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With a single sentence from Lian Qing, both the cameraman and the young man were momentarily stunned, before bursting into laughter and tears.

Seeing the little monk stubbornly refusing to enter, they had no choice but to surround him and begin persuading him one by one.

"You should just go in, Little Monk. Otherwise, if you don't complete the task, you'll be punished! You might even go hungry for lunch..."

"Yes, just go in. Everyone else is afraid of what they'll get, but they still have to complete the task. Otherwise, if the fans see it, they'll lose face!"

"That's right, Little Monk. You should bravely overcome your fears and set a good example for your fans. They'll be proud of you."

"If you rise to the challenge, the audience will definitely appreciate you. But if you run away at the last minute, someone might call you a coward..."

...................

Everyone chimed in with their own opinions, each making valid points. Lian Qing began to waver in his decision.

Just then, the cameraman received a phone call. After speaking for a few moments, he looked at Lian Qing and said, "The director just called and said that if you go in, he'll give you fifteen boxes of milk!"

Fifteen boxes...Lian Qing struggled with the offer.

Seeing Lian Qing's hesitation, the cameraman followed the director's instructions and added more incentives: "Plus a hot pot lunch."

Lian Qing became even more uncertain and even swallowed involuntarily.

"Barbecue is also an option, we can do both hot pot and barbecue at the same time."

Lian Qing said, "Deal!"

After agreeing, he looked at the cameraman and the young men with their victorious and happy faces and regretted his impulsiveness. If he had waited a little longer, there might have been even more benefits.

But since he had already agreed, there was no turning back. Besides, these incentives were already quite generous. Lian Qing took a deep breath, used the key to open the glass door, and slowly crept inside.

Suddenly, the lights inside came on, and everything was clearly visible in front of Lian Qing.

There was dirt on the ground, with grass and trees. A big snake was in front of the tree, and a not-so-small snake was on the tree. A beautiful girl in a princess dress and crown sat beside the big snake, looking at Lian Qing with a helpless expression.

She opened her red lips and sweetly asked, "My knight, are you here to save me?"

Lian Qing: "... Can you walk out by yourself?"

The princess's expression went blank for a moment, thinking to herself why wasn't this brat playing by the rules! He had just been lingering outside for so long, and finally managed to get in, but now he wants her to walk out by herself?! If she could walk out by herself, why did he even bother coming in!

She quickly shook her head and then reached out with a hand, tears in her eyes as she said, "No, I can't. I'm scared. I need you to hold my hand so I can walk out."

Lian Qing: "... I think I'm even more scared than you." He extended his arm and pointed to the goosebumps on his skin, standing far away from the princess, "Look, I have goosebumps all over my arm."

Princess: "... " Holy crap, what kind of move was that? She looked even more pitiful now, with tears in her eyes, and her acting skills were top-notch as she said, "But I'm really scared. I won't move without you holding my hand. And look, my feet are still chained up. I don't have the key to unlock it and get out. Can you really bear watching a weak woman like me being trapped here?"

Lian Qing nodded his head, he could bear it ah!

Princess: "... " Is this guy made of stone or something? She had been playing the role of a weak and delicate flower, and he still refused her?

"Xiao gege, please save me ma." The princess's voice softened even more, sweet enough to make one feel greasy.

Lian Qing's tongue felt bitter, knowing he couldn't avoid this. He swallowed hard and decided to get it over with quickly, "Where's the key?"

The princess silently cheered, it's true that men can't resist a beautiful woman's charm. She pointed to the tree branch above, "It's right next to the snake."

Lian Qing gritted his teeth, looked at the snake on the tree bravely for a second, then lowered his head with a mournful face and said, "Are you the caretaker of this place? Can you make the snake get the key down, and then unlock the chain yourself?"

Princess: ??? Do you think this is a dog training session?!

The camera crew outside: What kind of operation is this?!

This imagination deserves full marks. However, the princess was very cruel and said, "No, it won't work. It's not a dog, it can't do such amazing things."

"Okay..." Lian Qing could only take a deep breath and confirm again and again, "They won't bite people, right?"

"They won't, they are very obedient."

Despite the princess's assurance, Lian Qing was still afraid. He picked up a stick from the ground, carefully bypassed the big snake on the ground, and stood one meter away from the tree. He shook the stick towards the little thing on the tree, trying to lure it away.

However, everything was in vain. The snake held its ground and refused to budge. The man and the snake confronted each other like playing the game of "don't speak, don't move".

The princess under the tree restrained her nature and finally couldn't help but urge, "Can you hurry up? My feet are numb."

Lian Qing moved his mouth and hesitated to speak, but when he saw the fierce expression on the princess's face, he had to swallow back the retort and turned his head to stare at the location of the key. His master said that he should not provoke the women below the mountain, so he just wouldn't.

If you look closely, the key is still a little distance away from the snake. As long as his hand is fast enough, he can definitely grab it before getting bitten.

Thinking like this, Lian Qing firmly remembered the position, then closed his eyes, and reached out to that position. After grabbing the key by intuition, he was about to retract his hand at the speed of light. However, his hand moved too much, and he accidentally touched something cold and slippery.

Lian Qing was so scared that he let out a scream and shrank his hand, crouching down and shouting, "Sister, help me..."

