"Let's go straight underground. There's nothing much up here."
After looking around, Yang Yi lowered his eye patch, handed the Light Container to Su Na, and turned toward the passage leading underground ahead.
It was dark inside the building, but Yang Yi did not actually need illumination. The Light Container was really for Su Na.
Just then, a series of bangs came from beneath their feet, as though something was ramming a wall or pounding on a door, making a tremendous racket.
Soon, some House Mice ran out of the passage ahead and stopped in front of Yang Yi, clacking their razor-like upper and lower teeth together as though saying something.
Yang Yi could not understand them, but before setting out, he had ordered the House Mice to search the island for unidentified life-forms lurking within. It looked as though they had found something.
The unidentified life-forms had not reacted to all the noise he had made breaking down the door earlier, yet now they had suddenly become active. Perhaps the crystal House Mice had bitten them.
"Be careful. Judging by the sound, whatever's in there is pretty strong."
Yang Yi tilted his head and listened for a while before moving forward again. A dozen or so Skeletal House Mice clung together into a mouse ball and rolled ahead to lead the way.
Su Na followed behind.
She examined the place more closely than Yang Yi, overlooking not a single corner.
This room-or rather, this base-had clearly been abandoned, and its occupants had withdrawn in an orderly fashion, taking many things with them. That was why it was so empty.
Just as they entered the downward-sloping passage, a picture painted on the wall at the bend ahead caught Su Na's attention.
"Wait!"
She called Yang Yi to a stop, ran