Chapter 83: Human-Faced Monster Rat

Chapter 83: Chapter 83: Human-Faced Monster Rat

The car sped along smoothly, soon arriving at the gates of Hai City University.

Gu Qing thanked the driver, got out of the car, and walked onto campus.

As he walked along a campus path, a gentle breeze brushed his face.

The air was cool and refreshing.

It felt wonderful.

Gu Qing took out his phone and sent Xia Shuran a message on WeChat:

[I’m back on campus. Heading to the athletic field now.]

While in the car, Xia Shuran had told him she’d made milk tea in her dorm. She said she would bring him a bottle when he got back to campus.

[Xia Shuran: Okey-dokey! I just poured the milk tea. I’m heading downstairs now, I’ll be there in a flash!]

「Meanwhile, in the girls’ dormitory.」

Xia Shuran, wearing a carefully chosen outfit and carrying a bag with milk tea and cookies, hurried downstairs toward the school’s athletic field.

As she passed an academic building, something suddenly shimmered in the corner of her eye.

Instinctively, she turned her head. The glass of a window in the building beside her seemed to be rippling like water.

’Am I hallucinating?’

Xia Shuran knitted her fine, pretty brows. Curious, she stepped closer to see what was going on with the windowpane.

She stopped in front of the window and observed it carefully for a while.

Everything seemed normal.

Just an ordinary pane of glass.

’Hmm, I must have been seeing things.’

With that thought, Xia Shuran used the window’s reflection to fix her hair.

’I just got out of the shower. My hair is soft, my skin is supple, and I still have the lovely scent of my shampoo and body wash on me. Like this, I should be able to catch his eye, right?’

Xia Shuran looked at her reflection, admiring herself for a moment. She was satisfied with how she looked.

After carefully adjusting her bangs one last time,

Xia Shuran hurried off toward the athletic field for her date with the handsome senior she liked.

But the moment she turned to leave, something utterly bizarre happened to the windowpane.

She herself had left, but her reflection in the glass remained, staring with empty eyes at her retreating back as she hurried toward the athletic field.

...

「On the athletic field.」

Gu Qing was waiting for Xia Shuran at their usual spot.

He didn’t wait long before he saw Xia Shuran walking quickly towards him, carrying a bag.

"Senior, come try the all-natural, no-additives milk tea I made just for you! It’s original flavor."

Xia Shuran walked up to Gu Qing, took out her pink water bottle full of milk tea from the bag, and handed it over with a smile.

’Wait a minute... why does the phrase "original flavor" suddenly sound like she’s talking about used panties or socks?’

Gu Qing snarked internally as he took the water bottle she offered, smiling as he said:

"Let’s have a taste."

As he spoke, he twisted open the cap and carefully poured some of the milk tea into it.

Then he looked at Xia Shuran and asked, "Do you mind if I drink directly from your bottle cap?"

Xia Shuran rested her chin on one hand, looked at Gu Qing, and gave a bright smile. "Of course I don’t mind!"

’Honestly, she wanted to say, "Senior, you can just drink straight from the bottle. Not only would I not mind, I’d be absolutely thrilled."’

’But she didn’t dare say it, afraid Gu Qing would think she was some kind of creep or a pervert.’

As she watched him,

Gu Qing brought the cap to his lips and took a slow, deliberate sip.

"Senior, how’s my milk? Is it to your liking?"

Xia Shuran asked, her eyes full of expectation.

Gu Qing nodded and gave his high praise:

"Your milk tea is very good. It’s silky smooth, without any of that cheap, artificial sweetener taste. Just the natural fragrance of milk and tea. It’s exactly my taste, really delicious."

"Really?"

Xia Shuran’s face lit up with happiness. "Then if you ever want milk tea, Senior, you have to tell me! Just say the word, and I’ll make it for you by hand every time."

For the next little while,

The two sat down on some nearby steps, chatting while they ate cookies and enjoying the cool, leisurely evening on campus.

"I’ve had too many cookies. I’m getting thirsty. I need some milk tea to wash them down."

As she spoke, Xia Shuran reached for the water bottle and cap beside her, and, copying what Gu Qing had just done, poured milk tea from the bottle into the cap.

With the fluttering heart of a girl with a crush, she deliberately placed her soft, pink lips right where Gu Qing’s had been. She gently closed her mouth over the rim, her tongue darting out to touch it, and began to drink the milk tea in tiny sips.

Mmm!

’It tastes like him!’

’So sweet!’

Xia Shuran’s heart raced, and her cheeks burned red.

