Wang Ji was overcome with fear. He was trapped from both sides! He desperately hacked at the ceiling. Bang!
Dust flew everywhere, temporarily obscuring his surroundings. But it was no use! This was only a sewer two meters high and two meters wide. There was nowhere to hide!
Sure enough, the rat monsters in front and behind him paid no attention to the dust and charged straight at him.
"Hm?" Wang Ji suddenly brightened. Through his Spiritual Force, he sensed countless winding rat tunnels in the soil. A few were fairly large, about a meter in diameter. There were also many smaller tunnels, quite a few only a foot or a little more across.
"Haha! I'll borrow one of your tunnels!" Wang Ji laughed and squeezed into a rat tunnel just over a foot wide.
For an ordinary warrior, this would have been suicide. Just imagine trying to wriggle into a tunnel barely wide enough to squeeze through, pushing forward with nothing but the strength of your waist and stomach. How fast could you go? You'd be caught and eaten by the rats before you made it two or three meters.
But Wang Ji had Spiritual Force! He clutched his shield as his Spiritual Force pulled him forward through the tunnel. He didn't have to exert himself at all; a force of 1,200 kilograms dragged him along.
The friction against the tunnel walls kept him from moving very fast, but he was still far from slow!
The wild boar-sized rat and the even bigger silver-gray rat couldn't fit into this tunnel at all!
Only Beast Soldier-level rats could get in. But they were no match for Wang Ji. His flying knives shot through the pursuing rats like fish darting through water, then returned to the clips at his waist.
There was always a way out!
Rumble... The silver-gray rat behind him forced its way into the tunnel, and the passage collapsed with a clatter. Even this high-level Beast General rat could only squeeze through at a few meters per second. How could it possibly keep up with Wang Ji?
Wang Ji had no idea how long he'd been winding through the tunnels. At last, he found an exit leading to a sewer. Bang!
Wang Ji smashed through the sewer ceiling and burst out onto the surface.
"Squeak?"
"Huh?"
Wang Ji stared dumbfounded at the Rat Tide, surging like a wave two hundred meters away. Why had he walked right into it? Had he spent all that time escaping just to run straight into danger?
The besieged War God was already exhausted. At first, the commotion over here had given him a glimmer of hope, but when he saw that Wang Ji was only a Junior War General, his hopes immediately sank. "Get out of here! Once you're caught in the beast tide, you won't stand a chance! Go!"
Whoosh! A dark gray blur flashed by. Before Wang Ji could even dodge, it sliced him in half!
"Damn!"
It was the Rat King, a Lord-level monster! Two hundred meters was less than a second's distance for the Rat King. It didn't mind lifting a hand to kill a little bug like him.
"Pant, pant..." Wang Ji appeared inside an abandoned building. The Rat King had killed him for the second time. Lord-level monsters really were terrifyingly powerful.
Wang Ji Age: 17 Strength: 10805kg Speed: 98m/s Nerve Reaction: Junior War General—Excellent Essence Source*525
He'd had 37 points left last time. That meant he'd gained 488 this time? Not bad! Wang Ji felt a little comforted.
"Use 450 points! Keep the remaining 75 in reserve."
"Oooh... That feels so good... Aahhh..."
A wave of bliss, like an intense massage, washed over him. A few minutes later, Wang Ji stood steady, panting. He wasn't weakened at all; instead, his energy was frighteningly abundant.
Wang Ji Age: 17 Strength: 15305kg Speed: 133m/s Nerve Reaction: Intermediate War General—Pass Essence Source*75
He was already close to Intermediate War General strength. If Wang Ji had the heart to spend his remaining 75 points, he'd become an Intermediate War General immediately!
Wang Ji suddenly remembered something... Could Essence Source increase Spiritual Force?
He gave it a try, focusing his mind. "Increase Spiritual Force by 1 point!"
"Ah..." A tingling sensation rippled through his soul.
"Spiritual Force: 1210kg"
It worked! It actually worked! Wang Ji regretted it. What a waste! He should've increased his Spiritual Force!
Wang Ji decided to keep 40 points in reserve and put all the remaining 34 into his Spiritual Force.
"Ah..."
"Spiritual Force: 1550kg"
The radius of his Spiritual Force's scanning range instantly surpassed 50 meters!
He hadn't heard Liu Zhendong's voice outside for a long time. Now Wang Ji actually hoped he'd run into Liu Zhendong so he could finish them off in one go. But they'd probably already left.
Wang Ji called Jiang Nian. "Hello, Uncle Jiang. Hahaha, Liu Zhendong was just chasing me!"
Jiang Nian asked anxiously, "What about now? I've gotten in touch with my old teammates. They're on their way to help you right now. Where are you?"
Wang Ji chuckled. "I've completely shaken them off! Sorry for the trouble, Uncle Jiang. Please tell the uncles I'm grateful, but there's no need to come anymore."
Jiang Nian asked, "You really shook them off? How could you? Liu Zhendong's a Junior War General!"
Wang Ji laughed. "I just had a little breakthrough. All right, I'll let you go. Once I'm back, I'll treat you and your teammates to drinks. I'm really grateful to them for their help today."
Getting his former teammates involved would indeed come at a hefty cost, both in favors and otherwise. Yet Jiang Nian had helped Wang Ji, a complete stranger, without hesitation or regard for the cost. It was genuinely moving.
Wang Ji would remember this kindness.
Wang Ji found a sealed room on a middle floor, took a folding sleeping bag out of his backpack, and lay down fully clothed. What an eventful day. But he'd gained a lot, too.
He had one chance left to enter the Rat Tide instance. After getting some rest, Wang Ji planned to give it his all tomorrow.
But should he save that War God tomorrow?
Wang Ji had a vague sense that clearing the instance in different ways might result in different rewards. Of course, he genuinely wanted to save the War God, too. Still, he needed to weigh his options.
Wang Ji soon fell asleep.
Outside the building, the roars of monsters rose and fell. Wang Ji woke several times, then quickly fell asleep again.
The next morning, golden sunlight spilled across the balcony. Wang Ji stretched luxuriously. The air in this post-cataclysmic world was fresher than people from the old world could ever have imagined.
There were signs of monsters moving around below. Wang Ji edged farther inside to keep them from disturbing his peace.
He boiled some water over firewood he'd scavenged, made a cup of high-energy drink that was a little like milk tea, and ate some dried meat alongside it for a luxurious breakfast. Wang Ji was ready.
"Enter!"
"Ding! Entering instance: Rat Tide. Mission: Survive. Remaining entries: 0/3"
Wang Ji appeared on the fourteenth floor of an abandoned building.
Wang Ji still started killing monsters at ground level. They were all Essence Source points.
His strength and everything else had undergone a dramatic transformation. With his Spiritual Force assisting him, Wang Ji could quickly kill Intermediate Beast General-level rats.
Charge! Relocate! Charge!
After some time, Wang Ji climbed to a high vantage point and surveyed the distance. At last, he spotted the main battlefield of the beast tide. It was time to make his decision. After giving it some thought, Wang Ji slowly made his way toward the main battlefield.
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