While Lin Chen was still drowning in fear from what had just happened, the rat shot forward without the slightest regard for anything around it.
Swoosh!
In the blink of an eye, the creature was right in front of him. Its jaws gaped impossibly wide, as though it meant to swallow the young man whole in one bite.
Lin Chen, at the end of his rope, stopped thinking altogether. He flung his basket aside to free up his body's movement.
Thud!
The skinny youth's body jerked violently backward.
"Ugh—ow!" Lin Chen groaned unconsciously as he dropped hard onto the ground.
Even so, he let out a shaky breath of relief—he'd managed to dodge the beast's attack.
But just as he tried to check his surroundings, another black shadow streaked toward him.
Seeing it coming again, Lin Chen flinched.
In pure panic he ordered his body to move.
Unfortunately, his body betrayed him. His legs merely trembled in place, as if nailed to the floor.
It turned out that desperate dodge earlier had completely drained what little strength he had left.
In utter despair, he glanced down at his limp legs—only for his gaze to catch on the smear of blood staining the cave floor.
Focusing on it, Lin Chen realized the blood had come from his own fall moments ago.
The moment that fact registered, pain exploded through his palms and the rest of his body—like thousands of razor-sharp needles stabbing him all at once.
While his attention was distracted, the disgusting rat had once again lined up its horrifying maw with him.
This time Lin Chen could clearly make out every terrifying detail of those jaws.
His survival instinct screamed at him to jump.
But his body had frozen solid. All he could do was stare as death crept closer.
The frail young man could only watch helplessly as the rat's jaws closed in on his neck.
His teeth chattered violently. Unable to bear the horror, he squeezed his eyes shut without thinking.
"Arghhh—no!" he screamed hysterically in terror.
In that most desperate instant, Lin Chen felt another surge of scorching heat boiling up inside him.
This time it wasn't just a mild warmth.
It felt like something long locked away inside him… had finally cracked open.
Lin Chen didn't even register what was happening. All he knew was that he was out of options—this time he was truly finished!
In those critical final seconds, the agonizing wait between life and death stretched on forever—almost as though centuries were passing.
He thought maybe that was normal when facing death. But after a few moments, the youth finally realized something was off.
He hesitated whether to open his eyes or not.
Lin Chen was terrified that if he looked, he'd see the rat tearing his body apart—which would only make his death even more gruesome.
After agonizing deliberation, the weak young man gritted his teeth and forced his eyelids open, trembling with dread.
"…Huh?"
The moment his eyes focused, he jolted in confusion. The expected scene of the vile rat lunging and ripping him to shreds… never came.
All that remained was an eerie silence in the damp, empty space, lit only by the faint glow of torches along the cave walls.
"What the hell just happened?" Lin Chen muttered uncertainly.
He quickly scanned his surroundings.
"Was that… just a hallucination?" he wondered instinctively.
But he immediately shot that idea down—his eyes had caught several strange, melted-looking holes in the ground, as though something extremely corrosive had eaten into the stone.
Those were clearly the rat's tracks.
Everything clicked: he hadn't imagined it.
"Then… where did the rat go?" Lin Chen asked aloud, bewildered.
He couldn't wrap his head around why such a notoriously savage, man-eating beast would let its favorite prey slip away.
The more he thought about it, the more curious he became about what had just transpired.
"Or… is there something I still don't know?" he murmured, suddenly recalling the wave of heat that had swept through his body earlier.
While he was lost in thought, a faint trickling sound reached his ears.
Lin Chen jolted and immediately whipped his head toward the noise.
"Is that rat coming back?"
He stared in that direction, every nerve on high alert, wondering what fresh hell awaited him today.
After a few tense seconds, a group of people stepped into view.
Seeing them, Lin Chen exhaled in profound relief. Now everything made sense.
"So the rat was scared of these people," he thought.
He remembered that the creature was infamous for being cunning. No matter how strong it was, it always fled when it sensed the situation wasn't in its favor.
The heavy weight that had been crushing his chest instantly lifted, replaced by deep, bone-deep relief.
He started gathering his scattered belongings from the earlier chaos.
But just as he was about to stand, he froze in shock.
The approaching group… gave him a very bad feeling.
"Hey, you! What are you doing here?" a rough voice demanded.
Lin Chen's nerves instantly frayed.
"Uh… n-nothing…" he stammered, shaking his head frantically.
The group ignored him after that and began inspecting the area themselves.
At first they were puzzled, but once they spotted the conspicuous marks on the ground, they stiffened.
"Ore Rat!" they thought almost in unison, a flicker of fear running through them.
They quickly calmed down, though—after all, the scrawny kid in front of them was still alive. That meant the rat had already left.
Realizing they now held the numerical advantage, the group relaxed.
Once they confirmed the area was safe, they scanned around with interest and soon lit up at the sight of the scattered ore.
"So much ore!" a skinny, hairy man exclaimed excitedly.
Lin Chen cursed inwardly the moment he saw it.
Damn it!
He'd just escaped the tiger's jaws only to walk straight into a wolf den.
The skinny man eagerly scooped up the loose ore and dumped it into Lin Chen's basket.
