The jabs made the huge rat squeal.
It had no choice but to flee.
Once it had escaped to a safe distance.
The huge rat seemed almost human, in no hurry to find a hole to hide in.
Instead, it turned back and stared straight at Chen Zijie with a horribly unsettling look.
"What the fuck are you looking at?"
Chen Zijie wasn't about to put up with that. He picked up a rock and threw it, scaring the rat into the landscaping, where it vanished.
Gao Fei walked over and couldn't help remarking:
"You southern rats really hold grudges. Even after getting chased off, they dare to stop and stare at people. It gave me the creeps."
"You just haven't seen much. Our big southern rats are all like that. They're barely afraid of people. Those miniature rats up north can't compare."
Chen Zijie crouched down and spoke dismissively as he checked the tabby cat for injuries.
Hearing that, Gao Fei immediately felt a little annoyed:
"Seriously? I only said your southern rats were scarier. You're going to act superior over that too?"
"I don't think I was acting superior?"
Chen Zijie turned back and looked at Gao Fei, utterly baffled.
Seeing that the mood was turning awkward.
Gu Qing hurriedly stepped in to smooth things over:
"Who cares whether they're southern rats or northern rats? All rats are pretty disgusting. Come on, let's head back to the dorm and play together."
"Now that's not right. Duole keeps calling them cute little ratties. He thinks rats are adorable. Watch out, if he hears you bad-mouthing rats like that, he'll kick your ass."
Chen Zijie immediately took the opening and joked.
Gao Fei also laughed and teased:
"Come on, with Gu's insanely strong athletic ability now, he could pin him down with one hand and absolutely wreck him. He wouldn't dare touch Gu."
Poor Qian Duole. Because he couldn't be bothered to come downstairs and join the excitement, he wasn't there and ended up getting mercilessly teased by two roommates, becoming their tool for easing the tension.
At seven the next morning.
As soon as the alarm rang.
The four roommates got up one after another to wash up.
It wasn't until nearly seven thirty that they left together for the classroom building for their morning class.
As usual, Gu Qing observed the labels above other people as he walked.
After looking around, he found nothing but ordinary labels.
He didn't see any outrageous labels like [Corpse] or [Biochemical Maniac].
Thinking of Bai Ningyu's [Corpse] label, Gu Qing couldn't help wondering.
What would he have to do with Bai Ningyu to gain attributes from her [Corpse] label?
And what attributes could he get, exactly?
Corpse transformation +1?
Yin energy +1?
Corpse control technique +1?
Immortality +1?
And then...
Once a minor attribute accumulated 100 points, would he gain a major attribute that let him control corpses?
Would he turn straight into a necromancer?
No.
None of those ideas seemed very reasonable.
Labels were all closely connected to the people themselves.
Take Xia Shuran, for example. Her whole family practiced martial arts, and she herself had trained since childhood, which was why a [Martial Arts Grandmaster] label floated above her head.
Other people's labels were the same, all more or less connected to some characteristic of their own.
So.
Gu Qing really couldn't understand.
What connection did Bai Ningyu have to the [Corpse] label?
What had caused this label to appear?
And what did it mean?
It seemed there was still a lot left to explore about how this Label Cheat worked.
He thought about this and that along the way.
As he passed a roadside trash can, Gu Qing caught sight of a rat on top of it out of the corner of his eye.
It was huge and fat, with long, black fur, looking as though it had mutated.
His roommates beside him also noticed the huge rat.
"Fuck, this damn rat is way too brazen. People are walking back and forth, and it still dares to crawl all over the trash can in broad daylight. It's really asking for a beating."
Cursing, Chen Zijie picked up a rock.
He aimed at the rat.
And threw it hard.
"Bang!"
The rock missed the rat and struck the trash can lid instead, frightening the rat into dashing toward the nearby landscaping.
"Fuck, I almost got it!"
Chen Zijie cursed in frustration.
Just as he was kicking himself over missing the rat.
Gu Qing bent down and picked up a pebble.
With the aid of lightning-fast reflexes, he locked his gaze firmly on the rat fleeing in panic.
The instant the rat rushed into the landscaping.
His gaze sharpened, and he hurled the pebble in his hand with a sudden burst of force.
"Thud!"
There was a muffled sound of flesh tearing.
The pebble struck the rat precisely, smashing a hole clean through its skull. Red and white matter flowed out, and it died on the spot.
"Got it."
A smile curled at the corners of Gu Qing's mouth.
Both his accuracy and his explosive power were absurdly strong.
He was very pleased with himself as he was now.
Chen Zijie squinted at the landscaping, unable to make anything out, and asked skeptically:
"It's so far away I can't even see clearly. Are you sure you hit it?"
"I really did. A perfect headshot."
"Yeah, keep bragging!"
Chen Zijie didn't believe him at all.
Gao Fei and Qian Duole also said they didn't believe him.
The landscaping was some distance away, and none of the three could see what was going on inside.
Naturally, they assumed Gu Qing couldn't see clearly either.
They concluded that Gu Qing was making it up.
That he was bullshitting.
Only when the three walked over to the landscaping and saw a rat with its head smashed open did they all react in shock.
"Holy shit, you really hit it?"
"Are you using cheats?"
"Damn, you smashed its whole head in. It looks like it was shot with a slingshot. That's fucking awesome!"
"We're done for. We can't piss Gu Qing off anymore, or he'll stone us to death."
"Spare me, Lord Gu!"
"If I call you my adoptive father, will you teach me this thousand-mile flying stone technique?"
Once their shock passed.
All three roommates started joking with Gu Qing.
They headed toward the classroom building, laughing and fooling around all the way.
Just as they entered the classroom.
Gao Fei asked curiously:
"Speaking of which, the landscaping was so far away, and all those plants were blocking the view. How did you know you'd hit that rat?"
"I guessed."
Gu Qing explained casually, "I didn't expect to get that lucky either. I actually hit it."
It hadn't been luck.
His physical constitution had accumulated +23, directly and substantially enhancing every physical attribute across the board.
His eyesight.
His hearing.
His limb coordination, and so on.
His eyesight was now better than that of the best pilot in the world.
A little distance.
A few plants in the way.
Neither stopped him from clearly seeing that he had landed a precise headshot on the rat with a pebble.
P.S. Holding out my bowl, begging for monthly tickets and recommendation votes!
Chapter 20: Man-eating giant rat
Upon arriving in the classroom.
As usual, Gu Qing abandoned his three roommates and went to sit with Yang Yuntong, the top student studying for the postgraduate entrance exam.
He had only just sat down when he heard some girls in the class talking about rats.
They were complaining that there had been an absurd number of rats lately.
It had gotten to the point that they didn't dare get too close to the trash cans when throwing things away. They only dared toss their trash from a distance, afraid a rat might suddenly dart out.
Gu Qing paid little attention to their chatter. He quietly took out his phone and played on it while waiting for the class bell to ring.
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