I can gain insights into martial arts.

Alarm bells rang in his mind, and Chen Mochuan immediately got up and rushed out of the steamed bun shop.

Looking up, I saw a short, thin figure appear in the distance across the street, stumbling and running wildly toward the dark alleyway.

"Oh no!" Chen Mochuan thought to himself, "This is bad."

His brief conversation with the female shop owner and his entry into the house, though only a momentary activity, inevitably created a blind spot and interruption in his observation, preventing him from noticing the child running from the other side of the street sooner.

But now was not the time for regret. Seeing that the child was already close to the alley entrance, he didn't have time to think too much. He immediately gathered his strength and shouted, "Little friend, stop! It's dangerous over there!"

Worried that the other party might not be able to hear him due to the distance, he even incorporated the still-unfamiliar "Tiger Roar" technique into his shout. Although it was far from achieving the effect of intimidating the mind, it at least made the sound more penetrating.

The children in the distance were startled by the sudden shout, stopped in their tracks, and turned to look in bewilderment.

He opened his mouth and called out something, but the distance was still far, and the child's voice was choked with sobs, so Chen Mochuan could only vaguely catch the words "Looking for... Daddy..."

The child paused only briefly, his obsession with finding his father overpowering his fear of the stranger's warning, and then turned and continued running toward the alley entrance.

"Could the person calling for help in the alley be the child's father?" This thought flashed through Chen Mochuan's mind.

At the same time, his body acted before his reason could process it, rushing towards the child to stop him from entering the dangerous alley.

"Danger in the alley! I've already called the police! They're on their way!"

As he sprinted, he shouted again, not only to the child hoping he would stop, but also to the dangerous individuals who might be lurking in the shadows, intending to deter them.

However, children's actions are often driven by their most direct emotions. He only slowed down a little, but did not stop and continued running towards the alley entrance.

Seeing that verbal persuasion had little effect and that the child was about to step into the most dangerous area, Chen Mochuan frowned. He could not stand by and watch a young child take risks in front of him.

"To intervene or not to intervene?"

In an instant, the memory of dying unexpectedly while doing a good deed in his past life flashed through his mind, and the self-admonition of "not meddling in other people's business" in this life suddenly resonated.

But at this moment, looking at that thin, helpless figure running towards unknown danger in search of his father, an instinctive sense of compassion and responsibility instantly overwhelmed that bit of "wise" calculation.

He gritted his teeth and accelerated forward again.

"At least...we need to get this child away from the alleyway!"

Once they were closer, he could roughly see what the child looked like. He was a boy of about eight or nine years old, and what he kept saying was, "Daddy's inside, I want to find him!"

What eased his mind a little was that the boy, perhaps because he was running too fast and his steps were flustered, accidentally fell down more than ten meters from the alley entrance and lay on the ground crying.

This unexpected event bought Chen Mochuan crucial time for rescue.

But just then, a familiar yet chilling sound came from inside the alley!

A series of sharp, squeaking cries, mixed with a harsh sound like metal scraping, even drowned out the boy's loud cries.

That sound... it's a vicious rat!

Moreover, these are the sounds that fierce rats often make when they are excited or hunting!

The terrifying memory of the life-or-death chase from half a month ago instantly resurfaced, sending a chill down Chen Mochuan's spine.

But after confirming that the source of the danger was the ferocious rats rather than the more bizarre and unpredictable cultists, he felt more at ease.

"Luckily, they're vicious rats...at least I know their habits quite well."

If he were dealing with a cultist devoid of reason, he might really have to consider whether to protect himself, but when facing the ferocious rat, he felt that he still had a fighting chance, or rather, room to maneuver.

At that moment, Chen Mochuan no longer hesitated; the thought of saving lives took over completely.

He sped toward the boy, his eyes quickly scanning the surroundings. As he passed a flower bed, he casually picked up a hard rock about half the size of a fist and held it tightly in his hand, just in case.

He knew that his current strength was still insufficient to confront the ferocious rat head-on, and he had to make use of every available opportunity.

As he approached the boy, the sounds in the alley became clearer and more urgent.

The next moment, a dark figure suddenly darted out from the shadows at the alley entrance!

By the light of the street lamp, Chen Mochuan could clearly see that the ferocious rat looked quite disheveled.

Its once glossy gray-black fur was now covered in dirt and tangled in many places. One of its front legs was bent at an extremely unnatural angle, clearly broken. When it ran, it could only land on three feet and stagger.

Its mouth was dripping with drool, and its rat-like eyes gleamed with a greedy and anxious light under the lamp, exuding an aura of madness from a dead end.

With such obvious features, Chen Mochuan immediately recognized the ferocious rat in front of him as the one that had escaped from the police encirclement half a month ago.

After the ferocious rat darted out of the alley, it didn't even glance at Chen Mochuan. Its green eyes were fixed on the boy who was crying because he had fallen.

Perhaps it was the exposure to the streetlights after leaving the dark environment that made the naturally cautious and ferocious rats uneasy.

It did not pounce immediately, but instead lowered its body, bared its sharp teeth, and made threatening squeaks as it slowly approached the boy step by step.

The boy seemed stunned by the horrific sight, frozen in place, his crying abruptly ceasing.

From the direction of the steamed bun shop in the distance, came the piercing scream of the female shop owner, born of extreme terror: "Ah—!"

The scream seemed to be a signal, stimulating the already tense and ferocious rat.

Its body trembled, and its hind legs pushed off the ground, as if it were about to pounce on the "prey" that was so close at hand!

At the critical moment, Chen Mochuan, who had already rushed to the front, acted faster than he thought. His instinct to protect the weak overwhelmed his fear of the ferocious rat. He exerted force from his waist and abdomen, swung his right arm in a wide arc, and poured all his strength into his arm, directly throwing the stone in his hand at the ferocious rat's head!

Sensing the attack from behind, the wounded but still nimble rat rolled to the side, narrowly avoiding the rocks.

"Thump!" The stone slammed heavily onto the ground, making a dull thud.

"Squeak squeak squeak!!!"

Enraged, the ferocious rat abandoned the boy and turned to Chen Mochuan, unleashing all its ferocity as it pounced on him with a screech!

Chen Mochuan was startled; the ferocious rat's reaction was slightly different from his expected cautious nature of "retreating when faced with strength."

Despite his surprise, he remained calm and, judging the direction of the attack, swiftly slid sideways, narrowly avoiding the lunge.

The ferocious rat missed its target and immediately turned around after landing, forming a standoff with Chen Mochuan, who had also quickly adjusted his posture.