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

The old miner was now in tears, trembling with emotion, when he knelt down with a thud, his voice choked but unusually firm:
"Boss! I've lived my whole life, crawling underground like a worm for so many years, and this is the first time I've met someone like you! I believe in you! From now on, I'll do whatever you tell me to do! You saved my life, and it will belong to you from now on! Just give the order, and I'll brave mountains of knives and seas of fire without batting an eye!"

Seeing the almost tangible loyalty and fervor in the old miner's eyes, Zhang Yangqing knew that this move was the right one.

This "little brother's" loyalty has reached a fairly high level.

Next, to explore more dangerous areas, Zhang Yangqing needs a reliable "living alarm"—a healthy rat.

Zhang Yangqing began assigning new tasks to the veteran miners: "Find rats, but don't just look randomly. Pay attention to the smell in the air. Healthy rats will leave a unique, slightly pungent but not overpowering 'rat trail' smell in their activity areas. This smell will be more concentrated and fresh near the holes and crevices where they frequently enter and exit. Also, pay attention to whether there are any fresh, small paw prints and droppings on the ground."

The veteran miner was already an experienced survival expert. He used to look for rats as a warning, but now, with Zhang Yangqing's guidance, his thinking became even clearer.

He immediately began to sniff like a well-trained hunting dog, carefully distinguishing the subtle differences in the air's scents, while his sharp eyes scanned the ground and the crevices in the rock face.

Soon, in a relatively dry spot near the bottom of the rock wall with several small holes, the old miner stopped and whispered, "Boss, here! The smell is fresh; there should be a rat's nest inside, and more than one."

The two approached cautiously.

The old miner gently tapped the rock wall with the handle of his pickaxe and then imitated the squeaking of a mouse.

Before long, three furry little heads timidly peeked out from the hole.

They were three gray-black mice, of medium size.

Two of them looked quite robust, with shifty eyes and a high level of alertness.

The other one looked a bit listless, its hind legs seemed to be a little weak, and it was slightly curled up.

The old miner's plan was straightforward: "Boss, of those two healthy ones, shall we catch one? If we raise it well, it'll definitely be clever."

However, Zhang Yangqing shook his head and looked at the lame rat: "No, I want the lame one."

"Huh? Why? It's slow to move around, so it might not be able to give timely warnings." The old miner asked, puzzled.

Zhang Yangqing said calmly, "Precisely because it is inconvenient to move around, it may be ostracized in the rat population and have a hard time surviving. We rescued it and gave it food and safety, so its 'gratitude' and 'dependence' on us will be stronger."

Animals sometimes understand gratitude better than humans, and are less likely to betray. Healthy and strong animals are wild and untamed, and may run away at any time.

The old miner suddenly realized, and exclaimed, "No wonder he's the boss, he really understands!"

Next, Zhang Yangqing took action personally.

Instead of using force, he took out a small amount of relatively clean rice crumbs that he had saved earlier from his pocket, placed them in his palm, and slowly extended them to the lame mouse, making a soft and peaceful "tsk tsk" sound.

The little mouse was initially frightened and shrank back, but the temptation of the food and Zhang Yangqing's strange and peaceful aura, which was actually the result of his extremely high level of control over his own aura, gradually made it lower its guard.

After hesitating for a long time, it finally approached cautiously, quickly snatched a small piece of debris, and then retreated back to the entrance of the hole to eat it in small bites.

Zhang Yangqing was extremely patient, repeating the process again and again, giving only a little bit each time, with gentle and slow movements.

He used to play an animal trainer in a certain supernatural world, and he was well-versed in the art of building trust with animals.

However, the lame mouse was no longer so afraid, and even dared to linger in Zhang Yangqing's palm for a moment to eat. When Zhang Yangqing tried to gently touch it with the back of his hand, it only flinched slightly and did not resist fiercely. Finally, Zhang Yangqing carefully wrapped the much more docile little mouse in a relatively clean piece of rag and put it into a pocket he had specially cleared out inside his tattered shirt.

The little mouse moved around inside, found a comfortable position to curl up, and seemed to have accepted this warm and safe "new nest".

The old miner watched in amazement.

The boss is not only highly capable and shrewd, but he's also incredibly skilled at taming mice! With someone like that around, what is there to worry about?
Zhang Yangqing gently patted his pocket, feeling the slight movement of the little mouse, and a barely perceptible smile appeared on his lips.

With the warning device in hand, it's time to venture into the truly dangerous area to find "food" and that "thing that doesn't belong to this world."

The countdown on my wrist was ticking away, second by second.

After carefully placing the docile, lame mouse in his pocket, Zhang Yangqing didn't linger. He led the old miner straight into the deeper parts of the mine.

The further you go in, the more eerie the surroundings become.

A faint, smoky black mist began to permeate the air, not completely obscuring vision, but making the already dim light even more distorted and blurry.

The dim yellow halo of the headlamp seemed to be compressed by an invisible hand, barely illuminating a distance of three or four steps in front of him. Beyond that was a dense, impenetrable darkness filled with billowing black smoke.

The road beneath our feet became exceptionally difficult to traverse.

The ground was covered with pits of varying sizes, and many pits still bore the marks of pickaxes at their edges, with scattered gravel.

Clearly, many miners had ventured into this area to mine before them, but for some reason, most of these mines had been abandoned, and some were filled with murky, foul-smelling shallow water.

“There must have been some good mines here before, but it also looks like something big happened here.”

The old miner lowered his voice, looked around warily, and carefully avoided the puddles and loose rocks.

He could sense that the "qi" here was very wrong; it was cold, stagnant, and carried a heavy, oppressive feeling.

Zhang Yangqing didn't speak, but simply nodded slightly.

His gaze was like the most precise scanner, sweeping over every texture of the rock wall, every mark on the ground, and the slowly flowing black mist in the air.

He was looking for patterns, anomalies, and "clues."

The little mouse in the pocket seemed to sense the change in its environment and became somewhat restless, shifting slightly.

Zhang Yangqing gently patted it through its clothes, and a gentle warmth passed through the fabric, gradually calming the little mouse down.

They bypassed a half-collapsed mine tunnel support frame, the wood long since rotted and blackened, and entered a narrower, seemingly naturally formed crack passage.

The passage was barely wide enough for one person to pass through, and the rock walls were slippery, cold, and dripping with water droplets.

The black aura seemed even denser here. (End of Chapter)