The next day.
A solemn announcement rang out in front of the mine.
"Today, still... can't... know everything?"
As soon as he finished speaking, a chorus of responses followed.
Shen Heng echoed, his gaze calmly falling on the man above, whose mood seemed rather Feixu.
He paused, then looked away.
The herd of animals began to head towards the mine.
Shen Heng stood still and waited until the group was almost finished walking before he stood up and headed towards the mine.
He soon entered the mine.
Then, they continued to delve deeper.
Along the way, one after another, the Calamity Beast that had already begun mining avoided its gaze upon seeing it.
Shen Heng didn't pay any attention and continued his journey down the mine tunnel.
At some unknown time, the sound of a pebble hitting the ground rang out.
He stopped and looked toward the figure that had seemingly appeared abruptly to his side.
"So? Did you find out anything useful?"
"Yes, last night, for some reason, those Black Rat suddenly flew off in a direction outside the territory of the other tribes," Qin Yu said.
"Outside?" Shen Heng asked, somewhat surprised.
"Yes, it's roughly in the northeast direction of the valley, but if you leave from the Black Rat Clan's territory, you head straight north." Qin Yu nodded.
"What is the past?" Shen Heng asked, frowning.
"It's a cave. I don't know exactly what's inside, but there are twenty or thirty Black Rat guarding it outside, including two Fourth Tier ones," Qin Yu replied.
Shen Heng nodded slightly.
There are Calamity Beast guarding that area, and given Qin Yu's current condition, this is probably the limit of what she can gather.
"But..."
The sound came from inside.
Shen Heng looked up at Qin Yu, "But what?"
"Of those Black Rat from the past, one of them came out three times. Each time, it flew back to its clan's territory, and when it returned, it would bring several more Black Rat with it!" Qin Yu said.
"You went out three times, and each time you brought a few Black Rat with you?" Shen Heng repeated in a deep voice.
"Mmm," Qin Yu responded from the side.
"And those Black Rat that were taken away, for some reason, never came out again."
"I stayed there until almost dawn this morning, but I didn't see any sign that they were going to come out."
"Perhaps it's not that they don't want to come out, but that they can't," Shen Heng said slowly.
"Can't get out?" Qin Yu frowned, her eyes full of doubt.
"Mm," Shen Heng replied.
"No, you mean those guys were taken away and killed by those Black Rat?" Night Spirit Liya Nolandir asked in Qin Yu's mind.
"No, it's not necessarily that they killed them; more likely, they were captured and used as sacrifices," Shen Heng said.
"Offerings?"
Two voices rang out simultaneously, one of doubt and the other of surprise.
"Yes, the inner voices of those Black Rat mentioned gods, sacrifices, and acquisitions," Shen Heng said slowly.
"Huh?" Liya Nolandir's voice echoed in Qin Yu's mind, "What is that?"
"I'm not entirely sure either, but I suspect that the place you found yesterday is probably the location of their god," Shen Heng said, his eyes slightly narrowed.
"Then, they can obtain something by offering sacrifices to that god."
"Things like, answers to questions, Distortion rules, etc."
" Distortion rules?" Night Spirit Liya's voice rose slightly.
Qin Yu looked at the captain with some confusion as well.
"Yes, if I'm not mistaken, the existing rule that you can't talk inside the mine might be one of the conditions they obtained through sacrifice," Shen Heng said.
"No, this... I can let the rest go, but the rules? That's impossible! If they had that ability, wouldn't they have just rescued us? Why would they have spent so many days trying to find ways to deal with us!" Night Spirit Liya said with some disbelief.
"Perhaps it's because obtaining something requires offerings of equal or even higher value, so they haven't directly approached us in this way?" Shen Heng tentatively suggested.
"Well..."
Night Spirit Liya choked for a moment, then asked:
Why didn't it happen before?
"This must have been an extra one from when we were forcibly evacuated during the riot, like the forest at night," Shen Heng said.
"Uh... so, the forest at night was also obtained by those Black Rat through sacrifices to some god?" Night Spirit Liya became somewhat uncertain.
"Maybe!" Shen Heng replied, then added, "By the way, that god seems to be called the Black Rat God."
" Black Rat God?!" Night Spirit Liya repeated.
Shen Heng couldn't see her, but he could sense that if she had a physical body, she would probably be frowning by now.
"Mm," he replied.
"Oh, right, Captain!" Qin Yu suddenly said from the side.
"What's wrong?" Shen Heng looked over.
"Yesterday, when we went to that statue, we only found four Fifth Tier Black Rat," Qin Yu said.
The words conveyed only this one piece of information, but it also seemed to convey more than just that one piece of information.
Shen Heng frowned slightly.
The Night Spirit Liya Norlandil residing in Qin Yu's mind spoke directly:
" Xiaoyu, are you saying that the other Fifth Tier Black Rat were all sacrificed as offerings?"
"Not necessarily. They could have been out on the move, or stationed elsewhere, but being captured and sacrificed is also possible," Qin Yu said softly.
"Uh, no way? They're at least Fifth Tier, the strongest in this valley!" Night Spirit Liya exclaimed. "Besides, if they wanted sacrifices, wouldn't it be better to just capture other Calamity Beast? Why capture their own kind?"
"What if capturing other Calamity Beast doesn't work?" Shen Heng asked.
"Well..."
She paused, Night Spirit Liya stopped speaking.
She realized that her question was flawed. If capturing other Calamity Beast was effective, then given the situation with those Black Rat, they shouldn't have used their own people as sacrifices.
"So, the Black Rat God requires Black Rat as sacrifices, and then, through these sacrifices, one can obtain something in return?"
"Yes, that should be roughly it!" Shen Heng said.
"..."
There was a moment of silence.
Suddenly, Night Spirit Liya's voice rose a little higher,
"Oh no, they went yesterday, didn't they ask for something again? Doesn't that make our situation even worse?!"
Upon hearing this, Qin Yu couldn't help but turn her gaze to the captain.
The captain remained calm.
"Don't worry, they didn't get any way to find us yesterday," Shen Heng said.
"Huh? You didn't get it?!" Night Spirit Liya asked.