Star Hunter

Chapter Thirty-Eight: They Want Revenge

Shute didn't say anything about Xilin's silence. Since the start of the operation, Xilin hadn't said much. He just felt that the boy was too quiet and that young people should be more lively and cheerful.

"Xilin, don't worry about those for now. There will be people to take care of things when we're repairing the base after we deal with those black rats. We should head to the waste disposal plant on the other side; that's their lair," Schut said, checking the time.

"Wait... all done!" Xilin turned on the instrument and entered a series of commands.

"What is this?" one of the team members asked. The labels on the instrument had been worn away by the black rats and were no longer legible.

"This must be the instrument for analyzing genes or something," another team member said.

"Hmm, this is one of the more advanced analyzers in the Star Alliance right now." Xilin took out a small syringe from his waist pocket, dripped it into a groove on the instrument, then pushed the groove into the slot and re-entered a series of formulas.

"See? I told you to read more books so you'd know something about any instruments you encounter in the future, otherwise people will call you illiterate."

"Pshaw, I'm a soldier. Soldiers only need to know how to fight. What's the point of culture?"

The group members chatted and laughed.

However, Schutt didn't laugh. Xilin's reaction gave him a bad feeling. He had heard Huo Ding say before that Xilin was a very talented person, doing research in the Seven Luminaries Research Department. Now it seemed that this kid really had real skills; he repaired this instrument in less than five minutes, and his technique was expert. But, wasn't the blood Xilin dripped on the instrument just now from those black rats? When did he do that?

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"How is it?" Schut asked, leaning closer, because he couldn't understand any of the complex things displayed on the screen.

Indeed, a lack of education is truly terrifying. However, as my subordinate just said, as long as soldiers know how to fight, that's enough. Their brains have limited memory; if there's too much information, their CPUs can't keep up.

Instead of answering Schutte's question directly, Xilin said, "Captain, do me a favor and collect some of the bloodstains left by the black rats in the lab, preferably as fresh as possible." Some of the bloodstains were left by the black rats playing around or being injured by the lab's protective system. As long as they haven't come into contact with any drugs, they won't change much.

"Okay." Schutt took the bag of small tubes that Xilin handed him, each containing a sterile cotton swab. He hadn't expected that this kid would even bring these things with him when preparing equipment on the warship.

In no time, the nine people brought over twenty-eight blood samples.

Xilin found several solutions in the lab, processed them, and then analyzed all twenty-eight samples together. Looking at the series of data displayed on the screen, he sighed, "Wait a minute, I'll go collect another sample. Hopefully, I can find it."

"Hey, what's that kid up to?" one of the team members complained.

"I have a bad feeling," another person muttered.

Xilin looked into a cave entrance, took a few pictures, and then jumped into the cave.

"Hey, you!" The team member who followed almost stood on end. That was a rat hole; they couldn't even stretch their fists and feet inside, let alone raise a gun. If a black rat suddenly darted out from below, they would definitely be doomed. Although the life detector hadn't detected anything, in this kind of experimental base, there were too many interfering factors, and equipment malfunctions were common.

The cave was pitch black, and those above couldn't see what Xilin was doing. Xilin removed his gloves and placed his hands directly against the cave wall. The virus carried by the black rats had no effect on him. As he touched the cave wall, Xilin's brain began to analyze the information his fingers were touching at high speed. The DNA analysis data from the tiny traces of hair, dander, and saliva remaining on the cave wall was similar to that of the instruments.

As his fingers moved along the cave wall, they paused at a certain spot. Xilin put his gloves back on, took out a cotton swab from the small tube, wiped the area, and scraped off a layer with a carving knife.

Seeing Xilin emerge from the cave, Shute and the others finally breathed a sigh of relief. That kid really is…

After the samples taken from the cave were tested and analyzed on the instrument, a series of data were displayed on the screen after being compared with the previous twenty-odd samples.

"Just as I predicted." Xilin pointed to the data displayed on the screen and said to everyone, "This is a comparison between the samples I just collected in the cave and the more than twenty samples you collected. These are some data inferred from the genetic material analysis. I won't say much else, but in short, we've been tricked."

Schutter frowned. "Explain?"

"I'll just say one thing." Xilin pointed to a statistic, "The strength of the red and white muscles in the black rats we hunted was more than five times weaker than that burrowing black rat. In other words, that burrowing black rat was much stronger than the black rats we encountered in terms of both speed and endurance. And this is only an incomplete analysis."

"Is the burrowing rat another, stronger kind?" Schut asked.

"Yes, because those black rats we shot couldn't even scratch through the reinforced protective layer beneath this part of the base! I checked those burrows; the claw marks were very sharp, capable of tearing through steel plates. If it were these black rats we encountered, they might not be able to burrow through even in a month. But how long have the burrows in the base been there?"

The group members fell silent.

Yes, how long has it been since the base was captured? Just a few hours!

"Where are the stronger black rats? At the waste disposal plant?"

"No, if I'm not mistaken, their true 'elite' is located beneath the central area of ​​the base!"

Schulte was shocked. "How could this be! They're not..."

Schutz had initially intended to say that these black rats couldn't penetrate the underground protective layer of the central area, right? But Schutz immediately realized that they might have been wrong from the start. They weren't incapable of penetrating; given the strength of the black rats, even the most solid foundation beneath the central area couldn't withstand it for long.

"What exactly are they trying to do?" one of the team members couldn't help but ask.

"Revenge, they want revenge." Xilin looked towards the central area, where the base's core researchers were located.

These were merely the vanguard of the black rats; the true elite had yet to appear. Xilin even suspected that the black rat captured at the research base was also intentionally killed by the rat leader, because that rat wasn't elite either, and was on a completely different level compared to the one that dug the burrow.

Beneath the waste disposal plant lies their former hideout, a place where water and food were found. But now, it's merely a decoy, a pretext for the operations forces to continue wasting ammunition and time.

They used the feint attack tactic very well. In this world, there are far more intelligent species than people imagine.

"If you knew this all along, why didn't you say anything?!" one of the team members said angrily.

"Speak? Without evidence, would you believe me?" Given Xilin's status as a trainee, neither these military personnel nor the researchers at the base would believe him. Since that's the case, he might as well find the evidence himself. Xilin didn't consider himself a kind-hearted person, and he wouldn't do something like offering a warm welcome only to be met with indifference. What did those people's lives or deaths have to do with him?

If Mo Heng knew what Xi Lin was thinking, he would probably be so angry that he would give him a good beating.