Chapter 48 The Giant Crab Arrives at the Seaside
During the journey, Cheng Zhiyu discovered Xiao Juan's ingenious use. At first, Xiao Juan was bored, so she stretched out a vine and swayed outside.
Cheng Zhiyu felt this action was dangerous: "If there are obstacles in front of you, it could easily cause you to get injured."
Xiao Juan: Injured?
Just then, a large rock appeared ahead, blocking the road. Zhou Min, who was driving, was about to stop so that everyone could get out and clear the obstacle.
Suddenly, countless vines sprouted from the small curl, one of which was wrapped around a large rock. The rock was thrown far away, leaving perfect parabolic arcs in the air.
Zhou Min's eyes widened: "Good heavens, we don't need to get off the bus."
Tian Qiao: "Brother Juan, you're awesome."
He can call anyone he thinks is impressive "brother" without any hesitation.
Little Curly was very proud of herself. A short vine reached up to Cheng Zhiyu and swayed back and forth, as if to say: Look how powerful I am.
Cheng Zhiyu found it amusing and was about to speak when Xiao Hei opened its half-round eyes and slapped Xiao Juan with its paw.
Not to be outdone, Little Curly suddenly sprouted poisonous thorns from its vines, swaying arrogantly as if to say: Come on, come on, do you think I'm afraid of you?
As a result, Xiao Hei was completely unfazed and still slapped down with its paw, slamming Xiao Juan directly onto the seat.
Cheng Zhiyu frowned and quickly grabbed Xiao Hei's paw, asking with concern, "Are you alright? Xiao Juan's thorns are very poisonous, did they prick you?"
Upon closer inspection, Xiao Hei's claws were completely intact, with smooth and soft paw pads, showing no signs of injury whatsoever.
The little curls, on the other hand, looked listless, their thorns all bent out of shape from being slapped.
Seeing that Cheng Zhiyu cared about him, Xiao Hei wagged its tail happily and looked at Xiao Juan with eyes that seemed to say: Stupid thing.
Cheng Zhiyu coughed lightly, glared at Xiao Hei, and then asked Xiao Juan with concern, "Are you alright?"
As expected of a high-energy plant, Little Curly quickly raised its vines again, shook them vigorously, and tried to prove that it was alright.
However, it was clearly already somewhat afraid of Xiao Hei, after all, it had never seen a creature that wasn't afraid of its thorns. Xiao Juan had now listed Xiao Hei as the most dangerous creature, bar none.
It didn't dare to approach Little Black anymore, keeping a distance, and stretched out another vine.
Cheng Zhiyu, like a concerned father worrying about his child, said, "This is very dangerous. What if we encounter zombies..."
Before he could finish speaking, they actually encountered a zombie. The zombie tried to attack the car, but Xiao Juan simply wrapped it up and strangled its head. Just as she was about to hit the head, Cheng Zhiyu's brow twitched: "Don't throw it."
He could tell that this zombie was a level one zombie, with a crystal core inside its head, and that the zombie could survive with just its head.
Tian Qiao and the others were dumbfounded: "Wow, Xiao Juan is amazing! But don't throw away your head, there's something good inside."
Little Curly paused, not quite understanding why humans would like this thing, but it was still very understanding and curled up its head to throw it to Cheng Zhiyu.
Cheng Zhiyu: "...No."
He quickly summoned Xiao Tie, who transformed into a kitchen knife and chopped off Xiao Juan's curled head. Then, a stream of water entered the zombie's head, extracted the crystal core, washed it clean, and handed it to Cheng Zhiyu.
Seeing that the rest were useless, Xiao Juan tossed them away like a ball.
After throwing it away, it went back to the car, wanting to get close to Cheng Zhiyu and show off its accomplishment, since there were still zombie brains hanging on its vines.
Cheng Zhiyu quickly had Xiao Hei wash Xiao Juan clean before he breathed a sigh of relief.
Tian Qiao and the others were incredibly excited by Xiao Juan's series of actions. If Zhou Min hadn't been driving, they would have wanted to squeeze into the back seat to take a closer look.
Even so, he didn't stop talking, exclaiming, "Wow, Brother Juan is amazing! We were just sitting in the car doing nothing, and Brother Juan went straight for the zombie's crystal core! Is there anything more awesome than that? Nothing!"
Tian Qiao sighed, "Back then, killing a level one zombie took a lot of effort, but now Brother Juan takes care of it with ease. Sigh, if only Brother Juan had appeared back then."
