Chapter 40 Killing the Rat King and Retreating
King of the Golden-Toothed Rat: Dementia.
Gold-Toothed Rat King: ...chew.
Its cheeks twitched, and it subconsciously grabbed the ore and kept stuffing it into its mouth. Suddenly, it stopped, stared intently at the intruder, and released its grip, causing the ore to fall to the ground with a crackling sound.
Fang Zhiyi, who was about to escape, felt a chill on the back of his neck. After meeting the Rat King's gaze, he gave an awkward smile.
"Sorry to bother you—"
He reached out his hand to greet him in a friendly manner, but forgot that he was still holding the sonic rodent repeller. He must have accidentally pressed a switch somewhere, because the repeller started vibrating wildly and buzzing, the sound waves becoming increasingly intense.
"squeak!"
The Gold-Toothed Rat King became restless, its two sharp incisors clenching together with a grinding sound.
It seems that the sonic rat repellent not only failed to work, but also triggered the rat king's ferocity.
Fang Zhiyi stuffed the sonic rat repellent into his pocket and ran away.
After running for a while, I heard a loud creaking sound behind me, followed by a violent earthquake.
The falling stones became more frequent, pounding against Fang Zhiyi's miner's helmet. Everything went black; his helmet was smashed, and the light emanating from it dimmed.
【Injuried】
[Stamina-10]
Another rock crashed down, a sharp pain shooting through his shoulder. He reached down and touched it; it was covered in crimson blood. He didn't care about that now; gripping the mine wall, he staggered towards the exit.
"Squeak!"
The Gold-Toothed Rat King pursued relentlessly, its bulky body crowding the mine tunnel, making the fragile structure even more precarious. Finally, the mine tunnel could no longer bear the weight and collapsed. The rock strata lost their support, and large chunks of rock fell down.
Gravel flew around Fang Zhiyi's feet. He raised his hand to shield his eyes from the billowing dust and could vaguely see a stone wall blocking his path. He turned to take another route, but when he looked back, he saw the Golden-Toothed Rat King blocking his way, glaring menacingly.
Fang Zhiyi took a deep breath and changed his title to [Snow Hunter].
Passive skill tracking.
It can detect the tracks of prey within 10 meters.
A piece of information flashed before my eyes.
【Golden-Toothed Rat King】
【Stamina 179/200】
[Hunger] [Hate]
The Gold-Toothed Rat King frantically clawed at the ground, leaving white marks with its sharp claws. Then, with a "squeak," it lunged forward and opened its blood-red maw to bite down.
Fang Zhiyi rolled over to dodge.
The Gold-Toothed Rat King missed its target and, due to excessive force, crashed headfirst into the stone wall. The impact caused the pile of stones blocking its path to collapse with a deafening roar. Dizzy and disoriented, it lay sprawled on top of it, its hind paws dangling in the air as it struggled and thrashed. Finally managing to stand, it shook its head, rubbed its cheeks, and laboriously moved its massive body to look around.
The mine collapsed, and stones of all sizes piled up on the ground, forming a natural barrier.
Fang Zhiyi leaned against a rock, pulled a longbow from his backpack, drew a burning arrow, nocked it, and pulled back the bowstring with force. The arrow fletching trembled slightly, and the sharpened arrowhead reflected a red light.
Draw the bow, aim, shoot—
call out!
The arrow soared through the air, striking the bullseye. The moment it made contact with the target, the arrowhead exploded, scattering countless sparks in the dimly lit mine.
Its snow-white fur was charred, and the pain made the Gold-Toothed Rat King even more agitated. It grabbed its cheeks and looked up at the sky, letting out a sharp "squeak" sound.
As Fang Zhiyi retreated, he drew his bow and continued to fire burning arrows at the Rat King.
With the title of "Snow Hunter," all the prey in front of you are digitized, allowing you to see the damage and stamina more intuitively.
Each arrow deals 10 damage, and the burning effect after the explosion will cause you to lose 1 point of stamina every second.
