In the underground sewers, a figure moved quickly, this being San Zai'er.
It had already realized that its current state was problematic, so it wanted to get as far away from the surface as possible before its sanity vanished.
Furthermore, its intuition told it that deep underground, there was something possessing many strange energies. That thing should be able to satisfy its twisted desires to a great extent.
Of course, it also knew that the so-called satisfaction of desires was merely an illusion. Even swallowing that thing would only be like drinking poison to quench thirst.
But at this moment, San Zai'er could not endure.
It sped through the sewers, and finally found a huge, dark crack in one place. San Zai'er, without hesitation, squeezed in.
The dark tunnel was filled with a strong smell of rats, and that strange energy aura became even more pronounced. It was clear that this was the source of all the rats in Lingyuan County, and also the source of those bizarre energies.
After crawling to the end, San Zai'er found itself in a black, lightless space.
Its skin rapidly changed color, and then it activated its perception system beyond sight. It immediately realized this was a vast space tens of meters in area. Within this space, there was a rapid heartbeat, a heartbeat originating from a colossal creature.
From the scent, San Zai'er could tell that the colossal creature was a rat, and precisely the rat it was looking for. As long as it swallowed it…
Thus, San Zai'er quietly crawled towards the giant creature, its fangs popping out.
The Three-Eyed Phantom Light Snake's most powerful weapon was its irresistible venom. As long as it was bitten, no matter if the monster was a Disaster-level Low or Mid-tier, it would die immediately. Even an Upper-tier monster would be severely wounded.
But as San Zai'er approached, a claw suddenly shot out, grabbed its serpentine body, and flung it away. Then, it leaped high and bit San Zai'er fiercely.
Bitten and enraged, San Zai'er's body suddenly swelled, wanting to entangle this large rat and devour it.
But despite its ability to change size, close-quarters combat was truly not its forte. Thus, it was easily suppressed and beaten by this rat.
The rat had been in this darkness for who knows how long, accustomed to everything here, including the air currents. Even if San Zai'er's body could perfectly camouflage itself, it couldn't hide from this rat.
Injured, San Zai'er became more agitated, desperately trying to bite the rat. But it had its neck gripped, unable to reach the rat's skin.
Seeing San Zai'er gradually falling into a disadvantage, a black light flashed, and a figure appeared before San Zai'er.
"Why is it so dark, what's going on?"
This sudden voice belonged to Wen Wen, who had just left Rabbit Village. After leaving a certain range from Rabbit Village, he was too lazy to travel normally, so he descended directly to San Zai'er's side through the containment facility.
But the moment he appeared, he found the place pitch black, with visibility similar to the underground labyrinth where the Devourer's Nest was housed.
Moreover, San Zai'er was engaged in a life-or-death battle with a monster nearby. It looked like if Wen Wen had appeared ten minutes later, San Zai'er would have died at the hands of this monster.
Wen Wen didn't understand why San Zai'er chose to fight to the death. If it had just requested him, Wen Wen could have taken it into the containment facility.
Not dwelling on things he couldn't understand, Wen Wen took out a grenade-like object from his clothes and threw it directly onto the ground.
When the object landed, it suddenly exploded, emitting a blinding light… this was clearly a flashbang!
The light from a flashbang could temporarily blind anyone who looked directly at it, even in broad daylight, let alone in this near-lightless darkness.
San Zai'er let out a scream and writhed on the ground, while the giant rat let out a howl of agony, blood spurting directly from its eye sockets.
It was originally just an ordinary little rat. One day, an earthquake occurred, opening a faint crack in the ground of Lingyuan County. This little rat then crawled down the crack.
As it crawled, it found its path blocked, and something was calling it.
So it dug away the soil in front of it, opening a passage and entering here.
The gloomy energy that had accumulated for who knows how many years emanated from the passage it had opened. The rat, left here, was influenced by that energy, and its body grew larger and larger, eventually becoming unable to leave.
But luckily, there was a flowing water pool nearby, and occasionally small animals were attracted by the energy here and entered through that narrow passage, so it never lacked food or water.
When San Zai'er entered today, it originally thought it was another delivered feast. But after the first exchange, it realized this opponent was not simple. San Zai'er's strength was comparable to its own. If not for its greater familiarity with this place, it might have fallen to San Zai'er.
Wen Wen, upon appearing, controlled the situation, then snapped his fingers, and the Pardon Alms Bowl flew out, covering the rat monster's head and immobilizing it.
The light emanating from the Pardon Alms Bowl also allowed Wen Wen to see the situation clearly.
This was a space with a length and width of thirty meters each and a height of five meters. Judging from its regular shape and brick floor, it should be a man-made structure.
The rat monster was three meters tall, and its physical strength was only Disaster-level, making it a match for San Zai'er.
But San Zai'er was a Three-Eyed Phantom Light Snake. For this rat monster to be able to fight San Zai'er on equal footing, it should also have the potential to grow.
However, after staring at the rat for a few moments, Wen Wen casually tossed a black lightsaber, which pierced the rat monster's body and cleaved it.
Firstly, this rat had almost killed San Zai'er. San Zai'er was Wen Wen's pet and emergency food reserve, so it couldn't be easily let off after being injured like this.
Secondly, it was naturally because this guy was curiously ugly. In a lightless environment, it just grew as it pleased…
After the rat died, a large amount of murky, strange energy erupted from its body. Then, all this energy surged towards San Zai'er's body, instantly healing its wounds.
With its recovery complete, San Zai'er straightened its front body and looked at Wen Wen coldly.
After the energy entered its body, its last vestiges of sanity were also wiped away. It even dared to attack Wen Wen.
Seeing San Zai'er's movement, Wen Wen calmly looked at his palm, where there was a wisp of energy that had previously emanated from the rat monster's body.
"Tsk tsk, so it was this energy causing trouble, stimulating the creature's wild nature and then making it addicted…"
Then, Wen Wen's expression turned serious, and he sternly said to San Zai'er, "Although this energy is bizarre, you wouldn't have become like this if you hadn't been greedy for it."
"For the next ten days, you won't even get to drink hot pot broth. Your staple food will be vinegar-braised bricks!"