Mr. Rat of the Steam World

Chapter 43 One Against Two
"Is it so useful?"

Lu Ran looked at the needle crossbow in his hand with a surprised expression.

He thought the guy would put up a fight, so he didn't dare show himself at first, and hid after firing a couple of shots.

"Forget it, never mind, time waits for no one."

Lu Ran needed to get the message out tonight, and he hadn't planned to waste too much time here.

First, he checked Zell's breathing and found that although it was weak, it seemed that he was still breathing his last breath. Looking at the unconscious guy, Lu Ran hesitated for a moment, then raised the crossbow and hit the guy's temple again, and then there was no more movement.

Lu Ran still felt slightly uncomfortable about killing someone for the first time in this other world, especially when the person was powerless to resist.

But in the end, the rat had already revealed its true form. Even disregarding the previous conflicts, Lu Ran had no reason to spare its life. He had to be ruthless and completely eliminate any future troubles. He couldn't just let it fend for itself.

If this guy is really tough and survives the snake venom, then Lu Ran will be in trouble. Judging from his tone earlier, this guy will definitely come looking for trouble if he survives.

Lu Ran took a deep breath, suppressing the strange feeling in his heart, and then immediately stepped forward to carry out the part he cared about most—looting the corpse.

Lu Ran stretched out his paws and nimbly rummaged through the outer pockets of Ze'er's dark woolen coat. In the first pocket were some loose copper coins and a few silver shillings, probably change from buying things when going out. He didn't hesitate to gather them up with his little paws and pile them aside.

The second pocket was empty, so Lu Ran quickly skipped over it and laboriously opened the inside of his coat to continue searching for the inner pocket. Sure enough, a bulging wallet was revealed, and when he unfastened the clasp, he found a stack of brand-new, crisp green banknotes inside!

He quickly counted and found there were as many as 30 ten-pound notes, a total of 300 pounds!

Lu Ran's heart pounded, but she knew that this guy had far more money than that, so she put it aside and continued searching.

When Lu Ran touched Zell's lower back, he felt a hard, slightly curved object pressing against his hand.

He reached out and pulled out a gleaming revolver with a long barrel, hidden in its holster. He turned it around and found it was fully loaded. Lu Ran thought to himself that he was lucky he hadn't given the guy a chance to fire.

Lu Ran carefully examined and played with it. To be honest, he had always been quite interested in this thing, but it was just too heavy and too long for his small frame. It was too cumbersome and troublesome to carry or use, and in some ways it was not as good as the needle crossbow on his back.

"Never mind, I'll take it with me. It's a good thing after all."

Lu Ran picked him up and was about to put him down when he suddenly felt a little surprised. He weighed him in his arms and found that his strength seemed to have increased again. He subconsciously opened the system.

Lord: Lu Ran

Race: Rat
People: 537/650
Happiness level: Good
领地天赋：群体智慧lv4（智力+4）、群体体质lv3（力量+3、敏捷+3）

Enlightenment: Magic (In progress, 130 gold pounds already consumed, estimated total cost 250 gold coins)

Faith: Not unlocked (can be unlocked by interacting with miracles)

Wealth: £363 (excluding units below the gold pound)
"It has indeed been upgraded."

Previously, when the group's constitution was at level 1, upgrading to level 2 required accumulating 200 gold pounds. This condition was already met after completing the commission from Conrad. The next upgrade required accumulating 500 gold pounds. I didn't expect to meet the condition again so soon.

At this point, the overall physical fitness of the entire rat swarm had reached the level of some ordinary large cats and dogs, and their survivability was greatly improved even without relying on magic.

Just like upgrading Collective Intelligence from level 3 to level 4, upgrading Constitution to level 4 also requires relics. Once upgraded, it should be another qualitative leap.

After shutting down the system, Lu Ran continued searching and soon found Zell's exposed pocket watch chain. He took it off and examined it; it was a heavy gold-cased pocket watch, probably worth a lot of money. However, it would be troublesome to sell, so he could keep it in his territory as a time-telling ornament.

After searching his body, Lu Ran was still somewhat unsatisfied, his gaze sweeping over the luxurious room in front of him.

Searching inch by inch is too time-consuming. We have limited time today, so we can only look at some places with a high probability of finding anything. Regardless of whether we find anything or not, we should stop now and get on with the important business. Anyway, we can come back later once we have the key.