The Gold-Toothed Rat King has a stamina of 179. So, how many arrows are needed in total?
Before it could even calculate, the Gold-Toothed Rat King arched its back, its eyes flashing scarlet, and with a sharp, piercing cry, its body suddenly swelled up, its fur standing on end, forming a sturdy armor.
【Golden-Toothed Rat King】
【violent】
【Stamina 300/300】
The berserk Goldfinch grew to a whole size, its stamina increasing to 300 and fully recovered. All its previous efforts were essentially wasted.
Fang Zhiyi flicked his finger and shot out another arrow.
The explosive arrow struck the Rat King without even scratching its fur; the arrowhead was deflected and bounced to the side.
"roar--"
The Gold-Toothed Rat King let out a roar, the sharp sound waves spreading out and causing the entire mine to tremble slightly.
Fang Zhiyi fired arrows in succession, attempting to force the Gold-Toothed Rat King back. However, the arrows' damage was too low, and they couldn't break through the defense at all. Raising his hand again, he found only one burning arrow left in his backpack. Gritting his teeth, he stuffed the bow and arrow back in, first creating distance between himself and the Gold-Toothed Rat King.
The underground mine tunnels are as intricate and complex as a spider web; if you're not careful, you'll stray from your original route.
He couldn't worry about that now. Fang Zhiyi ran wildly along the mine tunnel, trying to stall until the berserk state disappeared.
But the Gold-Toothed Rat King became more and more courageous as it chased, showing no signs of fatigue.
Fang Zhiyi, however, was the first to run out of energy. His steps became unsteady, and he glanced at the dim mine with the corner of his eye. He rolled to the side and squeezed into a narrow crevice.
With his back pressed tightly against the damp, cold, and sharp stone wall, he suppressed his rapid breathing and looked out through the crack. In the dim light, he could hear heavy footsteps approaching from afar.
A pair of scarlet eyes lit up and darted around.
The Gold Rat King, dragging its bloated and enormous body, squeezed into the mine tunnel. Unable to see Fang Zhiyi's figure on either side, it impatiently grabbed a handful of ore and stuffed it into its mouth.
Click, click.
Its sharp front teeth gnawed the ore into fragments.
It seemed to be starving, stuffing everything in its path into its mouth. In the blink of an eye, the mine tunnel was completely devoured. Its belly was like a bottomless pit; it could never get enough to eat, and it banged its head against the wall in a fit of rage.
The place where they were hiding shook, and fine sand and gravel fell down in a flurry.
Fang Zhiyi held her breath and dared not move.
But hiding it like this isn't a solution.
If the Gold-Toothed Rat King doesn't leave and fails to return to the camp before dark, he will also be eliminated.
Seeing the Gold-Toothed Rat King becoming increasingly agitated due to lack of food, a sudden inspiration struck him.
Open the interface of Youjia Fresh Supermarket and search among the rows of shelves.
Supermarkets mainly sell fruits, fresh produce, rice, oil, and salt, which are all items that are most likely to attract rats. For hygiene and safety reasons, supermarkets keep rat poison on hand and regularly carry out pest control.
Looking around, Fang Zhiyi took out rat poison from the staff room.
Looking at the size of the Gold Rat King, one bag wasn't enough, so I took them all out.
[A Fresh Food Supermarket Lv.3 (Bound)]
Today's pickup count (3/8)
After five pickups, five packets of rat poison were retrieved and neatly placed in front of me.
Tear open the packaging.
The sound of the plastic bag being torn echoed clearly through the mine tunnel.
The Gold-Toothed Rat King's ears twitched, and it suddenly turned around. Its whiskers twitched, and it walked step by step toward its hiding place.
A huge shadow loomed over.
"Squeak!"
Before I could even get close to the crack to see what was hidden inside, I heard something being spilled on the ground, emitting an enticing aroma.
...It smells so good.
