Chapter 133: Rat Extermination
There are many styles of mousetraps, and the one made by Sun Haiyun is just one of them.
"The logistics department is also making mousetraps, but the quantity is limited and each company can only buy five. It requires materials and craftsmanship. The ones they make are the kind that can catch mice and can only catch one mouse at a time."
"Do you want to buy it? If so, I can order it for you when I'm at work." Fu Baiwei looked at Xia Xiaoman.
"Is it a mousetrap with sharp teeth?" Xia Xiaoman asked.
Fu Baiwei nodded and said, "It's quite expensive. Five kilograms of rice can be exchanged for one." After all, it is an iron product, so it is normal to have a high price.
Xia Xiaoman thought for a moment and said, "Please buy five for me!"
This type of mousetrap can not only catch mice, but can also be reused as a trap, and is very cost-effective.
"Okay, I'll order it for you tomorrow. But it may take a week or two to get it. There are a lot of people in the community ordering mousetraps, and the logistics department has to find materials and make mousetraps, so they are too busy." Most of the time was wasted on finding materials.
"I'm not in a hurry to use it. I can use your mousetrap during this period. If there's nothing else, I'll go back first and give you the materials for making the mousetrap tomorrow." After Xia Xiaoman finished speaking, he got up and went home.
I've been away from home for so long, and I don't know if any mice have entered the house.
While walking on the road wearing waders, a red-eyed, pointed-mouthed rat suddenly rushed out of the haze and bumped into Xia Xiaoman's feet.
Before Xia Xiaoman could react, the sharp-mouthed rat climbed up frantically and bit the shoe hard, as if in revenge for the shoe blocking its way.
Xia Xiaoman's heart tightened, and he immediately raised his foot to shake off the sharp-mouthed rat, then stepped on the sharp-mouthed rat to death.
After being attacked by the sharp-mouthed rat, Xia Xiaoman didn't dare to stay outside any longer and walked home quickly. When she got home, she took off her water shoes and saw that the sharp-mouthed rat's teeth were quite sharp and almost bit through her water shoes.
It seems that next time I go out, I will not only have to wear water shoes, but also a layer of thick socks just in case.
Wearing thick socks and waders on a hot day will definitely make your feet smell, but smelly feet are better than being bitten to death by a sharp-mouthed rat.
After changing clothes and checking the house to make sure there were no sharp-mouthed rats invading, Xia Xiaoman relaxed and prepared dinner.
The next day, he gave Fu Baiwei the materials for making a mousetrap and buying mousetraps, and after returning home, he stayed indoors.
After the mousetraps were made and Fu Baiwei brought them over, she placed the eight mousetraps in places where sharp-mouthed rats might break in. Perhaps because all the holes in the house were blocked with wire mesh, the mousetraps did not catch a single mouse in seven or eight days.
However, Xia Xiaoman was still worried, so after Fu Baiwei brought the mousetraps made by the Logistics Department, he immediately placed them in the sewer, next to the windows and at the door.
Fu Baiwei saw her fearful look and sneered, "You are too cautious! You have made your home airtight, and yet you still bought so many traps."
Xia Xiaoman said, "There's nothing I can do. I only have one life, so I have to be careful."
"Soon you won't have to be so careful. Floating City has issued a new notice that 10 sharp-beaked rat corpses can be exchanged for one pound of food. Many people have been catching rats on the streets these past two days. It won't be long before the sharp-beaked rats disappear from our floating city."
Hearing Fu Baiwei's words, Xia Xiaoman was stunned. "If the higher-ups let ordinary people catch sharp-mouthed rats, wouldn't there be more people who are not afraid of death?"
Fu Baiwei spread her hands and said, "Who knows what the higher-ups are thinking? Anyway, we in Shuiyue Bay will not catch mice for a pound or two of food. Grandpa Luo has already warned us seriously."
Fucheng wanted to exterminate rats, but they had no tools or rat poison, so they could only rely on manpower. But they were already short of manpower, so where could they find manpower to exterminate rats?
Money can move people's hearts.
There is no conflict of interest. The people in the floating city will only be careful to protect themselves from being bitten by sharp-mouthed rats. As for the problem of the infestation of sharp-mouthed rats, what does it have to do with them?
But once interests are involved, some people will be willing to take risks to kill rats.
In the eyes of many rat extermination experts, 10 sharp-mouthed rats for one kilogram of food is like giving them food for free. As soon as the news was released, many people took their tools to the streets to catch sharp-mouthed rats.
As a result, the floating city's trading point and medical station became two popular places.
After catching a bunch of sharp-mouthed rats, those who were not bitten all rushed to the trading point to exchange for food. Those who were bitten during the process of catching sharp-mouthed rats were all sent to the medical station.
But even though many people died from the bites of sharp-mouthed rats, there were still many people who sought to catch sharp-mouthed rats in exchange for food. They were lucky enough to think that they would not be so unlucky to be bitten by rats, but some people were so unlucky.
For a time, the medical station was overcrowded, and many people were killed by sharp-mouthed rats every day, and the death toll soared rapidly.
However, the Fucheng government did not revoke its decision to exchange 10 sharp-mouthed rats for one kilogram of grain.
Now the floating city has a rampant number of sharp-mouthed rats. At the beginning of the eradication, the death toll is higher than the total death toll. After a while, the number of sharp-mouthed rats will decrease, and the death toll will also decrease accordingly.
If the sharp-mouthed rats are allowed to proliferate over time, the death toll will be higher than it is now.
…
The rat eradication operation lasted for a month, and the sharp-mouthed rats that were everywhere in the floating city gradually disappeared.
However, Xia Xiaoman sensed that something was not right.
The sharp-mouthed rats had only appeared for half a month, and there had been no major actions from above. At most, they had sent people to make mousetraps. How come the floating city was suddenly willing to give out food to encourage everyone to catch sharp-mouthed rats?
The corpse of the sharp-beaked rat could not be eaten or used. According to the past habits of Fucheng, it would never use food to exchange for the corpse of the sharp-beaked rat that had no use at all.
Don't say it's to kill rats as soon as possible to protect the public's safety. If that's the reason, why didn't they take action when the sharp-mouthed rats first appeared? Why wait until the sharp-mouthed rats become a disaster before killing rats?
Before she could figure out the reason, Fucheng sent out another notice.
"Please be advised, all property owners! Please be advised, all property owners! The Floating City officials are forcing all citizens to participate in the sewer cleaning work."
"Tomorrow morning at 7 o'clock, someone will come to the community to count the number of people and arrange work. All owners are requested to gather at the entrance of the community at 6:40 tomorrow morning and bring your personal identification!"
The loudspeaker carried by the patrol team played this message repeatedly. Xia Xiaoman stood in front of the window with a serious expression, watching the patrol team gradually disappear into the haze.
The floating city had seen several major disasters, and even when it was cleaning up the silt and rebuilding after the disaster, the authorities did not require everyone in the city to participate. Now they were just cleaning up the sewers, so why did they suddenly issue such a notice?
The more Xia Xiaoman thought about it, the more she felt something was wrong, and she felt vaguely uneasy.
After thinking for a moment, she changed her clothes and went out, intending to look for Fu Baiwei.
Fu Baiwei knows a lot of people, so she might know some information that others don’t know.
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