Gu Qing caught the strange look on her face out of the corner of his eye.

But he didn’t call her out on her little crush.

He just looked ahead with a knowing smile.

’An eighteen-year-old girl who’s never been in a relationship... she’s certainly interesting. Everything she does is just so endearing.’

Just as the two were enjoying this beautiful moment,

Suddenly!

The ground beneath their feet trembled slightly.

The tremor was faint.

And gone in an instant.

But many people clearly felt the vibration.

"Senior, was that just an earthquake?"

Xia Shuran stopped drinking her milk tea and turned to ask Gu Qing, who was beside her.

A white trace of milk clung to the corner of her mouth, and her expression was one of surprise.

Gu Qing nodded. "Yeah, there was a small tremor just now."

Xia Shuran seemed fascinated. "I thought I was imagining things. I can’t believe it was a real earthquake."

"It’s just a small earthquake. Hai City gets one every few years. It’s just routine tectonic movement, nothing to worry about."

Gu Qing spoke, then pointed to the corner of Xia Shuran’s mouth with a smile. "You’ve got some milk tea on your mouth. You should wipe it off."

"I do?"

Xia Shuran blinked, took out her phone to use it as a mirror, and sure enough, she saw a very obvious white trace of milk on the corner of her mouth.

She couldn’t even be bothered to get a napkin; she just stuck out her tongue and licked it clean.

Gu Qing tilted his head, quietly admiring the sight. ’This athletic junior really is adorable,’ he thought.

She was just bursting with youthful energy and vitality.

’It’s great to be young.’

’Unlike those wage slaves after graduation, all looking dead inside and utterly dejected.’

Hm?

’Did I see that wrong?’

Gu Qing furrowed his brows slightly, a hint of confusion flashing in his eyes.

He wasn’t sure if he was seeing things, but as an evening breeze gusted past, Xia Shuran’s outline seemed to ripple, just like the surface of water.

...

「At the same time, deep beneath Hai City University.」

The once solid earth had, at some unknown time, been hollowed out into a vast network of giant caverns.

The caverns were dim and damp, a sprawling labyrinth. Countless rats scurried everywhere, squeaking and screeching, their numbers so great it would make one’s skin crawl.

On a stone platform in the center of the cavern, a bizarre human-faced rat was crouched.

Its body was the size of a normal adult, with the silhouette of a rat, but on its head grew the face of a beautiful girl.

The sight of a human head on a rat’s body was profoundly disturbing.

"Sister, I brought you something to eat. This time, it’s a large leg imbued with Extraordinary Power."

Huang Xiaoyue walked up to the human-faced rat and vomited up a thick leg from her stomach. It landed on the stone platform, slick with slime.

The moment the human-faced rat saw the leg, it greedily opened its mouth and swallowed it in one gulp.

Less than half a minute later, it had completely digested the leg and excreted a pile of filth.

The countless rats nearby immediately swarmed forward, squeaking as they fought over the leavings.

Huang Xiaoyue watched this scene, her eyes betraying no emotion, and said in a low voice to the human-faced rat:

"Sister, those people from the Night Court are too tough. They’re all wily old veterans with decades of combat experience. They’re incredibly hard to hunt."

"But that’s okay. There’s an Extraordinary Contactor at our school, and he’s even more handsome than a movie star."

"He’s young and looks like he has no real combat experience."

"Tomorrow night, I’ll wear some sexy stockings and go on a date with him off campus. I’ll find a chance to lure him into a secluded grove and swallow him whole. Then I’ll bring him back to share with you, Sister. We’ll go halfsies and savor him."

"As long as we absorb enough Extraordinary Power, Sister, you’ll be able to fully regain your human form soon."

Huang Xiaoyue said, stroking the human-faced rat’s cheek.

At her words, the human-faced rat grew visibly excited. Its body twitched restlessly, its eyes filled with greed. It clearly couldn’t wait.

Just then—

"ROAR!!!"

A roar suddenly erupted from the depths of the cavern.

The sound waves rolled out, shaking dust from the rock walls.

The color drained from both Huang Xiaoyue’s and the human-faced rat’s faces. They immediately dropped to the ground, prostrating themselves. They trembled uncontrollably, not daring to even breathe.

Deep within the cavern,

a terrifying entity—its power far surpassing that of an ordinary Ratman—was hibernating, evolving.

Once it successfully evolved into an Advanced Creature, it would burst from the ground and Devour all life on the surface to amass power. Afterward, it would lead the rat swarm away, seeking a more suitable location to lie dormant and continue its transformation.

...