novel bin Chapter 25 Cargo Ship Acquired
Chapter 25 Cargo Ship Acquired
Ouyang Nian instinctively swung his spray gun and swatted the two rats away. "What's going on?" Ouyang Nian asked as he set up his machine gun.
"These two rats were blown up," Di Ting explained.
At this point, the water level was already level with the river surface, and all that was left was to wait for the sluice gate to open so they could leave the rat's nest.
Several enormous rats suddenly appeared, stood up, opened their mouths, and spat out a stream of green liquid.
Ouyang Nian and Tian Gou, who were keeping a close eye on the rats, decisively avoided these large rats that were behaving abnormally. While avoiding the risks, Tian Gou also took the opportunity to launch a barrage of fire.
Several large rats were beaten to pieces, and the liquid that flowed out corroded the ground, causing wisps of white smoke to rise.
"Bang bang bang—" A series of deer bullets flew towards the cable, breaking the cable and the rats lying on it.
Lorraine, who had just seen the rats climbing the mooring ropes from the wheelhouse, grabbed a sprayer and went to the deck to help after confirming that the ship was stable.
"The gate will open soon. Here's the shotgun for you, Ouyang Nian. Go check if any rats have climbed onto the cable." Lorraine couldn't leave the driver's seat for too long, so she handed the shotgun to Ouyang Nian.
Lorraine had just returned to the driver's seat when he heard two loud thuds behind him, as if something had crashed into them. "What's going on?"
Before Lorraine could send Di Ting to check the situation, another series of unknown objects crashed into the back of the driver's cab.
"Listen, go check the back of the driver's seat. There might be a rat coming towards us." Lorraine suddenly remembered the flying squirrel, a distant relative of the rat.
"Bang bang bang—" "Clap clap clap—" The sounds of shotguns and 9mm guns came from beneath my feet.
With the gate nearly fully open, Lorraine slowly pushed the accelerator, shouting, "What's the situation down there?"
"A bunch of flying rats crashed into the steel plate, but there are still quite a few behind them," Ouyang Nian replied while reloading ammunition.
Looking at the lock that was just big enough for the ship to pass through, Lorraine shouted, "Hold on tight!" to the person and two dogs on the deck, and then decisively pushed the accelerator to the floor.
The empty ship suddenly accelerated under the propeller's thrust, and if Lorraine hadn't grabbed the handrail on the bridge, he probably would have sat down on the ground.
The modified boat grazed the locks on both sides and smoothly entered the river. Lorraine reduced the throttle and turned the rudder to the right. The boat drew a beautiful arc on the river and slowly drifted towards the gunboat.
Lorraine stood at the driver's side door and asked, "Is everything alright?"
"I'm not dead, ouch, that hurts like hell!" Ouyang Nian rubbed his sore arm. "I escaped being bitten by a rat, but I almost got thrown into the river by my teammates!"
Listening: "Commander, the mech is undamaged, and there are 6 rounds of ammunition remaining."
Tengu: "Commander, the machine has suffered minor damage. There are 3 grenades remaining, 68 machine gun rounds remaining, and no 9mm ammunition consumed."
"It's good that everyone is alright. We should arrive at the dock where the gunboat will be moored in about 5 minutes." After confirming that everyone was unharmed, Lorraine returned to the cockpit.
"How does it feel? Is there any story behind this ship?" Ouyang Nian poked Lorraine with his tail.
"The power is sufficient. The original cargo hold should have been deepened. In order to maintain the original speed under overload conditions, the engine may have been replaced." Lorraine handed the technical specifications he had thrown out to Ouyang Nian.
Ouyang Nian waved his hand in refusal, and then talked about the rats they had encountered: "There's something strange about these rats."
"Something's definitely not right. These rats must have escaped from the air-raid shelter. What did those rats that just bumped into look like?"
"The skin on its body surface is relatively intact, there is a fleshy membrane between its forelimbs and hindlimbs, and its eyes are bright red. Just now, I also encountered a few large rats that can spray acid." Ouyang Nian also told Luo Lin about another special individual he encountered.
"I have a bad feeling. These rats are probably a variant of the zombies. When we went to get the explosives, there were a lot of traps in the underground passage. These guys may have been there since the zombie outbreak."
Lorraine paused and continued, "There can't be too many rats in a place like a civil defense fortification, so they should have a certain ability to reproduce. Now that the giant zombies are no longer suppressing them, there probably aren't too few around here."
As the two were talking, the transport ship approached the dock, and Lorraine precisely maneuvered the ship close to the dock and brought it to a safe stop.
Ouyang Nian took Tiangou and Diting back to the warehouse for maintenance and ammunition loading, while Luo Lin went to the cockpit to check how to activate remote control.
"1125, how do I enable the remote control function?"
The machining center is currently producing a remote control module; simply connect the module to the control panel on the dashboard.
After obtaining the information he wanted, Lorraine activated the intelligence system.
[1. Refresh countdown: 1 day, 22 hour, and 48 minutes.]
2. There is a small marine gas turbine in the northern part of the industrial zone.
[3. Refresh countdown: 23 hours and 35 minutes.]
[4. Alien Zombie Invasion, Countdown: 2 days, 6 hours, and 12 minutes.]
Looking at the real-world information in the system, Lorraine fell into deep thought. "So the alien zombies aren't the rat swarm? That makes sense, since they're marked as an invasion. Should I let them fight the rat swarm like dogs, and then reap the benefits?"
The remote control plugin has been completed.
Lorraine turned and headed to the production center, intending to call Ouyang Nian later to discuss how to deal with the rats.
Lorraine returned to the transport ship, connected the plug-in to the control panel, and a progress bar appeared on the screen displaying navigation information.
After waiting for five minutes, the progress bar completed, and a series of messages popped up.
System installation complete; vessel information updated.
[Remaining fuel capacity: 186/200 units]
Maximum speed of the vessel: 15 knots when fully loaded
The crane at the bow is not connected to the ship's systems and cannot be remotely controlled.
"Wow, now we don't have to worry about oil. We can extract some to make Molotov cocktails. I just wonder if these rats need to breathe?"
Suddenly, Lorraine realized something: "If there were any leftover zombies from the ones I burned, wouldn't they all have been eaten by rats? Wouldn't that be aiding the enemy? I need to go back and check right away."
Lorraine hurriedly returned to the gunboat. "Ouyang Nian, we have to go back and check. I'm worried that the pile of zombies might not have been completely burned and could have become food for the rats!"
"Wait, wait, you're worrying too much." Ouyang Nian stopped Luo Lin. "First, if it was only burning outside, it wouldn't be burning so fiercely; second, the pile of zombies wasn't formed into a large cone shape; third, the zombies inside are most likely smoldering, so if a rat crawled in, it would just become a smoldering rat."
Ouyang Nian noticed Lorraine's guilt and anxiety and comforted her, "The decision to go in and explore was made together after we understood the risks. There's no need to feel too guilty. Go and rest for a while; you're a bit too tense."
In Ouyang Nian's view, Lorraine had just faced the apocalypse, and the crises he had encountered in the past had all been easily resolved with traps and gunboats. This time, his mistake had put his team in danger, which was definitely unacceptable to him.
However, living in the apocalypse still means facing dangers, and a responsible leader and a well-equipped base that is far from most dangers are already a good thing.