Time flows on.
The moonlight shone on the plains.
One after another, the Calamity Beast lay resting on the plains.
At the edge of the herd, a Coiling Mountain Beast also lay down, but it was not resting. Instead, it raised its eyes and gazed outside, at the seemingly empty wilderness.
"Lord Shen Heng, do you think the Two-Horned Lizard will succeed?" A low voice came from the side.
Shen Heng withdrew his gaze and looked at the Stone beside him. "It depends on the situation."
"It depends on the situation?" Stone, somewhat puzzled.
"Well, if it's just about collecting the time those Black Rat spend transporting ore, then there's a good chance we can collect it. But if we want to get out using this method..." Shen Heng paused, his tone uncertain, "It won't be that easy."
"So, do you want it to be collected?" Stone asked softly.
Shen Heng paused for a moment, then said, "If possible, I'd still hope so. Otherwise... it really is difficult to escape now."
Is it difficult...?... The Stone lay to the side, quietly watching Lord Shen Heng.
It paused, its gaze following Lord Shen Heng's eyes, looking in a certain direction.
There, a Calamity Beast Calamity Beast, whose exact nature was unclear, was heading towards the Black Rat Camp not far away...
Five days passed in the blink of an eye.
That night, Shen Heng and the Two-Horned Lizard gathered together, and this time, they didn't ask Qin Yu and the others to avoid them.
Shen Heng glanced at the Two-Horned Lizard's less-than-pleasant expression and asked in a calm tone:
"You've never encountered a situation where you transported ore out even once?"
The Two-Horned Lizard glanced at Shen Heng, paused, and then looked away. "Hmm."
Without asking any further questions, Shen Heng silently nodded.
A moment of silence fell over the scene.
"What should we do now? We can't just sit here and wait to die, can we?" The Two-Horned Lizard tried its best to suppress its frustration.
Only two people were able to leave Black Stone Valley through legitimate means.
A Black Rat, a piece of ore.
Black Rat definitely couldn't have taken them out, and now the ore is ruled out too.
The informal options, also up ahead, were blocked.
Now it seems that all that's left for them is to wait for death.
But, just wait to die?
Thinking of this, the Two-Horned Lizard couldn't help but curse the Steel-Mane Bear in his heart once again.
If it weren't for that guy, they probably would have run away by now!
"Let's go back and think of another way!"
A soft voice came from behind.
Upon hearing this, the Two-Horned Lizard became furious.
Intuitively, it felt that there was nothing wrong with what the other party said.
If they didn't want to, they really didn't have any good solutions to the current situation; they couldn't exactly fight those Black Rat head-on, could they?
But instinctively, it gets angry when it hears this.
It might be anger at the current situation, or it might be anger at the complete helplessness in the face of this situation, or it might be anger—no, it should be fear, fear of the impending future.
In short, the Two-Horned Lizard grew angrier and angrier the more it thought about it.
Finally, it couldn't help but speak.
"What's the use of thinking about it now? If I could have figured it out, I would have done so many days ago!"
"Besides, just thinking about it, can we even get out of here? Can we even kill those Black Rat with our imagination? And can we even ward off those Calamity Beast you mentioned that hide in the forest at night...?"
The Two-Horned Lizard stopped abruptly in its tracks.
It looked at the human before it, blinked, and its expression suddenly softened as it asked in a low voice:
"By the way, didn't you mention that Calamity Beast that hides in the forest at night? Does it control trees to attack?"
"Yes, what's wrong?" Shen Heng looked at the Two-Horned Lizard with some confusion.
Beside them, Qin Yu and Stone looked at the Two-Horned Lizard with similar confusion.
The Two-Horned Lizard's eyes widened slightly, gleaming as it said:
"Could we try to burn down all the trees in this valley? That way, those Calamity Beast won't be able to hold us back!"
Huh? This will actually work?!... Stone stared wide-eyed, his gaze instinctively drifting towards Lord Shen Heng.
Unfortunately, Shen Heng's expression showed no surprise whatsoever.
He spoke almost without thinking:
"Let's set aside whether those Black Rat would allow the wildfires to spread."
Even if all those trees were burned down?
"Do you think those Black Rat are stupid enough to continue patrolling during the day and going home at night?"
"If they patrol at night too, how will you avoid their sight without the cover of trees?"
"Well..."
The Two-Horned Lizard choked for a moment, then angrily turned its gaze away.
Upon hearing this, it realized that its question had been rather foolish. It was all because of the recent setbacks that had made it somewhat agitated; otherwise, it wouldn't have been so oblivious to this.
But if this doesn't work either, then isn't there really nothing we can do but wait to die?
The Two-Horned Lizard frowned again.
Because it was suddenly distracted by that thought, it's not as angry as it was before.
Shen Heng looked at the Two-Horned Lizard and understood that it had recovered.
He began:
"Alright, let's go back. Let's ask the other Calamity Beast to help us think of any other solutions."
There was no response; the Two-Horned Lizard nodded heavily.
He stood up and left.
Time flew by, and several days passed in the blink of an eye.
These past few days, even while mining, the Two-Horned Lizard has been thinking about how to get out.
Driven by its demands, or perhaps more so by the fear of death, one after another, the Calamity Beast began to ponder this very question.
We did manage to come up with a few solutions.
For example, there's a Calamity Beast. Didn't it cause a huge explosion before? Is there a way to create another explosion like that? If so, could it be placed at the valley entrance to kill the Black Rat guarding it and force them to leave?
Or perhaps it had seen data on humans who could create something that could fly without needing Origin Power, something called an airplane. Could they have tried to build that airplane and make it fly?
Such ideas are completely impractical.
No, the second one, actually, it was also tempted when it first heard about it.
Unfortunately, I later asked that human.
The human said he didn't know how to make it either.
It had no choice but to abandon the idea.
That day, as usual, before taking a break, it wandered among the various Calamity Beast, asking questions.
After asking the previous Calamity Beast and receiving no information, it continued walking forward.
A few minutes later, it finally spotted the next Calamity Beast in a direction it was somewhat familiar with.
That was a Tier 2 Scalearmor Lizard.
The Two-Horned Lizard walked over and sat down not far from the Scalearmor Lizard.
As his gaze darted left and right, he asked in a low voice:
"So? Did you come up with any ideas today?"
"..."
Silence, quiet.
The Two-Horned Lizard turned its head and looked at the Scalearmor Lizard with some confusion.
The Scalearmor Lizard was staring at it.
Upon seeing it look in that direction, the Scalearmor Lizard turned its head to look at itself from both sides.
Then, looking at it with some confusion,
Are you asking me?