I was quite puzzled at the time, thinking they were using guns to attack rats. It wasn't until I ran to a corner and saw countless streams of sewage flowing that I realized Liu Yuning and He Xin were actually shooting money everywhere, and their targets were several men wearing some kind of work uniform!
I rushed over to support them, suddenly pulling the trigger from behind!
Since those men didn't expect me to appear, they were quickly eliminated one by one. Upon seeing me, the two women seemed to snap out of a daze and stared at me. They were frozen in place for a moment, but the next second, they lunged at me desperately and hugged me tightly!
At that moment, many rats were stirring nearby, but they dared not approach because we were all emitting a light.
"Husband, I thought you were dead..."
"Yes, Father, how could you..."
"What are you thinking? How could I possibly die? Last night I found Captain Guo, the detective from the case file. He told me the source of the rats was the cement factory, but I searched there and found nothing."
"No way? So what do we do now? Do we have to keep exploring?" He Xin asked, confused, but tightened her grip on my waist even more.
"I'm curious why you two came down here? Was it to deal with these people in the end?"
"Yes, we discovered these people were killing indiscriminately last night. Seeing a few heading this way, we followed them, not expecting to fall into their ambush. If you hadn't arrived just now, we probably would have..." He Xin said.
"Damn it, let's search them and see who these people are!"
Saying that, I crouched down and rummaged through the bodies of those men. Soon, I found their work IDs and identification cards. It turned out these men were employees of the cement factory. Liu Yuning exclaimed in surprise, "Could it be that the cement factory employees are involved in this plague?"
"I think they definitely know about it, and it's possible they even caused the plague in Leicester."
"Father, damn it, but this further confirms that the cement factory is problematic. Captain Guo should be right."
"Then we can only continue to investigate. Oh, right, where are the others?"
"He Sheng, they, they were originally with us to pursue those employees, but we got separated later. We need to look for them!"
"Alright!" With that, we quickly left the sewer, taking the few handguns we found on the cement factory employees.
It didn't take long to emerge from the sewer. We soon returned to the vicinity of our previous inn. Taking another route, we arrived back at the cement factory. We didn't see Xiao Yuande and the others along the way, but we saw footprints on the ground. I knew they should have been heading towards the cement factory. If I'm not mistaken, it was probably the employees who lured them all the way here.
This further confirms that the cement factory is related to the plague. Why? Theoretically, if they didn't want us to find out, they shouldn't have lured us here. But now they've done the opposite. The only possibility is that they intend to use the rats there to kill us directly. This is the quickest and cleanest method. As long as we die in Leicester, everything can be kept secret.
This time, we had no choice but to walk into the tiger's den. We quickened our pace, and with my familiarity with the cement factory and no rats hindering us, we made swift progress. I soon led them to the old site of the cement factory, the place where the generator was activated. Seeing this, they were a bit surprised, as if it was their first time here. Looking at the traces around, Liu Yuning belatedly asked me, "You weren't messing around here last night, were you?"
"Yes, didn't I tell you? I was here before. If it weren't for luck, I might have..."
"Don't tell me such unlucky things. We'll all be fine!"
"I know, let's hurry. If we cross that place, we should find them." At the time, I was just guessing, but this time I was wrong. Leaving our original spot, we walked along many mountain paths, and along the way, we could see footprints from others. As soon as He Xin noticed this, she excitedly said, "They're heading towards the central area. Isn't there a steel tower there? Could that be their destination?"
I didn't answer. I observed the situation on a mountain path and smelled a hint of blood. After a few more steps, I saw the corpses of many cement factory employees. Their bodies bore bullet wounds. I squatted down and examined their pupils: "Dilated. It seems Xiao Yuande and the others killed them. According to the footprints here, they should be heading towards the steel tower."
"These people lured Uncle and the others here and were then killed by them? And then Uncle and the others went to the steel tower for some reason?"
"There must be something wrong with that place. Perhaps they learned some secret from these people!"
I rummaged through the dead bodies. I didn't find any phones or communication devices, but their ID cards and work permits were still on them. I casually glanced at them and put them away, then urged He Xin and Liu Yuning to hurry.
As we walked towards the steel tower, night had fallen. This night, the situation seemed to worsen. After we left the old site of the cement factory and reached a nearby road, we hadn't even stabilized ourselves near a plaza when those red-eyed rats surged out from under a manhole cover like a swarm of locusts. Then, more manhole covers were breached, and wave after wave of rats covered the surrounding ground in less than a minute!
"They're here!" He Xin and Liu Yuning shouted!
"Quick! Turn on the flashlights!" We simultaneously pushed the switches. Several large flashlights emitted blindingly bright light near us. Instantly, the rats that were about to surge towards us retreated fearfully in all directions. They squeaked frantically. He Xin, not understanding their sounds, asked me curiously, "Father, why are they squeaking so intensely?"
"They are fearful. The strong light in our hands... I've actually studied it. The emotions of these rats are related to their squeaks. Rapid squeaks indicate fear, fierce squeaks indicate they are not afraid of us. If they squeak like a 'drip, drip' sound, it means they are very hungry and can't hold on any longer."
"Uh, it seems you've been doing your homework these past few days! Otherwise, how would you know so much?"