Relying on Monica’s phone flashlight, Phil and Monica continued exploring forward in the pitch-black sewer.

Even though there were two of them—or more accurately, one person and one Devil—moving together, there was always only one set of footsteps echoing in the hollow sewer, which made Monica feel a bit creeped out.

“Miss Phil.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Is there any way you could make me fly too?”

“Maybe I could give you a punch?”

“Violence is prohibited!”

“Then no.”

“…Miss Phil?”

“What is it now?”

“N-nothing.”

“Are you scared?”

“Am not! …Okay, maybe, perhaps, possibly, just a tiny bit… After all, look how dark it is around us… Don’t just go quiet on me…”

“You’re so noisy.”

Just as Monica whimpered and wanted to complain about something else, a rustling sound suddenly came from deep within the tunnel.

Monica’s expression changed instantly.

In the darkness, something was approaching.

More than one.

The rustling sound grew increasingly dense, as if countless claws were rapidly scurrying across the damp ground.

The next second, several pairs of eerie green eyes lit up in the darkness like jack-o’-lanterns.

What emerged from the shadows were indeed rats.

However, they were at least 4-5 times larger than normal rats, with gray-black tumors bulging on their backs, long and sharp teeth, and cloudy mucus dripping from the corners of their mouths.

One of the giant rats stepped on a broken pipe and let out an ear-piercing shriek.

Immediately after, more emerged from every direction.

“D-Class Calamity creatures that live in groups, Rot-Toothed Giant Rats.”

Phil softly muttered the name.

The Containment and Management Division under SAVE had compiled a Calamity list, which recorded most of the common Calamities. Working in the Intelligence Division, Lin Han naturally knew it like the back of his hand.

“If you don’t want to end up in the hospital, watch out for their teeth; they’re venomous.”

Monica gave a sound of acknowledgement. Her eyes and expression were extremely serious, making it look like she had fully entered work mode.

She actually had somewhat of the bearing of a Calamity Hunter; it seemed she didn’t plan on relying on the Devil’s power this time.

Phil watched from the sidelines with great interest.

Monica nervously confronted the dozen or so giant rats. Suddenly, one of them arched its back, pushed off with its hind legs, and pounced at her.

“!”

Monica was startled and subconsciously raised her hand.

An invisible force of Telekinesis slammed into the giant rat, viciously swatting it against the adjacent wall.

With a loud bang, the giant rat smashed against the wall, then fell into the sewage. It twitched twice and stopped moving.

Monica froze and looked at her hand.

“Huh?”

“Don’t space out.”

Hearing Phil’s calm reminder, Monica quickly snapped back to her senses.

The death of their companion made the swarm even more frenzied. Shrieking, they rushed at Monica.

In the blink of an eye, three more giant rats lunged right in front of her.

Monica didn’t retreat a single step. She simply parted her palms gently, like parting ocean waves—

As if crashing into an invisible wall, the three giant rats were violently pushed to either side in mid-air. Losing their balance, they flew right past Monica’s sides.

And before they could even land, the dagger hanging at Monica’s waist flew out automatically, carving streaks of silver light in the air and thoroughly slaying them.

Having done all this, Monica’s eyes sparkled, and she cried out in pleasant surprise:

“Miss Phil! I’ve gotten stronger!”

There was no mistake; she could clearly feel that her application of Telekinesis had become much more proficient!

Those moves just now went much smoother than she had ever imagined.

In the past, when she used Telekinesis, it always felt like she was grabbing things through thick gloves; it wasn’t precise at all.

But just now, she had almost instinctively caught the trajectory of the giant rat’s lunge and then redirected it along its own momentum.

That feeling…

The scene of Miss Phil controlling her body suddenly surfaced in Monica’s mind.

Her body obviously hadn’t become much stronger at the time, but in Miss Phil’s hands, every movement seemed to have been calculated in advance.

Now, it seemed she had found that feeling too!

While Monica discovered her own improvement during the battle, Phil, on the other hand, saw this much more intuitively through the attribute panel—

Did her Perception and Skill attributes increase just from being possessed for a bit this morning?

Phil didn’t find this strange at all.

After all, it was a game. For the sake of gameplay, gaining stats after fighting monsters was perfectly normal.

However, this game was indeed too realistic, so realistic that it often made people forget it was a game.

If one didn’t think about it from the perspective of a game, but rather from the perspective of reality, Monica, who was able to improve so quickly, might be extremely talented.

It was just that she had been too reckless before, and no one had ever properly taught her. Thus, after witnessing and physically experiencing Phil’s combat style, she absorbed a large amount of useful knowledge like a sponge absorbing water.

Looking at it this way, Monica was indeed a genuine combat genius.

The next second, a giant rat lunged straight at Monica’s face from the side.

“Yaaahhh!”

Monica leaned back in a panic, dodging it by a hair’s breadth.

Watching her nearly fall into the sewage, Phil couldn’t help but raise a hand to her forehead.

“Even one word of praise is too much for you.”

“When did you praise me!?”

Monica angrily wielded her dagger, pinning the giant rat that had just ambushed her to the wall.

There was no suspense in the ensuing battle.

A few minutes later, the last Rot-Toothed Giant Rat was lifted up by Monica using Telekinesis and smashed heavily against the wall, exploding into excessive sprays of blood.

Monica stared fixedly at the bloodstains for a long time, then suddenly her whole body relaxed, and she braced her hands on her knees, panting heavily.

“I… I won?”

“It’s just a bunch of rats, is it worth being surprised about?”

“But, but!”

Monica’s eyes were as wide as bells, her face written with excitement. If she wasn’t in a sewer, she probably would have jumped up.

“But this is the first time I’ve ever felt that hunting Calamities could be so easy! And I didn’t get hurt at all!”

Monica foolishly spun around in a circle to show Phil, then turned back, looking at her with sparkling eyes.

However, Phil only saw a large golden retriever rolling around excitedly after finding a meaty bone.

“Miss Phil!”

“Yeah.”

“Was I amazing just now?”

“Barely passable.”

“That’s a compliment, right? That’s definitely a compliment!”

“Whatever makes you happy.”

Monica wasn’t struck down by this at all.

She puffed out her chest, her face filled with pride.

“Hehe, it seems I really do have talent. At this rate, it won’t be long before I become the strongest Calamity Hunter in X City!”

Phil glanced at the giant rat corpses scattered across the ground.

The strongest Calamity Hunter who kills rats in the sewer?

However, looking at the genuinely happy Monica, Phil ultimately didn’t say that out loud. Instead, she said:

“Gather the loot. SAVE’s Calamity Research Division is collecting the teeth and tail glands of Rot-Toothed Giant Rats. Although the unit price isn’t high, even a mosquito is still considered meat.”

“Really?!”

This was Monica’s first time hearing about such a thing, so she happily ran back to process the giant rat’s corpse, completely ignoring her previous disgust.

However, halfway through processing it, Monica suddenly looked back in confusion:

“Eh? How do you know so much about SAVE, Miss Phil? Do you have informants inside SAVE too?!”

“…Think whatever you want.”

Phil replied vaguely.

To Monica, this vague response was a tacit admission.

Has the Devil already infiltrated SAVE? Is there still hope for humanity?

Monica suddenly felt that humanity’s future looked rather bleak.

Just as Monica was fretting over the future of humanity, Phil suddenly felt a chill run down her spine.

As if something terrible was about to happen.

Then…

Plap.

Plap.

The sound echoed repeatedly through the cavernous environment.

It sounded like someone walking barefoot across the damp ground, drawing closer.