there was a metallic, rusty taste.
"Then Xiao Ge..."
"He lost blood, he's sleeping."
Fatty dried another piece of clothing and quietly draped it over Zhang Qiling.
Wu Tianzhen felt uneasy, but seeing this scene, he still felt something was off.
...Isn't Xiao Ge supposed to be immune to the cold?
Even with blood loss, isn't this pile of clothes a bit too much?
—
Zhang Qiling rested for a while. For him, such an injury was negligible after a night's sleep.
The blood loss made him feel a bit cold, but soon a warmth enveloped him.
He was quite comfortable at this point, but things soon turned strange.
It became hotter and hotter around him, so hot that he felt as if he were in a steam bath.
Under this torment, he opened his eyes and saw Fatty, with a look of affection on his face, adding more clothes to the already mountainous pile on him.
Zhang Qiling: ...
He silently removed a few pieces of clothing.
Fatty, noticing he was awake, beamed and insisted that he try his favorite canned chicken butts.
Zhang Qiling pondered why such a canned food existed. He then carefully looked at the chicken butts protruding from the can, feeling a chill of horror.
Fortunately, Wu Tianzhen rushed over and snatched the can away. Otherwise, he would have been unable to resist getting up.
Fatty and Wu Tianzhen started fighting again over the canned chicken butts. Zhang Qiling sighed at their peculiar tastes and suddenly noticed an update on his system panel.
[Detected Host's selflessness, conforming to Xiao Ge's character image, role-playing degree +3]
[Current role-playing degree 38%]
[Unlocked partial memories of Xiao Ge]
A stream of information instantly flooded his mind, bringing a sharp pain.
Zhang Qiling closed his eyes, leaned back against the wall, and slowly sorted through this new information.
This portion of memories was like an encyclopedia of magical creatures, encompassing all sorts of demons and monsters. As he browsed through the knowledge points, he found it quite interesting.
After sorting, Wu Tianzhen and Fatty had inexplicably stopped fighting. They stood in a circle around him, looking as if they had something to say but were hesitant.
Zhang Qiling slowly raised an eyebrow.
Wu Tianzhen and the others didn't know how to express themselves. They had stopped fighting midway when they suddenly saw Zhang Qiling in the corner fall into a dazed state again, his mind wandering as if searching for something.
Fatty was seeing this for the first time, but Wu Tianzhen had witnessed it once before at the entrance of the ice cave, and his heart sank.
After a moment of silence, Fatty broke the quiet, laughing heartily and announcing that they would now distribute the canned food. Xiao Ge, who performed the best, could have two cans at once!
This interruption drew Zhang Qiling's attention. He was genuinely curious about the strange flavors Fatty had brought.
Only Wu Tianzhen, with his mind preoccupied, ate without enthusiasm.