11 Rats

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Pang Fei asked nervously, trailing behind me and looking around nervously. The ruins of abandoned buildings loomed above us, their walls either cracked badly or carpeted by moss, ferns, leaves and other mutant plants. Rusting wreckages of cars dotted the streets, and several of them had their frames rendered unrecognizable by the mold and lichen enrooted onto them. Pang Fei gulped and glanced back at the rest of the group. "Maybe we should have brought along the whole class instead."

"I asked them, and only you guys volunteered to come along," I pointed out. Also looking back, I noted that we had less than one-fifth of the class in my squad. In addition to Pang Fei, only Lei Shu, Nian Qing and Lou Qian had offered to join me, bringing our numbers up to five in total. I was hoping Xin Xia would join in, but she was too scared.

Apparently she didn't like rats. Especially giant rats.

On the other hand, I wasn't surprised that Qi Ren and his gang refused to join. The guy clearly held a grudge against me, and Cheng Yan and the rest followed his lead. The rest of class weren't enthusiastic about going against the class's resident bully. Even though I had proven to be stronger than him, apparently I was too "nice." So they weren't afraid of saying no to me, but they were deathly worried about offending Qi Ren.

I wasn't some tyrant or bully, so I wasn't going to give them a hard time and intimidate them into following me. Besides, depending on their abilities, they would only end up being a burden instead of helping me against the rats. I was going to focus on racking up points for my Kill Count, so it would be difficult for me to look out for others. I would have my hands full keeping an eye on Pang Fei and Nian Qing. I knew they were competent, but quite frankly they weren't as strong as Lei Shu or Lou Qian.

Speaking of Lou Qian, I was surprised that she tagged along. She wasn't afraid of Qi Ren and often butted heads with him, but even so, she wasn't that close to me. So why would she help in this mission?

As if she read my mind, Lou Qian returned my gaze and spoke up.

"I need the experience. I found myself lacking a lot in that last…mission, so I thought I should brush up on my combat skills and fight more mutants. That will help me accumulate the experience that I need."

"Ah, okay." I wasn't sure how to respond to that. Lou Qian looked away, fiddling with her fingers.

"Also…I feel guilty. That time…I left everything to you. I wasn't doing my job as the leader, and instead let you take on the sacrificial role and risk your life. I was a coward, making up an excuse to run away so that I didn't have to fight the grotesque."

"It's all right," I assured her. "You're more of a close combatant, and I'm a ranged type, so it's more advantageous and practical for me to take on the role of bait and lure the grotesque away from the class. It would be easier for me to retreat."

"Even so…"

"Come on, Lou Qian," Pang Fei cut in with a grin. "You weren't the only one who didn't dare to fight the grotesque. I was also quaking in my boots! If my pal here didn't go off and play the hero, I don't know what would have happened. I know for sure I would never have been able to do what he did!"

"That's right, you did nothing to be criticized for," Lei Shu agreed. "As ashamed as I am to admit it, I was also too scared to volunteer for that role." He nodded at me. "Zhi Ming is a real hero."

"I want to learn to be courageous like you," Lou Qian said, turning back to me. I cringed.

"Come on, you guys are exaggerating."

"Well, at least none of you are like Qi Ren." Nian Qing shuddered. "Good thing Zhi Ming saved me back then, or I would have been food for the grotesque. That bastard literally grabbed be and threw me at the monster. Yet when Zhi Ming came back, he was intent on framing him as a coward and denying his achievements. What a prick."

"Bullies are like that," Pang Fei said dismissively. "They only know how to pick on the weak. They can't stand the idea that the people they used to bully are better than them, and so they retreat back into their delusional bubble and refuse to face the reality that they are now weaker than the people they used to look down on."

I wanted to say something about that, but stopped because I noticed something was amiss. Raising a hand to bring my team to a halt, I leaned forward on one leg to survey the area. I could hear scampering in the distance…of something pretty large.

There. A flurry of movement, along with black, rotting fur and glowing red eyes. The Cyclops Rats were crawling out of the woodwork, using the buildings as cover to advance toward us. As I had expected, they were pretty cunning…or perhaps this was a command from the Colossal Rat.

"They're here," I warned. Lou Qian immediately drew her scythe, Lei Shu extended his device into a staff whose length crackled with electricity. Pang Fei summoned wind around his palms while wood began growing around Nian Qing. The latter two didn't have their own evolver weapons, which was what worried me. They would have to stay at range like me.

The first wave of Cyclops Rats scampered out of cover, charging toward us with loud squeaks and growls. Each of them sported a single red eye in the center of their foreheads, slit in an almost demonic manner. Their rotting tails whipped erratically behind them, sending debris or rocks flying. Claws left impressions in the ground, and tufts of decaying fur fell off as they sped forward.

I could see why they spread diseases so easily.

"Hit them with everything you got. Lei Shu, Lou Qian, don't stray too far forward. Stay close to the backline and provide cover."

