Chapter 15: The Gradually Expanding Crisis
The continuous low growls made the atmosphere among the group suddenly tense.
However, a subtle feeling welled up from the bottom of Zhong Jing’s heart, making her vaguely feel: this sound seemed to only contain elements of threat and fear, rather than a prelude to an attack.
“Don’t act rashly!”
This feeling was unprecedented, but under the premise that gunfire might cause other troubles and combat should be avoided as much as possible, Zhong Jing still subconsciously let out a low shout.
But Xiao Liu, who seemed to be frightened by the scene before him, apparently didn’t hear Zhong Jing’s voice at all.
He stared intently at a certain point in his line of sight and quickly reached for the C-112 submachine gun on his back.
It was foreseeable that if Xiao Liu were allowed to pull the trigger of this gun, which was not equipped with a sound suppressor, it might add a bit of threat to their initial entry into the JD Ruined City Nuclear Wasteland Area.
Seeing this, Zhong Jing pushed hard with her foot, wanting to climb up and stop Xiao Liu’s action.
But her sudden exertion ignored the fact that what supported her below was not a fixed point.
Si Ling, caught off guard, was nearly thrown forward by this push.
Suddenly losing her support, Zhong Jing could only grip the rough bark surface with both hands, her upper body clinging to the edge of the tree root, making it still difficult to stop Xiao Liu’s action.
And just then, Zhong Jing suddenly felt someone supporting her from below her buttocks.
With a point of leverage, Zhong Jing immediately utilized her agility, flipped over, and climbed onto the tree root, arriving just a second before Xiao Liu aimed and pulled the trigger, and closed the safety above the grip.
“What are you doing…”
“Lower your muzzle, don’t make any threatening moves.”
Zhong Jing reached out and pressed down Xiao Liu’s muzzle.
She ignored Xiao Liu’s surprise and dissatisfaction, and instead looked at the target Xiao Liu was about to shoot.
It was a mutated creature the size of a domestic dog, with messy brownish-black fur.
Two green glowing eyes under its fur stared at them, just as they were staring back.
Its wide-open mouth menacingly bared two sharp, large incisors.
Between the yellowish incisors, remnants of minced meat and blood clots were still visible.
This seemingly ordinary mutated creature made Zhong Jing break out in a cold sweat at first glance.
She recognized this mutated creature.
Its post-war scientific name was ‘Black Rat’, a name combining its fur color and species.
That black skin couldn’t even stop a pistol bullet.
Apart from its tenacious vitality, it seemed to have no special features.
Because it lived in filthy environments year-round, its body was heavily contaminated and had no hunting value.
However, slightly experienced mercenaries all knew: what was truly terrifying was not the individual Black Rat, but the colony behind it.
The appearance of one Black Rat meant that there was definitely a large Black Rat colony within a five-hundred-meter radius, and the number of Black Rats in a colony would not be less than a hundred.
What Zhong Jing and the others had to do was not to provoke them.
These Black Rats fed on carrion.
As long as there was no food shortage or they were not provoked, they usually would not actively attack.
Sure enough, after that Black Rat let out a threatening low growl towards them, and noticing that Zhong Jing and Xiao Liu made no other movements, it retreated a few steps, then turned around and quickly scurried into the ruins beside the street, disappearing rapidly.
Seeing that the Black Rat had no intention of attacking, Zhong Jing breathed a slight sigh of relief.
However, before she could fully exhale, the faint ‘squeaking’ sounds coming from a distance made her breathing stop abruptly, and they grew closer and closer.
The dense, noisy sounds were like being near a beehive.
Not just her, but the other few who had just climbed up also changed their expressions.
They all knew what this meant.
“What are you standing there for! Get down!”
Uncle Lin lowered his voice and his body at the same time, not forgetting to press down on Xiao Liu with his other hand, who seemed to be still in a daze.
The others had also instinctively dropped to the ground before this, to minimize their presence on this bare root surface as much as possible to avoid being noticed.
