Chapter 96: The Great Rat Herrick

Fifty kilometers southwest of the Kingdom of Layton.

On the edge of the wilds, weeds grew rank and trees stood mottled; apart from the occasional hare darting past, there was scarcely a human figure to be seen.

“Brent...” Lin Wei’s face was so dark it seemed ready to drip water.

Looking at the many oddly shaped stone hills of various sizes before him, Lin Wei instantly understood that Brent had played him for a fool.

“As expected, a man whose mind has curdled into perversity has to scheme against me even in death.”

His boots crunched through the wildly overgrown grass as Lin Wei walked toward the nearest stone hill.

Though he knew he had been tricked, he merely muttered a complaint. He did not suspect Brent had given him false information, because before Brent died, Lin Wei had used the intelligent sphere core to examine the changes in his body and found not the slightest trace of deceit.

“There are so many stone hills. If not for the intelligent sphere core, I’d have to chip each one open by hand...”

Coming to a stone hill, Lin Wei looked up at the cliff face more than ten meters high and silently issued a command to the intelligent sphere core.

“Sphere Core, detect any abnormalities within the mountain!”

“Detection in progress... no abnormalities...”

Lin Wei was not discouraged and continued toward the next stone hill.

The hills stretched on without end through this area, perhaps two or thirty in all, not far apart from one another. Of course, that was only in terms of Lin Wei’s physique; for an ordinary person, making the round would be exhausting enough to collapse them flat.

“I just hope the location of the wizard’s hidden treasury isn’t buried too deeply. After all, the intelligent sphere core can only detect within five meters. If I really can’t find it, I’ll have to make explosive fruit and blast the mountain apart...”

Lin Wei muttered as he walked.

Explosive fruit was also a product of heterobiological experimentation: an experimental hybrid formed from the combination of more than a dozen different plants. It possessed a very wide blast radius. However, because it was complicated to make and its power was limited, it was rarely produced. Even when used, it was not for fighting enemies but more often to assist experiments.

Lin Wei reached the fifteenth stone hill.

“Sphere Core, detect.”

Lin Wei ordered.

“Detection in progress...”

“Unknown energy fluctuation discovered...”

Lin Wei slammed a fist hard against the cliff face, a sliver of excitement blooming on his features. “Good, finally found it!”

“But... unknown energy fluctuation?” Lin Wei frowned in puzzlement. “Why not wizard power fluctuation?”

“Energy nature not recorded. Unable to answer.”

The intelligent sphere core emitted its mechanical voice.

Lin Wei gritted his teeth, no longer dwelling on it, then fell into thought. “Should I just smash the mountain open directly?”

He condensed wizard power in his palm and slowly pressed it against the cliff.

The instant his palm touched the rock, a black dot no larger than a sesame seed suddenly appeared.

“Hm?”

Before Lin Wei could react, the tiny black point expanded at once, like a spinning turbine.

A tremendous suction force surged out of the black hole formed by that dot. In an instant, Lin Wei felt dizzy and disoriented, a violent wave of nausea assailing him.

Crash!

Lin Wei seemed to drop from midair and slammed directly into the ground.

“What’s going on...” Lin Wei clutched his head and slowly eased the discomfort in his body.

After a long while, the stars before his eyes gradually faded.

He looked around and found himself in what appeared to be a small room, with a door at the back. Suddenly, Lin Wei seemed to notice something and froze.

“Hello, new guest.”

It was a giant rat. In appearance only, it rather resembled the little gray mice Lin Wei used for biological experiments.

Only the gray rat before him was by no means little. On the contrary, it was huge, as large as a pig. Unlike ordinary rats, it actually stood upright on its hind legs, its forelimbs drawn back and folded across its chest. The giant rat even wore a pair of oversized antique spectacles, which made its tiny eyes seem even smaller.

“Hello, new guest.”

The giant rat repeated itself.

Lin Wei still had not recovered. He quickly searched through the knowledge of biological mutation he had studied, only to discover that none of the books described a talking animal like this.

“Hello, may I ask who you are...?”

Lin Wei slowly stood up, looking down at the enormous creature, his expression indescribably odd.

“I am Heric, the master of this place... Hmm... could you sit down? Lord Heric does not like looking up at people.”

The giant rat Heric adjusted his spectacles and spoke in a displeased tone.

Lin Wei felt strange inside. He had never imagined he would encounter such a bizarre creature here.

“Sphere Core, detect its bodily data.”

Out of caution, Lin Wei did not clash with Heric. Instead, he slowly sat cross-legged on the ground, while at the same time, with barely a trace of movement, he ordered the intelligent sphere core to scan it, wanting to probe the giant rat’s background.

“Detection failed due to unknown magnetic field coverage.”

The voice of the intelligent sphere core echoed in Lin Wei’s ear.

Lin Wei’s expression changed slightly. There were only two kinds of beings the intelligent sphere core could not detect: either they were two tiers stronger than Lin Wei, or their bodies possessed some special mutational interference that blocked detection.

Lin Wei did not know which of those applied to the giant rat before him, so for the moment he dared not act rashly.

Seeing Lin Wei obey and sit down, the giant rat Heric nodded in satisfaction, its smile lifting the whiskers at the corners of its mouth.

“Very good! Lord Heric is very pleased with your performance! Now, you may hand over the food you brought for me!”

As Heric spoke, it tossed its head about. It was not only large, but also very fat. Unlike humans, it had no neck; its head was attached straight to its body like the tip of a pencil, making it look especially grotesque.

“Food?”

Lin Wei frowned slightly. Brent had certainly not told him that there was a giant rat here in need of feeding.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Heric, I didn’t bring any food.”

Lin Wei offered a quiet apology.

Yet to Lin Wei’s surprise, the instant those words left his mouth, the giant rat Heric’s expression changed. Its originally haughty face turned vicious; its eyes bulged, and its long teeth seemed eager to tear Lin Wei apart.

“No food... then I’ll eat you as food!!”

With a roar, Heric lunged at Lin Wei.

“Hm?!”

Lin Wei moved swiftly, slipping aside in an instant and leaving Heric to pounce on empty air.

“Its speed doesn’t seem very fast...”

Observing the giant rat, Lin Wei found that it did not seem especially strong.

Having failed to catch him, Heric’s fury only intensified. Its two little forepaws hooked over its thick, round waist as it shouted at Lin Wei, “You actually dared to dodge! Lord Heric is angry!”

Heric bent its legs slightly, then shot forward like a spring, lunging at Lin Wei once more.