Chapter Eleven: Ratfolk

As a chorus of squeaks drew nearer, goosebumps broke out all over Gu Xi’s body. Especially when the wind had just shielded her, she felt the sounds growing closer and closer. Then, suddenly, the noises ceased.

Su Chen and Gu Xi exchanged wide-eyed glances, struck dumb by the sudden silence.

“Squeak, squeak, squeak! Welcome! The god of the Floating Island has descended beyond the island!”

Out of the wheat field suddenly sprang a mouse that could stand upright and speak, dressed in a hoodie that obscured its face.

One mouse was no problem. A group of mice was still manageable. But a mouse that could stand and talk? The horror factor shot up a thousand percent!

At the last sound, Gu Xi screamed outright, dropping the Winchester rifle she held in terror.

“Don’t worry, little mouse means no harm,” the lead mouse said.

Su Chen and Gu Xi were only half a head taller than this mouse. The hoodie concealed much of its appearance, piquing Su Chen’s curiosity. Hearing the assurance of no ill intent, Su Chen relaxed his guard.

“When I was a kid in school, a teacher once explained that they are the mouse people living outside the Floating Island,” Su Chen elaborated. Though he’d long expected to encounter strange creatures, he hadn’t imagined meeting the mouse people so soon.

The mouse people lived in the layers between the Floating Island and the outer islands. As he explained this background and tried to comfort Gu Xi—who had never studied on the Floating Island and thus found this terrifying—Su Chen cautiously approached the mouse, hoping to verify if this was truly the mouse people from his childhood textbooks and not some misidentification.

The mouse before him made no aggressive move as Su Chen stepped closer. Instead, it knelt down smoothly, sliding beneath Su Chen’s outstretched, then withdrawn, hand.

“O human god, please confirm my identity at any time. I, the little mouse, would never harm a human lord,” it said, its voice impossible to gender, somehow blending masculine and feminine tones.

Upon hearing this, Su Chen extended his hand again. With thumb and forefinger, he gently gripped the mouse’s hoodie, sliding it back over its large head and down its neck.

Beneath, a dark gray face rested atop a black neck—a beast’s face covered in fur.

The face bore four eyes.

Between the normal human-like eyes, two small mouse-like eyes appeared, bean-sized.

It had no nose in the usual sense, only two nostril-like openings on its face.

Its mouth dribbled saliva, and its prominent incisors jutted out like fangs, curving deeply into the lower skin of its face.

Whenever it opened its mouth, the sight of yellowed teeth and slobber was deeply repulsive.

At the moment the hoodie was pulled off, Gu Xi’s heart skipped a beat. She wanted to scream but no sound came out. Her feet felt rooted to the spot, her whole body breaking out in a cold sweat.

This was no mere mouse. It looked like a grotesque fusion of human and mouse!

“Don’t come closer!” Su Chen’s reaction was even stronger than Gu Xi’s. Although he’d only read about the mouse people in books, seeing one in person was truly frightening.

Yet, seeing its face, all the features matched the descriptions perfectly.

Legend said the mouse people would not attack unprovoked and treated humans as deities.

In their world, humans were the providers of their livelihood.

All their actions aimed to aid human civilization’s advancement.

If anyone harmed a mouse person intentionally, the mouse people’s council president would negotiate with the humans.

Though the mouse’s appearance was repugnant, its eyes showed no hint of harm toward Su Chen or Gu Xi.

Behind it, a group of smaller mice waited obediently, following its commands.

Gu Xi had never faced such a situation and never imagined the world beyond the Floating Island could be so perilous.

“May I ask, am I still on the Floating Island?” she asked calmly after a moment’s composure.

After all, leaving the Floating Island was her goal. But if the outside world was filled with such creatures, her means of self-protection—killing them—would be necessary.

That way, she could earn entries in her bestiary and draw cards from it.

While calculating this in her mind, she turned to the mouse showing her such reverence.

“No, no... this is our little mouse home. If you really want to leave the Floating Island, you should know, Mouse Lord. I can take you to find it and ask for directions!” the mouse answered earnestly.

Hearing this, Su Chen had his own question.

“I want to know, this wheat field—where did your mouse people get it from?” Su Chen asked skeptically.

The wheat field they stood in was clearly cultivated, with unmistakable signs of human agriculture.

“This place is under my care!” the mouse said proudly, patting its chest.

Leading them forward, it looked around.

“These crops produce rice that’s processed in the mouse people’s factories and then transported inside the Floating Island to feed the god of the island!” it declared loudly.

Indeed, humans on the Floating Island were worshipped as gods by the mouse people.

It was rare to see a living human god enter their territory for a long time.

This time, Su Chen was sure he had achieved great merit.

As the mouse continued explaining to Gu Xi and Su Chen, it led them along a shortcut.

Soon, they reached the shore.

“Unexpectedly, human god, this is your first time here. Apologies for the poor hospitality! Please forgive us!” The mouse knelt before Gu Xi and Su Chen, then bowed deeply three times.

Gu Xi and Su Chen exchanged looks. They really were regarded as gods here.

The mouse resumed leading them forward.

The sky here was surprisingly beautiful—intoxicatingly blue, unlike the sky over the Floating Island.

Before long, they passed a small stream where a group of diminutive mouse people washed vegetables and fruits by the riverbank.

After washing, they neatly arranged the produce in baskets to dry.

“What is this?” Su Chen asked.

The guiding mouse beamed with pride, patting its chest.

“This is our specialty, shipped daily to the Floating Island—for you to eat!”

At that moment, a line of transparent blue text flashed before Gu Xi’s eyes, accompanied by a system prompt:

[System Notification: Investigate why the mouse people became mouse people. Reward: Fastest method to leave the Floating Island.]