Chapter 140 - 137: Rat Plague in Shen City
Cui Ying’s imposing aura lasted only a few seconds before Count stuffed a chicken wing in her mouth.
"Finish this revision first! If you keep screwing around, the whole editorial department will get shut down!"
Everyone took the cue and laughed, lightening the mood. Cui Ying’s bold declaration was brushed off as a joke. After all, their small media outlet had limited resources.
As the saying goes, no matter how bold you are, you can’t defy the heavens. And who were the heavens? The ones currently holding them down.
"Sigh... A couple more busy days and it should be ready for review... How were we ever so diligent before..."
Seeing that no one was even playfully responding to her bold statement, Cui Ying lamented her lack of authority in front of everyone and started complaining about how tired she was from work.
Everyone cheerfully finished their late-night snack. After a short break to digest, they got back to work.
...
At three in the morning, exhausted, the group said their goodbyes at the office entrance and headed home.
Those with cars drove, and those without hitched a ride.
As a car owner, Cui Ying shouldered the heavy responsibility of driving a female colleague home.
The young woman nicknamed "Little Sister" lived in a rather remote area. Unfamiliar with the route, Cui Ying had to rely on her GPS.
"Hey, Little Sister, don’t you know the way to your own home? It’d be so much easier if you gave directions instead of making me use the GPS."
"I can’t be expected to memorize dozens of kilometers of roads... I usually take the subway and bus to get here, how am I supposed to know the driving route!"
Little Sister retorted playfully, then yawned and leaned back in the passenger seat, her eyes fluttering shut. Her head began to nod as she drifted off to sleep.
"Hey, hey, Little Sister, don’t fall asleep! Talk to me! If you fall asleep, I’ll get drowsy too!!"
Cui Ying yelled from the driver’s seat.
"I know, I know! I’m just resting my eyes!"
Little Sister waved her hand dismissively, annoyed at how naggy her boss was.
Cui Ying puffed her cheeks and kept driving. There was hardly any traffic this late at night, and this area was already quite remote. It felt like they were the only car on the entire road. The monotonous street and the endless passing streetlights had an almost hypnotic effect.
’I can’t fall asleep, I can’t fall asleep!’
She kept psyching herself up. ’Thank goodness for the GPS, it’s foolproof.’
’Huh!? Why did the GPS go silent?’
Cui Ying glanced at her phone’s GPS; it said "Searching for signal."
"You’ve got to be kidding me! Little Sister, wake up and give me directions! Where am I~~!!!"
She took the phone off its mount and repeatedly tapped the screen, but there was no response. She had no choice but to restart it. When she opened the navigation app again, it finally returned to normal.
"At the next traffic light, please turn left. Turn left... Recalculating route... Please continue on the current road for 500 meters, then turn left at the next intersection..."
’Damn, I missed the turn. I wonder how long it’ll take to get back on track...’
’Good, I only missed a turn. It’ll probably only add an extra kilometer to the trip.’
’Wait, something’s not right...’
Cui Ying waited for the new route to load and then took a look.
"What!? Why does it add 3 kilometers? When the hell did I take the wrong turn!! Little Sister, you get up right now~~~"
SMACK!
She smacked the sleepyhead on the chest.
"Huh!? Are we here? Holy crap, you whiner, where are you driving? This is Orange Street!!"
"And you said you didn’t know the way! You’re not allowed to sleep from now on!"
While the two were bickering, a black shadow suddenly flashed in front of the car.
Cui Ying instinctively slammed on the brakes.
The tires screeched as the immense inertia pulled their seatbelts tight. Cui Ying nearly smashed her face into the steering wheel.
Still shaken, the two stared out the windshield, then looked at each other in dismay.
"Little Sister, was I just seeing things?"
"I... I don’t think so. I think I saw it too..."
Cui Ying looked nervous as she glanced at her colleague, who looked just as pale.
"Was that a dog?"
"I hope so... Just drive! Hurry up and drive!"
"Oh, right."
Even though they were reporters, the two women didn’t have the guts to investigate right now. They quickly started the car and drove off.
After another half hour, she finally dropped her colleague off at home without further incident.
Cui Ying was a little scared driving back alone, but at least it kept her awake. She sped all the way home, wondering if she’d get a speeding ticket.
