Zu An quickly scanned the surroundings. There wasn’t anything different about the valley he was in, other than the fact that the air was unnaturally crisp and refreshing. 

“Ah Zu, what should we do next?” asked Ji Xiaoxi.

“Let’s just wait here for the time being. There’s something weird about how the rats are reacting to this valley.” Zu An couldn’t see anything amiss about the valley, but he felt that it would be better safe than sorry.

Ji Xiaoxi nodded in agreement. She took out a water bottle from her waist pouch and took a sip. The earlier journey had really tired her out.

After hydrating herself, she passed the water bottle over to him and asked, “Do you want to have a sip too?”

Zu An shook his head and said, “Nah. I’ll probably finish the water in that small bottle of yours in a few gulps. You should save it for yourself instead.”

“Don’t worry, this is actually an artifact that my father had a runemaster make for me. Despite its small appearance, it’s able to store a lot of water. It’s plenty for the two of us.”

“A storage artifact!” Zu An was impressed. 

He took the bottle over and examined it, but he couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary. However, as he gulped down its contents, he realized that there was almost no end to the supply of water it contained.

Ji Xiaoxi couldn’t help but notice that Zu An was pressing his lips against the rim of the bottle as he drank, and her face reddened. She had expected him to pour the water into his mouth instead. Isn’t this an indirect… 

Nevertheless, she quickly calmed herself and said, “It’s not really a storage artifact. It can only be used to store water.”

So it’s a downgraded version of a storage ring. Zu An nodded in understanding. “Aren’t storage artifacts things that only exist in legends?” 

“It’s exaggerating to say that they only exist in legends, but they are indeed quite rare. Only top-notch runemasters are capable of forging them, and the space within most of them is limited. Even the larger ones can only store this amount of stuff…” Ji Xiaoxi gestured with her hands as a rough estimate.

Zu An nodded. So, around a cubic meter.

“Is there anything you want to eat? My father prepared quite a lot of food for me.” As she spoke, Ji Xiaoxi took out all kinds of food from her little pouch. There were desserts, biscuits, and even fruits.

“Woah, are you Doraemon?!” Zu An was utterly amazed. How in the world is such a small pouch holding so much stuff?! 

“This is also another artifact my father got a runemaster to forge for me. It can also be considered a type of storage artifact.” Ji Xiaoxi’s cheeks maintained a healthy trace of redness as she spoke, making her look incredibly adorable.

Zu An stared at her, speechless.

Just a moment ago, you told me that storage artifacts are extremely rare, but it turns out that you have two of them with you. Aren’t you just trying to show off right now?!

“These are osmanthus cakes from Xu Ji. They’re absolutely delicious. These are peach blossom cakes, a special product from the neighboring province. If you don’t like sweet things, I also have nuts with me too…” Ji Xiaoxi fished out a large bunch of tidbits and began introducing them one by one, her eyes gleaming with excitement as she showed off her little stash.

Zu An was momentarily dumbfounded. “It feels like you’re here to check out the sights as a tourist rather than to explore the dungeon.”

Ji Xiaoxi scratched her head in embarrassment. “I wasn’t planning on bringing so much stuff along with me, but my father was worried that I wouldn’t have any food to eat while I’m in here, so he stuffed all of these into my pouch.”

Zu An just stared.

Wow, who could tell that Ji Dengtu would actually turn out to be such a doting father?

Speaking of which, why didn’t the Chu clan prepare anything for me, then? Ahh, this disparity sure is heartbreaking. Hmmm, though it doesn’t seem like Chu Chuyan brought anything with her either. I guess the Chu clan is stricter with its family members; they see this as a trial.

Zu An tried his best to make himself feel better. 

There was an expectant look in Ji Xiaoxi’s eyes as she offered her desserts to him, so Zu An felt that it would be inappropriate to disappoint her. He tried the osmanthus cake, and his eyes immediately lit up with delight. “It’s fragrant!”