In the blink of an eye, the issuers of those annoying squeaking sounds appeared within their sight—a swarm of Black Rats.
Large swaths of Black Rats, like a black tide, were emerging from the building ruins on their right, crossing the street and heading left.
Their black bodies almost completely covered the entire street, the closest ones less than a hundred meters away from them.
And watching such a shocking scene up close made everyone dare not even breathe.
Fortunately, the Black Rat swarm was busy with its journey underfoot and showed no interest in the few humans.
Half a minute later, the Black Rat swarm had completely passed, and the noisy, chaotic sounds gradually faded away, restoring the deathly silence here.
The short half-minute felt incredibly long to everyone.
It was a while before they recovered from the shock.
“This is probably… three to five hundred of them…” Uncle Lin slowly got up and licked his dry lips.
“I’ve never seen such a large-scale migration of Black Rats in so many years. That one just now was probably a scout for the Black Rat swarm. It releases pheromones along the way that only Black Rats can receive, leading the colony forward in this way. If Xiao Liu had really opened fire just now, we would probably be in big trouble.”
As he spoke, he patted Xiao Liu’s head, while Xiao Liu squatted aside, holding his head aggrievedly.
Having seen the massive swarm of Black Rats, he clearly realized how serious the consequences of his mistake would have been.
“Stone, how did you notice that just now? Are you very familiar with the habits of Black Rats?” Si Ling, on the side, stared at Zhong Jing with shining eyes.
Zhong Jing’s performance just now had made him very curious.
“Well…” Zhong Jing pondered for a moment.
Si Ling’s question was really difficult to answer.
Even she now thought that feeling at that moment was just an illusion, but she couldn’t possibly say that she had stumbled upon it by mistake driven by an illusion.
In the end, she could only shake her head helplessly, “I didn’t know such a large swarm of Black Rats would pass by either. The reason I stopped it was just… intuition, I guess.”
“Tch.” Crow snorted lightly.
He clearly didn’t believe Zhong Jing’s explanation.
Not just him, but the others also thought in their hearts that Zhong Jing’s explanation was just a perfunctory excuse.
However, no one asked further.
Every mercenary venturing outside the walls inevitably had a skill that surpassed others, which could even save their lives in critical moments.
According to the unwritten rules among mercenaries, it was not convenient for them to continue questioning.
“But now is not winter when food is scarce, and I haven’t heard any news of high-risk monsters appearing nearby. Isn’t such a large-scale migration of Black Rats a bit abnormal? If we enter the JD Ruined City Nuclear Wasteland Area at this time…” Uncle Lin said, looking at Han Nianling, leaving half a sentence unspoken.
However, everyone understood his meaning.
“Continue forward. The plan to collect data in the outer city district remains unchanged.” Han Nianling issued the order without hesitation.
Since the employer had spoken, the mercenaries naturally chose to accept.
They jumped off the tree trunk one by one and continued along the current path.
Han Nianling, who was at the end of the team, inadvertently glanced at Zhong Jing in the team a few times, a trace of suspicion flickering in her indifferent gaze…
The swarm of Black Rats just now was undoubtedly a warning before they entered the JD Ruined City Nuclear Wasteland Area.
Everyone also deeply realized that what they had seen was just the tip of the iceberg of this JD Ruined City Nuclear Wasteland Area.
The real danger was hidden in the deepest part of the nuclear wasteland.
Good luck in narrowly escaping danger would not always favor them.
This made everyone proceed with extreme caution.
The six of them maintained a parallel formation, with Uncle Lin, who had the best firepower and most experience, leading the way.
Crow and Si Ling were positioned a few body lengths to Uncle Lin’s left and right, respectively, to provide fire support in case of sudden situations.
Xiao Liu and Zhong Jing were behind, one in front of the other, responsible for the safety of Han Nianling, the employer.
“We have entered Sector 06. Everyone, stay alert.”
As they went deeper, the surrounding building ruins gradually increased.
Tall buildings and the high concentration of dust in the air blocked out large amounts of sunlight.
