17: Chapter 17 The Rats' Demise, and a Demon Core!

"Squeak, squeak!"

"Squeak, squeak!"

Inside the Demon Rats Immortal Cave.

The rats were eating.

They gnawed on root-like food.

As the food was distributed, the cave fell silent.

Only the sounds of crunching remained.

Centered around the Rat King, a circle of Demon Ratss, as large as cats and dogs, gathered.

These large rats had prominent incisors, and their pupils glowed faintly red in the darkness.

Their bodies were pitch black, but their claws were flesh-colored.

Behind them, a long, hairless tail looked repulsive.

They exuded a faint Demonic Qi.

Further out, there was a circle of over a dozen female rats, smaller in size, with their young beside them.

The outermost circle consisted of a group of relatively normal-sized rats.

At this moment.

The outermost rat discovered something had appeared at its feet, seemingly out of nowhere.

The object rolled to its feet.

Its nose twitched, and its crimson eyes blinked.

There was a scent.

It was food!

Delicious food!

So it pounced.

At the same time, similar situations successively occurred among its companions.

"Squeak—!"

"Squeak—!"

The core Demon Ratss suddenly heard the outer layer of rats emit sharp squeals.

Some were still intently devouring their food, while others stopped.

By now, most of the outer rats had already started tearing into each other.

The commotion grew louder.

It attracted the Rat King's attention.

But it didn't intervene.

Apparently, rats fighting over food was a common occurrence.

It ate the largest piece of food, lying on a piled-up mound of earth, watching.

Rats have poor eyesight in the dark, but the Rat King, which had become a spirit, was an exception.

It treated the struggles of its subordinates as a form of entertainment.

This showed that its intelligence was also far superior to its other kin.

However, the situation quickly changed.

Several of the huge Demon Ratss surrounding the Rat King began to stir.

Finally, one of them jumped up and rushed out, joining the struggle.

What they were fighting over was food the color of mud.

So the Rat King thought it might be worms freshly dug from the earth.

Having just eaten flesh and blood during today's hunt, the Rat King was not interested in this.

"Squeak!"

It glanced at them and continued to gnaw on the root it held.

Root stems containing faint Spiritual Qi were what it should be eating before the moon came out.

But more and more of its subordinates were jumping up.

Soon, the battle spread throughout the entire rat swarm.

The rats bit and fought over food, showing no mercy.

The huge Demon Ratss attacking ordinary rats immediately drew blood.

The smell of blood quickly wafted through the air.

Dismembered limbs, flesh, and even heads flew.

The female rats with their young were also affected.

"Squeak—"

The Rat King issued a warning command.

It didn't care about the lives of its subordinates.

The ones dying were the lowest-level rats, and there were plenty of those.

But these young rats were its Bloodline and couldn't be easily killed.

However, the subordinates caught in the struggle seemed to have also fallen into a frenzy.

They only paused slightly when the cry was issued, then continued their actions.

"Roar—"

The Rat King warned again, but was ignored.

It was enraged.

Red light emanated from its body, and its size grew another circle.

It raised its claw.

A surge of demonic power fell towards the head of one of the Demon Ratss.

"Puff!"

The Demon Rats clutched its head and fell to the ground, the food it had snatched flying towards the Rat King.

"Ooh?"

The Rat King caught the ball of food.

Just as it was about to flick it away with its claw, its nose suddenly twitched.

This thing smelled so good!

After only a slight hesitation, it put the food into its mouth.

Its instinct told it that something so fragrant could be swallowed!

Moreover, many of its subordinates had eaten some during their scramble, and nothing had happened to them.

Next, the chaotic scramble continued.

The Rat King also joined the snatching.

It would occasionally stop suddenly, as if trying to forcefully suppress its greed.

Unfortunately, it was ineffective.

In the end, it ate the most.

The rats on the periphery, being of low intelligence, did not realize that the constant appearance of fragrant objects rolling to their side was an anomaly.

Food delivered to their doorstep was a good thing.

The larger rats that snatched from them felt that these bottom-tier rodents actually hid so much delicious food, they deserved to die!

As for the Rat King.

It struggled between reason and desire.

Every time it was about to sober up, it would quickly fall into another illusion.

Until the fragrant food stopped appearing.

By this time, however, the rat swarm had gone completely mad.

They bit and scratched each other.

The Rat King, with blood-red eyes, ferociously pounced on its subordinates.

It grabbed their heads and bit at their throats.

But soon, they seemed to have sobered up.

As if nothing had happened.

Following their instincts, they returned to their respective Immortal Caves.

...

"I lost, I lost."

A huge rat.

It was actually bigger than him, a young tiger!

"This is unscientific!" Feng Yifan muttered, looking at the Rat King.

He immediately realized he had spoken nonsense.

In this world, being unscientific was actually scientific.

Previously, he had 'watched' this Rat King lead its subjects into the new Immortal Cave.

There seemed to be no trace of outsiders entering, nor any sign of them leaving.

The area Feng Yifan had flooded by drawing up groundwater was quickly sealed, and the largest hole was occupied by the Rat King.

Then, he cleverly sent the pills Zhang Qianlü had rolled into the rat swarm.

He watched a good show.

This good show made his hair stand on end.

He couldn't help but exclaim, "It's too terrifying!"

After Zhang Qianlü retrieved the Medicinal Pills, he inspected them.

There were a few almost imperceptible wisps of Spiritual Qi on them, but mixed with the faint Medicinal Power, there was a strange smell.

Feng Yifan had guessed that this smell would make rats salivate.

He hadn't expected the power of these pills to be so great.

It was more than just salivation.

They were practically mesmerized.

After eating them, the rat swarm seemed to fall into a state of mental derangement.

If he hadn't stopped them in time, these fellows would have killed each other until they were all annihilated.

As for why he stopped them, it was, of course, to avoid waste.

"I wonder who concocted these pills."

Most likely a Pill Cultivator.

Pill Cultivators are terrifying!

At this moment, Feng Yifan decided that he must learn Alchemy.

Eating Medicinal Pills given by others was too dangerous.

At this time.

The rat swarm quieted down.

Upon inspection with Divine Thought, it was confirmed that they had fallen into a coma.

"Time to work!" Feng Yifan immediately sent a message to Second Uncle Li and the White Bone Ghouls.

He told them to go to the Demon Rats Immortal Cave.

The Rat King was in the largest cave.

The other Demon Ratss lived around the large cave where the Rat King resided, according to their size.

"It seems the status of these rat-folk is determined by their size."

The lowest tier was only slightly larger than ordinary rats.

And their numbers were the greatest.

The total number of rats in the swarm exceeded a hundred.

...Heh heh." Feng Yifan couldn't help but grind his teeth.

He found the Rat King increasingly displeasing.

This big rat was not only bigger than him, but it also had more subordinates than him!

"And it even wanted to snatch my followers to grow its food!"

Damn it, truly damn it!

...

Half an hour later.

Feng Yifan completed the harvest.

He also received an unexpected surprise.

"A Demonic Core?"