Sure enough, when my arrow unexpectedly struck the rat, it immediately tumbled to the ground, taking down the two rats behind it.

Then, a strange phenomenon appeared before my eyes, like a series of dominoes falling: those rats actually collapsed one after another, rolling into a heap.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, we quickly retreated, preparing to cross a few more rivers to find a safe hiding spot.

However, although my single arrow had tied up half of the rat contingent, many more were still surging toward us.

These were no ordinary rats; the smallest were about a meter and a half long, and the largest exceeded three meters.

Come to think of it, even if they were common rats, such a massive number would be enough to chill the blood.

Daxiong got angry and roared at us, "You guys go ahead, I'll cover the rear."

I shot several more arrows in quick succession, knocking down the rats running at the front, then quickly retreated with Nie Chuan.

After crossing another trench, I saw several rats had already reached Daxiong.

Daxiong swung his fist in rage, batting one that lunged at him away, but even more rats, baring their fangs and brandishing their claws, squeaked and pounced again.

At this moment, Daxiong performed an action that astonished me. He suddenly turned around, presenting his back to the attacking rats, and pfft—let out a powerful blast of flatulence.

I could clearly see countless unstable red mist diffusing from this emission.

When those rats made contact with the mist in mid-air, they instantly burst into flames with a boom, writhing on the spot.

Daxiong’s fart was truly potent; aided by the slight breeze created by the rats’ movement, it spread rapidly.

Instantly, the gas became a net; any rat that touched this net ignited with a sizzle, just like a moth flying into a lamp.

A wave of intense heat, accompanied by the pungent, spicy odor of Daxiong's flatulence, entered my nostrils, making me sneeze several times.

By now, Daxiong was sweating profusely from the heat. He glanced back at me and grinned, giving a thumbs-up.

I thought to myself, Well done, you! I hadn't expected the power of this fart to be even more formidable than an airborne [REDACTED]; it seemed Daxiong had become a mobile flamethrower.

Although the flames burned fiercely, I could still see countless dark shapes stirring behind the inferno. These rats were clearly more insane than imagined; they would probably break through the flames any second now.

Seeing this, I urgently said to the two, "Quick, let's go! We can't stay here."

They nodded, and we proceeded deeper into the abyss of trenches.

As we walked, Nie Chuan remarked, "We killed 107 in total, but the enemy's numbers haven't decreased; instead, they've increased by 322. It seems they've all mobilized."

He paused, then added, "And I sense there’s something else in the darkness besides the rats that is [REDACTED]."

I quickly asked, "What is it?"

Nie Chuan replied, "I don't know, but it’s far more potent than the rat poison."

Hearing this, I frowned deeply.

Although we had jumped directly over the trenches, our speed was matched by the rats'.

They passed through the wall of fire to catch up, completely ignoring the Minotaur traps in the trenches and charging straight toward us.

I had never seen such desperate animals. They say rats are timid; I truly never expected them to be this reckless.

However, I could understand why they were so frantic: I had killed their leader, Old Smoker. Since they couldn't avenge him then, perhaps they were making up for it now.

Looking at these suicidal rats, I was truly at a loss for words.

Nie Chuan and Daxiong were also getting tired from running, so they stopped.

Daxiong announced, "Let's fight them head-on! I refuse to believe that I, Wang Chaoren, can't handle a bunch of mice."

I remained silent and looked at Nie Chuan.

Nie Chuan was quiet for a moment before saying, "Moving forward might be more dangerous."

I knew that his sensory abilities now were far beyond what they used to be; what he might be saying was probably a certainty.

Though I didn't know what awaited us in the dark depths, it seemed we had no choice but to fight with all our might.

"Listen to me, both of you," Nie Chuan said, tapping my shoulder and Daxiong's from behind.

We quickly turned, and Nie Chuan then laid out his detailed and intricate plan, leaving us speechless.

Before I could even properly digest his words, the rats were charging again.

We had no choice but to follow his instructions.

First, Daxiong picked up a relatively large stone from the ground and enveloped it with his flame-infused Nian energy.

Next, Daxiong handed the stone to Nie Chuan.

Nie Chuan, enduring the immense heat radiating from the stone before it erupted, hurled it toward the space above the rat swarm.

The moment the stone left his hand, Nie Chuan told me, "Wait... Shoot!"