Tian Manman joined in the fun, awkwardly giving a thumbs up: "Awesome."
Little Black flicked its tail: It seems that's how these people used to praise him.
Tsk.
The little curl seemed to understand their praise, and it was overjoyed. The vines swayed back and forth, wrapping around each person who praised it.
Cheng Zhiyu found it amusing: "However, Xiao Juan is indeed quite good at defense."
At least they don't have to bother dealing with zombies below level two. Although they can easily deal with level one zombies now, it still takes up time.
Cheng Zhiyu thought for a moment and asked Xiao Juan, "Xiao Juan, can you wrap the car with vines?"
Xiao Juan seemed to think for a moment, and then several vines climbed up the outer wall of the car. Cheng Zhiyu raised an eyebrow and asked, "Won't this cause a problem?"
Xiao Juan shook one of the vines that had reached in; it seemed to be blooming happily and looked fine.
With Xiao Juan, even if there are zombies outside, ordinary and level one zombies can be easily dealt with, and for the more powerful zombies, Xiao Juan's kick will alert them, and they will be able to react quickly.
Cheng Zhiyu took the zombie crystal cores that Xiao Juan had dealt with and distributed them to them according to their respective superpower attributes. Tian Qiao grinned from ear to ear: "Oh dear, I guess I'm getting a good deal from Brother Juan."
Cheng Zhiyu: "If there's nothing else, just absorb the crystal core."
Tian Qiao and Tian Manman are both on the verge of leveling up to level three, and they are about to break through.
Unfortunately, Zhou Min's special ability is so unique that no crystal core can be found that he can use. He can only level up by consuming his special ability.
Zhou Min didn't care. His special ability was more like a nanny role, and improving his combat power was more important.
He looked at the azure coastline ahead, his voice becoming more cheerful: "We've arrived at the beach."
The car stopped by the sea, and everyone couldn't wait to get out. Cheng Zhiyu bent down, picked up some sand from his feet, and smiled. A sea breeze blew by, and everyone felt more relaxed.
"Wuhu~, the sea, here I come!" Tian Qiao immediately let loose, took off her shoes and stepped on the sand, running into the sea like a big dog having a blast.
Cheng Zhiyu watched, reminding him, "Be careful."
Tian Qiao: "I know, I know."
Then he called to Tian Manman and Zhou Min, "How about we build a castle?"
Zhou Min: "Great! I majored in architecture as an undergraduate, so you'll all be under my command!"
Tian Manman: "What is a castle?"
Tian Qiao: "You'll see once it's all set up. Orange, wanna come along?"
Cheng Zhiyu wasn't interested. He found a recliner somewhere and lay down comfortably on it. The little black head nestled in his arms, eyes half-closed, as he stroked the dog's head, looking as relaxed as could be.
Such beautiful scenery deserves to be enjoyed quietly.
He closed his eyes, and just as he was about to fall asleep, he heard Tian Qiao's loud voice from not far away: "Aren't you studying architecture? How come it collapsed after you only built half of it?"
Zhou Min retorted, "It has nothing to do with me. I already told you to lay the foundation properly, but you just slopped it off. If it collapses, it's your fault."
"I did as you said, okay?" Tian Qiao retorted, unconvinced.
"Bullshit, don't think I didn't see you cutting corners!" Zhou Min resolutely refused to admit that it was his fault.
The two parted on bad terms, and their superficial friendship was temporarily shattered.
Tian Manman: "?"
The castle was no longer worth building; it was pointless. Since they were at the beach, they naturally had to catch some seafood. They asked Cheng Zhiyu for fishing gear and prepared to catch some seafood.
Cheng Zhiyu offered to help, but Tian Qiao told him to rest: "We'll need you to cook later, so leave these to us."
Zhou Min nodded, swallowing hard: "I want to catch king crabs!"
They couldn't catch king crabs at the beach, but luckily they found a fishing boat that they could take out to sea.
Seeing this, Cheng Zhiyu stopped lounging on the deck chair and insisted on boarding the ship. Since he was going, Xiao Hei naturally wanted to go with him.
Fortunately, the fishing boat was powerful enough that it could be driven after they all got on board.
They put bait in their fishing gear, threw it into the sea, and hoped that fish would fall into their net.
However, after waiting for a long time, there was still no response from the website.
Cheng Zhiyu stroked his chin: "Shall we try herding the fish over here?"
Tian Qiao asked, "How are we going to get there in time?"
