The monster, upon my signal, whisked Miss Scream away with such speed that Shunfeng had no time to react.
By the time he thought of rescuing her, both the person and the monster were long gone.
"Shunfeng, trust Little Fu, Miss Cheng will be alright." Chen Qinghan's trust in me left me puzzled.
If he's not an idiot, then there's definitely a reason I don't know about that makes him almost 'blindly' trust me.
"Little Fu can communicate with animals. Is this... some special ability?" Wen Jing looked at me with wide eyes.
"The Beast Taming Spirit Communication Technique has existed since ancient times. Rather than calling it a supernatural power, it's more like a skill," Chen Qinghan seemed determined to distort the facts for a century on my behalf.
In fact, I know no such Beast Taming skill; ever since I awoke from the coffin, I've been able to communicate with the creatures of the tomb.
Chen Qinghan, truly a man of great learning, has a knack for turning black into white that impresses me.
Wen Jing and Shunfeng also placed blind trust in Chen Qinghan; as long as he explained, they believed.
Though this team's overall level isn't great, it excels in mutual trust; live together or die together.
"So Miss Cheng will be alright?" Shunfeng asked, being Miss Scream's admirer, he was naturally a bit more worried about her than us.
"No..." I hadn't finished speaking when the lake surface splashed, and the Water Monster emerged, waving a tentacle at us.
No Miss Scream was on the Water Monster's tentacle, nor did her body float on the lake, indicating she was delivered to the destination.
"Little Fu." Chen Qinghan called my name, signaling that he was ready.
Wen Jing and Shunfeng took a deep breath and nodded to me.
I signaled the Water Monster, and it immediately rolled us up and plunged into the lake.
The Water Monster moved through the water as swiftly as a small fish fleeing for its life, which increased the water's pressure, likely making it hard for Chen Qinghan and the others.
Sure enough, when the Water Monster tossed us ashore, Chen Qinghan sat up after a moment, while the other two took longer to recover.
Miss Scream, who arrived ahead of us, was in worse shape, falling into a coma. Shunfeng struggled up to give her first aid.
I envied them for feeling weak and uncomfortable; the most frightening thing about 'being alive' is losing sensation.
No pain, no feeling — like a walking dead.
"Miss Cheng, wake up, hold on~" Shunfeng crawled to Miss Scream's side and began CPR with perfect technique.
But after just a few compressions, we heard a loud bang, startling all of us.
How could Miss Scream, simply unconscious, explode? She did have water in her belly, but Shunfeng was pressing her heart.
"Puh... Ah—" Miss Scream spit out a mouthful of water, followed by a scream.
Shunfeng was more terrified than us; his expression almost scared him to wet himself, as he raised his hands in a surrender pose, fearfully watching Miss Scream's rapidly deflating chest.
Though Miss Scream was thin as a rail, her contours had been fine before; now, she was completely flat.
"You you you..." Wen Jing was so shocked he couldn't form a full sentence, finally speaking after a while:
"Did you press too hard and collapse her ribcage?"
"I I I... I didn't press that hard~"
"She's not dead." I wasn't sure if this would comfort them, just hoping it was better than nothing.
"Who…who…bursted my inflatable...bra..."
Miss Scream's plaintive soul questioned, and Shunfeng rolled aside to play dead faster than lightning.
"What was that sound just now? What happened?" Wen Jing pretended to faint on the ground, feigning blindness.
It seemed Miss Scream only murmured in her sleep, driven by instinct, not having fully woken up.
Chen Qinghan sighed with relief, looking around the surroundings, he found several empty can boxes under a big rock.
Boss Lu's team had been here; perhaps they 'stole' the Water Monster's salted meat.
The Water Monster told me it's not too picky; it'll eat salted meat of almost any kind. The first thing stolen was a large snake's meat.
I relayed this to Chen Qinghan; Boss Lu and his team had plenty of food, so why steal such excessively salty snake meat?
With the Water Monster's taste, if you put it in the sea, the seawater would eventually turn to fresh water.
"Qinghan... thank you... why is your hand so cold?"
As Chen Qinghan and I were speaking, Miss Scream suddenly called his name and thanked him.
We looked towards where she lay, and at some point, a snake as thick as an arm slithered over and slid under her shoulder, propping her up.
The snake's body half-coiled around her shoulder, making it seem like someone had their arm around her.
Luckily, Miss Scream had her eyes closed, so she didn't witness this terrifying scene.
Chen Qinghan slowly drew out his dagger, but I held his arm and shook my head.
However, Shunfeng and Wen Jing, hearing Miss Scream's voice, opened their eyes and happened to see her lifted by the snake.
But their first reaction was to look at me; perhaps because of the Water Monster, they deeply believed in my 'Beast Taming Technique', so seeing an animal naturally led them to think of me.
I gestured for silence, and the snake found a bead beneath Miss Scream, put it in its mouth, then gently put her down and slowly slithered away.
"Shun, Shunfeng, after the founding of the country, animals aren't allowed to become spirits, right?" Wen Jing asked, beginning to doubt life.
"Right, but this snake could be a leftover from the previous dynasty," Shunfeng's voice was somewhat unsteady.
"What snake?" Miss Scream opened her eyes, puzzled, thinking the one who helped her was Chen Qinghan, but upon opening her eyes, saw Chen Qinghan standing several meters away.
Noticing the change on her chest, she patted it; the once towering peaks were now flat as a board, and her murderous glare swept over.
"You fell on a rock, face-first." Seeing as the gentlemen were hesitant to speak, I quickly made up a story.
"Hmph... what lousy quality, I'll give it a bad review when we get back!" Miss Scream muttered under her breath, which we selectively ignored, as Wen Jing continued to ask about the snake.
"They guard the treasures here, and that bead is one of them, stolen from the treasure vault and brought out."
"It must be Boss Lu and his team; they've found the treasure!" Wen Jing said with a slight thrill.
"What are we waiting for? Let's go quickly, maybe we can pick up some scraps," Shunfeng bounced up from the ground.
"Really? Why are you so excited, you're a rich second generation, not exactly short on money."
"You don't get it; obtaining the treasure is a proof of my prowess. I've always regarded money as dirt and only aimed to become the pinnacle man of the mountain-moving world."
"Heh, middle school boy."
"Puh, this is called having aspirations, young man~"
"The treasury is guarded by snakes, can you handle them?" Chen Qinghan ignored the bickering duo, turning to ask me.