Chapter 177 Countless Rats
Before the scream had died down, more screams of terror were heard, including those of women and children, accompanied by men's curses.
The Light Team standing outside the door looked at each other in confusion. Shu Li raised his hand, not knowing whether to knock or not.
There were screams coming from inside the door, and the scene seemed very chaotic.
“Aa ...
The wealthy businessman's neighbors opened their doors, poked their heads out, and complained angrily, "Can't you just leave us alone? They scream all day, every day, how come they haven't hurt their throats? I told you to move out, but you still refuse to leave! Why are there rats in your house and not mine? You black-hearted Rams, they must be scamming people out there and must be cursed by the gods!"
After the complaint was over, the man saw the people standing in front of the rich businessman's door and asked in surprise, "Who are you? What are you doing here?"
Ace said politely, "Hello, we are magic apprentices sent by the Magic Association. We have accepted the mission issued by Master Ram to eliminate the rat infestation."
"What? He actually hired a magician?" The neighbor was shocked. He counted them and found seven, which was even more incredible. He mocked, "Ram finally willing to spend a lot of money to hire a magician? Seven of them at once. Wow, that must cost at least a thousand gold coins, right?"
"Not a thousand gold coins," Budno answered honestly. "The reward for this mission is a hundred gold coins."
"What? Seven magicians were hired with only a hundred gold coins?" the neighbor was shocked.
"We are magic apprentices and have not yet been promoted to magicians," said Budno.
For ordinary humans, anyone holding a magic wand and wearing a magic robe is a "magician". They do not know the difference between a magician and a magic apprentice.
Budno's words caused his neighbors to misunderstand him. "Oh, you're not magicians? No wonder it's so cheap. Tsk tsk, it looks like Ram's money is going to go down the drain again."
After saying this, the neighbor slammed the door.
The disliked Team of Light was in a state of embarrassment.
"Too... too much!" Dizio's face flushed. A high-ranking mage, actually being looked down upon.
But now I am disguised as a magic apprentice and cannot tell the truth.
So angry!
Angel quickly stroked his fur. "He doesn't understand. Let's not argue with him!"
Dixie blew out two puffs of air from his nostrils, strode to the door of the wealthy merchant, and said to Shu Li, "I'll knock on the door."
Shu Li took a step back and made room.
Discio raised his hand and slammed the door hard.
"Bang, bang, bang—bang, bang, bang—"
"Mr. Ram, open the door, we are magic apprentices sent by the Magic Association!"
“Bang, bang, bang—”
After knocking for several minutes, the person inside just screamed and cursed, with no intention of opening the door.
Discio shook his hands, which were sore from the beating, feeling helpless.
Budno stepped forward and said, "I'll do it."
His voice was so loud that it could definitely drown out the shouting inside.
Dixio patted his shoulder and said, "Brother, I leave it to you."
Budno made a gesture to him that it was okay, faced the door, took a deep breath, and shouted: "Mr. Ram, open the door——"
The loud sound was deafening, and the children covered their ears in tacit understanding.
With Shu Li's advance reminder, Ace also took protective measures early.
The neighbors nearby were not so lucky. They opened their doors and windows, looked out, and those with bad tempers started cursing.
"Ram, you profiteer, what are you doing?"
"Who is this idiot, disturbing my rest so late at night?"
"Ram, open the door quickly. The magician you paid for is here—"
The Light Squad standing in front of the wealthy merchant's door put on their hoods in unison, hiding their faces.
Budno touched his nose.
He didn't expect that his shout would have such a great effect, and the noise could be heard by half the street. As for the rich businessman, he should have heard it, right?
What if I didn’t hear it?
He didn't want to yell anymore. How embarrassing!
The little goblin was confused.
Fortunately, the rich businessman heard him knocking on the door. As the cursing came from far away, the magnificent door finally opened.
"The magicians are coming?" The middle-aged man, with a haggard face, looked out the door in surprise at the Light Squad wearing hooded cloaks and holding magic wands. He was stunned for a moment and frowned. "Why are there seven magicians? I won't pay a penny more!"
That bearded face showed a mean look.