I didn't know why I was giving out the orders, but I ended up assuming the role. Perhaps it was because Xiao Zhang was the one who assigned the mission to me, thus making me the de facto leader. Otherwise I would normally leave it to Lou Qian to take command.

Drawing my two pistols, I took aim at the onrushing black tide of Cyclops Rats. The targeting reticules on my lenses settled onto the moving targets and turned red.

"Ranged personnel, fire!"

"Understood!"

"Gotcha!"

"I can do ranged too!" Lei Shu wasn't going to be left out, his staff crackling with electricity. While Pang Fei and Nian Qing launched wind blades, wood spears and other elemental projectiles, he pointed the blunt end of his staff at the incoming Cyclops Rats and unleashed thunderbolts and webs of electricity. Similarly, I squeezed the trigger, firing a barrage of energy bolts that detonated in their midst, blowing them off their feet.

Then they hit us.

Fortunately, Lou Qian was the first to meet them. Sweeping her scythe forward, she sliced through a good number of them before twirling it around to do a reverse cut. Icicles and glacial spikes erupted from the ground, either impaling or impeding the Cyclops Rats and rendering them easy targets for the ranged evolvers behind her.

Then Lei Shu joined in, his staff bursting with lethal lightning as he rammed it against the Cyclops Rats. Loud cracks filled the air, joined by the scent of burning flesh that overpowered the stink of death and decay. Electrocuted Cyclops Rats were flung backward, crashing into their brethren and spreading the electricity. Those who weren't killed outright were finished off by the wind blades and wood spears from Pang Fei and Nian Qing, or shot in the heads by my pistols.

Both Lou Qian and Lei Shu advanced under our cover fire, slicing, pummeling, freezing or electrocuting their targets. Vines whipped out to entangle the Cyclops Rats' feet, and they flailed about wildly before losing their heads to a scythe, staff or elemental projectiles. My Kill Count wet up to 13 after I took out a couple with well-placed shots. Beside me, Pang Fei sent several more wind blades hurtling forward to cut a few Cyclops Rats into pieces. Within moments, the scene in front of us was a bloody carnage. A sea of blood ran through the broken rock and abandoned street, staining the dusty gray surface red. We had probably slaughtered over a hundred of them so far.

However, the Cyclops Rats weren't stupid. The remnants of the first wave began to pull back and retreat. Scampering back into cover and out of sight, they vanished into the shadows with frightened and enraged shrieks. Within moments, they were gone.

"We've to go after them," Lou Qian said, immediately springing forward. However, I shook my head.

"Wait. It's probably a trap. If we pursue them now, we'll run straight into the ambush. The only real solution is to cut off their head…slay the Colossal Rat and their coordination will immediately fall apart. Then it'll be much easier to exterminate them."

"I don't suppose you'll be lucky enough to find another generator to blow all of them up at once?" Pang Fei joked nervously. I rolled my eyes.

"I got lucky that time, but I don't think the heavens will be generous enough to conveniently give me explosive whenever I need them. Also, we'll be lucky if we don't blow ourselves up."

"So what's the plan?" Lei Shu asked, studying the ruins intently, as if expecting the rats to jump out again. "How do we find the boss?"

I thought for a while, my fingers on my chin. "We'll have to find a way to lure it out somehow."

"Colossal Rats are known for refusing to leave their nest, not unless they have a Colossal Rat King commanding them, then they will be sent out in mass to attack invaders or foray for food. Whatever the case, the commanders tend to hole up in their nests."

Count on Lou Qian to be knowledgeable about the mutants. She was the role model for students.

An idea began forming in my head at her information. "Then maybe it'll be more fruitful to locate their nest. We know this is their territory, so their nest is definitely here somewhere. Once we find it, that's where we'll find the Colossal Rat."

"They'll swarm us to protect their commander, it'll definitely bring every single Cyclops Rat back to protect itself," Lou Qian warned.

"Not only that, how are we supposed to find the nest?" Lei Shu asked. I turned to Lou Qian.

"Where do Colossal Rats normally make their nests? Somewhere dark and warm? Wet? Underground? In the open?"

"Um…I wouldn't know…"

I chewed on my lips and took my smartphone out. Conjuring a 3D holographic map, I rotated it about and expanded it so that my teammates could see what was on it.

"I sort of checked the place out before the mission, and it seems like there's a wide open space right below the area. A sewer, if I'm not mistaken. I suspect that's where the rats made their lair."

"Ugh…" Pang Fei made a disgusted expression. I didn't blame him. I felt just as ill as he looked. The sewer wasn't a place I wanted to visit. Hopefully the century of neglect and lack of use meant there wasn't much left inside…that everything had already decomposed. But I wasn't sure.

"We don't have a choice. If we want to exterminate the rats, we'll have to go in there. Also, Pang Fei, I'll need you to check if there's methane in the sewers."

"What? Methane? Why?"

"Well…you were hoping for another generator or something, right?" I grinned. "If there's methane, then maybe we can recreate a similar explosion to wipe all of them out at once…"