Stirring Up a Rat's Nest

"How are you prepared for tomorrow's competition?"

Xiao Yan flopped onto the sofa, tore open a bag of chips, and crunched away. "I'm telling you, I'm going to be there to cheer you on tomorrow, too."

"Don't you have class?" Chu Ge raised an eyebrow, glancing at the bag of chips in her hand. "And didn't you say you had no money? Where did the snacks come from?"

"No worries. I asked Old Wu for the day off." Xiao Yan sounded perfectly justified. "How could I miss such a big spectacle?"

"As for the snacks... Would you believe me if I said I found a hundred yuan today?"

"I would." Chu Ge nodded. "So why didn't you pay back the twenty-four yuan and fifty cents you owe me first?"

"Because I spent it all on snacks." Xiao Yan blinked at him, looking innocent.

Chu Ge: "..."

He couldn't be bothered arguing with this silly roe deer. He went into his room, fetched his bronze Tang saber, changed his shoes, and headed for the door.

"Where are you going?" Xiao Yan called, her words muffled by the chips in her mouth.

"Out for a walk, and to save the world while I'm at it." Chu Ge looked back at her. "Demonic beasts have been causing trouble downtown lately. I'm going to try my luck and see if I can catch one to practice on."

At that, Xiao Yan's eyes lit up. She hurriedly put the chips on the coffee table and sprang to her feet.

"That sounds like fun! I'm coming too!"

"Wash your hands first." Chu Ge leaned against the doorframe, looking at her fingers, which were covered in seasoning powder. "And remember, no sneaking a lick of your fingers. It's pretty gross."

"What are you talking about?" Xiao Yan looked at him with disdain. "How could a dignified beautiful girl do something so uncute?"

She talked a big game, but once she entered the bathroom, she still sneaked a lick of her fingertips.

Tomato flavor.

Delicious.

Hehe.

Just as she finished, she looked up and saw Chu Ge in the mirror, leaning against the bathroom doorway and watching her expressionlessly.

"..." Xiao Yan's face turned red. No more hehe.

She hurriedly turned on the tap and rinsed her hands. Once they were clean, she urged him on. "Let's go, let's go. Any later and all the demonic beasts will have run off."

Chu Ge snorted. He'd known this silly roe deer was capable of it, but he couldn't be bothered exposing her.

By the time they reached Lakeside Park, it was completely dark.

The streetlights along the lake were on, and uniformed patrol officers could be seen passing at intervals. Security was noticeably tighter than when Chu Ge had last visited.

As they rounded a corner, they happened to run into a patrol team.

Lin Lan was leading them. She stopped to give them a warning:

"Out this late? East Sea City hasn't been peaceful at night lately. If you have no business out here, head home early, and don't go anywhere secluded."

"Got it. Thanks." Chu Ge nodded.

Once the patrol team had gone far enough away, Xiao Yan leaned over and asked quietly, "You know that girl?"

"I met her once before."

Xiao Yan gave an "oh" and swung the large scythe in her hand.

She had deliberately worn a black Gothic dress today, and with the black scythe as tall as she was, she really did look a bit like a dark loli.

They hadn't walked five hundred meters before she started panting.

"Are there really demonic beasts here?" She thumped the scythe against the ground, producing a dull impact. "I'm so tired. Little bro, can you carry it for your cousin for a while?"

"No." Chu Ge walked ahead without looking back. "You insisted on coming along, and you insisted on bringing such a heavy weapon. You chose this path, so even if you have to crawl on your knees, you have to see it through."

"Wasn't it someone who said Gothic lolis should use big scythes?" Xiao Yan stamped her little leather shoes, her cheeks puffed up in anger. "Who'd have nothing better to do than learn to use one otherwise?"

"Did I?" Chu Ge paused and thought carefully. It seemed there really had been something like that.

Last year, he'd come across a video and made an offhand comment. He hadn't expected this silly roe deer to remember it until now and actually get herself a scythe.

A scythe looked cool and was first-rate for intimidating people, but in actual combat it was really quite impractical.

At the Qi and Blood Realm, people couldn't fly or use martial skills yet. A weapon this heavy was hard enough to swing, and nowhere near as handy as sabers, spears, or staffs.

Only after advancing beyond the Qi and Blood Realm and unlocking more abilities would the gaps between different weapons narrow. By then, people could basically use whatever felt right.

Chu Ge suddenly stopped, and a dull thud sounded behind him.

Xiao Yan had walked into his back.

She lost her grip on the scythe, which crashed straight to the ground and knocked against her knee on the way down.