The princess and the camera crew were stunned. They witnessed the first knight in history to call for the princess's help, a glorious moment indeed.

The princess regained her composure and spoke in a mature and elegant tone, "It wasn't a snake you just touched, but a tree trunk covered in moss. Look up and see for yourself."

Somewhat unsure, Lian Qing looked up at the princess and then at the trunk. He saw the mossy trunk where he had just touched.

He let out a long sigh and remained crouched. Cautiously looking at the motionless snake nearby, he gave the key to the princess to unlock the lock.

The princess could tell he was truly frightened and didn't want to see the handsome young man scared, so she changed the subject, "Do you think I'm pretty?"

"Probably," Lian Qing answered without looking up while unlocking the lock.

"What do you mean, probably?" The princess sighed, "Then, do you think I'm fit to be a princess?"

"In modern society, there are no princesses in our country, so you cannot be one, "Lian Qing answered plainly.

"Has anyone ever told you that you're quick to offend others?" The princess felt a headache coming on.

"Maybe. I can't remember," Lian Qing said, trying to recall where he had heard that before.

The princess was frustrated, "Nevermind. At least for today's show, I am the princess, and you have to call me that. Can you do that?"

"I can," Lian Qing finally looked up at her, "Can you do me a favor?"

"What? You're not asking me to marry you, are you?" The princess joked.

Lian Qing shook his head, "Can you not speak? Whenever you talk, I get distracted, and I still haven't opened this lock yet."

The princess fell silent.

"Or, can you open it?" Lian Qing handed the key to her.

The princess remained silent, so he took the key back and continued struggling with the rusty lock on the chain.

The lock on the chain was not easy to open, either due to rust or lack of lubrication from long disuse. After much effort, he finally managed to unlock it.

As the lock opened, he let out a sigh of relief. When he looked up to pull the princess out, he noticed the large snake on the ground. It had crept up unnoticed and was staring at him with its beady eyes glowing coldly.

At that moment, Lian Qing felt his scalp explode. He instinctively reached out to embrace the person next to him for protection, but then he remembered that there was only one girl beside him. He immediately stood up and turned around to embrace the only thing he could - the tree with the small snake hanging from it - while screaming, "Princess, save me ah ah ah...!"

The bewildered princess exclaimed, "?!!!"

The big snake was perhaps attracted by Lian Qing's scream and slowly crawled toward him. Seeing the snake getting closer, Lian Qing's whole body was covered in goosebumps. He unconsciously used force with his hands and the next moment, he heard a loud "pop". He looked down and saw the tree roots covered in fresh soil in his hands.

The princess, "...What the fuck!" She turned to look at the stunned camera crew outside and shouted, "Is this the celebrity you hired? Is he a knight? No, he's a monster, like Popeye!"

Although the tree wasn't very thick, it had been growing for some years and its roots were deep. Who would have thought that it would be uprooted by the "knight" standing in front of her!

Lian Qing looked blankly at the tree roots below for a moment, then at the big snake. At that moment, the big snake shrunk its head and quickly crawled towards the corner of the wall like a turtle, while the smaller snake that had been hanging on the tree trunk quickly crawled down and avoided Lian Qing's hand. It landed on the ground and quickly swam towards the big snake, looking like a poor baby snake seeking comfort from an adult.

Lian Qing thought to himself that snakes didn't seem that scary anymore.

Turning to look at the accusing expression on the princess's face, he guiltily slammed the tree to the ground and then held her hand tightly, saying, "Let's go."

The princess couldn't believe her eyes as she looked at the violently uprooted tree that he had nonchalantly slammed to the ground. She said incredulously, "Is that it?"

Lian Qing innocently blinked his eyes and said, "I'm sorry, it was an accident. If it doesn't survive, contact the program crew again for compensation."

The princess looked up to the sky in exasperation and said weakly, "Forget it, this tree is not worth anything, let's just go and finish the task."

So Lian Qing happily held the princess's hand, keeping an eye on the two snakes in the corner, and quickly retreated to the door.

The innocent tree stood quietly in place, swaying its helpless branches and leaves in the warm air conditioning.

The two snakes curled up silently in the corner, hugging themselves and crying - humans are so scary, sob!

TN:

LMFAO Little Monk just pulled a UNO reverse of the century. From the hunted to the hunter, The Max Level Little Monk Rises. The snakes have a psychological shadow now hehehe. Popeye hahahaha.

Going through the previously posted chapters, I'm noticing a lot of mistakes, like with grammar and some translation discrepancies that I didn't notice while posting. The raw translations tend to have a lot of mistakes and some parts don't make sense at all. I do my best to rephrase them to be as accurate as possible but with translating two novels at the same time, I lose track of time and some things escape my mental grammar radar. I don't have someone to help with editing or proofreading, also English isn't my first language, so it's easy for the mistakes to be overlooked. Therefore, if you spot some mistakes please point them out to me in the comments. I want your reading experience to be as smooth as possible. Like if there's XYZ Ge/Jie instead of Brother/Sister XYZ or if a sentence sounds off and could be phrased better, or there are mixed tenses(past and present). These are the common mistakes I have spotted. Ignore the 'Xiao gege' in this chapter, it's intentional. Thank you in advance.