Mr. Rat of the Steam World

Chapter 33 Chewing

"It will take some time to sort out the factory's business procedures, Mr. Detective, you can think about it carefully."

Even after the other person left, the phrase kept echoing in Lu Ran's mind.

"It's such an irresistible temptation."

What's the difference between an interest-free loan with no time limit and a free factory? Even if the target of the commission involves extraordinary individuals, Lu Ran still felt that the value of this commission was far too exaggerated.

"Is it to compensate Afra for herself? Or..."

Lu Ran recalled seeing a newspaper article about someone who owned numerous factories but was becoming increasingly low-profile, and then a steel tycoon emerged...

Lu Ran's mind raced, and he muttered to himself, "Or is it that I don't want my goals to be too big?"

But to be honest, in the face of a factory worth 30,000 gold pounds, any doubts, inquiries, and uncertainties seem to become irrelevant.

Not to mention that Lu Ran was just recently thinking about whether he could make money by building airplanes.

Even if they can't build airplanes, building some kind of airship would at least introduce the concept of human flight and make money.

Especially since this factory is a transportation equipment manufacturing plant, it's a perfect match for their expertise.

"The only problem is that we forgot to find a group of rats to track Zell. It'll probably be quite troublesome to find them now," Lu Ran frowned slightly.

He was worried that with the mice's abilities, their dynamic tracking might be easily discovered if they stumbled upon Zell and the Superman meeting, so he only left the mice in fixed positions at the ventilation shafts to listen in statically.

Who could have imagined that the subsequent developments would be so sudden?

"Never mind, we'll only get more and more short of money later on, we have to pull this off."

Lu Ran then checked the upgrade button that popped up after the system's population limit was reached.

[1 Gold Pound Unlocks the Limit of 10 Citizens]

"As expected, we still have to spend gold pounds. We're so poor, so incredibly poor."

After deducting the total cost of Magic Enlightenment, Lu Ran only had a little over thirty gold pounds left. Keeping some for future use, Lu Ran decisively spent 15 gold pounds to increase the territory limit to 150, bringing the total number of civilian units under his jurisdiction to 650.

In other words, Lu Ran will soon have an extra 150 rats to help with the search, which will greatly alleviate the current workload and make the search for Zell much easier.

After finishing his work, Lu Ran put the money away in a safe place, then climbed up to the fireplace in the stone house, bypassed the firewood placed on the outside, and went down through a hole at the back. He descended about two meters using the steps, and his view gradually opened up.

The digging site was still bustling with activity. The older gray rats, wearing acorn-shaped safety helmets, directed the team to take turns working, while the smaller rats used shovels made of iron sheets to lift up the soft soil, and the sturdy rats struggled to drag the soil baskets out.

This is the first floor, about half a meter high and seven or eight square meters in size. The light bulb wires that were taken from the firm on Gray Street can still be used, extending down from the stone house above to illuminate the entire space.

Although the space at the edge is still expanding, some areas are already ready for construction, and some scientific mice and mechanical mice have already begun their research work, which looks like it is already taking shape.

As soon as Lu Ran came down, he saw One Ear fiddling with a toy that looked like a crossbow with great interest.

"What is this?" Lu Ran stepped forward with some curiosity and found that it seemed to be just a simple assembly of rubber bands and wood.

"They call this a needle crossbow." One ear pulled the trigger, and the iron needle on it flew out with a whoosh and slammed into the earthen wall next to it.

"The power isn't high; if it's stuck in a non-lethal spot, the damage isn't obvious. But if it hits the eye or throat, it can still cause considerable damage. If you apply some poison and use your size advantage to maneuver it, it should be quite effective."

Lu Ran took the thing from One Ear's hand with some surprise.

This crossbow is just big enough for a mouse to hold with its front paws. The main body is a thumb-thick branch that has been shaved into a smooth arc shape, with a V-shaped groove carved into the front end. Two thin rubber bands taken from an old slingshot are crossed and tied to the protrusion in the middle of the branch.

Load the needle, pull it full, and fire.

Whoosh!
"That's interesting." Although it looks a bit hasty, it is indeed a good attack method at the current stage, and it is enough to prove that the mouse can still generate good creativity beyond the system's inspiration.

"Do you have prepared poison?"

One-Ear shook his head: "I'm looking. I'm going out in a bit to see if I can find some poisonous creatures to extract their venom glands for toxic treatment."

"Do a good job, and save me a set of these needle crossbows later."

Lu Ran praised it, but after inspecting the area, he didn't see any traces of magical inspiration. As for the lower levels, they were continuing to explore the second and third underground floors, but there wasn't much to see for the time being.

Lu Ran was a little disappointed. He had been busy all morning and was also a bit hungry, so he decided to return to the ground, pack up, and prepare to go back to Afra to find something to eat.

……

Chew chew chew.

"Why is that brat still eating?!"

Back at the main house, Lu Ran glanced at Afra, who was slumped over the table in a daze, and then secretly beckoned to Detective No. 2 Mouse next to her with his paw, mouthing the signal.

"Come here quickly."

Detective Mouse No. 2, who had been sitting on the table like a mannequin all morning, reluctantly shifted his position and laboriously climbed off the table.

"You were eating when I left, and you're still eating now that I'm back."

Lu Ran looked a bit hungry, so he simply snatched half a scone crumb from Detective Mouse No. 2.

"She looks so listless, has something happened?"

Detective Mouse Number Two calmly pulled another crumb of biscuit from his cheek and continued chewing, which stunned Lu Ran, who was happily eating.

"I...you..."

Detective Mouse Number Two looked at Lu Ran's expression, somewhat puzzled: "Do you want more, boss?"

Seeing that the kid was about to take another piece out of his mouth, Lu Ran quickly pressed him down and handed the cookie crumbs back to him.

"I'm not hungry anymore, you can eat by yourself."

Lu Ran's face darkened. He suddenly felt that the high intelligence of the rats under his command was not a good thing. Had he just been tricked?

Detective Rat No. 2 slowly said, "It's still that spirit communication ritual. Miss Afra is already preparing to try it. She's had Tamara go and buy the items needed for the ritual, apparently to divine whether she can see someone."

Lu Ran asked, puzzled, "Who are you seeing?"

Detective Mouse Number Two paused, glanced silently at Lu Ran, and then sighed softly: "First, we can rule out a guy named Sherlock Detective. What do you think, boss?"

Lu Ran: "..."

"You think you're funny, huh?"

Detective Mouse Number Two: "Chew, chew, chew."

Before Lu Ran could say anything more, Afra, who had been lying there in a daze, suddenly sat up and stretched lazily.

"Hey, where's Detective Mouse Number Two... Oh, Detective Mouse Number One, you're back! I still have some warm scones here, do you want some?"

"Squeak!" Lu Ran raised his paw high.

(End of this chapter)