Even a weakling like Lee Byung-hee from Kashima could create 48 A-rank clones to wreak havoc on the battlefield.
Although these inheritances vary in strength, once one reaches the demigod level, they can fight without fear in small-scale regular army battles, at least they don't have to slowly kill them one by one.
Therefore, once the Cavaliers lose their numerical advantage, they have always had a fatal weakness when facing group battles.
This is also why knightly organizations are gradually fading from the historical stage.
Until Qing Chen appeared.
The transformation he brought to the Knights was not just in terms of numbers.
The cloud of energy he unleashed on Mount Okuho, which brought forth a shower of stars, ushered in the era of area-of-effect damage for knights.
The first section of the Zhunti Method, the Breathing Technique, uses a method to compress the Knight's True Qi and create a qualitative change, giving Li Shutong the ability that terrifies everyone.
A million rats were wiped out with a single breath of cloud—what a terrifying method!
This is destined to be an era of knights, but we still need to wait a little longer until all the young knights have grown up.
When that time comes, each person will only have a breath of cloud, and perhaps the Age of Gods will be over.
At this moment, the biggest crisis in the lower three districts' defense line was resolved. The million-strong rat horde was wiped out in one breath, and all the refugees looked at Li Shutong's figure as if they were looking at a god.
Li Shutong's move was a stroke of genius in boosting morale.
Moreover, Li Shutong did not leave. He continued to stand on that building, using his Autumn Leaf Blade to annihilate the scattered rat swarms and block their path, just as if he had diverted a river.
With the constant swarms of rats gone, the pressure on the defense line was immediately relieved!
The mistress and her friends shouted excitedly from the defensive line: "Did you see that? That's our parents' master! He's here to save us!"
"Li Shutong, the demigod, is our parents' association's tutor!"
As the family members chopped up rats, they enthusiastically patted themselves on the back, as if their injuries no longer hurt, leaving the refugees around them speechless.
To be precise, the first time Li Shutong used his cloud-like abilities was in front of nearly a million people.
He stood on that tall building, visible to everyone, as if performing a miracle.
And those building structures, reduced to mere steel bars, serve as a constant reminder of what just happened.
One of the refugees suddenly asked, "Does your parents' association still accept students?"
"Yes, we'll definitely accept you," one member said reservedly. "However, joining the Parents' Association requires an approval process. After you express your intention, the organization will observe you for three months. Then you write your application, and the organization will accept you as a prospective member and observe you for another six months. If you perform well, you will become a formal member."
After hearing the conditions, the refugees fell into deep thought. How could it be so difficult to join a community? But that's just human nature; the more difficult it is, the more people want to get in.
People always think: those who want to scam you will set no barriers to entry!
In an instant, countless refugees were eager to try their luck, waiting to express their intentions to their parents' association after surviving.
Just then, a family member looked at the building, frowned for a long time, and said, "Wait a minute, isn't that house, which was blown down to its steel frame, my house...?"
"Once we kill all the rats, we can pick any house in the Upper Three Districts we want, right? Don't worry about your house. The Grand Tutor is praising your house; that's because your ancestors accumulated good karma..."
"You're trying to flatter my steel reinforcement..."
However, it was not Li Shutong who was able to turn the tide of the war, but the refugees who returned.
More and more people ran out of the Key Gate and rushed to the defensive line, forcefully pushing it back!
Not only that, some people went berserk and even considered a counterattack, wanting to exterminate all the rats in the city!
Fortunately, the mistress remained rational and stopped them all: "Even if we want to launch a counterattack, it's not now. We need to rest well and develop a complete strategy first."
However, even the mistress might wonder... is it really possible to launch a counterattack?
Before this, everyone was thinking about escaping, evacuating, or holding out to the death. Even Qing Chen was not optimistic about the outcome, always believing that only killing the Rat King could end this disaster.
As a result, not a single piercing missile could kill the Rat King, who had disappeared to who-knows-where.
But now, is there another way... to kill all the rats?
As long as the Rat King becomes a lone commander, these five million people can slowly search for the trembling Rat King in the city's sewers. No matter where he hides, they will find him sooner or later.
Xiao San called Qin Shuli over: "Go behind the Key Gate and do some propaganda work. Get everyone back. The million-strong rat horde has been wiped out. Tell them we've already won this battle against the rat horde. No matter how many rats come, they won't be enough for Taifu to boast about. Then, organize the returning refugees into 100 teams. We're going to lead a counterattack. Search the whole city, carry out rat extermination and pest control, and help the parents find that rat king."
At that time, City 10 will become the venue for parent-teacher conferences.
For many years, countless forces have tried to squeeze out the five major conglomerates and gain their own place, but none have succeeded.
Now, the conglomerate has not destroyed the city. Although the rat horde has killed many people, more than five million people have survived. The city's buildings are intact, its facilities are complete, and its factories are still there. A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity is right in front of us.
The future tax revenue from this city alone will be enough to cover the expenses of the parents' association!
The rats in City 10 only kill people, they don't damage facilities, so there's no need for complicated post-disaster reconstruction!
The mistress whispered, "Hurry up and get it done. We must launch a counterattack as soon as possible and get rid of the rat infestation. We can't let other conglomerates use 'rat control' as an excuse to come here. This city belongs to the parent company now."
Qin Shuli's eyes lit up: "I'll get on it right away. Don't worry, I'll definitely organize 30 capable young and strong teams for you within 24 hours."
At this point, the refugees dragged Xiao San and his family members, who had been fighting for a long time, off the defensive line so that they could rest for a while.
The good news of suppressing the rat horde and the arrival of the demigods began to spread to the wilderness behind the Key Gate.
Everyone is saying, "No need to run anymore, we're going to win!"
More and more refugees are returning, to the point that family members have to maintain order next to the Key Gate.