Cheng Zhiyu called Xiao Hei over and explained the situation. Xiao Hei looked at the sea and saw the water churning not far away. The fish in the sea seemed to sense the danger and swam towards the boat. Soon, one of the fish hanging on the side of the boat began to sway.
"We've got a fish! Quick, scoop it up and see what it is!" Zhou Min rubbed his hands excitedly.
Tian Manman pulled hard, and several lively fish immediately appeared on the boat. Tian Qiao came over to look and pointed to one of the ugly fish, saying, "I recognize this one, it's a grouper, it's delicious."
"Huh? What's this?" Zhou Min picked up one of the fish, and saw it quickly inflate in his hand, becoming round and cute.
"Pufferfish? It's kind of cute." Cheng Zhiyu took it and looked at it curiously. After all, it was his first time seeing one. He had only seen them in videos before and found them very interesting.
Xiao Hei's comment: "Where is the cuteness? It's just like a ball."
Cheng Zhiyu laughed: "It's precisely because they're round and chubby that they're cute."
Upon hearing this, Xiao Hei lowered his head, glanced at his well-proportioned body, and fell into doubt, seemingly lost in thought.
"Have you had enough? It's my turn, my turn." Tian Qiao was already eagerly reaching out, just like a child fighting over a toy.
Cheng Zhiyu gave him the pufferfish.
Pufferfish: Feed me peanuts!
Tian Manman touched it curiously, then quickly withdrew his hand, more concerned about something else: "Is this tasty?"
Tian Qiao thought for a moment: "Pufferfish seems edible, but it's poisonous, right? Orange, do you know how to cook it?"
Cheng Zhiyu said, "You overestimate me. I'll make you a pot of poison later."
Tian Qiao grinned: "Then forget it."
Upon hearing that the fish couldn't be eaten, Tian Manman instantly lost interest. In his view, what use could something that couldn't be eaten be? So he went to study the remaining fish.
After Tian Qiao had had his fill of playing, he released the pufferfish back into the wild, since it's not something you can eat anyway.
They had set two fishing nets in total. Just then, the other net started shaking violently. Zhou Min quickly ran over and said, "Manman, come quick! There must be a big fish in the net."
Tian Manman is strong and can scoop up the fishing net in the fastest time. Hearing that there were delicious fish in the net, he quickly came over and pulled the net up.
However, when the net was pulled up, everyone was dumbfounded; there was nothing inside.
Zhou Min: "That's impossible. I clearly saw the net shaking violently just now."
“There’s a big hole here.” Cheng Zhiyu pointed to a section of the net. The hole looked very large, as if it had been bitten through by something. He was certain that the net was intact just now.
"Look! What a huge crab!" Tian Qiao suddenly exclaimed. Following his pointing finger, Cheng Zhiyu and the others looked over and got goosebumps. The crab was just too big.
It's about half the size of a person; even a king crab isn't that big.
It must have been the one that was just caught in the net, but logically it should have run away instantly. However, it didn't run away; instead, it wandered around the side of the boat.
Zhou Min: "What is it going to do?"
Tian Qiao said blankly, "Is it planning to retaliate against us?"
No sooner had he finished speaking than a sharp piece of metal suddenly hurtled toward their boat. Cheng Zhiyu immediately called out to Xiao Tie, who blocked the metal.
This giant crab turned out to be a strange beast, and it was planning to attack their ship. If the ship started to leak, they would all be doomed.
Seeing that its first attack failed, the giant crab hurled more metal at the ship. Zhou Min quickly steered the ship to dodge the metal shards. Tian Manman used her broadsword to scatter the metal shards, and Tian Qiao conjured an ice blade to attack the giant crab.
However, the crab's shell was exceptionally hard, and the ice blade couldn't break through it at all.
With a single slash of the small iron cleaver, the crab's leg was severed, as the shell on its leg was not as hard as that on its body.
"Crab legs!" Zhou Min exclaimed.
Cheng Zhiyu: "..." What time is it?
He called out to Xiao Juan, who immediately wrapped her legs around the big crab and tried to wrap her legs around the crab again, but Cheng Zhiyu quickly stopped her: "No!"
However, it was too late; the little curl had a vine snapped in two by the crab's pincers.
Cheng Zhiyu quickly checked on it, frowning as he asked, "How are you? Are you alright?"
Xiao Juan is fine, just a little listless.
Cheng Zhiyu tried to send it back into its space, but it refused and stubbornly refused to leave. The vines were restless and tried to ambush the big crab.
Helpless, Cheng Zhiyu could only say with concern, "Be careful."
