Chapter 134: Gray Rat Model |
The Hand of Walrider consumed a massive amount of energy, draining one percent of Stamina per second.
Bai Mu watched his Stamina drop at a visible rate. He pulled a grape-flavored soda from his inventory. This was part of the supplies Lucy had brought when she was summoned a few days ago; he had stockpiled them all and hadn't touched a single bottle.
A single bottle of soda could restore thirty percent of his Stamina. After chugging one down, his energy levels instantly spiked from sixty percent back to ninety. He continued filming for another thirty seconds before recalling the Camcorder that was hovering in mid-air.
He listened closely. The voices inside the room had ceased, replaced by the sound of chaotic footsteps heading toward the door.
The Doppelgangers seemed to be making their move as nightfall completely blanketed the city. Although Bai Mu was quick, searching through dozens of rooms had still taken him nearly an hour.
Bai Mu retrieved the Camcorder and shimmied down the water pipe to the ground. He was in no rush to review the footage. Instead, he melted into the shadows of the night, taking a detour from the opposite side of the apartment building to make his way back home.
At the rear of the apartment, he found the designated dumpster area. A foul stench of rot and mildew hung heavy in the air, emanating from a massive pile of household trash wrapped in plastic bags.
Naturally, the garbage trucks had stopped operating during this crisis. The accumulated bags had formed a small mountain. Gray rats and cockroaches scurried through the refuse. These incredibly resilient creatures continued to thrive in the dark corners of the city; the existence of the Doppelgangers seemed to have absolutely no impact on them.
Bai Mu was just thinking about catching a rat to use as a test subject. He pulled out his Camcorder and designated one of the plumper, healthier gray rats as his Model.
A rat's Spirit attribute was naturally nowhere near as high as a human's. When he pressed the shutter to take a picture of his Model, the gray rat exhibited a hilariously bizarre reaction.
The little creature actually struck a pose for the camera. It stood atop a garbage bag, chest puffed out and tail slightly raised, looking for all the world like a lone wolf about to howl at the night sky.
Unfortunately, its moment of glory didn't even last a full second. The moment it finished posing, an upside-down glass jar plummeted from the sky and trapped it inside.
Bai Mu effortlessly captured the gray rat. He flipped the glass jar right-side up and tightly screwed the lid shut.
He had scavenged this glass jar from an apartment unit earlier. It had originally held cheese, but the contents were long gone. Only the label pasted on the outside still bore an illustration of cheese.
Bai Mu had premeditatedly prepared this "cage". To prevent the gray rat from suffocating, he had already used his pocket knife to drill several small ventilation holes into the plastic lid.
The captured rat frantically scratched at the glass walls with its claws, but it was completely useless. Bai Mu tossed the jar into his backpack and continued making his way out through the alley.
A dozen seconds later, he stepped out onto the asphalt road again.
At the same time, he spotted several silhouettes emerging from the direction of the apartment building. Judging by their backs, it was two men and one woman. The three individuals immediately parted ways, heading in different directions.
On the road leading closer to Bai Mu's house, a dim yellow streetlamp illuminated a military tank. A dozen soldiers carrying rifles were gathered together, and everything looked completely normal.
The three suspected Doppelgangers deliberately avoided the soldiers and the tank. Perhaps they were wary of the tank's artillery shells. Even if they could withstand gunfire, they still had to steer clear of a cannon blast that could blow a person to bloody pieces.
Judging from this behavior, Doppelgangers weren't unkillable, ghost-like entities. Powerful firearms and heavy weaponry should be more than enough to take them down.
Only after the three figures wandered far away did Bai Mu step out from behind the apartment and head toward his own home.
He also made sure to bypass the soldiers. Sure, they were patrolling with guns, but that didn't mean they were his friends. In the pitch-black night, if a group of soldiers saw a man wandering around with a heavy backpack, they would more than likely stop him for questioning.
Best case scenario, the food in his bag would be confiscated. In a worst-case scenario, the soldiers might mistake him for a Doppelganger and arrest or execute him on the spot. He couldn't rely on the soldiers having an unyielding sense of justice; they were individuals with their own minds, merely following orders from the higher-ups.
Any group had its share of good and bad people. Since he didn't know a single one of the patrolling soldiers, keeping a wide berth was the only sensible choice.
Similarly, he had no intention of reporting the anomalies he had discovered in the apartment to the Emergency Center.
Doing so would likely drag him into unnecessary trouble. He would have to figure out a way to explain how he stumbled upon the strange activity, which would only draw unwanted attention to himself.
In extraordinary times like these, it was crucial to draw a clear line between himself and the word "trouble."
After taking a massive detour, Bai Mu finally arrived at the front of his own house.
He deftly unlocked the security door and stepped into the entryway.
Even inside his own home, he didn't let his guard down.
He inspected the wooden planks he had nailed behind the door. Attached to them was a tiny, custom-made trap, a trigger mechanism constructed from nails and thin strips of wood.
If the door was opened incorrectly, the wooden strip would snap. If someone tried to pick the lock or force their way inside with violence, the strip would also break.
The mechanism remained perfectly intact, meaning no one had touched the door while he was away.
After confirming the front entrance was secure, he moved on to check the windows and the arrangement of his furniture.
He had set up similar hidden traps in every corner of the house. Even if a rat had merely scurried across the floor, he would have been able to spot the signs.
This was a habit he had developed after learning the hard way. Once, he had gone out with Da Huang to scavenge for supplies, only to return and find a small, feline-shaped Mutant hiding in his home. It had nearly killed him.
Later, during his inspection, he discovered that a small hole had actually been chewed through the security grate over the bathroom window.
From that day forward, he paid strict attention to these minute details, meticulously sweeping the house three times a day without fail.
Fortunately, everything was completely normal. The house looked exactly as he had left it.
Bai Mu's taut nerves finally relaxed a fraction. He set down his backpack, first taking out the glass jar containing the gray rat and placing it on the small coffee table.
Afterward, he turned on the television to provide a dim source of light for the living room. The upbeat chatter of a variety show drifted from the speakers; hearing the sound of normal human voices made things feel a little more bearable.
Bai Mu drank a glass of water. After bustling about outside for over an hour, his stomach was grumbling again.
Having eaten nothing but compressed biscuits for days straight, even he was starting to get sick of them. Instead, he boiled a kettle of water and prepared a cup of seafood-flavored instant noodles.
A few minutes later, he tore the lid off the noodle cup.
Plumes of steam rose from the hot noodles. A few tiny dried shrimp, rehydrated corn kernels, and cabbage flakes floated atop the translucent broth.
Holding a plastic fork, Bai Mu slurped down the noodles, drinking every last drop of the savory broth. After polishing off the meal, he patted his belly, feeling as though he had truly come back to life.