Chapter 259: Return to Base

Aren't mice afraid of cats?

A not-so-big little mouse is acting fierce in front of a cat?

This little mouse, when curled up, is still smaller than an egg; what gives it the right to act arrogant?

To be honest, this is the first time Zheng Tan has encountered such a situation.

So, the original plan to toss away this bothersome mouse after the lead cat left has been changed.

The vine tied around this little mouse's body is still intact, not fully bitten through; what's more arrogant is that, after glaring at Zheng Tan twice, this red-haired mouse resumed gnawing, showing no regard for Zheng Tan at all.

Indeed, it's utterly reckless.

Zheng Tan raised his paw, intending to give this rampant red-haired mouse a lesson.

Earlier, after binding the red-haired mouse with vines, and having walked this long, the mouse has already managed to push its head out of the 'cocoon'; meanwhile, its small tail is also visible at the bottom of the cocoon.

Zheng Tan curled his palm, pinched the mouse's tail, lifted it up and swung it around; after about twenty turns, he finally stopped.

The red-haired mouse remained still for a while, seeming dazed from the spinning; Zheng Tan raised his hand to give it a couple of taps to see if it had been addled, but just as his hand was about to make contact, the mouse suddenly lunged forward and bit. If Zheng Tan hadn't pulled back quickly, and if the mouse's movements weren't already somewhat impaired from the spinning, he likely would have been bitten. Seeing how the mouse gnaws at the vine shows its teeth and bite force are quite formidable.

It still has the guts and strength to bite?

However, Zheng Tan no longer intended to keep swinging it; he decided to simply break its neck. What matters now is to hurry on; he doesn't have time to waste here with a mouse.

But just as Zheng Tan lifted his paw halfway, the red-haired mouse, which was almost done chewing through the vine, suddenly froze, warily scanning its surroundings, stretching its neck to look beneath the tree, with a cautious air, as if it had sensed some danger.

Zheng Tan didn't know whether the red-haired mouse had genuinely detected something abnormal or was just scheming again; just in case, he needed to stay alert. If there really was an anomaly, he ought to pay attention and respond early.

Thus, Zheng Tan quickly pinned the red-haired mouse down, preventing it from moving, then looked toward the base of the tree.

The red-haired mouse, suddenly pinned by Zheng Tan, squeaked once, struggling, yet unable to free itself from his grasp; Zheng Tan felt no pity for it, and a little more pressure would have crushed it outright.

Only now did the red-haired mouse feel that this cat before it was also a dangerous creature. Perhaps in its memory, only the cats of that region inspired deep fear, while it had no memory of this animal, Zheng Tan, whose scent was utterly unfamiliar; it likely also sensed that Zheng Tan had no intention of eating it, which is why it had acted so arrogantly before. Its life experience had taught it that being larger does not necessarily mean danger, and being smaller does not mean lacking lethal power.

Unfortunately, this time it miscalculated. The cat indeed had no intention of eating it, but it was not to be provoked and had enough power to crush it with a single paw. So after a squeak, it stopped struggling, settled down a bit, but its eyes darted around, apparently thinking of how to escape.

Zheng Tan paid no attention to the red-haired mouse under his paw, focusing instead on what lay below, ears pricked for any sound. Just as he thought the mouse was toying with him again, he suddenly heard a faint noise.

Zheng Tan, who was about to cause trouble for the red-haired mouse, immediately focused his attention on that faint sound.

A soft rustling sound, the friction of something against the ground and surrounding grass, gradually approached from that direction. Zheng Tan held his breath and looked over, his heart tightening; he already could guess what it was.

A snake as thick as a bowl's rim emerged from the grass there; its size was enough to swallow a cat the size of Zheng Tan without difficulty. In the city, Zheng Tan had seen snakes that large before, but those were kept by people, and back then he hadn't yet become a cat, so he hadn't felt much fear. Now, however, in this jungle teeming with danger, his fur practically stood on end.

Fortunately, the snake was not heading toward the tree where Zheng Tan was, and moreover, the snake had already eaten; a visible bulge could be seen along its body.

Looking around, Zheng Tan guessed the snake was likely heading for a nearby wetland.

After the snake departed, Zheng Tan waited a bit longer before climbing down from the tree.

This time, Zheng Tan did not intend to simply release or kill the red-haired mouse; he found another vine to bind it, putting extra thought into it: he wrapped a loop, tied two knots, then wrapped another loop, repeating several times, so that even if one segment of the vine were bitten through, the mouse wouldn't escape immediately.

Yes, Zheng Tan intended to keep this creature as an early warning.

This stretch of forest, which can be called a well-preserved primordial woodland, harbors many perilous, rarely visited spots; in its ancient, mystical mountains and forests, myriad creatures breed and thrive, generation after generation, making the primal vastness feel unfathomably deep. Over the past twenty years, both domestic and foreign expeditions have been organized to enter this mountain forest famed for its legends; universities and research institutes have also sent field teams, which often stay for one or two months or longer, yet there remain places people cannot reach, wonders they cannot discover—showing that countless unpredictable dangers lurk here.