A hint of confusion flashed in the eyes of the Gold-Toothed Rat King, but it was quickly overwhelmed by the urge to eat. Without thinking, it grabbed something from the ground and started munching on it.
It smells so good!
More, more, more—
The Gold-Toothed Rat King went into a state of frenzied eating.
Fang Zhiyi was not surprised.
Rat poison contains attractants to lure rats to eat it.
He tore open the remaining rat poison and threw it all out.
The Gold-Toothed Rat King was engrossed in its meal, head down and rear end sticking out, completely unaware that the toxins were slowly taking effect.
【Golden-Toothed Rat King】
[Poisoning]
[Stamina-3]
[Stamina-3]
[...]
While poisoned, its strength kept dropping. When it was down to only one-third, it finally realized something was wrong, banged against the wall, and rolled on the ground, trying to vomit up what it had eaten.
"vomit--"
"Ugh!"
Pieces of ore, coated with gastric juices, were vomited up, and the poisoning symptoms were somewhat relieved.
The Gold-Toothed Rat King stood up unsteadily, stared at the crack in the corner, and slowly moved closer.
Its scarlet eyes widened, revealing everything through the gaps, and it stretched out its claws to dig inside, venting its rage wildly.
Kill, bite to death, eat, eat, eat—
The crevice was dug into pieces, a complete mess. Looking up, however, there was nothing inside.
The Golden-Toothed Rat King was momentarily stunned.
Where are they?
The next moment, a voice came from behind.
"Looking for me?" Fang Zhiyi waved at it.
The Gold-Toothed Rat King was furious and pounced with a howl, but Fang Zhiyi was faster. He bit open the cork and swallowed the high-grade berserk potion in one gulp.
Strength and speed +200%!
I'm going to get first place!
Double the power and speed, double it, and double it again!
Place your fingers on the longbow, draw the bowstring to a semi-circle, aim, and shoot!
The Gold-Toothed Rat King was so familiar with this bow that the arrows didn't hurt it at all, so it didn't even think about dodging and charged straight at it.
However, Fang Zhiyi wasn't aiming at the Rat King, but rather at the crumbling ceiling of the mine tunnel.
At this moment, everything happening before my eyes slows down.
The Rat King leaps into the air.
Arrows spinning at high speed, piercing the air.
The sand and soil fell in a soft rustling sound.
The burning arrow struck the top of the mine, sending sparks flying. The already fragile mine collapsed under the force of the impact, burying the Gold Rat King underneath.
The Gold-Toothed Rat King was struck by a boulder, letting out a shrill scream as it frantically clawed at the ground, trying to crawl out.
However, after the berserk state disappeared, he fell into a weakened state. Due to the effects of the poison, he had less than a third of his strength left. He was too weak to break free and his haphazard struggles only aggravated his injuries.
"Squeak squeak squeak!"
The Gold-Toothed Rat King kicked its hind paws with all its might, its scarlet eyes gradually dimmed, and even its struggles became powerless. Finally, its paws twitched, and it completely lost its strength, turning into a wisp of white light and disappearing.
You have defeated the Gold-Toothed Rat King.
With his speed doubled, Fang Zhiyi had already escaped far away before the mine tunnel collapsed. Now, having received news of the kill, he cautiously circled back.
Covering their mouths and noses, they waved away the billowing dust; the road ahead was blocked by falling rocks.
Fang Zhiyi took out a pickaxe and knocked away the obstacles blocking his way, finally seeing the props scattered all over the ground.
[Rat Backpack x1, Fur x8, Gold x14, Iron x12, Stone x23, Strange Key x1, Gold-Toothed Rat Nest x1, Rat Crown x1]
The Goldtooth Rat lives in a mining area, so it's normal for it to drop so many ores. However, its backpack is simply too full, so it has to go pick up other things first.
Mouse down backpack.
The backpack looks like a soft, cuddly mouse plush toy, but when you put it on your back, it instantly adds eight more compartments to your backpack's capacity.