Shu Li frowned and said politely, "Hello, Mr. Ram. We are magic apprentices from the Light Squad. We have accepted the mission you issued at the Magic Association as a team. I need to make one thing clear: magicians are believers who worship the God of Light and firmly resist darkness and evil. They will never sell their upright souls for petty profits. Since we have accepted the mission, we will not ask for a penny more from you, our employer."
Without waiting for the middle-aged man's response, he took out the task card and displayed the Magic Association badge on it. With a serious expression and sharp eyes, he asked, "Now, do you want to invite us in and solve your problem as soon as possible?"
Ram was intimidated by the boy's aura. Seeing the golden badge on the mission card, his arrogance immediately subsided. He said in a flattering tone, "Please, please come in! The rats are coming out in droves again. We have no peace every day. We can't eat or sleep well. It's miserable!"
Everything is fine as long as there is no extra money. No matter how many magic apprentices come, the more the better.
Shu Li put away the mission card and said to his friends behind him, "Let's go in!"
"Okay!" Budno responded with full energy, and Ram took a few steps back.
He remembered the voice.
It was his roar just now that was earth-shaking and drowned out the screams of their family members.
He made way, and the magic apprentices of Team Light stepped into the door one by one.
The neighbors nearby watched curiously, whispering from time to time.
"With so many magicians coming this time, can we deal with the rats in Ram's house?"
"Didn't they say it was a magic apprentice? There's a huge difference in level between a magic apprentice and a magician!"
"Really? But seven magic apprentices coming at once, combined, are they worth as much as one magician?"
"I wish they could fix the rat problem at Ram's house. I'm sick of hearing them screaming every day!"
"Isn't it? Not only did they not have a good sleep, but we also didn't have a good sleep at home."
"Two years, two whole years. It's so painful!"
"If they don't solve the problem, I'm going to move."
"God bless you!"
As soon as Shu Li stepped through the door, he felt a heavy breath coming towards him, mixed with the smell of corruption, which was nauseating.
He subconsciously covered his nose and frowned.
"Wow, what a smell! It stinks!"
Discio and Amanda were rough and shouted directly. Ram's face changed when he heard it. He moved his mouth and wanted to scold, but considering their identities, he held it back.
“Squeak, squeak, squeak—”
Rats were having fun in the yard, running around openly on the ground, climbing walls, pillars, and railings, treating the wealthy businessman's luxurious residence as their own nest.
Extremely arrogant.
Ram trembled with fear and moved closer to the magic apprentice.
"You...you guys should think of a solution! Every night, they come out of their hole and run rampant in my house. Not only do they steal food, but they also gnaw everywhere. The money I spend on house repairs every month is enough to buy a new house."
Shu Li was puzzled: "Then why not buy a new house?"
If you don’t feel comfortable living there, just move. Why bother spending money on renovating your house?
Of course, it would be a pity to abandon such a beautiful house.
Ram said distressedly, "I would like to, but... alas... I can't move."
"Why can't we move?" Angel asked.
Ram shook his head. "There are some things I can't tell you. Anyway, your task now is to find a way to get rid of all these damn things! Get rid of them all! I've had enough!"
He became irritated, stamped his feet hard, and his face was distorted into a hideous look.
"Ah - Dad - save me - I'm so scared -" The little girl's crying voice came from the house.
Ram came back to his senses and shouted, "Hart, what are you doing? Why don't you protect my poor Cindy!"
He rushed into the house, and mice were running under his feet. He was so scared that he jumped up and down, dodging left and right like performing an acrobatic trick.
"cough--"
The goblins and dragons almost laughed out loud when they saw this.
They often deal with animals in the wild, so they didn't feel scared when they saw so many rats. They just felt that there were too many of them and they were a bit crowded.
Shu Li had never had a good impression of mice, either in the past or now. His scalp tingled, and he turned to ask the only human magic apprentice in the team.
"Ace, are you... scared? If you are, try to hide behind me."
Looking at the boy who was much shorter than him, Ace smiled, "Thank you. But I'm not scared."
