The Aroma of Roasted Meat and the Terror of the Rat Tide

After dispatching the three oblivious Tusked Wild Boar, Lin Mo skillfully used his claws to carve out the most succulent strips of tenderloin. Wang Keke, suppressing a slight sense of discomfort, followed the instructor's requirements and cut off the left ears of the three boars as proof.

"Mimi, should we find a place to rest and, while we're at it... roast the meat?" Wang Keke looked at the fresh, red strips of meat dangling from Lin Mo's mouth and suggested via their mental link. She was feeling a bit hungry herself, and she was rather curious about the "wild game" Lin Mo held in such high regard.

Lin Mo naturally gave his full approval with both front paws.

The human and the tiger quickly found the second floor of a relatively intact storefront along the street. It offered a wide field of vision and was easy to defend and hard to attack (though Lin Mo felt that wasn't necessary).

Wang Keke took out a flint and some solid fuel from her small tactical backpack (the family had clearly prepared well), while Lin Mo contributed his sharp claws, slicing the meat into uniform strips and finding a few relatively clean metal rods to skewer them.

Before long, a campfire was crackling, the meat strips sizzling as they roasted over the flames. Fat dripped down, and the aroma of the meat, accompanied by a faint smokiness, curled up into the air above the ruins.

"It smells so good!" Wang Keke sniffed the air, her eyes sparkling; the tension she felt earlier dissipated in the face of the delicious food. She carefully turned the skewers, watching the meat gradually turn golden and crispy.

Lin Mo lay to the side, the tip of his tail swaying happily, his amber eyes fixed unblinkingly on the roasting meat, his throat emitting a purr of anticipation. This was the life! Fighting monsters, leveling up, and roasting meat! If it weren't for those damn cameras and hidden bodyguards, it would feel even more like true wilderness survival.

However, in this environment simulated to be a wilderness, the aroma of the roasting meat was like a lighthouse in the dark.

Just as the first skewer was about to be finished and Wang Keke was preparing to blow on it to cool it down, Lin Mo's ears suddenly pricked up. His body instantly entered a state of alert, and he let out a low growl as a warning.

Almost simultaneously, Wang Keke sensed a malicious, lightning-fast presence attacking from their rear flank through her mental perception!

Whoosh!

A gray shadow darted in through the broken window like a ghost, lunging straight for the meat in Wang Keke's hand! The speed was astonishing—it was a Shadow Cat, with a slender build and agile movements! Beast Soldier Rank, with the innate skills [Stealth] and [Swiftness]!

"Watch out!" Wang Keke exclaimed. Instinctively, her psychokinetic power erupted, and the flying daggers hovering at her side were about to shoot out.

But she was fast, and Lin Mo was faster!

Having been on guard, he didn't even turn his head. His thick, long tail whipped backward like a steel lash! With a piercing whistle, it struck the gray shadow's waist and abdomen with pinpoint accuracy!

"Meow-oo--!"

With a shrill, miserable cry, the Shadow Cat was sent flying back faster than it had arrived, slamming heavily into the wall before sliding down limply. It was clearly beyond saving.

"Phew... that scared me to death." Wang Keke patted her modest chest, still feeling a lingering fear.

Lin Mo walked over, nudged the Shadow Cat's corpse with his claw, and sent a thought through their mental link: 'The meat should be quite tender, though a bit small. Let's treat it as a snack.' He skillfully cut off the cat's ears and tossed the carcass aside, his attention returning to the roasting meat.

This little interlude didn't dampen their mood; instead, it made Wang Keke feel even more excited, with a small sense of triumph that "everything was under control." It seemed wilderness survival wasn't so scary after all!

The two happily shared the wild boar meat, which was roasted to a perfect crisp on the outside and tender on the inside. It was indeed delicious, and the energy it contained left their bodies feeling warm. Lin Mo even devoured the remaining meat in a whirlwind.

"It seems roasting meat can also lure monsters? Does that mean we could..." Wang Keke's eyes darted around, and she revealed a smile like a little fox. This was practically a natural monster-luring artifact! Killing many birds with one stone!

Lin Mo agreed deeply. As expected of my master, she has good intuition!

However, the saying "misfortune follows bliss" always seems to manifest when one is at their most relaxed.

