Regardless of how the Mouse Emperor’s mind was collapsing, upon seeing Lu Zhi effortlessly kick open the treasure vault door, three soul-stirring questions popped into his tiny mouse brain.
Who am I? Where am I? Why can he kick open the Rat God’s treasure vault with a single kick?
“What are you waiting for? Hurry inside.” Lu Zhi and Qin Huai had already entered the vault, each standing behind a door, ready to close it.
The Mouse Emperor, while collapsing internally, gritted his teeth and scurried into the vault.
With a thunderous roar, the heavy vault door slammed shut.
Inside the vault, both Lu Zhi and Qin Huai let out a sigh of relief.
Lu Zhi said, “This isn’t a sustainable solution. That person will find us soon, and the vault door probably won’t hold him. If that happens, both of us are finished.”
Qin Huai’s expression was grim, “There’s no signal inside the Rat God’s Temple.”
This meant they were on their own, with no way to call for help.
“Don’t worry, the Rat God’s treasure vault door is extremely sturdy,” the Mouse Emperor reassured them.
As soon as he finished speaking, the door let out a massive boom, followed by violent shaking.
Both Lu Zhi and Qin Huai’s expressions changed slightly. They hadn’t expected the foreign apostle to catch up so quickly.
Another muffled boom echoed, and the golden door vibrated intensely once more, yet it still stood firm.
Seeing how sturdy the door was, Lu Zhi felt relieved but also asked with confusion, “What material is this door made of? How can he not shatter it?”
“He couldn’t shatter your treasure artifact either,” Qin Huai recalled how Lu Zhi’s Manluo had tightly wrapped around the opponent’s wrist, and it hadn’t been shattered. The foreign apostle’s eyes had shown a fleeting surprise then.
Lu Zhi mused, “Every ability has its weaknesses. Could it be that he cannot shatter things that possess life?”
No one could answer him, as they had only clashed for one round.
“I have a feeling this door won’t hold for much longer,” Lu Zhi said worriedly, looking at the occasional booming sounds. The person was utterly determined to kill them.
“The best course of action now is to awaken the Rat God,” Qin Huai suggested.
Lu Zhi half-crouched and asked the Mouse Emperor, “What artifact is needed to awaken the Rat God?”
“Follow me.” The Mouse Emperor darted deeper into the vault.
“By the way, what exactly is that painting of?” Lu Zhi asked the Mouse Emperor as he walked through the dark passage.
“It’s the last painting the Rat God left before falling into slumber,” the Mouse Emperor hesitated, “It depicts many friends who were with the Rat God.”
Lu Zhi became even more curious. Could that painting be of the twelve zodiac animals? If so, that painting would be incredibly important.
“We need to find a way to retrieve it,” Qin Huai also knew about the Twelve Zodiac Gods. If it were indeed portraits of the zodiacs, it would be very important information for the country.
Lu Zhi: “It’s not about retrieving it right now. The priority is figuring out how to survive… Huh? What is that?”
The exit at the end of the dark passage led to the Rat God’s true treasury.
But what Lu Zhi never expected was that under the bright lights, the mountain of glittering ‘treasures’ was actually… rice grains…
“I thought… I’d see a lot of gold artifacts or gemstones,” Qin Huai also had a look of shocked complexity.
Anyone would misunderstand, wouldn’t they? Just the golden temple alone gave the initial impression of a money-loving Rat God, but it turned out to be a treasure vault full of rice!
“Naive!” The Mouse Emperor put his hands on his hips, his leather jacket and pants already worn out, revealing furry, orange hindquarters, “This is Spirit Grain!”
Lu Zhi blinked.
Qin Huai exclaimed, “Spirit Grain? Is that the kind of grain that can increase psychic power?”
“Tch, only you humans talk about psychic power.” The Mouse Emperor proudly lifted his double chin, which even his thick fur couldn’t hide. “The Rat Gods speak of spiritual power.”
Lu Zhi curiously approached the Spirit Grain, picked up a grain the size of his little finger, and chewed it. His eyes lit up, “Wow, it tastes like milk!!!”
Qin Huai: ???
Spirit grain that tastes like milk? Are you sure?
The Mouse Emperor: !!!
The Mouse Emperor flew into a rage, “How dare you touch the Rat God’s Spirit Grain? If the Rat God wakes up and finds one missing, he’ll surely be furious!!! You’re dead!”
Lu Zhi asked in confusion, “With a mountain of this, the Rat God won’t know if a few are missing.”
The Mouse Emperor widened his rat eyes with effort, “Of course the Rat God will know! The Rat God counts them every day! I was beaten half to death by the Rat God when I stole one back then!”
Lu Zhi: …Oh, really?
“Ahem, ahem, let’s talk about that later. First, how do we awaken the Rat God?” Lu Zhi nonchalantly changed the subject.
The Mouse Emperor glared at him.
Lu Zhi looked back with innocent black eyes.
The Mouse Emperor: …Never seen such a shameless human who steals and doesn’t apologize!
“The place where the Rat God slumbers is inside the divine coffin.” The Mouse Emperor scurried to a golden coffin behind the mountain of Spirit Grain.
The moment he saw it, Lu Zhi wondered how much the Rat God loved gold.
Qin Huai approached first.
This coffin was about a meter long. Lu Zhi thought it was made of pure gold, but when he tapped it with his finger, he discovered it was made of golden jade, which surprised him.
Gold was precious, but such a large piece of golden jade was priceless!
What was even more important were the bas-relief carvings on the coffin lid. The mountains, rivers, and beasts depicted were so lifelike that they seemed ready to leap out of the carvings at any moment, truly a masterpiece of craftsmanship.
And on the coffin lid, there was a recess, the size of a baby’s fist. Lu Zhi couldn’t recall its shape at first glance.
“The artifact was lost a long time ago, and the Rat God was very angry about it. Before falling into slumber, he said that only finding the artifact could awaken Him,” the Mouse Emperor said with a reminiscent tone.
“Don’t you think the shape of that recess looks familiar?” Lu Zhi pondered, stroking his chin.
Qin Huai stared at the recess, and a flash of inspiration suddenly occurred to him. Just as he was about to grasp it, a thunderous boom startled all three of them.
The foreign apostle had managed to break through the vault door so quickly!
The sound of footsteps echoed from the dark passage, and then the foreign apostle with beige hair and blue eyes walked into their sight, his eyes dark, “None of you can escape.”
The Mouse Emperor squeaked in fear, exclaiming in panic, “How can this be? The vault door has the Rat God’s divine power bolstering it, how could it be destroyed by a mere human!”
The foreign apostle gave them no chance to react and suddenly lunged at them.
Upon hearing the word ‘divine power,’ Lu Zhi had a flash of insight and shouted excitedly to Qin Huai, “It’s the crown! It’s the Rat God’s crown!”
Qin Huai’s eyes lit up. That’s right, how could they have forgotten such an important matter?
Lu Zhi summoned Manluo to block Qin Huai, saying, “I’ll hold him off. You go awaken the Rat God.”
Hearing their conversation, the killing intent in the foreign apostle’s eyes almost materialized. He gritted his teeth and said, “It’s actually in your hands.”