I am a full-level celestial master, you let me enter the strange talk of rules?

It's important to understand that the process of a living person turning into a monster is different from that of a dead person.

This is a holistic mutation and erosion involving the soul, body, and energy. Zhang Yangqing has a strong professional judgment on the delicate balance and transformation points within it.

After all, the identity he played in the previous ghost story was an extremely special existence in the bizarre camp. His experience and understanding of concepts such as "contamination," "transformation," and "control" far exceeded that of ordinary chosen ones.

With barely moving any of his major muscle groups, Zhang Yangqing slowly moved to the resting corner the old miner had pointed out.

This place was more cluttered and damp than the rest of the cell.

A thin layer of rotten, blackened weeds covered the ground, which could barely be considered a bed.

A rag of indistinguishable color and material huddled in the corner, emitting a sour smell; it was probably used as a blanket.

Scattered nearby were several severely rusted, deformed, and dented plastic cans, as well as some pebbles.

Most noticeable was a small clump of something at the edge of the pile of weeds—the carcass of a rat.

Zhang Yangqing squatted down, his movements extremely slow, like in slow motion, as he approached to observe.

The rat was indeed larger than usual, and its fur was dirty and tangled, but it was not completely decomposed. It had probably been dead for only a day or two.

There were obvious bite marks on its belly, with dried blood and tissue fragments still remaining at the edges.

Even more strangely, one of its ears was missing, and the cut looked like it had been bitten off.

In this bizarre world, the relationship between rats and miners is not simply that of enemies and prey.

Living in the dark underground environment for a long time, the miners discovered that rats often have an unusually keen sense of eerie smells and dangerous creatures hidden in the environment.

When rats suddenly behave abnormally and scurry around in panic, it often indicates that there are powerful, eerie underground creatures active near the mine, or that some kind of deadly pollution is spreading.

At this point, the miners must immediately stop working and quickly evacuate to a relatively safe area.

Therefore, in the eyes of many miners, rats are to some extent their "warning partners." Unless absolutely necessary, miners generally will not actively hunt or kill rats, let alone eat them.

Zhang Yangqing quickly deduced that the old miner must have found the rat carcass in some corner and secretly brought it back.

Then, when he was so hungry that he couldn't stand it anymore, or when he was completely overwhelmed by hunger and despair, he took a bite out of a sense of luck. As a result, this bite of rat meat, which was heavily contaminated, began his bizarre transformation.

Theoretically, there are only two ways for a person to become in a "semi-strange" state.

First, the antidote was ingested before the area was completely contaminated, but the dosage was insufficient, only suppressing the spread of contamination without completely eliminating it, resulting in this "stagnant" intermediate state.

In this situation, it may be possible to reverse or control the disease if enough antidotes are found.

Secondly, there is an "extremely powerful and eerie entity" secretly manipulating the target, deliberately corrupting only a part of it, keeping it in a controlled, semi-eerie state, as a puppet or tool.

However, given the current conditions of these low-level miners' prisons, the second possibility is extremely slim.

As a professional chosen one, Zhang Yangqing immediately deduced that the most likely possibility was that the antidote existed nearby!

Once this is thought of, an ordinary Chosen One would begin to carefully search the vicinity for possible antidotes; this is the first layer of logic.

But Zhang Yangqing's thinking went a step further than others. Staring at the rat's corpse, he thought of a second point, a crucial point that many Chosen Ones might overlook: the rat itself was contaminated, and logically, it should have completely transformed into a bizarre creature, or at least its corpse should have shown obvious signs of mutation.

However, apart from the signs of being eaten, the rat's corpse looked more like a rat that had died "normally," without excessive decomposition or obvious distortion.

This suggests that it may not have been completely eroded by pollution before its death, and there must have been something inside it that suppressed the complete outbreak of pollution!

So, where is the substance that can suppress pollution?
Zhang Yangqing's gaze fell on the mouse's missing ear.

Even old miners have bitten rat ears!

Apart from the ear, there were no other obviously suspicious items nearby.

Perhaps the mouse's ear, or some special tissue in the glands or subcutaneous tissue near the ear, is its own 'antidote' to resist or inhibit pollution?
This also explains why the mice did not mutate completely.

The logical chain became clear in my mind instantly.

With that thought in mind, Zhang Yangqing no longer hesitated.

He carefully picked up the light, floating rat carcass with his fingers and slowly moved it back to the old miner's side.

The old miner was in even worse condition. His body was trembling more violently, the black veins under his skin were more visible, and his once clear eye was beginning to turn more blood red. The hoarse sounds in his throat were becoming more rapid, and the mutation process was accelerating.

Zhang Yangqing handed the rat carcass to him, his voice steady and clear, carrying an unquestionable sense of command: "Eat the remaining ear; it's your only antidote right now."

The old miner was on the verge of losing his senses, yet he reacted instinctively to the words "antidote."

Driven by an intense will to survive, he trembled as he reached out his dirty, emaciated hand, took the rat carcass, brought it to his mouth, aimed at the intact ear, and bit down hard!

He chewed with difficulty, making gurgling sounds in his throat.

A few seconds later, his body suddenly began to convulse violently!
It felt as if a force, a mixture of cold and heat, was raging through his body!
He released the rat carcass, his hands painfully scratching his throat and chest, his fingernails drawing bloody lines on his skin. His throat felt blocked, preventing him from uttering a proper scream; only the hissing of air rubbing together and muffled groans of pain could be heard.

He lay on the ground, curled up in a ball, his limbs flailing and kicking uncontrollably, his expression contorted to the extreme, clearly enduring immense pain.

Throughout the process, some of the other miners in the cell, whose fates were originally unknown, seemed to be disturbed by the slightest movement. Their eyelids twitched or they tilted their heads slightly, but they quickly returned to their numb silence.

No one spoke up, no one tried to help, and no one even bothered to look at them.

Here, death and suffering are commonplace. As long as a crisis doesn't directly befall you, numbness and conserving energy are the only rules for survival.

They are like stones buried deep underground, coldly witnessing yet another small struggle of their kind.

The agonizing five minutes have passed.

The old miner's violent convulsions gradually subsided, and the strange noise in his throat slowly weakened.

He lay sprawled on the ground like a lump of mud, his chest heaving violently, panting heavily, his body soaked in cold sweat and filth.

However, the black veins that had been moving under his skin had faded and disappeared, and the bloodshot in his eyes was slowly fading. Although his eyes were still bloodshot and he looked tired, human reason had regained its dominance.

After a few moments, he managed to sit up slowly, supporting himself with his arms. His eyes were filled with boundless gratitude for surviving such a close call, and his voice was hoarse and dry like a broken gong: "Young brother, thank you so much this time. You just got here, right?" (End of Chapter)