Potential Killing Intent

There weren't many signs of disarray around the bloodstains, indicating that there wasn't a fierce struggle. However, it also suggested that the people encountered little resistance against the attack.

Shute made a gesture, signaling for caution and cover as they moved towards the area to provide aid.

Xilin squatted by the wall, took out a small box, and scraped off a layer of dirt from the wall. The team members, seeing Xilin's actions, didn't pay much attention, only keeping a vigilant watch on their surroundings. After all, Xilin had done this before, and everyone assumed Xilin was collecting samples.

In reality, what the others didn't know was that Xilin's true purpose wasn't sampling. It was a cover to discreetly slip a finger out of the glove from an unobserved angle and touch the cave wall and floor, analyzing the subtle traces. The most high-end equipment wasn't as convenient as the chip inside Xilin's body. The moment of contact provided feedback that allowed Xilin to identify which type of black rat had attacked the action personnel here.

Different! Not like the big black rats that dug holes, which they had encountered before! This one was even stronger!

Xilin wasn't sure how strong, but had a feeling that the people encountered the leader of these black rats, the mutated black rat that initially escaped the base.

Shute found the distressed team member, who was barely breathing and in a deep coma. Under the flashlight's beam, everyone could clearly see that one of the team member's legs had been bitten off, and their body was covered in blood. The team's medic came over to stop the bleeding, but before the bandaging was even finished, the person died.

"I'm going to kill those beasts!" a team member said, red-eyed, angrily punching the cave wall with grief and indignation.

The expressions of the others were similar.

Shute took a deep breath and said, "They're showing off. They could have easily dealt with everyone silently, but they deliberately left one severely injured."

"Excessive blood loss, the rat poison has already invaded the internal organs," the medic said, picking up two empty vials. "Both doses of serum antibody were injected, but there was no effect at all. This rat poison is too potent."

"Captain, the communicator has no signal!" a team member suddenly shouted. He had intended to contact the reserve team and report the current situation, but there was no signal at all.

Each team carried a signal receiver when they entered. At set intervals, they would install receivers on the cave walls or ceiling and conceal them. The signal had been strong just moments ago, but now there was nothing. What had happened?!

Xilin pondered. Their intelligence, no, its intelligence, far exceeded expectations. If every team had done their job properly and installed and concealed the signal receivers, yet there was still no signal, it meant either the receivers themselves were faulty, or, the black rat leader had dismantled them all. The former was unlikely; the latter was highly probable.

It sounded unbelievable. Xilin doubted many would believe it if spoken aloud: signal receivers, after being concealed, were dismantled? All of them, and so thoroughly? Was it a rat or a human?

Xilin had never underestimated the black rat leader from the beginning. The more information Xilin gathered, the more Xilin felt that this black rat was formidable, both in terms of intellect and combat power. Moreover, Xilin was gradually finding the frequency of that voice.

Shute thought for a moment, took out a sonic detector, and pressed a button. The reason he hadn't used it earlier was that using it to detect sound waves would also likely reveal their location to the black rats. But now, Shute couldn't afford to worry about that; he had a bad feeling.

Looking at the display on the detector, Shute's expression changed drastically. "Leave here immediately!!"

Before the team had taken more than a few steps, the cave walls and ceiling were breached, and black rats swarmed in. These black rats appeared at opportune moments, precisely separating Xilin and another team member from the other eight members of their group. As the number of black rats increased, even Shute, despite his desire to help, was unable to. The distance between the two groups widened, pushed apart by the black rats. Gunfire erupted, but these big black rats were not as easy to deal with as the smaller ones; the pressure was immense.

Xilin and the other team member retreated rapidly towards the other end of the cave, their guns never ceasing. Fortunately, the number of black rats that appeared wasn't too large. After Xilin and the other retreated and fought for over ten minutes, no more black rats pursued them. The two found themselves in a different cave, having lost contact with the other eight members of their group and not encountering any members from other teams. In the quiet cave, only the sound of their breathing could be heard...

