Apocalypse Chapter 52: Rat Mischief

Chapter 52: Rat Mischief¹

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Karai

 

As dusk fell, the rooftops, baking under the scorching sun all day, resembled a giant steamer. Over fifty espers stood dispersed on the rooftops near the large square, wearing night vision goggles and gripping weapons, gazing intently at the trap in the center of the square.

Several mutated wild boars were placed in the trap, and the smell of blood wafted nauseatingly with the rising heat. However, this was the best bait to deal with the mutated rats; the more pungent the scent, the more attention it drew from the rats.

Jiang Rong adjusted the lock and straps of his night vision goggles, only relaxing when he confirmed they were secure. Rats were nocturnal creatures, more active at night. Although mutated rats were formidable, they still retained this habit. Soon, they would engage in a deadly battle with the mutated rats.

At that moment, Guan Shao agilely flipped into cover, and Jiang Rong whispered, “Is everyone ready?”

Guan Shao nodded, “Ready.” 

As he spoke, he casually lifted a long sniper rifle and aimed it towards the intersection ahead. They were ambushing from the rooftop directly facing the intersection, just a dozen meters away from the trap.

Jiang Rong glanced at the roof opposite them. There were four semi-circular shelters made of steel and earth on that roof, each housing two or three teammates. Some teammates were focused on observing the surroundings, while others were making final preparations before the battle.

The house where the espers were stationed had been preliminarily cleared; all climbable pipes on the walls had been removed. Rats were adept climbers; once they formed an encirclement, any escaping rats would climb up through the pipes, which would interfere with the espers’ performance.

Apart from the pipes, all passages on the roof were sealed; nobody wanted to be surrounded by rats halfway through the battle. The espers meticulously sealed every hole on the roof, leaving no room for trouble.

The buildings on the square were only three stories high at most, relatively low compared to those in big cities. But for the mutant rats, losing climbing points meant they couldn’t scale the three-meter-high buildings. Whether in solo combat or group battles, the espers brought by Guan Shao were all skilled. Jiang Rong had no worries about their ability to construct shelters.

After briefly pausing his gaze on them, Jiang Rong looked towards the path they had come from. The dark road stretched out towards the outskirts of the town, with their vehicles parked far at the end of the road. Each vehicle was heavily protected to ensure they wouldn’t be devoured by mutated rats.

Jiang Rong’s gaze fell on the off-road vehicle behind the forklift. There was a dusty cover made of steel and stone outside the off-road vehicle. Leilei was in this vehicle, and Jiang Rong couldn’t help but glance at it a few more times, worried that the young girl would be scared staying alone in the car.

Guan Shao reassured him in a low voice, “Don’t worry, Leilei is very brave.”

Leilei was the only minor among this group, capable but unable to protect herself. She had initially wanted to go to the rooftop with Wang Chunlan. But fearing that her lack of experience would hinder everyone, after much deliberation, the girl decided to retreat to the car and wait for everyone.

After confirming the safety around the off-road vehicle, Jiang Rong withdrew his gaze. This time he looked at the nearby shelters, where Chu Qiang was eager to try, Ruan Hanyu looked solemn, and Wang Chunlan was rummaging through the medicine box for weapons.

Feeling Jiang Rong’s gaze, his teammates smiled and gave him a thumbs-up, indicating that everything was fine.

As time passed, the sky grew darker, and the whole town became eerily quiet. Without human activity, the world could be so quiet. Chu Qiang muttered in a low voice, “It’s too quiet, it’s creepy. Why haven’t those beasts come out yet? It’s dark now; they should be out, right? Xiao Jiang, is our trap even effective?”

Just as Jiang Rong was about to speak, Guan Shao stopped him, “Listen!”

In the darkness, there were rustling sounds, as if millions of creatures were moving downstairs. Everyone focused their attention and saw pairs of blood-red eyes emerging from the darkness.

The espers sharpened their focus. “They’re coming.”

Countless mutated rats crawled out, some from the sewers, some from the roadside houses. The spacious streets were suddenly filled with countless rats. The emerging rats were robust in size, with most of them larger than domestic cats, some even rivaled Leilei in size.

Except for Jiang Rong, who had seen mutated rats in a previous life, everyone else was dumbfounded: These were rats? If these were rats, would cats even stand a chance?

