Law of the Swarm

Chapter 96 A False Eye

The terrified and incontinent Ratman didn't have much influence on System.

Looking at the rat man in front of him, System casually inserted two bone daggers into the soil. It would take a long time until the rat man's paralysis was relieved, so why didn't he catch some ordinary mice?
Just catching a dozen mice is enough to be their food.

System spread his wings and flew high into the sky for a while.

After seeing that there were no gnolls in the vicinity, System told Black and the little meat ball to lead the ant people to wait in place, and if there was anything unusual about the rat man, kill them immediately.

And System took Shava to the mouse cave. There were about ten mice that had just escaped back into the cave. System estimated that catching a few of them should not be a problem.

……

Because of the Ratman's huge size, the Rat Den appears spacious.

However, it is different from ordinary mouse holes. Ratman lairs are filled with unimaginable stench. Ratmen have the same bad habits as goblins, and they like to excrete everywhere in their lairs.

The more System moved in the rat hole, the more he felt the smell was unbearable, and he regretted going to the rat hole to catch the mouse.

Fortunately, the rat hole seems to have other exits, and there will be some air circulation from time to time, otherwise System may really cancel this operation.

Ten minutes later, System and Shava successfully caught two mice in the mouse hole.

Maybe it was the screams of two mice, and after that, System didn't find any mice.

It is fundamentally different from the tunnels of ant nests. Perhaps it is to guard against natural enemies of snakes. The rats' caves extend in all directions. System found at least seven or eight exits, and those rats apparently ran away.

However, compared to some little mice that escaped, System found a leather bag in the Ratman Cave, with some items scattered beside it.

A roll of paper that appears to be made of animal hide, which appears to be a map, is strong and delicate.

There were some writing on it, but not the writing of the elves, nor the writing carved on the dagger of the ratmen.

In addition to the map, System also found a yellow-white crystal the size of a human fist and three round golden coins in the leather bag.

The yellow-white crystal System felt that it should be coarse salt, and some particles would fall off when System scratched it vigorously with his tentacles.

It's a pity that System's sense of taste is completely different from his previous life.

After the coarse salt melted in his mouth, System could only taste a faint sweetness with a strange aroma.

The taste of salt grains confirmed System's speculation all along.

System discovered that after he came to this world, almost all edible foods would taste sweet, and some foods that could not be eaten normally with magic power would appear in various flavors.

Putting down the salt block, System looked at the coins on the side. The coins were about three centimeters in diameter, very new in color, with beautiful patterns printed on them, and some words. The style of these words should be the same as those on the map.

The color and weight of the coins are somewhat similar to gold coins, but they may also be copper coins. System will no longer pay attention to them after a little fiddling.

System thinks the biggest gain from this mouse hole exploration is this brown leather bag. Although the style is a bit weird, it is finely crafted, durable, and can hold some food or chrysalis.

As for maps, gold coins, and salt blocks, they are completely useless.

He didn't know the words and places on the map at all, and the salt block had no edible value.

And with his current weird appearance, he probably wouldn't be able to buy anything even with gold coins.

However, compared to System, who is a pragmatist, the soldier ant Shava is very fond of gold coins. Just as System threw away these gold coins as trash, Shava picked them up later. .

It's a pity that Sawa's current double-edged legs are not good at grasping things, and Sawa spent a lot of effort on the three gold coins, but in the end he could only hold two of them.

In desperation, System had no choice but to stuff a few gold coins into the small bag containing the seeds of the Frost Flower. In the small bag, besides the flower seeds that had no longer been effective, there were also those that System had given to Shava. A small crystal.

After several months of playing with Shava, the irregular edges and corners of the small crystal have been worn away and become very smooth.

And when System was packing these items and arranging the leather bag, System's tentacles suddenly found something wrong with the leather bag's touch.

Soon System found an interlayer in the leather bag, and found a small hidden zipper. Inside, he found a 5 cm square silver-white metal similar to a lighter. A faint energy breath can be felt in it.

After fiddling with the metal with his tentacles for a while, System discovered that this piece of silver-white metal was actually a lighter.

Unscrew the top cover, and after a while, some scorching energy will gather on the white metal, forming a weak flame.

The flame is not big, but it can be used as a tool for ignition in the wild.

Whether it is the finely crafted leather bag or the ignition device, neither is the technical level that the Ratmen can achieve in such a messy living situation.

System guessed that the leather bag and the contents inside should have been obtained by the Ratman robbing the passing travelers.

As for the metal igniter in the leather bag, System reckoned that the ratman never found it.

After continuing to search in the mouse hole for a while, as System guessed, he found a half-human skull deep in the cave.

System speculated that this skull should be the owner of the leather bag.

The shape of the skull was neither that of a wolf man nor that of a goblin. It should be that of an elf, a dwarf, or a human.

System was a human in his previous life, and he thought he would feel a little uneasy or anxious when he saw a human skull.

But instead of having those emotions, he subconsciously wrapped his tentacles around the skull and inspected it for a while.

When System realized his state, he had already picked up a small piece of skull fragments, put them in his mouth and chewed them for a long time.

Skulls taste like most animal bones, milk chocolate.

But this skull has obviously been placed on the shelf for too long. System estimates that it has been placed for at least half a year, and the smell is already very weak.

After eating another small piece, System threw the skull aside as garbage, preparing to return to the ground.

But when System chose to leave, he suddenly found that Shava seemed to have discovered something and was digging in the soil with her double blades.

System stretched out his tentacles, and soon found a translucent blue crystal of strange material in the soil of the cave, and System felt a faint energy breath.

The shape and color of this crystal are very similar to human eyeballs. System speculates that it should be a false eye, but he doesn't know what the function of this strange energy breath is.

(End of this chapter)