Chapter 30: My Dog is a Male~!

At this, the Mutated Rats completely stopped attacking the humans; as if starving people had caught the scent of a delicious feast, they all rushed toward Liu Mu.

While the crowd was astonished and breaking into a cold sweat for the girl and her dog, they soon discovered that these rats were ignoring Liu Mu and Niu Boyi entirely, all charging instead toward those few dead rats.

They rushed over to gnaw, tear, and scramble, as if they had completely lost their sanity.

Liu Mu, of course, would not stand in the middle of the rat pile; the moment the swarm rushed over, she had vaulted onto the dog's back and retreated more than ten meters. Luo Sanlin wanted to go over to protect her, but he saw her take out another bag of the same medicine, open it, and throw it directly into the rat swarm; the powder swirled in the air, and the rats piled up and bit each other into a Rat Mountain.

If the street under the soldiers' gunfire was a meat grinder, then this place was now entirely a gluttonous arena for the Mutated Rats to slaughter one another.

The level of bloody violence made the soldiers holding their guns frown; many of them turned green in the face, and those who couldn't hold it back simply vomited.

Liu Mu also retreated to the vicinity of the military vehicles before the rats fell into complete madness.

"Hi, hello there, soldiers! Out on a mission?"

This tone instantly snapped the soldiers out of their various negative emotions. Some of the more outgoing ones waved at the girl on the dog's back, and one even asked, "Your Gouzi is quite big, isn't it?"

Liu Mu responded one by one like a social butterfly who didn't know what a stranger was, and then she saw a livid face toward the back of the attack formation.

"You dare use any medicine you find? How many lives do you have, kid?"

Luo Sanlin's hand never left his gun, his heart pounding deafeningly with fear.

"What are you talking about? I only did it because I was sure of myself, otherwise, who would provoke these annoying things?"

Liu Mu replied, then saw a familiar-looking big man walk over, who looked like the leader of this group. She asked Luo Sanlin without any awkwardness, "Brother Sanlin, is this soldier brother your boss?"

Luo Sanlin was too embarrassed to say he had been frightened by Liu Mu's actions; he coughed, and his expression returned to normal. "This is Colonel Tan Ziyan, the supreme commander of this mission. We all take orders from him."

"Mission?" Liu Mu slid down from the dog's back and patted Niu Boyi on the head, signaling it not to bare its teeth at people. "Colonel Tan, we meet again."

"Comrade Liu Mu, hello." Tan Ziyan didn't have much of an air about him; he came up and gave a very crisp military salute. "May I ask what agent you just deployed?"

"It's nothing much, just an attractant for rodents. Pure stuff, a bit more effective than what's mixed into cat or dog food." Liu Mu said it lightly, but she had no intention of explaining the source of the item.

Hearing her mention dog food, Tan Ziyan glanced at Niu Boyi and reasoned out the cause for her possessing the medicine himself. "If it's just an attractant, their infighting shouldn't last too long, right?"

Liu Mu nodded in affirmation. "Not too long, but there won't be much left. Mutated creatures have a natural habit of devouring each other; survival of the fittest, you know."

At this moment, a person walked out from behind Tan Ziyan's massive, over-two-meter-tall frame and adjusted the black-rimmed glasses on his face. "The combat power of an individual increases exponentially after devouring its own kind. Comrade Liu, did you ever consider that we might not be able to deal with the grown Mutant Rat Swarm at all?"

The one speaking was none other than Xing Tianyang, still in his white lab coat. Liu Mu was a bit curious about what the rescue Base used to wash clothes, as this man's coat was so white it didn't have a single stain.

Facing Xing Tianyang's questioning, she was puzzled. "Why would you wait for the swarm to grow before attacking? Don't you want to disturb their meal? You're quite polite, aren't you!"

These words silenced Xing Tianyang immediately, and even Tan Ziyan couldn't help but let out a laugh.

Before Xing Tianyang could get angry, Tan Ziyan turned his face away and roared at the soldiers in his hand, "Blow these burrowing beasts to hell for me!"

The troops immediately retreated, the roof of the lead military vehicle flipped open, and two launch ports rose up. *Swish, swish, swish! * Two rockets flew straight into the cannibalizing rat swarm, exploding into a sky full of flesh and blood.

The explosion not only killed the rats but also filled the street with dust. Fearing that some rats might still be alive, Tan Ziyan told everyone to wait where they were, and he prepared to take a few men who clearly looked like veterans to go and check.

Niu Boyi was agitated by the roar of the rocket explosion; it kept nudging Liu Mu with its head, whimpering and acting spoiled.

"I told you to run further away, but you didn't believe me. Your ears hurt now, don't they?" Liu Mu felt sorry for her Gouzi, and while no one was looking, she fished out a large meat sausage, stuffed it into its mouth, and reached out to rub its big head.

"What did you say? The big rats aren't dead yet, and you want me to tell them not to go to their deaths? Hey, why are you worrying for nothing? They have weapons, don't bark blindly. They're just a few rats; if they can't beat them, you can just go up and bite them to death later, right?"

Tan Ziyan, who hadn't walked more than a few meters, stopped. What did this girl mean? There were still rats that hadn't been blown to death?

The teammate behind him questioned it first. "Is that possible? One shot like that and people are burned to ash; could a few rats still be alive?"

"That's not necessarily true. Things are wicked these days. Remember that time on Old Mountain Ridge..."

"Shh, classified!"

Amidst the muttering of the old team members, Tan Ziyan turned back. "Young lady, can your dog come with us to take a look?"

He was big, but he wasn't brainless; he was long past his young, impulsive days, and he certainly wouldn't risk his teammates' lives or his own.

"How could that be? It's just a dog, what could it understand?" Liu Mu pinched Niu Boyi's chin, her eyes darting around on her face, which was not covered by a mask. "You guys go ahead, you go!"

Tan Ziyan thought for two seconds and lifted his foot to leave, only to hear the dog bark again—this time quite fiercely—and then...

Liu Mu: "What danger? What danger? They are professionally trained, where would they need our help? No matter how much they evolve, they're still just big rats. Don't be a busybody dog, they didn't say they needed help!"

At this, anyone could tell the girl was speaking in code. Regardless of whether she could truly understand the dog's barking, she had definitely discovered something.

She wanted something, that was clear. A flash of shrewdness crossed Tan Ziyan's eyes; he turned back and walked straight up to Liu Mu. "Young lady, what would it take for you to have your dog lead the way for us?"

Liu Mu looked up at the soldier wearing a Filter Mask, then her gaze slid down. Tan Ziyan's gaze followed, and he discovered that the other party had actually stopped at his waist. For a moment, he had an unreasonable but tense premonition. "This isn't good, I have a wife."

"What are you thinking? My Gouzi is a male," Liu Mu knew he had misunderstood, but she didn't think too deeply about it. "This Submachine Gun of yours looks pretty useful, huh."

As she said this, Liu Mu was practically drooling without a second thought. Of course, she didn't notice Tan Ziyan's embarrassed face, and though she heard the suppressed chuckles of the people around them, she didn't care.

"I'll help you, and afterward, can you let me touch this gun? If you could let me fire a few rounds to try it out, that would be even better!"