After emerging from underground, the rats looked around, sniffing the air with their upper bodies erect, then crawled towards the direction of the square. The gray-black swarm of rats flooded the street like a tide, converging from all directions.

Those witnessing this scene felt their scalp tingle and sweat trickled down. Chu Qiang’s voice trembled, “My God, I’m covered in goosebumps…”

Ruan Hanyu’s face turned pale; she had been terrified of rats since she was a child. If they didn’t kill a few rats tonight, she wouldn’t be able to sleep.

Although Jiang Rong had warned everyone that there would be many mutated rats this time, nobody had dreamed that there would be so many. If the rat swarm was already this formidable, wouldn’t it soon spread and multiply? Seeing rats continuously crawling out, everyone made up their minds: no matter what the cost, they must exterminate this group of rats!

The red-eyed rats emitted squeaks and squeals. Before long, the fastest rats had climbed onto the wild boar. The eerie sound of gnawing emanated from the trap as the black rats piled up, engulfing the wild boar.

The rat swarm quickly converged, and in an instant, they had piled up to a height of two or three meters on the wild boar’s body. The rats underneath were crushed and squealed in agony, while more rats climbed on top, stepping on their companions’ bodies.

Rats continued to crawl out from every corner of the town, but those that emerged later were much smaller in size and slower in speed. As most of the rats converged near the square, the pile of rats on the wild boar had stacked up to the height of a building.

Guan Shao slowly raised his hand, and a low voice came through the earpiece, “Get ready… fire!”

At the command, over fifty grenades and explosives were thrown down from the surrounding rooftops towards the rat swarm below. As the explosives were thrown, Chu Qiang blurted out a curse, “Damn, I forgot to pull the pin.”

Before he could finish his sentence, Ruan Hanyu followed with, “Oh no, me too…”

Jiang Rong’s vision darkened. It was truly challenging for both ordinary people and professionals to act together.

The grenades and explosives fell with a crackling sound, smashing several rats and causing them to squeal in chaos. Ruan Hanyu asked in confusion, “Why aren’t they exploding?”

Grenades and explosives don’t explode instantly upon release; there’s a delay of several seconds from pulling the pin to detonation. Jiang Rong shouted suddenly, “Get down!”

At the moment he shouted, the grenades and explosives in the rat swarm finally detonated. A towering flame accompanied by a deafening roar erupted, and glass from all over the town fell with the sound of explosions.

Hundreds of mutated rats were blown apart, and their body parts scattered with the flames. The screams of the rat swarm mixed with the sound of falling glass and walls, as countless rats were ignited, turning into roaming fireballs rushing towards their companions’ piles. Many rats that escaped the explosion ran around the scene in panic.

Just before the explosion, a wall as high as five or six meters grew on the three-way intersection. The wall was firmly connected to the houses on the street, forming a circle with a diameter of a hundred meters.

The rats that hadn’t reached the square panicked and turned their heads to run, only to find that they couldn’t go back.

The surviving rats ran around in panic, searching for escape routes. As native rats, they knew every passage leading underground. When they tried to pry open the manhole covers on the sewer, the covers, which used to be easily moved, remained unmoved.

It didn’t matter; even though they couldn’t go back through the sewers, they could still go back through the houses on the roadside. But as they rushed towards the open doors and windows of the houses, several blood-red vines swiftly extended from inside the house.

Little Guaiguai took advantage of her own strength to penetrate deep into the houses, quietly waiting for the rats to hit the door. With a casual roll of the thorny vines, the rats were strung together like candied fruit. How many rats could escape the bloodthirsty traps set by the blood vines?

Sucking sounds emanated faintly from the houses along the street, accompanied by the agonizing cries of the rats.

The square had turned into a hunting ground, with the larger rats becoming the primary targets of the espers. Guan Shao’s eyes were sharp as he specifically targeted the largest rats. The dense sound of gunfire rang out, and soon the ground was covered with a thick layer of rat carcasses.

Not everyone had Guan Shao’s precision; although the rats were surrounded, they were exceptionally fast. Jiang Rong attempted to aim at a rat several times, but whenever he aimed, the rat seemed to sense it and scurried away.

