Fan De Biao looked at Cai Qing Chong and suddenly broke into a smile. "You think I stink the most? You are mistaken! Haha! Haven't you seen Young Master Liu's face sweating even more than mine? Young Master must be the smelliest one!"

"..." To be honest, at that moment, Young Master Liu genuinely had the impulse to kick both of them away and feed them to the Salamander King as canned meat.

"Stop arguing, I'll go," Yang Weidong suddenly said.

Everyone looked at Yang Weidong in astonishment. "Old Yang, you're not joking, are you?"

Yang Weidong gave a grim smile. "I'm a man who deserves to die several times anyway. If I can feed the Salamander King, then you all will be saved. You are all young; you still have so much life ahead of you! Besides, ever since my old brothers fell on the Korean battlefield during the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, there hasn't been much point in me living alone..."

"Oh my heavens, Old Wang, you are a hero of the people! A tale worthy of song, truly a tale worthy of song!" Fan De Biao rushed forward, desperately shaking Yang Weidong's hand.

"I have only one request!" Yang Weidong stated.

"What request?" Cai Qing Chong and Fan De Biao asked in unison.

"Whatever the request, we agree to it!" Cai Qing Chong asserted.

"Yes, we agree, we will definitely agree!" Fan De Biao quickly chimed in.

"I only hope that you can erect a tombstone by the graves of my old comrades and place one of my belongings inside!" Old Man Wang tore a military insignia from his already tattered clothing and handed it over.

Cai Qing Chong took the insignia. "Old Yang, rest assured, we will certainly fulfill your dying wish!"

"Yes, exactly! We will always remember you deep in our hearts, because you are truly great! I always thought that in this society, truly selfless, sacrificing good people no longer existed. But Old Yang, you have completely overturned my view. I am proud of you! I am proud of you!" Fan De Biao said emotionally.

"Old Yang, stop!" Young Master Liu and Jia Zhuang Yuan both shouted out.

Young Master Liu pulled Yang Weidong back, his expression stern. "It is not time for despair yet. As captain, I order you to stay right here, you are not allowed to go anywhere!"

"Da Shao, you..." Cai Qing Chong and Fan De Biao were about to say something, but Jia Zhuang Yuan cut them off.

Jia Zhuang Yuan took off his old landlord's hat and, like a judge interrogating a criminal, coldly glanced at Cai Qing Chong and Fan De Biao. "You two creatures who are neither human nor ghost, look, look, look at what you are saying—are those human words? Do you still have a shred of conscience? Do you have any humanity left? Unbelievable."

Cai Qing Chong and Fan De Biao hung their heads, mumbling, "Actually, we do have a conscience; at least we were thinking about helping him settle his affairs!"

"Hurry up and get out of the way!" Young Master Liu suddenly shouted sharply from the side.

Whoosh! Amidst the sound of rushing wind, a massive shadow flapped down towards them.

Young Master Liu lunged to the ground, and at the same time, Jia Zhuang Yuan pulled Yang Weidong's sleeve, gracefully drifting backward. Cai Qing Chong and Fan De Biao weren't slow either; with cries of "Mama!", they rolled on the spot and dodged clear.

Only then, with a sound of Boom, the ice surface where they had been standing was gouged with a massive pit by the Salamander King's foreclaw, sending shattered ice flying to strike everyone, causing sharp stinging pain.

"Damn it! Let's fight this thing to the death!" Fan De Biao snatched up his entrenching shovel and charged forward.

"De Biao, come back quickly!" Young Master Liu roared anxiously.

He hadn't finished his sentence before Fan De Biao was already scurrying back, the entrenching shovel in hand, panting heavily. "Damn it, that thing glared at me, and it absolutely terrified me!"

"..." The group fell into collective silence; Fan De Biao's heroic image instantly collapsed.

Cai Qing Chong grabbed his entrenching shovel. "Look at your courage. You stay here and watch, I'm going to dig a piece of flesh off it!"

This fellow Cai Qing Chong was actually quite fierce. Seeing this, he darted twice towards the Salamander King, then flipped over, evading the creature's line of sight, slipped behind its tail, raised his entrenching shovel, and brought it down hard.