Zheng Tan admitted he had underestimated this mountain forest; in his original mindset, a forest full of various dangers was nothing like the Amazon jungle—what was there to fear in Chishan City? Even following that red-spotted cat into the woods, he had never encountered peril or danger, but now he realized he had been too simplistic. The wildlife living in this forest includes many creatures that deliberately hide, which Zheng Tan might not notice right away, plus there are unknown dangers.

Zheng Tan didn't consider himself smarter than those scientific expedition members; his experience living in the forest also couldn't match that of just a little mouse. Since he lacked that high intellect and couldn't compare to the forest's native inhabitants, and he didn't have a second red-spotted cat to guide him, he chose to bring along this red-haired mouse—perhaps it could still be useful; if not, it could serve as emergency rations, or as bait to divert a threat's attention in times of danger.

The return journey to the base was much slower than the trek into the forest. During this process, Zheng Tan had to stay vigilant, occasionally stopping to listen to his surroundings, while also keeping the red-haired mouse with him; if he noticed the mouse was about to chew through the vine entirely, he would replace it with another vine—fortunately, vegetation was abundant here, and vines were plentiful; Zheng Tan specifically sought out tough-to-chew varieties, some even with tiny spines, to increase the resistance for the mouse's gnawing project.

It's said that many plants here, long extinct elsewhere in the world, are what botanists call 'living fossils.' Perhaps those botanists would scream upon seeing them here, but Zheng Tan had no interest whatsoever.

Along the way, Zheng Tan saw a huge tree; he didn't know what kind of tree it was, having never seen one like it before, probably because it was extremely old. A hollow existed in its trunk, with many snakes crawling in and out. When Zheng Tan climbed a tree to judge his direction and observe the surroundings, he glanced off in that direction and immediately sprinted away—he dared not court death.

As for gains, Zheng Tan happened to pick up a piece of amber while getting water by the stream; people usually said amber is found in mining areas or by the sea, so he hadn't expected to find any here. The amber is about the size of a quail's egg, containing a tiny flower—unknown what kind—but if it's a species from tens of millions of years ago, it truly has collectible value. Zheng Tan wrapped a vine around the amber, then looped it around his neck, so it wouldn't easily be lost, planning to give it to Xiao Youzi upon his return.

Carrying the piece of amber, Zheng Tan felt nothing special; it was light and easy to bring along.

While on the road, Zheng Tan ate some fruit and caught a snake. He didn't know which snakes were edible and which weren't, but he happened to see a snake of the same variety as the one he'd eaten before, so he killed it—it was a bit smaller than the one caught by the spotted cat—and, to keep moving, he forced himself to eat some more.

He fed the leftovers to the red-haired mouse; anyway, it's just this stuff, and the mouse eats it or not.

The red-haired mouse seemed ravenous, accepting whatever was offered. Many rodents are omnivorous, and this red-haired mouse can eat both meat and vegetables, saving Zheng Tan considerable trouble.

After walking straight for three days, at dusk on the third day Zheng Tan quickened his pace, having caught a human scent. By the time darkness fell, he was already running about on the mountain where the base was located, though the low light meant many people didn't notice him.

Although he was already exhausted, upon seeing the base Zheng Tan felt thrilled; his feet didn't slow—they actually sped up, to the point that he even forgot he still had the vine tethering the red-haired mouse in his mouth.

At the base's dormitory, Jiao Ba closed his room door, walked out of the dormitory building, strolled about, and lit a cigarette.

These past few days, their moods have been foul because of the cat situation; the two children haven't gone out with the internship team for several straight days, saying they're waiting at home, windows open, wondering when that cat will return. Jiao Ba searched outdoors, even paying villagers to help look; Jiao Ma went door-to-door asking mountain residents, and they all said they'd seen a black cat a few days earlier, then never again.

In fact, many nearby residents, as well as some teachers and security staff at the base, have already concluded that the cat was dragged off and eaten by some wild beast. Such incidents have occurred here before; even large dogs have gone missing, and after a while one hears that remains were found somewhere in the wild, the bones bearing tooth marks from unknown animals.

Several patrolling guards from the base saw Jiao Ba, came over to greet him and ask about his search for the cat; these days they'd often seen Mr. Jiao stepping out for a smoke, hearing that the whole family was nearly frantic over the missing cat, with missing-cat notices posted outside.

"Professor Jiao, your cat still hasn't been found?" asked a young-looking person.

Jiao Ba shook his head.

"Don't worry; maybe it'll come back on its own sometime—we once had a cat that disappeared for a month and then returned by itself."

"Yeah, don't worry; just take a walk and then head back to rest—don't go out, because last night someone went up the mountain at midnight and got bitten by a snake, luckily not a venomous one."

The guards chatted back and forth, when suddenly one pointed at the fence not far behind Jiao Ba and shouted, "What is that?!"

Zheng Tan had just scaled the fence when a beam of light shone on him; he hurriedly jumped down, intending to run to the building where he lived, but he didn't expect that as he landed the vine snapped suddenly—the red-haired mouse had nearly chewed through it—and as the vine tugged from his landing, it slipped free, intending to escape, only to be pressed down by Zheng Tan's palm.

As Jiao Ba snatched a flashlight from one of the guards and ran over, he happened to see Zheng Tan, and Zheng Tan's palm pressing the little mouse that was squeaking on the grass. (To be continued...)

ps: (5.17)