It's like a pillow coming to someone who's sleepy.
Fang Zhiyi quickly picked up everything on the ground and stuffed it into his backpack. He didn't have time to look at it carefully. He felt the mine start to shake again, so he quickly walked out.
The mine tunnels were extremely fragile after being damaged one after another, and he didn't want to be buried underneath them and eliminated because of a mine tunnel collapse.
The mine tunnels were intricate and the visibility was poor, making it difficult to determine the direction for a while.
He patted his miner's hat on his head, the light flickered, and then came back on.
Fortunately, the Gold-Toothed Rat King had violently destroyed the passage when it caught up, leaving obvious traces on the path. Following the marks, it didn't take long to find the correct way. After chiseling away the obstructing rocks, the steps leading to the exit appeared before them.
Fang Zhiyi emerged from the mine and returned to the surface.
The vast expanse of white snow reflected a blinding light; if you stayed in the dark for too long, your eyes would be stinging.
I quickly put on my goggles, and after a long while my vision cleared up, I looked at the sky and realized that more than half a day had passed.
Fang Zhiyi touched his face and found his hands covered in dust. He grabbed a handful of snow and rubbed his cheeks. Without even taking a break, he hurried toward the camp.
A guest is about to arrive at the campsite. Please greet them promptly.
【00:59:59】
Entering the camp, we kept the wind and snow out.
The uninvited guest will arrive in one hour.
Whether it's an NPC or a player, Fang Zhiyi needs to be fully prepared.
The first thing to do upon returning to camp is to add firewood to maintain the temperature inside.
I sat by the campfire to warm myself up. As the temperature rose, my body, which had been numb from the cold, gradually regained sensation. Then came the pain, itching, and numbness from my wounds.
Fang Zhiyi winced in pain.
After being tossed around by the Gold Rat King all the way, crawling and rolling, his body was covered in scratches and bruises from being hit by ore.
He wanted to make a healing ointment, but found he had no apples left. Since he had left the camp, the materials harvested by the automatic logging machine were piled up there. Fang Zhiyi limped over, picked up the apples, and started crafting the healing ointment.
After using the ointment, the wounds on my body were completely healed, but I still had the negative status of "weakness".
This is a side effect of using the advanced berserk potion; your maximum stamina will be reduced by 20 until tomorrow.
Fortunately, all the skill points were previously allocated to stamina, so losing 20 points is not a big deal.
Fang Zhiyi rubbed the tip of his nose and looked at the things that had fallen off the Rat King.
The Mysterious Key
Perhaps we can open one of the boxes on the east side of the forest. Who hid it there?
[Golden Teeth Rat Nest]
Check your mouse's burrow every day; you might find a pleasant surprise.
[After placement, you can harvest 10 stones, 10 gold, and 10 iron daily.]
【Rat Crown】
[A shimmering crown; when decorated, increases camp environment value by 5 and defense by 10%]
The crown and the mouse nest were placed side by side.
"squeak--"
The mouse burrowed around in its nest, and a tiny mouse cautiously emerged, looked around, and finally crawled out of the camp, leaving a trail of tiny footprints in the snow.
[The mouse is mining]
The hamster crown had an incredible effect on the hamster.
Loyalty!
[Mouse efficiency +20%]
With the rat burrows for collecting ore, there's no need to go to the mining area anymore.
Fang Zhiyi arrived in front of the furnace.
The furnace was constantly working, with flames shooting into the sky, as one ore after another was melted and forged.
After harvesting 10 iron ingots and 10 gold ingots, new fuel and ore were added.
If you can't handle it, then work yourself to death.
The furnace worked tirelessly, letting out a "moo" sound.
Fang Zhiyi placed the iron ingots, gold ingots, and energy crystals together and chose to upgrade the crafting table.
A series of clanging sounds rang out.
The basic crafting station has been upgraded to the intermediate level.