"Hiss." Xiao Yan sucked in a breath of cold air from the pain and crouched to rub her knee.

You couldn't really blame her.

The scythe was forged from thousand-year-old cold iron. It was the same grade as Chu Ge's Tang saber, but there was a huge difference in weight.

The Tang saber weighed only five hundred jin, while the black scythe weighed a full six thousand six hundred and sixty-six jin.

Although Xiao Yan had the strength to lift nine thousand jin and could carry it, her hands had long since grown sore from lugging it so far.

Chu Ge wouldn't have fared much better if he'd carried it all the way here.

"Seriously, why did you suddenly stop when everything was fine?" Xiao Yan looked up, rubbing her knee. If Chu Ge didn't give her a satisfactory explanation, she was going to switch to hissing mode.

Chu Ge didn't answer. He reached back and drew the Tang saber at his waist.

The blade reflected the streetlight, gleaming cold white.

Xiao Yan followed his gaze and fell silent at once.

On a camphor tree ten meters away, a pair of blood-red eyes were staring fixedly at them.

"Squeak, squeak, squeak-"

The piercing rat cries ripped through the night, making their eardrums ache.

Chu Ge frowned.

He could tell that this Scarlet-Eyed Giant Rat was only at the sixtieth level of qi and blood, but its aura was unusually dense, a great deal stronger than demonic beasts at the same realm.

It was as though it had taken drugs and entered a berserk state, nearly doubling its combat power.

Xiao Yan forgot all about her aching knee. She scooped up the scythe, stepped forward, and placed herself directly in front of Chu Ge.

"Step back. Let your cousin handle this."

As soon as she spoke, the [Enhancement] trait activated, and a faint layer of light appeared around her.

All her attributes instantly rose by thirty percent.

The next second, she did something that left even Chu Ge stunned.

Facing the Scarlet-Eyed Giant Rat in the tree-

She raised her middle finger.

Standing very tall and straight.

"Squeak, squeak, squeak!!!"

As though it understood the gesture, the giant rat let out an even shriller scream, and all its fur bristled.

It kicked off the trunk with all four limbs and lunged at them like mad, claws outstretched.

"Heh heh, you think I'll avoid your edge?"

An arrogant smile rose to Xiao Yan's lips. Standing her ground without dodging, she gripped the scythe's shaft in both hands, raised it high, and brought it straight down on the charging rat.

Swish!

A flash of cold light swept past.

The Scarlet-Eyed Giant Rat, still lunging through the air, was sliced clean in two vertically.

The two halves of its corpse hit the ground with two thuds, splattering blood everywhere.

Ratty died on the spot.

Chu Ge watched from the side, stunned.

Huh?

From the moment it appeared to the moment it died, this rat didn't even last ten seconds?

He seriously suspected there was something wrong with the rat's brain. It had actually chosen to charge head-on at Xiao Yan and her long weapon, practically ramming its head straight into the scythe.

No normal demonic beast would do that.

The one he'd encountered last time had been a little weaker, but at least it had known to hide in the grass and launch a sneak attack.

It seemed demonic beasts were like people: some were smart, and some were simpletons.

Having killed the giant rat, Xiao Yan propped her scythe on the ground and looked back at Chu Ge. The words "praise me" might as well have been written on her face.

"Well? Isn't your cousin amazing?"

Seeing how pleased she was with herself, Chu Ge offered her the highest praise one person could give another.

"...Fine, you're amazing."

With that, he took out his phone and called the Martial Arts Association.

Less than a minute after he gave them their location, nearby patrol officers arrived.

The one leading them was a middle-aged officer. He looked at the rat's corpse on the ground, then at the two standing beside it, looking a little surprised.

"You killed this?" He clicked his tongue, some disbelief in his voice. "This Scarlet-Eyed Giant Rat has gone berserk. Its strength is comparable to the Black Iron Realm."

"Yeah, we got lucky," Chu Ge said calmly.

"It wasn't luck at all!" Xiao Yan huffed.

She wasn't nearly so modest. She went over and chattered away for ages, giving a wildly embellished account of how she'd killed the giant rat in a single strike. She also mentioned how she'd provoked it with her middle finger, her face alight as she spoke.

At first, the patrol officer nodded repeatedly as he listened, thinking the girl was young but quite brave and strong as well. When he heard her mention provoking it with her middle finger, his expression changed at once.

He immediately grew serious and began lecturing Xiao Yan:

"Young lady, don't do that next time."

"Demonic beasts are very dangerous. If the other party's realm is higher than yours, provoking it is asking to die."

"When something like this happens, you should find the patrol team right away instead of charging in yourself."

