Before I went into the water to rescue Qu Ruilin, I knew that I wouldn't be able to drag him to shore with my own strength. So after I tied the rope to Qu Ruilin, I placed all my hopes on the people on the shore.

Faced with the attack of the water monkeys, I was too preoccupied to care about Qu Ruilin. Feeling the ropes binding me tighten, I pulled out the military dagger from my belt and started stabbing around randomly, relying on instinct.

A few seconds later, I was pulled out of the water by the rope. I quickly seized the opportunity to breathe. Just as I was about to turn my head to check on Qu Ruilin, a water monkey jumped onto my back, grabbed my neck with its claws, and pushed me back into the water.

I felt the pressure on my back and struggled to twist my body in the water, trying to shake the water monkey off. But the thing was much more agile in the water than I had imagined. Without any foothold, it actually dragged me underwater.

"Pfft!"

"Pfft!"

I grabbed the water monkey's fur underwater and, by instinct, stabbed it twice. Immediately afterward, another water monkey grabbed my arm holding the knife, and then a sharp pain shot through my bones.

"Splash!"

Immediately afterwards, I was pulled out of the water again. Jiang Man saw that there were several water monkeys hanging on me, and her voice changed with anxiety: "They are about to be surrounded by water monkeys! Everyone, put in more effort and pull them up quickly!"

"Damn it! That water monkey tried to bite the rope. These guys are smarter than we thought!"

Lin Que saw a water monkey reach out and grab the rope attached to me, and stomped his feet and shouted, "Big brother, get that water monkey down! If this rope breaks, we're all doomed!"

I was already struggling to keep up with the few water monkeys I was entangled with, but when I heard Lin Que's shout, I still raised my fist and smashed it hard at the water monkey that was biting my arm.

I was exhausted when I finally managed to swim to Qu Ruilin and put the rope around him. It was a complete pipe dream to try and swim him back to shore.

So the rope connecting me to my body was my only hope. If the rope broke, even without these water monkeys, the raging water alone would be enough to kill us.

"Bang! Bang!"

I swung my fist and pounded it on the water monkey that was biting my arm, but its head was as hard as a rock. My two punches not only didn't make it let go, but they also made my arm hurt even more.

Faced with this critical situation, I could no longer care about the attacks from the water monkeys around me. Instead, I endured the pain and pulled on the rope to move towards the water monkey that was biting the rope.

Although the water monkeys that attacked us had an amazing bite force, their teeth were crooked and uneven, and the high-strength polyethylene rope we were using was particularly thin, so the creatures couldn't bite through it even after two attempts.

As I pulled the rope closer to the water monkey, I was about to stab it in the stomach with the knife in my hand when the water monkey bit the rope in half, and my body was swept away by the water.

"Xiao Duan, grab this!"

When Song Laosan saw me being swept away by the water, he ran a few steps along the bank, grabbed a stone with a spare rope tied to it, and hurled it at me.

I caught a glimpse of where the rock had landed, stabbed the water monkey that had bitten me in the stomach, and as it loosened its grip, swam back upstream for a while, wrapping the rope around my wrist.

While I was struggling in the water, a large group of water monkeys rushed over from behind, but I was still four or five meters away from the shore, and it looked like I was going to miss my chance.

"Get out of the way!"

Just when I thought I was doomed, a roar suddenly came from behind Song Laosan and the others. Then a figure rushed to the riverbank, opened a package in his hand, and threw it into the river.

As a large cloud of white powder fell into the river, the swarms of water monkeys instantly boiled over, like water being poured into a frying pan, and scattered in all directions.

"Pull him up, quick!"

Seeing that the water monkeys had retreated, Song Laosan draped the rope over his shoulder, turned around, and ran wildly towards the shore.

With everyone's combined efforts, Qu Ruilin and I were finally dragged to the shore. The person who had thrown the things into the water also grabbed my hand and pulled me up.

I noticed that the man's rat-patterned clothes were clean, with only some mud on them. Suddenly realizing he wasn't one of our teammates, I grabbed his wrist: "Manjing, grab him!"

"Bang!"

Upon hearing my words, Manjing reacted instinctively, tripping the man and knocking him to the ground, pressing his knee down on his back.

After being knocked down, the man lay on the ground groaning, "Ouch! Ouch! Young Master Duan, it's me!"

I heard the familiar voice, paused for a moment, then reached out and removed his gas mask. After seeing the familiar face underneath, I froze for about three seconds before I could speak: "Monkey? What are you doing here, you bastard?"

"My lord!"

After seeing the monkey, Lin Que rubbed his eyes and said, "We've been searching for you in the mountains for days. How did you end up in the mountains?"

The monkey broke free from Manjing's arms and waved to us, saying, "This is not the place to talk. Those hairy monsters in the water are very aggressive, and they are amphibians. They are also aggressive on the shore. Once they rush up, we will all be in trouble. Let's run inside first. I know the way here. Follow me!"

Five minutes later, the monkey led us into a small cave, about a few square meters in size, and lit a campfire inside with a lighter: "That's enough. Those hairy monsters in the water can't get too far. We'll be safe hiding in this cave!"

I glanced at Song Laosan and Wei Shengnan, who were giving Qu Ruilin first aid, and then at the campfire that had clearly been lit in the cave. I asked the monkey, "It seems you didn't just arrive in this cave. Who did you come with? And why are you all alone here?"

Upon hearing this, Jiang Man also turned her gaze to the monkey: "By the way, were the people who kidnapped you from Ping'an Village?"

The monkey was astonished: "Huh? How did you know?"

Judging from the monkey's expression, I knew our previous guess was correct; he really had been captured by the people of Ping'an Village: "Who did you come to this tomb with? Where did the people of Ping'an Village go?"

"Don't even mention it! Those bastards! After they captured me, they treated me like a pangolin, making me work myself to the bone every day. And when we finally managed to dig through the tunnel, they actually tried to kill me to silence me!"

The monkey spat, "Damn it, luckily I, the Marquis, am alive, otherwise you probably would have only found my bones here!"