Redemption Sanctuary

After spotting the shadows of rats, Tom observed carefully and noticed that they seemed to be lurking in the shadows, eyeing this place sneakily.

He quickly descended from the window and rushed back to the supermarket's front desk, where he saw Liu Lian and others standing sparsely around. He immediately waved them over along with Li Qiang and the two security guards.

He made each of them climb up to the large glass windows about thirty centimeters high and instructed them to pay attention to the movement outside.

Soon, all three of them shouted about seeing the rats.

There were rats at both the front and back doors, effectively guarding both entrances to the supermarket, which worried Tom a bit.

"Ange, what's... what's going on? Weren't we just eradicating pests recently and killed many rats? Why are there still so many?" Li Zexin asked anxiously.

"Sewers!" Tom immediately spotted the key issue. "It must be the mutated rat with red eyes that brought them here. That guy understands how to trap us inside the supermarket."

"What... what should we do then?" Li Qiang started to falter.

"The number of rats might be even more than what we see. Even if everyone has the same strength as me, I'm afraid we won't gain the upper hand against these adult rats in a fight, especially with one mutated rat of unknown capabilities among them."

Li Zexin, now restless, paced back and forth. "Then... what do we do?"

Tom thought for a moment. "You and you, go to the windows and keep an eye on the rats. The other men will help me replace all the electric car batteries with new South Pole batteries and put the spare batteries in the cars, quickly!"

Three female technicians asked, "What about us?"

Tom smiled. "Go find cloth and plastic string. Liu Lian, teach them how to make makeshift parachutes!"

"What?" Liu Lian widened his eyes. "Parachutes again?"

"Yeah, but this time, they'll come in handy!"

Without delay, Tom immediately led the team to replace the batteries in the four electric cars, and then dismantle the spare batteries and put them in the cars. After completing their tasks, they found that the three women hadn't finished making enough makeshift parachutes yet. Tom assigned two more people to help, while the others began to collect steel nails to use as melee weapons.

The observation post at the window reported more rats, which intensified Tom's unease. These rats seemed to be gathering strength, and they probably hadn't mutated themselves; they were driven here by the mutated rat to claim a share of human flesh.

Under the pressure to survive, everyone worked with full force, not daring to slack off even a bit. Soon, they completed their respective tasks. Faced with a situation they had never encountered before, they could only rely on Tom, who made the most rational judgments. Even Li Zexin, who had personal motives, had to follow Tom's arrangements.

Tom's next plan surprised everyone.

Since their first exploration of the third floor, everyone had heard Tom repeatedly emphasize the danger of the sleeping orange cat on the third floor, and everyone subconsciously marked the third floor as a restricted area.

However, Tom's next plan was to have everyone go to the third floor, right next to that sleeping orange cat.

This puzzled them.

"But Tom... what if the cat wakes up hungry and eats us? Didn't you keep saying that the cat is unreliable?" Li Zexin, now the de facto leader of the group, voiced his concerns.

"That was before. Cats and dogs are territorial animals. Although we shrank humans might disgust it, it would probably hate the rats invading its territory even more, because that challenges its authority."

"But... what if the cat eats all the rats? Or if the rats kill the cat? We'll be stuck on the third floor with no way out!" 

Tom patted the makeshift parachute on his hands. "We'll parachute down when they start fighting, then return here and leave in the electric cars!"

Li Qiang slapped his thigh. "Great idea, Ange! Neither the rats nor the cat would dare to jump from the third floor. By the time they finish their fight and come down the stairs, we'll be long gone."

Although this plan had various uncertainties, at present, it seemed to be the best choice for everyone.

When he mentioned going to the third floor, Li Zexin pointed at Zheng Shiyi, still feverish and unconscious. "What about him? Why don't we leave him here to feed the rats?"

"Li Qiang, carry him on your back, up to the third floor."

"What? This bastard is ungrateful, and we're taking him upstairs?" 

"Yes, although he has some bad intentions, I can't bring myself to leave him here to be eaten by rats. Can you?"

Li Zexin and the others sighed, and their evaluation of Tom rose another level.

Self-reflecting, Zheng Shiyi's thoughts were similar to theirs, but he was even less concerned about the consequences and acted boldly. They believed that if they were a little bolder, they might do the same.

Yet, despite this, Tom not only didn't take advantage of suppressing Zheng Shiyi, killing him, or throwing him out while preparing to escape, he even brought him along.

Tom's broad-mindedness was evident, and it was reassuring to be with such a person. At least there was no need to worry about being abandoned halfway or left injured by him.

When Li Qiang carried Zheng Shiyi on his back, Tom added, "I'm accommodating because I treat you all as humans, and for now, Zheng Shiyi still qualifies as one. If anyone jeopardizes the safety of the team during the crisis, don't blame me for turning against them!"

The incident with Zhang Meng was a heavy lesson for Tom. Without relying on the ruby's power, they would probably have become nothing but leftovers by now. Therefore, Tom absolutely wouldn't allow such a thing to happen again.

While most people started climbing the stairs, Tom took Xiao Gao to park the four electric cars beside the supermarket's rear door. If they needed to jump down, they could enter the supermarket directly through the rear door and leave in the cars immediately.

After sorting things out, Tom led Xiao Gao to climb the stairs.

By the time they reached the second floor, Tom took him to a kitchen window and peered down from the second floor. He faintly saw shadows moving below. The rats were still surrounding the building. He seemed to see two red dots swaying, but he wasn't sure if it was the mutated rat.

On the third floor, everyone stayed in the living room, too scared to venture further. Only the three women boldly followed Xiao Bao into his bedroom.

"You all wait outside. I'll go in and check."

The gemstones were brought by Liu Lian and Cheng Fuhua, including the large green crystal resembling a rugby ball. At this moment, Tom hugged it as he entered Xiao Bao's bedroom with the three women.

The orange cat was still asleep. Tom approached with the green gemstone and let Xiao Bao communicate with the orange cat first.

Xiao Bao touched the orange cat and closed his eyes. After a while, he opened them joyfully and said, "Ah Huang is waking up! Once it's awake, we won't have to fear the big rats anymore!"

With one hand holding the green crystal and the other touching the orange cat, Tom felt a strange sensation from touching the cat's mind. He couldn't describe it, but subconsciously, he said, "Hello."

After a while, he received a response, "Hello."

Releasing the orange cat, Tom was sweating profusely, startling the three women nearby. He waved to indicate that he was fine and stepped back two paces.

The mentality of this orange cat seemed much more mature. Even while asleep, it responded to his greeting, which wasn't a typical expression for an animal.

"Perhaps, as Xiao Bao said, it has gained more intelligence and can communicate. That means it may not attack us easily but might even protect us."

Now, he felt a bit relieved.

Knowing that the mice had surrounded the area, he was still quite worried. Under such circumstances, ensuring the safety of these people was a great pressure. The series of arrangements he made were strategies he had been contemplating over the past few days. Whether they would work or not could only be determined when the situation truly unfolded.

So, he went out to call the uneasy people who were outside the living room. If the mice did invade, perhaps they wouldn't need to resort to the plan of jumping from the building. Assisting Ah Huang, the orange cat, in killing the mice might suffice. If everything went smoothly, their team would have an additional protector, making their escape tomorrow much safer.

Underneath their apprehensive hearts, everyone temporarily stayed in Xiao Bao's bedroom. Previously, they had often complained that Tom made a mountain out of a molehill, but now, faced with a real threat, they realized that their hearts were too small. They had assumed it was still the same as before, where rats would run away upon seeing humans, without realizing that the roles had reversed since humans had shrunk.

The three women had completely given up resisting the sleeping orange cat, circling around it and stroking its fur incessantly, making strange sounds. To Tom, they seemed to be infected by Toxoplasma gondii from the cat, completely captivated by it.

He didn't know if the parasites on the enlarged cat would also enlarge.

He had tidied up all the various bones he had found when he first came to the third floor, including human bones, to avoid frightening these people if they saw them. Until now, he hadn't asked Xiao Bao what happened to the supermarket's owner couple, who had been eaten by something.

He didn't dare to ask Xiao Bao, lest it stir up Xiao Bao's unpleasant memories again.

But not figuring it out made him feel that something was off. Neglecting this matter could potentially threaten their safety.

In turmoil, he approached the orange cat, while Liu Lian and Xiao Gao climbed up to the window ledge.

"Oh my god! It's so bright!" Liu Lian shouted loudly from the window ledge. "Tom, come and see!"

Upon hearing this, Tom hurriedly climbed up the ledge.

Outside the window, in the distance, a beam of light soared into the sky, piercing through the dark clouds and projecting to the unseen horizon.

The beam of light was extremely bright, illuminating the entire night sky and ground. Even though they had shrunk and their vision had diminished, they could still clearly see the light beam.

The light beam swayed slowly. When it touched the dark clouds in the sky, Tom could see five words appearing on the clouds: "Redemption Sanctuary."