Mr. Rat of the Steam World

Chapter 28 Dude, you're really hot-tempered!
Where are you playing?

"Huh?" Bella shook her head, thinking carefully for a long time: "It seems to be in the abandoned factory behind Oak Street."

"An abandoned factory?" Lu Ran was taken aback. He had initially thought Bella had her eye on some wealthy family's pet dog in Baker City, after all, it was the dog that Afra meticulously groomed every day, but...

"Alright, alright, then take care of yourself. I'll come find you later."

Lu Ran stopped Bella at a deserted alley corner before sliding down and jumping off her back.

After shooing away the impatient, silly dog, he then skillfully trotted along the base of the earthen wall, preparing to head straight to the Manchester Foundry to find those mice.

Lu Ran had instructed them to set up their nests nearby for easy observation. The rats responsible for communication in the vicinity might know where the rats' nest was, but Lu Ran's arrival was sudden, so they could only go directly to the ventilation shaft used for monitoring to find the rats.

I made it in smoothly using the same route as before. Last time I came, there was a lot of machinery roaring, but this time the whole factory seemed to have fallen silent. I could vaguely see many workers sitting against the wall, smoking homemade cigarettes, their eyes full of dejection.

"Is there absolutely no work left in the factory?" Lu Ran couldn't help but sigh.

I heard last time that there were no orders, and I don't understand if this Zell really has no ability or what he's trying to do to be so wasteful.

Such a large factory involves so many workers, and behind those workers are so many families. Lu Ran always felt that Ze'er had planted a huge time bomb here.

It was the same old spot. Lu Ran dismantled the grille and climbed upwards, soon arriving at the vent above Zell. As soon as he got up, he saw a mouse yawning listlessly.

Lu Ran carefully crawled over and tapped the guy, then glanced down. Zell didn't seem to be there. Since there was no listening mission, Lu Ran beckoned with his paw to the little guy under his surprised gaze, indicating that he should follow him and leave first.

With a whoosh, the two mice slid down the tunnel exit one after the other.

"My lord!" Mouse finally exclaimed with delight after holding it in for so long.

Lu Ran chuckled and ruffled the little guy's hair: "So, did you hear anything?"

"Have!"

The mouse pulled out a small notebook with a look of surprise: "This notebook is given to the mouse in charge of monitoring each day for recording. Boss, do you want me to read it to you?"

"read."

The mouse cleared its throat: "Tuesday morning, March 19th. Today is my first day of monitoring work after receiving the task from the lord. I must do a good job, so I climbed to the marked spot early to wait..."

Lu Ran coughed lightly: "No need to read the inner thoughts."

Shushu was taken aback, then quickly flipped through two pages of densely packed records and started reading from the third page, making Lu Ran's lips twitch.

"I finally saw Zell come in, followed by a blonde woman. As soon as Zell entered, he started kissing the woman's mouth while his hand was groping her buttocks. Zell said something like, 'I've been really irritable lately,' and then the woman squatted down. I saw Zell pull a stick out of his pants..."

"I rely on."

Lu Ran was just about to sit down and listen when, as if he had been burned, he jumped up and snatched the notebook from Shushu's hand. Under Shushu's puzzled gaze, he coughed and offered words of comfort.

"No, no, you read very well, it's just that I suddenly wanted to read it myself."

Lu Ran continued reading, his expression growing increasingly strange, and he couldn't help but sigh.

"Although your writing is quite plain, it's quite vivid. When you have more resources, why don't you learn how to write novels and develop cultural activities within the territory?"

The novel's mouse looked bewildered: "Cultural work?"

Lu Ran didn't reply, but quickly skipped over some useless nonsense and continued reading. However, after flipping through a few pages, he suddenly felt that something was wrong.

"Number 19 touches butt, number 20 touches butt, number 21... ouch... not a buddy?"

Lu Ran completely lost control of his facial expressions.

Aren't you getting a little too angry? Can't you do something more productive besides having babies?
If this surveillance continues, it'll corrupt my pure and innocent little mouse, who's as white as a sheet of paper. The novel-loving mouse beside him was still a bit confused: "Lord, is there something wrong? Is my memory not detailed enough?"

"No, it's too meticulous."

Lu Ran waved his hand to comfort the little guy, then continued watching with a dark expression.

There are two different kinds of notes in the little notebook. The one in the morning was probably written by this little guy, and then he switched to the other one in the afternoon. There were obviously more typos in that one, but it was still generally legible.

On the afternoon of March 22nd, a very strange person came here and asked, "How did things go?"

Zell looked a little scared and said, "It didn't work out. We're trying to find another way now."

The strange man said, "I'm giving you this opportunity, and I hope you can demonstrate your true value. Don't let me down."

Then the strange person left.

Lu Ran snapped out of his daze. It seemed that this person was the one who had made the deal with Zell, but he didn't know which church it belonged to.

Do you remember what this guy looked like?

When asked about the novel, the mouse scratched his head and said, "From that angle, I could only see half of his face. I can't really describe it, but if I could see it, I should be able to recognize him."

Lu Ran nodded, skipped over the part where the anger was intense, and continued reading until March 26th. The first thing he said was: I've seen this person before. It seems to be a guy who came to the office entrance before.

The guy seemed to have brought up a letter, saying, "A letter from Detective Sherlock."

After reading the letter, Zell angrily smashed the liquor cabinet next to him and said, "Four words, he tricked me and replied with four words?"

……

Lu Ran squinted and read until the very end, then slowly closed the notebook.

"Take me to the rat that's in contact with you. I need to know where the rat that's tracking another group of people is."

"Yes, my lord."

The four-word reply he wrote was sent to the address left by the middle-aged man, so Lu Ran knew who the guy was the moment he saw the text.

Connecting this to the week mentioned later, it means that for the week following that day, the middle-aged man had been by Conrad's side advising him on certain matters. Finding the middle-aged man meant finding Conrad.

"It looks like this commission will be completed soon."

Following the novel's mouse, Lu Ran's lips unconsciously curved into a slight smile, and his mood improved as well.

Thankfully, I had prepared a backup plan beforehand, otherwise things wouldn't have been so simple.

"It's a pity. If Conrad had been found, I don't know if Zell's long-term commission would have been able to continue."

Lu Ran shook his head. Although he felt a little regretful, he understood one thing: money that he could actually get his hands on was money.

Although the commission was tempting, according to Lu Ran's judgment, it would be impossible to make progress without further strengthening of the rat's overall strength.

However, advancing one's strength requires money, thus creating a vicious cycle. Lu Ran was still struggling with how to get money to break this cycle when a commission just happened to be delivered to his doorstep.

The two mice, one after the other, passed through the green hedge fence used for isolation, and went straight to a sewer opening, where they jumped in with Lu Ran in their arms.

This place is some distance from the factory area, and there isn't much steel slag or wastewater in the sewers. It's not a densely populated residential area either, so it's surprisingly clean. After following the sewers around a few drainpipes, Lu Ran finally saw a small group of rats gathered there.

Without bothering with formalities, Lu Ran explained the reason directly and chose a clever person to lead the way.

　Thank you for the generous donation, Muye Zi!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)