Chapter 251: Chapter 244: Return to Base Chapter 251: Chapter 244: Return to Base Mice not afraid of cats?

A tiny mouse acting fierce in front of a cat?

This mouse, rolled up still not as big as an egg—on what basis does it act so boldly?

Honestly, it was Zheng Tan’s first time encountering such a situation.

So, the decision he had initially made to discard this troublesome mouse after the lead cat left, was now changed.

The vines on the little mouse’s body were still tied and not completely bitten through, and more arrogantly, after glaring at Zheng Tan twice, it began to gnaw again, showing no consideration for Zheng Tan whatsoever.

Truly without restraint.

Zheng Tan raised his hand intending to teach this audacious red rat a lesson.

Before, this red rat had been bound with vines. Now, after having walked for so long, the red rat had managed to push its head out from the “cocoon,” and at the same time, its little tail had also been exposed from beneath the “cocoon.”

Zheng Tan curled his hand, grabbed the red rat by its tail, swung it around in circles for about twenty times before he finally stopped.

The red rat didn’t move for a long time, seemingly having been dizzied by the spinning. As Zheng Tan raised his hand to fiddle with it and see if the mouse had been stupefied, just as his hand almost touched it, the red rat suddenly stretched its neck and bit at him. Had it not been for Zheng Tan’s quick withdrawal and the impairing effect of the spinning on the rat’s movements, he might have been bitten. The force with which the red rat bit the vines showed its teeth and biting power were quite lethal.

It still had the guts and strength to bite?

However, at this moment, Zheng Tan didn’t plan to swing it anymore. He decided to simply break its neck, as it was crucial to continue on his way, and he had no time to waste on a mouse here.

But when Zheng Tan’s paw was only halfway lifted, the red rat, which had nearly bitten through the vine, suddenly paused and looked around vigilantly, stretching its neck to peer under the tree. It also seemed very cautious, as if it had spotted some dangerous creature.

Zheng Tan didn’t know if the red rat had truly sensed something abnormal or was up to some trick again. To be cautious, he felt the need to stay alert. If there were indeed something amiss, it was important to be prepared early on.

Thus, Zheng Tan quickly pinned the red rat down to prevent it from moving, then looked down at the ground.

The red rat, suddenly pinned by Zheng Tan, squeaked, struggling without the ability to move away from Zheng Tan’s grip. Zheng Tan had no intention of showing any mercy and could easily press it to death with a little more force.

Only then did the red rat realize that the cat in front of it was also a threat. Perhaps in its memory, it only had a deep fear of the cats from that area, but it had no recollection of Zheng Tan, who smelled very unfamiliar and seemingly had no intention of eating it. That’s why it had previously been so audacious. Its life experience had taught it that being bigger in size didn’t necessarily mean more dangerous, and being smaller didn’t mean less lethal.

Unfortunately, it miscalculated this time. The cat indeed had no intention of eating it, but it was still not to be trifled with and had enough ability to press it to death. So after squeaking once, it stopped and settled down after a bit of struggle, but its eyes kept darting around, probably thinking about how to escape.

Zheng Tan didn’t pay attention to the red rat underfoot but focused intently on the area below, with his ears perked up listening to the surrounding sounds. Just when he thought the red rat was fooling him again, he suddenly heard a slight noise.

Zheng Tan, who had been poised to trouble the red rat, immediately concentrated on that sound.

The rustling sound of friction against the ground and surrounding bushes gradually moved closer. Zheng Tan held his breath and looked in that direction, his heart tensing. He could guess what it was already.

A snake as thick as a bowl crawled out from the bushes, its size sufficient to swallow a cat as big as Zheng Tan without any trouble. In the city, Zheng Tan had also seen snakes this big, though they were kept by some people, and at that time, Zheng Tan hadn’t become a cat yet, so he hadn’t felt particularly afraid. But now, in this dangerous jungle, all the hairs on Zheng Tan’s body nearly stood on end.

Fortunately, the snake’s direction wasn’t towards the tree Zheng Tan was in, and the snake had already eaten, as evident from a noticeable bump along its body.

Looking around, Zheng Tan guessed the snake was probably heading to a wetland not far from there.

After the snake left, Zheng Tan waited a little longer before climbing down from the tree.

This time, Zheng Tan did not intend to simply release or kill the red rat, but instead found another vine to tie it up, putting in more effort this time. He made two knots each time he wrapped a loop around, then repeated the process several times, so even if one part of the vine was bitten through, it wouldn’t immediately allow the rat to escape.

Yes, Zheng Tan planned to keep this creature for early warning.

This area, which can be described as a well-preserved primitive forest, is full of numerous perilous, rarely visited places. In these ancient and magical woods, a variety of creatures bred and thrived continuously. Countless generations of life had unfolded here, with the primeval vastness giving an unfathomable vibe. Over the past two decades, both domestic and international teams had organized expeditions into these legendary forests, including universities and research institutes that organized field research teams, staying for one or two months or even longer. However, there were still many places people couldn’t reach and miracles that couldn’t be discovered. It also indicated that there were countless unpredictable crises here.

