Chapter 108: Your knee isn't soft enough!

Since they already knew how to find vengeful spirits, Lin Yifan and Hong Shaoqiang didn't waste time and began quickly farming vengeful spirits.

One fought in melee, the other ranged; they were naturally the best match, and after gradually coordinating, their teamwork grew more seamless, and the speed at which they eliminated vengeful spirits increased.

Conversely, Ruan Qingtan, who was in charge of opening treasure chests, was already busy as a dog, yet her progress was slow.

Her prayer ritual took too much time; she had to repeat it for each treasure chest opened, and now, being a mermaid body, kneeling and kowtowing was utterly inconvenient compared to a human body.

As a result, opening a single treasure chest required at least five minutes of her time.

The vengeful spirits summoned, however, varied in strength; of course, so far the strongest was not as strong as the previous giant octopus.

Therefore, with Hong Shaoqiang and Lin Yifan working together, they could basically eliminate one in five or six minutes.

Moreover, some were extremely weak, just like the earlier Pipi Shrimp—dull and feeble—killed with a single arrow!

Thus, in just two hours, Lin Yifan and the other had dispelled over 120 vengeful spirits.

As a result, the slow-progressing Ruan Qingtan had opened fewer than forty treasure chests, to the point that dozens of treasure chests piled up around her, nearly burying her.

And she had kowtowed until her face was ashen; each time she began the process, she looked resigned to death, which was truly miserable to behold!

Seeing her like that, Lin Yifan couldn't help but chuckle, so he called out, telling Hong Shaoqiang to take a break, then deliberately teased:

"Qingtan, your physical stamina is no good? You weren't even sent to fight monsters, yet opening a treasure chest left you exhausted like this—you're really terrible!"

"Besides, your knees aren't soft enough, and your kneeling speed is far too slow!"

After they became familiar, Ruan Qingtan no longer held as much reverence for Lin Yifan.

Hearing this, she rolled her eyes and said irritably:

"Stop standing there talking as if your back doesn't hurt—I spend forty minutes of every hour here kneeling and kowtowing; your knees are so hard, you try kneeling!"

Upon hearing that, Lin Yifan immediately shook his head like a rattle-drum and said with a grin:

"Forget it, my knees aren't great—I can only kneel to heaven, earth, and my parents; otherwise I really can't kneel, so this kowtowing business should be left to you professionals!"

Saying that, he took out the chestnuts he had roasted earlier and gave five each to Hong Shaoqiang and Ruan Qingtan.

Ruan Qingtan took the chestnuts, and her eyes lit up instantly:

"These chestnuts actually restore physical stamina and can even temporarily boost stamina points—they must be from a professional chef's hand! The food I make now also has attributes, but compared to these chestnuts it's far inferior—who made these?"

"I made them!" Lin Yifan said calmly, peeling a chestnut and popping it into his mouth.

"You can actually cook?" Ruan Qingtan looked at him in disbelief, then glanced at the chestnut and said admiringly:

"Indeed, it really looks like something you'd make—at least the appearance fits!"

Actually, it's no wonder she doubted, for although these chestnuts have decent attributes, their appearance is truly pitiful to behold.

The chestnut shells are black and dull, almost burnt to charcoal—if they weren't in water, they'd surely have blackened their hands.

Lin Yifan certainly knew the chestnuts' appearance was a bit flawed, but he truly had no talent for cooking.

Ruan Qingtan's doubt was like stepping on his sore foot, making him roll his eyes and retort irritably:

"Alright, it's edible and not bad! If you don't want it, give it to me!"

"I'll eat, definitely eat!" Ruan Qingtan, who had only been joking, immediately shoved a chestnut into her mouth upon hearing that.

After five chestnuts went down, their internal attributes were swiftly activated, and Ruan Qingtan and Hong Shaoqiang found their formerly fatigued bodies beginning to recover quickly.

After resting less than five minutes, the expended stamina had largely recovered.

This prompted both of them to involuntarily praise, unable to refrain from remarking:

"These chestnuts are really good—after just a short rest I already feel my stamina restored; if we had such a fine endurance elixir, could we succeed at anything we do?"

Meanwhile, Ruan Qingtan couldn't help but voice nostalgia, sighing:

"When I worked on Earth Star, if I had such a superb endurance device, I would definitely have become our company's top-performing employee!"

"Get a grip—that's not an employee, that's a beast of burden!" Lin Yifan said, controlling his tail to stand up, stretching with a scornful smile.

"Besides, even though we're no longer on Earth Star, beasts of burden remain beasts of burden—hurry up and get to work!"

After the three grew accustomed to each other, Lin Yifan's youthful side inevitably showed itself.

Although he appeared steady, his tongue was actually quite sharp; back on Earth Star, his friends even nicknamed him the Insert Knife Sect Leader.

After arriving in this world, aside from barely knowing Chen Yunuo, none of his former social friends were in the same district.

In the unfamiliar environment and social circle, Lin Yifan instinctively hid his true self, maintaining a quiet, reserved demeanor even before truly meeting Ruan Qingtan and Hong Shaoqiang.

But now that they've met in person, they naturally understand his nature better, and Lin Yifan no longer suppresses it.

After he revealed his true nature, Ruan Qingtan and Hong Shaoqiang still held the same reverence for him, yet their speech and actions became less restrained.

Now the three talk and laugh, occasionally teasing Xiao Hudie, which has considerably eased the pressure built up over these many days.

However, they hadn't rested long; once stamina recovered, they resumed their respective duties.

Among the three hundred vengeful spirits, varying in strength, the strongest manifested as the Sea Overlord Great White Shark—seven to eight meters tall, weighing three to four tons, truly thick-skinned and sturdy.

Moreover, besides being thick-skinned, it possessed great strength and agile speed, making it a tough bone to chew even by noon standards.

Even though Lin Yifan and Hong Shaoqiang possessed formidable strength, facing this tough bone cost them dearly before they finally subdued it.

Hong Shaoqiang, in this battle, added further injury to his already wounded body.

Even Lin Yifan wasn't spared—his right hand arm nearly broke.

If it weren't for Ruan Qingtan's good luck—actually obtaining several healing elixirs from the treasure chests dropped by the vengeful spirits—clearing the instance would be nothing but a pipe dream.

Of course, they hadn't not tried, attempting to soothe the spirits with spiritual persuasion.

Unfortunately, their efforts at persuasion were utterly futile against the vengeful spirits—like playing music to a cow.

No, it was like playing music to various seafood!