"Huh? No, wasn't the place that was just bombed still some distance ahead?"
Wu Cheng's surprised voice came through the earpiece.
Because we were separated and there were few disturbances inside the car, the headset was in real-time communication mode.
"They're up ahead. The Military Department headquarters just reported that the damage is over 90%!" Han Ling said into her earpiece.
"What's going on here?"
"A cunning rabbit has three burrows?"
Wei Leyang guessed.
"No, compared to having multiple burrows, I prefer..."
Shen Heng pondered the distance from Linhai to the site of the recent explosion.
"This is likely intended to mislead us."
"If we had come here without knowing the situation, we might have assumed that this wave of Calamity Beast was the lair of the Sharp-Horned Rat that had appeared in the city."
"That way, after we eliminate them, we won't continue tracking them."
"The real lair behind it will naturally be safe then."
After he finished speaking, everyone was momentarily speechless and forgot to reply.
"Red herring...?" Le Gu Nan's gentle voice came through the earpiece.
Han Ling snapped out of her daze and turned to look at Le Gu Nan sitting in the passenger seat.
"Huh? Red herring?"
"In ancient Europe, when training hunting dogs, they would release strongly scented smoked herring, also known as red herring, along the roads as false clues to test whether the dogs could track the correct scent without being disturbed," Le Gu Nan explained.
"Oh, I see!" Han Ling exclaimed in realization. She immediately asked, "But is this for real? Sharp-Horned Rat really that smart?"
"It's just a guess, but I think it's the most likely possibility," Shen Heng said.
Everyone fell silent for a moment after hearing this, then nodded solemnly.
They weren't unfamiliar with such things, but they never expected that such a method would be used on Calamity Beast.
If it were a regular Supervision Bureau, they probably would have stopped short of this fake hideout.
At this moment, everyone couldn't help but feel fortunate that Shen Heng's newly evolved ability was to hear the thoughts of other creatures.
If it were any other ability, they would probably still be slowly searching for it at this point.
Then they found the fake lair, wiped it out, and thought the job was done.
Thinking of the Calamity Beast that had been biding its time for more than two years, nearly a thousand Sharp-Horned Rat, and the Sharp-Horned Rat Matriarch who was probably close to reaching the Fifth Tier.
A chill ran down everyone's spine.
If that situation really comes to pass, who knows what kind of future awaits Linhai?
The car sped along the road.
Wei Leyang glanced at the guardrail flashing past in the rearview mirror and asked:
"It seems like the two kilometers Shen Heng just mentioned have already passed? What should we do?"
Wang Hai glanced at the rearview mirror and said, " Wei Leyang, go back. We'll come back to pick you up after we've dealt with the Sharp-Horned Rat's nest."
"Yes, I understand!"
Wei Leyang responded and then looked at Wu Cheng and Dahuang, who were in the same car as him.
I'm leaving now!
Wu Cheng nodded, and Dahuang barked.
The car window was open, and a strong wind rushed in.
Wei Leyang raised his hand and stretched it out, disappearing from the car in an instant.
The rest of the group continued onward.
The vehicle stopped shortly afterward.
Everyone got out of the car and quickly walked to the epicenter of the explosion.
A faint, pungent smell, a mixture of burnt and sulfur, filled the air.
The surrounding area was filled with one huge crater after another.
The original slopes and vegetation have long since disappeared, leaving only churned, scorched soil and shattered rocks.
The remains of Sharp-Horned Rat can be found everywhere here.
Some were directly vaporized;
Some were torn to pieces by the shockwave.
Of course, there were also some relatively intact corpses.
They were scattered far away, lying dead on the ground in various Distortion postures, their fur charred and blood gushing from their mouths and noses, clearly having died from the violent shockwave and internal injuries.
After glancing around, the group headed towards the coast, following the information provided by Wang Hai's communicator.
After a while, Shen Heng slowly stopped walking.
He gazed silently at the boundless, dark sea below, churning in the night.
In his ears, he could clearly hear Captain Wang Hai communicating with the Military Department command center via an encrypted channel.
Wang Hai's voice was steady, but carried a subtle hint of gravity.
"Is it confirmed that the target has submerged into the sea?"
"Yes, the sea surface has masked their heat signature, and we can't track them down right now," the communicator replied.
"Okay, I understand. Next, you'll need to continue monitoring the coastal areas, otherwise these..."
Shen Heng stood to the side, listening to the rhythmic, deep sound of the waves crashing against the rocks.
With the missile bombing area confirmed and the Sharp-Horned Rat diving into the sea, he breathed a heavy sigh of relief.
This matter should be considered closed now.
But how would Sharp-Horned Rat know to enter the ocean to avoid satellites?
Did you learn anything?
No, satellites are not something that is discussed in everyday life.
That is...
coincide?
Shen Heng pondered for a moment and remembered the food that the Sharp-Horned Rat he had interrogated had mentioned.
For nearly a thousand Sharp-Horned Rat, the seaside seems to be the only option for them to feed themselves and grow.
Land-based organisms, at least in Linhai areas, are not capable of meeting such a large demand, except for those raised by humans.
So, it was built by the sea to replenish food supplies, and then they could flee here in case of danger, thus conveniently avoiding satellite surveillance?
Looking at the churning sea, Shen Heng suddenly remembered the incident at the seafood market last year.
At that time, Qiu Rui said that Shadow Erosion was bitten into a small piece by something that looked like a rat in the sea...
On the other side, Wang Hai put down the communicator and looked at Shen Heng:
" Shen Heng, what do you think the Sharp-Horned Rat will do next?"
Shen Heng pondered for a moment and said, "We should prioritize finding a place to land, then hide ourselves, rebuild our clan, and increase our strength."
Wang Hai paused for a moment, then said, "What if it doesn't?"
Shen Heng was slightly taken aback upon hearing this, and his gaze involuntarily turned to Wang Hai.
"Captain, what do you mean?" Wu Cheng looked at Wang Hai with some surprise.
It wasn't just Shen Heng who thought that way; he thought so too.
"I mean, what if the Sharp-Horned Rat don't actually find a place to land and then hide again to grow their population, as you all think?" Wang Hai looked around at everyone.
"If we don't do it this way, what will happen?" Wu Cheng asked.
"That depends on what the Sharp-Horned Rat think," Wang Hai said, glancing at Shen Heng.
"What you just said is probably the best solution for the Sharp-Horned Rat population facing their current situation."
"But the Sharp-Horned Rat is Calamity Beast, and we cannot consider it entirely from a human rational perspective."
"If we ourselves were the Calamity Beast, what might we do?"
What if we ourselves were Calamity Beast?... Shen Heng frowned slightly, his mind racing.
If I were Sharp-Horned Rat, what would I do in this situation...?
Suddenly, his pupils contracted slightly.
From the perspective of the Sharp-Horned Rat, it must now be filled with hatred for humans, especially since it originally planned to target the Linhai...