Dawn broke. The torrential rain that had pounded through the night finally ceased.

Weeds sprawled thicker across the land, and many low saplings had shot up half a foot overnight.

Zhao Yin stood before the tent, surveying the mountain of rat corpses.

Three hundred ninety-six Gray Rats in total. Each one the size of a medium dog. He estimated twenty jin of fresh meat per carcass-roughly eight thousand jin altogether.

The six dead Giant Rats could yield about three hundred jin each. Another eighteen hundred jin.

Nearly ten thousand jin of rat meat in total.

A pity it was all Pseudo-Mutant Beast flesh. Useless for strengthening true Mutant Beasts.

Still, even Pseudo-Mutant Beast meat tasted far better than anything from before the apocalypse.

"Black Rat King-!"

Zhao Yin caught himself mid-sentence and changed his tone sharply: "King my ass! From now on, you're Old Black. Old Black, take the six E-rank Giant Rats and skin every last one of these corpses. Strip out the bones and innards!"

"Monkey, you're on claw duty. Cut off every rat claw and pile them inside the tent!"

"Song Xiaodao and Old Bull, go gather firewood. I want fifty thousand jin stacked before dark!"

He issued the commands without pause.

Worth noting: after waking, the Black Rat King had gone to the spot where the White Rat King died. It hadn't found so much as a strand of fur. It had been sulking ever since.

Now, receiving Zhao Yin's orders, hesitation flickered in its eyes. Those Gray Rats had been its subordinates. The Giant Rats were its own offspring, sired with the White Rat King.

Bam!

Zhao Yin's boot slammed into the Black Rat King's hindquarters, sending it stumbling forward.

"You awake yet, you bastard?"

The Black Rat King shuddered violently and threw itself flat at Zhao Yin's feet, trembling from snout to tail.

Since becoming Zhao Yin's Contract Beast, it still retained its memories. But its devotion to its new master already surpassed everything it had once felt for the White Rat King.

"From this moment on, I strip you of your identity as rats. You are forbidden to think of kinship with your kind. You have one identity now: my Contract Beasts. My servants!"

The instant Zhao Yin finished speaking, the Black Rat King and all six Giant Rats shrieked in agony. They collapsed, writhing on the ground.

Inside their minds, the collars formed by the Contract Soul tightened around their very souls. Flames erupted from the bindings, blazing white-hot.

In that moment, their sense of racial identity began to fade from memory...

To them, Zhao Yin's words were divine punishment.

After a time, once the racial cognition had burned away, the Contract Soul settled back to normal.

Seven rats lay prostrate on the ground.

"Master, I know I was wrong. I beg your forgiveness!"

"Great master, please forgive us...!"

"..."

Watching from the side, Little Monkey and Old Bull both shivered. They silently thanked themselves for never resisting their master.

In truth, Contract Beasts bound by the Contract Soul rarely developed thoughts of defiance.

Only someone with obsession as deep as the Black Rat King's could even attempt to question the master's orders. But Zhao Yin needed only a single thought to strip it of everything.

The other six Giant Rats were simply unlucky-dragged down alongside the Black Rat King.

"Behave. Work hard for me, and one day you'll become the most powerful Mutant-"

Zhao Yin paused mid-sentence. He glanced at Little Monkey and Old Bull beside him, suddenly remembering he'd said the same thing to them before.

He changed his words: "You'll become the most badass rat around."

As a Contract Beast, the Black Rat King didn't doubt its master for an instant. Excitement surged through it.

"Master, Old Black will work hard! I'll start butchering the rats right now."

Zhao Yin nodded with satisfaction. "Go."

The claws of the Black Rat King and the six Giant Rats were razor-sharp. In just a few strokes, they slit open a Gray Rat's belly, yanked out the innards, and with a few more slashes, hooked out the skeleton.

Finally, they peeled off the hide, leaving a clean slab of rat meat. They didn't even need Little Monkey to cut off the claws separately-they just tore them free and tossed them aside.

Their technique far surpassed Zhao Yin's earlier clumsy attempts.

Seeing this, Zhao Yin relaxed completely. He ordered Little Monkey to follow Old Bull and Song Xiaodao to chop firewood instead.

Zhao Yin returned to the tent. He didn't idle. He lit a fire, set up the hanging pot, then chopped the White Rat King's innards into chunks and dumped them in with water and salt.

The finest ingredients only need the simplest preparation.

Soon, a rich meaty aroma drifted through the air...

Outside the tent, dawn light spread across the land. The damp ground began to dry.

Many craters had been filled in by mud washed down in the rain. The world remained desolate, but it had grown flatter.

