In the pitch-black underground passage.
The Sharp-Horned Rat gradually regained consciousness.
It blinked twice, then suddenly raised its head as if it had realized something.
A body bound by silk threads, familiar pipes, and a black-haired youth in a relatively bright location.
"Squeak--"
An angry roar rang out.
The Sharp-Horned Rat struggled and twisted frantically, trying to break free of the silk threads binding its body.
However, the Third Tier threads are not something a Second Tier creature can easily break free from.
If its claws or horn could tear it, then so be it.
The problem is that all of its sharp claws are isolated to one side by the silk threads, making them completely unable to exert any force or touch the threads binding it.
Shen Heng stood to one side, calmly watching the scene unfold before him.
A few minutes later, the Sharp-Horned Rat seemed to realize that its struggle was futile, so it gave up and turned its attention to Shen Heng.
"Humans, damn them!"
A malicious thought echoed in Shen Heng's ears once again.
The Sharp-Horned Rat wriggled its body, trying to get closer to Shen Heng.
Shen Heng watched in silence.
He only moved when the Sharp-Horned Rat was almost close enough to bite him.
He took two steps forward, then stepped on the Sharp-Horned Rat.
As he exerted force with his feet, the cement on the ground cracked slightly.
The Sharp-Horned Rat grunted, struggled a little more, and only gave up after making sure it couldn't break free. Then, its scarlet eyes stared intently at Shen Heng.
"I have something I want to ask you," Shen Heng said calmly, looking at the Sharp-Horned Rat.
His response was a barely audible statement.
"Damn humans!"
Shen Heng remained calm and asked, "Did you only arrive in this world recently?"
"Damn humans!"
"Or have you actually been in this world for a long time?"
"Damn it, humans!"
"Or perhaps, you were born in this world?"
"Humans, damn them!"
"If you continue like this, I'll have no choice but to send you on your way!" Shen Heng's voice seemed to turn cold.
This time, the Sharp-Horned Rat finally stopped saying those four words and instead said four different words.
"So be it, just die!"
"Really? How about this?"
The soft voice sounded exceptionally clear in the empty and quiet underground passage, even carrying a slight echo.
Shen Heng stood on the Sharp-Horned Rat, his eyes coldly fixed on it.
The Sharp-Horned Rat responded with its scarlet eyes, filled with ferocity and hatred.
Gradually, the Sharp-Horned Rat's body began to tremble.
It seemed to realize something, looking at Shen Heng with a hint of surprise in its eyes.
Its body trembled more and more violently, but it still gritted its teeth, with only the roar of intense hatred echoing in its heart.
"Tear them apart! Bite them to death! Humans deserve to die!"
Shen Heng watched calmly, as if he hadn't heard anything.
It took him quite a while to stop invoking the fear of the Sharp-Horned Rat.
"Now, let's start over."
Shen Heng stared coldly at the Sharp-Horned Rat.
"Did you only recently arrive in this world?"
The Sharp-Horned Rat still didn't answer, but at least it didn't keep saying that humans should die like before. It stared intently at Shen Heng, a hint of mockery in its eyes.
"Ha, foolish humans, it was only a short time ago!"
Shen Heng lowered his eyes, looking at the Sharp-Horned Rat as if he knew nothing.
After waiting for a while, he followed up with the same questions, asking whether he had been in this world for a long time and whether he was born in this world.
However, it seemed that these two questions were meaningless; the Sharp-Horned Rat just stared at him, not thinking anything of it.
Shen Heng didn't pay any attention to this.
Once you get the answer to the first crucial question, the latter two questions aren't that important.
In other words, the Sharp-Horned Rat that appeared this time were indeed remnants from the incident three years ago.
Whether there was one or more remaining that time doesn't make much difference anymore.
You can tell by looking at the Sharp-Horned Rat killed by the Martial Arts Association during this period.
The Sharp-Horned Rat population has likely expanded considerably.
"How many of your kind are left?" Shen Heng continued to ask.
The Sharp-Horned Rat remained silent, its gaze fixed intently on Shen Heng.
"How many are left? Ha! Enough to devour all of you damned humans until you're nothing but bones!"
"The mistress will lead us to kill all of humanity!!!"
Upon hearing the mention of the matriarch in the words, Shen Heng's gaze sharpened slightly.
He didn't rush to ask questions, but instead focused on finding out the number of the Calamity Beast.
He slowly uttered each number one by one.
"A dozen or so?"
"Twenty-odd?"
"Fifty-odd?"
"Seventy or eighty?"
"Or perhaps hundreds?"
Shen Heng counted the number with a slight jump, but the Sharp-Horned Rat didn't react at all.
Just as he was about to report back, the voice of the Sharp-Horned Rat finally rang in his ears again.
"What are these two-legged creatures saying in their gibberish?"
"Ten, twenty-something, fifty-something, are these numbers starting from seven?"
Shen Heng stopped.
He looked silently at the Sharp-Horned Rat, then changed the subject.
"Fine, if you won't tell me, why didn't your kind appear before? But lately, one of them has been appearing every few days?"
"Foolish! That was then! The rat population has grown, and those stupid newborns are becoming increasingly difficult to control. The easy-to-find food has all been eaten. If they don't come out to forage, are they supposed to gnaw on Stone underground?"
The Sharp-Horned Rat's inner voice carried a sense of irritation and impatience, as if Shen Heng had asked an extremely obvious question.
"Those idiots! The mistress clearly told them it wasn't time yet and they couldn't come here, but they still did."
"You idiots, a bunch of idiots, that's why I was sent here to get arrested!"
"Growing stronger, underground, the time hasn't come yet..." Shen Heng gazed intently at the Sharp-Horned Rat and said:
"If you won't say anything, it's putting me in a difficult position."
The Sharp-Horned Rat grinned an ugly smile. "Human, go ahead and kill me if you dare! I won't reveal a single useful piece of information to you."
Shen Heng let out a soft sigh, as if in resignation, and then said:
"If you won't tell me, then let's try another question."
"We've killed quite a few of your kind over this period, but we still encountered two today, and both of them are Second Tier."
"In other words, there may be quite a few left."
"You should have a fixed place, right?"
"Ha, the outside world is so big, go find it yourself if you dare!!"
"Let me think about it." Shen Heng pretended to ponder for a moment, then said:
"The other one was found in the southwest of Linhai, and you came from that location as well."
"So, in the southwest direction?"
"Your kind of people don't like the light, so you must be underground."
"If you're underground, then if you're in a city, we shouldn't have to find you in this location."
So, is it outside the city?
"Regarding the distance..."
Shen Heng paused here, looking down.
The Sharp-Horned Rat lay motionless on the ground, its eyes slightly open.