Fulfilling the Agreement

Seeing the rat with red-glowing eyes, Tom knew it was definitely a mutant rat. Whether it mutated to eat humans or due to gems was unknown, but he leaned towards the former.

Perhaps it was the scent emitted by the mutant orange cat owned by the little boy that kept the mutant rat from entering the building. Otherwise, those who had escaped earlier would have likely become its prey.

"Hey, kiddo, what's your name?"

"I'm Xiao Bao, my mom calls me Xiao Bao."

Tom looked around the room. There were many crude children's drawings on the bedroom wall, with various toy cartoon stickers covering the room. It was evidently Xiao Bao's bedroom. But where were his parents?

"Xiao Bao, where are your mom and dad?"

The little boy blinked and thought for a moment, then his eyes welled up: "Mom was eaten, eaten, and dad too... waaah," he burst into tears before finishing his sentence.

Tom quickly comforted him, "There, there, Xiao Bao, don't cry, don't cry!" He was afraid Xiao Bao would wake the fat cat, perhaps Xiao Bao could communicate with it, but he couldn't guarantee the cat wouldn't eat him if it woke up.

After calming Xiao Bao down, Tom refrained from asking how Xiao Bao's parents were eaten. Maybe it was rats. If the orange cat could communicate with Xiao Bao, then at least it had some intelligence and probably didn't eat Xiao Bao's parents.

Since he couldn't persuade Xiao Bao, Tom had to give up. His purpose here was to find the soldering iron to modify the circuit. Now was a good time to ask Xiao Bao where their toolbox was.

Xiao Bao was shrewd. He agreed to tell Tom only if Tom made him a set of Bumblebee armor too. Unfortunately, Tom's size didn't fit, or he would have given it to him right away.

Reluctantly, Tom promised to make Xiao Bao a set of Bumblebee armor in exchange for showing him where their toolbox was.

Tom could have searched himself, but being shrunk, the house was too big. Unfamiliar people would take a lot of time. Besides, children were usually very stubborn. If their needs weren't met, who knows, Xiao Bao might wake the cat, which would be troublesome.

After measuring Xiao Bao's body size quickly, Tom carried his backpack and went downstairs.

On the second floor, Liu Lian was flirting with Zhao Yingying, oblivious to Zhao Yingying's technician identity. On the other hand, Li Qiang was standing guard at the stairs leading from the first floor to the second floor, wary of anyone coming up from below.

Seeing Tom coming down, Liu Lian felt a bit embarrassed, but Tom didn't mind. He briefed the three of them briefly on the situation downstairs.

Knowing there was a surviving child on the third floor and a mutant cat outside, Li Qiang couldn't wait to leave the building.

Ordinary cats were already dangerous to small animals, let alone mutants.

After learning that the child could communicate with the orange cat and that a mutant rat was outside, Li Qiang was at a loss. Leaving would mean death, but staying might also lead to death. He was truly caught in a dilemma.

Liu Lian and Zhao Yingying continued to stay on the second floor. Their task was to find a clean corner in the warehouse and build a shelter with available materials. If people from the first floor really came up, at least they could use the terrain to their advantage in defense.

Tom took Li Qiang downstairs. They went straight to the toy area. Tom remembered there was a smaller Bumblebee toy there, suitable for making armor for Xiao Bao.

Compared to the bright paradise of the second and third floors, the first floor couldn't reach the switches, so the lighting wasn't very good. But being shrunk, the dim light didn't affect Tom's ability to see things.

When Cheng Fuhua walked over, Tom immediately noticed.

"Manager Cheng, hello."

Cheng Fuhua looked around nervously before whispering, "Mr. An, Qiang, please leave here quickly. Zheng Shiyi and the others are planning something fishy. They have their eyes on the gems and armor on you guys!"

Li Qiang chuckled when he heard this, "Hey, Hua, are you changing sides or snitching?"

Cheng Fuhua, feeling anxious, retorted, "Qiang, instead of making jokes, Zheng Shiyi is someone with a criminal record in the countryside. In this unclear situation, they think the police won't care and are planning to harm you guys."

Tom looked into his eyes and asked, "Manager Cheng, theoretically, you have eight men while we have only three. Your side has the advantage in numbers, so why bother coming here to inform us?"

Cheng Fuhua smiled bitterly, "Zheng Shiyi is unreliable, and those guys like Mr. Li and Mr. Zhang are even more unreliable. Your building has been burning all day long, and there's been no movement around. I'm afraid no one else cares about this place. With so many threats around, Zheng Shiyi and the others are planning to send those two outsiders to find Mr. Shen from Haiwei Group and then collect the reward. People are shrinking, is money still useful? Comparatively, I think Mr. An, you are more reliable."

Li Qiang burst into laughter, "Hua, you've got good taste. No wonder Uncle Seven often praises you for your ability to choose people as the manager of the clubhouse."

Cheng Fuhua continued to smile bitterly, "Qiang, stop teasing me. It sounds good to be called the clubhouse manager, but it's worse to be mocked as a lackey. I'm just forced by circumstances."

Tom looked around and noticed a few shadows. He pulled out his big knife and waved it, "Come out, I've already seen you."

Zheng Shiyi came out from the corner, hands spread out, eyes narrowed into slits, "Manager Cheng, what's the meaning of this? Are you playing both sides?"

Except for Zheng Shiyi, there were others who walked out, blocking both directions. In total, four people blocked both ends.

