The Second Monster

Cockroaches, belonging to the phylum Arthropoda and the class Insecta, have a flat body and are black-brown in color. They have long filamentous antennae, and well-developed compound eyes. Their wings are flat, with the forewings being leathery and the hindwings membranous.

Northern cockroaches are smaller in size, while those in the south are mostly American cockroaches, also known as American roaches, which can typically grow to about 5 centimeters and are capable of flight. There are even jokes circulating online about how big, burly men from the north come to the south only to be scared to death by American roaches.

This was the encyclopedia of cockroaches that Tom had come to understand. Since shrinking and encountering ants, apart from rats, cockroaches were what he feared most.

Recently, the landlord of the rental building, under the supervision of the neighborhood committee, carried out a campaign to eliminate pests, killing many rats. Although many cockroaches were killed at the time as well, these creatures have strong vitality. They have survived since the age of dinosaurs and are difficult to exterminate in a short period.

Although their mouthparts are of the chewing type and not very strong, they generally do not bite humans. However, they may break this habit when food is scarce.

Apart from the scarcity of food, Tom felt that in the current situation where even ants were attacking humans, cockroaches might also break their non-aggressive habit.

Sure enough, the big creature, with its long antennae swinging, immediately locked onto Tom and quickly crawled over with its six legs.

Biscuit was not afraid; it roared and prepared to confront the cockroach, but Tom didn't want to complicate matters. He pulled it back and directed it towards the window of the staircase.

Once out of the window, the evening wind was strong, and Biscuit quickly traversed along the edge, slipping into the window of the first room.

According to Tom's observations and deductions, the strong wind outside would scatter his scent, just like what happened with the two ants before. In this environment, the cockroach should lose track of him.

However, the reality proved otherwise. After crawling out, the black creature came straight towards them.

Tom peeked out and quickly climbed onto Biscuit, commanding it to land on the bed. However, before Biscuit could go far, the large cockroach flapped its wings and landed in front of them, blocking their path.

This cockroach must have been quite old, large, and black, longer than Biscuit and slightly larger in size. It looked disgusting, and when it flew, it indeed made one's heart race. Cowardly people would undoubtedly be terrified.

Biscuit roared at the opponent, waiting for Tom to give the order to charge. Since the cockroach could fly, they couldn't run away. Since running away wasn't an option... Tom put away the needle cap and took out the jade pendant, touched Biscuit's head, and gave the charge command. Biscuit immediately rushed forward.

Clad in a helmet, Biscuit collided with the cockroach's head. The opponent's head was also very hard, and the impact shook Tom. However, he was prepared, holding the saddle tightly with his feet, and lifted the Guan Gong knife, swinging it down with force.

The sharp blade hit the cockroach's hard shell, but as Tom feared, the blade couldn't penetrate and rebounded.

This thing was like leather armor. Although not as hard as iron armor, it was resilient enough. Just like that, the cockroach, which had undergone mutations, managed to bite a corner off Biscuit's plastic helmet in just a couple of bites. Seeing this, Tom quickly pulled back, preventing it from biting off Biscuit's head.

Since the big knife was useless, Tom decisively let go and switched to a thin needle, stabbing at the cockroach's mouthparts. Unfortunately, the jostling caused him to miss his aim, and the force wasn't retracted. He ended up falling forward, luckily onto Biscuit's back; otherwise, he might have ended up feeding himself to the cockroach's mouth.

Everything had its pros and cons. The cockroach's shell was quite tough, but apart from its mutated sharp mouthparts, it didn't have any other strong attack methods. It seemed like a big turtle.

After probing a few times, Tom figured out the situation. He immediately directed Biscuit to keep moving while he stabbed with the needle from time to time. However, this creature was entirely protected by its shell, and there was simply no weak point to be found. It was like trying to saw through a turtle shell—nowhere to bite.

Biscuit, being large and heavy, showed signs of fatigue after a few rounds of movement. Its speed slowed down, and inattentiveness led to one of its legs being bitten by the cockroach. Fortunately, Tom reacted quickly, jumped down, and pried it free with the needle.

Once he jumped down, his overall agility decreased. How could he catch up with the cockroach's speed? Unable to dodge in time, he was toppled over by the cockroach again.

Luckily, Biscuit, acting as a "protector," saved Tom from being bitten off by the cockroach. But even so, he was once again overturned, facing the rapidly swinging sharp mouthparts of the cockroach. Tom quickly used his hands to defend himself.

The plastic handguard, originally thought to be sturdy enough, was instantly bitten by the cockroach's sharp mouthparts. Fortunately, Tom reacted quickly, quickly loosened the string, and shrank his hand out, freeing himself.

Under the cockroach's sharp mouthparts, the plastic handguard immediately turned into powder, just like wood meeting a saw. Its previously proud protective power was instantly shattered.

Perhaps pulverizing the plastic handguard gave the cockroach a sense of accomplishment. This creature raised its head, gnashing its teeth at Tom, showing off. At this moment, Tom felt a needle on the ground and immediately thoughtlessly grabbed it, thrusting it forward.

