"Ed...?"
Tia's voice was full of surprise and doubt, and she quickly let go of her hand and took two steps back.
At this moment, Tia was wearing a wide golden brown hooded cloak, hiding her figure inside, like an assassin or a magician in a classical stage play.
Where is the lantern in her hand? Ed saw no sign of it and wondered how she managed to turn a light out of thin air.
"As long as you're okay, Tia...what are you doing here? Could it be that you did the body over there?"
"I... No. It's very dangerous here. Stay five steps behind me and warn me immediately if there is any movement behind you."
When she spoke the first half of the sentence, she still seemed to be the young girl in the cafe the day before yesterday, but the second half of the sentence was calm and low, with a reassuring feeling in the clear instructions, just like the style of a leader.
Tia's calm demeanor made Ed feel more at ease. He nodded in a nasal voice and rubbed his sore neck while Tia turned around.
Obviously, there is a high probability that his sister is also an Extraordinary, and she is much stronger than him - at least in terms of frontal combat. Under the current circumstances, it is indeed the best choice to follow her arrangements.
Ed followed Tia's footsteps and walked past the body. It was an adult male, lying face down on the ground, with hideous wounds on his back similar to gunshot wounds and cutting wounds.
Some kind of pink filthy thing could also be seen squirming from the cracks of the wound. Ed looked intently and saw that they were some ugly and disgusting baby rats, with blind and hairless eyes and only the size of fingernails, gnawing at rotten flesh and blood along the wounds.
He immediately covered his mouth and nose and looked away, resisting the urge to vomit. Fortunately, I didn't eat just now, otherwise I might have been embarrassed.
A rustling, rapid squeaking sound came from the end of the tunnel, and hundreds of densely packed little eyes flickered vaguely. Rats occupy every inch of space in the walkways, walls, and ceilings, like a black river.
The food piled up here like a hill, emitting an astonishing rotten stench, and countless rats crawled in and out of the hill, like an ant nest.
Ed identified the ingredients in the restaurant, but most of them were dead birds, swill or carrion. He even saw a mutilated finger.
A red-eyed mouse stopped and opened its scarlet mouth and sharp incisors. The sharp mouth was almost as big as the entire mouse face, making people feel physically uncomfortable.
There was a piercing scream, and then the scream began to spread among the rats, spreading from ten to ten. Until the entire rat group realized the presence of the intruder, and formed a torrent of malice toward them.
Oh my god...
At this moment, Ed can only pray that Tia has a plan ready.
Tia's breathing was also a little rapid. She stretched out her right hand under her robe, and Ed realized that there was no "lantern" at all——
What was burning brightly at this moment was Tia's palm.
Another secret text that I don't know about?
Tia took two steps forward and raised her palms slightly, as if to grasp some invisible but formidable authority. The air stirred by the flames blew up her short silvery shoulder-length hair under the robe, and then The cloak swayed.
Flame, like the flame of doom.
Like a devil's whip burning with hellfire, it swung past, instantly turning the rat tide rivers and carrion hills into scorched earth.
Most of the rats didn't even have time to howl miserably before they turned into a puff of foul-smelling smoke. Even standing behind Tia, Ed could still feel the hot air rushing across his cheeks, carrying a suffocating smell of burning.
The temperature in the passage suddenly soared. It should have been humid and cool in early spring, but at this moment it was better than the hottest summer noon, and it was almost like the boiler room of the factory.
The remaining rats retreated quickly, but Ed seemed to have an intuition that these rats were not fleeing like a biological instinct, but were regrouping in an orderly manner like an army.
Rumble…
He felt the ground tremble slightly, as if there was a rolling stone trap that would appear in old-fashioned adventure novels, rolling in their direction.
However, in the next second, what appeared in front of him completely overturned his common sense——
That is not a huge rock, but should be called "Rat Rock" - thousands of rats' tails are entangled together, and their intertwined bodies form a huge ball of flesh and blood, accompanied by a terrifying stench and screams Rolling towards them.
If it were crushed by it, even a bullfight would be turned into withered bones in an instant.
Tia threw the flame whip, which formed an airtight wall of bright red fire, crackling and blocking the way to Rat Rock.
But the huge ball of death is like the ant ball formed by an ant colony when it encounters a flood or fire. The wall of fire easily burns the outermost mice to ashes, but the inner sphere still rolls forward...
