Even now, that monster kept placing the frozen stiff fish in front of Chloe.
Chloe looked at the fish, finally sighing in resignation. Her palm sparked with a flame, carefully melting the icy shell on the fish's exterior. Only then did she painstakingly scrape off the scales before slowly roasting the fish over the flame in her palm.
This behavior perplexed the monster greatly.
It was just eating a fish, why did it require so many steps? Pets were such a hassle.
It seemed that next time it went to catch fish, it would have to do the same.
Meanwhile, Chloe finally roasted the fish, but unfortunately she had no seasoning on hand.
This roasted fish had no flavor, even carrying an offensive fishy smell.
Chloe's brow furrowed tightly, utterly unwilling to eat such a thing.
But... she looked up at the monster eagerly watching her.
Oh well, it was just an unappetizing fish, Chloe had eaten far worse before.
Just a fish.
Chloe ate in small, sullen bites.
Her face was turning green, ugh, it tasted awful.
Without Anderson's guidance, she truly didn't even know how to roast a fish properly, having charred most of it until inedible.
Thinking this, Chloe felt dispirited.
Fortunately, seeing Chloe eating something, the monster felt assured its pet wouldn't starve, so it closed its eyes and stopped watching her incessantly.
Only its massive body still blocked the den's entrance, not allowing Chloe to leave.
Chloe's small face drained of color from vexation.
At the same time, her perception spread out even faster.
If she still couldn't find any rescuers, Chloe would suspect she'd been abandoned.
The moment this thought surfaced, she forcefully suppressed it.
The rescuers might not come, but her companions definitely would.
Chloe felt her companions were all good people, unlike her, the big bad one, hehe.
Just as she was thinking this, her perception suddenly touched upon something.
Chloe paused briefly, then eagerly reached out.
She closed her eyes to better perceive the appearance of the people ahead in her mind.
Because the distance was too far, Chloe couldn't see their faces for now, only sensing their lame gaits as they moved.
Thinking this, Chloe hesitated... none of her companions were lame, were they?
If they were truly lame, how could they rescue her? Chloe felt a twinge of disdain.
Just as she wavered with these doubts, her perception suddenly grew more powerful, perceiving things ahead with increasing clarity.
Specifically, Chloe had the vague sense of things brightening before her eyes, as if some unknown force had cleared the hazy fog.
Immediately after, she saw the faces of the two people - it was Daniel and Qin Huaibei!
Chloe's spirit lifted, she knew her companions wouldn't abandon her!
Look, they even lost hands and legs to come rescue her, how moving!
Just like her earlier disdain for the uselessness of the lame wasn't her, Chloe's, true self.
She cast aside those irrelevant thoughts and began using her perception, trying every possible way to attract Daniel and Qin Huaibei's attention.
At this moment, miles away, Qin Huaibei and Daniel leaned on each other, following Daniel's nose, moving farther and farther from Chloe's location.
Chloe felt anxious, frantically waving her perception at the icicles behind them.
Qin Huaibei's ear twitched, stopping to look back: "It seems there's some movement behind us."
"Don't worry about any movement, our priority now is finding Chloe," Daniel dismissed it, trying to move forward, "I can feel we're getting closer and closer to Chloe."
Seeing them heading in the completely opposite direction from her, Chloe didn't know what to say for a moment.
But after thinking it over, Qin Huaibei felt Daniel was right.
No matter what movement was behind them, it couldn't be more important than Chloe. So he turned and continued leaning on Daniel as they hobbled in a direction completely unrelated to Chloe.
Chloe: "..."
Damn, those two idiots.
She strained her perception again to create disturbances behind them, this time even causing icicles to fall down.
Qin Huaibei felt something was off, stopping again: "Could there be some ferocious beast behind us?"
He gazed warily at the icicles that had fallen for some unknown reason.
Chloe: ... Ferocious beast, your ferocious grandpa!
That fool Daniel was even more stupid, not even turning his head, only twitching his nose: "Why worry about ferocious beasts? Like I said, the most important thing now is Chloe."
No sooner were the words out than Chloe angrily knocked down another icicle in frustration.
Qin Huaibei's expression turned grave: "I don't think it's a ferocious beast, it could be Chloe's perception coming to guide us, couldn't it?"
As soon as he finished speaking, the incessant clattering of icicles colliding abruptly fell silent.
Chloe felt relieved - indeed, Qin Huaibei was still more reliable.
Just as she thought this, Daniel started shouting: "How could that be possible? Are you crazy? I trust my own nose more."
He stretched out his hand again, pointing in the opposite direction: "I'm certain Chloe is over there."
Chloe: "..."
Infuriated, she controlled her perception to violently smack Daniel's head.
Daniel immediately wailed: "Ouch! Someone hit me!"
Seeing this, Qin Huaibei breathed a sigh of relief: "You got hit, it must undoubtedly be Chloe."
Daniel dumbly clutched his head: "Huh?"
Seeing his reaction, Chloe felt a headache coming and struck his head again.
Still unsatisfied, she used hands, feet and buttocks to pummel him from all sides. Daniel scrambled on the ground, howling in pain.
Witnessing this scene, Qin Huaibei became even more convinced Chloe's perception was right beside them, pondering:
"So Chloe's telling us to go in the opposite direction."
Realizing this, Daniel had led them completely astray!
Now Daniel reacted too: "Alright alright! I know it's you! Stop hitting me! Stop hitting me!"
Chloe finally vented her anger.
She should've just smacked them both senseless as soon as she found them.
They'd surely have recognized her right away.
Qin Huaibei and Daniel turned and hobbled toward the direction Chloe indicated.
Not long ago, the scene of Qin Huaibei being thrown out while Chloe was captured by the monster was still fresh in her mind.
Qin Huaibei's mood turned somber: "Are you... okay now?"
"Knock twice if you're alright, three times if not."
Upon hearing this, Chloe reviewed her current predicament and immediately flew into a rage, knocking everywhere with her perception, making who knows how many sounds.
Just from the noise, they could tell her situation was extremely bad and she was furiously resentful.
Qin Huaibei's slight sense of guilt was quickly replaced by speechlessness, his temple violently throbbing:
"Alright, I get it, you're not doing well."
The knocking stopped, Qin Huaibei's tone softened:
"Don't worry, we'll definitely get you out of there."