The needle was quite long, about four centimeters. Tom held it tightly and thrust it forward, piercing through the cockroach's mouthparts' inner layer and continuing to push inward. The cockroach struggled in pain, but Biscuit, who was guarding by the side, quickly pounced, firmly pressing it down, preventing it from moving.

Ignoring the splattering viscous fluid, Tom squinted his eyes and used all his strength to keep pushing in. After a while, the cockroach stopped struggling, but Tom dared not let his guard down, continuing to push deeper until the entire needle was pushed in, leaving only a bit of the tip before letting go and moving aside.

Tom gagged for a while; the viscous fluid on the cockroach's body carried a disgusting and strange smell. Being smeared on the face was really uncomfortable, and he gasped for quite some time before calming down.

After adjusting his mindset, Tom picked up the file from Biscuit's back, enduring the nauseating smell as he approached the cockroach. He intended to crack open its shell and see if there were any gems inside.

The cockroach's shell was very tough, and while it was alive,

it was indeed difficult to pry open. However, once dead, just a few gropes would reveal the gaps, and a hard file could be used to pry it open.

Tom used the big knife to dig around and indeed found a gemstone. This thing was two sizes bigger than any he had seen before, requiring both hands to hold it.

Covered in slime, Tom had Biscuit carry him along with the large gemstone to the sink, where he took a good bath with lukewarm water, washing away the foul-smelling slime from his body, and also cleaned the large gemstone.

In the fading sunlight, Tom saw that this sparkling, translucent gemstone was green. Biscuit wasn't interested, although it was indeed very large.

Unlike the previous round shape, this one was elongated and rhomboid. While it was called a gemstone, Tom thought "crystal" might be a more fitting name.

Now it seemed that every mutant creature he encountered, whether ants or cockroaches, had a gemstone or crystal inside them. He suspected this was because they had eaten human flesh or... He turned his head, giving Biscuit a strange look, which startled Biscuit so much that it flew to the dishwashing table.

Creatures that had ingested gemstones also mutated. For example, Biscuit's body size had indeed increased, and its intelligence seemed high as well. Perhaps it was because of its high intelligence, understanding right from wrong, that it didn't swallow him whole in the morning.

Were these gemstones and crystals beneficial to humans? If ingested... Tom shook his head again; it was a dangerous thought. Life was precious, and experimenting with things beyond common sense was not a good idea.

Putting aside the crystal issue, Tom called for Biscuit, climbed onto its back, and endured the chill of the evening. He quickly returned to his room.

He cut two more pieces of fabric to wrap around his body. Seeing that the sun had set and night was approaching, he cut two more pieces and wrapped himself up again. It was a bit chilly at night, and it would be troublesome if he caught a cold or fever.

Biscuit's helmet was damaged, so he found a model head to replace it. The handguard was also crushed by the cockroach, and he couldn't find a suitable size, so he had to shorten it and rework it.

Seeing the sun sinking, he felt he couldn't waste too much time. He remembered the ring he had found in his backpack before, the size of which was just right to wear. The tray on top could be used as a handguard.

Then he asked Biscuit to help him open the drawer and pulled out three new penknife blades. They were a bit large, but adult men could wield them with both hands. With more people now, he needed to take as many weapons as possible to have more counterattack power against ants.

Next was the bottle of kerosene. Although some had spilled before, there was still some left. Besides filling the two small bottles he made earlier, he also brought a bottle of eye drops, which he filled and tied to Biscuit's back before setting off for the fourth floor.

After the encounter with the large cockroach, Tom was very cautious this time, trying to let Biscuit climb the walls as much as possible to avoid facing the cockroach again.

Fortunately, things went smoothly, and he successfully returned to the edge of the fourth floor.

Even with the strong wind, the cockroach could still find his position, which made Tom uneasy. As long as those creatures appeared nearby, there would be no place truly safe.

Now, with night approaching and the moon in the sky, the moonlight shining into the room made it bright. People had become smaller, and what used to be a dark environment now seemed brighter, which was also a benefit of shrinking.

Seeing Tom return, the four men and one woman on the table were very excited. They were still a bit worried that Tom wouldn't come back.

Tom put the kerosene bottle on the table and took down three knife blades, which made the four men's eyes light up.

People had become smaller, and the small knives from before had become huge objects. Faced with ants, there were no suitable weapons at all. They had long admired Tom's homemade big knife but didn't dare to ask for it. Now that they saw three more, they were naturally very happy.

Tom asked them to tie the three plastic rods he brought back with the knife blades and make their own big knives. Then, he rode Biscuit to the ground.

It seemed that seeing Tom come back didn't relieve Luo Jun. He greeted him casually, "Brother An, you see if the door crack is sealed properly."

Tom glanced at Li Qiang, who was sitting honestly in the corner gnawing on diced meat, and followed Luo Jun to the door crack. After pressing a few times, he had Biscuit help him press the fabric in two places, then nodded in satisfaction.