Published: February 12, 2025
The Rat King and his spouse left, and due to communication issues, they never clearly explained why they gifted Ye Zhongming a battle beast.
But after a moment of thought, Ye Zhongming understood.
One thing was certain: this little mouse was the biological offspring of the Rat King and his spouse, not a third or fourth generation, but a genuine second generation!
Moreover, Ye Zhongming learned that the mother of the little mouse, which is the spouse of the Rat King, would not be able to reproduce in the future; this was regarded as her last child.
As for the reason, Ye Zhongming had heard Liu Zhenghong mention it before. The gist was that certain rapidly reproducing life forms have limits, and once they reach that limit, they lose their ability to reproduce.
For example, before the apocalypse, house mice matured quickly and began reproducing, with each litter growing from few to many. After a certain period, their numbers peaked, and then their reproductive ability began to decline until they eventually lost that function altogether.
The Rat King would naturally have other offspring, but that mother mouse would no longer reproduce.
Despite the situation suggesting that this little mouse was not the last child of the Rat King, it was indeed a genuine prince!
Although its mother was not the Rat King herself and was not his only mate, she held the second high-ranking position in the entire rat community, just below the Rat King. Their rank indicated this clearly.
Due to her own strength and stable position, her children were much stronger than the offspring of “wildflowers.”
A genuine biological son, especially a younger one, being gifted to Ye Zhongming as a battle beast carried a significant meaning.
Additionally, the timing of their gift was crucial.
The Rat King and his spouse were on the verge of evolution, and perhaps upon returning, they would evolve to the eighth-level.
This situation was quite intriguing.
The Rat King and its group were currently working for Cloud Summit, but the Rat King knew very well that it was not truly a part of Cloud Summit, unless it willingly became Ye Zhongming's battle beast.
But would it willingly do so? Clearly not!
It was accustomed to the life of a ruler; it could work for Ye Zhongming but would never become a servant.
However, deep down, the Rat King was aware that it was not irreplaceable. In today's increasingly powerful Cloud Summit, the work it and its mutated rat legion did could be replaced and completed by other life forms.
Especially after encountering the war rat legion raised by Cloud Summit, the Rat King felt this even more strongly.
It realized that Cloud Summit had already cultivated more obedient kindred. Even if they could not reproduce more for now, given some time, the scale of this war rat legion would expand dramatically.
And with that, the value of the Rat King would decrease, until Cloud Summit no longer needed it.
If it were to be eliminated, the Rat King had two paths: one was to migrate to another place, and the other was to become a hunted target for Cloud Summit, contributing magic crystals and materials.
But would the first path be feasible? No matter how the Rat King thought about it, it felt it could not escape the pursuit of Cloud Summit.
In this situation, it had to consider its future options.
It even dared not to evolve to the eighth level, fearing that Ye Zhongming would kill it and use its eighth-level magic crystal to spin the wheel.
Currently, Cloud Summit was crazily hunting eighth-level life forms! The Rat King had participated in several operations with its subordinates, and two main battle teams could kill a solitary eighth-level life form with almost zero casualties.
Even when facing a group life form, with the addition of a Yangos or earth yellow pill, they could easily take it down, and in the event of encountering something stronger, Red Hair would step in.
The Rat King knew that if they killed it, Red Hair probably wouldn’t even need to get involved.
It was during this period of frustration that its son was born, presenting a path for survival.