Lin Chen could only stare, wanting to protest, but fear kept every word glued to his throat.
As if sensing his gaze, the skinny man turned, grinned wide to show off his yellowed teeth, and asked cheerfully,
"Heh heh, fellow Daoist, something wrong?"
The other two, who had been silent until now, immediately fixed their attention on Lin Chen.
The big, simple-looking guy already made Lin Chen's heart pound. But the one-eyed man—who seemed ordinary at first glance—somehow made him feel deeply uneasy.
Lin Chen desperately wanted to beg them to leave his stuff alone and go away.
But all that came out was a hoarse,
"It's… fine."
In a place like this, the words of the weak were worth less than dust.
And Lin Chen knew—he didn't even qualify as a person in their eyes.
He could only clench his trembling fists and watch as the skinny man casually transferred the fruits of his labor into another basket.
His chest felt tight, as though a knife were slowly carving into his heart.
Looks like even though I survived the rat's jaws, I still have to suffer for failing to meet the mining quota, he thought in despair.
He had no intention of fighting back. His body could barely move—how could he possibly resist?
While the group happily gathered the ore, another trickling sound echoed.
Everyone froze and turned in the same direction.
There, two pairs of blinding yellow lights hung in a hole in the cave wall.
Every person who saw them recoiled in horror.
"Two Ore Rats!" they thought simultaneously.
Lin Chen's fear spiked even higher. In his current condition, he had zero chance of escaping those ruthless monsters.
The three men looked afraid too. The big simple-faced one remained expressionless as ever.
But the one-eyed man stared warily in that direction, while the skinny one trembled, stealing glances at Lin Chen's ore.
"What do we do?" the skinny man whispered to One-Eye.
One-Eye paused, thinking hard.
For a moment the air grew thick with tension.
Everyone held their breath, waiting for a decision that could decide whether they lived or died.
"Leave the ore and get out of here—now," One-Eye finally said after careful consideration.
The skinny man looked reluctant, eyes still flicking toward Lin Chen's haul.
"Hurry…" One-Eye urged.
"Fine, fine!" the skinny man grumbled, grabbing his own basket.
The group quickly left, taking their belongings with them and abandoning Lin Chen alone and helpless.
Lin Chen felt a strange mix of relief and regret watching them go.
Once they were completely out of sight, he could only accept his fate.
With two monsters lurking, survival was impossible.
But to his shock, the two pairs of yellow lights simply vanished deeper into the cave—as though they had no interest in him at all.
Lin Chen stared in stunned confusion.
Dong… dong… dong…
The familiar sound of the bell rang out, accompanied by distant footsteps.
Lin Chen's face lit up.
"Time to head back! A lot of people will be coming through here soon!"
He hurriedly moved toward his baskets.
Seeing the ore still neatly piled, he couldn't help feeling a surge of gratitude—maybe those guys weren't so bad after all.
But the moment his fingers touched the handle, he froze.
The stinging pain that should have seared his palms… was gone.
Instead, a warm sensation spread through them.
In the dim light, he watched in amazement as the ugly gashes on his hands closed at an impossible speed, leaving only fresh, reddish skin—as though he had never fallen at all.
What's more, the strength that had been completely drained earlier was slowly returning, as if something unknown was forcing his body to rise.
"What in the world is going on?" Lin Chen whispered, awestruck.
He was dying to understand, but the approaching footsteps snapped him out of it. He quickly hoisted his belongings.
With what little energy he had left, Lin Chen lifted the heavy baskets and forced himself forward.
His legs still shook under the weight of two full loads.
Reminding himself that the inspection point was only a few dozen steps away, he gritted his teeth and endured.
Bracing himself against the nearby cave wall to keep from collapsing, he walked slowly but steadily down the tunnel.
A short while later, a group of miners appeared, each carrying their own haul.
A few glanced at Lin Chen—who was moving at a snail's pace—but quickly looked away and ignored him.
Lin Chen kept trudging forward, stopping several times to keep himself from crumpling.
Fortunately, his persistence paid off. He finally reached the wide, brightly lit cavern.
There, a large crowd of miners had gathered, lining up to turn in their day's harvest.
Even from a distance, Lin Chen could hear the noisy clamor.
A faint sour, fishy smell hung in the air, making him uncomfortable.
Too exhausted to care, he quickly joined the back of a line.
At that moment, the three-man group from earlier happened to spot him.
Lin Chen gave them an awkward smile when their eyes met.
The skinny one looked visibly annoyed.
The big simple-faced man remained blank as ever.
The only one who truly unsettled Lin Chen was the piercing stare from the one-eyed man.
Lin Chen couldn't stop himself from cursing inwardly.
Damn it! What's with this guy!?
Does he realize how good-looking I am? Please don't tell me he's into me—I'm straight, bro! he thought, trying to mask his fear with lame internal humor.
While he was still lost in confusion, a sharp crack rang out, followed by a hysterical scream.
Crack!
"Aghhhh!"
A metal-thorned whip sliced through the air and landed squarely across the back of an old man not far from Lin Chen.
The sharp metallic scent of fresh blood instantly overpowered the cave's musty odor.
"Hiss…" Lin Chen swallowed hard, shuddering in fear.