Xinyi City. The 007 Battalion set up position.

Zhang Kehao then led the 12th Army's 003 and 005 Battalions forward toward Pizhou City.

By the time they moved out, morning had come. Shen Cong made himself a substantial breakfast. The Treasure Bee colony had been harvesting heavily from the abundant zone's flowers recently, and Bee Treasure production was running high — Royal Treasure Jelly supply was consistent enough that he could include it in his daily diet. Blackhead and the Four-Legged Dragon occasionally got a small share as well.

Royal Treasure Jelly mixed into pearl milk tea produced something with a distinct character of its own.

The Activity Pearl and banyan yogurt stocks are running low. Once the Great Iron Bear situation is resolved, I need to make a trip back to the Huanglishu mini-Oasis to harvest more pearl mussels. Visit the dung beetles while I'm in the area.

That route passes through the ratmen-heavy zone. The Command has been discussing clearing the ratmen for nearly two weeks now and still hasn't committed to an operation. That's not good. Whatever the casualties, those ratmen need to be eliminated. Their evolution rate is too fast.

The pace of ratman development genuinely unsettled him.

Their cognitive advancement was well beyond what he'd anticipated. First encounter: ratmen using bones as weapons. Second encounter: ratmen wearing protective gear and carrying packs. The trajectory implied that if left alone long enough, these ratmen would eventually reach something approaching human-level cognition.

Rats, with their reproductive rate, plus human-equivalent intelligence — that was a civilizational-level catastrophe in waiting.

And it's not just ratmen gaining intelligence. Every jin beast seems to be cognitively advancing. The Antgod and Blackhead are developing. Little Four is developing. The Great Iron Bear fashioned its carrier vehicle into a helm — that doesn't happen at low intelligence. Even second-generation human children are showing accelerated cognitive development.

At this rate — will there come a day when my own intelligence is no longer an advantage?

He rinsed his mouth with Royal Treasure Jelly and felt a quiet urgency settling behind his thoughts.

Which sharpened…