72: Chapter 72 Departure! Encounter with a Swarm of Rats

At noon, during lunch, Chen Yanshan and Liu Tingquan returned after gathering information. They spoke while eating.

"Captain, besides the Exploration Team from the Tianqi Club, there are three other Exploration Teams still here."

"However, they don't seem to be venturing deep into the area to explore anymore; instead, they are just skimming the edges of the entire meteorite impact zone."

This is the situation when you don't have a Professional leading the team. Without such overwhelming combat power, hunting Mutant creatures is extremely difficult.

A typical Exploration Team usually faces one Mutant creature leading a pack of similar wild beasts. With the firepower of a 10-person squad, taking them down without sustaining injuries is very difficult.

And once someone gets injured, it basically marks the end of that exploration mission. Subsequent medical expenses are very likely to cause the entire Exploration Team to operate at a loss.

Therefore, adopting this current method is considered a helpless choice.

"So, that means we are the only two Exploration Teams actually exploring deep inside," Mo Yuemei said with some excitement.

"There are also the special recovery squads under the Recovery Bureau; they are the ones taking the lion's share," Incarnation said.

"Oh, right."

This is the current state of Exploration Teams after one or two months of development.

Apart from a few top-tier Exploration Teams and the official elite Exploration Teams, the others are basically just tagging along or touching the edges.

After all, for modern people, even the slightest injury is hard to accept, let alone fighting against these Mutant creatures and enhanced wild beasts.

"Any other news?"

"We also found out the exploration direction of the Tianqi Club. They set out the day before yesterday to explore northward. If we count their current exploration route, this northern area has basically been fully explored."

Incarnation nodded, took out the prepared map, and pointed to the two major impact zones on it.

"Although Exploration Teams have walked through this large area in the south, I looked at their previous records, and they basically retreated as soon as they encountered a large group of wild beasts and Mutant creatures. There should still be a large part of the area that has not been explored."

"Especially in this place called Bazi Water; the authorities moved everyone out just a few weeks after the meteorite fell."

"We can start exploring from this place. As of now, we don't need to think about collecting meteorites. The main goal is to find packs of wild beasts led by Mutant creatures. Usually, the Mutant creatures capable of leading wild beast packs are quite intelligent; they will collect the meteorites nearby. As long as we find their lair and take them out, the harvest should be substantial."

Hearing that their main task this time was not exploration but hunting, the others were all quite excited.

Except for Old Zhao and Old Cao, everyone else had seen the Captain's abilities and had no fear of fighting these creatures.

Seeing their excitement and the Captain's confident tone, Old Cao and Old Zhao didn't know why they were so confident, and at the same time, they were a bit worried about this operation.

As old hunters like them, hunting is usually done with traps, and the number of times they can use bows and arrows head-on is relatively small.

Precisely because of this, they are more aware that things like monkey troops, wild boar packs, and some solitary felines are extremely dangerous.

However, both of them also understood that since this Captain could use that 100-pound Compound Bow, his abilities must be good. Their squad should be safe; they were just worried about potential injuries.

After Incarnation finalized the action plan for tomorrow, everyone returned to their tents to rest early and recharge for an early departure the next day.

Along the way, the Exploration Team had a safe journey, wiping out two small wild boar packs, totaling about twenty or thirty heads.

This number was not too difficult for the current Exploration Team.

The Exploration Team just had to wait in the trees for the Captain to lure the wild boar pack over for an ambush.

In the end, they obtained three job-change stones and two meteorites, which was a small gain.

At noon, three days after the Exploration Team set off, everyone finally arrived at Bazi Water.

The dozen or so households in this place had already been completely relocated, and very little was left behind.

Just looking from the outside, there were no traces of wild animal activity.

The Exploration Team did not split up to explore but moved together. In this environment, acting alone is extremely unwise. If they encountered an ambush by a Mutant creature leading a pack of wild beasts, casualties would likely occur.

However, the Exploration Team never expected that as they passed by the houses in the middle of Bazi Water, a large number of rats would swarm out from various houses. Now, it is roughly estimated that there are at least several hundred, and each of these rats is very strong, at least the size of an adult cat.

"Squeak, squeak, squeak."

Seeing this scale, the others gasped. The terrain here was flat, with no defenses, and they would likely be overwhelmed soon.

Incarnation immediately shouted to bring the others back to their senses.

"Follow me, get to the house first!"

After these few days of training, everyone had gained some experience and was not afraid of fighting; they immediately and decisively followed Incarnation.

Everyone found the nearest house, and Incarnation took out his carry-on machete to clear the way in front.

The others were responsible for the rear, preventing the rats from rushing over to attack.

Before long, he rushed to the stairs on the second floor.

In this narrow space, the group advantage of the rat swarm was restricted.

Incarnation immediately adjusted the formation.

"Those in the back, hurry up to the upper floor; I'll cover the rear."

He saw the rats gathering at high speed from all around, rushing toward his side.

With extreme speed, he swung his machete, cutting horizontally and vertically.

"Pfft~"

The sound of flesh being cut came.

The rats that rushed over were instantly cut in half, and blood splattered the ground.

The other rats smelled the increasingly thick bloody scent, their eyes gradually turned red, and there was a faint trend of entering a frenzy.

Just like that, everyone quickly moved to the roof.

After moving to the rooftop, Incarnation quickly killed dozens of rats behind him. Such killing intent scared the group of rats so much that they dared not move forward, and their scarlet eyes became much clearer.

Seeing that the Captain had escaped, the people standing at the door immediately closed the stainless steel door leading to the roof.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, looking at Incarnation covered in the blood sprayed by the rats, feeling both admiration and awe.

Old Cao and Old Zhao, seeing the Captain's bravery, also gasped.

This man was simply Lu Bu reborn, capable of holding off a hundred men alone.

However, before everyone could rest for a while, a series of scratching and gnawing sounds came from behind the stainless steel door.

This gnawing on the stainless steel sheet was extremely harsh, coupled with the frequent squeaking of the numerous rats, which made everyone present extremely irritable.

Incarnation saw that it would take more than a few minutes for this group of rats to bite through this layer of stainless steel sheet.