The mistress sat awkwardly on a small stool, being held down by a group of girls who were bandaging her.
At this moment, the little girl named Xiaoxia returned to the Lower Third District with her parents. She came to Xiaosan and whispered, "Uncle, I'm sorry. I misunderstood you before."
She thought she would never have the chance to say sorry again.
Fortunately, everyone managed to survive.
Xiao San laughed and rummaged around on his body for a while, then said with a bitter expression, "Xiao Xia, I don't know where Uncle's candy went."
In the brutal battlefield, the little girl took a piece of candy out of her pocket and placed it in the mistress's hand: "Here, have some."
...
...
In the Fourth District, an elite force of spies has arrived.
Qing Chen looked at the two buildings in front of him from afar: "We cannot determine which one is the hiding place of Shen Dai Yun Cang at the moment. Do not disperse your forces, follow me inside to search."
"Attention, there is a security force with Kamishiro Unsou. The number of personnel is currently unknown. If any suspicious persons are found inside the building, they will be shot immediately. Advance."
As they spoke, the elite troops followed behind Qing Chen, first searching the shorter building.
Qing Chen led the charge, acting as the arrowhead for breaking through the formation. Everyone followed behind him, tasked with searching every room, from cabinets and under beds to ceilings—leaving no blind spots.
However, an hour later, everyone confirmed that there was no target in the building.
“Take a 15-minute break and continue searching the other building,” Qingchen said.
But another hour passed, and to their astonishment, they found that there was no target in either building.
Qingyi asked curiously, "Sir, could it be that Shendai Yuncang has already evacuated?"
Qing Chen remained calm and silent, simply leading the team outside.
Only after everyone had moved 300 meters away from the building did Qingchen suddenly say, "That's right, this is the place."
"If I were Kamishiro Chika, where would I choose as my hiding place? What would I need to guard against?" Qingchen said, "I need to guard against the rat swarm attack. I need to hide until the rat swarm reaches a mature scale and meets the containment conditions of the forbidden item ACE-022. I need to... I need to prevent the various conglomerates from going crazy and throwing bombs into the city!"
In this city of 10, Qing Chen had only seen one place where one could avoid piercing missiles and cruise missiles: 50 to 80 meters underground at the Caramel Bar, where Lao Shen's database was located. The seemingly simple database was actually made of earthquake-resistant alloys and soundproof structures!
Qingyi once said he would cover Lao Shen's evacuation, but Lao Shen said he didn't need to leave at all.
That was Old Shen's pride. If the place where the Secret Service stored its original documents could be easily breached by rats or pierced by missiles, then the Secret Service would be finished.
The safe house was so well-sealed that it could even supply oxygen independently for a month and was protected against poison gas bombs.
Therefore, if there is also such a safe house inside this building, then everything makes sense.
Qingchen said, "I suspect there are hidden cameras in that building, so I didn't say much. But I noticed out of the corner of my eye that there were handprints on the elevator shaft on the first floor, as if someone had pried it open with their bare hands."
At that time, Qingchen did not rashly open the elevator shaft because he did not know if there were any safety countermeasures inside.
These safe houses likely have only one way in and out; attacking them would be suicide, but the people inside will eventually have to come out.
Qingyi asked, "Will he stay hidden inside and never come out?"
“No,” Qing Chen shook his head and said firmly, “If he controls the rat swarm, he will definitely retreat to the wilderness with the rat swarm. He knows very well that staying here will only lead to his death. Of course, if he doesn’t come out, I also have a way.”
Qingyi asked, "Could this safe house have a passageway connecting to the sewers? Should I take some people to guard the sewers at each intersection to prevent them from evacuating underground?"
“Yes, keep watch, be careful of rats,” Qingchen said.
Qing Chen waved his hand, and the 30-person team immediately dispersed and moved to the best concealed combat positions.
...
...
In the sewers, a gray-eyed, black-skinned rat, along with hundreds of its companions, had arrived beside the Rat King.
The rat king lay bloated in the dirty water of the wide sewer, its body as massive as a small mountain, almost filling the entire sewer.
It kept eating, stuffing flesh and blood into its mouth with its claws.
The gray-eyed, black-skinned rat, carrying a human hand in its mouth, slowly approached. Just as the Rat King reached out its paw to take the hand from its mouth, the gray-eyed, black-skinned rat jumped onto the Rat King's arm and hopped all the way to the back of the Rat King's neck.
The Rat King tried to stop it, but found that the gray-eyed, black-skinned rat was completely uncontrollable!
In the eyes of the gray-eyed, black-skinned rat, it seemed as if maggots were wriggling. It bit down on the back of the rat king's neck, and the plump, white queen ant inside its belly crawled out of its mouth, squeezed through the rat king's flesh, and burrowed into its body.
The queen ant reached the rat king's spine, and hundreds of thin white tentacles extended from her white body, piercing into the rat king's vertebrae and binding them tightly together.
The Rat King roared angrily, trying to pry the Queen Ant out of her flesh, but it couldn't reach her at all.
The next moment, countless rats, driven by the Rat King, climbed onto his back and bit open the skin on his spine. This was the Rat King controlling his subjects to help find the strange thing.
However, even if the mice found the queen ant and its antennae, they couldn't harm it at all!
Forbidden items must not be damaged or destroyed!
Time passed slowly, and the Rat King's eyes turned gray one moment and then back to black the next, until it finally collapsed helplessly in the sewer.
Those black pupils were finally filled with gray.
In another underground location, Kamishiro Unsou, clutching a piece of blood-red wood in his hand with his eyes closed, suddenly stood up and laughed, "It's done!"
Inside the underground safe house, 12 security personnel were on high alert. Upon hearing this, their eyes lit up immediately: "Congratulations, sir!"