Promising Material

After a pause, a very soft response came.

"Lord Shen Heng, today that Black Rat assigned us to several mine tunnels, and then had us dig along the existing tunnels, close to the Dull Star Stone Mine beside them. That's all we were told to do!"

Are they really developing mine tunnels?... Shen Heng's eyes flickered, and he asked, "Did you see anything unusual during this time?"

"Uh, well... it seems not." Stone replied somewhat uncertainly.

"Have you seen anything like the corpses of the Calamity Beast or bloodstains?" Shen Heng asked.

"No, Jingjing was just now!"

This time, Stone was no longer uncertain.

However, after it finished speaking, it paused for a moment and added:

"However, I only saw the passageway I walked through; I don't know what the situation was like in other places!"

"Have you encountered any Calamity Beast descending from there?" Shen Heng asked.

"Huh? Go down?" came Stone's somewhat puzzled voice.

"Hmm," Shen Heng replied simply.

"Uh... no, why would Calamity Beast be going down there?" Stone asked, puzzled.

"Since the mining requirements weren't met, coming out would definitely mean certain death, so we can only go down and see if we can evade the Black Rat ' search and survive!" Shen Heng said briefly.

"Oh..."

A slightly bewildered voice came from behind.

Shen Heng didn't ask any more questions, and lowered his eyes slightly.

It's not surprising that you didn't see it; there's more than one path inside the mine, so it's normal not to encounter it.

But no trace was found?

Shen Heng pondered.

It's not surprising that the Calamity Beast that went down didn't reappear; the Black Rat that were monitoring them must have died after searching the area at night.

But there wasn't even a trace left?

Were the previous traces cleared away during the mining process?

Or is it that the recent traces found are not in the mine tunnel where the Stone went?

Or perhaps the Black Rat being monitored want to eat them alive, so they simply knock them unconscious before taking them back to their own colony?

Shen Heng was uncertain; all three possibilities seemed quite plausible...

"Uh... Lord Shen Heng?" Stone's voice came from behind.

Shen Heng turned his attention back and glanced at the line of people getting their food.

"These next few days, continue to do as the supervising Black Rat says. Also, be careful, there might be some Underground Demon down there. Stay away from the end of the mine tunnel and from that supervising Black Rat."

"Uh, Underground Demon?" The voice sounded somewhat confused.

"Hmm, it might be made up. In reality, it was those Black Rat who did it themselves. Anyway, just try to stay away from the end of the mine tunnel and from the Black Rat that are monitoring it," Shen Heng said.

"Uh, okay, I understand!" Stone replied.

"Alright, that's settled then!" Shen Heng said.

"Uh, um, okay, Lord Shen Heng, please be careful!" A somewhat regretful voice came from behind.

Shen Heng glanced at the Stone again before looking away.

The line continued to move forward.

After a while, it was finally its turn and the Shadow Wolf's turn.

Shadow Wolf, positioned in front, crouched slightly so that the supervising Black Rat could more easily see the contents of his mining crate.

"Lord Black Rat, these are the Dull Star Stone I collected today. Please take a look!"

Not a single extra word was uttered.

The Black Rat probed forward slightly, and after confirming that the amount of Dull Star Stone in the ore box roughly met the requirements, it grunted as before and then remained silent.

"OK!"

Shadow Wolf, with a shameless grin, responded.

He then quickly walked to Black Rat's side and placed the ore box on his back onto it.

Only after completing this step did it quickly move forward and leave the group.

Shen Heng also stepped forward at this moment, tilting the ore box he was carrying slightly.

"Lord Black Rat, these are the Dull Star Stone I collected today. Please take a look!"

As before, the Black Rat glanced inside before looking away.

Just when Shen Heng thought he would get a simple "hmm" like Shadow Wolf, Black Rat looked at him.

"You little brat, since you picked quite a lot today, I'll let what happened this morning go. Just be more efficient with your work from now on, you hear me!"

"How can this be remembered?"... Shen Heng was speechless, but avoided looking at the Black Rat in front of him, and hurriedly replied:

"I'm sorry, Lord Black Rat, I didn't sleep well last night, so I was a little distracted this morning. I promise, this won't happen again!"

Seeing the Coiling Mountain Beast's reaction, the Black Rat narrowed its eyes and nodded.

"Alright, you can go now!"

"Yes, thank you for your help, Lord Black Rat!"

Shen Heng was still apprehensive, and even bowed slightly. He then took two steps forward, quickly put down the ore box in his hand, and walked forward.

However, before they had gone very far, they saw the Shadow Wolf, who had already gone a little further away, coming to meet them.

"What? Did Lord Black Rat just say something to you? Was it because of what happened this morning?"

Shadow Wolf asked, as it hadn't dared to get too close and hadn't heard what Lord Black Rat and Panshan said. It could only see that Panshan had indeed been stopped by Lord Black Rat and they were exchanging words.

only...

"Couldn't this guy keep his voice down a bit?"... Shen Heng's lips twitched slightly.

He paused, looked up, and said in a voice filled with emotion, yet also seemingly tinged with reverence,

"It's because of what happened this morning, but Lord Black Rat didn't scold me too much. Instead, he taught me how a Calamity Beast should behave!"

"Uh, ah? Is that... like that?"

Shadow Wolf's eyes were slightly open as he looked at his friend, the beast, with some disbelief.

"Yes, that's right." Shen Heng lowered his head, looking earnestly at Shadow Wolf. "If you have the chance in the future, you can also see if you can ask Lord Black Rat for guidance. You should be able to learn a lot from him."

"Ah, uh, okay, I understand!" Shadow Wolf opened his mouth, replying without knowing how to respond.

Seeing its appearance, Shen Heng didn't insist. He turned his gaze to the Black Rat in front of him, who was responsible for distributing food, and said:

"Alright, let's hurry over there..."

On the other side, the Black Rat responsible for collecting the ore twitched its ears.

It turned its head and looked at the two figures that had just left not far away, its gaze focusing on one of them.

Her body unconsciously twisted slightly.

For some reason, it felt that what the other person had just said seemed a little different.

Why?

The Black Rat pondered for a moment, then its eyes suddenly lit up.

It realized that the other party genuinely meant it that way, unlike the other Calamity Beast who only spoke to please it.

Thinking of this, Black Rat couldn't help but glance at that figure with some regret.

"I didn't expect this guy to actually have potential. Too bad he's not our great Black Rat..."

With a touch of regret, Black Rat sighed inwardly.

During this process, his gaze also swept over the other figure following beside that one.

His gaze instantly shifted from slight regret to slight dissatisfaction.

"That Shadow Wolf wasn't very respectful to me. I'll find a chance to give it a good beating tomorrow!"

With these thoughts in mind, Black Rat seemed to envision tomorrow's scene.

The Shadow Wolf howled and rolled on the ground, begging for mercy.

"Oh--"

It smiled with satisfaction, then turned its attention to the Calamity Beast that seemed unsure whether it should warn it.

His face darkened again.

"Livestock is livestock, not a single one of them has a brain!"