Rats
1
I have been closely watching one black dog, lately he has been constantly appearing next to the trash can, not far from my house, he wandered around, from time to time digging in the trash. His left eye was clouded, and there was mucus in the corners of his right eye, an unpleasant yellow-white color. It was disgusting to look at him.
But actually my situation wasn't much better. I heard that disinfection is going to be carried out in this area soon: they will clean the sewers, garbage cans, corners of walls, seams of brickwork and even want to green areas. I heard from friends living in the neighborhood that they decided to run away from here. People in gas masks and protective suits staged a sweep and sprayed poisonous gas everywhere. I also thought about escaping, but living without a roof over my head is very difficult. Just look at this dog. Anyway, as long as I live here, this is my house (although he rather thinks that no one lives here, and comes in the middle of the day to dig in garbage cans, which is why I can't sleep.)
I decided to wait for the evening (I usually don't go out so early), but to meet The sunset is always beautiful. And although there is no sunlight visible all day in the place where I live, you should always treat others with respect. I needed to choose a moment that he would like, so that there would be more chances to convince him.
I pushed aside the wooden board that served as a door, and the room immediately flooded with light. My main right is to leave the house after midnight and return early in the morning. But for some reason lately my eyes have become less sensitive to light. I waited a bit and slowly left the house. At that moment, I heard a loud noise. That black dog was still here.
"Hey!" I shouted at him.
He turned slowly and tried to see where the sound was coming from.
"Hey! I'm here."
He raised one paw and turned his head, his big ears hanging lifelessly like some old rags. Suddenly he jerked and looked at me.
"Woof-woof-woof-woof!" — the strong barking scared me.
I saw him bark and rush towards me, grabbing me, he threw me up. I felt dizzy, I could hardly breathe.
"Wait, wait, wait..."
Once, and now he's already tried to bite off my hind leg.
I fell to the ground.
I caught a glimpse of him staring at me, feeling as if he would rush forward at any moment and bite me.
"Wait!" I tried to calm him down.
"I'm here to discuss something with you." "
Whoo..."
"Do you speak a common language?" At that moment, I was almost desperate. Stupid, he was so stupid that I wanted to talk some sense into him.
"You're a pest. I hate rats," he grinned.
"All animals consider rats to be pests. I'm not going to argue with you about this, but you don't have to hate me."
"You're the reason I'm homeless," he replied angrily.
"This nonsense has nothing to do with me," my leg hurt terribly.
"Rats are mindless creatures, damn stupid," he continued. He got up and walked around me, as if checking if my hind leg was really broken.
"You don't care what you eat, garbage or slop. Look what you've done to the world. My master died because of you," he glared at me furiously, sticky saliva hanging from his mouth.
Although I was very curious about what he went through, I was even more interested in how I could inexplicably harm people. I thought I should talk to him and ask him about it, but at that moment I was in such pain that I couldn't make a sound.
It was all over, looking at the approaching pair of fangs, I thought: "I won't see tomorrow." I tried my best to see the sunset on the other side of the street. I closed my eyes and waited for death. I already imagined how his fangs would pierce my body.
Time passed, it was also noisy outside, and I almost fainted from the pain. Suddenly, someone picked me up from the ground. It wasn't him. With the last of my strength, I looked down. A black dog was lying on the ground, and a man in protective clothing was waving a stick...
                              
2
"What kind of street is this?"
"The fourth one is spreading faster and faster."
"Where's the rat we just brought in?"
"It's been taken away for sampling, the results will be ready in half an hour."
"Leave the body, it will come in handy," I ordered.

"This is already the fourth street. At this rate of spread, the whole city will soon be infected. There's so little time, and we can't even investigate everything thoroughly. How do we explain this to people?!"
"Zhang Ju, the situation is worse than you think. If we really can't figure out if people will die from this, the whole of humanity will suffer," Li Liang suddenly said.
I looked at Zhang Ju, and his expression changed to one of fear and determination.
"Then our burden will be even heavier," everyone fell silent.
I patted Li Liang on the shoulder. He graduated from the same university as me, and now we both work at a research institute.
"Don't worry too much, wait for the test results."
"Zhang Ju, you know very well that our analyses are inconclusive. A week has passed since the test. What else do we know besides that it's a poisonous mushroom?" he paused.
"The death toll continues to rise, and it is impossible not to report it," he said.
"Of course I have to report this, but tell me why?" I asked.
"They need to know about it," he said, "regardless of whether there are consequences."
"Are you going to say that this mushroom killed people?" my emotions suddenly burst out. "To spread panic throughout the city? To be wary of mushrooms, the type of toxin of which we don't even know?"
"Otherwise we have to wait until everyone dies?"
"Why are you always so harsh? You can notify everyone, but it's too early for that. We should at least find a way to defend ourselves first. What if it causes chaos?"
"Stop arguing!" shouted Zhang Ju.
"You're both being reasonable."
I looked at Li Liang intently. This guy loved to fight with me when we were in college. It was like he was on a powder keg all the time.
"I'm going to report it now. You should hurry up and do the research. It's better to find a cure before the news becomes public."
"I suggest everyone try not to go outside for a while. Judging by the current situation, the spores of this fungus can parasitize mammals and be transmitted at least through blood and airborne droplets," I rolled my eyes at Li Liang and told Zhang Juyu.
"As soon as you find people or pets around you with symptoms such as increased salivation, confusion, blurred vision, you should immediately seek medical help," Li Liang added.
"We shouldn't panic when faced with something unknown," Li Liang looked into my eyes and said.
I looked back, not wanting to admit defeat.
"Your words betrayed you," he looked into my eyes so calmly, as if he saw a coward deep inside me.
"Still alive!" one of the scientists quickly entered and interrupted the meeting.
"Take your time. Speak calmly. Who?" asked Zhang Ju.
"A rat! The rat is still alive."

