Chapter 67: The Powerful Rat King
No one had expected the Rat King to strike first.
Everyone had underestimated both the Rat King’s abilities and its intelligence.
Through No. 3’s sensory feedback, Su Ning could see the clever gleam in the Rat King’s eyes.
Those eyes were full of cunning and intelligence, as if it were plotting something.
At that moment, information about the Rat King appeared before Su Ning:
[Player: Mouse Mouse (Former Name)]
Description: A gluttonous hamster. Formerly a pet, it rose to kingship after obtaining player status, possessing extremely high intelligence.
Talent: Devour and Strengthen – can strengthen itself and gain new abilities by devouring.
Skills: Virus Mist, Rodent Control, Beast Mutation, Razor Claws.
Su Ning was completely stunned after reading the data.
Huh?!
She had expected a savage monster—who would’ve thought the Rat King used to be a pet hamster?
And that talent… it was absurdly powerful!
“Is it trying to devour its way to godhood?”
It even had four skills—more than any entity Su Ning had encountered so far.
[Virus Mist]: Emits a highly infectious gray toxic mist that poisons enemies with incredible contagiousness.
(This was one of the key reasons for the fall of Shelter No. 9.)
Su Ning herself had a poison-based ability, so she understood the danger very well.
[Rodent Control]: Can control vast numbers of rats and sense the world through them.
After reading the detailed description, Su Ning paused—then remembered the rat swarm she encountered with Tang Yuanbin and the others the day before.
“Wait, were we already noticed by the Rat King then?”
The thought sent chills down her spine. This creature… was terrifyingly smart.
“So it knew how powerful Tang Yuanbin and Fu Qingge were, and chose to attack only when they were away from the rescue base?”
[Beast Mutation]: Animals that have consumed its blood mutate.
[Razor Claws]: A powerful offensive technique.
Seeing this combination of abilities made Su Ning sigh.
“This Rat King isn’t simple. It’s definitely a very tricky opponent.”
She realized the Rat King wasn’t just another mutated creature—it had genuine intelligence.
This discovery shocked Su Ning, as she hadn’t anticipated it at all.
She had assumed the Rat King was simply a powerful, gifted animal.
Then she thought of her own awakened pets—Huahua, Honghong, and Jiangjiang. They, too, had shown intelligence post-awakening.
Su Ning knew their intellect was entirely due to the Star Fruit. Without it, even with awakening, they would never have become so sentient.
But what surprised Su Ning the most was that the Rat King had chosen to attack when the strongest fighters in the shelter were gone.
She couldn’t help but mutter, “Looks like we’ve been ignoring the fact that animals have been quietly growing stronger.”
Humans always seem to underestimate the intelligence of animals.
Now that it was clear the earthquake had been caused by a rat swarm under the Rat King’s command, the most urgent matter was figuring out how to escape.
Suddenly, the surrounding crowd began screaming. The ground cracked open, and giant mutant rats began emerging, attacking the people in the temporary shelter.
“Rats! Huge rats!!”
Jiang Nana didn’t hesitate—she drew the whip from her waist and began lashing wildly at the attacking rats.
Her movements were swift and powerful, each whip strike slicing through the air with force, driving back the giant rodents.
Meanwhile, Su Ning quickly scanned the area, searching for an exit or defensive position.
Jiang Nana shouted, “God, rats again!” She’d always hated rats the most.
This time, Kou Dingshan didn’t panic like before. He seriously surveyed the situation—this was clearly not a small-scale attack anymore.
“Nana, we can’t stay and fight—we have to leave. We’re completely surrounded. If we want to survive, we must escape.”
Jiang Nana didn’t have time to think. The moment she heard Kou Dingshan, she sprang into action.
She fought off the giant rats surrounding her while preparing to flee.
She also wanted to pull Su Ning along—but in the chaos, Su Ning was nowhere in sight.
She could only hope Su Ning would survive this crisis safely.
But Su Ning wasn’t panicking like the others.
Instead, she was thinking about using this chaos as an opportunity to test out her skill: [Beast Taming].
Up until now, she hadn’t had the chance to use it—there’d been no valid targets.
Now that she was surrounded by mutant rats, it was the perfect moment to try.
She shot a paralyzing poison dart at one of the attacking rats. Within seconds, the rat froze up, completely stiffened.
Su Ning quickly approached and activated her [Beast Taming] skill.
But instead of the rat submitting, something else happened.
She triggered the awareness of a far more terrifying presence.
“Sh*t!” Su Ning cursed out loud.
All these mutant rats were under the Rat King’s control—of course it would notice someone trying to steal its minions.
Immediately, all the scattered rats locked onto her as a target and began charging at her.
Su Ning wanted to flip off the sky.
Seriously?! All this for just trying to poach one rat?!
She looked around. The rats were now coordinating—all headed straight for her.
She thought about the Rat King’s behavior.
They hadn’t even seen it directly, yet it was manipulating everything from the shadows.
If not for No. 3’s sensory data, she wouldn’t have even known it was involved.
This thing wasn’t just strong—it was cunning as hell.
Then she remembered one of her titles—”Little White Flower”—and wondered, “Would that title have any effect on animals?”
But she couldn’t afford to test that theory now. Her taming attempt had failed, and she’d attracted the Rat King’s attention. She didn’t dare try anything more reckless.
She was now surrounded and couldn’t break through.
“Tsk. Look at you, getting all worked up just because I tried to steal one follower.”
No one else was around.
Su Ning prepared to summon No. 2—her digger—and tunnel her way out.
“Rats aren’t the only ones who can dig, y’know.”
Just as she was about to begin her escape, a voice shouted from above.
“Su Ning! Get up here!”
Su Ning looked up, confused—only to see a floating metal sheet overhead, carrying Zhang Li and Zhao Fuqing.
Zhao Fuqing was drenched in sweat, struggling to control the metal’s flight.
Without hesitation, Su Ning leaped onto the floating platform.
Zhao Fuqing gritted his teeth and pushed the metal forward, speeding them away from the area.
But the rats weren’t giving up.
They kept chasing relentlessly.
Meanwhile, Qin Fan—who was in the middle of a meeting with others—received news that the temporary base had been attacked by the Rat King.
His expression darkened instantly.
He looked at the people still arguing about the ownership of the new shelter.
In his mind, he wanted nothing more than to cut every single one of them down.
The fat man leading the argument had initially shown some concern after hearing the news—
but now his face lit up with glee, clearly enjoying the misfortune of others.
(End of Chapter)
