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1. Footprints
After the giant rat left, Lin Shuang slept lightly for another two hours.She woke up before dawn.
It’s not a system alarm, it’s not Su Lin’s turning over to disturb her, it’s the instinct coming from deep within her body—the high fever is gone.The body temperature dropped to 38.5, and the fever was no longer so severe.Gentamicin has a slow onset of action and can be suppressed only a little at a time.
She stood up leaning against the wall. The wound on her left arm still hurt, but most of the redness and swelling had disappeared.There is less green pus on the cloth strips, and the exudate is lighter in color, but it is still wet.The infection is not completely under control.
: My grip is stronger than yesterday, but I don’t dare to use force yet.My left arm hurts whenever I move it.
She walked to the vent, pushed open the iron cover and looked out.
On the metal surface on the outside of the iron cover, several fresh scratches are clearly visible - the traces of the giant rat last night.
" What made her pupils suddenly shrink was not the scratch, but a bunch of gray hair next to it: two to three centimeters long, as thick and hard as boar bristles, with dark red scabs on the roots.
It’s not rat hair.The mouse hair is fine and soft, and this bunch is as thick as a bristle.
"System, analyze this hair."
"Scanning... The hair DNA sequence does not completely match the database, and the highest similarity is that of the wasteland mutant badger. Parameters: Adult individual body length 80-120 cm, weight 15-25 kg, attack method is claws and bites, threat level D+. Habits: nocturnal, omnivorous, occasionally actively attacking humans."
Mutated badger.
She has seen radioactive cockroaches and encountered giant wasteland rats, but this was the first time she encountered a mutant badger.I don’t know whether the badgers in this area live alone or in groups, but no matter which type, a 25-kilogram mutant beast with sharp claws and fangs is definitely not easy to deal with.
What's even more troublesome is that it tried to dig out the vent last night - it was definitely not passing by by chance, it was coveting the basement with purpose.Either they smell food, or they see this place as a potential nest.
The unknown black shadow deep in the ruins last night was presumably attracted by it.
"Besides giant rats, this thing was the one who dug the vents last night." Lin Shuang raised the tuft of thick hair. "The system misjudged. The giant rats came to explore the path first, and the mutated badgers tried to dig through the iron sheet behind - that kind of force is not something that a five kilogram thing can do. "
"Su Lin." She called softly, her tone calm but with unquestionable vigilance.
Su Lin opened her eyes almost instantly - after surviving in the wasteland for a long time, sleep had already become an emergency mode that could be started and stopped at any time.Seeing Lin Shuang's solemn expression standing in front of the vent, she immediately turned over and sat up.
"What's wrong?"
"Besides the giant rat, the ones digging the vents last night also had this thing."
Su Lin quickly walked to the vent, saw the tufts of hair and scratches clearly, and her expression changed slightly: "I have seen the skeleton of a badger in the ruins," Su Lin said. "It lives alone, has a strong sense of territory, and holds grudges. The system only scanned the giant rat last night because the badger was further away and the heat source was blocked."
"What are you going to do?"
"Before it comes back, find the nest and kill it." Lin Shuang's tone was as calm as saying, "I went to pick up gravel this morning," without any hesitation.
Su Lin was silent for two seconds and nodded heavily: "What do you need me to do?"
"It's more efficient for two people to find a nest together. How far can your legs go?"
Su Lin moved her left leg, and the fractured bone still hurt, but after resting and fixing it in the middle of the night, it was much better than yesterday.She walked slowly back and forth in the basement several times while holding on to the steel pipe, and said firmly: "I can walk about a kilometer, but I can't run."
"There's no need to run. Come back when you find the nest. Badgers mostly lie dormant and sleep during the day and won't take the initiative to attack. Wait until it goes out to look for food at night before taking action."
Lin Shuang took out the seized machete from the side pocket of her backpack - after giving one to Su Lin last night, there were two left, and she took a spare one with her.She handed the machete to Su Lin and held the stone ax herself.
"If you meet someone, follow my command. Fight when I say, run when I say, without any hesitation."
"Understood."
The two men untied the iron chain behind the wooden door, pushed open the wooden door, and dived sideways into the ruins.
2. Tracking
The wind has stopped, but the chemical smell is still in the air.
The sun was obscured by thick clouds of radiation dust, leaving only a blurry bright spot on the eastern horizon.
Lin Shuang squatted outside the vent, using a dagger to push aside the gravel, carefully searching for the mutated badger's footprints.
The footprints of the mutant badger are larger than those of ordinary badgers. The prints on the front paws are comparable to an adult's fist. The hind paws are slightly smaller, but the marks of the sharp claw tips can be clearly seen.The footprints extended from the vents, across a beach of gravel, and finally disappeared behind a half-collapsed building.
"This way." She stood up and followed the direction of the footprints.
Su Lin followed closely behind, deliberately muting the sound of the steel pipe hitting the ground. Following the method taught by Lin Shuang, her eyes scanned the front, left, right and back rhythmically, not daring to slack off in the slightest.
After walking for half an hour, Su Lin stopped three times.Passing through two narrow lanes, there is a gravel beach.
Arrive at a relatively open area.This was once a small square, with only one or two-story remnant walls of the surrounding buildings remaining. The ground was covered with gray-brown dead grass, like dry hair, lifeless.
The badger's footprints ended abruptly at the base of a broken wall.There is a hole half a meter in diameter at the base of the wall. The edge is stained with fresh wet soil. It has obviously been recently excavated.
"The nest." Lin Shuang whispered.
She squatted by the entrance of the cave and stretched out her hand to feel it - there was wind flowing inside the cave, indicating that it was not a dead end and there was a high probability of another exit.System scan: The hole is three meters deep and there is no heat source inside.The badger was out looking for food, or there was another exit.
"Want to go in and take a look?" Su Lin asked softly.
"Don't go in. The cave is too narrow and you won't be able to use it when encountering a badger. Make a note of the location and come back at night."
She took out three cigarettes from her pocket - these were the remaining half of the pack collected from the corpse of the looter last night - and stuck them in the mud at the entrance of the cave.
The pharmaceutical factory has priority, and the badger’s debt will be settled when he comes back at night.
Just as he was about to turn back, the system suddenly issued a warning.
"Multiple heat source signals were detected, 150 meters away, moving slowly, number 7, heading southeast. It is speculated to be a human foot patrol."
Seven people.
This is definitely not a regular patrol team - the patrol team usually consists of three to five people, with a size of seven people. It is either a material transport team or an expanded search team.
Lin Shuang immediately pulled Su Lin and hid behind the broken wall, looking out from the gap in the wall.
A team walked out of the ruins in the southeast: seven people, all men, wearing miscellaneous clothes, with machetes, spears, and two muskets in their hands.Two people in the middle of the team were carrying a door panel, covered with rags and motionless under the cloth.
They have a unified hammer totem tattooed on their arms and necks - exactly the same as the three patrols last night, the Hammer Gang.
"They're from the Hammer Gang." Su Lin's voice was extremely low, unable to conceal her nervousness, "Why did they come this way? This is the direction of our basement." Page (1/3)