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Speaking, he drew a small door in the corner of the vast circle.

At this moment, everyone looked at the map he had drawn, their faces becoming increasingly solemn. Just as he said, there was something strange about this place.

When they first entered, nobody cared about these things. Everyone followed the map, but now that they wanted to leave, the map was useless.

That is to say, the area they were currently in was a giant maze.

The stuffiness of the night, coupled with the unease in their hearts.

Together, they looked at each other, their expressions growing graver by the minute.

Kate and Feng Shuo, among others, were discussing what to do next?

Among the group, the weakest were the soldiers selected from Yatang City.

"Everyone, rest where you are! We’ll take turns resting tonight. At dawn, we’ll send a small team to the top of the mountain to check the terrain and find the exit," Kate instructed.

...

Meanwhile, in the outside world!

The International Alliance had already dispatched a large troop rushing towards Yatang City.

The plane responsible for rendezvousing with Kate had been searching non-stop within the area where Kate vanished, but to no avail.

In theory, a troop of a hundred people, even if there were no signals in the dense forest, should be easily found by the aircraft.

However, the plane had searched the entire night and found nothing.

By dawn, the International Alliance had already sent more than twenty people over for assistance, with Lan State Country’s mecha troops soon to follow.

...

At this time, in the depths of the forest.

As soon as the day had just brightened, those who were resting all opened their eyes, warmed by the sunlight filtering through the treetops.

At this moment, the panic in their hearts was much alleviated compared to yesterday.

Everyone packed up, ready to head towards the nearby mountain. As long as they climbed to the top, they were sure to find a way out from the high ground.

Just as everyone was gearing up and about to set off, several giant rats suddenly jumped out of the underbrush.

Perhaps because they hadn’t found any trace of them despite searching all night, their sudden appearance startled everyone.

The fastest to react fired their guns, instantly killing the giant rats.

But one, apparently frightened, turned and bolted.

Without a second thought, everyone with a weapon gave chase.

The forest came alive with activity in the early morning.

As the team chased deeper into the valley.

By the time they reached the center of the valley, the giant rat had vanished.

Gu Xiaoxi immediately closed her eyes and released her Divine Sense to search, wishing she hadn’t.

Upon sensing what was there, she quickly stepped back, alarmed.

Kate, seeing her suddenly pale face, quickly asked, "What’s wrong?"

Gu Xiaoxi stared with terrified eyes, pointing towards the distant forest, her voice trembling, "There are so many giant rats in that forest!"

"So many? How many is that!"

Gu Xiaoxi felt a tingling on her scalp, biting her lip and swallowing hard before she finally found her voice, hoarsely saying, "So many! Thick as locusts! Like an army!"

Kate immediately took out the thermal imaging binoculars, and at that glance, his whole body fell backwards.

Fortunately, everyone was quick and two people caught him, preventing him from falling straight down.

What had he seen...

When he lifted the binoculars, he saw a sea of red.

A vast expanse of red that seemed endless. How many giant rats were hiding in this forest?

And how had they managed to not show up at night, only to give everyone a ’surprise’ in the morning?

All of a sudden, it seemed like these animals possessed intelligence far beyond that of normal humans.

"Everyone run for it! Run for it!" Kate suddenly grabbed the hand of the person next to him and hurriedly shouted.

By this time, the giant rats were already closing in, surrounding everyone.

Looking around, they saw that giant rats filled the tree branches, the ground, the underbrush, and the rock piles.

They stood tall, raising their forelimbs like kangaroos, with their large bodies and thick tails making them look like mice suddenly enlarged by more than ten times.

What Kate was saying wasn’t to retreat, but to run for their lives!

At this moment, finding an exit was impossible. The only option was to flee.

Surviving was all that mattered, with the hope that rescue would soon come.

A whole minute passed.

The Giant Rats didn’t move, neither did the group with sweaty palms clenched around their weapons.

Everyone held their breath, not daring to even blink forcefully, afraid that the slightest movement might provoke the Giant Rats to pounce on them first.

Gu Xiaoxi bit her teeth, feeling uncertain.

Facing so many Giant Rats, she didn’t know how long she could hold out.

How far the group could run.