The two tried to retreat, but the "Rat Rock" rolled faster and faster, almost like a steam locomotive running at full power. Even Ed, who was promoted to Extraordinary, was simply incomparable.
"Ed, go! I'll deal with it."
Tia's expression finally showed a hint of panic, pushing his shoulders, her tone revealing anxiety.
Ed felt it was difficult to breathe at this time. The brief intense burning had almost dried up the oxygen in the tunnel, and it might even collapse if it continued to burn.
He must never let Tia stay here to die, absolutely not...
Think about it, Ed... there must be some other way to deal with this giant rat ball.
Destroy the tunnel? I'm afraid it's too late. He doesn't have any explosives in his hands. This rat can break him into bones in less than 30 seconds.
The actions of this group of rats were too disciplined, as if something was controlling them.
Manipulate, manipulate...
I see.
"No, Tia..."
Ed suddenly stood still, turned around, raised his revolver and pointed it at Rat Rock.
"I will never leave anyone running for their lives again."
In the firelight, the huge rat rock rolled forward as unstoppably as a chariot, its densely packed, pea-sized eyes shining with a terrifying and eerie cold light.
Suddenly, he turned the muzzle of the gun, cocked the hammer, and shot continuously at the head of the corpse at his feet——
"boom--"
One shot, two shots, three shots, four, five, six... until all the bullets in the bullet nest are exhausted.
Suddenly, the mice seemed to regain their senses, screaming and breaking free from their tails. Some even broke off their tails and ran around desperately regardless of the blood dripping on them.
Ed opened the magazine, pointed the muzzle of the gun in the air, and let the cartridge case fall freely, making a clanking sound when it collided with the ground. The sound of bullet shells falling to the ground and the residual smell of gunpowder caused the rats to retreat along the outline of the two men, like a river flowing over a rock.
Although his face looked calm, he was both surprised and frightened - this was the first time he had shot someone, at least the first time since he lost his memory.
Fortunately, his judgment was not wrong: judging from the wounds on his back, this man should be being hunted.
It's no wonder he chose to escape into the Rat Trail. The narrow and complicated space and the swarms of rats underground are indeed his personal home. If it weren't for Tia's unique fire ability, it would probably be a disaster for anyone else.
As Ed guessed, this guy's ability is similar to his, and it must also be derived from the "Puppet" secret text.
It's just that the school Arthur studied specializes in manipulating mindless mechanical creations, and the other party is probably able to control a large number of low-intelligent creatures to a certain extent, giving instructions such as "retreat", "attack", and "gather food". Much stronger than Ed, and probably close to Tia.
He knew that as a user of the secret text of "Puppet", he had to concentrate a lot of energy to control such a huge group of rats, and the controller himself could not be too far away. So Ed speculated that the Controller was probably nearby - that the "corpse" was probably pretending to be dead.
As for the young rats at the wound, they were not eating the corpse, but "healing" it. Ancient physicians would also use similar treatments, using artificially bred clean maggots to remove rotten flesh from wounds.
As for the reason why this man was hunted down...
He rummaged around the body for a while, and sure enough he found something strange from the belly pocket of the shirt, an ancient kraft paper scroll with strange and strange words written on it.
"So you became a bounty hunter?"
Tia nodded obediently and said nothing.
That would make sense as to where Tia's money came from...well, that's not too bad.
Ed glanced at it and saw words he didn't recognize at all. Ancient books like this often hide priceless information. It's no wonder that this "Rat King" is hunted down like this.
He reached out and handed the scroll over, and Tia took it carefully and tied it into the inner pocket of her burqa.
"Seriously...Tia, you should consider focusing on finishing your studies first."
Being a bounty hunter is by no means a "respectable" job. Wandering between black and white, you are always facing the danger of your life.
Tia smiled brightly, like a silver crescent rising in the ripples of the sky. Ed knew that she must not have listened at all to his earnest words.
He couldn't help but sigh, after all, he couldn't decide the future for her. At least Tia's calm performance just now can reassure Ed a little, hoping that she knows what she is doing.
He understands that extraordinary people are destined to be unable to live an ordinary life.
The most important thing is that even if she wants to stop her, she is no match for her...
"Ed, can we still be a family?"
Tia suddenly asked, her eyelashes as white and clear as winter rime twinkling.
"of course……"
Ed smiled and gave her a hug:
"You will always be my family, Tia. Whether I remember it or not."