"Oh." Shu Li blinked. Thinking about how he had escaped the thieves' den all by himself, fearless of the wild beasts in the mountains, and fled down the mountain in the dark, he must have been quite brave.
"Sperian, what do we do now?" asked Desio.
Shu Li said: "Let's split up!"
He and Ace went into the house to take a look, Kumandi and Angel tried to get information out of the rat, and Desio, Budno, and Amanda checked the entire house.
After the work was assigned, Team Light took quick action.
There were constant cries and scolding in the room. Shu Li frowned, feeling that his ears were polluted.
He and Ace walked side by side into the house. The mice blocking the road discovered the stranger and a dozen of them crawled over, making threatening squeaking sounds.
The humans who had come to drive away the rats in the past were all frightened and panicked when they saw this scene. However, this time they miscalculated. Not only did the two magic apprentices remain calm, one of them even greeted them in a friendly manner.
"Good evening." Shu Li spoke in the language of the orcs.
Orcish can be used to communicate with 80% of animals. The mice obviously understood it. They stared with their eyes wide open, so surprised that they forgot to scare the people who came.
Shu Li calmly stepped over them, took a few steps, and looked back at Ace. Ace was equally calm, and lowered his head to speak something in Orcish to the mouse.
"It's rude of you to block the road like this."
This time the mice were not surprised, but were frightened and ran away as if Ace was a poisonous snake or a ferocious beast.
Shu Li asked, "Your Orcish is very standard."
Ace said: "The teacher who taught me Orcish was a half-orc."
Shu Li suddenly realized: "No wonder!"
However, it must be said that as a human, Ace has a high talent for languages!
It took him two years to learn the Orcish language, and many of his pronunciations were not standard. After speaking a few sentences, he made countless mistakes and missed many words.
No matter what, language always gives him a headache.
After they entered the house and walked into the living room, they saw more mice. The three people hid on the sofa and trembled, and the two children buried themselves in their mother's arms, terrified.
Ram and two men dressed as servants held bats and sticks in their hands and kept beating the rats that tried to approach them.
Seeing the magic apprentice coming in, he pleaded, "Think of a solution quickly! These damn rats bite people. Not only do they steal our food, they even want to gnaw on our children's hands!"
Seeing how pitiful they truly were, Shu Li raised his magic wand and chanted a wind spell: "Great Wind God Wendis Inol, I am Sperien, your faithful follower. I beg you to command the element of wind to gather around me and build a defensive air wall for me."
As the spell fell, a green light condensed in front of the magic wand. He waved the magic wand, and the green light turned into a strong wind, circling around the sofa and turning into a transparent air wall, blocking all the mice outside.
The mouse circled around the air wall, squeaking and struggling, but it couldn't get through and could only stare blankly.
When Ram and his family found that the rats were blocked, their tense nerves finally relaxed and they cried with joy.
"Thank you, sir—"
Shu Li put down his magic wand and said, "You're welcome. It's just a piece of cake."
Ram sat down on the sofa, looking tired.
The two children hiding in their mother's arms cautiously poked their heads out and looked curiously at the magician who helped them.
The magic is so powerful. Just by reciting a spell, the mice are separated.
Ram's wife pointed at him and cursed, "I told you to hire a magician a long time ago, but you just wouldn't spend the money! Look, a problem that a magic apprentice could solve has been delayed for two years! For the past two years, my children and I have been living in fear every day. I'm almost going crazy. Do you know that?"
Being scolded by his wife in front of outsiders, Ram frowned and waved his hand, saying, "Alright, alright, stop talking! Didn't I invite a magic apprentice?"
"There were seven of them in total, and it only cost a hundred gold coins." He added, with a hint of pride in his words.
Shu Li: ...
He is indeed a profiteer, his calculations are really loud.
"Seven?" His wife was stunned. She had never imagined her stingy husband could hire seven magic apprentices for just one hundred gold coins. Her expression softened instantly. She let go of the two children, pulled out a delicate handkerchief, and wiped the tears from her eyes.
"My Lords, you must help us get rid of these rats today. I've been scared for two years and I'm almost sick."
Shu Li couldn't help but raise her delicate eyebrows.