Meanwhile, the army of monstrous golden-furred rats, who were still camped outside the valley, flew into a state of rage. What the hell? It was tiring for us to chase you all the way here too! Do you know how parched our throats are after running for several hours straight? How could you have a picnic right in front of us?!

You have successfully trolled the Monstrous Golden-furred Rats for 6… 6… 6… 

Zu An’s eyes lit up. He was receiving a small number of Rage points from each of the rats, but there were an army of them out there, so the total he received came up to a sizeable amount.

Knowing that this was a good opportunity to squeeze out more Rage points from them, he turned to look at the army of rats and beckoned them over with a crook of his finger.

“Oh? Why are you all sitting there so pitifully? Why not come in and share our snacks?”

Behind him, Ji Xiaoxi blinked her large eyes in confusion. She couldn’t understand why Zu An was provoking those rats right now, but his tone was so annoying that even someone as mild-tempered as her felt an urge to beat him up.

As for the rats, they couldn’t understand what Zu An was doing, but his provocative tone and gesture were more than enough to fan the flames of their anger.

You have successfully trolled the Monstrous Golden-furred Rats for 6… 6… 6… 

Some of them couldn’t stand his teasing and tried to charge in, but they managed barely a few steps before hesitantly coming to a halt, then backing away.

Zu An was overjoyed by the huge influx of Rage points. A true keyboard warrior would never give up on an opportunity to troll, so he continued taunting them gleefully.

You have successfully trolled the Monstrous Golden-furred Rats for 6… 6… 6… 

Finally, one of the rats finally couldn’t stand it anymore and dashed right in. Notably, it had a bald patch on the back of its head.

With this rat leading the charge, the rest quickly succumbed to their rage and followed it in as well. While rushing forward, some of them pricked up their fur, preparing to shoot their spines.

“Crap. It looks like I accidentally went overboard.”

Alarmed, Zu An immediately turned tail and ran, only to realize that Ji Xiaoxi was still sitting on the floor like a dolt, munching on her snacks. He quickly ran over to grab her arm, then pulled her away with him.

“Ahhh! My candied fruits! I was just about to eat them!!!” Ji Xiaoxi stared at the snacks she had left on the ground, a horrified look on her face.

“I’ll replace them for you once we’re out of the dungeon!” shouted Zu An.

“You said the same thing when you borrowed my handkerchief the last time. You still haven’t repaid me yet,” murmured Ji Xiaoxi, slightly discontented. 

Zu An laughed sheepishly. He had really forgotten about that. “That too. I’ll pay everything that I owe you all at once.”

Having noticed that nothing had happened despite their reckless charge into the valley, the monstrous golden-furred rats were further emboldened. With furious squeaks, they continued to chase Zu An tenaciously. That damned human is just too hateful! We must rip off his flesh and gobble down his bones in order to vent our anger!

Due to the complicated terrain of this valley, it was much easier for Zu An and Ji Xiaoxi to escape this time around. However, to their dismay, they were still unable to shake the rats off their tail. There were simply far too many of them, and they had a sharp sense of smell as well. No matter how good of a hiding spot the two of them found, the rats would find them swiftly, and summon their comrades to encircle them.

In the end, they were forced into a corner, and decided to seek refuge in a big tree.

Unfortunately, the monstrous golden-furred rats still managed to find them in the end. It took only a few moments for a huge puddle of rats to pool beneath the tree.

They tried to climb up the tree trunk, but unfortunately, there were only so many rats that could climb up the tree trunk at once. Zu An was stronger than each of them, and he also had the advantage of the high ground. As a result, he could basically kill one of them with each slash. 

The leader of the monstrous golden-furred rats stepped atop one of the boulders and began squeaking away. Soon, they abandoned their initial plan of climb up the tree, and instead began to nibble away at the tree trunk. Once the tree was felled, they would pounce forward and tear those two humans to shreds.

Hearing the sound of wood being gnawed coming from below, Zu An started to panic a little. “Xiaoxi, do you have any poison that can knock all of them out?”

