Before the assistant could finish speaking, Zhao Rong pointed at a moving shadow in the center of the lake. "Your eyes are the ones that are blind, Assistant," he said. "Can’t you see that terrifying shadow in the middle of Crescent Spring? It’s slowly approaching the person by the lake..."

Hearing Zhao Rong’s words, the assistant widened his eyes and stared at the shadow. As the dark shape neared the shore, it suddenly opened a gaping, bloody maw and leaped out of the water.

When the assistant saw the monstrous fish that had just launched itself from the lake, he flopped onto the ground in terror. Cold sweat beaded on his forehead as he stammered, "Oh my god! Brother Zhao Rong, thank goodness for your quick reflexes! You kicked me away just in time. Otherwise, when I got close to the shore to get a better look, trying to save that beautiful woman, this monster would have ambushed me. It was lurking in the middle of the lake, and it would have swallowed me whole and dragged me underwater..."

Zhao Rong, however, simply grabbed a handful of sand and threw it into the monster fish’s eyes. "Don’t think you can fool anyone, you freak," he said. "Taking the form of a woman to lure people from the pavilion to the shore... Did you forget that I, Zhao Rong, am here?"

As soon as the sand hit its eyes, the monster fish was immediately incapacitated. It let out a strange shriek, scrambled from the shore back into the middle of the lake, and vanished without a trace.

When the assistant saw the monster disappear, he immediately turned to Zhao Rong with gratitude. "Brother Zhao Rong, you truly have the Eyes of Golden Flame! I never would have imagined that the breathtaking beauty from before was actually a monster fish, using itself as bait to lure me in and eat me..."

"You only saw her from behind, Assistant," Zhao Rong told him. "You didn’t see her face."

With that, Zhao Rong took out his phone. He showed the assistant the footage he had captured with his drone, revealing the woman’s face. "Take a good look, Assistant. The ’beauty’ you were talking about is this hideous, this nauseating..."

When the assistant saw the DJI drone flying in the air, he gave Zhao Rong a thumbs-up. "Brother Zhao Rong, I can’t believe you carry a drone with you. That’s awesome!"

Before he could finish, his eyes fell on the phone screen and he saw the woman’s face. He couldn’t help but widen his eyes and gag. "My god, you call that a beauty? That’s just a monster fish transformed into a demon!" It turned out that only the creature’s back resembled a human’s. Its front was entirely fish-like, so terrifying that the sight of it sent a chill down one’s spine.

The assistant swallowed hard, still shaken with fear. "Brother Zhao Rong, it’s a good thing you captured her face with the drone... Otherwise, I’d really believe I missed out on a peerless beauty."

While putting away the drone, Zhao Rong scanned the oasis, his brow furrowed. "Damn it. If we were able to get into this sandstorm, we should be able to get out. But after looking around, I see nothing but an endless, vast desert. There’s no way for us to walk out of this so-called sandstorm."

The assistant was skeptical. "Brother Zhao, what we can see with our own eyes is a very limited area. Why don’t we split up and search the desert? That way, we’ll know for sure."

Before the assistant could finish his sentence, Zhao Rong rapped him on the head. He pulled out the drone again and pointed to the screen. "Assistant, they say you’re blind, and you really are. Didn’t you see me conducting a series of aerial surveys just now?"

Realization dawned on the assistant. "Oh! So, Brother Zhao Rong, you’ve already scouted the desert with the drone... No wonder you sounded so confident."

But before the assistant could say more, Zhao Rong rushed forward, tackling him and pinning him to the sand. "Not another word, Assistant!" he said urgently. "Get ready to fight!"

When the assistant found himself pinned to the sand with Zhao Rong on top of him, staring into his eyes, a shiver ran down his spine. He looked up in disbelief. "Brother Zhao Rong, don’t tell me you’re... into guys? Have you had a thing for me this whole time? Is that why you followed me into the sandstorm, and now that we’re alone, you’re going to make your move?"

Hearing this, Zhao Rong retched. He furiously punched the assistant twice in the face. "Are you out of your mind?! Even if I were the loneliest man on earth, I wouldn’t be interested in an ugly guy like you! Besides, I’m completely straight! The reason I tackled you is because we’re in danger! Didn’t you see that giant scorpion coming right for us?"

With that, Zhao Rong pointed across the desert in front of Crescent Spring. In the direction he pointed, a gigantic scorpion, as tall as a three-story building, was crawling toward them, its tail swaying menacingly.

When the assistant saw the enormous creature, he screamed in terror. "My god, is that the legendary Scorpion King?"

Zhao Rong clamped a hand over the assistant’s mouth and lay flat on the sand. He threw a cloth over both of them, then sprinkled sand on top to camouflage their position. "Keep your voice down," he whispered. "We’re hidden under the sand now. This way, the giant scorpion won’t find us."

Before Zhao Rong even finished speaking, the scorpion was upon them. It looked around for a moment, and finding no food, it crawled right over their hiding spot and disappeared into the desert not far away.

As the massive scorpion vanished from sight, the assistant heaved a long sigh of relief. He kicked off the camouflage and sat up. "Damn, that was insane! I’ve lived my whole life and never seen a scorpion that big. That was truly terrifying..."

But before he could finish, Zhao Rong cursed at him. "Assistant, you’re more of a hindrance than a help! Didn’t you see that a Super Lizard was following right behind that giant scorpion?"

Following Zhao Rong’s finger, the assistant looked up and saw a lizard that was easily over ten stories tall. It turned out the Super Lizard had been stalking the huge scorpion, planning to eat it. However, the lizard had missed its chance with the scorpion and had instead spotted Zhao Rong and his assistant.

Immediately, it lunged toward them.