Li Liang helped me put on protective clothing. 
"Be careful," I saw him say to me through the glass.
I entered the laboratory, Li Liang walking in front of me. The heavy lead door slowly closed behind me, making a muffled sound.
The rat was lying on the operating table, and it was visible how its stomach rose and fell even with weak breathing. The sparse fur was tangled in strands after the saliva of a stray dog.
"The left kidney was punctured, the spine was broken, and the right femur was crushed. She should have been infected before she was bitten."
"Infected? How can we find out?" - I asked. I took a piece of cotton wool with tweezers and inserted it into the nasal cavity.
"Optic nerve atrophy." 
Li Liang slowly separated his left eye with a scalpel. His hand was in the position where he usually held a pen, and his movements resembled painting a painting.
"Help me. A lot of blood has been lost," Li Liang wanted to hand me a scalpel.
"Wait, look what it is," I picked up the tweezers, and the cotton wool was covered with blood.
"Blood."
"Look carefully."
Among the bright red blood, you could see something green in color. I even thought it was something alive.
"The fungi in the previously infected samples were yellow, but this one..."
"A variety? Or..." Li Liang's face drooped. If it was a new strain, it would be a real disaster.
"Previously infected samples did not survive for more than 12 hours. At least 4 hours have passed since the discovery of this rat. One of the reasons why she is still alive is because she was infected by a dog," Li Liang suggested.
"Or maybe it's a new strain," I hesitated before stating the possibility.
"The reproduction time of the first detected strain is 30 minutes. Everything is very simple. Send it for testing." 
Li Liang took some samples. The bright, slightly fluorescent green color confused me, it seemed that this creature was laughing at me.
"Just call him Dinlo," I said suddenly. "Didn't Zhang Ju want us to name these mushrooms? Let's call it that."
I looked at the dying rat on the operating table. The little grey creature had no idea what was going on. The anesthesia was wearing off, so she probably should have woken up soon. The eyeball was still also lying next to the little body. I took the scalpel, lifted it up, and was about to sentence this tiny creature to death. But what right do I have to decide whether he lives or dies?
“what? Can't you?" Li Liang probably understood what I was thinking at that moment.
"So many lives have been lost in two days. Maybe we should keep this one. If this is really Dinglo No. 2, it will be useful to us.
" "You are the Blessed Virgin Mary yourself, I did not expect from you," Li Liang looked at me, collecting his tools. "Not the best way out. It doesn't look like the rat will live long."
"How long can this last?" — I put it back in a glass jar filled with ether.

