Chapter 19 : Chapter 19
Chapter 19: A Cornered Beast’s Struggle
The Rat King let out a shrill cry.
The rat tide around them gradually began to retreat, but Tao Xiao’an only grew more uneasy.
The underground parking garage trembled continuously, and chunks of rubble began falling from above.
Tao Xiao’an immediately understood what the Rat King was planning.
“Lu Zhan, be careful! The Rat King is trying to bring down the entire apartment building!”
Lu Zhan frowned and swung his saber. A streak of crimson light slashed out in an instant.
Crack!
In that moment, the screen of light trapping Zhou Hong and the other four shattered on the spot.
“Go!”
Before any of them could react, Lu Zhan activated Glimmering Light Shadow Escape at the Entering the Divine stage and appeared outside the garage in an instant.
At that moment, the entire building was already on the verge of collapse.
Rumble! Rumble! Rumble!
More and more chunks of rubble came crashing down, and in the end, the whole building collapsed.
The entire Anxi Residential Complex shook.
Rolling clouds of dust made it impossible to open one’s eyes. Fortunately, Lu Zhan was far enough away.
Zhou Hong and the others, however, were not so lucky.
“Ptooey! Ptooey! Ptooey!”
Zhou Hong shook his head and spat out a mouthful of sand.
Chen Qing’s face looked awful.
“That damned beast actually brought down the whole building. This is bad. My performance review for this year is probably gone.”
“I had originally planned to be promoted to a full Demon Exterminator, but with this happening, that is probably over.”
Lu Zhan was a little puzzled.
He had only just become an Apprentice Demon Exterminator, so he still did not know how promotion to a full Demon Exterminator worked.
Seeing this, Zhou Hong explained, “There are four conditions for an Apprentice Demon Exterminator to be promoted to Demon-Subduing Guard.”
“First, your strength has to reach the Aperture Opening Realm. That condition is not difficult. Who among Demon Exterminators is not a genius? Given enough time, anyone can reach it.”
“Second, your Merit Points must reach ten. This one is relatively difficult. Ten Merit Points may sound like very little, but every single point is extremely precious.”
“That is because not every mission gives Merit Points. Generally, only the more dangerous ones do.”
“Third, you must have served as an Apprentice Demon Exterminator for at least three months.”
Hearing that, Lu Zhan could not help inwardly complaining. Was that not just the probation period for a working beast of burden?
“And the last condition?”
“The last one is that there must not have been any major incident in your jurisdiction during your promotion period. As long as you are not unlucky, this one is usually not difficult at all.”
After hearing Zhou Hong’s explanation, Lu Zhan finally understood.
Chen Qing had finally met the first three conditions. Under normal circumstances, his promotion would have been all but guaranteed.
Then he ran into the rat tide.
A whole building had been destroyed, and fifteen people had died.
This was indeed no small matter.
His promotion was probably hanging by a thread now. This man really had terrible luck.
“Fortunately, the nearby residents were evacuated. Otherwise, the casualties would have been even worse.”
Chen Qing was still shaken.
“This time, it is all thanks to Lu Zhan. If it had only been the four of us, we would probably already be dead.”
Tao Xiao’an suddenly felt a bit ashamed.
As a Demon-Subduing Guard, she had actually been carried by a newcomer. If word of that got out, it would be rather embarrassing.
Yet when she thought of Lu Zhan’s strength, she had no choice but to be completely convinced.
This newcomer was absurdly monstrous.
“It was nothing. If you really want to thank me, just help me capture a few Demon Beasts alive.”
Lu Zhan spoke as casually as though it were nothing.
This trip alone had earned him at least 3000 Slaughter Points.
A bumper harvest.
The only pity was that although he had killed tens of thousands of ordinary rats, the system did not count them for Slaughter Points.
The speaker meant nothing by it, but the listeners took it to heart.
Tao Xiao’an, Zhou Hong, and the others silently remembered it.
“Lu Zhan, is that Rat King dead?”
Tao Xiao’an looked rather bedraggled. Blood was still seeping from her shoulder, which had clearly been struck by falling rubble earlier.
Lu Zhan shook his head.
“Probably not.”
