Mice Who Have Had Contact With Humans?

Outside, a violent storm raged.

Inside, it was dry and comfortable.

At this moment, as soon as the snake's mouth loosened, the trembling rat that had been shivering just moments ago suddenly made a move that stunned Bai Chuan.

It first stood upright on its hind legs, its two tiny forepaws clasped together in front of its chest, then its entire plump little body knelt down toward Bai Chuan's snake head, letting out ingratiating "squeaks" as it kowtowed repeatedly, begging for mercy.

Speaking of which, it was hard to say whether this rat was blessed by fortune or utterly cursed.

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

Not long after birth, before its eyes had even opened, it had the misfortune of witnessing its entire rat family discovered and exterminated by the local villagers.

Fortunately, it survived back then, because just as it was about to be killed, three compassionate monks arrived in the village.

The leading monk had a kind face and a pitying expression, stopping the villagers and offering some money to beg them to hand the rat over to him.

Clearly, the villagers agreed, and so it was given to the monk as a trade.

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

Every day, he kept it by his side, chanting sutras and occasionally feeding it, though sometimes the food had a strange taste.

And so, under these circumstances, it managed to survive.

Perhaps it was due to the constant flow of people and the influence of various information.

Growing up under this influence, it became stronger and sharper than its kind, and could even understand a few of the monk's simple cues.

Unfortunately, good times never last.

Not long after, the monk who had raised it died. In human terms, it should have been 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.

Dazed, it curled up in the monk's chest and sleeve, trembling as it watched the two disciples who usually followed him.

At that moment, their peaceful expressions were gone, replaced by ferocious faces as they fought over something unknown.

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

Terrified, it fled in panic. Fortunately, the two men paid it no mind.

And so, that was that.

For the first time, it experienced the hardships of life. No longer was there someone to feed it when hungry, or give it oil when thirsty. Everything had to be stolen or fought for.

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

It found that if it was hungry and sneaked into the mansions of the wealthy to steal food, even if caught and unable to escape, as long as it cleverly knelt and kowtowed like they did, there was a good chance it would be let go.

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

But this life didn't last long. A sudden rainstorm hit, causing a landslide and a flood that wiped everything away.

Unluckily, it was swept away by the raging waters.

But luckily, it didn't die. When the flood struck, it was incredibly fortunate to cling to a large log, riding the current into this green forest.

And now, it faced the most perilous moment of its mouse life—it had encountered its natural enemy, a snake!

A rat that could kowtow like a human?

This sight utterly stunned Bai Chuan.

For the first time, he saw such a clever rat, and for a moment, he forgot what he was supposed to do.

After a dazed pause, he came to his senses, now genuinely intrigued.

To confirm it wasn't a coincidence, he leaned in closer to examine the rat.

Instantly, the kneeling, kowtowing rat involuntarily found itself pushed by the snake's head to the edge of the tree hollow. Terrified, it pressed itself upright against the tree wall to escape the dangerous gaping mouth, its tiny forepaws spread wide, eyes shut, trembling all over.

Three seconds later.

"Drip—" A strange sound of water falling.

Bai Chuan moved his snake head away in disgust. Disgusting!

He suddenly realized he couldn't bring himself to eat it. What now?

In the past, everything he swallowed had already been killed, so he never paid much attention to such matters.

Now, witnessing this scene firsthand, he felt a certain resistance.

Coiling back up, Bai Chuan ignored the rat and closed his eyes to rest.

After all, the rat was right here—it couldn't escape anyway.

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

The only thing he could be sure of was that this rat had unusual intelligence and a touch of human-like behavior.

He just didn't know whether such intelligence was common in this world or a rare exception.

If it's the former, then that's interesting.

It proves this world isn't ordinary—after he gets stronger, he might even evolve into a supernatural being.

Just thinking about it makes this (snake) look forward to it.

Was he let off?

The rat, who had closed its eyes thinking it was doomed, waited for a long time but felt no searing pain, and the thick aura of danger beside it had faded considerably.

This calmed its heart as it cautiously opened its eyes, only to find the Great Serpent already resting with its eyes shut.

This discovery made it fully relax as it looked down at the ground below, where its own urine had dripped.

Was this another possible way to escape danger?

Standing up to spray piss, right?

Though it didn't know the exact reason, the little rat understood that after standing upright to kowtow, it had learned another life-saving skill—standing up, extending its paws, and spraying urine.

But since the Great Serpent had let it go, shouldn't it repay the favor?

The little rat tilted its head, first shook the water off its body, recalled the scenes from when it followed that Kind Monk, then cleverly crept over beside the Great Serpent, rubbing its little paws together.

It tentatively pressed down, lifted its rat head, and let out a few ingratiating squeaks.

At that moment, Bai Chuan, who was resting with his eyes closed, felt an unusual pressing sensation on his body.

Opening his eyes, he saw a little rat looking up at him with a fawning expression, its small paws rubbing together from time to time.

That look was exactly like a pitiful, groveling person trying desperately to curry favor.

Good grief—just from this appearance, Bai Chuan immediately confirmed that this rat had definitely been in contact with humans, and for quite some time.

But not understanding what the rat wanted, he glanced disdainfully at its wet body and shifted his position to avoid it.

By now, he had abandoned the idea of eating this rat.

He still didn't know the specifics of this world, but such an intelligent rat was clearly no ordinary creature.

If it were a normal world, fine—eating it would be no big deal.

What he feared was the kind from folk tales in his past life, where all things could cultivate, humans could become immortals, and demons could become demon gods or demon immortals.

If that were the case and he ate it, and it had some background—like an ancestor who was a demon immortal or a household guardian spirit—then he'd likely be in for a heap of trouble.

Not that he was afraid, but he preferred to avoid trouble when possible and build good karma.

Maybe it would repay him later, tossing him a cultivation manual or something.

Of course, all this was on the condition that it didn't threaten his survival. If he were truly starving, who would care about all that? He'd just swallow it whole.

After all, with his abilities, as long as he didn't court death—

Stockpile grain, bide his time, and delay claiming kingship.

Sooner or later, the day would come when he roamed the heavens above.