It is true that if you are not from the same family, you will not enter the same door.
When the lady found out that her husband had gotten a great deal, her attitude improved.
"Then, I want to ask, when did mice appear in your house? Were there many of them at the beginning?" Shu Li asked.
Ram sighed and said, "They appeared two years ago. At first, there were only two or three. I had the servants put rat poison, and they all died. A few days later, a whole group of rats appeared. Since then, the rats have increased in number. Now our house is full of rat holes. There are at least 700 or 800 of them, if not a thousand!"
Shu Li opened her mouth slightly.
So many? Did the mice use the wealthy business as their nest?
He looked at Ace and asked, "What do you think went wrong? Could the first batch of rats Mr. Ram poisoned be the Rat King? Did his disciples come back to seek revenge?"
Apart from this reason, he really couldn't think of any other reason.
As far as he knew, mice were very vengeful creatures. If you killed one, a whole bunch would come.
Moreover, they have strong reproductive capacity, have many pregnancies, and their numbers are large. They can multiply several times in one or two years, which is quite scary.
Mr. Ram's speed in eliminating rats cannot keep up with their reproduction rate, so he is disturbed every day, right?
Ace said: "It is impossible to infer the specific reason based on this information alone."
Shu Li nodded. "That's true. Let's discuss this together after Kumandi and the others finish their investigation."
Ace looked at the dejected wealthy businessman and said in a low voice, "Excuse me, when we first entered the yard, we smelled a foul odor. I wonder where it came from?"
Ram was about to answer when his wife said, "It's a dead rat!"
"Rat corpses?" Shu Li was confused. "Did you bury the dead rats in your yard?"
How much must have been buried for the whole yard to be filled with a foul smell?
Don’t they find it smelly living here?
Ram glared at his wife and explained with a twitch of his lips, "I originally threw the dead rats out into the wild, but the next day, they were back in the yard. No matter how many times I threw them out, they would always be back the next morning. I had no choice but to bury the dead rats in the yard."
If you bury too many, won’t it start to smell foul?
Shu Li frowned. Why did this seem so strange? It didn't seem like something a normal animal would do.
He had specifically used his perception to observe that these mice were ordinary animals, not monsters.
Ace, holding his magic wand, stepped out of the air wall and looked around the entire hall. For some reason, the arrogant rats avoided him and ran away in all directions.
After walking around, he came back and asked the rich businessman, "How long did it take you to build this house?"
Ram said: "Two and a half years."
His wife continued, "Originally this was a dilapidated house. We bought the land, demolished the house, and rebuilt it. It cost us over two hundred gold coins to rebuild it."
Ace nodded. "So, how long after you built the house did the rats appear?"
Ram frowned and thought for a moment before answering, "Two months later."
Shu Li asked, "Who sold you the land? Is he still in the village? And was his old house infested with rats?"
"It's Kerr, that bastard!" Ram cursed. "The old house had been vacant for five years. Kerr moved elsewhere and squandered all his family's wealth before selling it to me along with the land. I paid twenty gold coins, thinking I'd gotten a good deal. Little did I know that my real suffering had only just begun."
His wife sighed: "Kerr moved to another town, leaving us here to suffer and be laughed at by the neighbors."
Ram was furious, but he also remembered something. "When we demolished the old house, we dug out a beautiful crystal ore from the ground."
Shu Li's eyes lit up and he asked, "What crystal ore?"
Ram described it as "dark black, shaped like a bauhinia flower, and covered with thorns."
Ace said, "It's Dark Moonstone."
Shu Li looked at the blond magic apprentice with sparkling eyes. "You actually knew that?"
It’s amazing that I can tell the name of the crystal ore just by listening to the description.
He thought he had learned a lot about the types of minerals, but he had never heard of Dark Moon Stone.
A smile flashed in Ace's green eyes as he explained, "Dark Moonstone is a specialty of the Woba Grand Canyon. It's hidden deep underground, three thousand meters below the ground, and its production is extremely rare. High-level monsters are guarding the mining area. If the adventure team wants to mine, they must first defeat the seventh or eighth level monsters."
Shu Li was shocked.
