【Wuxia World】 A Dog's Nose

“Don't run! It's not like I'm going to kill you, is it?”

Zhang Tinglei casually trailed behind Zhong Cheng. With the squawking of the wild chicken in his hand, the scene looked incredibly ridiculous.

Yet Zhong Cheng maintained his grave expression.

Zuo Lin'an watched from the shadows for a long time. Realizing that Zhang Tinglei was clearly just playing with Zhong Cheng, he knew they wouldn't be in any immediate danger.

“Is Zhang Tinglei not worried about finding food and water?”

He quickly realized that among these twenty players, Zhang Tinglei was the only one at the Xiantian Rank. This meant he didn't need to search at all; he could simply wait for the others to find resources and then rob them.

As a rebel leader, stealing supplies would be second nature to him.

Seeing that Zhang Tinglei was having quite a bit of fun, Zuo Lin'an temporarily shifted his gaze to the duo of Jin Youwu and Zhou Shan.

“Young Master Jin, look at this fat rabbit!”

Zhou Shan grabbed a rabbit and held it up, shaking it.

Jin Youwu glanced at the plump rabbit. “It's clearly domesticated. It seems the native didn't lie about that part—someone did purposely dump them here.”

Zhou Shan agreed, “Yeah, as if I couldn't tell the difference between domestic and wild.”

When it came to this sort of thing, he, a bounty hunter who traveled far and wide year-round, was the ultimate professional.

“But knowing this is useless. We still haven't found any trace of the specter.”

Jin Youwu waved his hand. “The specter in a One-Star specter dungeon usually doesn't appear too early. Let's go and keep searching. A single rabbit is far from enough.”

“Besides, I doubt there will be much food within the white mist area. And more importantly, we need to find water.”

According to the native, the people outside only provided food because they wanted to watch those dumped here struggle to survive. Therefore, the amount of food was bound to be extremely limited.

If that was the case for food, water would be even scarcer.

On top of that, there was a Xiantian Rank rebel leader in this dungeon.

Who knew when he might lose his mind and turn on them?

Though the two appeared relaxed, they were actually on high alert.

They remained vigilant against the specter that could appear at any moment, the elusive Zhang Tinglei, and even each other, despite their temporary alliance.

Jin Youwu carefully maintained a safe distance from Zhou Shan, making sure the other man never ended up directly behind him.

He scanned their surroundings, feeling a touch of helplessness.

To be honest, it was the dead of night and pitch-black. If he weren't a martial artist with decent night vision, he would probably have to carry a torch like those ordinary people.

Moreover, as they walked, he realized this place truly lived up to its name of the Withered Forest and Barren Mountains. There was indeed no life around them. Although the ground was covered in a thick layer of withered leaves...

...due to the extreme lack of water, they hadn't fully decayed, only giving off a musty, rotting odor.

As if oblivious to Jin Youwu's thoughts, Zhou Shan let out a carefree laugh.

“Finding water? That's my specialty.”

Jin Youwu turned to look at him.

“How are you going to find it?”

Zhou Shan pointed to his nose.

“Modest as I am, I often take on all kinds of bounties and spend the entire year traveling through the wilderness, which has helped me develop a real knack for finding water.”

With that, he sniffed the air.

“Hmm? I actually smell water.”

If he could keep it to himself, he certainly would have. But with Zhang Tinglei around, he needed an ally. Even if they couldn't defeat him, at least there would be someone else to draw his fire.

Jin Youwu was skeptical.

“The smell of water?”

Does he have a dog's nose?

Zhou Shan didn't explain. Instead, he pointed in a direction. “It's over there. Let's go.”

Having said his piece, he took the lead and marched forward.

Although Jin Youwu was still a bit doubtful, he knew some people had an incredibly keen sense of smell. Being able to detect faint odors or even moisture in the air wasn't unheard of.

Sure enough, before they had walked very far, they actually stumbled upon a small puddle.

Indeed.

What lay before them was merely a tiny puddle.

If the water inside were divided among the nineteen players, it would probably only last them a day or two.

But they had to survive in this dungeon for at least three days!

Jin Youwu's expression grew serious. He furrowed his brows and lowered his voice.

“What do you think? Should we hide it?”

Zhou Shan pondered for a moment, then shook his head.

“We can't hide a whole puddle. Have you forgotten that Zhang Tinglei is a Xiantian Rank expert? Besides, he's a rebel. He won't hesitate to steal, and he certainly won't feel any guilt about it!”

Jin Youwu realized he had a point, and immediately came up with another idea.

“In that case, let's find some containers and fill them up with enough water for four or five days. We'll leave the rest here.”

Zhou Shan nodded immediately.

“Deal!”

Jin Youwu looked up, scanning their surroundings warily.

“We have to be quick!”

“Before we left the mountaintop, I think I saw Zhang Tinglei chasing General Zhong Cheng. Even though they went in a different direction, who knows if they'll turn back and head this way.”

Zhou Shan struck a nearby tree, snapping it with a single palm strike.

“Alright, let's make it quick!”

As he spoke, he channeled his true qi into his hands, slicing the thick trunk into several segments. He then hollowed out the centers to create crude wooden bowls, filled them with water, and sealed them with improvised lids.

Neither of them was too greedy. They each made five containers, which would last them about four to five days. Then, they chose separate locations to hide their respective stashes of water.

After all, Jin Youwu still had his father to worry about, and he didn't expect Zhou Shan to take his father's needs into account.

As for Zhou Shan, he simply wasn't the type to place absolute trust in anyone else.

This was a way of getting along that both of them could accept.

However, while hiding his water, Jin Youwu was lucky enough to catch a wild chicken as well.

Once they met up again, they continued their search in other directions.

Zuo Lin'an noted that the two of them were getting along reasonably well.

Though they clearly didn't trust each other, they had at least established a working partnership. If he were to attack them now, they would definitely join forces to repel him.

Zuo Lin'an simply committed the locations where they hid the water to memory.

“In a couple of days, once the water in the puddle is completely divided up, I'll destroy all their hidden water.”

Without water, these two would have no choice but to rob others.

They won't be able to rob Zhang Tinglei, but they can certainly rob the other players.

After all, the only Houtian Rank players here besides them were the two of them and Zhong Cheng, whose survival tonight was still up in the air.

“Since they hid their water from each other, they'll definitely come to retrieve it alone. I might even be able to use that opportunity to ambush them when they're isolated...”

“Well... I'll see how things play out. It's too early to make a final decision.”

Zuo Lin'an's specter body remained hidden on the mountaintop, holding three plump rabbits in his hands.

After some consideration, he ultimately decided not to make a move on any of the players for the time being—not just Jin Youwu and Zhou Shan.