Chapter 920: Anything Is Possible!
The black-haired rat also began to eat his portion of fried mandrake fruit.
Although he looked extremely ugly, he was still very refined.
He ate very slowly.
His portion of food was only two small pieces. If it was Leaf, he would have swallowed it in two bites.
If it was those red-eyed rat people who were wolfing down their food, it would not be enough to fill the gaps between their teeth.
The black-haired rat, on the other hand, narrowed his eyes. With a focused expression and bulging cheeks, he placed every piece of fried crumbs on the back of his molars and ground them carefully.
It was as if he was trying to squeeze out the smallest amount of energy and elements that were hidden in the deepest part of the mandrake fruit.
Leaf accidentally caught a glimpse of the black-haired rat’s eating manners and felt a little embarra.s.sed.
There must be too little food. He could not bear to eat it all in one go, right?
He was seriously injured. These two small lumps of food were definitely not enough for him to recover. He would still starve to death.
Leaf could not bear it.
Although the black-haired rat had s.n.a.t.c.hed the mandrake fruit from his hands and returned it to him…
Leaf had also s.n.a.t.c.hed it from someone else’s hands.
In the dark depths of the dungeon, there was no right or wrong in order to survive.
Leaf thought for a moment and divided the remaining food on his side evenly into two halves.
He swallowed his saliva and forcefully extinguished the hungry flames in his stomach. Then, he gave half of his food to the black-haired rat.
“Eat, Uncle.”
Leaf used his thin body to block the other red-eyed rat people’s line of sight and softly said, “We have to hurry. Otherwise, when the others finish eating, they will definitely come and s.n.a.t.c.h from us.”
The black-haired rat was slightly startled.
It was as if he did not expect the youth to be able to restrain his exuberant appet.i.te and understand the principle of returning a favor.
His black eyes that were transfixed on the youth emitted an even gentler light as well.
He did not stand on ceremony with the youth.
But he did not speed up either.
He continued to grind his food carefully and unhurriedly. He swallowed every portion of energy contained in the fried mandrake fruit without leaving a single drop, directly transferring it into the cells that needed the most energy.
After the two of them shared a mandrake fruit, the black-haired rat curled up in the depths of the sewage in the corner.
This time, he curled up in a deeper area.
He was like a dragon that was hibernating in the abyss.
Only half of his head and nostrils were above the water.
His eyes froze again.
His breathing and heartbeat also slowed down, almost stopping.
His body temperature kept dropping until it was on the same level as the surrounding environment.
He had become a “dead body” once again.
Leaf was truly amazed.
If not for the fact that he had only eaten half of the fried mandrake fruit and was so hungry that his stomach was gurgling, he would have suspected that the black-haired rat’s “resurrection was an illusion he had imagined when he was on the verge of death.
The young man’s curiosity was at its peak.
He turned around and looked at the other red-eyed rat people. They were all avoiding Leaf as if they were avoiding the plague.
Occasionally, their gazes would be filled with hatred and disdain.
“They all heard my crying and saw the tear stains on my face.”
Leaf sighed in his heart. “Looks like I’ll never be accepted by these guys.”
Since that was the case, Leaf might as well throw away all hope. He stuck close to the black-haired rat who was disguised as a corpse and sat down.
The youth copied the other’s behavior and curled most of his body into the dirty water.
“Uncle…”
Leaf’s face was facing the corner of the wall, and his eyes were darting around. One of his eyes was fixed on the situation behind him while the other was sizing up the black-haired rat.
“Are you alright?” he asked in a low voice
The Turan people did not have the concept of “medicine.”
Despite that, whether it was a witch doctor, a priest, or an experienced warrior, they all knew that after being injured, wounds should not get close to dirty things. Otherwise, it was very likely that the wounds would fester and bugs would crawl out of them.
The black-haired rat’s skin was torn up, and his body was covered in wounds.
He had been soaking all his wounds in dirty water, yet there was no sign of redness, festering, or bugs crawling out.
Leaf could not help but click his tongue in wonder.
He was just curious, so he asked casually.
He did not expect the other party to really answer him.
After all, they did not know each other at all. The other party had taken pity on him and given him half of the food. He had already done his best.
However, not long after, there was a weak vibration in the depths of Leaf’s ears and eyes.
“They are just superficial wounds. It’s not a big deal.”
The black-haired rat continued to explain in his awkward and weird Turan accent, “Besides, the wound is open. It’s helpful for me to absorb precious energy directly from the sewage to repair the damaged cells in the depths of my wounds and shorten the treatment time as much as possible.”
“Cells.”
It was a word that Leaf had never heard before and could not understand.
It was quite normal.
After all, the rat world was too narrow and isolated. Most of the seven or eight hundred words that were used daily revolved around the mandrake tree.
Only after becoming a captive did he realize that there were so many new words that they could not understand from the mouths of the clan elders.
The most commonly heard new word that hung from the mouths of every elder, as though everyone understood them, was “glory.”
Leaf had once felt that he was very smart. No matter what it was, he could understand it with just a little learning.
However, he had been pondering over glory ever since the mandrake flower bloomed. Even after the village was destroyed, he was still pondering over it. He had been pondering over it until now.
