Zhao Yin immediately recognized the sound of human footsteps and glanced back.

Song Xiaodao was already fast asleep. Little Monkey and Old Bull had both opened their eyes, alert and watchful.

"Old Bull, stay inside the tent. Monkey, come with me."

After finishing the mental communication, Zhao Yin led Little Monkey out of the Invisibility Tent.

Boom!

Thunder rumbled across the sky, and torrential rain instantly soaked Zhao Yin through.

Little Monkey's Iron Armor gleamed under the downpour.

Zhao Yin narrowed his eyes and peered ahead. In the pitch-black night, four figures were sprinting wildly, roughly three to four hundred meters away.

Two men and two women, all young adults. The two women were empty-handed, while one man carried a shovel and the other gripped a crowbar.

Panic twisted their faces. Every few steps, someone stumbled over vines, only to be hauled upright by a companion.

They were running straight toward Zhao Yin.

"Zombies ahead!"

As the group drew closer, a girl with disheveled hair and black-rimmed glasses pointed at Zhao Yin and Little Monkey and shouted.

"Go around!" another short-haired girl cried.

"We can't! The ground's too slippery. This is the only flat stretch. If Captain Wang and the others can't hold out... we'll never outrun those damned rats!"

The tall young man turned anxiously to the crew-cut youth beside him. "Xiao Hong, let's take out those two zombies!"

"K-kill zombies?" The crew-cut youth's voice trembled.

"There's no time!" The girl with glasses snapped. "Hong Xiaotian, are you even a man? Didn't you say you'd protect us?"

Hong Xiaotian gritted his teeth. The hesitation vanished from his face.

Shovel in hand, he followed the tall young man, and the two rushed toward Zhao Yin.

As they approached, Zhao Yin saw their faces growing paler by the second.

Their clothes were ragged and torn, though the rain had washed them clean, leaving the fabric soaked and plastered to their bodies.

Squeak, squeak...

Little Monkey sensed danger and grew agitated. Zhao Yin raised a hand and patted its head. "Easy."

The two young men froze mid-step.

"Y-you're human?" Hong Xiaotian asked.

In the dark rainy night, they couldn't make out Zhao Yin's face.

"What's got you so scared? Zombies?" Zhao Yin asked.

Once they confirmed he wasn't a zombie, both seemed to exhale in relief. Hong Xiaotian lowered his shovel. "Brother, run! A swarm of rats is chasing us!"

"Rats?" Zhao Yin's eyes lit up.

"Brother, these aren't ordinary rats. They're bigger than dogs-!"

Before Hong Xiaotian could finish, a rumbling sound erupted behind them, drowning out even the rain. It sounded like ten thousand horses stampeding.

"Xiao Hong, stop talking and run!" The tall young man yanked Hong Xiaotian's arm. The two girls had already sprinted past them.

None of them noticed the Invisibility Tent. After running more than ten meters, Hong Xiaotian glanced back. The stranger was still standing there, that oddly dressed 'child' behind him.

By now, Zhao Yin had focused his vision and seen the rat swarm clearly.

Three to four hundred of them, densely packed, each one the size of a medium dog. Wherever they passed, wild grass and vines were trampled flat.

"Brother, run! Why are you just standing there?" Hong Xiaotian shouted from several hundred meters away.

"Why bother with him? If he wants to die, that's his problem," the girl with glasses said.

"Captain Wang and the others are probably dead already. If no one holds back the swarm, we won't make it to the shelter. Let him buy us some time," the tall young man said.

The short-haired girl frowned but said nothing. She quickened her pace along with the others.

Soon, all four vanished into the curtain of rain.

[Rat: F-rank, Strength 25, Agility 36, Stamina 12, Spirit 2. Mutated after infection by the zombie virus.]

[Rat: F-rank, Strength 24, Agility 35, Stamina 13, Spirit 1. Mutated after infection by the zombie virus.]

[Rat: F-rank...]

Zhao Yin activated the Eye of True Sight and confirmed they were Pseudo-Mutant Beasts.

The difference between Pseudo-Mutant Beasts and true Mutant Beasts was simple: Mutant Beasts underwent natural mutation and possessed abilities. Pseudo-Mutant Beasts mutated from the zombie virus and had no abilities.

But Pseudo-Mutant Beasts were still living creatures. Zhao Yin could form contracts with them.

He rushed into the Invisibility Tent and grabbed the sleeping Song Xiaodao.

"Zhao Yin, what are you doing?" she asked groggily.

The next moment, he burst out of the tent. The rain hit her like a slap and she was instantly awake.

Old Bull followed, lifting its head toward the approaching swarm.

The rats were now less than three hundred meters away.

Song Xiaodao and Old Bull both froze.

"Master, sh-should we run?" Even Old Bull's mental voice wavered.

This was several hundred F-rank Pseudo-Mutant Beasts. Not zombies.

Aside from lacking abilities, they were no different from true Mutant Beasts.

Zhao Yin didn't answer. He pulled every chestnut burr from his Spatial Ring and shouted, "Everyone, spread these out. Now."

Song Xiaodao understood immediately. "A trap?"

"Move!"

The Mountain-Cleaving Machete appeared in Zhao Yin's hand. He swung hard, the flat of the blade sweeping across the pile of burrs. Hundreds flew out and scattered across the rats' path.

Back when Little Monkey had been picking chestnuts, a single accidental touch had pierced its skin. These mutated burrs were vicious. Zhao Yin wouldn't have wasted storage space on them otherwise.

Song Xiaodao drew her Tang saber and copied him, batting burrs outward.

But Little Monkey was fastest. After activating Giantification, every swing of its Spiked Club sent hundreds of jin of burrs flying.

Old Bull used horns and hooves alike. The burrs pierced its hide, and it panted heavily through the pain.

A dozen seconds later, Zhao Yin shouted, "Fall back!"

The burrs were spread. The swarm had arrived.

Zhao Yin led Song Xiaodao and the two beasts back to the Invisibility Tent.

Three to four hundred dog-sized rats flooded across the terrain, blood-red eyes blazing with frenzy, claws churning through mud as they charged.

Screech!

The first rat hit a burr and shrieked, leaping instinctively to escape. It landed on several more and convulsed.

The rats behind it hit the same trap. The scene repeated again and again.

The screeching was relentless, so shrill it made Zhao Yin's ears ache.

"Get ready!" he shouted through the downpour. "Knock them out if you can. Kill only if you have to!"

Several thousand jin of burrs meant almost every rat would have a few embedded in its body.

Not fatal, but their agility was crippled. Their speed dropped.

Finally, the first rat burst through the trap. More than a dozen burrs studded its body, blood streaming as it charged at Zhao Yin's group with hatred in its red eyes.

Then came the second. The third.

They knew who had laid the trap.

Zhao Yin drew his compound bow and fired.

Pfft!

The nearest rat's hind leg was pierced. It stumbled, then kept limping forward-until Zhao Yin's second arrow punched through its other hind leg.

No longer a threat.

Zhao Yin ignored it and aimed at the next. Arrows flew in rapid succession. In moments, four or five rats were dragging themselves forward on their front legs alone.