Little Curly didn't seem to take it to heart, but she shook the vines to indicate that she understood.
"Oh my god, look! The crab's leg has grown back!" Zhou Min, with his sharp eyes, noticed it immediately. The newly grown leg looked a little lighter in color than the other legs, and its shell hadn't hardened yet.
"Could it also cure?" Tian Qiao was shocked.
Zhou Min shook his head: "It shouldn't be. It feels different from what I'm used to. It might be... regeneration? I don't even dare to think about it. If I had a crab with one leg that could regenerate infinitely, how happy I would be."
The group instantly understood what he meant: Are you a devil?
However, when they glanced at the crab leg that Little Curly had rolled back—which was almost as thick as an arm—it was really hard not to be tempted.
Enraged by losing a leg, the giant crab attacked even more fiercely, causing the seawater to surge and their boat to rock violently.
Tian Qiao steadied himself against the side of the boat: "Damn, I'm dizzy."
Cheng Zhiyu frowned and fired a few bullets with the machine gun. One of the bullets hit a large crab, piercing its shell, but the hole quickly healed.
"How are we supposed to fight this? This guy can regenerate health infinitely?" Zhou Min was dumbfounded.
Cheng Zhiyu shook his head: "Impossible, it's obviously slower this time than last time."
Although it can restore health, it's not that overpowered.
Even so, they are not easy to deal with.
Cheng Zhiyu estimated that this giant crab was level three, and because it was dual-elemental, its strength was already close to level four.
"Let me try out my new ability." After chopping the giant crab a few times, Xiao Hei stood up and his eyes finally became a little serious.
"A new superpower?" Cheng Zhiyu looked at Xiao Hei.
Xiao Hei felt the gaze on him and nodded reservedly. He looked at the big crab and narrowed his eyes slightly.
Little Black flicked its tail uncomfortably and asked, "Are there any powerful creatures in the sea?"
Cheng Zhiyu thought for a moment: "Uh... Great White Shark?"
Xiao Hei didn't know what a great white shark looked like, so he asked Cheng Zhiyu to describe it to him.
Cheng Zhiyu had seen it on TV and described the features he knew.
Seeing that Xiao Hei had closed its eyes, he didn't dare to disturb it. He simply joined Tian Qiao and the others in blocking the giant crab's attacks and also trying to deplete the giant crab's energy.
Just then, Cheng Zhiyu and the others saw a huge black shadow appear on the seabed, much larger than the giant crab. The shadow was silent, and the giant crab was completely unaware of the approaching danger.
The shadowy figure alone was extremely oppressive. Even knowing that the other party's arrival was related to Xiao Hei, Cheng Zhiyu and the others couldn't help but feel a sense of pressure.
The giant crab finally sensed the danger, and that it was beyond its capabilities. It wanted to retreat and run away, but how could the dark shadow let it escape? A great white shark surfaced, opened its mouth wide, and a set of sharp, triangular teeth gleamed coldly in the sunlight. Without hesitation, it bit into the giant crab, and the group could clearly hear the painful sound of the crab shell being crushed.
The giant crab was badly injured and couldn't recover for a while. As if receiving a command, the great white shark carefully carried the giant crab to their boat.
When Tian Qiao saw the great white shark whose head was almost touching his, he swallowed hard and refrained from attacking.
A great white shark presented a large crab, flicked its tail, and instantly disappeared into the distance.
Xiao Hei explained, "I can currently only control this creature for a maximum of five minutes."
Within five minutes, the great white sharks must be kept away from them, otherwise they will attack if they see them.
Cheng Zhiyu patted Xiao Hei to let him rest. The big crab was now seriously injured, and they easily dealt with it.
"I can't even imagine how delicious this crab will be," Zhou Min said, swallowing hard as he cut up the large crab.
"Then you're a coward, and I dare to dream about it." Tian Qiao wiped his mouth, chopping crab legs while chuckling foolishly.
Tian Manman heard that big crabs were delicious, so she chopped them with extra effort, a strange smile on her face that was quite unsettling to watch.
Cheng Zhiyu told them to get busy, then walked up to Xiao Hei and was about to ask how it was going when he heard Xiao Hei say, "Are the crabs delicious?"
Cheng Zhiyu was both amused and exasperated: "It's delicious."
"Then I want to eat." Xiao Hei took the opportunity to wrap its tail around Cheng Zhiyu.
He had wanted to do the same thing when he saw Little Curly do it before, but he was too small then and his tail was too short. Now he can finally do it like this.