He went straight to the cabinets and drawers inside the room.

With a whoosh, it was pulled open, and what came into view was actually a piece of paper.

The Elixir of Abundance requires three portions of knowledge to be taken:
Two sets of knowledge on order: plant taxonomy and barefoot doctors.

A jumble of facts: biological experiments.

When taking this medicine, you should silently recite the name of the Mother of Life.

"Is this the potion instructions from the Sanctuary of Abundance?" Lu Ran asked, somewhat surprised.

But then I thought about it again. Zell did get a potion a while ago, but he didn't drink it himself. Instead, he gave it to his father, Conrad. So it's normal for him to have this stuff.

"What a pity, it would be great if I could get another potion." After using the potion last time, Lu Ran knew that this thing was of the same origin as magic. Each potion seemed to represent a system of magic. He could use the system to study the relevant knowledge without taking it. Such a good thing was naturally the more the better.

Jumping onto the edge of the bottom drawer, Lu Ran pushed open the second-to-last drawer from the bottom and quickly climbed inside.

Ordinary stationery, a few packs of cigarettes, some odds and ends... and another small stack of gold pounds.

Two thousand pounds!

Lu Ran counted the money excitedly, then ignored the other odds and ends, quickly picked up the thick wad of banknotes and put them on the ground in the sorting bin that he planned to pack up and take with him later.

Just in time—

Tap...tap...

The sound of heels clicking on the ground suddenly rang out!

It wasn't a continuous tapping sound, but rather a dull thud with infinitely long intervals, each tap precisely striking the spine between Lu Hou's neck, sending chills down one's spine.

Lu Ran suddenly turned his head. At this moment, the door was open, and the light inside spread out in that direction all the way to the end of the corridor. There, the light did not reach, which was the stairwell. It was also dark and unclear, but the sound of footsteps was gradually approaching.

"Luckily, I came here specifically to take a look."

Tap...tap...

At the boundary between light and darkness, the gleaming toe of a shoe pierces the twilight, the dust kicked up by the heel swirling wildly in the beam of light. A human silhouette gradually comes into focus.

"Only that idiot Zell would actually treat a detective like a fool."

despair……

He slowly took a step, and the light finally crept up to his shirt, the collar, and then to his plain, unadorned face.

Lu Ran stood still without dodging. The field of vision when looking at darkness from the light is different from when looking at light from darkness.

At least with the door open, the fact that Lu Ran heard footsteps indicated that he had been seen; otherwise, the other party wouldn't have acted this way.

Ben slowly walked into the room, glanced at the money and gold watch piled on the floor, and clicked his tongue in amazement: "The only unexpected thing is that what appears in front of me is actually a gray rat... So what I want to ask is, is this the gray rat's body you are controlling behind the scenes, or is this your true self?"

Lu Ran remained silent.

Ben raised an eyebrow, about to say something, when suddenly a click of a metal buckle sounded behind him. Then, to Ben's incredulous gaze, the gray rat that had been motionless in front of him vanished into thin air.

"What are you mumbling about?"

boom!
"Why do they always pull this 'emerging from the shadows' act? How can they be so good at pretending?"

Lu Ran appeared behind this guy at some point and gently blew a breath into the revolver barrel.

"Guns are definitely the most useful."

Through this incident, Lu Ran confirmed one thing.

Whether the opponent underestimated me or not, at least my illusions, even if they are extraordinary, cannot be easily seen through.

Lu Ran also started trying to use deception magic the moment the other party appeared. As soon as the other party exposed him, Lu Ran immediately admitted defeat and used his own value to talk his way out of trouble.

Conversely, you can't see through it...

Then you're done.

Lu Ran watched as the wall of branches that had risen almost instantly behind Ben was now rapidly withering.

This guy reacted incredibly fast. Before he even turned around, his body was already trying to defend himself. If it were an ordinary arrow, it would have been blocked. In fact, if he had known beforehand that the other person was armed, he would have been well-prepared and on guard, and it seems he would have been fully capable of turning the tables and killing the enemy.

Unfortunately, in this guy's eyes, Lu Ran was just an ordinary gray rat that posed even less of a threat than an ordinary person.

"lucky."

　Thank you so much for the 500 coins from "Moon Doesn't Bend"! Thank you so much, big brother!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)