In just two days, Ye Chen had collected five keys. But after passing through dozens more rooms, he found nothing. Not another key.
"I'm so thirsty. If only we could find Kuro soon!"
Perona lay limp across Ye Chen's back, groaning nonstop. The sweltering heat was like a giant oven, mercilessly baking every last drop of moisture out of her.
She had no strength left, so she took advantage of being a woman and clung to Ye Chen like a koala.
Ye Chen pulled a button off his clothes and handed it to Perona. "Put this in your mouth."
"What for? Isn't it dirty? No way."
Perona shook her head, pouted, and reached out to swat the button away.
Ye Chen quickly closed his fist around it. "Idiot. Keeping something in your mouth makes you produce more saliva. You're thirsty, aren't you? Give it a try."
It was hardly clean, but they could not afford to worry about that now. Having something in her mouth would help her produce more saliva, and in this heat, with no water to spare, Ye Chen's idea was remarkably effective.
"Well, well, boss! Look, a woman!"
The moment Ye Chen entered Room 1098, he ran into a group of four men. They appeared to be together, and all of them looked vicious. Fortunately, Ye Chen spotted a flask at one large man's waist.
The man had an inverted-triangle head, with a broad forehead and pointed chin. An iron club hung at his waist. He stood over two meters tall and wore no shirt, exposing a patch of chest hair more than a foot long that grew like wild grass.
His name was Jade Rakshasa. He was captain of the Rakshasa Pirates, with a bounty of 75 million Beli. He had stolen the flask from