The moon among the stars

Facing the little white mouse before him.

Cheng Qi also knew that she possessed a few traits of a silicon-based lifeform.

The squeaks from the little white mouse were translated by Cheng Qi's silicon-based genes into language he could understand.

Throughout this process, Cheng Qi had not actively communicated with her.

So the little white mouse had yet to receive any response.

Cheng Qi raised his head, and the faceplate of the Extreme Warrior Armor slowly flipped open.

His pupils began to change, geometric patterns emerging within them and radiating brilliant light.

"I'm not a human as you understand them."

As Cheng Qi spoke, a blue ribbon slowly spread from his mouth, winding and twisting until it gathered within the pink crystals on the little white mouse's head.

The little white mouse suddenly froze, tilting her tiny head.

She had never expected him to be able to communicate with her.

"Squeak, squeak..."

This time, her cry carried no particular meaning. It was merely an instinctive sound, seemingly expressing surprise.

"In a way, we're the same kind."

Cheng Qi raised his hand, and the Extreme Warrior Armor receded. With a clear clinking of crystals, a crystalline layer emerged over his palm, shimmering with multicolored light that resonated with the crystals on the little white mouse's head.

"Squeak, squeak..."

Cheng Qi's figure reflected in the little white mouse's glossy black eyes, and she grew even more astonished.

After more than a century of lonely evolution, surviving alone, and steadily expanding awareness, the little white mouse felt that she was different from the entire world. Even her offspring outside were fundamentally different from her.

Looking at the humanoid before her, the little white mouse could clearly sense that he shared something with her on certain levels. Their very origins resonated, something she had never dared hope for.

"Being weak isn't a sin."

Cheng Qi's voice slowly echoed. "I used to be just like you were-abandoned, despised, forced to passively accept everything. But things are different now. Like you, I've opened a brand-new door. I think we'll be alike in the future too. A brilliant future is waiting for us."

"Squeak, squeak..."

The little white mouse completely dropped her guard. She nimbly climbed down the pipe, crossed the floor, then climbed up from Cheng Qi's waistband to his shoulder.

She extended her pointed muzzle and sniffed Cheng Qi's cheek.

Cheng Qi could feel her soft whiskers brushing back and forth across his face, tickling him.

Cheng Qi smiled. "We're both incredibly special beings. We shouldn't kill each other. We should become the best of companions."

"Companions..."

Light flickered in the little white mouse's eyes, and her tiny body stiffened. "I need companions."

"There's no food left here."

"Can you take me with you?"

The blue ribbon slowly drifted, and Cheng Qi heard the clear, pure voice of a little girl.

"Of course."

"This seems like fate."

Cheng Qi glanced behind him. All the containers were empty. The food the little white mouse referred to was those Gene-Completion Agents.

"But I came here to find an antidote for a friend."

Cheng Qi frowned, a trace of disappointment appearing in his eyes. "It looks like I can't help him now."

"An antidote?"

The little white mouse held out a pink paw and gently scratched a cut into it with her other paw. A translucent red drop of blood then welled up from the wound.

The little white mouse held up that ruby-like drop of blood on the tip of her claw. "This should work."

Then.

The little white mouse turned her head to one side, and only then did Cheng Qi notice a gigantic spider lying belly-up in a corner of the drug storage room.

The spider's body alone was over two meters long. With all eight legs extended, its span was at least six meters.

Strange, colorful markings covered its abdomen, resembling a vividly colored skull.

Judging by its appearance alone, this spider was undoubtedly extremely venomous.

But the spider had been dead for a long time, leaving only a lifelike shell.

"The mutant spider was very venomous, but it couldn't pose the slightest threat to me."

Squeaks came from the little white mouse's mouth, but Cheng Qi still heard that little girl's voice, as pure as clear water.

Cheng Qi looked at the drop of blood on the tip of the little white mouse's claw.

Countless tiny hexagonal crystals floated quietly within the bright red blood, magical and beautiful.

The Standard Template Construct released a scanning beam at the same time.

[Semi-Silicon-Based Serum: Having incorporated and purified large quantities of Gene-Completion Agent, it can repair damaged genes, with detoxification efficiency increasing geometrically.]

