Chapter 13 - 8: Rat Plague
Lin Yi chose a relatively quiet corner by the window and assumed the stance of the Seven-Step Stance Art.
His movements were steady, his breathing long and drawn out, and his Qi and Blood circulated slowly within his body like a gentle stream.
While he could rapidly increase his Qi and Blood by having the Mosquito Avatar suck blood, he still needed to adapt to and master the resulting changes himself.
「In the Cultivation Room.」
The other students also threw themselves into their tedious Cultivation.
All except for Luo Qian.
Because of some "unclean thing" inside his body, his Qi and Blood couldn’t increase quickly no matter what he did. He seemed to have given up on himself, as he was actually engrossed in a thick, physical book.
Lin Yi glanced over out of the corner of his eye and saw the book’s title: *An Analysis of Pre-Qin Script*. ’As expected of a family of tomb raiders,’ he couldn’t help but marvel. ’That kind of specialized upbringing is really something else.’
Not far away, Liu Yang swallowed a bright red Qi Blood Pill, sat down cross-legged, and began his Cultivation with a trace of smugness and anticipation on his face.
’Having a godfather is nice,’ Lin Yi thought. ’You get unlimited cultivation resources.’
Lin Yi remained completely unfazed, not feeling the slightest bit of envy.
The quantum leaps in progress brought by his Mosquito Avatar gave him a sense of superiority over this conventional rate of advancement, which relied on Pills.
’All I need is time,’ he thought, ’and... a steady supply of blood bags.’
The day’s classes flew by in a blur of intense and fulfilling Cultivation.
When the afterglow of the setting sun painted the school building in a warm golden hue, the bell for the end of the school day finally rang.
Students returned to the classroom one after another from all over the school.
The atmosphere in the classroom relaxed.
The students packed their bags while enthusiastically discussing their plans for the upcoming weekend.
"Tomorrow’s the weekend, I can finally catch my breath! Any plans?" a burly student asked, clapping his deskmate on the shoulder.
"Catch your breath? In your dreams!" his deskmate replied with a grimace. "I’m going to Rock Martial Arts Hall for extra practice, of course! My dad pulled some strings to sign me up for a special training course. I heard the instructor is a retired City Guard member who specializes in practical combat application."
"There’s a new Gale Martial Arts Hall over on Garden Street. The master is said to be a Third-Grade Martial Artist! I plan to go check out a trial class and see if their special training methods are effective," another student, who wore glasses and had a scholarly air, said as he pushed them up.
"My Qi and Blood has been stuck at 8.8 for a long time. I’m planning to go to the Spirit Storage Pavilion to soak in a medicinal bath all day and force a breakthrough..."
"I’ve booked a session at the combat gym. Gonna do a few simulated matches to get a feel for things..."
The chatter rose and fell.
Their goals all pointed in the same direction—
To get stronger!
With the college entrance exams approaching, no one dared to slack off.
Just as the discussions reached a peak, the familiar figure of their homeroom teacher, Lu Donghai, appeared at the classroom door.
He didn’t walk to the podium but just stood at the door and clapped his hands. His voice, though not loud, clearly cut through the noise:
"Everyone, wait a moment. Quiet down. I have an announcement."
The classroom fell silent in an instant, all eyes focused on Lu Donghai.
Lu Donghai cleared his throat, his expression serious.
"I just received a notice from the school. The Department of Health, based on recently monitored data, has officially issued a ’Level Three Rat Extermination Order’!"
"Regarding the procedures and importance of the extermination order, I think you’ve all been through this many times and should understand, so I won’t elaborate further."
Lu Donghai’s gaze swept across the room. He paused for a moment, then continued:
"In response to the call, the school has also assigned a practical mission for you seniors."
"Practicing the Martial Dao in isolation is impractical. It must be combined with real combat."
"The requirements of your mission are very simple... Each of you must independently hunt and submit three rat demons that meet the Martial Apprentice Level standard!"
"When you come to class on Monday, you need to bring the receipt from the Department of Health as the assessment criterion for this practical lesson!"
After the announcement, the reaction in the classroom was rather subdued.
Most of the students in the class were indifferent; some didn’t even bother to lift an eyelid.
After all, in this era, the vast network of pipes beneath the city was a natural breeding ground for rat-type Demon Beasts. Extermination orders were like seasonal flood or drought notices; the students had experienced them more than once and were already used to them.
Lin Yi’s eyes, however, lit up.
These days, the officials were on high alert for any sign of Demon Beasts, their vigilance raised to the highest level.
Ordinary Demon Beasts were certainly ferocious, but under the Rules of the urban steel jungle, they were ultimately no match for the thunderous methods of the elite Martial Artists from the Public Security Bureau.
Only two types of Demon Beasts, once out of control, became a Sword of Damocles hanging over the entire city, capable of causing a catastrophic disaster.
One was an ant plague.
The other, a rat plague.
The most terrifying aspect of these two types of Demon Beasts was their massive population. Once they formed a large-scale beast tide, the harm they could bring to a city was devastating.
The ant plague was manageable. These Demon Beasts lived in nests, were easy to find, and easy to wipe out all at once.
But those rats that harbored filth and squeezed into any crack...
In the vast sewer network beneath Yang City, there were far too many rats. It was easy for them to evolve into rat demons under the nourishment of Spiritual Qi.
Once rat demons reached a certain population size underground, their destructive power far exceeded that of ordinary Demon Beasts. Gnawing on pipes, destroying foundations, and spreading plagues were minor issues. Once they formed a rat tide and swarmed to the surface, the consequences would be unimaginable!
That’s why the Department of Health issued a city-wide extermination order every so often to eliminate the rats.
Moreover, this extermination order was by no means unpaid volunteer work.
The Department of Health had established a clear incentive system for this purpose.
For every rat successfully captured or killed, one could exchange it for an official reward of ten yuan.
Although the amount wasn’t generous, it had genuinely given rise to a group of "professional rat exterminators" who made a living from it, constantly roaming the intersection of light and shadow in the city, eking out a living on the fringes of the underground world.
The school’s requirement for students to participate and hunt a quota of three Martial Apprentice Level rat demons had a very clear purpose: it was both a response to the official call to eliminate a hidden danger and a way to hone the students’ practical combat skills.
Lin Yi’s original plan was to take his Mosquito Avatar into the wild over the weekend to hunt, suck blood, and get stronger.
But now, hearing about the extermination order gave him a sudden flash of inspiration.
’Going into the vast sewer system to hunt rats... that’s not a bad idea at all! The city’s sewer system is extremely complex, spreading to every corner of the city. Naturally, those places have no Demon Qi detection devices, so I don’t have to worry about my Mosquito Avatar being exposed. Besides, while rats are small and the Qi and Blood I can get from one is limited, their sheer numbers make up for it! With the Mosquito Avatar’s [Tracking] skill, hunting them will be a piece of cake. If I’m lucky enough to run into a few that have evolved to the Martial Apprentice Level... the essence of Qi and Blood from a single one of those would probably far exceed the total from that unlucky Tibetan Mastiff! Not to mention, for every rat I kill, a solid ten-yuan bill goes into my pocket! If I can kill enough, it’ll add up. This hard-earned fee from the Department of Health might even be enough for me to buy precious Qi Blood Pills to aid my Cultivation! It’s practically killing three birds with one stone!’