Chapter 205 - Li Ling, What Is That Thing?

Li Ling hadn't realized that he was smiling. He didn't know why, but such a trivial thing managed to make him forget all about his worries and he could laugh carelessly without worrying about their future. 

"I like you like that," Zhihao suddenly beamed, "When you're being yourself, I like it. I feel accomplished when I see you laughing like that, especially because I know that the reason behind your smile is me." 

Li Ling was speechless and because he had no response to that, he suddenly felt a little mischievous. He leaned in close to Zhihao and asked in a whispering voice, "Do you know what would make me laugh more?" 

Zhihao probably thought that Li Ling was going to kiss him so he simply sat there and half-closed his eyes as he asked back, "What?" 

Instead of kissing him, Li Ling leaned closer to the man's ears and whispered, "This." 

"Eh?" Before Zhihao could react on time, Li Ling had already pushed him into the lake that was no longer calm because of Zhihao's intrusion. 

Zhihao instantly gulped down some water before swimming up to the surface and splashing around as he tried to get back to the shore. 

Li Ling laughed and laughed as he pointed at Zhihao who had been easily tricked by him. He laughed so much that his stomach started to hurt and he had to grab his abdomen because of the pain caused by the contraction of muscles. 

"A-Zhi, you're so naive!~" Li Ling teased some more and Zhihao only squinted at the man before taking a deep breath and diving deep into the water. 

"Eh? What are you trying to do now?" Li Ling asked in between his laughs as he looked at the water. 

Zhihao was no longer visible on the surface and hence Li Ling couldn't know where Zhihao was going or what he was doing. 

"Are you trying to trick me?" Li Ling chuckled, "It's not going to work. You can't drown in a game, A-Zhi." 

Li Ling thought Zhihao was trying to trick him into thinking that the man was drowning so that Li Ling would also jump into the water out of worry, but Li Ling was much smarter and decided to stay on shore as he looked at the lake and continued to laugh. 

Unfortunately, Li Ling had calculated wrong. Zhihao wasn't trying to make Li Ling worry. He was actually trying to trick Li Ling into thinking that and when Li Ling had his guard down, a pair of hands suddenly crept up around his ankles and pulled him down into the lake. 

"A-Zhi!" Li Ling's eyes widened before he shut them close as he fell into the water. 

Zhihao came up to the surface of the water and laughed proudly as he announced, "I win!" 

Li Ling pouted and was ready to come up to the surface, but all of a sudden something submerged deep in the waterbed caught his eye. It was a shining stone and the only thing Li Ling could think of as he saw it was the mission that they had to clear in this level. 

He couldn't help but be a little surprised as he wondered if Zhihao's theory had actually proven right. They were not even looking for the stone but somehow they still ended up finding it. 

Li Ling shook his head as he swam up to the surface and took a deep breath in before looking at Zhihao and pulling him along as he went back into the depth of the lake. 

Zhihao was shocked and confused but he still swam together with Li Ling who seemed to be trying to show him something. 

Li Ling pointed at something in front of them and Zhihao followed his direction, his eyes immediately lying on the shining stone that was buried in the waterbed and glaring at them just a tiny bit. 

Zhihao's eyes also widened as he saw this unexpected thing. There was no doubt in his mind that this was indeed the stone that they were after, however, at the same time, he couldn't believe his eyes that they had managed to find it so soon. He still wanted to hang around in this level a little longer. Their date had just begun but it seemed that because of this stone, they would soon have to leave this level. 

Sometimes, Zhihao really hated clearing a level too soon and this was certainly one of those times. 

Zhihao and Li Ling swam side by side towards the stone and when they were near enough, the two shared a look of understanding. 

Zhihao was the first one to go forward and try to pick the stone up, however, when he pulled the stone, the stone that appeared small seemed to weigh a lot more than its size. 

Zhihao frowned as he tried to pull it again, but just like before, he still failed to move it even an inch. 

He was already running low on oxygen and would need to go back to the surface at any moment now so he stopped being stubborn and looked over at Li Ling for help. 

Li Ling immediately understood but he looked to be a bit confused as he helped Zhihao pull the stone out. 

With the force of the two combined, the small stone should have certainly been able to move, however, shockingly enough, the stone still refused to budge. 

Li Ling frowned as he looked over at Zhihao and held up three fingers before putting them down one by one, gesturing for Zhihao to put all his strength to it at the count of three. 

When all three fingers were put down, both of them used all the strength they had in them to pull the stone out. They ran out of oxygen but they still continued to pull the stone and soon enough, the stone indeed moved this time. 

Relief washed over them as they felt the stone clutched in their hand move, however, when they opened their eyes to look down at the stone, they almost choked on the water as they immediately let go of the 'stone' that they were trying to pull out and instead, they swam back up to the surface as fast as possible. 

Zhihao gasped for air as soon as his head was out of the water and he frantically swam up to the shore before climbing on it and looking at Li Ling who was right beside him, "What the freaking hell was that?!" 

Li Ling aggressively coughed out water as he put his hand up and waved it, indicating that he was in no condition to be explaining. 

Zhihao gulped as he looked back at the lake that had slowly started to move. The water on the lake seemed to be flowing in an unnatural way which meant that the thing they had seen was following them up to the surface. 

Li Ling was quiet for a minute as he calmed himself down and when he was calm enough to properly use his brain, he immediately warned out, "Run!" 

Li Ling's warning was all it took for Zhihao to instantly climb up to his feet and run towards Li Ling first as he grabbed the man's hand and pulled him up before running away from here together. 

They didn't even dare look back at the creature that had completely emerged out of the water and was now glaring at them as it got ready to follow after them. 

"What the hell?! What the hell?! What the hell?!" Zhihao repeated again and again as he kept on running as fast as he could, "Why the hell are we running?!" 

Li Ling coughed and gasped for air as he tried his best to keep up with Zhihao's pace.

"Cause that thing... Isn't supposed to be here," Li Ling answered honestly in between his coughs.

Zhihao frowned as he heard this, "What do you mean?" 

Li Ling had a complicated expression on his face as he bit his bottom lip and refused to give a detailed explanation. 

Zhihao waited for Li Ling to give him a response but when he got no response, he started getting impatient as he looked back to see the giant creature running after them at a speed much faster than theirs. 

"Damn it!!" Zhihao cried out as his eyes went wide and he panicked. 

The creature was much larger than them in size. It looked to be like a turtle but at the same time, it was much faster and looked much more fierce. Its outer shell had shiny stones on it and its mouth had sharp small fangs that were so large in number that they couldn't even be counted. On top of that, its face had a lot of scars and wounds on it making it look as if someone had tried to attack it with a rusted sword or a blunt knife. 

"Why the heck is that thing here?!" Zhihao could hear Li Ling cry out as well. 

"Li Ling, what is that?" Zhihao asked again. 

"The killing turtle!" Li Ling's panicked voice finally answered.