Chapter 32: Doctor Xing Brought a Coffin

It was not that she was ill-informed; with her personality of being able to chat with anyone, gathering information was one of her daily tasks. Therefore, she was certain that in her previous life, mutated creatures did not have Crystal Cores!

She grabbed a handful of ash to wipe the Crystal Core clean and slipped it into her waist pouch; now was not the time to dwell on the reason. The most urgent task was to verify one thing: whether the appearance of this Crystal Core was a one-in-a-million coincidence, or a norm that other big rats also possessed.

Following this, she became even more proactive in slaying big rats and, without others noticing, notified Niu Boyi to help her keep an eye on whether other rats had Crystal Cores.

Niu Boyi, of course, did not know what a Crystal Core was, but Liu Mu could use the system to instill the information into its brain without any obstacles, and "tell" it the details as well.

Just as Liu Mu had killed four big rats in a row without finding another Crystal Core, Niu Boyi ran over with its mouth full of blood, opened it, and actually spat out three deformed meat balls wrapped in blood vessels, exactly the same as the part where the previous Crystal Core was dug out.

Liu Mu directly pried open these meat balls; sure enough, inside were finger-sized Crystal Cores, though the largest was only the size of an index finger, and the smallest was less than a thumb.

Of course, the size was still not the key; the key was, they existed!

These were enough to prove that this animal Mutation was different from the past; as for the reason for the difference, it was not something Liu Mu needed to speculate on.

"Good fellow," Liu Mu let Niu Boyi continue to help, and she herself did not stop, deliberately moving closer to the soldiers to slay other big rats with them.

Compared to her composure, these soldiers, even after special training, were still struggling. The Mutated Rats, whether in speed or body strength, were no longer something normal humans could easily hunt, especially since they seemed to already possess a certain level of intelligence and knew how to kick up dust to obstruct vision.

Compared to exposing her own strength, Liu Mu was even less willing to see the soldiers lose their lives because of these rats; for both public and private reasons, that was a losing trade.

When Tan Ziyan was confronting a Mutated Rat head-on, he felt a wind at his back, and turning his head, he saw another one leaping out from behind a broken wall, its big mouth full of sharp teeth charging straight at his head.

He immediately moved his body, already prepared to sacrifice an arm to save his life, when he saw, at the critical moment, a cold light fly past his ear, accurately piercing the forehead of the pouncing rat, killing it in one strike.

The trigger in his hand pulled at the same time, and a few gunshots sent the Mutated Rat he was grappling with to its end.

"Big sister, good skills!"

Although he hadn't seen the person yet, he recognized the knife handle.

"Overpraised," sure enough, the next second, Liu Mu rushed out from the dust, "Can I fire a burst later?"

Tan Ziyan took the opportunity to change the empty magazine, and hearing Liu Mu say this, he directly pulled out the Handgun tied behind his waist and threw it to her, "Take it, play with this first. Do you know how to disengage the safety?"

Liu Mu caught it, not in a hurry to examine it, and first sheathed her own knife.

"I know, I follow the military on Douyin, I watch it every day."

As she spoke, her slender fingers moved, directly flicking off the safety, "Good fellow, this weight, one look and you know it's the real deal."

Tan Ziyan looked at her appearance and smiled, "It's yours, big sister. You use a knife; a Handgun is more practical than a Submachine Gun. Next time you come to the Base, I'll pick out a few more that are handy for you."

Was this something that could be said casually? But since the person said it, Liu Mu had to accept, "That would be great, Brother Tan, from now on you are my own brother."

Whether they were real siblings or not, they immediately threw themselves back into the hunt.

The others were not as lucky as Tan Ziyan; by the time the dust settled, half of the Special Action Team had been wounded.

"These beasts, damn it, if I hadn't been afraid to fire my gun casually, would I have suffered this humiliating injury?"

A soldier complained; the visibility was too low, and there were other teammates nearby, so even if he heard movement, he didn't dare to fire directly. This battle was fought with frustration.

Liu Mu, on the other hand, didn't have a single scratch and kindly advised, "You should all inject whatever Vaccine or anti-viral you have; who knows if these rats..."

Whether the Mutation is contagious.

She didn't finish; mainly because the expressions of these soldiers had changed. They had carried out many missions, and there were team members who had lost their lives due to inconspicuous injuries. Moreover, these big rats in front of them had mutated; who knew what kind of deadly virus they might have.

Without waiting for Tan Ziyan's order, they one after another fished out a dose of medicine from their respective tactical packs, rolled up their sleeves, and jabbed themselves first.

Liu Mu saw they were so well-equipped and felt that she also needed to prepare such a tactical pack. Of course, that was only necessary in front of others; if she were alone, it would be more convenient to take it directly from her space.

At this time, Luo Sanlin trotted over to report that there were 48 evolved rats in total, 40 were killed on the spot, and eight were caged by Xing Tianyang, "Doctor Xing said he wants to take a few corpses back for research, please grant your approval."

Tan Ziyan, who had just been checking his teammates' injuries with the team doctor, almost cursed, "He wants to take corpses? Is he not afraid of the plague?"

This voice was very loud; of course, he wasn't asking Luo Sanlin, but saying it for Xing Tianyang not far away to hear.

Luo Sanlin looked back and answered, "Doctor Xing brought a coffin."

"What the hell?" Liu Mu thought she had misheard, "He prepared for his own funeral before even leaving the house?"

Luo Sanlin glanced at her sideways, "What does it have to do with you? How is Niu Boyi?"

Liu Mu didn't need to ask; just looking at its appearance, it didn't look like it had any injuries.

"Very good, it's just angry because I won't let it eat the rats," it wasn't that Liu Mu wouldn't let Niu Boyi eat, but if it were something cleaner, without pus or worms on its body, she would have let it.

Speaking of this, she gave Niu Boyi a flick on the head, "Didn't you hear that Doctor say there's a virus? If you eat it, you'll be taken back to be sliced up."

Niu Boyi didn't quite believe it, but it still wilted, "Woof woof woof, I'm hungry."

Tan Ziyan, of course, wouldn't make things difficult for Luo Sanlin, only telling them to take precautions and be quick, as they still had to continue the mission.

"Brother, I'll take Niu Boyi for a lap nearby, to see if there are any rats that slipped through the net."

Liu Mu was truly worried that there might be one or two that would run back to the Scrap Station. She had to lead these people later; if they were encountered by Xu Xiaofeng and the others, it would be a disaster.

Niu Boyi was fast, and its sense of smell and hearing were very keen; together with Liu Mu, they quickly circled a five-kilometer radius.

The focus was on checking the sewers of the Food Street; almost every manhole cover was opened and checked. They really did dig out two escaping big rats in a collapsed section of the sewer; they were heavily injured and were trampled to death by Niu Boyi on the spot.

They also dropped two thumb-sized Crystal Cores; one look and it was clear they were from the batch that had eaten many of their own kind and evolved to the most powerful level.

Taking advantage of the time, they went back and carefully checked the route along the Food Street to the Scrap Station again to ensure there were no rat traces. Liu Mu took out a piece of paper, wrote a line on it, and had Niu Boyi hold it in its mouth.

"You stay at home and protect Big Sister and Xiao Yong, do you hear me? Big Sister will get you something good to eat. Don't follow, be careful of being caught in a cage by that Doctor and taken back for dissection and research."

Niu Boyi originally didn't want to leave, but once it heard that Xing Tianyang would catch it like a rat, it immediately chickened out. Holding the paper in its mouth, it rushed toward the Scrap Station without looking back; it didn't need to open the main gate at all, and with one leap, it jumped over the wall.