The giant rats arrived rather suddenly, catching everyone off guard. These mutated rats seemed to have sprung up from underground overnight.
When Lu Yuan got up in the morning, he heard a loud tearing sound and barking from the big yellow dog in the yard.
He frowned and got up, ready to teach this guy a lesson for not letting him rest properly, but when he went downstairs he saw several large rat corpses at the door.
However, the rats' corpses were covered in bite marks, and each one was bleeding, making the steps a bloody red mess.
Then, they saw Da Huang wagging its tail and dragging a large rat carcass towards Lu Yuan. Yes, it was dragging. This large rat weighed at least 20 pounds, about the same size as Da Huang when it was six months old.
It's said that dogs catching mice is meddling in other people's business, but this kind of big rat is clearly not something a kitten can handle. Only a dog like Big Yellow, with its super abilities, can subdue it.
He gently patted Da Huang's head, and Da Huang squinted its eyes in satisfaction, as if showing off its achievements to Lu Yuan.
Lu's parents emerged from the vegetable garden behind the house, carrying hoes and shovels, their brows covered in sweat. A dead rat was still hanging from Lu's father's shovel.
"Damn rats! I don't know where they came from, but they're so big. They've ruined our vegetable garden. Thank goodness for Dahuang, otherwise even your grandma's chickens and ducks might have been destroyed!" Aunt Lu sighed, holding some vegetables and fruits that had been gnawed by the rats in her other hand.
Meanwhile, Da Huang obediently approached Lu Ma and acted cute, clearly indicating that Lu Ma was very receptive to its charm.
"Dahuang is so sensible, he even knows to catch mice now. I'll make you something delicious for lunch!"
Seeing Dahuang's smug look, Lu Yuan almost couldn't resist kicking the guy. How could he not work hard after eating a golden fruit!
Soon, the homes of residents in Zone 3 were also attacked by rats. Many families said that their furniture and appliances were gnawed by rats, and some even had their food stolen.
That day, Chen Ke sent Lu Yuan a message. After seeing the message, Lu Yuan thought for a long time before he finally remembered who the other person was.
The other party has a three-year-old child. His family used to drive long-distance trucks, but due to the apocalypse, they could hardly get any orders for long-distance business. So he went home and started doing some vegetable wholesale work with his family nearby to make a living.
Hey bro, have you got rats in your house?
"Yeah, we caught quite a few. What's the situation at your place?"
"Ugh! Don't even mention it! I just stocked up on a bunch of cabbages and sweet potatoes a while ago, and they were all ruined by rats! I'm so angry!"
"I guess everyone's been plagued by rats. You'd better build a tin cellar for your food, otherwise the rats will definitely follow the smell there."
Lu Yuan kindly offered a reminder.
The other party replied after a while: "Sigh! I was thinking the same thing, but vegetable prices have been rising sharply lately, and even if you have the money, you can't buy them. A heavy rain flooded all the vegetables, so I'm not planning to get any more."
"By the way, I created a group chat. Can I add you? It's all neighbors from around here. I'm planning to sell some of my vegetables. They're very cheap. If you need any, just let me know and I'll deliver them to your door."
Lu Yuan then understood why the other party had taken the initiative to come to him; it turned out they wanted to get rid of his batch of vegetables that had been gnawed by rats.
"Okay, add me to the group. But I don't need any vegetables at home right now. If you cook some more vegetables sometime, I can take a look."
So the other party quickly added Lu Yuan to a WeChat group called "Future of Zone 3". There were not many people in the group, only about fifty.
As soon as I joined the group, someone tagged me.
Ge Shunshun, No. 6, Bungalow: "Who is this Xiaoshan who's called 'Protect Your Xiaoshan'? Change the group name!"
Chen Ke, No. 33, Bungalow: "Oh, he is Lu Yuan, from the westernmost household in the villa area. Everyone can talk in the group if you need anything. If you want to buy vegetables, contact me. If there are many people, I can help you get some wholesale."
Lu Yuan No. 19: "Hello everyone!"
Helpless, Lu Yuan changed the group name and announced his arrival in the group as if he were a newcomer. The reason Lu Yuan joined the group was more to get some information from it.
After all, he stays at home all day, only occasionally going to Xiaoshan's house, and rarely interacts with people in the neighborhood. This group is very convenient; you can find out some things that are difficult to say in the group.
Soon someone posted a video in the group, showing several people using various iron tools to surround and kill a large rat, more than 30 centimeters long, in a corner.
Song Heng Villa No. 3: "Damn it, those bastard rats ruined over a dozen bags of my rice! Damn it, I should have put it in the safe! By the way, have you guys found any rats there?"
Then a group of people sent in all sorts of videos and photos, all showing scenes of rats being beaten.
This caused quite a stir among the people in the group.
Song Heng Villa No. 3: "Wow, I thought only the rats in my house were big, I didn't expect you guys had them all! By the way, can we still eat the grain that's been ruined by the rats?"
Chen Ke, No. 33, Bungalow: "Song Heng, don't eat it, you'll get sick. If you really want to eat it, you'd better wash it several times. Throw it away if it's covered in rat droppings. There's no need to go to the hospital for a couple of bites of food."
Ge Shunshun, No. 6, Bungalow: "That's right, please don't eat it anymore. I didn't notice yesterday and thought it was my cat that did it. After we ate a pot of rice, the whole family had diarrhea. The toilets outside are really unusable!"
Liu Tiantian, Villa No. 9: "Don't these rats have any natural enemies? My cat Huahua doesn't even dare to catch these rats. I bought several sticky rat traps from the supermarket yesterday, but they were useless and just made glue all over the house."
Chen Ke, No. 33, Bungalow: "These big rats can't grow up in a day. Why don't we form a rat-catching team? We can't let these rats run rampant every day! Otherwise, we won't be able to keep our food supplies!"
No. 3, Song Heng Villa District: "That's right! But people who join the rat-catching team should get paid every day! Otherwise, nobody wants to work for free!"
So everyone started discussing the rat-catching team, and soon they all agreed on a standard.
Every member who joins the rat-catching team receives half a pound of grain and a bottle of water or equivalent money each day. They must catch one rat each day to receive these items, which come from people who want to get rid of the rats in their homes.
After some discussion, everyone decided that all the men in the group should join, on a shift system, while women could also apply voluntarily.
Soon the group name was changed to "Rat-Catching Team of District Three", and the nearby villagers quickly responded.
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