Seeing everyone frozen in place, she suddenly shouted, "What are you waiting for? Run!"

Before the position behind them was taken over by the Giant Rats, there was still a way out.

At that moment, without a second thought, those who reacted quickly started to flee.

At the same time, the Giant Rats charged towards the group.

Gu Xiaoxi, with Feng Shuo, Kate, Kang Wei, and others, immediately opened fire and didn’t hide their abilities, starting to buy time for everyone to escape.

At this moment, it was entirely voluntary to stay behind.

Therefore, as soon as Gu Xiaoxi finished speaking, already eighty percent of the people had run away.

The remaining twenty percent, apart from Gu Xiaoxi’s team, were the representatives sent by the International Alliance and evaluators like Kang Di, Willy, and others.

Kate assessed Gu Xiaoxi and her companions while fighting off the Giant Rats.

In times of danger, when life is threatened, the quality of a team is truly revealed.

All the members who came for the International Alliance’s assessment, only Gu Xiaoxi’s team remained intact, and their coordination was very tacit. When danger approached, they quickly formed an array.

They used each teammate’s strengths to compensate for the others’ weaknesses, thus enabling every member’s power to be utilized at critical moments.

And Gu Xiaoxi herself was always the front-runner.

Although she was the one shouting for everyone to flee, she was not just talking—she was the first to rush towards danger to buy time for everyone.

Such courage in her made him admire her.

One could say that while the International Alliance has always been at the top of the world with many talents, there had never been anyone like Gu Xiaoxi, who in just a few days managed to win over foreign comrades-in-arms and lead them into battle.

She united completely incompatible people as tightly as a rope.

Willy and the others, since being rescued by Gu Xiaoxi, had come to understand these five people.

In Willy’s words! These five people would surely achieve great things, so they wanted to stick with Gu Xiaoxi no matter what.

Even if there were some past grievances with Gu Xiaoxi, they, like Yun Xiao and the others, firmly believed that as long as Gu Xiaoxi was there, everyone would be fine.

The twenty people unleashed a fierce attack, with just the weapons in their hands killing a swath of Giant Rats in an instant.

However, the Giant Rats seemed to fear death not.

One batch fell, the next batch surged forward, and even more swarmed in from behind.

Soon, everyone’s ammunition ran out.

All dropped their weapons, staring at the endless stream of Giant Rats charging towards them.

Gu Xiaoxi didn’t think twice, releasing all seven of her daggers.

Yun Xiao formed hand seals, with Ice Edge already taking shape on his fingertips.

Tang Yisheng’s palms grew larger fireballs.

Che Junqing stretched out his arms, with thunder dancing in his palms.

Jing Haoran’s eyes had already turned blood red. Even before the Giant Rats got close, he had taken control of a swarm, making them turn on each other in combat to help him.

Kang Wei, usually quiet and reserved, pulled out a bizarre horn, and as he blew into it, multicolored bubbles floated towards the swarm of Giant Rats. Where the bubbles landed, the skin of the Giant Rats began to corrode. Within two or three seconds, the Rats blackened and died.

While everyone fought, they were also startled by Kang Wei’s strange contraption. It turned out that the bubbles were a deadly poison, fatal on contact.

Kate’s weapon was an iron chain about ten meters long, the end tied with two iron balls.

His strength was immense, and each swing could knock down a horde of Giant Rats.

Feng Shuo wielded an iron fan with very sharp edges, and as he threw it, it would spin in a circle before flying back to him. Not far from him, a batch of Giant Rats lay fallen.

Danmai was a mage! He chanted solemnly, summoning all kinds of strange magics. Instantly, the battle scene was alive with action.

Under their collective assault, the Giant Rats that were encircling them began to slow down considerably.

Clearly, they too were intimidated by the group’s overwhelming firepower.

Gu Xiaoxi, with her seven daggers, felt a thrill of excitement rise within her.

She discovered that while previously she could only handle four daggers at once, she could now maneuver five for slashing and control the remaining two defensively.

It was certainly a big breakthrough.

With the five daggers swinging, she had developed her "Chopping Wind" to the Fifth Level.

Even in such a perilous and dire situation, she couldn’t help but smile.