Chapter 5: Armored Rat  

Shi Tian swallowed his saliva nervously as he picked up the barely readable newspaper.

And no matter how much he re-read again and again, the year still printed out as 2189.

"This is a joke, right?" He asked himself in denial.

If the year printed on the newspaper was the current year, then it must have meant he was gone for 50 years.

However, with the state of the newspaper in such a condition, Shi Tian feared that this might not even be the current year.

It was a shame that most of the contents were distorted, unable to be restored, causing him to be unable to read what it was about.

'I need to find a cellphone.' Shi Tian thought.

A newspaper could be considered an outdated source of news compared to a cellular phone which could connect to the internet.

As long as he could go online and read the current news, all of his doubts would be clear.

Scavenging around the store, Shi Tian was disappointed to not find a single cellular device or electronics.

"Seriously… not even parts of an electronic?" Shi Tian twitched his mouth, his eyes glancing at the broken webcam attached to the ceiling.

He expected there to be some electronic parts at the very least, but nope, he found nothing and merely wasted his precious time.

Just when Shi Tian was ready to curse the living hell out of someone for his misfortune, he heard a sudden sound. A sound came from the ceiling, prompting Shi Tian to raise his alert and be vigilant.

'Those are definitely not the sound of a human crawling.' He concluded in his thought. If it was human, the sound wouldn't be loud or even make some squeaky noise similar to animals for no reason.

Soon, he recalled that before he was captured and embroiled in all this mess, the sky was splitting apart and unknown monsters were dropping down.

Instantly, Shi Tian slowly walked toward the exit without making a single footstep sound.

It might just be him overthinking things, but it was better to be safe than sorry. He had already gone through being an experimental lab rat and does not wish to endure any more pain.

The moment he got out of the store, Shi Tian thought he was safe, only to be astonished. The seemingly ordinary store was now crowded by a ton of gigantic rats that had armored parts implemented.

There were some on the roof of the store and some by the side.

Normally, Shi Tian would have been frightened by such a sight, but he was surprisingly calm. Way too calm in the situation as he didn't even flinch when he was being spotted by the armored rats.

Meanwhile, the integrated chip in his brain blinked for a moment and Shi Tian soon saw a hologram prompt, describing the species in front of him.

They were armored rats that had mutated due to the pollution.

What was even better was that it was explained that armored rats are a cautious and cowardly species.

So as long as he revealed zero fear, the armored rats wouldn't dare to make a move.

'I just need to put up a frontal act and scare them away.' Shi Tian thought to himself. He couldn't believe how calm and collected he was in this type of situation.

He might not be the cowardly type, but seeing such monsters that seemed like they came out straight from a movie would have horrified him at the very least.

Yet that wasn't the case and he was ready to utilize a solution against them.

Putting a sneering look, Shi Tian extended his left hand and made a gesture; telling them to come at him.

When the armored rats saw the relaxed expression of Shi Tian, their natural habits kicked in. They were now wary of Shi Tian, who they initially thought was a coward that was running away from them. Alas, such an act could only remain for so long given that one brave Armored Rat decided to launch itself toward Shi Tian.

'I knew this plan was idiotic.' Shi Tian cursed inwardly and hurriedly raised his leg, hoping to kick the rat away.

BANG!

Shi Tian felt his leg shaking hard upon the impact of the Armored Rat.

With its armor, the weight of the rat was not to be underestimated and Shi Tian decided to do the one smart thing a man can ever do.

Run.

Turning on the jets, Shi Tian used all of his adrenaline and stamina to flee.

He had no weapons and was currently injured. Plus the enemies are far superior to him.

Only a fool would decide to stay and fight despite failing earlier.

However, the speed of a useless human could not compare to the speed of an Armored Rat.

While running forward, Shi Tian suddenly leaped toward the right side, subtly avoiding another pounce from the Armored Rat.

'Huh? How did I do that?' Shi Tian was dumbfounded to see his body moving naturally, almost as if he was trained in combat.

Nevertheless, Shi Tian wasn't going to stay idle like some fool and wait to be swarmed as he continued to run away.

Alas, no matter how far he could run, there was a limit to his stamina and soon, the Armored Rats caught up to him.

One of the Armored Rats tackled from behind, prompting Shi Tian to collapse.

Afterward, the numerous other Armored Rats followed up and began to bite and hit Shi Tian ruthlessly.

Shi Tian felt his flesh being chomped by the Armored Rats and tried to wiggle around to get them off. His skin began bleeding profusely and the blood loss was starting to take a toll on his body.

Shi Tian's eyes started to close as he was feeling the wave of unconsciousness hitting him.

'These rats are too strong...' Shi Tian thought to himself as he felt weak everywhere.

[Due to being consecutively hit by an enemy, Pain Tolerance Passive Skill had been gained. Pain Tolerance is now active.]