The air suddenly fell silent for a few seconds.
In that instant, Sister Han felt like her mind was about to explode.
She gave an awkward smile, and after Doudou stepped on her foot as a reminder, she finally reacted. “How could that be?”
“Hahaha, I think Little Bo looks pretty spirited today. Not strange at all.”
Sister Han unconsciously raised her voice a bit. After speaking, she gripped the dog leash tightly and watched Bo Ting cautiously.
Bo Ting touched his box-shaped air conditioner head, and a smile involuntarily appeared on his face.
It seemed his disguise was quite successful. Even Sister Han hadn’t noticed anything at that moment.
Looks like he could wear the raincoat and go out at night more often in the future.
Having gotten the answer he wanted, Bo Ting felt great. He politely nodded to Sister Han before turning and heading back into the apartment building.
Sister Han didn’t fully relax until that black silhouette completely disappeared: …
“Phew, that scared me.”
“What kind of weird question was that?!”
Sister Han cursed bluntly a few times, then lowered her voice, afraid someone might hear. She locked eyes with Doudou’s crimson dog eyes for a second. “Alright, not a good night for a walk.”
“Go hunt at the entrance. Eat your fill and come back quick.”
Doudou bared its teeth with a “awoo,” broke free from the leash in that instant, and dashed toward the neighborhood entrance without delay.
Half an hour later, Doudou returned with its tail drooping.
Sister Han looked down and saw that the thing had caught a “rat” today.
A dusty gray rat dangled from Doudou’s mouth. Upon closer inspection, it actually had two heads.
Sister Han: …
What filthy thing.
But it was dog food anyway. As long as Doudou could eat it, that was fine.
She waved her hand, letting Doudou carry the “rat” back.
Meanwhile, at the Resurgence Management Office, the lights stayed on even late into the night.
Zheng Shangyun was still waiting for a reply from his superior when one unresolved issue led to another.
“What?”
“You’re saying a rat surge broke out tonight?”
In the office, Zheng Shangyun’s face bore a massive look of dismay.
The technician nodded with difficulty. “The projected time points to tonight.”
“And according to feedback from patrol personnel outside, they’ve already spotted more than one Two-Headed Rat near sewers and wall corners.”
On the photo wall, a rat with double heads creepily emerged from the sewer. Facing this rat evoked a visceral disgust in humans at the sight of something anomalous. The inexperienced technician retched twice before continuing to manipulate the signals.
“These Two-Headed Rats are drawn to damp air.”
“Mengjia City has had continuous rain lately, and the weather has been the coldest these past few days, so they’ve come over.”
“—A rat surge is probably happening across the whole city now.”
The anomaly aura analysis signals marked the map densely. The technician was about to draw a conclusion when, upon pressing the final key, he suddenly froze.
“Wait, why is there nothing in Wenhua District?”
Every other area in Mengjia City’s thirteen districts was packed with rats, but Wenhua District had not a single one—no suspicious anomaly aura points at all. The south side of the map was spotless.
Zheng Shangyun also noticed the situation in Wenhua District.
“Everywhere else has them, so why is Wenhua District clean?”
He had just furrowed his brow when he heard a weak voice from Xue Hengfu of the Sixth Squad nearby.
“Uh, could it be related to that ‘nonexistent neighborhood’ we’re investigating now?”
“I’m just associating things. Don’t blame me if I’m wrong.”
Xue Hengfu chuckled immediately after speaking.
Zheng Shangyun twitched his mouth. His serious demeanor as a higher-up kept him from glancing at this unreliable team member.
But Xue Hengfu did have a point.
The entire map was infested, yet Wenhua District alone was clear. It didn’t look like a coincidence no matter how you sliced it.
Were these rats afraid of that neighborhood too?
Deliberately avoiding… it?
“Keep observing.”
“Pull up real-time footage from surveillance in each area.”
After some thought, Zheng Shangyun issued calm, orderly commands and exhaled. He knew panicking now wouldn’t help. Instructions on “Taiping Luxury Garden” hadn’t come down yet, and with the rat surge hitting, they had to tackle the immediate problem first.
Otherwise, if citizens went out tomorrow morning and saw Two-Headed Rats on the ground, it would be a massive disaster!
Zheng Shangyun could already imagine how the gossip media would report it.
Ability User squad members were dispatched one after another to “exterminate rats” in various street districts.
Though Two-Headed Rats weren’t highly dangerous—mere D-Class Anomalies—they were tricky due to their pack-dwelling nature and tendency to trigger surges.
When thousands upon thousands swarmed at once, even an A-Class Ability User couldn’t withstand it.
Zheng Shangyun stared intently at the monitors, not daring to relax for a moment.
But this rat surge was simply too massive. Even with elite squads deployed—and even captains from the Second and Third Squads mobilized—the situation showed no improvement.
However…
Zheng Shangyun glanced at Ligang Street District nearby. The Sixth Squad had just handled Ligang.
Was the cleanup speed in Ligang a bit faster than other districts?
No, that wasn’t right?
Upon closer inspection, Zheng Shangyun saw that when Si Ning and the others chased the Two-Headed Rats, the rats stopped moving once they reached the border between Ligang and Wenhua Street Districts.
The pack of rats screeched to a halt like idiots. Xue Hengfu, who had been ready to pursue, paused in surprise, then grinned like he’d hit the jackpot and immediately netted them with his special net for the kill.
“These dumb rats lost their minds?”
“But these guys really are scared of Wenhua District, huh?”
As Xue Hengfu acted, he looked up at the opposite district, finding it utterly terrifying.
Tch, who knew what had happened there to intimidate these brainless rats?
Back in the neighborhood:
After bringing the Two-Headed Rat home, Doudou pawed at it but showed no intention of eating it right away.
Sister Han, who had just returned and taken a blood-red tomato from the fridge to eat: …
“What’s wrong? Don’t like it?”
Sister Han’s puzzled voice rang out.
Normally, Doudou devoured anything it brought back right away. What was up today?
Was this rat that unappetizing?
She glanced at the gray rat with its two wooden, eerie heads and frowned.
Doudou let out an “awoo,” its dog eyes flicking toward Sister Han, seemingly disdainful.
Sister Han puzzled over it for a while before realizing.
“You’re saying we might’ve offended the big boss today.”
“So we should offer this prey as tribute, to keep Bo Ting from watching us.”
Doudou nodded its massive dog head, finally deeming its owner not so dumb.
Sister Han choked, weirdly finding Doudou’s logic sound.
They probably should offer tribute?
But recalling the question Bo Ting had asked before leaving, she didn’t dare go. She turned to Doudou.
“You’ve been there a few times and know Little Bo’s place.”
“You deliver it.”
“Be polite.”
Doudou barked “woof woof” twice, stopped lazily toying with the gray rat, lowered its head to snatch up the half-dead rat from the floor, and swiftly dashed toward the opposite apartment building.
Half an hour later, Bo Ting finished washing up, changed into fresh, fragrant pajamas, lay on the bed, said goodnight to his online friends, and prepared to sleep.
Suddenly, a rustling sound came from beside his ear. Bo Ting blanked for a moment, reached out to turn on the bedside lamp, and sat up. Caught off guard, he locked eyes with an ugly gray rat on the nightstand in front of him.
Damn!
The scream hadn’t even left his throat yet.
Bo Ting looked more closely and saw… Doudou standing behind the rat?