He had accepted the Rat Tide Riot mission issued by the system. If it had been completed, there should have been a system notification.
But there had been none. Lu Zhan’s expression grew somewhat serious.
Once the billowing smoke finally dispersed, several transformed rats led the remaining rat tide and charged toward the street.
“This is bad. Stop them!”
Chen Qing’s expression turned exceptionally ugly. If the rat tide really escaped onto the street, quite a few people would likely die.
Lu Zhan and the others split into four groups. Each person moved with five police officers.
Venus Hotel.
A beautiful young woman in a red dress was walking out of the entrance with her handbag in hand.
Suddenly, a rat rushed toward her.
“Ah! A rat!”
The woman let out a scream at once.
That immediately drew the attention of quite a few passersby.
A young man with dyed yellow hair saw it, grabbed a broom from a nearby roadside shop, and rushed forward in a single stride, smashing the rat to death.
“Miss, are you alright?”
The young man was just about to comfort her.
But the woman in red grew even more terrified and collapsed to the ground on the spot.
Pointing behind the young man in horror, she shook all over, and her screams became even more frantic.
“Ah!!!”
“A... a Demon Beast!”
The yellow-haired young man slowly turned around. A pair of scarlet eyes was fixed dead on him.
The rat was half a man’s height. Anyone who claimed not to be afraid would be lying.
His legs trembled uncontrollably.
Run!
That was the only thought in his mind.
As for that beautiful woman in red, he had no way to care about her now.
What a joke. That was a Demon Beast!
The moment he ran, the Rat Demon lunged straight toward the woman on the ground.
She turned deathly pale and shut her eyes tightly.
Ordinary people had no power to fight back before a Demon Beast.
Just then, a young man arrived at the hotel entrance. He casually swung his saber, and with each swing, a streak of crimson light shot out.
The two of them were clearly more than ten meters apart.
Yet in the next instant, his figure was already standing in front of the woman, and he effortlessly cut the charging Demon Beast clean in half at the waist.
【Ding! Detected that the host has slain a Demon Beast at the First Heaven of the Aperture Opening Realm. Reward: 2000 Slaughter Points. Congratulations, Host. An additional Aperture Opening Pill has dropped】
【The title First Showing of One’s Edge has been activated. Additional Slaughter Points awarded: 200】
The corners of Lu Zhan’s mouth lifted slightly.
He had come for this Demon Beast at the Aperture Opening Realm in the first place.
He had not expected it to drop something else as well. A pleasant surprise indeed.
After dealing with that Rat Demon, Lu Zhan turned around and went straight to deal with the other Demon Beasts. As for the person on the ground, he did not care in the slightest.
The woman in red stared blankly at the scene before her.
So strong!
She recognized the clothes the young man was wearing. That was the uniform only an Apprentice Demon Exterminator could wear.
But could an Apprentice Demon Exterminator really be this strong?
After about ten more minutes of clearing, Lu Zhan finally finished wiping out the rat tide.
Not long afterward, Zhou Hong came over as well.
“Brother Lu, I just caught a live Demon Beast for you. Take a look.”
Zhou Hong tossed a Rat Demon onto the ground in front of Lu Zhan.
Lu Zhan’s eyes lit up.
With a flick of his finger, a streak of saber aura pierced straight through the Rat Demon.
【Ding! Detected that the host has slain a Demon Beast at the Fourth Heaven of the Qi Condensation Realm. Reward: 400 Slaughter Points. Congratulations, Host. Additional Blank Talent Fragments +2 have dropped】
【The title First Showing of One’s Edge has been activated. Additional Slaughter Points awarded: 60】
Zhou Hong: ...
“Brother Lu, why did you kill it?”
He had thought Lu Zhan wanted live Demon Beasts in order to raise them in captivity, but instead he had just killed it outright.
Capturing a Demon Beast alive was far harder than killing one.
Lu Zhan merely smiled faintly.
“I was only joking just now. Besides, who would raise a rat?”
Zhou Hong froze for a moment, then nodded.
That made sense.
It seemed he had been too hasty.
“Where is that Rat King?”
“I already cleared out the rat swarm in the east, but it was not over there. Is it on your side, Brother Lu?”
Lu Zhan shook his head.