Chapter Thirteen: The Prison Warden

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A群 of yellow rats poked their heads above the water, yellow liquid dribbling from their mouths.

To be honest, Su Chen found the sight rather nauseating.

He had conducted many biological experiments on the Floating Island before, including injecting various solutions into laboratory mice.

Could these ratfolk be mutants?

But even if they were mutants, surely there could not be this many of them?

He did have a slight case of trypophobia.

“The water is full of algae, and whenever those yellow heads surface, yellow liquid runs from their mouths. I’m curious—how exactly do they purify the water before sending it back to the Floating Island?” Gu Xi asked, genuinely intrigued.

In her mind, treating wastewater required a factory—or, more likely, an entire row of factories.

And turning polluted water into clean water involved a long and complicated series of processes.

How could a few rats possibly purify it?

Rats themselves were, in her mind, synonymous with filth. And now they were using filth to clean up polluted water?

The ratfolk heard Gu Xi’s question but showed no surprise.

Nor did it answer immediately.

There was only the faintest movement in its eyes, as though it had glanced around for an escape.

“Well, as for that question… this little rat truly has no idea~” it replied slowly.

Its attitude was completely different from the eagerness it had shown earlier.

“Didn’t you say you knew everything?” Su Chen shot back.

“Uh… uh… well, this…” It had only just begun to speak when a sudden peal of bells rang out in the distance, as though announcing the hour.

Six clear strikes echoed through the air.

Clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang.

The sound was not particularly harsh. If anything, it made one feel drowsy, as though it were urging them to lie down.

“The chieftain’s dinner has arrived! Come on, let’s go!” The ratfolk seemed to have been granted salvation.

With remarkable skill, it used the dinner as an excuse to evade the question.

There was something wrong.

Something was definitely wrong.

The moment Gu Xi reached the drainage area, she knew that something was amiss.

The rat was clearly concealing something.

When they met the chieftain, if the other side did not appear hostile, they would probably have to offer something in exchange.

After all, one was always more lenient toward someone who had fed them.

They were on someone else’s territory, and their wings had not yet grown strong enough to carry them. Throwing their weight around was unlikely to end well.

At that moment, Gu Xi was caught in a dilemma. Part of her was struggling with whether to attend the dinner, while another part was worrying that if she missed this opportunity to complete the card-collection task, she might never get another chance.

After all, the ratfolk had shown no intention of harming them so far.

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The group left the pool behind and walked for roughly fifteen minutes in the direction of the bells.

At last, they arrived before a European-style building.

The building was strange in one particularly obvious way.

The doorway was completely mismatched with the ratfolk’s size.

It was built to human proportions.

“This is the chieftain’s residence?” Gu Xi asked curiously.

“And there isn’t even anyone guarding the entrance. That’s rather odd,” Su Chen added, puzzled.

How could the great chieftain have so little grandeur?

The ratfolk pushed open the liver-red door.

The moment it opened, a pungent, revolting stench of raw meat surged out.

Just inside, on the left, lay reddish swimmer crabs.

From the look of them, they had been boiled and set aside.

On the right were things resembling sea snails, already pickled.

Brown seasoning clung to their shells, apparently soy sauce.

Some air-dried sausages hung from the walls as well, a mixture of fat and lean meat.

Under normal circumstances, Gu Xi would have been so hungry that she could have eaten three bowls of rice with these foods.

But gathered together in the cramped passage behind the door, they made her feel sick.

“Please, come in, honored guests. Little A.”

A deep, resonant voice suddenly came from farther inside.

Gu Xi had been staring distractedly at the rotten food, and the voice startled her badly.

At the ratfolk’s command, it immediately bowed and scraped, ushering the two of them farther inside.

There was not a single lamp in the long, narrow passage.

It was difficult to imagine that the Floating Island was brightly lit every day, while the ratfolk who supplied it with electricity were so frugal that they even economized on the chieftain’s power.

Normally, a host should come outside to greet their guests.

Especially when the ratfolk worshiped themselves as gods.

Gu Xi and Su Chen’s footsteps creaked across the liver-red floor.

The sound was like a child grinding their teeth in the night.

It was deeply unsettling.

“You’re here!”

Gu Xi and Su Chen arrived beside a cage.

They had assumed that some kind of pet was being kept inside.

Gu Xi even rubbed her eyes.

She had not expected to find a person in there.

A woman.

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The woman’s long hair was tangled into knots, as though it had not been washed in many days.

Her white nightclothes were smeared with layers of grease and grime.

Her face was a dull yellow, and she looked severely malnourished.

She slowly walked into the light and extended a hand, dirt packed beneath every fingernail.

She held it out toward Gu Xi and Su Chen.

“Hello, my dear divine friends from the Floating Island. I am the Warden.” The woman gave them a strange smile.

Naturally, Gu Xi did not dare take her hand.

“Uh… hello.” Gu Xi did not return the gesture.

The woman’s face immediately darkened with displeasure.

Seeing this, Su Chen reached out and accepted her offered hand.

“Hello, Warden. Thank you for your hospitality. We’re delighted to be here.” Su Chen responded with a smile that did not reach his eyes.

Although this place was incomparable to the scenery outside and reeked horribly, at least these people did not seem intent on harming them.

The most important thing was to ask how to leave this interlayer before relations between them deteriorated.

“Mm. At least the young man understands proper manners. No wonder he is one of the Floating Island’s brightest students. A guest is always welcome. The dinner prepared for you is waiting by the entrance. I hope you enjoy it,” the woman in the cage said offhandedly.

No—who could possibly eat food that disgusting?

The memory of the stench that had assaulted her when they entered made Gu Xi feel sick again.

Before she could finish the thought, a group of shriveled, emaciated old ratfolk suddenly approached from behind her and Su Chen.

Wearing aprons, they carried several plates toward them.

On the plates were the same swimmer crabs they had seen earlier.

Only now, the crabs had been split open.

The meat inside had gone limp and was already giving off a foul, rotten smell.

The crab roe had turned a disgusting gray, with mold growing across it.

It seemed bacteria had begun to spread.

“How long has this dish been sitting out? I hope you don’t mind me asking,” Su Chen said. He could not endure it any longer. Never before had he been subjected to such an insult.

“This is the highest honor we can offer here. It is a return gift from the supplies your Floating Island sent us before. Surely you haven’t forgotten?” the Warden replied, her eyes filled with disdain and provocation.

Just as Gu Xi was about to lose her temper and refuse to put up with it any longer, she suddenly remembered the mission.

There was no way she could eat the food in front of her.

Nor had she come here for food, drink, or sightseeing.

That was one reason she had no appetite.

But there was another.

She felt she had begun to understand this place.