Several hundred nails, placed one by one — it was very time-consuming.

While Su Man placed nails, Yan Qingwen and Shen Mo were also not idle, circling the Nail-Tooth Beast and examining it carefully.

“Height roughly 1.5 meters, body length approximately 2 meters. Short forelimbs — no real threat. But the skull is enormous; the bite force must be tremendous.”

“Its hind limbs are powerful — it won’t be slow.”

“Not just fast, but its jumping ability must be exceptional too. Combined with that powerful bite force during an attack, it will be extremely difficult to deal with.”

“…However, it has no tail, and with such an oversized skull, its sense of balance should be poor.”

“When it attacks, try switching directions frequently.”

…

Shen Mo and Yan Qingwen exchanged observations back and forth.

Tan Xiao stood nearby, listening blankly.

He couldn’t figure it out — how could these two draw so much information just from looking at the monster for a few moments?

Tan Xiao quietly nudged Li Li with his elbow and whispered: “What are they talking about?”

Li Li replied impatiently: “Even if I told you, you wouldn’t understand. Shut up and listen. Don’t interrupt.”

Tan Xiao suddenly realized: “Oh… You don’t understand it either, huh. That’s a relief — I’m not the only one who doesn’t understand.”

Li Li: “…You!”

“Don’t interrupt,” Tan Xiao said earnestly. “We’ll just stand here and listen.”

Li Li: “…”

Damn, he really wanted to curse someone out.

…

The nails inside the Nail-Tooth Beast’s mouth grew more and more numerous.

And the nails in Su Man’s bowl grew fewer and fewer.

Yan Qingwen noticed the dwindling number and reminded her: “Slow down the pace.”

Su Man heard him and intentionally slowed her pace.

Yan Qingwen took the opportunity to count the remaining nails in her bowl: seventeen left.

“Not enough nails,” Shen Mo said, brow creased as he fixed his gaze on the fleshy suckers inside the beast’s mouth. “Even adding the 17 nails still in the bowl, we’re still short by thirty-something.”

“Thirty-something?” Yan Qingwen said. “We need to know the exact number to confirm the answer.”

Shen Mo’s frown deepened, staring at the beast’s mouth: “…36 or 37. These suckers keep moving. Come over and count with me.”

Yan Qingwen, Li Li, and Tan Xiao all crowded over. Each person counted the empty fleshy suckers missing nails, then subtracted the nails still remaining in the bowl —

Yan Qingwen arrived at 38.

Li Li arrived at 37.

Tan Xiao arrived at 31.

Li Li stared at him in disbelief: “Of course yours is the lowest!”

Tan Xiao, unconvinced, counted again. This time he came up with 44 nails.

Meanwhile, Su Man’s pace had slowed to a crawl — barely any nails left in the bowl, fewer than ten now.

She drew out a nail, slowly, slowly placed it into the Nail-Tooth Beast’s mouth, and asked in a tense voice: “Are you done yet?”

The men all recounted once more, but still couldn’t reach a consensus.

Either 36, or 38.

Because the fleshy suckers kept contracting — sometimes larger, sometimes smaller — when one contracted it would be blocked by the other expanded suckers nearby, and the frequency of contraction was completely irregular, making it very difficult to count precisely.

Three nails remained in Su Man’s bowl.

“Spread out. Be ready to attack at any moment,” Yan Qingwen said.

“As soon as the last nail is in, run immediately — got it?!” Li Li urged Su Man.

“Worry about yourself!” Su Man shot back irritably. “I can definitely run faster than you!”

Two left.

Tan Xiao gripped his piece of firewood with a fierce look: “I’m standing behind it. When the time comes, I’ll club it first, then run!”

Shen Mo stood nearby, expression calm, unfolding a pocket fruit knife in his hand.

One left…

The tension reached its peak —

When the sucker wrapped around the final tiny iron nail, Yan Qingwen raised his voice and shouted:

“Run!!!”

Su Man and Li Li spun around and bolted!

Tan Xiao swung his timber club down! The firewood shattered into splinters!

Shen Mo thrust the knife at the monster’s neck — the blade tip struck it and sent sparks flying! The cutting edge shattered!

He and Yan Qingwen went pale at exactly the same moment!

“Its body is metal!”

“AAAAARGH!!!”

The Nail-Tooth Beast let out a coarse, raspy roar, opened its mouth full of iron-nail teeth, and charged toward them snapping —