Chapter 12: A Rat That Has Had Contact with Humans?

Outside, a raging storm.

Inside, dry and comfortable.

At this moment, the moment the snake's jaws loosened, the trembling big rat from before immediately made a move that stunned Baichuan.

It first rose up on its hind legs, its two little forelimbs pressed together before its chest, then its whole plump little body knelt down toward Baichuan's snake head, making fawning "squeak squeak" sounds, kowtowing nonstop begging for mercy.

Speaking of which, this rat—it's hard to say whether it's blessed with great fortune or down to its worst luck.

It was a rat born in a human village near the foot of the mountain.

Not long after it was born, before its eyes had even opened, it had the misfortune of running into the disaster of its entire rat family being discovered and wiped out by the local villagers.

Fortunately, it survived back then, because just when it was about to be killed, three compassionate monks came to that village.

The leading monk had a kind, benevolent face and an air of compassion. He stopped the villagers and offered some money, earnestly asking them to hand it over to him.

Clearly, the villagers agreed, so it was given to the monk as an exchange.

And for some unknown reason, that monk stayed at a temple near that village and took it in.

Every day he kept it by his side, chanting sutras and praying to Buddha, occasionally feeding it—though sometimes the food tasted a little strange.

And so, under these circumstances, it successfully survived.

Perhaps it was the constant stream of people coming and going, steeped in all kinds of information.

Growing up under such influence, it actually became much stronger and more agile than its kind, and could understand a few of the monk's hints.

Unfortunately, the good times didn't last long.

Not long after this kind of life began, the monk who had raised it just died like that—by the words of those two-legged folk, it should be called "passing into Nirvana," right?

Anyway, it didn't understand. It only knew that the monk would never wake up again, that no one would feed it anymore, and that there would be no more kind people toward it.

It huddled in a daze inside the monk's robe sleeve, watching in fear the two disciples who usually followed behind him.

At that moment, their expressions were no longer peaceful—they wore savage looks, fighting viciously over something unknown.

In the end, they even stripped the clothes off the monk who had cared for it.

It was so scared it fled in panic; fortunately, those two paid it no attention.

And so, just like that.

It experienced the hardships of life for the first time—no more being fed when hungry, no more oil to drink when thirsty; everything had to be fought for or stolen.

Once discovered by humans, it would be beaten half to death. Fortunately, in those years it hadn't learned much else, but it had gotten quite skilled at kneeling.

It discovered that if it was hungry and went to steal food from the grand mansions of richly dressed folk, even if caught and unable to escape, as long as it cleverly knelt and kowtowed begging for mercy like them, there was a high chance of being let go.

As for the reason, it didn't really understand—after all, it was just a little mouse.

Unfortunately, this kind of life lasted only a few days before a rainstorm struck. A landslide and flood came and destroyed everything completely.

The unlucky it was swept away by the great waters.

But luckily, it didn't die. When the flood swept through, it had the extreme good fortune of clinging to a big log, and was carried by the current into this green dense forest.

And now, it has faced the most difficult moment of its rat life—it has encountered its natural enemy, a snake!

……

A rat that actually learned to kowtow like a person?

This scene utterly stunned Baichuan.

For the first time, he had seen such a clever rat, and for a moment actually forgot what he was about to do.

After a daze, he finally came back to his senses. Right now, his interest had been piqued.

To prove it wasn't a coincidence, he leaned his head closer to examine this rat carefully.

In an instant, the kneeling, kowtowing rat was involuntarily pushed by the snake's head to the edge of the tree hollow. The cowardly it, wanting to get away from those dangerous big jaws—

It naturally rose up on its hind legs and pressed flat against the tree wall, forelimbs spread wide, eyes shut, trembling all over.

Three seconds later.

"Drip~" A strange sound of water dripping.

Baichuan disgustedly moved his snake head away. Gross!

He suddenly found that he couldn't bring himself to bite. What to do?

In the past, the food he swallowed had all been killed by him first, so he never really paid attention to such issues.

Now, having witnessed this scene firsthand, he actually felt some resistance.

Coiling his body back up, Baichuan no longer paid attention to this rat and went off to rest with his eyes closed on his own.

Anyway, leaving the rat here, he doubted it could escape.

Besides, he was just a snake right now—even if he wanted to communicate with the rat, he couldn't.

The only thing certain was that this rat had unusual intelligence and was somewhat human-like.

He just didn't know whether this kind of intelligence was common in this world or a special case.

If it was the former, then things would get interesting.

This would prove that this world was no ordinary one, and after he grew stronger, he might be able to evolve into a supernatural being too.

Thinking about it really makes one (a snake) look forward to it.

……

Was this being let off?

The rat, which had closed its eyes expecting to die for certain, waited for a long time but didn't feel the sharp pain arrive, and the thick dangerous scent beside it had also faded quite a bit.

This both settled its heart and made it stealthily open its eyes, only to discover the big snake had already closed its eyes to rest.

This discovery let it heave a complete sigh of relief. It glanced down at itself—its urine was dripping down there.

Is this yet another way to escape danger?

Stand up and pee, huh?

Though it didn't know the specific reason, Xiao Haozi figured out another life-preserving skill to go along with kowtowing and worship — stand up, stretch out its paws, and pee.

But since the big snake had let it go, shouldn't it show some gratitude?

Xiao Haozi tilted its little head, first shook the water off its body, recalled the scenes from when it had followed that kind-hearted monk, cleverly felt its way to the big snake's side, and rubbed its tiny paws together.

It pressed tentatively, then raised its mouse head and let out a few fawning calls.

At this moment, Baichuan, who had been resting with his eyes closed, felt an odd pressing sensation on his body.

Opening his eyes, he saw a little mouse looking at him ingratiatingly, its tiny paws rubbing together every now and then.

That expression looked exactly like someone utterly humble yet cautiously trying to curry favor.

Good lord, just from that look alone, Baichuan immediately confirmed that this mouse must have had contact with humans, and for quite some Time.

But unable to figure out what the mouse wanted, he shot a disdainful glance at its wet body and shifted his position to avoid it.

At this point, he had already given up the idea of eating this mouse.

He still didn't know the specifics of this world, but a mouse with such Spirit was clearly no ordinary creature at a glance.

If it were an ordinary world, it wouldn't matter — eating it would be eating it.

What he feared was the kind from the folk legends of his past life — where all things could cultivate, humans could cultivate into immortals, and demons could cultivate into demon gods or demon immortals.

If he ate one of those, and it turned out to have some background — like its family ancestor being a demon immortal or a household-protecting immortal — he'd probably have a whole pile of trouble on his hands.

Not that he was afraid, but he believed in the principle that less trouble is better than more, and in accumulating good karma widely.

Later, the creature might even repay him by tossing him a cultivation technique or something.

Of course, all of this was on the premise that it didn't threaten his survival — if he were truly starving, who would care about all that? He'd just swallow it in one gulp.

After all, with his abilities, as long as he didn't go looking for death.

Stockpile grain widely; proclaim kingship slowly.

There would come a day when he roamed above the nine heavens.

(End of this chapter)