"Looks like we're safe for now," the other person said with a smile.

"Yeah..." Xilin also smiled.

Pfft!

A spurt of blood erupted from the side of the other person's neck.

Disbelief filled the other person's eyes. They truly hadn't expected Xilin to move so fast! How could anyone be on guard against a teammate in this situation?!

When the person said "temporarily safe," most people would have breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed their tension, especially with teammates nearby. However, Xilin slit the carotid artery of the person the moment they drew their knife. Due to the recent intense rat-extermination operation, blood flow was rapid, and the person died from excessive blood loss not long after.

Xilin played with the Rat Claw in his hand, looked at the person lying on the ground, and made a few almost inaudible sounds. This was the first time Xilin had used the sound frequency he decoded from the leader of the black rats since entering this deep underground cave network. He had been searching for that sound and decoding it since entering.

Without lingering, Xilin left. Within a minute, several black rats would arrive to devour the team member. In the current situation, alone, Xilin could better deal with the threats hidden within the Action Personnel.

Since entering Qiyao, Xilin had never overlooked potential killing intent. Whether it was among the cadets, researchers, or soldiers, Xilin had never let down his guard. It was interesting that Aifulan's opponents had managed to infiltrate the Army. They truly lived up to their reputation as Aifulan's rivals.

When everyone had just disembarked from the armed aircraft to shoot the black rats, Xilin had performed exceptionally, but no one would have imagined that Xilin was simultaneously observing the subtle changes in each team member, using these to deduce potential killing intent. In the subsequent series of events, Xilin confirmed his suspicions. In fact, Xilin had deliberately slowed down slightly before the black rats separated them from the other eight members of the team. That person clearly intended to kill Xilin given the opportunity. They were at the back of the team, and the black rats' appearance location was calculated by Xilin. Xilin's speed and distance from the other eight were all within his calculations. The black rats separating them from the other eight, which seemed like a coincidence, was actually within Xilin's predictions.

Xilin didn't need a sonar detector to sense the sound waves coming from the cave walls; ordinary people couldn't feel them at all. Xilin was like a multi-functional precision instrument, constantly analyzing the surrounding information. He knew that the black rats' arrival was not accidental but the result of the leader of the black rats' command.

Like a human-shaped detector, Xilin was fully aware of the surrounding movements. He knew how many people were in which team, which cave they had just passed through, how many black rats were active in which nearby cave entrance, and so on. This knowledge allowed Xilin to avoid a lot of trouble.

Xilin glanced at the buckle of his backpack and slightly curved his lips. The next one would appear soon.

Ahead was a corner of a cave entrance. Xilin walked over slowly. As he neared the turning point, the Rat Claw in his hand shot out with lightning speed.

Pfft!

At the corner, a person in a Combat Suit had their throat pierced and was directly pinned to the cave wall, their eyes filled with disbelief. The gun in their hand dropped; it was originally meant to shoot Xilin.

The trajectory of the Rat Claw was curved! Moreover, in an environment like this cave, the throw was so accurate! This was something the person had never anticipated.

Xilin pulled out the Rat Claw and, as before, emitted a sound barely audible to the human ear.

In the following period, Xilin dealt with three more people.

There was a miniature tracker on Xilin's backpack buckle. It had been installed before the equipment was distributed and was specifically given to Xilin. This showed that they had long planned to find an opportunity to kill Xilin here. However, they didn't know that Xilin had detected the tampering when he received the backpack.

This was what was meant by turning the tables.

After walking in the cave network for so long, Xilin could clearly feel the decrease in the number of black rats. Because Xilin had provided blood samples and relevant data in a timely manner, the Action Personnel were able to make thorough preparations, reducing casualties and increasing efficiency.

As Xilin walked, he suddenly stopped and turned around.

In the darkness, at the other end of the cave, a nearly three-meter-tall Big Black Rat stood there, its red eyes emitting a bloody glow in the darkness.

"You finally appeared. I thought you would keep hiding from me," Xilin said with a smile in his voice. "I want what's inside you."