At least it no longer looked riddled with wounds.

Song Xiaodao came bouncing back, Little Monkey and Old Bull in their transformed states trailing behind her. Both beasts dragged thousands of jin of freshly cut wood.

"Hey, what smells so good?" Song Xiaodao sniffed the air.

Zhao Yin hadn't closed the Invisibility Tent. The fragrance had spread outside.

Squeak squeak...

Little Monkey swallowed hard and pointed at the tent to alert Song Xiaodao. She immediately sprinted toward it. Little Monkey dropped its load and scrambled after her.

Only Old Bull stood unmoved. But then again, no one was helping it unload the firewood from its back. It shook off the wood and followed them into the Invisibility Tent.

Inside, Zhao Yin was using the Mountain-Cleaving Machete to carve a massive log into a low wooden table. Beside him, the large iron basin-usually used for Song Xiaodao's baths-was filled to the brim with offal soup. Another pot still bubbled over the fire, steam rising in lazy curls.

"Zhao Yin, what is that?" Song Xiaodao's eyes went wide. She gulped.

"How's the firewood coming?" Zhao Yin asked.

"About three or four thousand jin so far," Song Xiaodao said.

"Eat first. Then get back to it."

Zhao Yin set the newly carved table beside the fire and laid out two sets of bowls and chopsticks, plus two washbasins.

"I'll serve!" Song Xiaodao grabbed the wooden ladle from the iron basin, filled a large bowl, and set it in front of Zhao Yin first. Then she filled a basin each for Old Bull and Little Monkey.

Finally, she filled a bowl for herself.

The wooden ladle was something Zhao Yin had just carved. Rough work.

"Eat," Zhao Yin said.

He hadn't bothered with such formalities before. Maybe it was last night's dream. Something in his thinking had shifted.

Song Xiaodao and Little Monkey stepped forward and immediately began wolfing down their food.

They hadn't tasted fresh meat in far too long.

Even Zhao Yin felt like he could swallow his own tongue.

He suddenly noticed Old Bull still standing there. Only then did he remember-it was a herbivore.

"Old Bull. From now on, you eat meat."

Old Bull looked completely dumbfounded. It was a cow. Eating meat?

But it didn't dare disobey. It plodded over, lowered its head, and took a tentative sip of the offal soup.

The next instant, Old Bull's throat convulsed-it wanted to gag.

But then its eyes went wide.

Zhao Yin laughed. "Who says herbivores can't eat meat?"

"Before the apocalypse, plenty of shady livestock farmers fed their cattle and sheep kitchen slop. You just need to adapt."

"Besides, you're a Mutant Beast. You think your guts are the same as some ordinary cow? This is the best nourishment you'll ever get."

"I understand, Master." Old Bull seemed to finally grasp the point.

"Eat." Zhao Yin waved his hand.

Soon, Old Bull was wolfing down the soup just like Little Monkey.

Seeing this, Song Xiaodao frantically tried to compete with the two beasts. But she was too slow. The large iron basin emptied fast, and she only managed to snag two bowls.

"Zhao Yin, they-they're bullying me!" Song Xiaodao pointed at the two beasts, indignant.

This girl and her food guarding.

Truth be told, Zhao Yin had only eaten half his fill. The two Mutant Beasts could really pack it away.

He added another piece of wood to the fire and handed the Mountain-Cleaving Machete to Song Xiaodao. "If you want more, cook it yourself. Ingredients are right there."

After processing, the Rat King's innards came to two or three hundred jin. Zhao Yin had only cooked about thirty jin so far.

The Spatial Ring couldn't hold it all anyway. He planned to eat through the rest over the next few days.

Song Xiaodao set the large iron basin directly over the fire, added water, then cut in nearly thirty more jin of innards. Meat and broth together-another hundred-plus jin of offal soup.

Zhao Yin added salt. The two humans and two beasts dug in again.

Soon, Zhao Yin and Song Xiaodao couldn't eat another bite. The two beasts kept going.

Only when the offal soup was completely gone did Little Monkey finally look up at Zhao Yin, eyes still hungry.

"Enough. Rest a bit, then back to work. We'll eat again tonight."

Even if they were rich now, they weren't running a mine. He couldn't let them keep gorging like this.

Old Bull immediately looked away and lay down to rest. Even Little Monkey, usually so energetic, suddenly seemed drowsy. It closed its eyes and dozed off.

Ten minutes later, their stuffed bellies had visibly shrunk.

"Zhao Yin, they-!" Song Xiaodao pointed at the two beasts in surprise.

Zhao Yin raised a hand, stopping her from continuing.

He activated the Eye of True Sight.