Fate, Wondrous Beyond Words
To be honest, Cheng Shi overestimated his ability to find solutions.
He discovered that even with an entrenching tool in his personal storage space, he couldn't work quickly under the collapsed and compacted rubble.
Because the surrounding soil contained not only soil, but also wood and steel, his entrenching tool was not sharp, and sometimes he had to break these obstacles with his bare hands.
So the man and the rat slowly made their way in the direction the rat "captain" had pointed out.
After only an hour or so, Cheng Shi stopped, his head covered in sweat.
"Can't you sing me a song to give me some kind of buff?"
"Squeak squeak".
"I suspect you're trying to exhaust me so you can then lay a hand on me."
"Squeak squeak".
Cheng Shi's face darkened, and he slammed the stick into the rat's head.
"I'll teach you to insult me."
"?" The mouse was knocked unconscious, feeling dizzy and disoriented.
It's not that Cheng Shi doesn't want to work hard, it's just that he's too tired. Today's Warrior are brave in killing, not in digging. To make a chosen one of "Destiny" a rat digging a hole is simply a waste of talent.
But there's no other way; it seems like this is the only path we can take right now.
Staying put and waiting for the Trials to end was no longer an option, because Cheng Shi could vaguely hear faint shouts and increasingly strong shaking coming from above!
The guards of Montrani may have already assembled here and begun rescuing the buried civilians.
"You better not lie to me, or you'll have to pay for all the suffering I've endured."
Li Yi sat expressionlessly in the cage, feeling only a bleak existence for the rat.
He wanted to say that if he hadn't met her, he might have already found a suitable corpse to transfer his soul, but who told him to run into her...
No, you're not, I'm the Clown!
Meanwhile, while Cheng Shi was still working hard, in a hidden room deep underground in the prison, a rat silently crawled out from the ventilation duct in the roof.
It looked at everything beneath its feet with surprise, then slowly climbed down another pipe along the wall until it reached an empty desk. Looking at the stacks of illustrated documents in front of it, it fell into deep thought.
This is undoubtedly an Experiment hidden underground, and the location of this document is one of the offices in this Experiment. The documents laid out on the desk are probably related to the Experiment being conducted in this Experiment, and may also be the biggest secret of this Experiment.
The mouse, having found such an unexpected treasure, should have been happy, but at this moment it was anything but happy, because...
It cannot read.
It circled the desk twice, carefully examining the small office, and then made a decision.
It plans to steal the data, but before that, it needs to do one more thing: find a less intelligent human and swap bodies with him.
Indeed, this rat is Su Wu.
As the prison fog rose, he intended to remain still, but someone took the opportunity to approach him and stick a Purification Card of Li Yi on his lower back.
The light from the Purification Card instantly attracted the attention of the surrounding Punishment Knight, who then surrounded him. Seeing his precarious situation, Su Wu had no choice but to activate his backup plan. He stuck the Purification Card on the rat and threw it in the opposite direction.
Not only that, he also switched identities with the mouse whose tail he was stepping on, and then slipped away in the chaos.
He intended to leave along the ventilation duct, but he never expected that the ventilation duct he had chosen did not lead to the ground at all, but rather underground.
So he cautiously and carefully arrived here, into the underground Experiment connected to the Montrani Death Sentence Prison.
The fact that an Experiment was built in such a secluded location suggests that it must be hiding a great secret.
What's even more surprising is that these materials are printed with the logo of the Tower of Reason.
Yes, the Tower of Reason.
Although Su Wu was illiterate, it did not prevent him from recognizing the symbol of the Tower of Reason.
How interesting! In the heart of the Grand Inquisition, at the foot of Montrani, lies an Experiment of the Tower of Reason.
All of this fueled Su Wu's curiosity, and he crept stealthily to the office door, waiting for the first unlucky soul to appear.
However, after waiting for a long time, the unlucky guy didn't arrive, but his teammates did.
Gao San!
This Acrobat, whose body was as flexible as an octopus, actually "emerged" from the same pipe exit.