The difficulty of obtaining this dark moonstone is no less than that of top-level sunstone!
"So, what's the use of it?"
Ace's expression suddenly turned serious. "As the name suggests, Dark Moonstone is a product of darkness. While it can temporarily boost strength, it can easily be tainted by the power of darkness, leading to sanity loss. The mining area is primarily guarded by dark-type monsters, who are highly aggressive, ferocious, and aggressive."
Shu Li's eyes widened. "So, the Dark Moon Stone isn't a good thing!"
He turned to Ram and asked, "What did you do with that Dark Moon Stone?"
After hearing what they said, Ram's forehead broke out in a layer of sweat. He hesitated and said, "I...I sold it."
When he dug out the crystal ore from the ground, he thought he had made a fortune. Without giving it much thought, he immediately packed it into a box and sent it to the auction house in Daoto City for auction overnight.
As he expected, the crystal ore was worth a lot of money. It was sold for 10,000 gold coins. After deducting the auction house's commission, he still had 7,000 gold coins left. He went home happily.
With seven thousand gold coins, his business grew bigger and bigger and he made more money.
This is also the reason why he is reluctant to move.
He believed that this was a land that made money, and that if he moved away, his fortune would disappear. As long as he could make a lot of money, he would tolerate the rats.
So what if outsiders laughed at him? Did they earn as much as he did?
What a bunch of poor bastards!
Ram thought with disdain.
Shu Li was speechless when she heard his answer. He was indeed a businessman, greedy for money.
At this moment, footsteps were heard outside the door, and the little friends came back one after another.
The first to enter were Kumandi and Angel. After seeing the situation in the hall, they walked straight to the air wall of the sofa without asking any questions.
"Sperian, we've asked hundreds of mice and finally got some information." Angel glanced at Ram. "One of the older mice told us that the treasure in their cave was stolen by Mr. Ram."
Kumandi looked directly at Ram, who looked embarrassed, and said, "A few of the leading rats tried to steal the treasure back, but Mr. Ram poisoned them. Unwilling to give up, they sent out another group of rats. As you can imagine, they were also killed."
Shu Li said: "This is indeed a case of revenge!"
It seems that his previous guess was correct.
Ram waved his hand and said, "That doesn't make sense! They are just ordinary animals. I am a human. I found the Dark Moon Stone, so it is mine. Why would they sneak into my house and steal things? Who wouldn't scream and kill a mouse when they see one?"
His wife pointed at his forehead and said angrily, "I told you not to touch anything! That crystal ore was clearly buried underground by someone else, and that statue too, you can't move it!"
"What statue?" Shu Li asked after hearing the key words.
Before the woman could answer, Desio, Budno, and Amanda entered the room, looked around, and excitedly reported their findings to the captain.
Dixio: "There are a lot of dead rats buried in the front and back yards of this house."
Budno: "There's a huge pit in the backyard, filled with dead rats. It's disgusting!"
Amanda: "There's a little house in the backyard with a statue in it."
Dizio: "Strangely enough, the heart of the statue is hollow."
Budno: "The hut has the most rats, and there are many newborn rats... I suspect there are tens of thousands of rats in Mr. Ram's entire house."
Amanda: "They don't leave the fence. They just hang around in the yard."
Shu Li got goosebumps when she heard this. She looked at Ram's family and saw that they all had hunched shoulders and pale faces.
"So... can you tell me about the statue?" he asked.
Ram wiped his face and said dejectedly, "Yes, the crystal ore was originally inserted in the heart of the statue. When I demolished the old house and dug the foundation, I dug out the statue from the ground. I thought the original owner buried it there to protect the house - we Dalia people have the habit of burying statues underground to protect the house. The workers asked me not to move the statue, but I was greedy for money and thought it didn't matter. At worst, I could just replace the statue. So..."
He sighed deeply and said, "You all know what happened next."