The next morning, because of the late night and the recent string of exhausting days, it was almost 10 a.m. by the time everyone had trickled into the editorial office.
Cui Ying brought over the memory card from her dashcam and plugged it into a computer to find last night’s recording.
It didn’t take long to find the approximate time.
She used a video editing software popular with social media accounts to slow down the playback speed by several times.
Suddenly, a jolt shot through her. Goosebumps erupted from her heels, shot up to the back of her neck, and exploded across her scalp. Every hair on Cui Ying’s body stood on end.
"Get over here~~~! Everyone, come look at this!!"
Her panicked cry drew everyone in the editorial department over.
Half a minute later, no one looked pleased.
On the paused screen, illuminated by the car’s headlights, was a rat. But it was as big as a Golden Retriever.
Its eyes glinting in the headlights, its terrifying incisors, its disgusting fur, and its creepy tail—it all delivered a powerful visual shock.
"This is what we ran into last night?"
Little Sister stared in disbelief, filled with belated fear. Cui Ying’s face was also deathly pale.
"See... the huge scoop you wanted..."
Count still had the presence of mind to crack a joke, but this time, no one responded.
"What scoop?! Call the police!!"
...
WEE-WOO~~~ WEE-WOO~~~ WEE-WOO~~~
Fire trucks converged from all over the city, centering on the area around Orange Street in Jin District. Working with municipal units, they meticulously inspected every sewer manhole cover and took measures to temporarily reinforce them.
Orange Street was an old street, but it had lost its bustle. Many of the buildings looked like they were from the last century, and only a few shops were still open. The area was already slated for redevelopment.
Liu Yue, also known as Xiaoliu, who was often by Tao Xingzhi’s side.
Though he looked quite young, he was currently the Special Security Team’s observer in Shen City and was also responsible for skills training at the Special Security Team’s Shen City screening center.
At this moment, Liu Yue and his colleagues from Shen City stood on the desolate street.
He was the first to take charge of this sudden incident.
The group from "Where the Nightingale Flies" had been on his radar for a while due to their recent activities. The moment they filed a police report, it quickly caught Liu He’s attention.
The dashcam video wasn’t fake, which meant there really was a rat that large in the vicinity—or perhaps more than one.
His phone rang. It was Tao Xingzhi.
Liu Yue didn’t dare to delay and answered immediately.
"Tao, yes, that’s right. No similar sightings have been reported by local residents or anyone else in Shen City. The case reported by those journalists is the first."
Tao Xingzhi fiddled with his cigarette pack, spinning it twice before flicking the bottom. He pulled out one of the cigarettes that popped up and sniffed it.
"Have the animal experts reached a definitive conclusion?"
"Yes. After comparing it with the video, the experts believe it’s most similar to a brown rat. And considering the zero sightings city-wide and an analysis of the time of the dashcam footage, its behavior likely hasn’t deviated from a normal rat’s nocturnal habits. It’s also highly likely that it’s still afraid of humans."
"In other words, the possibility of an external mutation is currently low, while the possibility of animal mutation is high. But we can’t rule out a mutation caused by an anomalous object..."
Tao Xingzhi reached for a pen and jotted something down in his notebook.
"What about its range of activity?"
"Based on an estimation from the video, the rat’s volume is about 30 to 50 times that of a normal brown rat. From this, we extrapolate its activity range to have a diameter of about 1.5 kilometers. For foraging, that maximum diameter could extend to about 4.5 kilometers. By placing food and spraying pheromones in the sewers at the center of this area, we should be able to contain its activity range to within two kilometers."
Although Tao Xingzhi’s expression was blank, he was quite satisfied inwardly. Xiaoliu’s handling of the situation was by-the-book, yet comprehensive.
"Very good. Jiutian should arrive tonight. Keep the situation under control during the day. And Xiaoliu, be careful!"
"Understood!"
After hanging up, Tao Xingzhi’s thoughts were not on the solution to Shen City’s rat problem at all. Instead, he turned to look at the map of Hua Country behind him.
His gaze fell upon certain forests, rivers, and even the oceans beyond the map’s borders.
’A rat... What about the others...’
PS: First Chapter of the day.
PS: A friendly shout-out for a friend’s new book, "Entertainment Demon King." It’s a comedic "literary porter" novel with a negative emotions system. Interested readers should go check it out.