The blood-red light had not yet faded, and the heavy, drum-like footsteps in the distance grew closer and closer, as if a colossal giant was striding towards them, each step making the earth tremble slightly.
Chen Shouzhou, Su Wan'er, and Lin Mo had just scrambled to their feet, preparing to face this unprecedented threat. However, the real crisis came not from afar, but from beneath their feet!
RUMBLE!
The ground beneath them suddenly collapsed without warning! Before they could react, dozens of swift, black shadows shot out from the resulting sinkhole like lightning.
These creatures were small but incredibly fast, with sharp, white fangs and a nauseatingly foul stench—mutated rats!
Their target was clear: not the people, but the farmland where they had just sown the seeds of hope. Like a swarm of locusts, they frantically tore at and destroyed the not-yet-fully-grown seedlings. What was even more infuriating was that after taking a bite, the rats would retreat back into their tunnels...
"Holy shit! My vegetables!" Chen Shouzhou's eyes were bloodshot, and he trembled with heartache. This was their future food supply!
"A'Jie!" he calmly commanded from outside. "Your mission isn't to kill the rats! It's to find their nest! Search the ruins for any suspicious rat holes and mark them with stones!"
"Dr. Su! Old Lin!" he turned to the other two. "Mix all our chemicals, especially the ones with pungent and corrosive smells, into the most potent sprays possible! We're going to give these bastards a taste of 'chemical warfare'!"
He himself turned and rushed to a corner of the warehouse, rummaging through boxes and cabinets for his "secret weapons"—moldy dried chilies, rotten entrails, and... the "strategic-grade fertilizer" he had collected from their simple latrine.
He looked at the "spicy supplies" in his hands, a truly "nuclear-level-benevolent" smile spreading across his face. "Tonight, we're not cooking dinner. We're making some all-natural, pollution-free, organic pesticide!"
The three of them immediately got to work with a clear division of labor.
That night, the swarm of mutated rats indeed attacked again. But as they approached the warehouse, they were immediately repelled by the odor barrier Su Wan'er and Lin Mo had set up, choking and stumbling back.
Then, standing on the watchtower, Chen Shouzhou began to hurl bottle after bottle of his "bioweapon"—a mixture of chili and feces water.
CRASH! CRASH!
The glass bottles shattered, and the explosive, spicy, and foul-smelling liquid spread like divine punishment, precisely covering the entire rat swarm.
SQUEAK—SQUEAK—!
The rat swarm instantly descended into chaos. They shrieked in agony, driven mad by the hellish stench, and scattered in all directions.
However, just as Chen Shouzhou thought the crisis was over, a massive dark shadow burst out from the ground beneath him. But its target was not Chen Shouzhou on the watchtower!
It was the Black-Toothed Rat King!
It seemed to disdain the petty traps and smells, and instead, with its battering-ram-like body, it slammed viciously into one of the warehouse walls.
BOOM—!
That wall happened to be the outer wall of the storage room where Zhao Tie and the Gray Wolf Captain were being held captive!
The already weak wall crumbled instantly under the Rat King's ferocious assault.
Zhao Tie and Gray Wolf were stunned by this sudden turn of events. They stared at the massive creature, the size of a large dog with huge, black fangs, and felt their scalps tingle.
The Rat King seemed to only want to break a path and ignored the two "prisoners." It roared, preparing to lead its swarm directly into the warehouse through the breach.
"An opportunity!" A glint of greed instantly flashed in Zhao Tie's eyes.
He saw a gap in the Rat King's charge. Instead of choosing to escape, he hissed at Gray Wolf, "Quick! Use the chaos to grab that notebook and their supplies! With those things, we can make a comeback!"
"Boss! It's too dangerous!" Gray Wolf still had a shred of reason left.
"Fortune favors the bold! Go!" Zhao Tie himself snatched up a broken steel bar from the ground and rushed towards the warehouse's storage area.
However, his greedy actions thoroughly enraged the already irritable Black-Toothed Rat King.
In the Rat King's eyes, everything in this warehouse was its prize. How dare these two weak humans try to steal its food right in front of it!
SQUEEEAK—!
The Black-Toothed Rat King let out a sharp, murderous shriek. It abandoned its attack on the warehouse, whipped around like a black bolt of lightning, and lunged straight at Zhao Tie, who was rummaging through the supplies.
"No—!"
Zhao Tie only had time to let out a desperate scream before the Rat King's massive, black fangs clamped down on his waist. With a sickening crunch of breaking bones, his entire body was effortlessly flung into the air and then slammed back down onto the ground. He died instantly, his eyes wide with disbelief.
"Boss!" Seeing this, Gray Wolf's eyes turned crimson. He didn't run. Instead, a final surge of courage ignited within him. He roared, raised his weapon, and charged at the Rat King, trying to avenge Zhao Tie.
But his resistance was futile in the face of absolute power.
The Rat King, annoyed, simply swiped a paw. Its sharp claws, like five daggers, instantly sliced open his throat. Gray Wolf clutched his neck, stumbled back a few steps, and then collapsed lifelessly into a pool of his own blood.
Chen Shouzhou watched all of this unfold with no emotion.
He looked coldly at the two enemies who had ultimately died because of their own greed and stupidity, then turned his gaze back to the Black-Toothed Rat King, which had just finished its meal.
"Alright, the appetizers are over," he said, raising the last, most concentrated bottle of his "special edition" spicy water. "Now, it's time for the main course."
He hurled the bottle with all his might. It landed squarely on the Rat King's eyes, which had turned even more blood-red from its recent feast.
SQUEEEAK—!
The Black-Toothed Rat King let out a furious roar.
"Now!" A'Jie and Su Wan'er, who had been waiting for this moment, immediately charged forward...
The battle began anew.
In the morning, sunlight once again streamed through the cracks in the warehouse roof, illuminating the weathered sanctuary.
The system's prompt arrived, right on cue.
[Ding! Congratulations, Host, for successfully defeating the Black-Toothed Rat King and defending the core resource area!]
[Ding! Detecting that key hostile characters 'Zhao Tie' and 'Gray Wolf Captain' are confirmed deceased!]
[Overall evaluation: S++! Reward: Basic Poison Formula x1, EXP +500!]
[Safe House level increased to Lv.3! 'Farmland' full functionality is now officially unlocked, allowing for basic crop cultivation!]
Chen Shouzhou, A'Jie, and Su Wan'er sat on the ground, filthy and exhausted. They looked at the two mangled corpses in the distance, then at the subdued Rat King at their feet, their feelings mixed.
"They... got what they deserved," A'Jie said in a low voice.
Chen Shouzhou nodded. He looked at the plot of land, which, though heavily damaged, was still resilient, his eyes filled with hope. "Yeah. And we saved our first piece of land."
As he finished speaking, a faint, timid meow came from the shadows at the warehouse entrance.
A scrawny, mottled cat was staring at them with wide, emerald-green eyes, both curious and wary...