At a critical moment, a huge water ball appeared out of nowhere and smashed fiercely into the rat swarm. Wherever the water flowed, it quickly froze into ice, and the rats frozen in the ice squealed in panic. However, all that awaited them was the merciless bullets.

With Ruan Hanyu’s help, Jiang Rong and Chu Qiang finally hit the first mutated rat of the day. The two praised, “Thanks, sis!”

The espers on the rooftop mercilessly reaped the lives of the mutated rats, switching to their abilities whenever their ammunition ran out. Ice balls, fireballs, metal spikes, earth lumps, and even wooden sticks rained down from above, leaving the mutated rats defenseless.

Although mutated animals had awakened abilities, there weren’t many that could use them as proficiently as humans. Under the siege of the espers, an hour later, the mutated rats within the encirclement fell silent.

Looking at the pile of rat corpses, Jiang Rong felt a bit dazed. Had they won? Were the mutated rats that had devoured him and his son in his previous life defeated so easily?

He remembered that in the second year at Peace Base, the area north of the base was invaded by mutated rats, and several hundred people were bitten to death by the rats. The base dispatched hundreds of espers to siege for a full week before finally exterminating the mutated rats, but not without losing dozens of espers in the process.

It was because of this that Jiang Rong had told his teammates that there might be casualties today. But in reality, none of them were harmed, and they managed to crush this nest of rats effortlessly.

Was it too smooth?

After pondering for a moment, Jiang Rong understood the reason. The reason they won so easily this time was because they came prepared. With the coordinated espers and rational tactical arrangements, they confused the rats.

This rat swarm was just getting started, and its scale wasn’t very large yet. In another year or two, the rats in the town would expand several times over. By then, even with dozens more people, they might not necessarily be a match for them.

Most importantly, although many rats had mutated, they still retained their original habits and didn’t know how to use their abilities. After some time and experience, when they could walk during the day, it would be even harder to deal with them.

After realizing this, Jiang Rong couldn’t help but wipe away a cold sweat. Winning this time was truly fortunate; if they encountered another swarm of mutated rats next time, they might not be so lucky.

The espers stepped out of their hiding spots, looking down at the pile of rat corpses below, feeling relieved. Ruan Hanyu’s eyes reddened, “Did everyone see that? The mutated rats that harmed you all are dead, and everyone can finally rest in peace…”

The reason they chose this location for the siege was also to let the townspeople who had been plagued by the mutated rats see their fate. If they had any knowledge beyond the grave, they could also rest in peace.

Only a majority of the mutated rats were trapped in the encirclement; countless other rats were still hiding deep underground in the town. To completely eliminate them, they would have to encircle the entire town and dig three feet into the ground.

But was it easy to dig three feet underground? Even if they had so many espers, they couldn’t turn the town upside down in a short time. Moreover, by the time they searched, the clever rats would have already escaped.

The fire-type esper, Jiang Jinhua, cursed angrily, “Damn beasts, hiding underground, what’s the use? Come up if you dare!”

Jiang Jinhua’s ability was powerful; with one fireball, he could cremate at least a dozen rats on the spot. But his ability couldn’t penetrate deep underground; the underground passages were twisted and complex, and a fireball thrown down would probably not even produce smoke.

But if they didn’t completely exterminate the rats in one go, it wouldn’t be long before the remaining rats grew up. By then, they would again harm the surrounding creatures. Could they only watch as they rampaged?

At that moment, the group heard a cheerful humming from behind. Upon listening carefully, wasn’t that the theme song of the Meow Meow Team?

Tonight, Little Guaiguai had consumed quite a bit of mutated rat flesh and blood, and it had grown significantly. In a great mood, it twisted its tendrils along the walls and ground, and when it saw a twitching rat in the pile of corpses, it rolled up the rat and continued to suck a few more mouthfuls.

As a noble mutated plant, Little Guaiguai had principles. It never consumed the flesh of the dead; it preferred the freshest meat. Of course, partially dead creatures were also acceptable. Just as Little Guaiguai was picking and choosing in the pile of corpses, it suddenly noticed everyone staring at it. Little Guaiguai stopped its humming abruptly, and obediently placed the half-sucked rat back where it was. It rubbed its tendrils and whispered softly, “Behave…”

Jiang Rong’s eyes lit up. It was him; everyone’s abilities couldn’t penetrate underground, but Little Guaiguai could! Little Guaiguai was a mutated plant; a single tendril as thick as a thumb could curl up a large rat. And when it curled up the rat, it would begin to suck its blood.

