Chapter 2030 - 546: Birds of a Feather

"Catastrophe OL" official website, forum discussion area.

Pigman Knight: "MMP, is this supposed to be a Gold-Level boss? I'd even believe you if you said it was a Demigod!"

Minotaur Warrior: "It was rash of us..."

Ye Zhiqiu: "Not exactly a Demigod, but it could be Platinum, or maybe even Diamond Level."

Hu Wan: "A dividing line as vast as a chasm."

Four familiar IDs appeared simultaneously in the forum discussion area, and a crowd of gossip-loving players immediately swarmed in with curiosity.

Village Headmaster Wang: "What's going on?"

Flower Monk Daisy: "Air force again?"

Meichuan Qiu Kuo: "Hahaha! Seeing Brother Yiye lose money makes me as happy as making money myself!"

Hu Wan: "Tsk."

Pigman Knight: "I hope you never get to eat four dishes in your whole life!"

Ye Zhiqiu: "It's a plot kill, can't help it. But it's not a loss, at least I got the quest reward and unlocked new main storyline clues. We'll just have to see how far the official storyline goes."

Gou Shi: "Win and it's an EZ game, lose and it's a plot kill, huh. (Funny)"

Ye Zhiqiu: "They're not mutually exclusive. (Side-eye smile)"

Can't Afford to Play: "What's the situation? Did you unlock some hidden quest again? (Curious)"

Ye Zhiqiu: "To keep it short, we found a Ratman Nest in Spinor Earl's Domain with what's suspected to be a Chaos altar, triggering a BOSS battle... Of course, maybe it's not a Chaos altar, since we didn't find any Chaos creatures or Gate of Chaos, only some sliced-up meat pieces."

Minotaur Warrior: "Black Mage's experimental site, Ratman's slaughterhouse, or maybe Heretic's Holy Land... Definitely something evil."

Ye Zhiqiu: "Yeah, the strangest part is, the corpses don't have souls, so we can rule out Undead Magic."

Pigman Knight: "But weirdly, their spell can directly attack the SAN value... That's quite something."

Dragon Roaming Wanli: "What the hell does attacking the SAN value mean?!"

Ye Zhiqiu: "Literally, it strikes your soul, making you feel a chill down your spine in real life, making you want to disconnect... Has VR technology developed this much now?"

Gou Shi: "Truly Catastrophe Tech! (Funny)"

Good Citizen of Gotham: "Uh, so... you lost?"

Ye Zhiqiu: "We just didn't win."

Good Citizen of Gotham: "Damn! What's the difference?"

Village Elder: "Wait, didn't you just upgrade your gear? So didn't you all lose big this time?"

Ye Zhiqiu: "Not really, just lost some ordinary green gear, worth less than a million Joss Paper, I'll just buy another set."

Knowledge Explosion: "Damn, how are these dogs so rich. T.T"

Ye Zhiqiu: "Come on, my Joss Paper compared to Brother Dragon Roaming is just a drop in the ocean, a single collectible in his house can buy ten of my accounts."

Dragon Roaming Wanli: "Then sell it, dude!"

Ye Zhiqiu: "If you can find the game operator to agree to account trading, I'll retire immediately haha."

Longxing Qianli: "Ah... You truly can't find it, damn."

Zheng Fangxing: "So where exactly is this Ratman Nest???"

Hu Wan: "Spinor Earl's Domain."

Zheng Fangxing: "I mean more specifically?"

Hu Wan: "Corporate secret."

One Mouthful of Chemical Pool: "%￥#@!"

Ye Zhiqiu: "Why are you in such a rush, once the main storyline arrives, the Demon King will naturally send you there. (Side-eye smile)"

...

Deep in the Ten Thousand Ridges Mountain Range, in an underground cavern where sunlight doesn't reach, the air was filled with the nauseating smell of blood and rot.

The ground here wasn't paved with rocks but consisted of a thick layer of decaying material and fungal colonies forming a "carpet" that made a sticky "squish" sound when stepped on.

It was like the nest of a tentacle monster.

But there were no cute things here, only the screeching sound of Ratmen.

This lair was called the Predator's Nest.

It used to be an underground fortress that a Dwarf Earl was proud of, with exquisite geometric carvings still visible on the stone pillars.

However, those carvings symbolizing solidity and glory had long been covered in filthy excrement and graffiti.

Packs of Slave Rats scurried through the lowest level of the nest, while the relatively respectable Clan Rats lived in the upper caves.

And in the deepest part of that cave resided the "Blood and Flesh Royal Court" of Soul Shatterer·Merc.

In the center of the cave, atop a high platform built from white bones and darkened blood, rested a gigantic stone chair.

The carving of a dwarf ancestor with a fierce glare was now pinned beneath a pile of greasy fat.

That was Merc, the leader of the Rot Clan.

At this moment, he was lounging without any semblance of dignity on the throne, devouring a large meat leg.

This obese rat was shockingly massive, like a mountain of fat, with every chew rippling waves of flesh from his neck to his belly.

All the rats below the throne watched their boss with envy, swallowing their spit and grinding their teeth noisily.

To Merc, Slave Rats were both his snacks and his amusement.

After finishing a meat leg, he would toss the bone to these little fellows and watch them scramble and break their heads over it, then eat the weak ones down to the last scrap.

This Blood and Flesh Royal Court was both his palace and his kitchen, and a place to show off his might to other Ratman warlords and nobles.

Just then, a hurried and panicked footsteps broke the "mealtime" of the royal court.

A gray-furred Ratman Scout stumbled in, its tail clamped between its legs out of fear, shaking like a sieve.