The Rat King was clever. It had bitten the neck of Su Dazhu's armor.
Once it pierced the armor, Su Dazhu's neck would be exposed to the Rat King's sharp teeth.
The outcome went without saying.
Chen Luo wanted to save Su Dazhu, of course, but the Stun Baton clearly couldn't threaten the Rat King in such a short time.
This Rat King was at least level three, perhaps even level four, and its ability enhanced its body rather than controlling an element.
Killing it quickly through ordinary means was impossible.
Some might say the Dharma King was weaker than the Rat King, but how long could the Rat King live? It might suddenly drop dead in a few minutes without anyone having to kill it.
Chen Luo was incredibly glad he had reached the strength of a Level Two Ability User the previous night. Otherwise, both he and Su Dazhu would have been doomed.
Now, they still had a slim chance.
Just his rotten luck, running into a swarm of mutated rats with a Mutant Rat King among them.
He was also very glad the Dharma King had lured most of the mutated rats away.
Chen Luo took two sides of pork out of his Ability Space and threw them onto the ground. Some of the rats immediately gave in to temptation and pounced on the meat.
The pressure on Chen Luo instantly eased. Ignoring the rats still clinging to him, he rushed toward the Rat King with his Stun Baton.
Disdain flashed in the Rat King's eyes. You think that Stun Baton can threaten me?
I'll bite him to death first, then you.
The visible Stun Baton was a feint. His real aim was to form a Void Sword.
The Rat King was intelligent. If it sensed danger and chose to retreat for a moment, Chen Luo would be screwed, since he could only maintain the Void Sword briefly.
He held the Stun Baton in his left hand, while a faint shape of light had already formed in his right.
A ruthless glint flashed in Chen Luo's eyes. Die.
The Rat King had already bitten through the armor around Su Dazhu's neck and was about to kill him when its fur suddenly stood on end. It sensed a deadly threat.
It gave Chen Luo a startled look and tried to flee.
But Chen Luo was right beside it. Wasn't it a little late to run now?
Chen Luo slashed his sword across the Rat King's neck.
An ordinary blade would have done well just to cut into the Rat King's flesh, but Chen Luo's Void Sword sliced it clean in two.
Its head separated from its body.
Strangely, not a drop of blood flowed out.
Despite that devastating injury, the Rat King's astonishing vitality kept it from dying immediately.
Its headless body kept twitching, while its enormous head desperately tried to press itself back against its body and reattach.
That was impossible, of course, but the Rat King could still bite someone if it wanted to.
After using the Void Sword, Chen Luo was drenched in sweat. Completely drained, he collapsed to the ground without a scrap of strength left.
Su Dazhu wasn't helpless either. With the Rat King no longer pinning him down, he immediately grabbed its head with one hand and hurled it far away.
After a few more spasms, the Rat King went still.
The exhausted Chen Luo smiled. With the Rat King dead, the remaining rats were no longer a threat.
Chen Luo didn't even have the strength to hold a Stun Baton. All he could do was take Stun Batons out of his Ability Space and let Su Dazhu electrocute the rats one by one.
Five minutes later, all the rats had been electrocuted, including those the Dharma King had lured away.
Chen Luo recovered a little strength and sat up against the steps, taking three bottles of mineral water out of his space.
There were only two of them, Chen Luo and Su Dazhu, so why three bottles?
The Dharma King got a share too, of course.
Chen Luo gulped down some water and took a heavy breath, still shaken. He had nearly died.
If he hadn't brought Su Dazhu today, he would probably have been done for.
Even if he could kill the Rat King, he wouldn't have been able to handle the remaining rats. They couldn't bite through his armor in one go, but they could wear it down little by little.
Damn it. I was reborn, but my strength didn't come back with me. Once I've collected the grain from this depot, I need to lie low and build up my strength for a while.
Chen Luo stood up and patted Su Dazhu's shoulder without a word. Nothing needed to be said.
Ordinary rats didn't necessarily have crystals inside them. They were too weak. Even if they did, the effects were nowhere near as strong as zombie crystals, making them completely useless to Chen Luo.
Chen Luo walked over to the Rat King's head. Only after considerable effort did he manage to cut it open and extract a crystal less than half the size of a quail egg.
That was already quite large. Ordinary zombie crystals were only the size of a grain of rice.
Aside from its crystal, the Rat King had one other valuable item.
Its two sharp front teeth.
Once Su Dazhu grew stronger, ordinary weapons would struggle to pierce his body, but those two front teeth could do it. They would be very useful if made into weapons.
Knocking them out of the Rat King's mouth wouldn't be easy. Chen Luo had little strength left, so he left that to Su Dazhu.
It took Su Dazhu a tremendous amount of effort as well, but he finally got the two front teeth.
"Come on," Chen Luo said. "Let's check the basement."
With the rat swarm dealt with, the basement should no longer hold any danger. Even if zombies got inside, the rats would have attacked them.
If Chen Luo had arrived a few days later, there might not have been any zombies left outside the grain depot.
Still, Chen Luo entered the depot cautiously, while the Dharma King kept patrolling.
Apart from a dozen or so human remains and a few scattered mutated rats, there was nothing else.
Chen Luo switched on the basement lights, bringing the entire space into view.
It was incredibly spacious, stretching farther than he could see.
Bags of grain were stacked high.
Chen Luo didn't spend much time looking. Better to secure it first.
It wasn't until after eight that evening that Chen Luo finished putting all the grain into his Ability Space.
He estimated there were sixty thousand metric tons of rice and twenty thousand metric tons of flour.
This was the largest grain depot in the Divine Capital. There were others, but Chen Luo had no intention of going to them. They were too far away, and it was too dangerous.
He had nearly met his end today.
This much grain was enough to feed ten thousand people for decades.
It was more than enough.
Besides, his Ability Space was almost full. He couldn't fit much more inside.
Su Dazhu gaped. "Bro, just how big is your Ability Space?"
Chen Luo smiled. "Not that big. About the same size as this grain depot."
His expression turned serious. "Dazhu, you must never let it slip that I've stockpiled this many supplies. No matter who it is, you can't tell them."
Su Dazhu was the quiet type and rarely spoke, but Chen Luo reminded him anyway.
Su Dazhu nodded just as seriously. "Don't worry, bro. I understand. I wouldn't tell anyone even if they beat me to death."
In his previous life, Su Dazhu had been Chen Luo's only brother. With Chen Luo's current mindset, it would probably be difficult for anyone else to earn that place in his heart in this life.
Friends and brothers were two different things.
Across two lifetimes, he had only this one brother. That mattered more than anything.
The grain depot had lost power sometime after seven. If Chen Luo remembered correctly, most of the city had already lost power by then.
It was pitch-dark, and driving wasn't safe. Chen Luo simply decided to spend the night in the heavy truck and head back after dawn.
After another round of absorbing crystals, Chen Luo still hadn't advanced. He would need to absorb roughly 150 crystals to become a Level Three Ability User.
That would take at least another three days or so.
Worried that Su Dazhu would get bored, Chen Luo gave him a fully charged phone and a pair of earphones so he could play offline games or watch movies.
The phone had 512 GB of storage.
The heavy truck's cab was spacious. After all, it had living space specifically set aside for two drivers.
Chen Luo took out a phone as well and started watching a movie.
To his surprise, the Dharma King was behind him, watching along with rapt attention.
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