Chapter 71: The End, A New Instance Begins!
Of course, the others didn’t know that the Rat King had already been dealt with.
Qin Fan continued leading his troops in search of the Rat King, intending to strike while the iron was hot and eliminate this menace completely to prevent it from threatening other bases.
Moreover, since Su Ning had the ability to detoxify, they no longer had to worry about the aftermath of poisoning and could focus entirely on the battle.
However, none of them could have guessed that the Rat King had already been taken care of by Number 2.
Without the Rat King’s control, the rat horde fell into chaos and was quickly defeated.
Fu Qingge looked at the defeated mutant rat horde before him and was puzzled, “Could it be that the Rat King’s escape caused the horde to lose control?”
Seeing the stark difference in the rat horde’s behavior with and without the Rat King, he fell deep into thought.
Lu You walked up to Fu Qingge and said, “Captain Fu, maybe Captain Tang’s attack seriously injured the Rat King, and it died not long after escaping.”
After all, Tang Yuanbin had bombarded it multiple times with his powerful Electromagnetic Cannon, so Fu Qingge found the explanation plausible.
However, they still needed proof of death. Alive or dead, they had to see it with their own eyes.
Qin Fan and his team searched the surrounding area for several days but never found any trace of the Rat King’s corpse.
Which made sense—because Su Ning had already placed the Rat King’s corpse into her personal storage space.
Su Ning was quietly pondering how to make use of the Rat King’s body.
She had considered having Huahua (the creature) devour it to obtain a special skill fruit, or letting Jiangjiang (the corpse controller) control it.
Both were good options, and it was a tough decision.
Although Jiangjiang had powerful corpse-controlling abilities, it was useless without a corpse to control.
Su Ning also felt she didn’t really lack any skills at the moment—her beast taming and mental control abilities still had lots of room for development, and she didn’t have the energy to take on more.
Although it’s said that “more skills never hurt”, Su Ning believed in taking things step by step.
In the end, she decided to let Jiangjiang control the Rat King’s body.
Thus, the Rat King officially became Jiangjiang’s new “mech suit.”
With that, the rescue mission came to an end.
Before returning to the Sixth Shelter, Su Ning was stopped by Tang Yuanbin.
He gave a small smile—clearly recovered well, without a trace of post-poisoning effects.
He gratefully said, “Xiao Su, I truly appreciate your help earlier. If not for you, the world might’ve lost such a handsome and powerful man like me. Can you imagine what a tragedy that would be?”
As he spoke, he playfully adjusted his hair, as if afraid the breeze might mess it up.
Su Ning couldn’t help but chuckle and teased, “Still in the mood to joke? Looks like Captain Tang’s recovery is going very well.”
Tang Yuanbin laughed heartily, then responded more seriously, “Calling me ‘Captain Tang’ is too formal. Just call me Brother Tang from now on. They say saving a life should be repaid with a lifetime of gratitude—but my heart already belongs to someone else, so let’s just be sworn siblings.”
Su Ning was speechless for a moment.
Seeing her reaction, Tang Yuanbin stopped teasing and solemnly said, “Thanks to you, I survived. If you ever run into trouble or need help in the future, don’t hesitate to find your Brother Tang. As long as it’s within my power, I’ll do my best.”
He had learned more about Su Ning’s background from Zhang Xing and deeply admired her resilience in surviving alone.
At first, upon hearing her situation, he wanted to take Su Ning back to the Third Shelter—after all, someone as talented as her would be a huge asset to any shelter.
But Zhang Xing firmly opposed the idea, saying, “Su Ning is one of our shelter’s staff! Captain Tang, you can’t just poach her!”
Zhang Xing acted as if he were guarding a treasure, insisting on repaying Su Ning himself and making it clear he wouldn’t let her be taken away under the guise of “helping her.”
Tang Yuanbin saw through Zhang Xing’s intentions, but he genuinely appreciated Su Ning’s strength and talent.
So he promised Zhang Xing that if Su Ning were ever willing to join the Third Shelter, he’d do everything in his power to help her grow stronger and give her the best treatment.
However, Zhang Xing still strongly opposed, firmly believing Su Ning should stay at their shelter.
Left with no choice, Tang Yuanbin gave Su Ning a promise instead:
If she ever encountered difficulties or needed anything, she could come to him, and he would help however he could.
Su Ning gratefully accepted his kind offer and said she would reach out if necessary.
Eventually, Su Ning got in the vehicle returning to the Sixth Shelter.
Fu Qingge watched her leave from afar, thinking of how fearless and decisive she was when using her powers to save the infected.
For a brief moment, he found himself drawn to her. But when it came to someone like Su Ning, his admiration was purely respectful, without any romantic feelings.
Seeing this, Tang Yuanbin smirked mischievously, “What’s with our Captain Fu?”
He joked, “Su Ning is my little sister now. If you want to pursue her, I won’t allow it. I know you already have a childhood sweetheart, don’t you?”
Fu Qingge turned coldly and walked away.
He said bluntly, “Don’t worry. I’m not like some people who are always chasing romance.”
Tang Yuanbin scratched his nose awkwardly, “It’s the end of the world—of course I want to be with the one I love. Who knows how long we have left before the next disaster strikes?”
After returning to the Sixth Shelter, Su Ning went back to her normal routine.
Thanks to her farming space, she raised chickens and grew vegetables when she had spare time.
Because of Honghong (the electric bee), honey production continued steadily.
But with free time came cravings—Su Ning suddenly wanted to eat hot pot.
However, she lacked enough meat, and let out a sigh, “As expected, there are still so many things I need.”
Since hot pot wasn’t an option, she decided to make something else.
Thanks to Honghong’s electricity-based powers, Su Ning had bought a lot of electronic appliances from other players’ in-game shops, like a refrigerator and an oven.
Electricity was still scarce in the shelter and only supplied to essential areas.
But with Honghong as her personal generator, Su Ning enjoyed total energy freedom.
That day, she asked No. 4 to prepare a grand feast for her. She had a hunch—a new game instance was coming soon.
She wasn’t sure if it was just paranoia, but she had a feeling that the upcoming instance would be dangerous.
After finishing the feast and organizing her things, a system alert suddenly rang in her ears:
[Ding! The Survival Game is about to begin. All players, please prepare!]
[Ding! Instance – Cosmic Mining Site – is officially starting!]
[Ding! Players must complete the assigned mission within this instance in order to return.]
In the next second, Su Ning’s figure vanished.
A new instance begins.
(End of Chapter)
