"To hell with it! I'd rather die than let you save me!" Zhang Nian yelled angrily at Zhang Qiming's sarcastic remark.

He was already trapped under a massive rock, narrowly avoiding death. But now, his agitation made the boulder tremble, threatening to send both him and the rock plummeting into the abyss.

"Zhang Nian! If you want to die, don’t drag me with you!" Zhang Haike shouted, panicking. They were both trapped under the same rock, and if Zhang Nian were to fall, he'd surely meet the same fate.

"Nothing but a bunch of mutts at each other's throats," Zhang Qiming sneered, clearly irritated by Zhang Nian's intense temper, which seemed almost unhinged.

"Both of you, stay still! I’m coming to help!" their friend tried to reason. But Zhang Nian continued to shout, "I don’t need your help!"

Zhang Qiming scoffed, rolling his eyes, only to be interrupted as their friend tossed a hooked rope near him. Zhang Qiming grabbed it instinctively—if he didn’t, everyone, including himself, might fall into the abyss.

“Damn, you really trust me, huh?” Zhang Qiming grumbled. "I’m the last guy on the line here. Don’t blame me if I can’t hold you three!"

Rope tied around his waist, their friend leaped like an arrow, positioning himself on the wall near Zhang Haike.

“Fine, fine, I get it—you’d rather save him than me,” Zhang Nian muttered, despair creeping into his voice as he grew weaker. "The Zhang family doesn’t save those who are as good as dead, huh?" His face was flushed from exhaustion, his expression twisted as he spoke.

But Zhang Qiming’s next words caught him off guard. "The Zhang family may not save the doomed, but this particular Zhang family member will help you—because he's our friend."

Zhang Nian’s fury reignited. “Who asked for your pity?” At that moment, their friend managed to pull Zhang Haike to safety, destabilizing the rock. With a sickening lurch, Zhang Nian and the rock tumbled toward the abyss.

With a swift motion, their friend launched himself downward like an arrow, shoving Zhang Nian onto a ledge and driving his knife into the wall to halt his own descent.

Zhang Nian stretched his hand toward their friend, but Zhang Qiming yanked him up first, leaving Zhang Nian empty-handed.

“Thanks,” their friend murmured quietly, as terse as ever. Zhang Qiming just waved it off, indicating it was no big deal.

But Zhang Nian, still below, had no one to pull him up. He was weakened from the toxin, and there was no way he could climb alone.

“Hey, big grandson, need grandpa to give you a hand?” Zhang Qiming taunted, prompting Zhang Nian to rage, “You just wait! When I get up there, I’ll kill you!”

But with the only rope controlled by Zhang Qiming, Zhang Nian had no choice but to accept his help.

The moment Zhang Nian was pulled up, he lunged at Zhang Qiming, but his weakened state meant he was easily kicked back several meters.

“When I get this poison out of my system, you’ll be the first to go!” Zhang Nian shouted.

Zhang Qiming replied loudly, “Is that how you thank the guy who saved you? Is that what the Zhang family elders taught you?” The others turned to Zhang Nian, silently reproaching him.

“Hmph,” Zhang Nian grumbled, looking away, embarrassed.

Zhang Haike then thanked Zhang Qiming and their friend, saying that without their timely help, they would all be dead.

Still affected by the toxin, Zhang Haike accepted a flask of water from his sister, Zhang Haixin. Drinking the water, infused with their friend’s blood, he began to vomit, purging the poison from his system.

Zhang Nian demanded the water flask for himself, but found it empty. Their friend was about to cut himself for more blood, but Zhang Qiming stepped in. “I’ve got some too! No need for you to waste energy.”

He tossed Zhang Nian a flask with a peculiar shape, large at the mouth and narrow at the neck, more like a container than a drinking flask. Zhang Nian, too desperate to notice, drank deeply, only to pause and grimace. “Why does this water taste so weird?”

Everyone looked at their friend, who raised an eyebrow. “Are you saying my blood tastes strange?”

Zhang Jiuri immediately denied it. “No way! I just drank some myself, no weird taste.” Zhang Haike nodded in agreement.

Then Zhang Jiuri’s eyes landed on the strange flask. “Wait a second, where did you get that flask?” He stared at it before bursting out in laughter. "No wonder it tasted funny—you’ve been drinking from a chamber pot!”

“What, so you’re saying he drank—?” Zhang Haike barely held back his laughter, while Zhang Haixin immediately burst out laughing.

“Zhang Qiming! I’ll kill you!” Zhang Nian roared, realizing he’d been tricked.

“Hey, I just grabbed whatever I could find in the Zhang family fortress,” Zhang Qiming replied with feigned innocence. “Check yourself—your poison’s gone, right?”

“Exactly, the important thing is that it worked,” Zhang Haixin chimed in. Zhang Nian shot her a glare before looking down. Sure enough, the dark veins of the toxin had faded. He began vomiting again—this time, out of pure disgust.

The tension eased, and Zhang Jiuri stepped forward, holding up a few scorpion-shaped darts he’d found. “I was planning on taking these back as souvenirs, but since we’re a team, why don’t we make these our team insignia?”

Zhang Qiming looked at the scorpion dart in his hand, the emblem of their newly formed Scorpion Squad.

At that moment, new words appeared in front of Zhang Qiming, signaling the release of his next mission for revenge.