This is the real top of the food chain for this grassland.

Such a thought emerged in Lu Ban's gradually blurred consciousness.

He saw that the school of fish did not directly hit the bus, but surrounded the car, like hunters waiting for an opportunity to attack as long as Lu Ban made the slightest mistake.

The mumbling from Lu Ban's mouth seemed to be the key. Even these huge creatures could hardly resist the invasion of the mumbling, but it was obvious that their tolerance was slightly higher. As long as they were not too close, they would not be greatly affected.

I don’t know who will give up first.

While in agony as his brain was burned out, Lu Ban saw a scene that was rarely seen in his life.

In that vast grassland with no survivors, grass over three meters high swayed, and the dark green light was like the sea, reflecting the dark sky.

In the silent grass, countless black shadows emerged, as if appearing out of thin air, and gathered towards the bus.

Those are fish.

Fish of slightly different shapes soar in the sky, just like their ordinary counterparts living in the water moving through the water plants.

Lu Ban didn't count them.

He just looked straight ahead.

In the rearview mirror, Mary, whose throat was torn, was motionless. On her body, weeds were slowly growing, assimilating her flesh and blood into a breeding ground for herself.

Shi Tou's eyes were bloodshot, he covered his ears with his hands, and curled up on the ground, with blood flowing from his nostrils, glasses, and mouth.

Something in the bodies of the two rat men in the car was beating and finally reached its limit.

Bang——

Two bodies exploded, limbs flew everywhere, and dyed the entire carriage yellow.

When Lu Ban saw this scene, he got some inspiration.

He shut his mouth.

The crazy muttering suddenly disappeared, and the entire patch of grass was filled with the noise of the engine turning and the friction of the tires.

In this moment of peace, Lu Ban cried out.

"Throw these bodies out!"

He was shouting at the stone.

Almost at the same time, Lu Ban used a crowbar to press against the accelerator. The crowbar seemed to be integrated with the bus and pressed against the pedal skillfully and was fixed, allowing the bus to maintain its maximum speed and run forward.

He quickly stepped back, picked up the rat man's broken head and threw it out of the window.

When the ugly head flew out of the window, it did not fall in a parabola. Instead, it seemed as if the ground had lost its attraction, suspended in the air, and was soon thrown away by the speeding bus.

In the night sky where no one could see, the head instantly attracted the attention of the fishes. For a moment, the grass was boiling, and more than ten fish gave up traveling with the bus and turned to gnaw on the delicious ratman's head.

Lu Ban continued to throw the body parts of the two ratmen out of the window, attracting the fish to chase and tear them apart in mid-air.

The last thing he saw was Mary, who had stopped breathing.

The body of this middle-aged woman was already covered with weeds, like a young girl surrounded by flowers.

Lu Ban silently said sorry, lifted Mary's body, and threw it out of the car through the door.

Finally, the few fish that followed the bus gave up the chase and circled around Mary's body, pecking at her body, decomposing it in an instant.

When Shitou looked at Lu Ban, there was awe in his eyes amidst fear.

"Stay away from me."

Lu Ban said something, raised his hand, wrapped his fingers around the buds emerging from the bottom of his eyes, and pulled hard.

The ivy-like buds suddenly twitched and struggled and squirmed like a wire worm, causing Lu Ban's intraocular pressure to rise and his right eye to turn red.

But Lu Ban showed no mercy. He wrapped it around his hand in circles and pulled the new sprout out completely.

The new sprout with tender leaves twisted in Lu Ban's hand and he threw it out of the car.

Back in the driver's seat, Lu Ban picked up the crowbar, sat on the seat, held the steering wheel with his left hand, and pulled his left upper arm with his right hand. He pulled out the grass and trees sticking out of the wound bitten by the rat man in the same way and threw them out of the window.

At the same time, the whispers from the distant stars sounded again from Lu Ban's mouth.

“■■■■■——”

The plants on his body that were waiting for an opportunity to move began to shake and tremble, and stopped growing. He didn't know if it was an illusion, but even the fluorescence of the grass around the bus and on the roadside began to dim.

Shitou sat in the last row, covered his ears, and tried hard to endure Luban's muttering.

Lu Ban saw that the fluorescence had disappeared not far ahead.

For the first time, he wished so much to see darkness.

A moment later, the bus drove out of the grassland.

In other words, Lu Ban saw that the grassland was shrinking.

It moved towards the area on the left side of the bus like a living creature.

"I see... Just like the rat tides move regularly, this grass will also move on its own."

"The unusually active grass, soil, air, and fish form a special ecosystem."

"Rat people... took advantage of this ecology?"

Lu Ban stopped mumbling and started thinking before his brain cooled down.

"These ratmen themselves don't seem to be affected by the grass, just like the fish. Could it be that some kind of symbiosis has been formed between the two?"

"The ratmen are responsible for attacking passing vehicles, and the grass digests them, which eventually become nutrients for the fish. And the nutrients needed by the grass perhaps come from the fish flying in the sky?"

In the wilderness of the abandoned city, these ecosystems seem to be self-contained.

Lu Bandao could understand why "Hound", a bounty hunter, and Mary, a biologist, had no knowledge or warning about this grassland.

Because I'm afraid that among the travelers who have witnessed this strange "creature", no one has survived yet.

"You're lucky."

Thinking of this, Lu Ban said to Shi Tou who was curled up in the passenger seat.

"You are witnessing a unique ecological structure in this ruin."

"Lucky?"

Shitou found Lu Ban's words unbelievable.

Lu Ban's mumblings still lingered in his mind. He always felt that there was a voice echoing in his ears, and some knowledge that Stone did not understand was trying to change the structure of his brain.

This made Shitou's face turn pale, as if he was carsick. He wanted to vomit, but there was nothing in his stomach.

"…I read in a book before that rat people were originally humans."

In an attempt to ease the pain, Stone recalled what he had read.

"They once owned a city, back when the Wasted City was not yet a Wasted City."

"That city is even more glorious, more prosperous, and more lively than the Wasted City. It is truly a city of hope."

"They relied on the mine in the center of the city to dig out rare ores, using these ores as fuel to build huge machines."

As he spoke, Shitou's tone became calmer, and the pain seemed to fade away. He could feel that his confession and memories were reaching some kind of harmonious consensus with the incessant chatter in his head. He even felt so wonderful that he wanted to pour out all that was on his mind at once.

"But they dug down and dug down and finally they unearthed something terrible."

"Overnight, the entire city collapsed and became a ruin."

"People thought the city had been hit by a disaster and no one survived, but in fact, they all survived."

"Survived, and was controlled by that terrible thing, turning into a creature that cannot see the sunlight."

"They became rat-men."

Hearing this, Lu Ban turned his head slightly.

He saw that the young man, whose face was covered in blood and who had experienced a life-and-death adventure in his longing for the abandoned city, now had a cold and weird smile on his face.