Usually, at the base, Jiang Rong never let Little Guaiguai run wild. But in today’s situation, wasn’t it the perfect time for Little Guaiguai to shine?

Jiang Rong cleared his throat, “Little Guaiguai.”

Little Guaiguai twisted its tendrils and gestured a heart shape, “Good~”

Jiang Rong pointed to the ground, “The rats underground, no matter their size, are all yours as long as you can catch them. Are you willing to hunt?”

Little Guaiguai’s tendrils wriggled wildly, “No problem, no problem!” 

Ever since it had been hanging out with Little Fairy, Little Guaiguai had successfully learned a few phrases that Little Fairy could say.

Jiang Rong nodded slowly, “Good, go!”

With that, the red tendrils suddenly spread out. If the mutated rats before were like a black tide, then the red bloodthirsty tendrils were the messengers of death. Little Guaiguai’s tendrils varied in thickness, and as soon as they burrowed underground, the rats below began to scream in agony.

Seeing all this, the espers showed Jiang Rong even more respect. Wang Chenggang exclaimed, “Even if Jiang Rong does nothing, he can become powerful with Little Guaiguai.” 

With such a bloodthirsty vine, who would dare to disrespect Jiang Rong? Despite their various abilities tonight, encountering Little Guaiguai would make them kneel.

Zheng Zhan was a bit puzzled, “If we knew how powerful the bloodthirsty vine was earlier, why did we bother working so hard for such a long time?” 

Wouldn’t it be better to let the bloodthirsty vine burrow underground directly?

Wang Ting mused, “Ants can kill elephants, and rats can bite through the tendrils of the bloodthirsty vine. We’ve already dealt with most of the rats first; then the bloodthirsty vine can play a bigger role.”

Meng Weixian analyzed, “From what I’ve observed, Little Guaiguai has grown significantly in this war. If it were the Little Guaiguai from before, it probably wouldn’t be able to handle so many mutated rats.”

After scanning the surroundings, Jiang Rong selected a few espers to help clean up the battlefield, while the rest headed towards the food processing plant.

When they were cleaning the bones earlier, they had already searched the factory area once. Besides the processing workshop, there were also three large warehouses. Although there was plenty of food in the warehouses, it had been contaminated by the rats, with husks and rat feces covering the surface.

However, the group’s target was not in these three warehouses but in the two large stainless steel grain silos behind the warehouses. The stainless steel silos were windproof and rainproof, with thick steel plates on the outside that the rats couldn’t chew through, so the food inside was perfectly preserved.

These two silos were over twenty meters tall and eight meters in diameter, each capable of holding four hundred tons of grain. Of course, the two silos were not completely filled with food; according to the labels on the silos, there were five hundred tons of grain stored inside each silo.

With these five hundred tons of grain, they could easily support Spark Base until the next spring harvest. Looking at the two tall silos, everyone smiled; this trip was worth it, and they weren’t disappointed!

Chu Qiang chuckled with his hands in his pockets, “This food station is thoughtful, even the silos are prepared. These are good things; we should take them back to the base together.” 

If there were a few more of these silos in the base, filled with food, it would be much more reassuring!

Before they set off, Leilei emptied the space. With her help, the two large silos were quickly collected. Even the food in the warehouse that had been damaged by the rats was carefully collected by her. Even if the food couldn’t be eaten by humans after being cleaned up, it could still be used to feed the animals in the base!

Actually, the mission was already completed at this point, but to wait for Little Guaiguai to finish hunting the rats and to allow everyone time to clean up the battlefield, they lit a bonfire in the factory area and patiently waited.

At this moment, Jiang Jinhua walked in carrying a cloth bag. He handed the cloth bag to Jiang Rong, “Jiang Rong, these are the crystal cores we found from the mutated rat heads.”

Everyone had learned about the wonderful uses of crystal cores on their first day at the base. When the espers first extracted the crystal cores from the mutated rat heads, everyone was astonished.

