Chapter 54 Killing the Rat King

The factory was dimly lit and filled with a strange stench of flour dust and blood. Large production equipment stood silently, with rotting raw materials and dried bloodstains scattered on the conveyor belts.

"Separate groups to conduct inspections! Be careful!" the officer ordered.

The soldiers advanced along the assembly line in groups of three, guns in hand. The Lei Bao squad split up, with Lei Bao personally leading his men toward the control room, while the fire and ice team members inspected the oven area.

Ruan Ning scanned the area with her mental energy and pointed to the raw material tank area: "The energy residue over there is abnormal."

Lin Yan gripped her battle axe and followed, while Zhou Min vigilantly sensed her surroundings.

The raw material tank area was lined with several huge metal tanks. One of the tanks had a large hole torn in its side, with sticky claw marks and hair remaining at the edges.

The flour that was originally stored in the jar was mixed with other ingredients and clumped together. There were many gnawed bones and rat droppings scattered on it, which was obviously one of the former nests of mutated rats.

"It seems the rats have made this their granary." Lin Yan poked the clumps with the handle of her axe.

Zhou Min suddenly exclaimed, "There's something moving behind the jar!"

Before the words were finished, a dark shadow suddenly darted out from behind the jar! It was a mutated rat king, much larger than the previous rats, as big as a small dog, with glossy fur and cunning and ferocity in its scarlet eyes.

It was incredibly fast, rushing straight at Zhou Min!

"Watch out!" Lin Yan took a step to the side and swung her battle axe down! The Rat King twisted its body strangely in mid-air, its claws scraping sparks off the axe, using the force to change direction and attack Ruan Ning from the side!

Ruan Ning was prepared. Instead of retreating, he advanced, his right hand forming a knife-like shape with his fingers together. A highly compressed water blade instantly formed and precisely slashed towards the Rat King's neck!

Sensing a deadly threat, the Rat King suddenly opened its mouth and spewed out a cloud of dark green poisonous mist!

"Water Curtain!" Ruan Ning waved his left hand, and a wall of water blocked the poisonous mist, emitting a "sizzling" corrosive sound. His right hand's water blade continued its momentum, "plop," slicing half an inch into the Rat King's neck!

"Squeak—!" The Rat King let out a sharp, piercing screech. Injured, it became even more frenzied and pounced again, ignoring its wounds! At the same time, more than a dozen smaller elite mutant rats darted out from the corners of the factory and the pipes, joining the Rat King in launching a siege!

"Cover!" the officer shouted. The soldiers immediately turned their guns, unleashing a hail of bullets at the elite rat horde.

Upon hearing the commotion, Lei Bao rushed over and, without hesitation, unleashed a bolt of lightning at the Rat King! The Rat King's fur bristled as it nimbly dodged the main damage, but its hind leg was still grazed by the electric arc, momentarily halting its movement.

Ruan Ning seized the opportunity, condensing her mental energy into a needle, and fiercely pierced the Rat King's mental barrier, which had become vulnerable due to his injury!

The Rat King froze instantly.

"Die!" Lin Yan's battle axe and Ruan Ning's second water blade arrived simultaneously! The battle axe cleaved open the Rat King's head, while the water blade completely severed its neck!

With the Rat King dead, the remaining elite rat horde lost its leader and scattered, quickly being wiped out.

The battle was over. Ruan Ning, slightly out of breath, looked at Lei Bao and said, "Thank you."

Lei Bao's gaze swept over the Rat King's corpse, then turned to Ruan Ning: "Not bad." His tone was less arrogant than before.

After inspecting the control room and production line, the officer returned and reported: "Good news, the main production line equipment is basically intact, and after cleaning, we should be able to restore some production capacity. We also found some well-sealed raw material and finished product warehouses."

This was undoubtedly a significant gain. The space-age ability users among the soldiers began busily collecting equipment and supplies.

