"... Hurry up, all of you, get up now..."
The shouts echoed around.
A Calamity Beast that looked like a leopard yawned and lifted its head off the ground.
Far ahead, in some unknown place, there was a rather loud commotion that woke it up.
I eventually fell asleep, but it wasn't a very good sleep.
As he pondered this, the Hidden Leopard lazily glanced around.
One by one, the Calamity Beast were still lying there, but quite a few Calamity Beast had also gotten up, just like it.
Further away, dozens of Black Rat were rapidly moving around the herd of beasts.
The shouts came from their mouths.
The Hidden Leopard yawned again, looked up at the sky, and waited.
A little while later...
Suddenly, its ears twitched, and its gaze shifted downwards, looking in a certain direction.
There, two Calamity Beast were whispering to each other.
"... Shadow Stone really hasn't come back?! Did he really run away?"
"Surely not? Running away isn't that easy."
Why is it not easy?
"Everything visible from the side is surrounded by mountains, and we don't even know where the exit is. Even if there is an exit, there probably won't be many, and they're likely blocked by those Black Rat!"
"Apart from that enclosed mountain, all of these are just your guesses, right?"
"I... I... even if it's just a guess, so what? You said Shadow Stone went out, wasn't that also a guess?"
"But what if it actually goes out?"
"..."
silence.
"What do we do? Continue like this, staying here and mining all day?"
"I..."
I don't know when, but my sleepiness had already dissipated.
The Hidden Leopard stretched out its ears to listen to what the two were talking about.
At first, it was relatively easy to hear.
But then, the sound grew fainter and fainter.
Even though it stretched its ears as far as it could, it still couldn't hear clearly.
Suddenly, it paused, its gaze abruptly turning to the side.
A sweeping gaze swept over it.
After a while, the whispering started again.
The Hidden Leopard, without any instruction, carefully and deliberately turned its head as if it were a natural movement, scanning the area.
Unsurprisingly, the two guys started discussing again.
And the sound is even quieter than before.
"Damn it, couldn't these two guys talk any louder?!" Hidden Leopard cursed inwardly.
It felt an unbearable itch, a feeling it hadn't experienced in countless years.
However, in the end, it still didn't dare to go directly over and ask.
After all, the existence of Black Rat, their current way of life, and the fear of death...
Everything, everything, is suppressing it.
Taking a deep breath, the Hidden Leopard continued to strain its ears, trying to hear something.
The sound was still very soft.
But a few scattered words still managed to get through.
Find a few people, see if they agree, and try it out tonight...
night.
Unlike others, Hidden Leopard didn't go to sleep immediately. Instead, he stayed in the same spot where he had slept the day before, looking around.
However.
No, no, still no.
The two guys who were whispering this morning are definitely not back at the rest area.
Murdered?
No, that's impossible. Lord Black Rat didn't mention anything like this happening today.
Where did it go?
Damn it, I should have kept an eye on those two guys today.
Now...
His train of thought paused slightly, and Hidden Leopard looked in the other direction.
There were a few guys there, whispering amongst themselves.
Unlike this morning, when it was relatively clear at first, here it's been blurry from the very beginning.
A few words drifted over, scattered here and there.
It really ran away? Will it work? I...
The Hidden Leopard paused, pretending to look in another direction. After a while, it got up, took a few steps, then got up again, went out, and then came back and lay down.
The exchange had long ended, but the few Calamity Beast did not separate; instead, they remained together.
Then, for some reason, he didn't sleep, but just stayed there with his eyes open.
When they saw it coming over, they even looked over.
However, it seemed to have come through normally, so I didn't pay much attention and looked away.
The Hidden Leopard didn't move again and lay down on the spot.
It closed its eyes, trying to fall asleep as usual, but somehow, its excitement made it impossible to drift off.
Time passed by, little by little.
I don't know when it happened, but the sound of the Black Rat squeaking to wake up rang out again.
The Hidden Leopard got up somewhat groggily, then subconsciously glanced at the figures not far away. After confirming that they were indeed still there, it breathed a sigh of relief and waited in place.
Soon, the group moved forward, and the few Calamity Beast headed towards the nearest mine.
The Hidden Leopard pretended—no, it wasn't pretending anymore, it really did go to this mine regularly.
However, today, Hidden Leopard controlled its speed slightly, following behind those guys.
The sound of hushed conversation came from ahead.
"... Do you think those two guys really ran away?"
"No way! It's not that easy!"
"But they haven't come back?!"
"If he didn't come back, he might be dead!"
"That shouldn't be the case!"
"Huh? How did you know?"
"You were caught too late, so you don't know. Some guys tried to escape before, but they were caught by those Black Rat. If anyone tries to escape again, they'll probably be caught too!"
"Can't we just not arrest them?"
"Of course you can, but catching them might scare us. If it were you, would you catch them?!"
"Uh... grab!"
"Hey, that's more like it!"
"..."
silence.
After a while.
"... So, they really did run away?"
"Hmm, probably!"
"What should we do then? Should we run away too?"
"But after we refused them yesterday, they didn't tell us how to escape!!"
"..."
"Actually, it's not that I'm completely unaware."
"!!!"
You know?
How do I get there?
"Uh, that's a bit dangerous. If possible, it'd be best to bring a few more guys along!"
"That's easy. Tell me how to get there!"
"Yes!"
The Hidden Leopard also perked up its ears.
However, at this moment, those guys seemed to realize there was a problem, and their voices lowered again.
"Damn these guys..."
Hidden Leopard cursed inwardly, but still followed behind those guys.
At the same time, I started to wonder whether I should go up there and join them.
Left leg forward, join; right leg forward, don't join, left leg...
And so, the group made their way to the entrance of the mine.
Hidden Leopard raised his eyes and estimated the number of steps from his side to the other.
The result seems to be...
I won't join!
Damn it, should I stay?... The Hidden Leopard hesitated.
As it was thinking, its gaze suddenly paused and then lifted.
In its field of vision, the group of guys in front of it dispersed, and then one of them moved closer to it.
Inside the spacious and enormous stone building, several Black Rat were staying.
However, they didn't communicate; instead, they went about their own business.
Black Rat Feixu was also there, looking at what he had drawn on the ground with some annoyance.
The above clearly shows the daily food consumption in the valley, the casualties of the tribesmen when they went out to hunt the Calamity Beast, and the number of monsters they brought back.
"Damn it, how did we ever catch so many guys before?!"
The Feixu frowned as he looked at the contents.
Just as I was thinking, suddenly, a terrified voice came from afar.
"Oh no! Oh no! No..."
All the Black Rat in the room looked over.
Soon, a Tier 3 Black Rat rushed in in a panic, even stumbling as it entered.
Then, there wasn't time to get up.
It looked up at the several Black Rat inside the room and said...
"Sir, something terrible has happened! Those guys are causing chaos..."