The enormous, hard Prison Helmet on his head was now as soft as an octopus's limbs, and it fell out of the pipe, clinging to his deformed head!
This Acrobat has an amazing talent for softening objects!
Even so, he still couldn't get rid of this annoying metal sheath!
The moment the Gao San landed, Su Wu lay motionless at the door, neither dodging nor hiding, and the two of them stared at each other from a distance.
"..."
"..."
Seeing the mouse's bright, intelligent eyes, the Gao San instantly understood everything. He frowned and secretly became wary.
"Beast Tamer?"
Did you leave those marks in the pipe?
"Hmph, no wonder you died so easily. Too bad, I thought I'd personally killed you."
The mouse wrinkled its nose and slowly stood up.
"So you're Acrobat." A sharp, distorted human voice squeezed out of the rat's throat.
If an ordinary person were present, they would surely be terrified by this conversation between a human and a rat. But Gao San was not surprised at all, because Beast Tamer are such a magical profession.
"How about this: the 'Destiny's End' you discovered suddenly became your own. Isn't that quite unexpected?"
"Who knows? Perhaps I will find a new 'Destiny's End' here, and this new one will belong to you."
Gao San sneered. He first glanced at the office door, then walked to the desk, attempting to take the documents on it.
Anyone with eyes can see that this must be a good thing, but as for how good it is, the Gao San don't know.
Because he was illiterate.
"You, a mere rat?"
Su Wu, it's not that I despise you, but if you weren't in your tamed beast form, I would at least be wary of you. But now... you want to kill me?
Heh, keep thinking about it, it's kind of cute.
The mouse's eyes narrowed, and it placed its paw on the door.
His meaning was clear: if you don't want to talk, then I'll knock on the door. As for what's behind the door, that's up to fate.
The Gao San paused, his hand holding the materials froze, and his face darkened.
What do you want?
"The data is mine, the things outside are yours." The rat pointed its paw out of the office, clearly wanting the other party to open the blind box.
But the Gao San wouldn't pay any attention to such unreasonable negotiation demands. He sneered and instantly jumped from behind the table to the front of it.
Despite the violent movement, he landed without making a sound.
"I can strangle you in just one second, then run away with the data. I'll give you another chance. What do you want?"
The mouse, far from being frightened by these words, instead chuckled and crawled two steps toward the direction of the Gao San.
Why don't you give it a try?
Would you dare to try it in your Gao San?
He dared not.
No one would underestimate a Beast Tamer, nor would anyone take risks in an unknown situation. His preemptive strike was intended to catch Su Wu off guard and see if he could bluff his way out. However, when Su Wu crawled towards him, his bluffing plan naturally fell apart.
The other party has a backup plan, they definitely have one. After all, what scammer doesn't have a backup plan?
The Gao San took a step back to the table, his expression serious.
Su Wu, no, the rat, slowly released its hind paws.
Su Wu had no backup plan at all.
He was also bluffing, trying to trick the other party into not daring to gamble at that moment.
Luckily, he won this gamble on a seemingly hopeless standoff.
"Next, let's talk about cooperation?"
Su Wu seemed to have regained the initiative. He casually leaned over the feet of the Gao San and pointed at the documents on the table.
"Let's each take half, then push open this door together and see what's outside this office, shall we?"
Although the Gao San didn't dare to make a move, he sneered and said sarcastically:
"I can put in ten parts of my strength to open the door, so I'll leave you one-tenth of the documents on the table."
"After all, it's a partnership, so you have to make some money, right?"
"..."
This bargaining tactic left Su Wu speechless, because he really couldn't contribute anything to pushing the door open.
A mouse's strength is far too weak compared to that of a human, especially since that human is a warrior.
Just as he was about to refute Gao San again, a voice faintly came from above the pipe.
Are you sure this is the place?
"If you're sure, I'll cut it. Very well, 3, 2, 1!"
"Boom--"
"Clang—"
"Knock knock knock..."
A figure carrying a rat cage fell straight down from the broken ceiling, and the moment the figure landed safely, a joyful smile appeared on his face.
"Tsk tsk tsk..."
Fate is a wondrous thing.