"Uh, what will it do?" Wu Cheng asked from the side.
These words brought Shen Heng back to his senses. He looked at Wang Hai and said seriously:
"Captain, do you mean the Sharp-Horned Rat's matriarch will lead the remaining rat horde to attack the Linhai?"
Everyone was slightly taken aback upon hearing this, and subconsciously focused their attention on Wang Hai.
Under everyone's watchful eyes, Wang Hai said in a deep voice:
"Yes, that's exactly what I'm worried about."
"Of course, it's not to say that Sharp-Horned Rat will necessarily attack Linhai."
"Attack other cities, or as you just mentioned, find a place to land and continue hiding—both are possibilities."
Upon hearing this, Shen Heng nodded slightly, his gaze suddenly becoming much more serious.
Although, given the current state of the rat swarm, their attack on the city has a suicidal element to it.
But considering the Calamity Beast, and the Sharp-Horned Rat's malice towards humans that he could clearly sense during the interrogation, the possibility seems quite high.
"Um..." Le Gu Nan looked at everyone and hesitated before saying:
"If the matriarch of the Sharp-Horned Rat really decides to risk everything, then the Sharp-Horned Rat that appear might be far greater than we expect."
Shen Heng was taken aback, and as he pondered, he seemed to understand something.
Han Ling then turned her gaze over, "Hmm? Gu Nan, why?"
Le Gu Nan spoke softly:
"Normal groups don't all gather near the nest; some individuals will always go out to forage or work."
"This part varies depending on how easily the food is obtained."
"The easier it is to obtain food, the fewer individuals will venture out at a time; the more difficult it is to obtain food, the more individuals will venture out at a time."
"Hiss—" Han Ling gasped softly upon hearing this, " Gu Nan, are you saying that the area just bombed by the missile wasn't the entire rat swarm?"
"Mmm," Le Gu Nan responded softly.
"How many do you estimate will go out?" Shen Heng turned to look at Le Gu Nan.
"Probably..." Le Gu Nan paused for a moment,
"For Sharp-Horned Rat, finding food in the ocean shouldn't be too difficult, and they usually venture out in shifts within their groups..."
"This part will likely account for between 10% and 15%."
"Hey, wait a minute!" Wu Cheng interrupted, "When Shen Heng was questioning that Tier 2 Sharp-Horned Rat Sharp-Horned Rat, didn't the Sharp-Horned Rat say that it went out to find food because all the easy-to-find food had been eaten?"
"That's a situation where the individual is in a weak position within the group. Simply put, you bring back food, but your status in the group is low, so you can't get much food," Le Gu Nan explained.
Shen Heng nodded slightly. 10%-15%, according to the data just reported from the Military Department, could that number be over 100? In other words...
"Is the total number likely to be around 200?"
"Hmm." Le Gu Nan nodded gently.
As soon as he finished speaking, everyone gasped.
The original few dozen Sharp-Horned Rat could have caused considerable casualties, let alone now that their numbers may have suddenly recovered to around two hundred.
In this situation, if they were to actually attack Linhai...
"Captain, what do we do now?" Han Ling asked with some concern.
"Let's head back to Linhai first!" Wang Hai glanced thoughtfully at the morning mist that was gradually spreading around them.
"During this process, I will contact other coastal cities to warn them to be on guard against Sharp-Horned Rat, and at the same time, I will contact the Military Department to monitor the situation along the coast at all times."
As dawn broke, the morning mist lingered.
A small port outside Linhai City.
Several fishing boats were quietly moored on the shore.
Old Zhang stubbed out his cigarette, glanced at the money he'd earned on his phone that day, and clicked his tongue.
"The tide's been going out really fast these past few days, so we haven't been able to find anything good."
"Come on!" Young fisherman Little Chen chuckled, squatting by the mooring bollard. " Uncle Li's boat came back yesterday with a Dahuang in the net. I think it weighed at least two pounds, almost three!"
"Huh? Really?"
"Of course it's true!"
How many were sold after that?
"Sold over four thousand!"
"Tsk, Old Li is still lucky!" Old Zhang couldn't help but exclaim.
Little Chen smiled, lifted his fishing net, and began to examine it himself.
He quickly frowned and cursed, "Damn it! This lousy net is leaking again after being patched for the third time!"
"I told you to use new material for the line, but you insisted on saving that little bit of money." Old Zhang also looked at the net. "Your lousy net has meshes bigger than my colander; even Dahuang would have to bow and say 'excuse me' if it swam past."
" Uncle Zhang, what you're saying..."
Just as Little Chen was about to retort, he heard a creaking sound from the dock not far away.
The two looked in the direction from which the sound came.
The sky, which was just beginning to brighten, was further shrouded in morning mist, which greatly reduced visibility.
Only the dark silhouette of a fishing boat could be seen, rising and falling gently with the waves.
Among them, small flags planted on the boat can still be faintly seen fluttering in the wind.
The two glanced at each other, and seeing that nothing seemed amiss, they looked away.
Just as we were about to continue our conversation, the creaking sound came again.
This time it wasn't just one sound, but several sounds in succession.
The continuous creaking sound was like the incessant turning of rusty gears.
"It must be Fatty Wang slacking off again, he didn't tie the cable properly..." Old Zhang muttered impatiently.
Little Chen just smiled and didn't say anything more.
Seeing that Little Chen didn't respond, Old Zhang walked over there.
He reached the mooring post and bent down to untie the cable when a claw covered in gray fur suddenly appeared in his field of vision.
The gray claws extended from under the dock and landed on the dock with a "click".
Old Zhang was stunned for a moment, and before he could react, he saw a head covered with gray hair sticking out from under the dock.
An unusual head, a deep black horn, and scarlet eyes...
This is...
Fear quickly blossomed in Old Zhang's eyes.
"Buzz--"
The roar of the engine echoed through the mountains and forests.
Three cars sped past on the highway like shadows.
Inside the car, silence reigned; no one spoke.
Wang Hai crossed his arms and leaned silently against the passenger seat.
Shen Heng gripped the steering wheel, his brow furrowed as he stared at the road ahead.
He kept thinking about the conversation they had just had throughout the journey.
Although the captain said it was only one possibility, he thought about it for a long time and felt that the possibility the captain mentioned was the most likely.
More than two years ago, I only killed one Sharp-Horned Rat, but the remaining Sharp-Horned Rat still remember it to this day.
What's more, today we wiped out so many Sharp-Horned Rat.
It would be strange if anyone could tolerate it under these circumstances.
Just then, Wang Hai's earpiece started beeping.
Shen Heng glanced at it, then quickly looked away.
Wang Hai raised his hand and pressed a button on the headset.
The next moment, Fan Hong's urgent voice came through the earpiece.
" Captain Wang, we've discovered a large number of Sharp-Horned Rat that have landed from different parts of the coast."