Chak! The sharp blade sliced into the Salamander King's hide, causing it to roar in pain as it violently whipped its tail.

With a sound of Bang, Cai Qing Chong was swept away by the Salamander King's tail, rolling back like a bowling ball. If Young Master Liu hadn't grabbed him with a quick hand, he probably would have rolled straight into the chasm.

"Are you okay?" Young Master Liu looked anxiously at Cai Qing Chong.

Cai Qing Chong shook his dazed head and looked at him with vacant eyes. "Beauty, have we met somewhere before?"

Young Master Liu felt an inexplicable chill run down his spine and immediately let go of the fellow Cai Qing Chong. It seemed this guy's brain was completely fried.

Having taken a strike from Cai Qing Chong's shovel, the Salamander King grew somewhat enraged. Its tail swung wildly, scattering shards of ice everywhere.

The group had now been forced back to the edge of the chasm. Young Master Liu glanced behind him at the bottomless abyss, swiftly drawing his tungsten-steel dagger. "Damn it! I refuse to believe you are tougher than that metal hide!"

The cold light reflecting off the tungsten-steel dagger flashed across the Salamander King's eyes. The creature abruptly turned its head, fixing a cold stare on Young Master Liu—or, more accurately, on the dagger in his hand. Judging by its expression, it seemed to recognize that the trinket Young Master Liu held was not easily trifled with.

At that moment, Young Master Liu hardened his resolve, gripping the dagger backhanded, and rushed forward with quick, successive steps. Later, according to Fan De Biao, his running posture at that moment was incredibly cool, much like a hopping monkey.

Seeing Young Master Liu charge, the Salamander King raised its foreclaw and brought it down toward his head. Young Master Liu darted forward several steps, rolling underneath its claw just as it landed.

"Ah!" came an involuntary cry of alarm from Fan De Biao nearby.

Boom! The flying ice shards hit Young Master Liu, but he endured the pain and continued his charge.

The Salamander King, perhaps believing it had crushed the young man, kept its foreclaw lifted for a long moment. Young Master Liu seized this opportunity, leaping onto the creature's back, and with a swift chop, he stabbed it—black blood immediately spurted out.

"Roar!" In pain, the Salamander King let out a deep, furious roar and violently thrashed its body, throwing Young Master Liu off its back. The Salamander King's strength was immense; it sent Young Master Liu tumbling in dizziness, and his backpack fell to the ground, spilling its contents everywhere.

Young Master Liu rubbed his swollen backside and was just about to get up when, in that upward glance, he suddenly spotted two items: two lengths of climbing rope. Because they had been stored inside his backpack, they hadn't been put to use, and he had nearly forgotten they were even there.

The instant Young Master Liu saw the two climbing ropes, a method of escape immediately formed in his mind.

He scrambled over quickly, snatched up the two ropes, and then shouted toward Cai Qing Chong and Fan De Biao, "You two distract the Salamander King first! I've figured out a way to leave here!" As he spoke, Young Master Liu happily waved the climbing ropes in his hand.

"Huh?! Climbing ropes?! Why didn't you take those out earlier?" Cai Qing Chong suddenly snapped out of his stupor, shouting at Young Master Liu as if he wanted to tear him apart.

Young Master Liu scratched the back of his head and said sheepishly, "I forgot!"

Fan De Biao charged forward, hefting his entrenching shovel. "You bastard, who knows what tricks you were up to! You almost got us all killed!"

Cai Qing Chong and Fan De Biao's back-and-forth banter made Young Master Liu feel like a terrible criminal. Even Jia Zhuang Yuan gave him a sidelong glance and spat out two words through clenched teeth: "Idiot!"

Cai Qing Chong and Fan De Biao ran behind the Salamander King, waving their entrenching shovels and yelling, "Hey, ugly thing, we're over here! Come and bite us if you dare!"

Hearing their shouts, the Salamander King indeed turned its head and lunged towards them with its jaws open. Cai Qing Chong and Fan De Biao dodged the creature's attack while engaging it in a circular skirmish.