He still did not understand what this so-called “glory” actually meant.
“Cell” and “glory” were new words that he did not understand, but when he heard them, he sensed that they were very powerful.
With his weird accent, the black-haired rat who knew these new words must also be a very powerful individual, right?
“Why aren’t you panting? Why hasn’t your heart stop beating? And why are you so cold that you almost have no temperature while you pretend to be a corpse?”
Seeing that the black-haired rat’s att.i.tude was gentle and that he had no intention of rejecting him, the youth mustered his courage and continued asking.
“I am not pretending to be a corpse.”
The black-haired rat added, “I have only suspended most of my normal physiological functions. I have reduced my energy consumption to the limit and invested all the precious energy that I have saved into recuperating.
“After all, a wise woman cannot cook without rice. Without energy, I can’t even use my greatest abilities.”
There were more new words in this paragraph.
Leaf could barely understand what the black-haired rat meant.
Nevertheless, before the black-haired rat’s encouraging gaze, he continued asking,
“Uncle, those people can’t seem to hear you. Do they treat you as a mute?”
“That’s right. I used the resonance of my vitality magnetic field to directly vibrate your eardrums and transmit my words to your brain.”
The black-haired rat said, “I haven’t spoken… the dialect here for quite a while. Can you understand me? Do you want me to speak slower?”
“I can understand you,” Leaf said before he paused for a moment and resumed.
“However, there are some words that I can’t understand. ‘Vitality… field,’ what is that?”
“You don’t know?”
The black-haired rat’s almost frozen eyeb.a.l.l.s rolled slightly as he looked at Leaf strangely. “I can sense that there are signs of vitality magnetic field cultivation in your body. If I’m not mistaken, just now, through the activation of your vitality magnetic field, your flesh and blood body became as soft and flexible as rubber, and your arms extended out quite a few times. You were like a weird python or the trunk of a stupid elephant, right?”
Leaf did not expect the black-haired rat, who seemed to be half-dead, to actually be the calmest observer in the pits of the dungeon.
He had clearly seen all of his extremely secretive little actions.
“If you don’t know about vitality magnetic field…”
The black-haired rat pondered for a moment and changed his method of questioning. “Then, when you turn your flesh and blood into rubber, which is like the solidified juice secreted by the mandrake tree, when you become so soft, do you feel as if there are shining lines inside your body that are slowly flowing, rotating, and circulating?”
Leaf was shocked.
He never thought that the black-haired rat would know everything.
There was no need to answer.
The youth’s expression had already betrayed everything.
“Who taught you?”
The black-haired rat sized the youth up and asked with interest, “What’s your name? How did you end up in this G.o.dforsaken place?”
Leaf did not hesitate for long.
He was not an important figure, and his ident.i.ty was no secret.
Even the glistening murals in the cave had been studied by his brother. He was usually more powerful than Leaf, but wasn’t he unable to block a slap from the horned Minotaur warrior too?
When the black-haired rat’s fierce flames erupted, they were even more powerful than the horned Minotaur warrior’s.
It did not matter what he wanted to do.
At least, Leaf had nothing left to lose, right?
“My name is Leaf…”
The youth took a deep breath and told him about his ident.i.ty, experiences, and hatred.
Actually, there was nothing special about it.
It was nothing out of the ordinary that happened in the beginning of the glorious era in the hundreds of rat villages at Picturesque Orchid Lake.
The hometown of the black-haired rat should be welcoming “glory” as well, right?
But he listened very attentively.
It was as if he was hearing something like that for the first time.
Many details were repeated again and again by Leaf.
Many of the concepts that were well-known to women and children among the rat people also required detailed explanation from Leaf.
Leaf was, after all, an ignorant teenager. After experiencing the drastic changes, he had acc.u.mulated a stomach full of resentment, confusion, and hatred. He had long wanted to find someone trustworthy to confide in.
When the other red-eyed rat people saw the two of them huddling together in the corner, they changed from one “dead body” to two. They thought of Leaf’s bad luck and did not want to provoke them.
However, it was convenient for Leaf. He took a long time to explain everything in detail.
“I see.”
The black-haired rat finally heard everything and sighed softly. “No wonder you were so heartbroken. It was as if this fried mandrake fruit was the most important thing in your life.
“Tell me, Leaf, what do you want to do next?”
“I want to live, of course,” Leaf said without hesitation.
“Live, leave this place, become stronger in the arena, become stronger than the broken-horned Minotaur warrior, and then exact revenge for my family and everyone in Mountain Village. I’ll kill all the Blood Hoof warriors who partic.i.p.ated in the ma.s.sacre that day!”
After a pause, he lowered his head again. His eyes were glued to the surface of the dirty water as he let his tears fall silently.
“It’s impossible, though.”
The youth desperately said, “I’m just a small rat person. I can’t do it. I can’t avenge everyone.”
“Don’t cry. Raise your head and look into my eyes.”
The black-haired rat’s eyes were bright. The voice that entered the youth’s ears instantly became loud and firm. “Believe me, as long as your determination is strong enough, everything will happen in time. Anything is possible!”