"Brother, didn't you say you also had a grudge against Mu Anxiao? Wouldn't you feel better getting revenge yourself?" Xu Lan Yan asked deliberately.
"Getting revenge myself feels good, but," the dog-headed demon grinned, revealing his canine snout, "if I were to fight for kills with a great demon, that would be suicidal, wouldn't you agree, big brother?"
Xu Lan Yan smiled thinly and said, "You do have a point there."
"Let's go, I'll treat you brothers to some meat." the dog-headed demon said, turning to the black-clothed demon and chuckling, "Little brother, hurry up and follow!"
"Alright." The black-clothed demon nodded, suppressing his fear of the dog-headed demon's face.
Meanwhile, Mu An Xiao, feeling it was appropriate, pulled open the woodshed door and then turned to Yan, saying, "Alright, you can go now."
"I want to stay here for a while," Yan replied.
"You staying here..." Mu An Xiao said, rubbing his nose, "Fine then, but don't be polite to me later, you hear? Otherwise, you'll suffer along with me."
"Okay," Yan nodded.
Mu An Xiao smiled faintly and walked inside to sit down.
Yan sniffed the air around them and said, "There's the scent of rat demons."
"You can smell it," Mu An Xiao looked up at Yan and said.
Yan turned to face Mu An Xiao and nodded.
Mu An Xiao lowered his gaze, pondered for a moment, and then asked, "Can you tell where?"
Hearing Mu An Xiao's words, Yan sniffed the air again and stomped his foot, saying, "Underground."
"Okay, I understand," Mu An Xiao replied calmly.
Yan looked at Mu An Xiao's composed response and couldn't help but furrow his brow, asking, "Did you already know?"
Mu An Xiao raised his eyebrows and feigned ignorance, saying, "Well, that's a tricky one!"
Seeing Mu An Xiao's deliberate pretense of ignorance, Yan exclaimed excitedly, "Oh, I get it, you really knew all along."
"It's not that I knew all along, it's just that I knew a little earlier than you," Mu An Xiao said, forcing a dry chuckle.
Yan laughed, "They call us sneaky rats, but I think you're even sneakier."
"I thought you were sneaky, but it turns out you're only sneaky when it comes to stealing food," Mu An Xiao said blandly.
"I've never done anything like that," Yan stated.
Mu An Xiao thought for a moment and said, "That's true. You've been human since birth, and your rat tribe are all demons. Thinking about it, that wouldn't give you much opportunity for petty theft."
"If you steal a chicken, why would you touch a dog?" Yan asked.
Mu An Xiao hadn't expected Yan to ask such a childish question. Seeing Yan's innocent expression, she gave an embarrassed laugh, "Don't ask me about this. I learned it from others."
"I understand," Yan suddenly said.
"Understand what?" Mu An Xiao asked, frowning.
"I know why they say 'steal chickens and touch dogs'."
"Tell me," Mu An Xiao said, looking with interest at the suddenly excited Yan.
"When you steal a chicken, the dog barks, so the person stealing the chicken first pats the dog, making it seem natural," Yan shrugged, "The chicken is stolen, and the dog doesn't bark anymore. It's perfect."
Mu An Xiao looked at Yan, who was giggling foolishly after explaining, and swallowed, saying, "What you said makes a lot of sense. I really hadn't thought of it that way."
"I think it makes sense too, stealing chickens and touching dogs," Yan said foolishly.
Mu An Xiao gave a dry laugh and asked, "By the way, can you try to call out to your kin?"
"Call out..." Yan repeated, then lowered his gaze and thought, "How about we just make a decisive move and rescue them, then leave?"
"No," Mu An Xiao shook her head.
"Why?" Yan asked, confused.
"Because those rabbit demons have woken up. If we do this directly, there will be great risk. So, for a safe escape, we must wait a bit."
"But... we can rescue them first and then worry about other things," Yan said innocently.
"You and I are both useless without demonic arts or spells. If we don't make arrangements beforehand, and just try to rescue them, what if your rat tribe members act shamelessly and leave us here?" Mu An Xiao considered everything.
"What you're saying makes sense," Yan agreed with Mu An Xiao's idea.
"I'm glad you think so," Mu An Xiao said, glancing around. "Try to communicate with them."
"Okay," Yan agreed, then suddenly lay down on the ground.
Mu An Xiao looked at Yan's actions with confusion and asked, "What are you doing?"
Yan shushed her, closed her eyes, and began chirping at the ground.
In the cellar, as soon as they heard the chirping, several rat demons stood up.
"Could that be Yan, that girl?" asked the first male rat demon.
The second male rat demon looked up towards the ground above and said, "Could it be her?"
"It must be her," the female rat demon stated firmly.
"How is that possible? Didn't they say she wouldn't survive after being captured by that damned rabbit?" the first male rat demon said.
The female rat demon closed her eyes and chirped a flurry of sounds upwards.
The other rat demons were speechless at the female rat demon's actions.
"Big Sister, is that you?" Yan asked in rat language.
"Yan?" the female rat demon replied, also in rat language.
"Yes, it's me," Yan replied excitedly.
Mu An Xiao looked at the incessantly chirping Yan with confusion and asked, "What are you doing?"
After communicating with the female rat demon, Yan looked up at Mu An Xiao and said, "This is our rat tribe's language. Each family has its own dialect, and this is ours."
"Are your relatives below?" Mu An Xiao exclaimed in surprise.
Yan hesitated for a moment and said, "Yes. If it weren't for her, I wouldn't have been able to come here."
"Didn't you say you snuck in? Didn't you say they didn't like you? You..." Mu An Xiao widened her eyes. "You lied to me."
"I didn't. This is my sister. She usually avoids me when she's with them, but she's quite good to me in private," Yan explained.
Hearing Yan's explanation, Mu An Xiao was too lazy to ask further and said, "Then why aren't you communicating with her in normal language?"
"Our rat language can travel very far, but with normal language, it simply can't be heard," Yan explained.
"Oh," Mu An Xiao realized, pointing at the ground. "Ask her if she can help remove the demonic barrier."
"Okay, I..." Yan had barely started when the door was pushed open by the red-clothed rabbit demon.
Then, the red-clothed rabbit demon looked at Yan, who was lying on the ground, with surprise and asked, "What are you doing?"
Hearing this, Yan froze and frowned, glancing at Mu An Xiao.
While the red-clothed rabbit demon wasn't looking at her, Mu An Xiao deliberately glanced at Yan and said, "You traitor, just lie there obediently."
Hearing this, the red-clothed rabbit demon turned to Mu An Xiao with anger and asked, "What did you do to her?"
"It's just a immobilization spell. Since you're here, I'm done playing," Mu An Xiao said, snapping her fingers towards Yan, who then sat up.
The red-clothed rabbit demon looked at Mu An Xiao in astonishment and asked, "Aren't you supposed to be useless? Why do you know immobilization spells?"