Wasteland Hideout: Upgrading from the Sewers

Chapter 217: Return, Feces and Giant Rats

Inside the Black Shield Police Department.

Police Chief Hogg sat at his desk, a small glass vial in front of him.

Inside were four teeth still stained with faint traces of blood—the very Blood Slave teeth Carmen had brought a few days earlier.

Hogg struggled to control the eager, restless impulse within him, attempting to master the other party.

His body had to be ruled by him alone.

Finally.

After his persistent attempts, his left hand began to change. His already broad palm thickened and grew thick, gray-black wolf fur.

His fingers grew thick and long, his nails extending forward, becoming sharp, hard, and gleaming with a cold light.

In less than ten seconds, Police Chief Hogg's left hand bore no resemblance to a human hand; it was now a massive wolf's paw.

However, starting from the wrist, the wolf fur on his left arm rapidly thinned out. By the midpoint of his forearm and above, it had already reverted to the appearance of a human arm.Hogg savored his control over this power, smiling with satisfaction.

"Finally, I can transform freely!"

Knock, knock, knock—

A sudden knock at the door caused Hogg's left hand to instantly return to normal. He placed the small glass vial containing the Blood Slave teeth into a drawer.

"Come in!"

The door opened, revealing Commander Lao Ke.

"Chief, the battle in the Northern District has concluded, and we've also made contact with Carmen."

"Oh~~ What's the report?" Hogg raised an eyebrow!

"We eliminated 47 from the Burning Fortress, 21 from the Thug Prison, and also..." Lao Ke's expression grew somewhat excited, making Hogg focus his attention.

"...and also, among the Thug Prison casualties was a special combatant, suspected to be a mechanically modified human. The body is being transported back..."

What!

Hogg's eyes widened sharply as he looked at Lao Ke.

"A mechanically modified human? The Thug Prison... Could this be the secret weapon we speculated about before?"

"Most likely, yes. Chief, according to Carmen's report, this mechanically modified human destroyed an Armed Armored Vehicle and two Combat Vehicles with its bare hands, and killed over ten people. It was incredibly formidable."

"They only managed to kill it by setting up an ambush."

"Ambush..." Hogg looked at Lao Ke.

"What's the status of the people you arranged?"

"My people are currently following Carmen. We'll know the specific details once he returns."

"Good! As soon as Carmen returns, immediately question him about the specifics of the battle."

"Yes!"

————————

Yu Yuan, riding Mie Mie, found Dale and the other two who had been waiting for a long time.

They headed back towards the shelter.

On the way back, Yu Yuan kept his attention on the movements displayed by his Combat Detector, remaining vigilant for the appearance of the Giant Mutant Rat.

Meanwhile, Fang and the Doctor's gazes were fixed on Yu Yuan's two arms, which were wrapped in bandages.

Especially the Doctor, whose brows were tightly furrowed. If not for the special circumstances, she probably would have insisted on examining Yu Yuan immediately.

Dale's attention, however, was on Mie Mie. He had never seen a sheep this big before.

Was it a sheep or a goat? Even with his identity as a biology professor, he couldn't tell.

Goodness, it was simply bizarre.

Fortunately, the journey went smoothly. Yu Yuan didn't spot the Giant Mutant Rat even after entering District 13.

He let out a sigh of relief. He wasn't afraid of the Giant Mutant Rat.

But with Dale, Fang, and the Doctor—three ordinary people—here, even if he could kill the mutant rat, if any of them got caught in the crossfire, it would mean certain death.

This was unacceptable to Yu Yuan.

"Huh, what's that smell?"

Yu Yuan suddenly caught a faint whiff of a foul odor, a smell he'd never encountered before. His body instinctively shifted into combat readiness.

His movement signal was immediately picked up by Fang and the Doctor. The two stood shoulder to shoulder, one facing forward, one backward, raising their weapons and simultaneously entering a combat stance.

Only Dale, who was still pondering what breed Mie Mie was, noticed the movements of the people around him and looked up somewhat bewildered.

But he quickly realized something was wrong.

He fumbled to grab his weapon but came up empty-handed, only then remembering that his previous firearm had been taken by Yu Yuan and thrown back to Er Xiao. He could only look at Yu Yuan.

Yu Yuan, however, had already pinpointed the direction of the smell.

Following the odor for about twenty meters, a sewer junction appeared before him.

Yu Yuan rarely used this particular sewer branch, so he had never paid attention to it before.

But now, several black, spindle-shaped objects, about twenty to thirty centimeters long and as thick as a forearm, lay in this passage. The foul stench was emanating from them.

Not far away on the sewer wall, several deep claw marks could be seen, gouged directly into the concrete.

Yu Yuan looked at the black objects, his eyes narrowing slightly. He already had a guess in his mind.

The flashlight beam shone over them. Fang and the other two also saw the objects, their expressions turning to surprise.

"What is this?"

They too smelled the stench in the air. But after careful observation, Dale's face showed a look of astonishment.

"This... this can't be..."

"You recognize this?" Fang asked curiously, while the Doctor behind her also wore a puzzled expression.

"If I'm not mistaken, this should be rat droppings. But they're huge! How big would a rat have to be to produce droppings this size?"

A flash of investigative desire crossed Dale's face.

Hearing Dale's words, Yu Yuan's expression showed he had expected as much.

"It is indeed rat feces. In our biological experiments, the most basic task is raising lab rats. I wouldn't mistake it!"

The Doctor had already come to Dale's side and was also analyzing the feces before them.

"The state is somewhat dry and hardened, meaning they were excreted at least a day ago. Furthermore, there are only these few pellets, which fits the characteristic of marking their travel path."

Dale hadn't expected this woman to be so knowledgeable about biology as well, and a look of appreciation appeared on his face.

"I agree with her assessment. Visually estimating, the droppings are about 24-26 cm long, with a diameter of roughly 7-8 cm. I recall that for general rats, the length of their feces is about 6% of their body length. So, this rat's length should be... should be..." Dale quickly did the mental math.

"Between 4 meters and 4.4 meters!" Fang blurted out before he could finish.

Dale was slightly taken aback, but soon his own result came out.

"That's right, that's the size. Hiss..."

Only then did Dale, belatedly realizing the implication, suck in a sharp breath of cold air.

"Heavens! A four-meter-long rat... Could there really be a rat that big?"

A quiet, pensive voice came from beside him—the Doctor's.

"Don't forget, that length doesn't include the tail. The ratio of a rat's tail length to its body length is generally 1:1."

"So, including the tail, this rat's total body length would be around 8 to 9 meters."

"Oh, and for a rat of that size, the tail diameter would be at least twenty centimeters..."

All four present understood what this meant. Apart from Dale, Fang and the Doctor were clearly more accepting of this fact.

After all, there were over a dozen Swiftstriders locked up in the shelter. Those things were far more terrifying than a big rat.

Only someone like Dale, who knew nothing, would react with such fear.

"Alright, you'll get used to these things slowly. This world is far more dangerous than you imagine!"

"Once we reach the shelter, I'll show you the pets we're raising."

Yu Yuan said with a mischievous grin.

The four of them immediately quickened their pace toward the shelter.

"Pets? What pets? Isn't that a waste of food? Raising mealworms is perfectly fine..." Dale's rambling voice gradually faded into the distance.