Well... although Cheng Zhiyu can't hug him now, it's not without its advantages.
"Okay, I'll cook for you when we get ashore." Cheng Zhiyu let Xiao Hei act cute, and his heart softened as well.
"Are you tired?" He patted the little black head, feeling a little sorry for him.
Many times, it was because of Xiao Hei that they were able to escape danger.
Little Black lazily flicked its tail: "It's alright. Even if I don't make a move, that ugly thing can't beat you."
The price might be too high, and Cheng Zhiyu might also get hurt. He didn't want the other party to get hurt.
Even though the feeling of having his powers completely depleted was uncomfortable, he didn't think much of it; it was a common occurrence when his father forced him to train.
However, now someone feels sorry for him.
Xiao Hei's tail was rubbing restlessly back and forth. Cheng Zhiyu grabbed the big tail that was trying to crawl into his clothes: "Stop it, it's itchy."
Xiao Hei struggled awkwardly for a moment, but not very hard. He was mainly feeling guilty, and his tail had somehow inexplicably moved... it wasn't his intention at all.
Cheng Zhiyu grabbed Xiao Hei's tail. The fur was a little long and soft to the touch. He couldn't help but stroke it from the base of the tail back to the tip.
Xiao Hei felt a tingling sensation all over his body. He subconsciously used force to flip Cheng Zhiyu to the ground. The latter lay on the deck, his chest pressed down by Xiao Hei's big paws, and he was still laughing without any defense: "What are you doing, Xiao Hei? I can't even touch your tail?"
Xiao Hei wagged its tail impatiently, looking at Cheng Zhiyu's smiling face, feeling an itch in its teeth, and touched the other's cheek with its wet nose: "No way!"
He had no idea what he was doing; he just wanted to get as close to Cheng Zhiyu as possible.
"Ouch!" Cheng Zhiyu chuckled, feeling a little ticklish. "You're so stingy!"
——
On the shore, Cheng Zhiyu and his group skillfully set up a large iron pot, preparing to process the ingredients they had caught that day.
The big crab dug out two crystal cores. One was a metal-type crystal, which it gave to Xiao Tie. The other one, which was similar to Zhou Min's healing-type crystal, was given to Zhou Min.
Zhou Min was happy to get the crystal core, after all, it was really lucky to have a crystal core that he could use. But he didn't rush to absorb it. Instead, he eagerly went up to Cheng Zhiyu and said, "Brother Cheng, let me help you!"
If you help quickly, we can eat sooner.
Cheng Zhiyu assigned Tian Qiao and Tian Manman simple tasks of preparing ingredients, while Zhou Min's task was slightly more challenging, since she knew how to cook: "Make some batter, the crab meat with shells will be coated and deep-fried later."
Zhou Min: "Okay!"
Cheng Zhiyu prepared some crabs by coating them in flour to make spicy crab, and the rest by steaming them directly.
Although the giant crab is also a mythical beast, Cheng Zhiyu observed that its meat was similar to that of a regular crab, perhaps due to the different species.
Besides the giant crabs, there were also pan-fried grouper and stir-fried octopus. Afraid of not being able to finish them, only half of the giant crabs were cooked. There was space to keep them fresh, so there was no worry about any problems.
Not far away, Xiao Hei watched Zhou Min circling around Cheng Zhiyu with his tail drooping. He had just been circling around Cheng Zhiyu too, but because he was too big, the other party thought he was in the way and chased him away.
He was frustrated. He looked down at his paws and wondered, "When will I be able to turn into human form?"
The aroma of stir-fried ingredients in hot oil wafted over from not far away, and Xiao Hei couldn't help but stand up. It smelled so good.
Tian Manman swung the spatula, while Cheng Zhiyu squatted down to control the fire in the earthen stove. When he saw that it was almost done, he said, "It's ready."
This is spicy crab, followed by steamed crab, braised grouper, and stir-fried octopus, all served one after another. Cheng Zhiyu called out to the little boy who was looking on expectantly not far away, "Come and eat."
Xiao Hei immediately came over, stood next to Cheng Zhiyu, and gently rubbed its head against his arm.
Cheng Zhiyu was used to Xiao Hei's clinginess and didn't mind. He patted Xiao Hei's big head and put some spicy crab in Xiao Hei's bowl.
Xiao Hei kept eating the spicy crab with his head down, feeling a warm sensation all over his body, but he didn't pay much attention to it. After all, he felt hot all over whenever Cheng Zhiyu touched him.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com