Guo Zhengxiong vomited a large amount of blood, and his mouth still showed fragments of rat flesh. This guy had actually bitten to death the rats that were trying to invade him. At this moment, he let out a loud roar, his limbs stiffened, and he died!
"Captain Guo!" He had mistaken me for Lu Tianyu just now, but I still clenched his hand and played along. But he died before he could finish speaking. All I knew now was that the source of the rats should be somewhere in the cement factory.
I found his gun, police ID, and the almost extinguished flashlight next to him on Guo Zhengxiong's body.
It was because this flashlight was still holding on that Captain Guo hadn't been attacked by rats for a while.
Coupled with a trait he seemed to possess that others didn't.
When I saw his ID card, I realized he was indeed the brother of the Captain Guo from Gaogang City. I gently smoothed his eyes and said, "Rest in peace! I will tell your brother about your affairs! You were a good police officer, Zhengxiong."
Not only him, but all the people's police officers who died in this incident, or in the past, rest assured, I will definitely stop these rats from crossing Lester!
My fighting spirit surged, and I continued walking with the flashlight. Captain Guo's flashlight was now in my hands as well. I pushed open a door of the workshop and arrived behind the factory. There were many cement machines running here, and a lot of cement was being poured into huge grooves, then flowing through some channels towards the river nearby.
I followed the flow of cement, not knowing how long I had traveled, and still hadn't reached the end. On the contrary, my flashlight was running out of power again, let alone Captain Guo's. I had to speed up and look everywhere for a platform to rest temporarily.
When I reached a reef near the river, I found some rocks that I could climb. Although it was dangerous, there was no other way. I had to take a gamble!
I climbed upwards recklessly, falling multiple times, my palms severely worn, my police uniform tattered, but I gritted my teeth and ascended. Stepping on a rock, I reached the top from this position and saw the panorama of the entire small town.
But at that moment, my heart was utterly shocked. The entire Lester was full of rats!
They had even covered every corner: streets, houses, grass, trees, sidewalks, roads, highways – everywhere bore their traces!
With so many rats, if they left Lester, the consequences would be unimaginable.
Seeing this, I had no interest in looking further. I turned and headed in a certain direction of the mountain path. Strangely, there were burning candles here. I took out my last torch and lit it. I still had some sulfur firecrackers in my hand, and I guessed I could only rely on them to continue.
The mountain path was originally very quiet, with only the sound of dripping water. But as I walked, strange squeaking sounds appeared again. I wondered if those rats smelled human presence and were gathering in a certain place, otherwise, why didn't they come earlier?
With so many rats, I was truly worried if others already...
I stopped thinking about it. Seeing them approaching, I raised my torch high, and the rats immediately dared not come closer. I continued to walk and saw a fire basin not far away, which I lit. It felt as if someone had lived here before. There was furniture around. I wondered if they were the cement factory workers, but it was too rudimentary, as if ancient people had lived here.
The moment I walked out, I found a plank road appeared before me. There were many traces of blood along the way. I activated the "Dog Gate" scent-tracking skill and ran quickly, following the scent. After crossing the plank road, a small wooden house appeared before my eyes!
I kicked open the door, holding the handle and exploring inside. Shining my light, I found many corpses covered in flies. This place was too disgusting, and the stench was terrifying. Fortunately, I used the counter-force of the "Dog Gate" scent-tracking to block the smell. I then explored the room. It seemed there were quite a few droppings here, but they were not human. They were rat droppings. Following those, I opened another door and continued walking, finally finding another path. It was evident that this wooden house was merely a transfer point to get there. The road ahead was still long.
But before I left, I still lingered for a while. I found some sulfur in the wooden house. I didn't know how lucky I was to find lighting materials in such a place. After mixing it, I would be able to last for some time if an emergency occurred later.
After leaving the wooden house, there was another long plank road along the way. I wondered why it felt like I had left the cement factory, but looking back, the workshop was near me. This was a bit like a mirage. I didn't look much and continued walking. I felt like I was about to find the place Captain Guo mentioned, but suddenly I saw many holes appearing before me, scattered on the ground. If I walked directly across, I would easily fall. Therefore, I planned to go around. But there seemed to be no other way. I had to brace myself and move forward. With my balance ability, I estimated I could feel my way along the edges, though it was a bit dangerous.
I held my breath, which allowed my concentration to increase. The Taoist concept of gathering Qi in the Dantian, the first step is to hold your breath, then focus your gaze in a certain direction, calm your mind, which is essentially what this means.
Step by step, I moved forward, crossing through countless holes, enduring several times where I almost fell, but each time I managed to grab something and stabilize myself.
With this progress, I quickly overcame these obstacles and reached a large secret chamber on the opposite side of the holes. This place looked somewhat artificially excavated, and there were still many cement machines inside. Only then did I understand that this should be the original site of the cement factory. The ones outside must have been built after it relocated. Could it be that Captain Guo meant that the source of the rats was at the old cement factory site?
At this time, my torchlight had just run out. I found a power cord near a cement machine and was about to move forward when I heard the sound of rats again.
I only had sulfur left in my hand. As they approached, I immediately lit it, producing a large amount of light. But I knew this light wouldn't last long. This wasn't a solution. I needed to find a new light source quickly. I desperately walked forward and suddenly noticed a light above. A broken power line dangled before my eyes.
I quickly connected the broken power cord, but the light showed no reaction. Only then did I realize that the power cord was not connected to anywhere. Perhaps the generator in some place had not been started?