Zheng Tan admitted that he had underestimated this woodland. In his mind, a forest full of danger was similar to places like the Amazon Jungle. What was there to fear about Chuishan City? Even following that black-striped cat into the woods, Zheng Tan hadn’t encountered any grave dangers or crises, but now, he suddenly realized he had thought too simply. The wild animals living in these woods, many of which intentionally hid, might not be detected by Zheng Tan immediately, along with those unknown dangers.

Zheng Tan didn’t think he was smarter than those scientific researchers, and his experience living in the woods was not better than that of this little rat. Since he neither had high intelligence nor matched the ancient inhabitants of these woods, and didn’t have another black-striped cat to lead the way, Zheng Tan chose to bring this red rat along. It might come in handy, and even if not, it could serve as a reserve food source or as bait to distract potential threats.

The speed of returning to base was much slower than when entering the forest. During this process, Zheng Tan had to stay alert, occasionally stopping to listen to the sounds around, and also manage the red rat. Whenever he found the rat nearly biting through the vine, he would replace it with another one. Fortunately, there were plenty of plants and vines here, and Zheng Tan specifically looked for those that were tough to chew, some even prickly, increasing the difficulty for the red rat’s gnawing task.

It is said that there are many plants here that have long since gone extinct elsewhere in the world, described by botanists as “living fossils.” Perhaps those botanists would scream with excitement upon seeing them here, but Zheng Tan had no interest whatsoever.

Along the way, Zheng Tan saw a very large tree; he didn’t know what kind of tree it was and had never seen one before. It was probably very old, as it had a hollow trunk filled with snakes slithering in and out. Zheng Tan climbed another tree to discern his walking direction and survey his surroundings. He took a quick glance in that direction and then swiftly ran away—he certainly did not dare to go courting death.

Speaking of finds, Zheng Tan did pick up a piece of amber, which he found beside a stream while getting a drink. He had heard that amber was typically found in mines or by the sea, never imagining he could find one here. The piece of amber was about the size of a quail’s egg, containing a flower inside it. He didn’t know what type of flower it was. If it were a species from millions of years ago, it surely held some collector’s value. Zheng Tan wrapped the amber in a piece of vine and wore it around his neck to avoid losing it. He planned to give it to Little Youzi once he got back.

Carrying a piece of amber didn’t feel too significant to Zheng Tan; after all, it was light and easy to carry.

While hurrying on his way, Zheng Tan ate some fruits and caught a snake. He didn’t know which snakes were edible and which were not, but since he happened to see one that looked like the kind he had eaten before, he killed it. It was even slightly smaller than the one the cat had caught. For the sake of hastening his journey, Zheng Tan once again braved it and ate.

He fed the leftover to the red rat because that was all there was—take it or leave it.

The red rat seemed very hungry and accepted whatever was given. Many rodents are omnivorous, and this red rat could eat both meat and vegetables, saving Zheng Tan a lot of trouble.

After three days of walking, by dusk on the third day, Zheng Tan quickened his pace because he had caught the scent of humans. When the sky had darkened, Zheng Tan had already been running on the mountain where the base was located, but at that time, with the dim light, many people had not noticed him.

Although he was very tired, the sight of the base excited Zheng Tan; his pace did not slow down but instead sped up, even forgetting that he was still carrying a vine tied with a red rat in his mouth.

In the base dormitory, Mr. Jiao closed the door of his room and walked out of the dorm building to take a stroll and smoke a cigarette.

In the past few days, they had all been in a bad mood because of the cat’s disappearance; the two kids hadn’t even gone out with the internship team for several days, opting to wait in the room instead, leaving the windows open, hoping the cat might return at any time. Mr. Jiao searched the wilderness, even spending money to hire villagers to help look, while Jiao Ma asked the residents living on the mountain, who only mentioned seeing a black cat a few days ago and then no more.

Actually, many residents and some base staff and security personnel had already concluded that the cat had been dragged away and eaten by some wild animal. Incidents like this had occurred here before; even large dogs had been lost, and after a while, remains with unfamiliar animal tooth marks on bones would be found in the wilderness.

When a few security staff who were out patrolling came across Mr. Jiao, they approached to greet him and ask about the search for the cat. These days they had often seen Mr. Jiao coming out to smoke. They had heard that the adults and children in his family were almost frantic over the lost cat, and there were even lost cat notices posted outside.

“Mr. Jiao, you haven’t found your cat yet?” asked a fairly young person.

Mr. Jiao shook his head.

“Don’t worry, maybe it will come back on its own. We once had a cat disappear for a month and then it just came back on its own.”

“Yes, don’t worry, just take a walk and then go back to rest. Don’t go out; someone was bitten by a snake in the mountains last night. Luckily, it wasn’t a venomous snake.”

The security staff took turns speaking when suddenly one of them pointed behind Mr. Jiao, not far from the fence, and shouted, “What is that?!”

Zheng Tan had just climbed over the fence when he spotted a beam of light coming towards him, so he quickly jumped down, planning to run to the building where he lived. He didn’t expect the vine to snap when he landed. The red rat had almost gnawed through the vine, and as Zheng Tan hit the ground, the force of the vine pulling made it break away, planning to escape, but Zheng Tan slapped it down.

When Mr. Jiao, grabbing a flashlight from one of the security staff, ran over, he saw Zheng Tan and the little rat squeaking as Zheng Tan pressed it down on the grass. (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to visit Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for recommendations and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please visit m.qidian.com to read.)

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep