Two mice

"Li Qiang! The needles!" 

Li Qiang, who had been waiting nearby with two long needles strapped to his back, immediately pulled them out and thrust them into the cockroach's pierced mouthparts.

Tom shouted, "Harder! Harder!"

Li Qiang shouted with closed eyes and pushed the needles in with all his might. The big cockroach struggled for a moment before succumbing.

While they were killing the big cockroach, the two security guards emptied their automatic rifles, then switched to handguns and shot the other cockroach, which was moving slowly due to its injury.

Wu Zun and Chen Geng stood aside, dumbfounded. If they hadn't known they had shrunk, they would have thought they were watching a Hollywood sci-fi blockbuster.

Five mutated cockroaches yielded five crystals: 1 red, 2 green, 2 yellow. Since the bodyguards were mainly responsible for killing them, they claimed ownership of the crystals. However, considering that only Tom could currently use these items and his strength was needed to ensure everyone's safety until the arrival of the Phoenix, the crystals were temporarily entrusted to Tom's use. Once they were aboard the Phoenix, the crystals would immediately belong to the Haiwei Group.

"But one cockroach was ours..." Li Qiang was quite discontented. He had a share in killing that cockroach too.

Tom stopped Li Qiang. "Forget it, don't dwell on it!"

After all, without them killing three cockroaches first, Tom wouldn't have been able to handle the remaining one so easily, and it was only fair that the crystals belonged to them all.

Leaving the fourth floor, they were about to reach the fifth floor.

As the landlord's residence, the stairs leading to the fifth floor were equipped with anti-theft iron gates. However, these gates weren't fully sealed, so they were easily passable for shrunken individuals.

They cautiously climbed to the fifth floor, relieved to find no threats along the way.

Looking at the slightly open door, Tom asked, "Uncle, you said your wife was eaten by mice. Is it on this floor?"

Wu Zun's face showed a trace of sorrow as he nodded slightly. "Yes..."

"When did it happen?"

"Just last night. My wife was bitten to death by mice. That's when I jumped out of the window to escape."

"How many mice were there?"

Wu Zun thought for a moment. "Two. There were no mice on this floor before my cat died. Those two mice must have come from elsewhere. Before shrinking, I was planning to buy another cat to catch the mice."

Tom recalled the mutated mouse that Xiao Bao had shown him that night. At that time, its size wasn't as large as the one he had seen last night, indicating that the mouse had mutated again within just one day.

So he proposed to the two bodyguards, "Eating animals that have consumed humans will enter a deep sleep during which they will complete their mutation and become even more dangerous. It has been over 24 hours now, and the mutated mice could wake up at any time. For the sake of safety while waiting for rescue, I suggest we kill them while they're still asleep."

Number 3 thought for a moment. "Are you sure they're still asleep? What if they've already woken up? What if they're going to sleep longer and won't affect our boarding and evacuation, and you wake them up by going in early?"

"The ants already know we're here and could organize a large army to find us at any time. According to estimates, it will take at least two hours for the Phoenix to arrive. If we wait on the rooftop, and the ants attack along with the mutated mice, we'll be in even greater danger. We should take a gamble and eliminate a potential threat in advance. It's better than being attacked from both sides. Moreover, if the mice are awake, they will definitely smell us, and by then, they'll already be attacking us."

After discussing in low voices, the two guards checked their bullets again, then nodded in agreement. "We agree with your proposal. Once we're ready, we'll go in! The crystals obtained from killing the mice belong to us!"

"Okay! I just want to ensure safety as much as possible."

After checking his armor again and removing the red gemstone, Tom wrapped the red crystal with a rubber band around his ring guard, confirming that everything was in order before telling Number 3 that they were ready.

The two bodyguards proceeded cautiously with their guns raised, followed closely by Tom with his big knife. Wu Zun and Li Qiang walked side by side behind them, with Chen Geng bringing up the rear.

Chen Geng was somewhat resentful of their risky venture to kill the mice, but he had no say in the matter. He dared not stay behind alone, fearing that ants or cockroaches might appear unexpectedly. He could only reluctantly follow along. Having witnessed two battles, he had temporarily set aside his resentment towards Tom. In this dangerous environment, without their protection, he would definitely not survive until the arrival of the aircraft, so he had to put away his scheming thoughts and follow along honestly.

As they entered the living room, Wu Zun quietly introduced the layout of the rooms. 

First was the shoe cabinet, then the spacious fabric sofa against the wall, directly facing it was a large coffee table, followed by the TV wall. On the right was the bathroom, and beyond that was the hallway leading to four rooms and the kitchen.

His wife had been bitten to death by mice in the kitchen. At that time, the two mice had been too busy eating his wife's flesh, giving him the chance to escape from the living room and parachute to safety from the balcony using a piece of fabric as a makeshift parachute.

Moving forward cautiously, the two bodyguards carefully inspected every potentially threatening corner to ensure safety all the way.

They reached the kitchen and found a large puddle of blood on the floor, causing Wu Zun to freeze on the spot, murmuring, "Wife... my wife..."

Li Qiang patted his shoulder to comfort him, and he wiped away the tears from the corner of his eyes with a sigh.

The two bodyguards searched around but found no trace of the mice.

"No, check the other rooms!" 

They searched around the bathroom next to the kitchen but found nothing. There were two bedrooms belonging to Wu Zun's children. Since his children had gone abroad, the bedrooms had been locked, so the mice shouldn't have been able to enter. Therefore, they headed straight for Wu Zun's bedroom. Originally a suite of over 140 square meters, it now felt like a large supermarket of over 3000 square meters to them, taking quite some time to traverse.

Underneath Wu Zun's bed in his bedroom, they finally found two mice, both deeply asleep.

"They've gotten much bigger..." Wu Zun's words confirmed everyone's suspicions. The mice had indeed grown larger, making them even more dangerous if they woke up.

Number 3 was about to order them to shoot when Tom intervened. "Number 3, can I use the green crystal to see their memories?"

"Are you sure you won't wake them up? If you do, they'll be even harder for us to deal with."

Tom had Li Qiang bring out the green crystal. "I can try to induce the mice into attacking each other. We've seen before when the mutated cat fought the mutated mice that even the cat's claws couldn't penetrate the mice's skin. Direct attacks might not be very effective even with your firearms."

Although the miniaturized automatic rifles had some killing power, the smaller bullets and reduced amount of gunpowder resulted in much lower firepower, a fact the two bodyguards were well aware of. So Number 3 nodded, "Be careful."

Tom approached one of the slightly smaller mice cautiously and placed his hand on it.

The first memory that emerged was of two terrified little people fleeing in panic, followed by the mice chasing after them, driving them into the kitchen.

Tom recognized them as Wu Zun and his wife.

Then Wu Zun's wife suddenly said something and rushed towards the mouse, only to be pinned down by the two mice and bitten, tearing her into two halves.

"Delicious!"

Tom recoiled from the mouse's memory, gagging a couple of times, startling Numbers 3 and 4, who thought Tom had awakened the mice and were about to shoot. Fortunately, Li Qiang quickly explained that Tom was feeling nauseous because he experienced the sensation of mice eating humans, preventing them from firing their guns.

Wiping the sweat from his forehead, Tom waved his hand to indicate he was okay and proceeded to try again.

"It ate more than you. When it wakes up, it'll be stronger than you and will eat you. You better wake up quickly and kill and eat it first." Tom attempted to input this message into the sleeping mouse, although he wasn't sure if the mouse could understand this thought.

"Delicious!"

"More delicious, you can only taste more if you're alive. If it eats you, you won't taste anything!"

"Eat it, eat it, eat more delicious!"

Tom immediately withdrew his hand, knowing he had succeeded.

Seeing that there was still some time before the mouse woke up, Tom immediately ran to the other mouse and placed his hand on it.

It was the same memory repeating, but Tom forced himself to ignore it. He was running out of time and needed to complete another suggestion before the first mouse woke up.

"It's jealous that you've eaten more. It wants to bite you to death and eat you while you're asleep, to taste more delicious food!"

"Delicious!"

"Bite it to death, taste more delicious!"

"Delicious!"

Tom withdrew his hand, shaking his head. It seemed this mouse wasn't affected by his suggestion. But he couldn't worry about that now and had to run out quickly.

"Quick, hide by the foot of the bed and watch the mice's movements."

Number 3 still wasn't entirely convinced. "Wait for it to wake up? If it wakes up, it'll come straight for us, and we'll be in danger."

"The mouse will surely attack its own kind first when it wakes up. We'll strike when they're both injured. Trust me!" Tom tapped the green crystal. At this point, the green crystal had faded significantly in color, indicating that attempting to induce animals consumed a lot of energy.

The five of them waited nervously for a while. The first mouse woke up, and Tom knew it was showtime.

"Wait!" he whispered to Number 3, fearing Number 3 might get too excited and accidentally attract the mouse's attention with his gun.

As soon as the mouse woke up, it looked around and, seeing that its companion was indeed larger than itself, immediately squeaked and bit its companion's mouth.

The larger mouse was awakened by the pain and struggled fiercely. It was larger in size and managed to break free after a few struggles.

Upon breaking free, it immediately counterattacked, engaging in a fight with the smaller mouse. Both sides tore at each other, emitting constant squeals, with fur flying and blood splattering.

"We did it, we did it!" Li Qiang was excited, almost jumping up.

Indeed, these mutated mice had thick subcutaneous fat. Regular bites were easily cushioned by the fat. They bit each other for a full ten minutes until the smaller one finally collapsed due to exhaustion, helpless and gasping for breath.

The larger mouse stood up, looking left and right, then tore open the wound on the smaller mouse's belly and rummaged inside.

Tom immediately shouted, "Quick, shoot! Don't let it eat the crystals!"

Numbers 3 and 4 immediately pulled the trigger, and bullets whizzed towards the large mouse's body.

Angered by being interrupted while eating, the mouse charged towards them.

Tom roared and activated his power, rushing forward with his big knife. But the handle of the knife broke with a loud snap, and the blade got stuck in the mouse's head.

He quickly rolled to the side to avoid the mouse's attack. Meanwhile, Number 3 replaced his magazine with a new one, and only then did Number 4 start to replace his magazine.

The mouse fell into a pool of blood, and the two of them approached while continuing to fire until their magazines were empty, then they stopped to reload.