Cheng Fuhua knew he had been exposed by Zheng Shiyi, but he suddenly felt relieved. "Zheng Shiyi, you heard it yourself. There's no one outside to help us. It's better to find a safe place to survive. Money and gems..."

"Damn it! That guy surnamed Li dared to deceive me. I'll castrate him later. But before that, you, this snitch, and those two idiots, I'll chop you up first!"

Tom was annoyed by the situation. There were mutant rats outside the house and mutant cats upstairs. He was planning to settle things with the little guy upstairs first, get the soldering iron to modify the electric car, but now this group downstairs was causing trouble again.

"There are rats outside and cats upstairs. They might attack us at any time. I don't have time to play your games of grabbing and snatching!" Tom's arm emitted a red light, and he swiftly chopped off the head of a plastic dinosaur.

"Hmph, I didn't notice just now, but now I can see it clearly. It must be the ruby on your arm causing trouble. Brothers, get him! Cut off his arm! Let's see how arrogant he can be then."

Seeing the decapitated toy dinosaur, the other three security guards hesitated. This annoyed Zheng Shiyi, who immediately gestured, and the steel nails on his hands rushed forward.

Tom knew that mere intimidation wouldn't scare these people blinded by greed. So, seeing the steel nails coming at him, he deflected them with a swipe, his strength three times stronger than Zheng Shiyi's, enough to flick the steel nail out of his hand. Then Tom closed in, grabbed Zheng Shiyi's arm, and twisted it.

"Ahh!" Along with Zheng Shiyi's cry of pain came the sound of bones breaking. Tom's strength was even greater than Zheng Shiyi had anticipated.

The other three security guards, seeing the situation turn against them, hesitated about running away. But Tom, gripping Zheng Shiyi, barked at them, "Don't run! Come back with me and explain things to your people!"

Seeing this, Cheng Fuhua quickly stepped forward. "Don't leave. You've all been deceived by Li Zexin. Xiao Gao saw something extraordinary outside today too. Come with me, and we'll figure things out."

The three men looked at each other and then at Zheng Shiyi, sweating profusely from the pain of his twisted arm. After a moment's hesitation, they chose to obey Cheng Fuhua's command. After all, Cheng Fuhua was their manager.

Tom really had no interest in playing games with them now. He dragged Zheng Shiyi, whose arm had been twisted, with strengthened arm force, all the way to where Li Zexin and Zhang Feng were. These two guys, who had just hugged the fruit technician, were almost frightened into impotence.

Tom threw Zheng Shiyi, pale-faced and sweating from pain, in front of them and asked in front of everyone, "Zheng Shiyi, if you try anything funny again, I'll break your legs. Do you understand?"

Unexpectedly, Tom's strength was so great, Zheng Shiyi deeply regretted it. He didn't expect Tom to be so straightforward, giving them no chance to maneuver. Now being questioned, he immediately nodded, fearing that he would really have his legs broken if he hesitated.

Seeing Zheng Shiyi capitulate, Tom didn't care if he was genuinely afraid or pretending. "Li Qiang, tell them what we've been through and what we're going to face."

So Li Qiang began telling them from the time they encountered ants in the rental building, all the way to when the ants gnawed on flesh. The two businessmen and the technician were quite frightened. Then he talked about killing the ants, igniting diesel to escape, and Cheng Fuhua was panting heavily as if he had experienced the terrifying ordeal himself.

When it came to the mutant mosquito sucking all the blood from Chen Jianbin's body, Tom tossed the sharp hollow spike he had been carrying and made a clanging sound. Cheng Fuhua picked it up, waved it a couple of times, confirming it was not a man-made artifact.

After talking about killing the little mouse and saving Zhao Yingying, Tom finally said, "Mutant ants, cockroaches, mosquitoes are all so dangerous. So, facing mutant rats, even cats, in our current state, is a death sentence. That's why I wanted to find the soldering iron, modify those four electric cars. If things go wrong, we can drive away. But you guys, still thinking about snatching gems for money at this time?"

Although Cheng Fuhua was mentally prepared, after learning about the threat of mutant creatures, he was still very afraid. "Now the entire city's people have shrunk. Everyone is busy with their own survival. Even if you get a lot of money, what's the use? The end of the world is here, money is just a pile of waste paper, not even as useful as a piece of cloth! That's also why I want to join Tom. None of us has his strength. If we don't stick with him, what do we do when facing rats?"

"But... what if we can use the gems ourselves?" Li Zexin was still unwilling. Hearing that gems could enhance strength, he was eager to try.

"Yeah!" Zhang Feng chimed in, "Since gems can grant superpowers, Tom should share his gems. More people, more strength. We can't let him be the only superhero."

Li Qiang sneered, "Hmph, all seven of us tried it back then, and each one could use it. Do you think superpowers are easy to come by now that everyone has shrunk?!"

"That's hard to say. If you can't do it, it's because you're useless. We... have excellent bloodlines. Maybe we can get even stronger superpowers!" Li Zexin said dissatisfiedly.

Zhang Feng echoed, "That's right. Let Tom take out the gems, and we'll all take turns trying them once. If it works, we'll ask him to teach us how to use them. That proves he's sincere for everyone's good. Then we'll listen to him. Whatever he tells us to do... um, as long as it's beneficial, we can do it."

"Yes!" a security guard said, "Otherwise, if he makes us cannon fodder and runs away by himself, what do we do? If he refuses, we'll all fight! Death in the rat's mouth is death, death in your hands is still death!"

Li Qiang was dumbfounded. This was really a palace coup.