The world was dark, with only the light of a few bonfires in the distance. Looking left and right to confirm that her teammates were sleeping soundly, she then got up and quietly walked out of the camp into the night. Gōng Yīxíng was resting not far from Xú Yáo, and he noticed as soon as Xú Yáo moved.
What was she doing going out alone so late? Watching the direction she left, Gōng Yīxíng hesitated for a moment before secretly following. But when he reached the corner where Xú Yáo had disappeared, he saw no sign of her.
How could she disappear so suddenly? Her speed shouldn't be that fast. Gōng Yīxíng looked around, a faint light flashing in his eyes, and continued searching ahead.
At the same time, Xú Yáo was in the Workspace, carefully observing the broken knife. From the forging technique, the material proportions were not adjusted to the most suitable ratio, and the enchantment was also very crude. After each piece of equipment was finalized, the equipment master would engrave a set of attribute runes onto the equipment.
This process was called enchantment. Enchanted equipment would exhibit different strengths of attributes based on the completion rate of the entire set of runes, which was the soul of the equipment. Xú Yáo found that the runes in the two worlds were very similar, and after a couple of glances, she lost interest, tossing the blade and other materials into the smelting furnace.
The abilities of Liú Fāngfāng and Wáng Mènglǐng were not very powerful, the biggest reason being insufficient defense, making it impossible to get close to enemies. The best equipment to increase defense was armor, naturally. Xú Yáo skillfully used her mental power to control the flames in the furnace.
Melting, forging, quenching—every action Xú Yáo took was fluid, and the strength of each hammer blow was just right. Three first-order armors were as easy as picking them up for her. Soon, the armor was shaped.
Xú Yáo then used her mental power as a medium, using a carving knife to evenly etch the pigment onto the armor. Before long, the intricate runes emitted a faint blue light, which then slowly receded into the armor, completing the enchantment. Xú Yáo checked the attributes: Defense +40, Durability 30.
If compared to games, this was already the ceiling for first-order equipment. She nodded with satisfaction, completed the remaining two pieces, put them on, and adapted to them, finding that they did not affect her movements at all. After finishing everything, Xú Yáo was in a great mood and hummed a tune as she left the Workspace.
But after taking only two steps forward, she saw Gōng Yīxíng walking towards her from the opposite corner. Why was he here so late? Her good mood vanished, and the darkness concealed the surprised and uncertain expression on Xú Yáo's face.
"Why are you here?" Approaching the man, Xú Yáo looked at him watchfully. "I couldn't sleep, so I came out for a walk.
What about you?" Gōng Yīxíng stopped, inwardly puzzled but showing no outward sign. Strange, there was no one here just now.
Where did she come from? For a walk? Such a coincidence?
Not going to a large area, but coming to a place where you can't see your hand in front of your face to walk? Xú Yáo didn't believe him at all, but showed nothing, calmly replying, "I couldn't sleep, so I came out for some fresh air." In the faint moonlight, neither of them could clearly see the other's expression.
"The moon is nice tonight. I saw the flowers over there blooming nicely just now, did you see them?" Gōng Yīxíng pointed behind Xú Yáo, asking as if casually.
"Really? Didn't notice." Xú Yáo's pupils contracted, but quickly returned to normal, she smiled faintly, "Have you been out for a while?"
"Yes, for a bit," Gōng Yīxíng replied. Lowering his gaze, his deep eyes dimmed. There were clearly rampant plants over there.
If she had gone there, it would have been impossible not to see them. So, where exactly did she go just now? For a moment, the atmosphere suddenly became silent.
Xú Yáo was also a little uneasy. Did he see everything just now? Opening her mouth, Xú Yáo was about to try probing further when a sharp alarm suddenly sounded, interrupting their confrontation.
Xú Yáo turned her head vigilantly. Accompanied by the roaring alarm, the life ability users released all the large lights, illuminating the entire camp. "Hurry back and see," Gōng Yīxíng reacted faster, glancing at Xú Yáo, then turning and heading back.
Xú Yáo came to her senses, turned, and also hurried back to the camp. By the time they returned to the camp, it had already descended into chaos. A dark swarm of rats attacked en masse, and everyone was fighting back desperately.
However, there were too many mutated rats in the rat tide, their fur was thickened, and their front claws were abnormally sharp. One swipe could rip off a piece of flesh, and ordinary weapons could not cause them any damage. The leading teacher released an earth wall to try and block them, but it was futile, and it was quickly submerged by the rat tide.
The fire ability users sprayed flames at the rats under the command of the leader, but there were simply too many rats, and the fire could not ignite. Xú Yáo used her mental power to compress flames to clear a path, and only then did she find Liú Fāngfāng and Wáng Mènglǐng in the crowd. "Quick, find a chance to put them on!"
As soon as she handed the armor to the two, they were instantly scattered by the surging rat swarm. Xú Yáo was surrounded by rats, her ears filled with screams and the sound of the teacher ordering a retreat. And she noticed that the rat tide had developed consciousness and was now systematically dividing the team.
In the chaos, someone grabbed her wrist and dragged her down a small path behind. The rats here suddenly decreased, and Xú Yáo looked up, finally seeing the person pulling her: it was Gōng Yīxíng. They didn't have time to talk and ran wildly down the path, finally hiding in an abandoned cold storage in the fresh food area.
The cold storage door had been damaged, but fortunately, the door was narrow, and the rats could not flood in, which gave them a chance to breathe. "This place won't last long. There are too many mutated rats."
Gōng Yīxíng blocked the entrance. The insulation wall of the cold storage had been deformed by the mutated rats. He had strong attack power, and with a swift slash of his blade, he killed almost one mutated rat per strike, but even so, the rat tide outside did not recede.
These rats had lost their minds, and the rats he killed were instantly devoured by their own kind. Xú Yáo used compressed flames to cover Gōng Yīxíng inside the cold storage. The massive consumption of mental power was also making her anxious.
"We need to think of a way. My fire is just ordinary fire; the temperature isn't high enough to cause large-scale damage." It wasn't that she hadn't considered hiding in the Workspace.
But if the rat tide didn't end, even if the two of them survived, everyone else would be annihilated. "I've observed it just now. These rats are attacking consciously; there must be a leader controlling them," Gōng Yīxíng said, shaking the blood off his short blades and gritting his teeth.
"We need to find a way to lure the leader out." "I have a way, hold on," Xú Yáo stopped covering him and rummaged through her Space, finding a prop. She handed it to Gōng Yīxíng, "Use this and throw it into the middle of the rat swarm."
Gōng Yīxíng glanced over and saw a round gold coin lying on Xú Yáo's fair palm, shining brightly. After a moment of hesitation, he took the gold coin and threw it directly into the center of the rat swarm.