Big Black Rat

After listening to Xilin's words, Shute connected the communicator and spoke a few words before handing it to Xilin, "You talk to Boss Huo."

Xilin took the communicator and explained the current situation to Huoding, transmitting a series of data analyzed by the instrument. This evidence was sufficiently convincing.

"Keep all the blood samples and other specimens you collected safe. I'll send people to pick them up. I'll also have the other teams collect more samples." After listening to Xilin's report, Huoding realized the seriousness of the matter and told Xilin some things to pay attention to.

"Okay, I know, we'll be careful..."

Xilin, who was on the phone with Huoding, suddenly paused, quickly turned, and fired two rapid shots. There was no hesitation or time to aim; all actions were fluid.

Bang! Bang!

Over there, Shute was still talking to his team members. When Xilin raised his gun, Shute had already sensed danger, but before he could react, Xilin's two bullets flew out. The bullets grazed the tips of Shute's hair, and he could still feel the scorching heat from the explosion that had just passed by his face, as well as the burnt smell of hair from the high-speed bullets lingering in the air.

It was a black rat, about two meters long excluding its tail. When the first shot hit it, the bullet only exploded in a small area on its body, and the drug did not quickly penetrate its entire body. Therefore, if not for the second bullet that followed closely, it would still have had the strength to tear off Shute, who had his back to it, with one claw.

The black rat, hit by two bullets, lay on the ground twitching, its dagger-like claws leaving deep scratches on the ground. It was clear that their resistance to the drug in the bullets was much greater than that of the previous black rats.

Before the blood completely turned to powder, Xilin quickly took out a syringe and drew some blood from the ground into a small tube containing neutralizing and anticoagulant agents. To everyone's astonishment, he then dug a piece of flesh from this big black rat and soaked it in a bag containing the neutralizing agent.

The team members felt a chill down their spines, unsure if it was from the black rat or Xilin. Didn't this kid ever do anything to make people feel at ease?! The black rat was still twitching and not dead yet, and this kid ran over to collect blood and dig out flesh, not afraid of the black rat's final claw.

The big black rat's eyes, which were as red as if filled with blood, gradually dimmed and turned black. It finally died and slowly turned to powder. However, its sharp, dagger-like claws remained intact.

"Thank you," Shute said, regaining his composure. Although he and his team members were talking, they were still vigilant, yet none of them had noticed the approach of the big black rat. He himself only realized the danger when Xilin raised his gun. Although Shute had his back to the black rat, he could sense that the rat's speed when it charged was several times faster than the previous black rats, and it was silent. By the time you noticed it, it was already too late.

The communicator with Huoding was still open. From the video settings on the communicator, Huoding on the other end had already seen the scene. There was no need for further proof; Huoding had personally witnessed the stronger black rats Xilin had mentioned. If the creatures below the base were all like this, the consequences would be unimaginable.

If Xilin hadn't warned them, it was likely that when all their personnel were encircling the "Rat Nest" at the waste treatment plant, the hidden Black Rat Elites would have taken the opportunity to kill the research institute in the central area of the base and the two subsequent brigades sent for rescue.

He picked up the intact black rat claw and scratched it on the nearby experimental bench. The hardened surface board was easily cut open.

"Holy crap, this thing is so powerful!!" a team member exclaimed in surprise. This was completely beyond their predictions.

"This big black rat was probably on patrol, checking if the small teams had left. After all, according to the time, the other teams should have already left the base to head to the waste treatment plant, but we are still here," Xilin stated his guess. Moreover, this black rat could come over safely, indicating that it was not afraid of the rat poison sprayed in the underground passages at all.

"I've already ordered six teams to return, leaving two teams and armed aircraft to go there. If they can't handle it over there, I'll have the armed aircraft flatten that area with high-energy cannons." Huoding no longer had the mind to pay attention to the waste treatment plant. The thought of Xilin's words made him restless.

On the other side, when the defense shield of the base's central area was about to be opened for the tenth team to carry out the rescue operation, Huoding urgently stopped them. At the same time, the engineers being protected by the ninth team, who were rushing to repair the power supply and other important equipment, were hastily brought back onto the aircraft. The base was too dangerous...

The samples and data submitted by Xilin were immediately processed. Afterward, Huoding issued new orders to every captain, dispatching machines to enter the underground passages to expand their size. Otherwise, the warriors would not even be able to move once they went down, and would only become food.

However, it was strange. The deeper they went underground, the larger the cave openings became. There was no need for machines to expand the openings. When the machines entered a certain depth, they were destroyed by the black rats below. But before the machines were destroyed, the detection devices they carried showed a large number of abnormal life forms below. This confirmed Xilin's guess.

However, another question arose. Why were the cave openings below so large? Did this mean there were even bigger black rats? For this question, there was no conclusion for the time being.

Perhaps sensing something, the black rats hidden deep beneath the base began to move ahead of schedule.

Eight teams, some entered underground, and some remained stationed at various locations in the base.

Because Huoding had given instructions, every operative fired more than two shots at the black rats crawling out of the holes. Apart from the pre-existing openings at the base, this group of big black rats also dug many new holes away from the operatives' line of fire as they rushed towards the surface.

They were like a group of mad avengers, not valuing their own lives at all, just charging towards the central area. Due to the big black rats' high speed and keen senses, the operatives' hit rate was inevitably lowered. Moreover, the action team had to keep changing positions, because if they stayed in one spot for too long, a big black rat might suddenly burst out from below. Several people had already been dragged into the holes by suddenly emerging big black rats, without even a chance to scream.

Xilin's squad entered the underground. It was dark inside the tunnels, but their masks had night vision devices. After all, there weren't as many jamming devices underground as inside the base. The squad members cooperated well, and there were no casualties so far. Inside the underground tunnels, the firing points were relatively concentrated.

As they continued deeper, the tunnel openings became larger, wide enough for three people to walk side-by-side. At a fork, they saw a pool of blood. It wasn't rat blood, but human blood. At the same time, a faint cry for help could be heard.

Thanks to book friend Wu Wanyan for the reward!