Rat Tide

Bang—

The thing hit the glass, making a sound like cracking. Lu Ban tightened the crowbar in his hand and instinctively swung it.

Crack—

The glass shattered instantly, fragments splattered with some viscous, foul-smelling liquid. Stone quickly covered his head and crouched defensively. Lu Ban narrowed his eyes slightly, seeing a mass fall from mid-air and land on the ground.

"."

Stone stared at it blankly, suddenly feeling that Lu Ban's destructive power was much greater than that of the unknown thing.

"What is it?"

Lu Ban took out his flashlight and illuminated the ground.

Outside, the driver and "Hound" also came running. "Hound" was seen holding a somewhat crude handgun, seemingly homemade. He cautiously eyed the crowbar in Lu Ban's hand, then shifted his gaze to the ground.

It was a mass of fur and flesh. Judging by its size, it was about the size of a small dog or rabbit. The dirty ground was made even more disgusting by the blood and flesh, and the foul stench that would make clean children vomit on the spot filled the air.

"What kind of animal is this?"

Lu Ban asked again.

"This is... a rat."

"Hound" said hesitantly. He looked again in the direction the creature had come from, the bus lights illuminating the ruins outside.

"We'd best get back in the car and turn off the lights. I have a feeling something bad is about to happen."

"No, it's already happened."

Mary, who had at some point come to the window, took a deep look into the darkness, then bent down.

Bent down?

The moment Lu Ban noticed this, the sound of impact rang out again.

Bang—

A mass of black flesh and blood leaped out of the deep, dark shadows and hit the glass in front of Stone.

This time, Lu Ban didn't raise his crowbar. The people inside the bus could see the true appearance of the flesh and blood.

It was indeed a rat.

However, when this giant rat, the size of a dachshund, hit the glass at a speed exceeding that of a bullet, the immense impact force directly crushed its bones and muscles.

The creature splattered like a pancake on the transparent glass, revealing its bizarre body structure. Organs, bones, muscles, and blood vessels were all twisted into a lump and violently torn apart, appearing brazenly under the light.

It had killed itself.

Stone, this young man who had never seen such a thing, stared blankly at the gradually sliding flesh and blood. It seemed all his attention was captured by this thing, rendering him unable to think at all. The blood vessels in his eyes became more prominent, seeming to cover his entire pupils.

Lu Ban seemed to sense something. He tapped Stone's head with the crowbar, prompting the stiff young man to instinctively crouch down. Lu Ban also crouched down at the same time.

The next moment, there was another loud noise.

Bang—

Another rat hit the bus. The sound was like trying to pierce steel, making one's heart tremble.

Young Stone hugged his head, curled into a ball, muttering an unknown prayer.

"Go!"

"Hound" shouted, pushing the driver. He raised the gun in his hand. The next moment, the gunshot sounded simultaneously with the sound of something breaking.

Lu Ban saw a rat leap up and hit "Hound's" right shoulder at a speed too fast to be captured by the eye.

His sturdy body caved in deeply. The rat's body tissue disintegrated from the unbearable impact force, accompanied by severe fractures or dislocations. "Hound's" face contorted in pain. He clutched his wound with the hand holding the gun and moved towards the front of the bus.

Unimaginably, these giant rats had completely abandoned their lives. No one knew what they were trying to do.

Bang bang bang—

The sounds of impact against the bus were continuous, causing the entire vehicle to shake.

"Damn it, damn it!"

"Hound" couldn't tend to his wound and could only urge the driver to start the engine quickly.

The hoarse engine noise sounded and fell silent in the noisy night, then sounded and fell silent again, tormenting everyone's nerves.

Snap—

A rat crashed into the car through the window Lu Ban had broken. It hit a railing, its whole body deforming and twisting, but it didn't completely shatter. Instead, it twitched and writhed on the ground.

"Ahhhhhh!"

Stone's voice trembled like waves. He tried hard to curl himself up, attempting to get further away from the half-dead rat. But the creature dragged a bloody trail on the floor in a strange posture, moving towards Stone.

Just as the rat was about to climb onto Stone's ankle, its dirty, fur-covered flesh about to burrow into his rough skin, something impaled the rat.

Lu Ban's crowbar struck the rat, dragging it back.

At the same time, the intermittent engine sound, like that of an old man with chronic lung disease, finally became continuous.

"Go, damn it!"

"Hound" let out a bark, and immediately, Lu Ban felt the seat behind him propel forward, pushing them ahead.

The rats' impacts caused the vehicle to sway slightly, but the crystallization of human technology continued to move forward. Soon, the grating sound of continuous impacts disappeared, leaving only the last rat, which had broken through a shattered window, precisely pinned to the ground by Lu Ban's crowbar.

"It's a Rat Tide."

As everyone caught their breath, the taciturn middle-aged woman, Mary, finally spoke, her voice raspy.

"Rats in the ruins sometimes migrate collectively due to certain events, forming a massive Rat Tide. We were just unlucky enough to run into one."

"You're saying these rats moved this fast and jumped like that just during a normal migration?"

Lu Ban confirmed. He saw Mary nod slightly.

"I'm actually a scholar who studies wild creatures. I've just finished my field research period and am returning to the Ruined Capital to write my thesis."

Mary slightly lifted her shawl, revealing the somewhat refined clothes underneath, and a holster at her side.

No one doubted her; they were simply looking at the back of the vehicle.

At such speed and in such numbers, any creature encountering a Rat Tide would likely have to detour.

This black torrent, unswayed by anyone's will, weaved through the ruins, engulfing everything in its path.

And humans could only hide, fear, and resist in vain.

The bus gradually returned to a steady state of travel, the recent experience feeling like a mere dream.

Only the sticky, congealed blood on one side of the window and the large rat pinned to the ground by the crowbar served as proof of their encounter.

"Rats."

Lu Ban looked at the rat, a sudden inspiration striking him, and he asked, "Can these rats be eaten?"

"?"

Everyone in the vehicle had question marks above their heads.

"Theoretically, these rats are just ordinary creatures."

After a long pause, Mary answered Lu Ban's question.

"That's pretty good then."

Lu Ban took out a frying pan from his backpack at his feet.

"That was too dangerous just now. Let's eat something to calm our nerves."

*

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