As he spoke, his tone grew heavier:

"Something happened just a couple of days ago. A couple went camping in the forest park in the middle of the night and got some minor injuries. The smell of blood attracted three Scarlet-Eyed Giant Rats."

"Both of them were at the Mid-stage Black Iron Realm. They didn't take a few Qi and Blood Realm rats seriously, and dealt with them quickly."

"Once they'd dealt with them, they should have contacted us to handle it. Instead, they didn't think much of it and stayed where they were."

"The smell of blood spread farther and farther, attracting more demonic beasts."

"Later, two Black Iron Realm giant rats burst out and successfully ambushed them while they were off guard."

"By the time someone found them the next day, they were dead." The patrol officer sighed. "When their families came to identify the bodies, they cried so hard they couldn't stand."

Xiao Yan had been covering her ears, unwilling to listen, but as he went on, she slowly lowered her hands. The smugness vanished from her face, and she lowered her head and kicked at the pebbles on the ground.

All right, all right, all right, all right, all right, all right, all right, all right...

The patrol officer crouched down, put the rat's corpse in a body bag, and used flames to clean up the blood on the ground.

Before leaving, he made a point of reminding Xiao Yan once more:

"Remember, don't do anything this dangerous again. If something happened to you, imagine how sad your family would be."

"...Got it," Xiao Yan answered softly, a little dispirited.

Watching the patrol team walk away, she pursed her lips.

In all her life, this was the first time a stranger had lectured her in public. It was pretty embarrassing.

While she was still feeling glum, she suddenly got a knock on the forehead.

Tap.

It was very light, just a flick on the forehead.

"What are you doing?!"

Xiao Yan whipped her head around and glared fiercely at Chu Ge, baring her teeth. "Why did you hit my head?!"

"So you'll remember the lesson."

Chu Ge withdrew his hand, his tone calm:

"Remember what that patrol officer uncle said. If something happens to you, your family will be sad."

"I don't want to see my mom, my aunt, Grandpa, Grandma, and the rest of them crying."

"Oh, got it." Xiao Yan answered reluctantly, kicking the grass beneath her feet. "I won't do it again, okay?"

"You'd better really remember." Chu Ge sighed.

It suddenly occurred to him that the instant the giant rat lunged, this silly roe deer had stepped forward without a second thought and shielded him behind her.

He was a little touched.

And a little uncertain.

Had she done it to protect him, or had she simply wanted to show off?

Just as that thought crossed Chu Ge's mind, a soft voice came from beside him.

"Chu Ge."

"Hmm?"

"If I died, would you be sad?"

Chu Ge turned his head and looked at the lights on the lake in the distance, his tone casual:

"Of course not. How could anyone be sad over a silly roe deer?"

"Really?"

"Really."

"I don't believe you."

The girl stood beside him, not even reaching his shoulder. She tilted her little face up and stared at his profile. The streetlight fell on her face, and her eyes shone as though filled with stars.

"Then look me in the eyes and say it again."

Her voice was soft, drifting over on the evening breeze.

The chirping insects and the wind rustling through the leaves around them seemed to fall silent all at once.

Chu Ge lowered his head and met her eyes.

The girl looked at him without blinking, a touch of stubbornness and a hint of expectation in her eyes.

He opened his mouth and was just about to speak when a series of urgent rat cries suddenly came from the distance.

More than one.

Chu Ge's expression tightened, and he reached out and pulled Xiao Yan behind him.

"Be quiet. Something's moving."

Xiao Yan immediately put aside her thoughts of "joking," tightened her grip on her sickle, and looked toward the sound.

In the dark woods, pairs of red eyes were slowly lighting up.

They were packed close together, at least a dozen of them.

A strong stench drifted over on the wind, foul and bloody.

The two exchanged a glance, and each saw the same thought in the other's eyes.

This is bad. We've stirred up a rat's nest.

There were more than a dozen frenzied Scarlet-Eyed Giant Rats. Even the weakest had reached the fiftieth level of Qi and Blood, and the one leading them had a heavier aura. It might already have reached the threshold of the Black Iron Realm.

No matter how strong the two of them were, they were only in the Qi and Blood Realm.

Even armed with top-grade Bronze Weapons, they would definitely be at a disadvantage in a head-on fight. They might even die.

Chu Ge was just about to call for the patrol officers when a beam of light shone over from the distance.

A patrol squad had noticed the commotion and was hurrying over.

At that moment, the red eyes in the woods moved.

More than a dozen black shadows sprang out at once, lunging at the two of them with piercing shrieks.