Ruan Ning walked to the Rat King's corpse and used her dagger to dig out a dark green crystal core with mixed energy. She noticed that the fire-type member of the Thunder Leopard Squad was watching her from not far away, his eyes filled with complex emotions.

Outside the factory, soldiers and superhumans dispersed to clear the battlefield and excavate crystal cores from the corpses of zombies and mutated rats.

The probability of mutated mice producing crystal cores is not high; it might be one in ten. Moreover, the energy is mixed. But even a mosquito's leg is meat, and no one will complain.

Soon, everyone's attention was drawn to the dark green crystal core in Ruan Ning's hand, which came from the Rat King and had a significantly stronger energy fluctuation.

The fire-type member of the Thunder Leopard Squad stepped forward first, speaking with an air of entitlement: "This Rat King was killed by our two teams working together, so the crystal core should be divided equally. Or, based on the amount of effort put in, our Thunder Leopard captain's final lightning strike was crucial, so we should take the lion's share."

Lin Yan flew into a rage upon hearing this, slamming her battle axe on the ground: "Bullshit! If Ruan Ning hadn't seriously injured it first, would your captain have been able to land the lightning strike? The final fatal blow was delivered by Ruan Ning and me together! Why should you get the lion's share?"

Lei Bao also approached slowly. Although he didn't speak, his eyes were clearly fixed on the crystal core in Ruan Ning's hand, his meaning obvious. The team members behind him also gathered around, and the atmosphere instantly became tense.

Several soldiers who were digging for crystal cores nearby stopped what they were doing and looked over warily.

Zhou Min quietly approached Ruan Ning and whispered, "Their team is strong overall, and they did contribute in the battle just now..."

Ruan Ning remained calm; she had long anticipated that a dispute might arise.

She weighed the crystal core in her hand, her gaze fixed on Lei Bao: "Our team was the first to discover and severely damage the Rat King, and our mental interference laid the foundation for victory. Captain Lei's lightning strike was a crucial assist, and Lin Yan's final blow was equally important. According to the rules of the apocalypse, whoever inflicts the main damage and delivers the fatal blow has priority in distribution. It's perfectly reasonable for our team to take this crystal core."

Her tone was calm, yet carried an undeniable certainty: "If Captain Lei feels this is inappropriate, we can calculate it based on the number of ordinary mutated rats we just killed. Our team may not have cleared fewer than yours."

Ruan Ning's "Water Needle Thousands" technique cleared out a large number of ordinary mutated rats, which was evident to all. In fact, their team's contribution to clearing out the smaller monsters might be even greater.

Lei Bao's eyes flickered; he had indeed witnessed Ruan Ning's ability to clear a large area. He pondered for a moment, knowing that dwelling on this matter for too long would not only be unsightly but could also jeopardize subsequent mission cooperation. The military personnel were also watching.

"Hmph," he finally snorted coldly, "It's just a Rat King Crystal Core, our Thunderstorm Squad isn't going to be so petty. We'll give it to you this time, and hopefully Captain Ruan will be just as 'reasonable' next time we cooperate."

He deliberately emphasized the word "reasonable," carrying a hint of warning, before waving his hand and leading his team away to continue collecting other scattered crystal cores.

It was a temporary concession, but a grudge was still formed.

Lin Yan pursed her lips at their retreating figures, then carefully took the dark green crystal core from Ruan Ning and put it away.

Seeing that the conflict had subsided, the officer in charge of the area secretly breathed a sigh of relief and called out, "Hurry up and collect everything. We'll assemble and evacuate in ten minutes!"

Ruan Ning watched Lei Bao and the others' retreating figures with a slightly cold look in her eyes.

In the apocalypse, resource competition is the norm, and today's incident was just a minor episode. She was not afraid of conflict, but she also knew that maintaining a facade of cooperation was sometimes necessary before things completely broke down.

However, she would not give up a single penny of the interests she was entitled to fight for.

The team quickly organized themselves, and carrying the valuable equipment and supplies obtained from the food factory, they boarded the vehicle and drove away.