That evening, a large group of rat laborers gathered near the mine.

The rat race are natural mining experts. They can easily descend into burrows in their original form and then revert to human form. They are hardworking, cooperative, intelligent, and most importantly, incredibly loyal to the Rat Queen and the Beast God.

If this were in modern times, Jin Shu would never be able to gather such a team of helpers.

The remaining half of the rat tribe began to dig coal mines throughout the mountain.

Jin Shu is quite proficient in and knowledgeable about the entire process of mining, refining, and all the intricate procedures within that process.

Here, she once again thanked her past self for being knowledgeable and versatile.

After meticulously dividing and arranging all the work processes, Jin Shu promoted several supervisors.

Then, in the next training phase, she would personally lead the training sessions, one group at a time.

After all, this job is highly dangerous, and even rats are bound to encounter various unexpected situations. In order to minimize the damage rate, Jin Shu took advantage of the time of stillness to make safety equipment for the rats using all the materials that could be found in the forest, such as thorns and hemp bark.

After spending a little more time together, Jin Shu discovered that this obese rat queen, whose feet were almost invisible when she bent over, was actually a little girl who was not yet an adult.

“We rats all look older than we are, so it’s normal for you to misunderstand.”

"So? You mean you want me to find you a male mate?"

"Yeah, I don't like mice. I like lions and tigers. You're so powerful, can you help me out?"

Jin Shu looked at her, her tone serious.

"A rat and a tiger cannot have offspring. You are the queen of rats, so you have to think about your next generation."

The purpose of the queen mouse is simply to reproduce in large numbers.

But the rat queen in front of her disliked this quite a bit.

"I was born to be the Queen of the Rat, but I would rather not be the Queen of the Rat."

I like strong men like tigers and lions. Even if it's not for having children, I'd be happy to have one just to have him around every day.

"Please help me out, and I'll give you another fifty laborers."

"Okay, deal."

Jin Shu remembered that there were traces of wild beasts on another mountain.

She decided to go out and try her luck.

Although the probability is very small, mapping is Jin Shu's job anyway, and she knows better than anyone what treasures she might encounter during the mapping process.

The mountain we are on now has been almost completely studied by Jin Shu.

She knew exactly which territory belonged to which tribe, and even the nests of poisonous insects and snakes were known to her.

So this time, she plans to go a little further away, since she has plenty of time.

This time, she brought with her the snake venom she had previously exchanged at the market, as well as the antidote she had developed herself.

After packing her things, Jin Shu set off on her way to another mountain.

After leaving Shihe, the situation ahead was quite unfamiliar to Jin Shu. However, she was experienced and could clearly plan her next route even when she entered a completely unfamiliar territory.

On the first day, Jin Shu found a nest of snakes that had been frozen stiff.

Such weather is indeed too difficult for cold-blooded animals.

The snake clan must have embarked on a migration, and along the way, some of the weaker members were left behind.

Take this nest of baby snakes, for example. They were clearly too weak to survive, so the group abandoned them when they saw that they were beyond saving.

Jin Shu pulled the dozen or so small snakes out of the snow and stuffed them all into the animal skin backpack she carried with her.

Snakes have low body temperature, so even if they are thrown into the snow, they will not freeze to death in a short time.

After that, Jin Shu did not go any further. Instead, she took the nest of snakes home and boiled a pot of herbal soup. Once the soup was at the right temperature, she soaked a burlap cloth in it and then wrapped the frozen snakes in the cloth.

During this time, Jin Shu heated the kang (a traditional heated brick bed) under the bed until it was burning brightly, and then placed the hypothermic snake on a thick animal skin blanket to wait for it to warm up.

The next day at daybreak, Jin Shu went to check on the little snake.

Jin Shu had thought that at most half of the snake cubs would survive, but she never expected that the snake cubs of the beast race would be so resilient.

If this were an ordinary snake, it would have died eight hundred times over after being frozen for so long in such cold weather.

And all of the dozen or so small snakes in front of us actually survived.

These snakes were all abandoned shortly after hatching, so when they saw Jin Shu for the first time after regaining consciousness, they mistook her for their mother.

As soon as they saw her coming, they excitedly wagged their tails and swam over.

Because the snake cubs were too small, Jin Shu couldn't immediately identify their species.

But she discovered that these small snakes all had venom glands on their back teeth, suggesting that they were a group of venomous snakes.

The young snake's glands are not fully developed yet, but it bites anyone it sees.

Besides Jin Shu, A Qi, as well as the curious Liang Xu and A Hai, were also bitten.

Even after being bitten, Ah Qi didn't seem to care.

"The snake isn't poisonous, it's fine."

Then, less than three seconds later, she collapsed to the ground, foaming at the mouth.

Fortunately, Jin Shu had obtained the snake venom from the snake cub beforehand to make an antidote, and quickly fed it to A Qi.

Since then, Ah Qi would keep a distance whenever she was fed, and if she had to get close, she would wear something with Jin Shu's scent.

Liang Xu and A Hai, who were also bitten, showed the same symptoms, with the venom taking effect very quickly.

Even after taking the antidote, the two looked at the nest of snake pups, each only as thick as a finger, with lingering fear and disbelief.

"How could such a small snake have such potent venom?"

This adult venom snake's venom is nothing special!

What's more, this is a small snake that has just hatched and whose venom glands are not yet fully developed.

If they were to be bitten like that when they grow up, they probably wouldn't even have a chance to take medicine before they just kick the bucket.

For this reason, Ah Qi specially took out his family's secret manual to study.

In the end, she actually found out the origin of the little snake.

"This should be the Mountain King Serpent. When it grows up, it will be as thick as my thigh. Its venom is extremely potent, and it belongs to a very powerful race on the Beast Continent."

However, this snake has a weakness: its venom is weaker in colder weather.

It is estimated that the abnormal temperature this year caused them to be weakened and they fled hastily after their enemies came looking for them.

After the baby snakes warmed up, their venom also subsided.

Jin Shu nodded.

"Then keep it. It can help me guard the house and prevent wild animals from coming down the mountain to steal my pigs."

Ah Qi couldn't help but laugh after hearing this.

"Just feeding them would require countless pigs."

The baby snakes have a very large appetite.

Jin Shu was also very generous; no matter how much she ate, she ate and grew to her heart's content.

(End of this chapter)