Trickles of blood spilled onto the ground, forming a long, winding red line.
Han Ning quickly picked up the Anti-Riot Stick from the ground. Catching the faint scent of blood in the air, he glanced at Teacher Fang's increasingly pale face and yelled, "Tianhe, go check on Teacher Fang! Help him stop the bleeding! I'll hold them off here."
"Okay."
Lin Tianhe's arm had also been sliced by the slender claws of a Monster Rat, leaving a long gash. Gritting his teeth against the pain, he left his Silver Lotus Wood by Han Ning's side and staggered over to Teacher Fang. He helped him retreat a bit further before checking on Teacher Fang's injuries.
Thanks to the numerous wild Silver Lotus Woods nearby, the white mist was relatively thin here. Combined with the oxygen provided by the Silver Lotus Wood in Teacher Fang's bag, the two of them were temporarily safe from the mist's paralytic toxins.
The Monster Rats ahead caught the scent of blood and grew even more frenzied. They tried to charge past Han Ning like mad beasts, eager to tear into Teacher Fang's flesh.
Han Ning took a deep breath, raised his Anti-Riot Stick, and swatted away a Monster Rat that darted toward him.
Thanks to Yin Yi's growing strength, his own physique as a Beast Master was much more formidable than when he had first arrived in this world, allowing him to barely hold off the attacks of one or two Monster Rats.
Lin Tianhe's Silver Lotus Wood beside him was a massive help. With every swing of its slender Vine Whip, it knocked back three to four Monster Rats.
Although it couldn't harm them in the slightest, it provided excellent crowd control.
Seizing the opportunity while it held back most of the Monster Rats, Yin Yi began to flash with a brilliant, emerald-green light.
One after another, green Silver Thorns shot out like a torrential downpour, whistling through the air—WHOOSH, WHOOSH, WHOOSH! Brimming with immense Power, they viciously plunged into the Monster Rats sent flying by the other Silver Lotus Wood.
POP! POP! POP!
"SQUEAK! SQUEAK!"
A ceaseless chorus of dull pops and the pained squeals of the Monster Rats filled the air.
Thanks to the teamwork between Han Ning and the two Silver Lotus Woods, only four of the fifteen Monster Rats remained.
Although their success was remarkable, Han Ning and the Silver Lotus Woods were not unscathed.
Unable to dodge in time, Han Ning had been slashed across his abdomen, arms, and cheeks, the tips of the Monster Rats' claws leaving deep, bloody marks.
The Silver Lotus Wood fighting at the front was in even worse shape. Its dark green branches were covered in crisscrossing claw marks, and a pale, transparent sap oozed from the gashes.
As it lost more and more sap, its Vine Whip swung ever slower.
Yin Yi, on the other hand, looked almost perfectly fine. Its emerald-like Body hadn't taken much of a beating, with the Monster Rats only managing to leave a few faint white marks on it.
"Yin Yi, let's end this quickly. Take out these last few…"
Han Ning clutched his bleeding wound, about to command Yin Yi to launch the final attack. But halfway through his sentence, a powerful wave of dizziness slammed into him, and a nauseating urge to vomit rose from his stomach.
"Hiss… The Monster Rat's claws… are poisonous…"
He looked down and saw the blood flowing from the cuts left by the Monster Rats had turned black.
"Chime! Chime!"
Yin Yi seemed to notice Han Ning's condition. The green light flickering on its body grew even more dazzling. Under the cover of its companion, it fired four Silver Thorns in quick succession, finishing off the last of the Monster Rats.
The mangled corpses of the Monster Rats littered the ground, and the foul stench of their blood hung in the air above the asphalt road.
"Cough, cough."
Han Ning felt his body grow warm. His heart began to pound—THUMP, THUMP, THUMP—and his blood raced through his veins. The flesh around his wounds flushed a faint red, and the intense dizziness seemed to ease slightly.
Just then, Yin Yi quickly moved to his side. It suddenly raised a branch and gently poked the site of Han Ning's injury.
The thorn at the branch's tip pierced his flesh, and a tiny wisp of green light sank into his skin.
As the green light entered his body, Han Ning discovered that, in the blink of an eye, his strange symptoms had vanished completely.
The blood flowing from his wounds returned to its normal crimson color.
'Could this be the effect of Purification?'
"Han… Han Ning, get over here, quick! We're… we're not gonna make it…"
Just as he was pondering this, he heard Lin Tianhe's weak cry from nearby.
There was no time for Han Ning to think. Remembering that Lin Tianhe and Teacher Fang had also been wounded by the Monster Rats, he hurriedly jogged over with Yin Yi.
Beside the raised curb, Lin Tianhe was cradling Teacher Fang, who was half-lying on the grass. Both of their faces were frighteningly pale. This was especially true for Teacher Fang; the Monster Rats had chewed off nearly half the flesh from his right arm, and one could almost see the stark white bone beneath.
The flesh, which should have been bright red, had begun to emit a faint, putrid odor.
A snow-white gauze bandage covered only half of the wound. The rest of the roll had fallen, leaving a long trail on the ground.
Teacher Fang lay silently in Lin Tianhe's arms, making no sound at all.
Lin Tianhe's condition was slightly better than Teacher Fang's, but he was still barely breathing.
Seeing this, Han Ning grew extremely anxious and hurriedly told Yin Yi, "Quick, purge the toxins from their bodies!"
"Chime…"
Without any hesitation, Yin Yi flicked the branches on either side of its body, and the thorns at their tips pierced into Lin Tianhe and Teacher Fang.
Wisps of faint green light sank into their bodies.
In just three or four seconds, the color visibly returned to their faces.
However, because Teacher Fang's arm injury was so severe and he had lost so much blood, his face remained incredibly pale.
Lin Tianhe gave a shudder, his vitality returning.
He quickly picked up the bottle of disinfectant from the ground and, together with Han Ning, continued to clean Teacher Fang's wound, wrapping the arm that had been mangled by the Monster Rats in layers of gauze to prevent another infection.
Next, Han Ning helped Lin Tianhe bandage the gash on his arm.
"Teacher Fang is hurt too badly. We have to go back and let the more experienced teachers and students take a look. Otherwise, his wound won't heal properly."
Han Ning's expression was grim as he glanced at the white gauze on Teacher Fang's arm, which was rapidly turning red with blood.
Finished speaking, he pointed to the motionless Silver Lotus Wood nearby. "Your Silver Lotus Wood is badly injured, too. You two wait here for a minute. I'm going to go collect the Monster Rat corpses."
He positioned Yin Yi in a relatively safe spot between himself and Lin Tianhe. That way, if anything unexpected happened, Yin Yi could fire its Silver Thorns at a moment's notice to defuse the crisis.
Taking a folded snakeskin bag from his pack, Han Ning put on a pair of gloves and deftly tossed the fifteen mangled Monster Rat corpses into the sack.
[Energy +0.27]
[Energy +0.25]
[Energy +0.23]
[Energy +0.24]
…
As he was collecting the bodies, he used his system to absorb the Energy from eight of the Monster Rat corpses, intending to leave the remaining seven for Lin Tianhe and Teacher Fang.