Shu Li concluded, "The old house hasn't been occupied for five years. The rats probably used it as their nest. The Dark Moon Stone has the ability to enhance the power of magical beasts. Although rats are ordinary animals, if they stay with the Dark Moon Stone for a long time, they will produce offspring with magical powers. You took the Dark Moon Stone, not only cutting off their chance of transforming into magical beasts, but you also poisoned several of them. Doesn't that create resentment? The rats want revenge on you and want to drive you away. However, for some unknown reason, you refuse to leave."
"So that's how it is!" After hearing the whole story, Discio no longer sympathized with Ram's family.
From the mouse's perspective, the Ram family destroyed its nest, robbed its treasures, and killed its companions. Their crimes are extremely heinous.
Ram retorted unconvincedly, "I paid a lot of money to buy this land! The rats are the ones who illegally occupied it!"
Kumandi calmly relayed, “The mouse made a request to Mr. Ram.”
"What request?" Ram was stunned.
"Move away from here," Kumandi said.
"Impossible!" Ram refused without a second thought.
His wife and children asked, "Why not?"
"Dad, I can't stand it anymore. Can we move?"
"Yeah! Leave this place to the mice!"
Ram was furious and roared, "What do you know? If you move out, my fortune will be gone!"
"Fortune?" Angel tilted his head and looked at Ram curiously. "Why did my fortune disappear after I moved away?"
Ram pulled at his hair, looking ten years older. "Since moving here, I've been making more and more money, and my business is going great. If I move away, I'll lose all my money..."
"You're being superstitious... cough..." Shu Li corrected himself, "What I'm saying is, wealth is something too mysterious and can't be forced. Your business is going well and you're making a lot of money, so why isn't it because you're capable?"
"Yes, although you are a bit stingy, you are good at doing business with no cost." Angel grinned.
I really don't know whether this is a compliment or an insult.
The woman said bitterly, "If I have to suffer this torture every day just for money, I would rather not have so much money!"
"Yes, Dad, I want to sleep well every day."
"I don't want my toes to be chewed by mice, wuwuwu——"
"Master, we...we can't bear it either." The two servants said cautiously.
Ram looked at the seven magic apprentices with a sullen face and said angrily, "I asked you to come here to deal with the rats, not to ask me to move!"
Otherwise, why would he spend a hundred gold coins to issue a task?
Shu Li cleared his throat and said, "Of course, we need to understand the cause and effect first before we can effectively solve your rat problem."
Otherwise, it will only treat the symptoms and not the root cause.
Ace suggested, "Why don't we go to the backyard and look at the statue first."
Shu Li thought for a moment and said, "Okay."
So, Team Light left the living room, walked around in a big circle, and came to the backyard. The smell in the backyard was much worse than the front yard, and the stench was overwhelming.
Shu Li covered his nose, avoided the swarms of rats, and walked towards the small house built in the corner.
The mice were wary of them, but due to some terrible intimidation, they dared not approach and watched the invaders open the door of the hut.
It was pitch black inside the hut and I couldn't see anything.
Shu Li skillfully recited a light magic spell, and a ball of light appeared in front of the magic wand, instantly illuminating the hut.
Suddenly a light source appeared, and the mice in the house became agitated. Seeing the groups of mice and the large number of hairless little mice, Shu Li subconsciously stepped back.
"careful."
His back hit Ace's chest.
"Sorry."
Shu Li turned around and said embarrassedly.
"It's okay." Ace said gently, took the glowing magic wand in his hand, stepped into the hut, and the mice retreated like flowing water.
He raised his magic wand, illuminating the two-meter-high statue clearly.
Shu Li observed carefully and found that the statue was lifelike. It was a man wearing gorgeous clothes, holding a scepter, with drooping eyelids, and no expression of sadness or joy.
As Dizio said, its chest is empty.
"Who is this statue?" he murmured. Why did he feel that the statue looked familiar?
Ace had his back to him, a cold expression on his handsome face.
"It's the Dark God Miroka Hodhe."
His voice was calm, without a trace of fluctuation.
"hiss--"
Several gasps were heard at the scene.
The goblins and dragons were shocked.
The finely carved stone statue in front of me turned out to be the god of darkness, Miroka Hodhe!
So the question is, why is there a statue of the God of Darkness buried in a dilapidated house in a remote town?
Did the original owner know?
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