Chapter 148: The Alternative Uses of the Rat King

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Qin Yu returned to her room alone. She threw herself onto the bed and buried her head in the blankets. The entire room fell silent.

After a while, Qin Yu sat up and gazed around the empty room, sighing softly. She wondered privately how Brother Li was doing.

Looking at the cold, lifeless room, Qin Yu frowned. Then, with a thought, she entered her space. Inside, the Mouse King had already eaten its fill and was lying off to one side, snoring soundly.

Little Red was nowhere to be seen, but Qin Yu assumed it had hidden itself. After all, there had been several occasions when she had entered the space without seeing it.

Qin Yu poked the belly of the Mouse King, who was lost in a beautiful dream, and found the flesh there extraordinarily soft. She immediately began playing the game of “poke, poke, poke-poke.”

The Mouse King grew annoyed and placed its two tiny paws over its belly to block her fingers. However, it had eaten far too much, and its little paws could not cover its enormous stomach at all. Qin Yu therefore continued poking to her heart’s content.

The Mouse King opened its eyes and looked at Qin Yu, who was crouching beside it with an amused expression. It shuddered, ignored the sensation on its belly, and hurriedly sat up.

“I didn’t eat that much! I swear!”

Qin Yu froze. She had not expected the little creature’s first words to be that. A smile curved across her lips, and she continued poking its belly.

“It’s all right.”

Hearing this, the Mouse King sighed with relief. As long as she did not dislike it, everything was fine. After all, it would never find minerals more delicious than these. The spiritual energy within them was so abundant! It was simply wonderful!

Seeing how delighted the Mouse King was, Qin Yu smiled faintly. She lifted its chubby body and placed it on her lap.

She stroked the Mouse King and murmured, “I wonder if Brother Li is all right.”

The Mouse King twitched its ears before asking, “Do you mean that man who was with you last time?”

Qin Yu nodded, her eyes filled with worry.

The Mouse King hopped down from her lap, then held out its right paw.

“Give me something that belongs to him. I can smell whether he’s all right.”

Qin Yu asked in surprise, “You can tell by smell?”

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The Mouse King nodded.

“Of course! I can smell whether that person is safe. It’s my special talent. I’m the only one in our entire clan who can do it.”

Qin Yu said skeptically, “You can really smell that? What is it based on?”

The Mouse King shrugged.

“I don’t know either. I could do it from the moment I was born. Our clan relies on me to determine whether our members are alive or dead. Once they reach adulthood, our people have to leave the clan and train outside for two years. If they haven’t returned after that, I smell them to find out whether they’ve met with misfortune. I’m incredibly capable!”

Hearing this, Qin Yu believed it eight-tenths of the way. She thought of the stories Nangong Yao had told her—stories that had once existed only in novels. In that case, perhaps it was not strange for the Mouse King to possess such an unusual ability.

Qin Yu felt that her ability to accept strange things was growing stronger and stronger. Truly, it was something worth celebrating.

When she thought of something that belonged to Brother Li, the corner of her mouth twitched. It seemed that the only thing she had was his personal clothing. Ahem.

Seeing Qin Yu lost in thought, the Mouse King assumed that she still did not believe it. It began hopping anxiously.

“I really am very capable! You have to believe me! Believe me!”

Qin Yu came back to herself at the sound of its voice. She left the space and searched her room, where she found a fountain pen. Qing Li had normally carried it with him, but after changing clothes the previous day, he had become busy with the battle and left it behind.

Qin Yu looked at the pen in her hand. This should work, shouldn’t it? she wondered uncertainly. Whatever. She would take it inside and try.

Qin Yu returned to the space and handed the fountain pen to the Mouse King. Holding the pen—which was larger than its paws—in both paws, the Mouse King sniffed it from one side, then the other.

Several minutes later, it set the pen down and said to Qin Yu, “He’s safe!”

Qin Yu released a sigh of relief and smiled.

“Good. With your word, I’m reassured. Thank you.”

Even if it was only trying to comfort me, I’m still happy, she silently added.

The Mouse King did not detect the deeper meaning in her words. It was simply delighted that it was no longer eating for nothing. At last, it was of some use!

Ha! As expected, I really am the most capable! the Mouse King thought smugly.

Qin Yu looked at the proud creature, its chest puffed out and its head held high. She poked it on the head, then put the fountain pen away.

“You stay here and behave yourself. I’m leaving.”

The Mouse King nodded happily. Hehe, once she leaves, I can eat more minerals!

How could Qin Yu fail to see what it was thinking? The minerals were useless simply sitting there, so she might as well let the little creature enjoy itself.

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Qin Yu smiled at the Mouse King, then left the space. With her spirits restored by the creature, she soon threw herself into another round of battle.

Qin Yu went to the laboratory and continued researching the antidote, waiting for Qing Li to return amid her busy work.

Meanwhile, in a basement beneath the base, Tao looked at the black-clad man before her and said unhappily, “Why did you do that?”

The black-clad man did not even glance at Tao.

“It was an order from above. We can only obey. Otherwise, we’ll wish we were dead.”

Tao pressed her lips together and said unwillingly, “Are you really going to let them manipulate you forever?”

“Ha. What else can we do?” the black-clad man replied.

Tao drew a deep breath and asked in a low voice, “What was the disappearance of those mutated animals about? Was it connected to our operation last night?”

The black-clad man shook his head.

“I don’t know. The only order I received was to hypnotize everyone. I know nothing else. And if the disappearance of the mutated animals really was connected to the people above us, just how powerful are they? It’s terrifying to even imagine.”

Tao fell silent. Indeed, for so many mutated animals to vanish without a trace in a single night, the abilities of those people were beyond imagination.

What she could not understand was why they had ordered them to hypnotize everyone in the entire base—and had even brought out a treasure like the Water Spirit for that purpose. What, exactly, were those people trying to accomplish?

Tao pressed her lips tightly together and stared expressionlessly at the person before her. She knew that she still lacked the ability to oppose those people, so she would endure it.

But one day—

Seeing that Tao had stopped speaking, the black-clad man fell silent as well. The entire basement sank into silence.

Well, not quite. From somewhere nearby came the sound of a low-level zombie, which had been dragged there and tied up, scraping against the glass, along with its faint, muffled growls from behind the gag.