Gou learns witchcraft in another world

Chapter 26: No Surprises

The smoke was still billowing, but as the squeaking of the rats gradually subsided, the group began to discuss the matter.

"Judging from the noise, there are quite a few rats. We've caught the culprit, haven't we?"

Cole squatted on the path, wiping the sweat from the edge of his mask with the back of his hand. His rather round figure was gradually making him impatient with his surroundings.

Smith, who was in slightly better condition than him, frowned slightly upon hearing this:

"There should be more than just this one spot. Once the smoke clears, should we check all the gaps and cracks around here?"

"We don't know how long this road is... Besides, we probably don't have enough rat poison."

"Shh~" Ellis, who had been staring at the swirling mist, suddenly interrupted, her ears twitching. "Be careful, something seems to be going on over there."

Upon hearing this, Cole and Smith both looked at Mr. Lucas in Ellis's arms.

In terms of hearing, Mr. Lucas was far superior to them.

At that moment, Mr. Lucas was straining his ears, staring intently into the depths of the smoke.

The two had no doubt that if Mr. Lucas were put down at this moment, it would immediately adopt a hunting posture.

There must be something going on in the smoke.

However, when the two looked back at the smoke-filled area, the visibility there wasn't much better than before.

Of the four, Luo Qiu had remained vigilant ever since retreating to this location. This vigilance extended not only to the smoke-filled area but also to the surrounding region.

The Clarity spell remained active, but unfortunately, it couldn't penetrate the smoke to allow him to see what was happening inside.

However, after Ellis reminded him, when Luo Qiu looked towards the smoke area again, this time he made a discovery.

In his exceptional vision, a faint red light suddenly appeared in the smoke-shrouded darkness. A moving red light, drifting away from them, retreating deeper into the pipe.

Before he could think, Luo Qiu's right hand automatically grabbed something cold.

He drew it from his waist, disengaged the safety, aimed, and then...

boom--

A crisp sound rang out, echoing long after it lingered in the deep archway.

Meanwhile, the other three people who were carefully observing the smoke zone were startled, and Cole even shuddered.

Mr. Lucas meowed.

They were all startled by the sound, and after they came to their senses, all four pairs of eyes stared at Luo Qiu.

However, after swallowing hard, Smith and his two companions didn't say anything more. They pondered the meaning behind Luo Qiu's actions, and after some internal speculation, they looked even more intently at the smoky area.

Mr. Lucas's insults were even harsher, his tail bristling.

Luo Qiu put away his gun. After the bullet had passed, he saw the red light first dart out half a meter away, then roll on the ground and go silent.

He was certain that his shot had hit something, and that the other person was no longer able to resist.

It's most likely that it was that extraordinary rat. But what's strange is that if that red light was the other party using extraordinary abilities to escape, why didn't the red light dissipate after hitting the other party?

Five minutes later, the smoke cleared, and the footage from the scene provided the answer.

The beam of the flashlight landed where Luo Qiu had just fired, four meters away from where the smoke grenade had been placed, where the carcass of a large, fat rat lay.

The rat's carcass had bullet holes that entered from the right rear side of its body and exited from the left front, rendering the rat completely incapacitated.

Behind this fat rat, all the way to the passageway in front of the gap, dozens of rat corpses were scattered densely.

They lay haphazardly, some grayish-brown, some black, some large, some small, some with stiff limbs, some still twitching slightly, and white foam hanging from the corners of their mouths.

As everyone walked over, their eyes first fell on the fat rat.

It was a black rat, at least a foot long from the tip of its nose to the base of its tail, and as big as a cat.

In Chongqing, rats of this size are extremely rare.

What surprised everyone even more was that a dark red gem rolled out from its mouth. It was about the size of a thumbnail, with a rough surface, and looked to be of little value.

This scene left Cole and the others completely baffled.

"Senior Luo Qiu's marksmanship is truly accurate. Did you fire that shot based on the direction Lucas was looking?"

"These rats are clever; they know to run inside. But what does it mean that it carried this gem out? Do rats like gems too?"

"I've never seen a book that says mice like gems... but I've also never seen a book that studies whether mice like gems."

"Rats tend to hoard things. Since we don't understand why, why not just search their nests?"

Luo Qiu spoke last, and after speaking, he carefully wrapped the gemstone in a piece of cloth, picked it up, and put it in his pocket.

This can be considered as misappropriation of evidence.

However, upon seeing this, Cole and Ellis didn't pay much attention. Instead, they took out a crowbar from their backpacks with great interest and started working on the gaps.

Smith frowned upon seeing this, but then, after Cole made some gains, he quickly shifted his focus.

There really were things in the mouse hole. Although the crowbar couldn't probe very deep, it still revealed quite a few things. Besides some strange "food," there were also some gems—blue ones, transparent ones, plastic ones…

Now, the group was truly convinced that these rats did indeed have some kind of peculiar habit.

……

At the tunnel entrance, Team Leader Lake paced anxiously.

More than an hour had passed since Luo Qiu and the others set off. The time was not long, but for him it felt like an eternity.

A big shot was waiting for news of him at the station, but he didn't know when the other party would call him over for questioning.

Just as he felt he had to do something, a light suddenly shone from the depths of the tunnel.

Ten minutes later, Lake finally met Luo Qiu and the others, who were covered in dust and dirt.

Along with him came a half-sack of rat carcasses, the largest of which was bigger than his shoe.

Seeing this, Lake didn't frown at all; instead, he happily pulled Luo Qiu aside.

"What happened inside?"

"You see, these are the rats. It took us a lot of effort to get rid of them."

"We smoked them there, and a huge pile of dead rats came out. I picked out about a dozen, that should be enough to get by, right?"

"Are you sure they attacked the homeless man?"

"It's pretty much true. These rats seem to be quite clever. We saw a rat carcass in the middle of the tunnel that Old Nick had stepped on; maybe it was these rats taking revenge."

"So what if the rats are smart...? As long as nothing else goes wrong for a while, that's fine. A big shot is coming soon, Luo Qiu, you'll have to cooperate..."

As Lake spoke, he gradually raised his head, regaining his usual composure.

Then, he waved his hand and strode towards the station.

……