Alien world

Chapter 1891, Section 524: Three Gray Mice

But the cave was clearly not yet fully explored, and now Annan faced two choices:

Continue south along the cave, exploring to its end—perhaps the cave leads all the way to the underground of the Great Wall in the north, into the territory of the empire.

They jumped out and captured all the gray rats, then used torture to extract confessions and uncover their conspiracy.

Annan chose to have it all.

"Can you still fight?" he asked Black Pearl.

Anan has been secretly feeding Black Pearl for the past two days. With plenty of food, Black Pearl's wound has started to scab over and is gradually healing.

Their relationship gradually warmed up. Annan wanted to trick Black Pearl into going back to be a slave, but Black Pearl thought that since he was so good to her, he must have feelings for her.

"I definitely won't lose if I fight the Rat King again." Black Pearl blurted out, still remembering her defeat.

"That's good. I'll leave the gray rats to you later."

Annan thought for a moment, opened a portal, summoned the black mole, and entrusted it with the task of exploring the mole's burrow.

"Uncle Annan, leave it to me!"

Jerry had long wanted to do something for Uncle Annan. Without his father, Uncle Annan was all he could rely on.

The eldest sister dotes on her child and often gives Cathy nice things. Cathy, a wealthy young woman, is also a generous boss who always gives good things to her subordinates—you can tell from the magic ring on Jerry's chubby paw.

Annan gave the Leaf of Another World to the Black Mole—a function he had only recently discovered: the Otherworld Tree could sense the location of its owner. This way, even if the Black Mole accidentally wandered into a region filled with demons, it could still pinpoint its location.

Watching Jerry, who was as fat as a little pig, run into the depths of the cave, Annan turned around and signaled to Black Pearl to prepare to make a move.

call--

A massive black shadow swept past, the gust of wind it stirred up causing the mage's robes to flutter wildly. Annan had to lower his head and close his eyes to protect himself from the dust. When he looked up after the dust settled, the gray-furred rats had already been trampled under the dragon's claws by the black pearl, which had reverted to its true form.

The surrounding rat-men were all pressed to the ground by the terrifying dragon's might, lacking the fearless madness they displayed when they gathered as a rat horde.

"You rat-man scum, weren't you having a blast chasing me?!"

Black Pearl gave a smug, cold laugh—she was already restraining herself, not wanting to appear too rude in front of Annan.

One of the gray rats that had been pinned down raised its head and stared intently at Annan, who had removed his disguise and was walking towards it: "Human thing..."

Snapped--

Annan kicked a pebble, which hit it squarely in the front teeth, and walked over to Black Pearl: "Who told you to ignore the great black dragon, Miss Black Pearl?"

Black Pearl wanted to say that her real name wasn't Black Pearl, but if Anan liked it, that was fine with it.

Annan squatted down in front of them and held up a finger: "I have a few questions."

"You human thing, you think I'd come back—"

"I'll release you after I've finished asking the questions."

"Really?" another gray mouse suddenly asked.

"Pora!"

The gray-furred rat in front glared angrily at the speaking gray-furred rat: "How dare you disobey the priest's orders! The clan will not let you get away with this!"

"You won't forgive me even if I don't tell you who the human is!"

"Traitor!" the third gray rat shouted.

The three gray mice immediately started fighting among themselves.

Annan, his head aching from the ratmen's hissing, stood up and patted Black Pearl's paw.

Swish—

The black pearl, which was needed, gently swayed its scaleless tail, cooperating by increasing the pressure.

The three noisy gray mice immediately trampled on it until its scarlet eyes bulged out, its head swelled up, and it became completely still.

Black Pearl loosened her grip slightly, and Annan then pointed to the gray-haired rat called "Pora" and said, "It's the smart rat. Let me predict what will happen in the future." "After we go back, it can say that you two surrendered and fought to the death to escape. Because you betrayed the clan, your accumulated wealth, spouses, and offspring will be divided up by other gray-haired rats. Meanwhile, it will gain the favor of the clan elders and reach the pinnacle of rat life."

"All of this is because it made the right choice at this very moment."

The two gray mice, still resisting, showed anthropomorphic hesitation. Seeing this, Pola said anxiously, "I know you. You're from Annam, aren't you? You're cooperating with the Stunn mice... I'll cooperate with you!"

This is the effect of a "good reputation." If it were any other human, you wouldn't be able to get these gray rats to talk unless you used torture.

"Don't rush, I'll ask them one by one."

Annan took out a magic stone, placed it on Black Pearl's paw, and held up one finger: "First question, what are you doing here?"

"Dig a hole," Bora answered eagerly.

Annan remained silent, his eyes, the same color as the black dragon's, staring at it with a menacing intensity.

“We’re going to dig a tunnel that leads to the Empire’s stuff!” Pora added.

Well... Annan was not at all surprised by this insane answer.

From the moment he discovered that the rat hole was longer than he had imagined, he had a vague suspicion that the ratmen might be trying to dig up the Empire.

"Is it right?" Annan asked the other two gray mice, tilting his head.

They nodded as if resigned to their fate.

"The second question: Is Old Val a trap?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Annan sensed a strong sense of panic and unease rising from the three gray rats.

"Who's going to speak first?"

He glanced at the three ashen-faced rat heads, and Pora, still defiant and resigned, spoke: "Yes..."

"Be specific."

"Elder Nur has prepared a trap in the town to lure all the human creatures into it." The third gray rat also joined the betrayal, leaving only the middle gray rat still stubbornly remaining silent.

Annan asked thoughtfully, "Which clan do you belong to?"

“The Moon-Eating Clan,” Pora answered quickly.

I haven't heard of them, but barring any unforeseen circumstances, this Moon-Eating Clan will be his and the Kingdom's army's opponents in the second phase.

"The third question is, when will you take action?"

Pora's bulging eyes rolled, and just as she was about to speak, Annan suddenly spoke up: "Think carefully before you answer. If I find out you are lying, you will all die, and your wealth, spouses, and offspring will be divided among the other gray rats."

Black Pearl cooperated by increasing its force, almost squeezing their internal organs out of their throats.

"If you stomp on it again, you'll kill it." Annan patted Black Pearl, telling her to relax and not be so vicious.

Annan mercifully gave the three gray mice a few seconds to pause before letting them answer.

“We need to make our move in winter…” it was Pora who spoke first.

Annan looked at the second gray rat: "Is Pora right?"

"explain……"

“It’s lying to you. We’re already on our way,” the first ratman suddenly said.

Pora screamed: "Lulu!"

“It seems one of you rats is dishonest…” Annan’s eyes were playful as he slowly looked at the rat-man in the middle: “What’s your name?”

"Kan... Kanding..."

"Candin, who are they saying is right?"

Kandin kept stammering, while Annan also sensed the growing tension emanating from the other two ratmen.

(End of this chapter)