The test results came quickly: the fluorescent green strain was identified as Dinlo No. 2. It took less than 10 minutes for one generation to reproduce. Once it spreads, it will become a much more serious danger than Dinlo No. 1.
The death toll continues to rise, the name of Dinlo No. 1 alone terrified everyone. Rumors were flying. Since the strain was multiplying rapidly, there was no time to take precautions. People were running in all directions because of the fear enveloping them. In less than a month, the city of N, where the disease was discovered, turned into an absolutely deserted place. In the early stages of infection, there is loss of vision and insensitivity to light, followed by paralysis of the limbs. In less than 6 hours, Dinlo No. 1 penetrates the brain, causing loss of speech and motor functions, as well as hearing loss after 10 hours. All senses are turned off, and eventually Dinlo No. 1 fills all the lungs, causing death by suffocation.
This disaster happened so suddenly that people were helpless.
Zhang Ju was fired a day after the news of the new disease was reported, and our pilot project was "handed over" to authorized persons sent from above. Li Liang and I were responsible for communicating with experts and had almost no right to vote, because the whole city was cleared, there was practically no life left in it, and the same applied to the samples in the laboratory. 
However, these steps were ineffective. It's been about a year. People had nowhere to go. Sixty percent of the world's people died in just one year. The streets were deserted and full of rats. The remaining people were forced to live in cramped "absolutely sterile" places. Dinlo No. 1 has spread everywhere, and the human habitat has shrunk.
Li Liang and I are still fighting the disease. Currently, many people are working on this, but more and more of them are choosing to develop cleaners, filters (organic materials that can filter dust but allow air to pass through) and other protective products. Life withers away, but we see its value only in such moments.
"They don't need to die, so why do they strive for values in this way?" I asked after reading an article titled "A tribute to those who died from Dinlo — the world has become a better place because of it."
"Because some people like to romanticize death. After all, they can only think about themselves. All these things for them are games and episodes in life without worry," Li Liang replied.
"When we discovered Dinlo No. 1, there were so many people around me, but now there are only two of us left. Life is unpredictable."
I've heard Li Liang complain that he looks tired after so many hardships. I began to miss the past, the beginning of this disaster, the quarrels, the tension...
suddenly I realized something. It might even have saved our world.
"Li Liang! I know!"
"A rat! The rat is the key!"
"I know, we disinfected the whole city and exterminated pests and rats."
"No, rats have other bacteria that can inhibit Dinlo No. 1, or it's some kind of mutation-causing virus," I said excitedly. "I have a bold assumption that Dinlo No. 1 can coexist with rats."
"What do you mean?" In fact, after that rat, we collected very few samples and hardly considered this aspect. Li Liang was obviously aware of this too.
"Do you still remember the rat that was infected with Dinlo No. 2? We did not meet with Dinlo No. 2 anymore, perhaps for this reason."
"Isn't the whole point that we assumed wrongly? It was just a color reaction," Li Liang replied. He was trying to convince himself.
At that time, the whole city was disinfected, and the laboratory was no exception. I firmly believed in the importance of this rat and applied for the transfer of samples. However, it was burned. The reason given by the experts was that we made a mistake because of our backward technology. Green Dinlo No. 2 is the same yellow Dinlo No. 1, which changed color when it came into contact with blood. And the difference in propagation speed is due to an improperly conducted experiment.
"This is nonsense!" shouted Li Liang. Unfortunately, we did not conduct sufficient research after taking a sample from that rat, we do not have data or experimental results proving that it was not Dinlo No. 1. This issue gradually faded away when the outbreak occurred.
Over the years, we have put forward various hypotheses, but they have all been refuted. Humanity has never been so close to death.
"This is a special case! Dinlo No. 1 can mutate into Dinlo No. 2. That's why Dinlo No. 2 disappeared. He appeared because of the rats," I said excitedly. 
During all this time, we had very few studies on rats, but it was impossible to ignore it.
"It's just a guess. The samples were destroyed long ago. How can we confirm their authenticity?"  Li Liang shook his head helplessly.
"Find it! Find a new sample!"
I stared at Li Liang, hope did not leave me.

We put on protective clothing. The laboratory and the research institute ceased to exist only nominally, we were the only ones who could be involved.
A withered leaf fell on the protective mask, I gently brushed it away with my hand and caught it in my palm at the moment when it was falling. The reason why the leaves wither does not correspond to the laws of nature. I pinched off the petiole and held it up to the mask. Due to the lack of water and chlorophyll, the lines of the yellow veins were especially clear. The moment I realized it was Dinlo, time stopped. The streets, full of dust and debris, were covered with a gray fog. Only rats ran past.
"Come on!" Li Liang suddenly shouted, breaking the silence.
"We need to hurry," he pointed to an empty street. "We are not welcome here."
He was referring to rats that occupy places that were once inaccessible to them - places that once belonged to humans. A sudden sound spread everywhere, the sky darkened, and rats crawled out into the street. Pairs of green eyes stared at us.
"The rats are in charge here, so be careful," Li Liang turned on the flashlight and whispered.
I took out a pre-prepared net.
"I think," I opened the net in my hand, "that one rat is not the only exception."
Perhaps these rats are not as agile as they used to be, so we easily caught five or six rats with green fluorescent eyes. However, they continued to jump on us, bite and scratch. Fortunately, the protective clothing is quite durable. Suddenly, a huge rat attacked me. She was at least the size of a cat. I was knocked to the ground before I could react. At the same moment, a stream of rats rushed at me.
"What the hell are you eating to grow so big?"  I thought. I tried to drive them away from me with my hands.
I looked at Li Liang, he wasn't doing well either. The number of rats only increased. 
The average carbon footprint of humans is about 6.8 tons per year, and that of rats... No one seems to have thought about the carbon footprint of rats. In short, they occupy land, houses and resources belonging to people. The rate of reproduction is much higher than that of humans. This world should probably belong to them. And I suddenly thought. They eke out a miserable existence in dark, smelly ditches and dirty streets, relying on their vitality and having almost no dignity. They're trying so hard to survive, but what about humans? Stupid and arrogant monkeys. But I don't want to be associated with rats at all. I love cats and appreciate their indifference to life, but I will never be able to become a cat, mate with other cats, write books about cats, understand cat language, and I will never be able to understand them.
I was looking at my friend who was still struggling. Maybe it was all in vain. One day we will become victims, victims of those who had the absolute right to speak. If so, I would prefer to breed cats. I slowly took off the protective mask.
It was heartbreaking pain, and I was pretty sure that the rat bit me in the heart after it got into my protective suit. Night fell, and the surrounding sounds slowly disappeared...

The original is in the application

Files:

• 鼠辈.docx