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After she finished speaking, she handed three pills to Gu Youyou and Jin Ziyuan.

"Here they come!" Jin Ziyuan swallowed the pill and spoke in a deep voice.

The three of them looked intently and saw a rat crawling out of the broken crack in the rocks.

The rat was covered in crimson fur, and it was somewhat larger than an ordinary rat.

Searcy’s eyes gleamed as she said, "Such a rat would be much more interesting to study than the ones we raise at home."

A few such rats would be manageable, but there were so many of them, and they seemed to be... wanting to eat people.

Before long, even more rats emerged, each with crimson fur, swarming towards Gu Youyou and her companions from holes all around.

Faced with such a hair-raising sight, Gu Youyou screamed in fright and held her head.

Jin Ziyuan pulled her to his side, his body became light, and he swung up onto a rope hanging in mid-air.

Gu Youyou breathed a sigh of relief, then cried out in shock, "Searcy is still down there!"

Searcy, with a pack of poison in her hand, stared dumbfounded at the red rats. Their target seemed not to be them, but the fire they had kindled.

The rat army circled around Searcy and rushed straight for the flames.

Unfortunately, with the way they threw themselves at it, the fire was quickly extinguished.

Without the fire, the rats became restless and furiously agitated.

With rats chaotically swarming everywhere, they finally began attacking Searcy, who was still standing.

Searcy screamed as she scattered a bag of poison powder on the ground.

Numerous rats began to move slowly, soon foaming at the mouth as they struggled before dying motionless.

Gu Youyou inwardly praised, "Impressive."

But killing those few rats didn’t make much of a difference, as more and more poured out.

They seemed disciplined, not causing any direct harm to Searcy, but instead lifted her up and ran towards the cave’s edge.

Gu Youyou had seen an army of ants carrying massive amounts of food. Now, the rats carrying Searcy resembled ants transporting food.

This thought gave Gu Youyou a fright. She clung tightly to the rope and urged Jin Ziyuan, "Hurry, go save her."

She had no idea where these rats were taking her.

It was way too frightening, and even the usually brave Searcy felt fear for the first time.

When Madam Lu had threatened to make her life worse than death, even using torture, she hadn’t felt such fear.

Jin Ziyuan was initially indifferent to the life or death of others, but seeing the determination in Gu Youyou’s eyes, and her anxious look as if she would jump down herself if he did not, he finally decided to go.

"Be careful, hold on."

He wasn’t sure how long Gu Youyou could hang on to the rope by herself, but he would come back as quickly as he could.

Once he landed, the rest of the rats came at him, trying to carry him away in the same manner.

To the rats, Jin Ziyuan was a tougher prey; since they couldn’t bring him down, they climbed up his legs, some even burrowed into his pants and bit him.

It wasn’t painful, just a bit numb.

Jin Ziyuan’s expression grew stern as he swung his short sword, ceaselessly slashing at the rats climbing up on him.

The corpses of rats piled up at his feet, but still more kept emerging from the crevices.

He tried to use his Qinggong to reach Searcy, but found his legs were incredibly numb and weak. He cursed inwardly, "Damn it, these rats are poisonous," and after being bitten, he could no longer muster his Qinggong.