As he shouted the command to fire, my arrow had already left the string.

This time, I followed Nie Chuan's advice, using my Nian power to guide the arrow to strike from above and to the side of the stone.

The arrow pierced the stone with a loud pa, transforming into a rain of fire scattering everywhere, raining down like a meteor shower, piercing countless rats.

Moreover, the struck rats immediately burst into flames, igniting the nearby rats, instantly turning the entire swarm into a sea of fire.

This threw the rat swarm into chaos, temporarily halting their advance.

"Nicely done!" Nie Chuan and Daxiong high-fived, clearly delighted.

At this point, Nie Chuan said, "Let's use this time and strike again to finish them off completely."

However, just as he finished speaking, the rats, still burning, charged toward us.

I found it somewhat unbelievable; watching these rats, like a moving sea of fire, there was a faint sense of spectacle amidst the carnage.

"What do we do now?" Daxiong asked, looking back at us.

Nie Chuan’s face turned pale as ash. "I didn't account for this step. Why is this happening?"

As he spoke, the swarm of rats crashed into us.

I was just about to use my Nian power to propel the two of them into the air, intending to sacrifice myself.

Unexpectedly, the rats simply surged past us.

In that instant, I realized their target wasn't us at all!

They seemed to be fleeing—desperately escaping.

From all their previous behavior, there must have been something chasing them—something more terrifying than death.

This desperate flight had been misinterpreted by us as a pursuit of us; in the end, we realized we had been frightening ourselves.

Seeing this, I felt even more worried instead of relieved.

Because once all the rats passed us, whatever was pursuing them would come face-to-face with us, putting us in an even more perilous situation.

Clearly, the three of us understood this, but none of us dared to flee immediately, as we all wanted to see what exactly was chasing these rats.

But something strange happened while we were standing there in stunned silence.

As the rats rushed past us, the light before our eyes began to grow steadily darker.

At first, I thought it was just the natural effect of the burning rats moving farther away.

But when we all switched on our flashlights, we discovered a dense, dark mist approaching us not far away.

This time, all three of us were dumbfounded. We only stood there for less than a second before turning and running in the direction the rats had fled.

Daxiong was yelling for his mother while catching up to the nearest rat and actually climbing onto its back.

Seeing that the rat offered no resistance, we followed Daxiong’s example and each climbed onto a relatively sturdy one.

The rats' four-legged speed was clearly much faster than ours. Although the black fog behind us was spreading quickly, being on the rats' backs, we could feel ourselves gradually distancing ourselves from the mist.

At this point, Daxiong asked me, his face etched with horror, "[REDACTED], what in the world was that?"

I shook my head and replied, "I don't know. I’ve never seen anything so terrifying. I guess it might be some kind of insect?"

Nie Chuan, however, shook his head and said, "I don't think so. In that black fog, I can sense that living things exist."

Hearing him say that, I remembered the black mist that had emerged from the body of Old Smoker when I killed him—the mist that could speak. Could it be that this black mist had formed an army?

Just as I was contemplating this, the rats had carried us through five or six trenches.

There were no more killing trenches ahead, only flat, empty ground.

Further on, we actually spotted an extremely tall tower erected not far away.

This tower stood in a circular area with no ceiling, and from where we stood, we could only see the bottom few dozen floors.

But even in those few dozen floors, we could see that every level was brightly lit, and people appeared to be moving inside.

"What is this..." I wondered aloud.

Nie Chuan, however, spoke at top speed, "It's a Shénlóu—also known as a Ghost Tower. Didn't you learn about it in primary school texts?"

His words jogged my memory. I recalled a Liaozhai story from my childhood about someone who saw a towering edifice in the wilderness, reaching high into the sky, brightly lit on every floor with shadowy figures moving about, suggesting a bustling scene. But when the person tried to approach the structure, it vanished silently.

Could what we were seeing now be the very ghost tower recorded in Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio?

Just as my thoughts were fully engaged, suddenly, an old man in a long white robe appeared in the wilderness through which the rats were carrying us.

He stood not far in front of us with his hands clasped behind his back. The rats stopped beside him and automatically parted into two streams, seemingly showing great deference to the old man.

And I noticed that the old man's eyebrows were very white and long; though there was no wind, they fluttered like dragon whiskers.