Everyone already knew how Spark Base distributed crystal cores. Jiang Rong smiled and took the cloth bag, emptying the crystal cores onto the ground. There were over five hundred crystal cores here, and each person could get more than a dozen.

Jiang Rong waved to everyone, “Come and take the crystal cores. Remember to choose the ones you like first.”

Seeing Jiang Rong so generous, Wang Cheng quietly said to Wang Ting beside him, “Now I understand why Master Guan led us to Spark Base without hesitation. Just like the head of the river, both are leaders who are willing to consider their subordinates. With such a leader, everyone has the motivation to work together towards a common goal.”

Afraid that everyone wouldn’t absorb the abilities, Jiang Rong immediately absorbed a crystal in front of everyone. He encouraged, “Since we have time now, everyone can give it a try.”

Perhaps because soldiers were more reserved, everyone just smiled and carefully stored the crystal.

Perhaps because the underground nest was complex, Little Guaiguai didn’t emerge until three in the morning. Its vines had grown thicker, and when they rolled, they made a solid rustling sound against the ground. Little Guaiguai didn’t emerge alone; it also brought out hundreds of mutated rats. Each of these rats was about the size of a palm, pink all over, with their eyes still closed. The rat pups on the vines made faint squeaking sounds, drawing everyone’s attention.

Jiang Rong guessed, “Little Guaiguai, are you planning to keep them for the next meal?” 

Who said the Bloodthirsty Vine didn’t keep leftovers? Little Guaiguai had kept quite a few.

Little Guaiguai twisted its vines and said softly, “Little Fairy~”

Jiang Rong understood. It turned out that Little Guaiguai wanted to bring the mutated rats back to show Little Fairy, who couldn’t leave. Unlike Little Guaiguai, who could run around, once Little Fairy took root, it could only stand guard outside the yard and must be eager to know what the outside world was like.

Jiang Rong softened, “Alright, but you have to promise me that after showing Little Fairy, you’ll eat them.” 

There were too many rats in the base. It wasn’t appropriate for Little Guaiguai to bring back mutated rats.

Little Guaiguai agreed, “Okay~”

When everyone returned to the base, dawn was about to break. Jiang Rong, who had been working all night, rubbed his sore neck and walked towards home. However, he and Guan Shao had only taken a few steps when a red vine stopped them.

Seeing Little Guaiguai’s hesitant appearance, Jiang Rong was puzzled. “What’s wrong? Didn’t I give you the little mice?”

Little Guaiguai stretched out the red vine towards Jiang Rong, “Give, give…”

Jiang Rong raised an eyebrow, “Are you saying you have something to give me?” 

This was unusual. He was quite curious about what Little Guaiguai could give him. Little Guaiguai only had a few hundred small mice now, right? Perhaps Little Guaiguai would give him one of the small mice? Even though he might receive a small mouse, Jiang Rong still reached out his hand. In his opinion, Little Guaiguai and animals were no different. When an animal brought prey to its owner, it represented love.

As Jiang Rong reached out his hand, Little Guaiguai wrapped his arm with the vine. Jiang Rong felt something hard falling into his palm, with considerable weight.

Those things quickly piled up in his palm, and one hand couldn’t hold them all.

“Clack.” Something fell on the cement ground from between the vines. “Clack, clack, clack, clack.”

More and more things fell, reflecting the color of the dawn, bouncing around like beans on the ground.

Jiang Rong and Guan Shao were stunned by the scene before them. Countless crystals rolled out of Little Guaiguai’s vines. The colorful crystals piled up in front of Jiang Rong, covering his feet, dazzling the onlookers.

Even after Little Guaiguai retracted its vines, Jiang Rong and Guan Shao were still too shocked to speak.

Little Guaiguai twisted its vines and said softly, “Good things, for Master Jiang…”

Just now, on the way back, it saw the people in the car playing with these shiny stones. Those people said Master Jiang was very good. They said Master Jiang could have taken all these stones for himself, but he divided them equally among everyone.

It had many of these stones. Every time it killed animals or plants, it could find one or two. They were very beautiful, and it quite liked using them to make nests. The problem was, if it gave Master Jiang such stones, would Master Jiang also think highly of it?

 

 

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