They were so focused on enjoying the meat and the convenience of "luring monsters" that they ignored a more important issue—the intense aroma of the roasted meat, mixed with the bloody scent of the previously killed boar and Shadow Cat, could drift quite far in this relatively enclosed ruin environment. What it might attract was not just a few stray "snacks."

Just as they had eaten their fill and were preparing to tidy up to continue "hunting," Lin Mo suddenly felt an extremely dense, hair-raising vibration coming from the ground!

Squeak—squeak—!

Sharp, chaotic cries erupted from all directions, surging toward them like a tide!

Wang Keke's face turned deathly pale. In her mental perception, countless dense, greedy, and bloodthirsty life signals appeared! From the cracks in the street, from under the collapsed floorboards, from the sewer entrances... they poured out like a tide!

It was monster rodents! Iron-Toothed Rats! A single one was only at the low level of Beast Soldier Rank, or even unranked, but their numbers... looking at them, the gray-black rat tide spread out like a carpet; there were probably hundreds of them! Their eyes were red, and they bared their iron teeth, which could easily gnaw through metal, driven into a frenzy by the food and the scent of blood!

"Ah!!" Wang Keke was, after all, just a young girl; she had never seen such a scene before. She screamed in fright and instinctively leaned toward Lin Mo.

Lin Mo's heart tightened, and his fur bristled slightly. He wasn't afraid—with his defense and speed, these rats would have a hard time hurting him. But there were too many! It was impossible to kill them all! And with Wang Keke here, he couldn't fully let loose.

"Run!" Wang Keke realized the situation. She controlled her flying daggers to sweep out like a whirlwind, instantly mincing the dozen Iron-Toothed Rats at the front into meat paste!

But more rats surged forward, fearless of death! They even began to stack on top of each other, attempting to pounce from higher ground!

Lin Mo let out a roar, activating [Power Burst]. His massive body charged forward like a tank, instantly clearing a small area. His sharp claws swung, and every swipe turned several rats into pulp. [Tough Skin] allowed him to ignore the rats gnawing at his legs, resulting in nothing more than teeth-grinding "crunching" sounds.

He protected Wang Keke, fighting as they retreated. He flapped his wings, creating air currents to disrupt the formation of the rat swarm.

Wang Keke also desperately channeled her mental power, dancing her flying daggers into an impenetrable barrier, but the number of rats was simply too high; for every batch she killed, two more surged up! They even began gnawing at the surrounding buildings, attempting to flank them from the sides!

For a time, the two were forced into a chaotic scramble by the rat tide. Although they weren't injured yet, they were badly shaken by the endless, bloodthirsty onslaught. Wang Keke's face was pale, and her mental energy was being consumed rapidly.

"This way!" Lin Mo spotted a relatively narrow alleyway, smashed through the rats blocking the path, and signaled for Wang Keke to follow.

The human and the tiger scrambled into the alley. Lin Mo looked back and let out a violent, murderous tiger roar at the pursuing rat swarm!

"ROAR--!!"

The terrifying sound wave, mixed with the pressure of a top-tier predator, finally caused the frenzied rat swarm to pause for a moment.

Taking advantage of this brief gap, Lin Mo and Wang Keke quickly escaped the pursuit of the rat tide, ducking into the upper floors of a sturdier building and sealing the stairwell.

Leaning against the cold wall, listening to the incessant "squeaking" from downstairs, Wang Keke panted heavily, her forehead covered in cold sweat, her hand holding the flying dagger trembling slightly.

Lin Mo was also gasping for air, looking at the few rats still fruitlessly gnawing on his fur, and flicked them off with his claw in disgust.

The human and the tiger looked at each other, both seeing a lingering fear in the other's eyes.

Damn it... that backfired. Lin Mo lamented internally. This simulated wilderness really had a touch of reality to it. It seemed the true danger of the wilderness sometimes didn't come from powerful individuals, but from this... despair-inducing quantity.

Wang Keke calmed down and patted her chest with lingering fear: "That scared me to death... I didn't expect the roasted meat and the smell of blood to attract so many monsters... Mimi, we have to be more careful from now on."

Lin Mo nodded in deep agreement, rubbed his head against her, and sent a comforting thought.

This harrowing experience had taught them a good lesson. The wilderness was never a playground.