[Neutralizing cellular fluid toxin would be a gross waste of its potential. Even diluted tens of thousands of times, it would still surpass every antidote currently available to humanity.]

[This item is a naturally derived product and cannot be synthesized.]

Cheng Qi was somewhat stunned, then smiled in relief. "Boss Mo can be saved."

Boom!

Just then, the underground research facility's ceiling collapsed.

Countless gigantic Killer Rats poured through the hole in the ceiling. The moment they hit the floor, they arched their bodies and let out roars like shock waves.

But when these Killer Rats saw the little white mouse standing upright on Cheng Qi's shoulder, their aggression visibly subsided, and they all stopped howling.

The pink crystals on the little white mouse's head began flashing at that moment too.

She was communicating with her subjects.

A dozen seconds later, Cheng Qi witnessed a rather astonishing sight.

The hundreds of terrifying-looking Red-Haired Killer Rats before him suddenly pressed their forepaws to the ground and slowly lowered their heads, bowing to Cheng Qi in submission.

"Th-this... you may rise?"

Cheng Qi had never seen this coming. It felt like being an emperor.

He had never imagined that the first time in his life he was accorded such importance would be by a pack of hideous, ferocious mutant rats.

"If you need anything."

"You can tell me."

The little white mouse squeaked, and the little girl's voice rang through Cheng Qi's mind. "All my subjects can follow your orders."

Cheng Qi was somewhat dazed.

I really am the destined king of garbage. Now even rats have become my soldiers?!

"How many subjects do you have?"

Cheng Qi asked in bewilderment.

"One hundred forty-five million, six hundred three thousand, three hundred twenty-five..."

"One hundred forty-five million, six hundred three thousand, eight hundred sixteen..."

"One hundred forty-five million, six hundred four thousand, four hundred seven..."

Cheng Qi blinked. "Why does that number keep going up?"

"Squeak, squeak..."

"They're reproducing..."

Cheng Qi was startled again. "That's at least five hundred baby rats born every second!"

"Squeak, squeak..."

"The old ones are constantly dying too."

Cheng Qi's expression had already turned to shock. "Either way, that's an absolutely enormous, terrifying army!"

The rewards of this expedition had been unexpected.

Cheng Qi headed back toward the surface through the shattered opening.

"You ought to have a name."

Cheng Qi glanced at the little white mouse standing on his shoulder. "How about I call you Zhi Zhi from now on?"

"Squeak, squeak!"

Zhi Zhi squeaked, accepting the name.

A seemingly harmless, even rather adorable little white mouse was actually the ruler of one hundred forty million mutant rats on Garbage Earth.

"What will you eat from now on?"

"The Gene Catalysis Agent should suit your tastes."

"But that would take a lot of money..."

Cheng Qi suddenly remembered something. "Those subjects of yours, those enormous red-haired rats, have some hard alloy in their stomachs... Of course, I can't attack them anymore. Do you have any ideas?"

"Those things are just foreign objects in their stomachs anyway."

Zhi Zhi's voice reached him. "That's easy to solve."

On the surface, gusts of green-fuzz wind blew past.

They stirred Cheng Qi's scavenger cloak, as well as the bangs exposed outside his faceplate.

At that very moment.

The young man's heart was filled with mixed emotions.

What did it feel like to have tens of thousands of hideous red-haired rats facing you and vomiting furiously?

That was exactly what Cheng Qi was experiencing.

The mutant rats, already hideous beyond measure, seemed to be collectively recoiling from Cheng Qi's appearance.

And they apparently couldn't stand it anymore-they were even throwing up last month's meals.

These rats looked as though they had seen something even more disgusting than themselves.

"..."

Cheng Qi held his forehead with one hand. "I know the reason, so why does it still feel like my self-esteem is taking a hit?"

The first batch of rats finished vomiting.

The second batch surrounded him.

Like stars clustering around the moon, they began a fresh round of vomiting.

Cheng Qi wrinkled his nose, the corners of his eyes twitching. "This is... incredibly insulting!"