Medicine and poison were two sides of the same coin. Considering her competence in medicine, it was likely that she was fairly well versed in the use of poisons as well. 

“I do have something like that,” replied Ji Xiaoxi hesitantly.

Zu An stared at her, befuddled.

He was just asking out of desperation, and wasn’t really expecting much to come of it, but who could have known that she really had something like that? If that’s the case, why didn’t you use it earlier? We wouldn’t have to end up in such a desperate position in the first place!

Seemingly reading the questions in his mind, Ji Xiaoxi explained meekly, “I didn’t think that they’d done anything so overboard to justify such an action. Strictly speaking, we were the ones interrupting their peaceful lives. It feels wrong to poison them to death.”

Zu An was dumbstruck.

She’s simply too kind! I really can’t imagine how she’s managed to survive in this dangerous world to this day, given that kind heart of hers.

“What if the tree falls and we get eaten by them?” asked Zu An.

Ji Xiaoxi hesitated a little before replying, “I don’t know. They might just retreat in a moment. If it really does come to that point, I… I’ll poison them.”

Zu An knew Ji Xiaoxi’s personality, and he wasn’t ready to go so far as to force her to do something that went against her conscience. In truth, matters weren’t that dire yet. He could use Grandgale the moment the tree was felled to escape. At the very least, they should be able to break out of the rats’ encirclement.

As for whether they would really be able to escape from the rats or not, he would leave that to the whims of fate.

The two of them didn’t notice that, when the corpses of the monstrous golden-furred rats he had killed fell on the ground, their blood seeped through the ground at an unusually swift pace. There were no puddles of blood to be seen.

A short while later, one of the monstrous golden-furred rats was in the midst of nibbling on the tree trunk when it suddenly cried out in misery.

Zu An quickly took a look, only to see a palm sticking out through its back, made entirely of bone. Crimson blood flowed down the white bones in an eerie spectacle.

This sinister event marked the first of many deaths to come. More and more agonized cries echoed throughout the valley as other monstrous golden-furred rats fell victim to the same fate, impaled by bony white palms.

“Where did these things come from?” Zu An was appalled. He felt as though a horror movie was unfolding right before his eyes.

“Big brother Zu, I’m afraid!” Ji Xiaoxi subconsciously hid behind Zu An’s back, gripping his sleeves tightly.

“Xiaoxi, don’t be scared. I’ll make sure you’re well-protected,” Zu An reassured her.

He was extremely thrown-off by the unexpected occurrences as well, but somehow, the presence of a woman in need tended to fortify the guts of a man. He couldn’t allow himself to show cowardice in front of Xiaoxi.

He carefully examined the situation and soon figured out what was going on.

These bone palms hadn’t appeared out of nowhere—they were rising from the ground. They weren’t just limited to the area around the trees, either. As far as his eyes could see, the soil was loosening as palms rose up to strike the monstrous golden-furred rats.

“Just how many of them are there?!” Zu An swallowed.

Panic overwhelmed the monstrous golden-furred rats. Having come under such a frightening assault, how could they still be in the mood to nibble on the tree trunk? They fled for their lives right away, but to their dismay, it was a futile gesture. White hands rose from the soil to grab their legs. 

The rats squeaked in desperation, but the bones that made up these hands, despite looking so brittle that they could snap at any moment, harnessed a terrifying strength that none of them could break out of.

Soon, skeletons began rising from the ground. They weren’t entirely bones yet; most of them were still half-covered in flesh, and some even wore traces of clothing, although these clothes had mostly decomposed after being buried for far too long.

It might be much more accurate to call them ‘zombies’.

The zombies picked up the monstrous golden-furred rats in their hands, brought them up to their mouths, and began munching down on them. Blood flew through the air in great spurts. The valley was soon dominated by two sounds—the despairing cries of the monstrous golden-furred rats and the ripping of flesh. 

It was as if hell had descended upon the world.