The work surface appears more spacious, and there are more tools on it. Opening the crafting interface reveals even more items that can be created.
[Trap] [Storage Box] [Barbed Wire]...
Fang Zhiyi used 6 pieces of wood to make a storage box.
A rectangular box was placed in front of me. Opening it revealed 12 storage spaces for materials. As long as I was in the camp, I could use the contents of the box to craft items and construct buildings at any time.
Fang Zhiyi put the materials such as fibers, fur, and bones that she didn't need for the time being into the backpack, which freed up several compartments to store other things.
No more worrying about not having enough slots when picking up trash.
I browsed through the creation page.
To prepare for the impending uninvited guests, Fang Zhiyi also crafted traps and barbed wire. Since he had plenty of materials, he decided to use them all to arm the camp.
Traps were placed all around the camp, and barbed wire was hung on the stone walls... They were armed from head to toe.
After finishing all this, Fang Zhiyi remembered the winter seeds she had planted.
Without sufficient nutrition, the seeds wilted in winter, and the leaves drooped.
The seed needs 10 wood, 10 stone, 10 iron, and 10 gold to grow. Fang Zhiyi would definitely have been reluctant to spend these resources before, but now that he has made a full evacuation from the mining area, his backpack is stuffed full, so he doesn't need to worry about these materials.
Take out the materials and feed them to the winter seeds. After receiving water, the leaves, which were originally the size of a fingernail, instantly swelled up, and the ice-blue branches and leaves stretched upwards, with clear veins like the patterns of snowflakes.
[Winter Seeds - Growing Period]
[Requires 10 iron ingots, 10 gold ingots, and 10 hardwood]
Are you coming again?
Iron and gold ingots are both second-grade materials, requiring forging in a furnace to obtain, and there's simply not enough of them right now. As for hardwood... he doesn't have a single piece himself, let alone enough to grow winter seeds.
Fang Zhiyi could only put it aside for the time being and figure out where to get some hardwood.
Hardwood—this should be found in the forest. He'd only collected ordinary wood on the outskirts of the forest; did he have to go deeper into the forest?
Recalling the fragments of stars that fell from the sky and landed in the forest, it seems this trip is absolutely necessary.
According to the information received at the hunter's cabin, there was definitely danger deep in the forest.
If we're going, we need to prepare food and healing ointments, and we've run out of bows and arrows. It seems we can make bone arrows using bones and bird feathers...
Fang Zhiyi was so engrossed in his thoughts that he didn't realize the countdown had reached zero, and a knock came at the door outside the camp.
Bang! Bang!
Before anyone could react, a muffled voice asked again, "Is anyone there?"
Fang Zhiyi looked toward the direction from which the sound came.
The snow was falling heavily, everything was blurry, and you couldn't see anything clearly.
In the wind and snow, the sounds became distorted, as if they were growling.
"……Are you there?"
"Are you there???"
The heavy pounding on the door shook the snow off the stone wall, and even the firelight flickered in the strong wind.
Your guest is getting impatient.
Your guest is about to leave.
The sounds outside the door gradually faded.
Fang's thoughts were racing.
Should we open the door?
If a guest arrives unexpectedly and wants to enter the camp, to be on the safe side, it's best to let him leave. It seems there won't be any punishment even if we don't receive him.
Is that really the case?
Fang Zhiyi put himself in the shoes of someone else. If he braved the wind and snow to visit someone only to be left waiting at the door, he would definitely be angry and annoyed. If he really didn't open the door, it would be a minor matter if the guest turned into an enemy; what would happen if he missed something else, affecting his subsequent survival mission?
...There are dangers, but also rewards. Let's give it our all!
Just as the knocking was about to stop, Fang Zhiyi finally made a decision, stepped forward, and pulled open the camp gate.
"Hello... um?"
Outside the door stood a polar bear over two meters tall, its paws raised in mid-air, about to strike.
"……people?"
"……Bear?"
The man and the bear faced each other, and both were stunned.
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