Looking up, they could only see a dim yellow haze, and the naked eye could not determine the exact position of the sun.
“Stop. I need to collect data here…” Arriving at a crossroads, Han Nianling glanced at the electronic map on the back of her hand to confirm their current location.
This was the edge of Sector 06, and it was necessary to begin her work for this trip to the JD Ruined City Nuclear Wasteland Area.
As she spoke, Han Nianling carried her black briefcase towards the center of the crossroads.
The other mercenaries immediately understood and dispersed around, guarding the vicinity of Han Nianling for any potential danger.
While on alert, Zhong Jing also occasionally glanced in Han Nianling’s direction.
She really wanted to know if Han Nianling’s work was related to that so-called Witch or the military operation in the dream.
If this could be confirmed, then this trip to the JD Ruined City Nuclear Wasteland Area would undoubtedly be an important step towards the truth.
Han Nianling took out a tripod from the black briefcase and placed it in the center of the crossroads.
Then she took out an instrument that looked like a rangefinder and mounted it on the tripod, adjusting the direction the instrument faced while writing something in a notebook.
After about a few minutes, Han Nianling seemed to have finished this task and put everything back into the black briefcase…
“The work here is done. Gather up. Let’s go to the next location.”
Han Nianling’s voice came clearly through the headset, without any interference, once again proving the technical capabilities of the communication headset.
The reassembled mercenary squad continued to advance into the depths of Sector 06.
Along the way, Han Nianling conducted data collection three times, each lasting about three minutes, and each time repeating the same work content.
Zhong Jing secretly observed the changes in Han Nianling’s expression, hoping to find clues, but Han Nianling’s calm face showed no flaws, making it impossible to guess what she was thinking.
“Turn south at the next intersection, head towards Sector 04A.”
Sector 06 was a long, narrow area in the northwest direction of the JD Ruined City Nuclear Wasteland Area, connecting mostly to Sector 04A.
This sentence slightly lifted Zhong Jing’s spirits.
In any case, the route they were currently taking was the one the Witch Tyrant in her dream had taken to enter Sector 01A of the JD Ruined City Nuclear Wasteland Area.
Zhong Jing became increasingly certain that Han Nianling’s purpose in coming to the JD Ruined City Nuclear Wasteland Area this time was closely related to the Witch.
‘Beep beep beep beep beep!!!’
Just then, a series of rapid electronic sounds came from Uncle Lin at the front of the team, or more precisely, from the contamination alarm he wore on his shoulder strap.
This small, finger-sized plastic gadget was an essential tool for everyone leaving the city walls.
It seemed inconspicuous but was extremely important.
As its name suggested, its only function was to sound an alarm and flash a red light when its built-in sensor detected entry into a contaminated area.
The alarm sounding was not a big deal; protective measures such as wearing a gas mask were sufficient.
However, the location where it sounded was a big problem, a problem so big that everyone once suspected that Uncle Lin’s alarm was malfunctioning.
However, when the alarms on everyone’s bodies sounded one after another, and they realized that every breath of air they inhaled also felt like it was gradually burning in their chests, they finally believed that they had entered a contaminated area.
Everyone quickly put on the gas masks that had long been hanging around their necks.
Zhong Jing also immediately attached a filter canister.
However, everyone’s confusion and unease were not relieved by this.
Instead, with the first breath of fresh air, the contrast in breathing before and after wearing the masks highlighted the severity of the contamination even more.
“Why… is it like this?” Si Ling’s voice came through the headset, and his confusion was shared by everyone.
“This is clearly just Sector 06…”
Yes, according to experience, Sector 06 belonged to the outer area, and the pollution level was not yet so high as to require wearing gas masks.
However, reality overturned everyone’s perception of Sector 06.
The sharp electronic alarm sounds pierced everyone’s eardrums, casting a silent and eerie atmosphere, and this meant only one thing: the expansion of the JD Ruined City Nuclear Wasteland Area’s contaminated zone.