Just then, another figure darted out—Shen Ge, wielding a flaming brick, chased after the eerie rat. The vendor street was crowded with stalls and people, making it difficult to take aim as the rat weaved through the throng. If he hurled the brick and accidentally knocked someone out, things would escalate fast.

Not daring to recklessly “launch his brick,” Shen Ge could only pursue the rat from behind.

A man nearby asked, “What’s that guy? A rat catcher?”

“Who knows? Why bother with that?” The woman’s attention was already drawn back to the snacks and treats at the surrounding stalls, the unusual giant rat forgotten.

Evidently, the rat was just a bit larger than usual—nothing uncommon in the south.

Meanwhile, the eerie rat scurried away, slipping into a crowd of onlookers. From a distance, Shen Ge could hear a distinctive Sichuan-style rap looping among the gathered people:

“Rat poison, rat poison, rats eat it and can’t escape! Left foot steps on right foot, tail whacks its own head! After the market, after the shops, remember to bring dinner for the rats! One yuan a pack, one yuan a bag, so the rats won’t fall in love! Where you put it, where they’ll drop, they won’t run more than a foot! Sprinkle it at home for safety, by morning all the rats’ll be dead!”

“…”

In the middle of the crowd, a balding middle-aged man sat on a small stool, two large sacks beside him—one of them still squirming.

At his feet was an iron cage containing several palm-sized rats, leaping and darting around.

The man pulled a packet of pills from one of the sacks and poured them into the cage’s feeding tray. The rats, catching the scent, rushed over to devour them.

While the rats ate the pink pills, the man rhythmically chanted into his headset mic:

“Neighbors and friends, gather ’round and listen! Are rats overrunning your home, nests everywhere you look? Just buy my rat poison, and they’ll drop where they stand! No lies, no tricks, rats are everywhere you peek! Their harm is real—eating your food, crawling in your nest…”

Catchy and rhythmic, his chant soon had the crowd hooked.

As the man’s enthusiastic “rap” reached its peak, the rats in the cage—having swallowed the pills—suddenly collapsed, motionless.

Just as the onlookers gasped in amazement, a massive rat burst from the crowd and dove straight into the man’s sack of poison, greedily chomping down on the “delicious” pellets.

“Whoa, old-timer, where’d you find such a huge rat? If you can poison this one, I’ll buy ten bags!” a bystander exclaimed.

“I’ll take a few too!”

“Damn, that’s one big rat…”

The man’s “special” rat poison was laced with an irresistible scent for rodents, which was why the caged rats had eagerly swarmed the tray.

But in truth, those rats were just props—he’d already drugged them beforehand, and the pills merely accelerated the poison’s effect.

His “miracle rat poison” didn’t actually kill instantly. Seeing the giant rat now gorging itself in his sack, he panicked—if this beast died here, his whole scam would be exposed. Grabbing the eerie rat’s thick tail, he tried to yank it out.

“SKREEE—!”

As the man pulled the rat free, it suddenly gaped its maw wide enough to swallow his entire head. Terrified, he let go, and the rat dropped to the ground. The sight of its horrifying, blood-red jaws sent the crowd screaming and scattering in panic.

A little boy, knocked down in the chaos, lay helpless as the rat lunged for his head.

“Move it!”

Shen Ge burst from the crowd, kicking the boy out of harm’s way before slamming his flaming brick down on the rat’s skull with a vicious overhead smash, sending it flying.

Not the gentlest rescue, but effective.

“Boss, borrowing your cage!” Shen Ge snatched up the iron cage (now full of dead rats) and chased after the eerie rat, dumping the corpses as he ran.

The rat poison seller, petrified and weak-kneed, could only think one thing: Is this the Rat King coming for revenge?

So scary!

I’m never selling rat poison again!

And thus, the street’s greatest rat poison rapper retired from the business.

Meanwhile, Shen Ge—left hand gripping the cage, right hand clutching the brick—chased the eerie rat down the street, his bizarre methods leaving bystanders stunned.

As the rat tried to dart into an e-bike repair shop, Shen Ge hurled the brick with precision, nailing it mid-body.

No time to retrieve the brick, he lunged forward and slammed the cage down over the rat before it could open its jaws. The plump creature filled the cage to the brim.

Shen Ge kicked the cage onto its side, snapped the door shut, and locked it. Spotting the shop’s stunned owner, he snatched the welding torch from his hands, planted a foot on the cage, and torched the rat’s head.

The eerie rat shrieked as the flames seared its skull, trapped and helpless. Within seconds, half its head was charred to a crisp.

But Shen Ge didn’t stop until the entire head was obliterated—only then did the system’s prompt chime in his mind:

[Host has single-handedly slain a Tier-1 eerie creature. Reward: 50 system points.]

Grabbing a nearby cardboard box, Shen Ge stuffed the caged rat corpse inside, sealed it, and carried it away from the crowd.

After the rat’s jaw-dropping (or head-swallowing) display at the poison stall, plenty of onlookers had already whipped out their phones to record. Though Shen Ge had “reported” to the Special Countermeasures Department, he had no desire to become tomorrow’s headline.

Crossing the vendor street, he entered a small park opposite and found a secluded spot. Opening the box, he stared at the rat’s remains as the system’s voice echoed:

[Sell Tier-1 eerie corpse? Price: 200 system points.]

Killing a Tier-2 eerie creature earned 100 points and a random F-grade recovery item, with the corpse selling for 500. But a Tier-1 kill only gave 50 points, no recovery item, and the corpse was worth just 200.

200 points meant two lottery spins.

Adding the points earned at the market and from killing the eerie rat, Shen Ge now had 421 in total.

After a brief hesitation, he decided against selling the corpse. Closing the box, he pulled out his phone and dialed Deng Yuqi.

“Officer Deng, not here yet? If we waited for you to handle eerie threats, we’d all be long dead,” Shen Ge teased.

A pause. Then, resigned: “Traffic.”

“…” Shen Ge could already imagine the complaints the city’s traffic department was about to receive from its own people.

“What’s the situation there? Any casualties? Have you evacuated the area?” Deng Yuqi asked.

Shen Ge replied, “Relax. Everything’s under control.”

“…”

Before Deng Yuqi could retort, he added, “The eerie’s caught. Not sure if it’s fully dead yet. But a lot of people filmed it on the vendor street—you’d better clean that up.”

“Understood. I—”

Huh?

Deng Yuqi blinked. Wait, since when was he giving orders?