Chapter 88

"What's the matter?" Wang Xiao asked in confusion.

"I have a method that might speed up the search for the kidnappers. However, if a lot of various animals, like a large number of rats, birds, snakes, and such, come over, can you hold them off?" Su Jing asked.

"Um..." Wang Xiao was taken aback, not understanding what Su Jing meant, but still replied, "We are at least special police officers, and we have guns. As long as the terrain isn't too disadvantageous, even if a pride of lions charges over, we can take them down instantly."

"You can't use guns, and it won't be as exaggerated as a pride of lions. In any case, please protect me later. Also, no matter what you see, don't be alarmed, and don't tell anyone about today's events," Su Jing said.

"I promise," Wang Xiao looked at Su Jing for a while and then nodded.

"Don't worry, we can keep our mouths shut," Zhao Ming and the others said, but they were extremely curious about what Su Jing was going to do.

"Find a secluded alley," Su Jing said. Without further ado, everyone split up to search and eventually chose a nearby abandoned building area. These buildings were about to be demolished, but the work hadn't started yet, so the area was deserted.

Su Jing opened a manhole cover and handed a piece of magic beast jerky to Wang Xiao. Actually, he didn't want outsiders to know about the magic of the magic beast meat, even this special police team. However, to save the hostage, he couldn't afford to be so cautious. The magic beast jerky would first attract rats, but there were too many of them, and other animals would follow. With so many animals gathered, Su Jing couldn't tame them all. Without Wang Xiao and the others protecting him, he would be disturbed.

Wang Xiao, Zhao Ming, Shao Le, and the others were curious, not knowing what Su Jing was going to do. But at that moment, a few rats crawled out of the manhole, followed by a large crowd, surging like a tide. This exaggerated scene startled them, and they almost couldn't help but step back. However, remembering what Su Jing had said, they immediately used wooden boards to block the rats.

Su Jing immediately released his mental energy and began taming the rats. He could only tame one at a time, but it took about three seconds per rat, which was quite fast. After being tamed, the rats no longer rushed toward the magic beast meat but helped block other rats. This scene left Wang Xiao and the others speechless, wondering how Su Jing managed to do it, and they thought Su Jing was indeed a master tamer.

However, as Su Jing had predicted, after a while, snakes, birds, and even a group of bats came over. This made Wang Xiao and the others struggle to hold them off. To protect Su Jing from being disturbed, the special police officers almost got bitten by the bats. Bats are known as living virus reservoirs in nature, the most dangerous virus spreaders. Being bitten by them could result in rabies, avian influenza, dengue fever, Japanese encephalitis, Tioman virus, Ross River virus, chikungunya virus, tick-borne encephalitis virus, and hantavirus, so don't think being bitten by a bat is a minor issue.

It took nearly half an hour for Su Jing to tame about six hundred rats, but his mental energy was severely drained, so he had to stop temporarily. He took the magic beast jerky from Wang Xiao, put it in a sealed bag to block the smell, and the various animals gradually dispersed.

"Officer Wang, besides clothes, do you have any other items with the hostage's scent? It can be something with a strong smell," Su Jing said. Dogs are quite picky about smells and can't handle too strong of a scent, but rats are different. They have strong adaptability and can survive anywhere, even in the most foul-smelling sewers, which are excellent living environments for them.

"There's a finger of the hostage, with a strong blood smell," Wang Xiao said.

"Why didn't you say so earlier?" Su Jing placed the hostage's clothes and finger on the ground. The six hundred rats gathered around to sniff, and after sniffing, they returned to the sewers and spread out in all directions.

"Are you letting these rats search?" This scene left Wang Xiao, Zhao Ming, Shao Le, and the others speechless.

"Exactly," Su Jing nodded.

"..." Wang Xiao and the others were speechless, thinking that Su Jing's "exactly" was too casual. Don't act like it's a normal thing, okay? You're not just a master tamer; you're the king of animals.

"Six hundred rats aren't enough. Let's rest for a while and continue," Su Jing said, taking out a hand-rolled cigarette from the Eternal World's Falling Leaves Scroll and giving one to each of Wang Xiao and the others. He himself smoked three at once, not for enjoyment but to restore his mental energy.

At first, Wang Xiao and the others were a bit surprised to see Su Jing's hand-rolled cigarettes. These days, who would roll their own cigarettes? Even if they didn't have much money, they would buy a few-dollar pack of cigarettes. However, they had a good impression of Su Jing, so they didn't care if the cigarettes were hand-rolled and lit up. After the first puff, their eyes widened.

"Damn, what kind of cigarettes are these? Two puffs and all the fatigue is gone."

"This can't be marijuana, right? Giving marijuana to special police officers, you're really daring," Shao Le said.

"Don't talk nonsense if you don't understand. This isn't marijuana," Zhao Ming slapped Shao Le on the back of the head.

They almost finished the entire cigarette in a few puffs, unwilling to exhale the smoke. Most of their fatigue was gone. They had been on the case since last night and hadn't rested for a day. Wang Xiao, Zhao Ming, and Shao Le had run a distance, so their physical and mental fatigue was inevitable. They didn't expect a few puffs of the cigarette to solve the problem.

"Brother Jing, can you give us a few more?" Shao Le asked, his mouth watering, and even Wang Xiao, Zhao Ming, and the others looked hopeful.

"These are medicinal cigarettes I cultivated. Do you think they're just regular tobacco on the street?" Su Jing saw that their spirits had been restored to their best state, so he didn't give them any more and started smoking himself.

After Su Jing's mental energy was restored, he continued the next round of taming. After about two hours, about two thousand four hundred rats were scattered throughout the city.

So, many people in the city noticed a strange phenomenon today: the rats were incredibly bold, often crawling out of the sewers in broad daylight. More bizarrely, they seemed to have a purpose, ignoring cookies, fried dough sticks, and other food on the ground, continuing to sniff around as if searching for something.

"There's less than half an hour left," Wang Xiao had just spoken to the chief, and his face was even more anxious, clearly indicating no progress on the other side.

"Being anxious won't help," Su Jing pretended to be calm and continued taming the rats. In fact, he was already extremely anxious. At that moment, his eyes suddenly lit up because one rat didn't rush for the magic beast meat or block other rats but came directly to him, standing on its hind legs.

Su Jing was overjoyed, immediately crouched down, and injected a needle into the rat's leg, secretly dripping blood onto the Ten Thousand Beast Token. Then he asked, "Did you smell the same scent?"