Chapter 203 - 90: Motherless Rats
The slope was covered in white stones that reflected the sunlight, making the whole stone slope a dazzling sight, appearing like a pool of water on the mountain from afar.
It was the hottest time of the day, and the chinchillas all hid in their burrows to escape the scorching sun.
Near the forest at the bottom of the slope, the dense vegetation slightly diminished the sun's power, causing a slight drop in temperature.
Lai Fu stopped beside an entrance of a hole, raising its head to watch Chen Zhou approaching with a carrying pole, occasionally lowering its head to paw at the ground, an eager expression on its face, yet it made no sound.
This was a habit Chen Zhou had taught it when catching rabbits—
Wild rabbits have keen hearing, so when approaching them, even a loud bark or stepping on a dry branch might waste half an hour or more of tracking; maintaining silence is the basic requirement for tracking.
"Don't worry, they're hiding in the holes and won't run around."
Before long, Chen Zhou reached Lai Fu's side, put down the pole, rubbed its head, and comforted it.
Woof~
Lai Fu barked softly, patting the hole with its paw, sticking its head in, trying to squeeze its mouth into the hole, its tail wagging more vigorously.
"What's wrong? Is there something else in this hole?"
Chen Zhou sensed Lai Fu's unusual behavior, grabbed it by the scruff and pulled it away from the entrance, carefully examining the hole.
There were many shelters for chinchillas nearby, and a quick comparison showed this hole indeed differed from the chinchillas' burrows.
The entrance was smaller than a chinchilla hole, the surrounding grass sparse, and unlike the smooth, clean walls of a chinchilla hole, this one's outer wall was uneven, with some clumps of dirt at the top fallen inside, indicating the hole hadn't been used in a long time or the creature inside was not tidy.
"Judging by the size of this entrance, it shouldn't be a chinchilla, and it's unlikely to be a rabbit hole.
If it were a rat hole, there'd be rat droppings and fur around.
But there are only a few types of animals that dig holes on this island, so what could this be?"
Frowning, Chen Zhou really couldn't guess what Lai Fu had discovered inside this hole.
At this moment, he wished Lai Fu were smarter, able to speak.
If it could communicate, with its keen nose and outstanding agility, none of the island's goats, wild pigeons, and rabbits could escape.
His curiosity piqued, Chen Zhou brought over a bucket of water, picked up a large wooden cup used for scooping water, and prepared to flood the hole directly.
Before getting started, he had to beware of "crafty rabbits with three burrows."
Surveying the area, not far from this hole, he found two other similar-sized holes, picking up some stones to block those two entrances, covering them with dirt, before returning to the hole where Lai Fu stood guard.
"You go over there first; I'm about to start."
Worried about poisonous snakes or toxic insects hiding inside, before doing anything, Chen Zhou moved Lai Fu two meters away.
Then, he didn't stay directly in front of the hole; instead, he crouched above it, stretching his arm to keep a distance before pouring the water.
Despite wearing boots and long pants that offered some protection,
the potential threat of poisonous snakes was terrible, squatting while pouring water into the hole—if careless, he could still get bitten on the fingers or wrist; Chen Zhou wasn't willing to take that risk.
...
Maintaining a safe distance, he poured cup after cup of water into the hole.
The dry soil absorbed the water. It seemed like the water seeped downward into a bottomless pit, with no strange sounds heard at all.
The bucket of water was soon empty. Holding the big wooden cup, Chen Zhou even began suspecting the possibility of Lai Fu giving a false report.
Even in the dry season, if the soil absorbed half of this water, at least the remaining half should have flushed something out unless there was nothing in the hole.
"Lai Fu, are you sure there's something alive here?"
As he brought another bucket of water over, Chen Zhou questioned Lai Fu.
He saw Lai Fu wagging its big tail, coming over again, as if proving its nose couldn't be wrong.
Recently, with the hot weather, Lai Fu had started shedding, turning it into a walking fur machine. Seeing it about to pounce on him, Chen Zhou quickly blocked it in advance, holding its head and pushing it aside.
"Alright, alright, I believe you, okay!"
With that, Chen Zhou picked up the wooden cup and continued pouring water into the hole.
The wooden bucket has thick walls, although it has a wide diameter and a tall body, it actually holds less water than a plastic bucket. Before long, the second bucket was also nearly empty.
The soil at the entrance of the hole was completely saturated with water, and yellowish mud flowed straight out of the hole, yet no animals emerged.
Chen Zhou even lay down near the entrance, pressing his ear to the ground, listening carefully for a moment, but he heard nothing.
Just as he was about to ask Lai Fu what was happening, he suddenly saw Lai Fu dart over to a blocked hole and start barking loudly.
"Well, my goodness, they've run away!"
Chen Zhou quickly got up, grabbed a pickaxe and a wooden shovel, and preemptively dug into another tunnel's back route.
Separated by a layer of soil and rubble, faint squeaking and panic sounds could be heard from within, quite different from the sound of the Little Dragon Cat, it rather sounded like rats.
Lai Fu continued to bark wildly, and Chen Zhou brought over a small wooden box in advance, gradually prying open the sealed entrance.
As soon as a little light could enter, a rat head eagerly poked through the hole, and upon realizing something was amiss in the wooden box, it quickly withdrew.
Chen Zhou was quick with his hands and didn't wait for it to retract before he picked up a stone to press down on the rat's neck.
The rat was in pain, unable to advance or retreat, and it raised its head to bite Chen Zhou's hand.
Upon seeing this, Chen Zhou not only did not loosen his grip to evade but instead increased the force and pressed down harder.
The end of the stone was already sharp, and with increased pressure, it pierced through the rat's fur, snapping its spine.
The central nervous system was severely damaged, causing the rat's body to lose control, unable to move, and its cries grew weaker. However, its eyes kept glancing backward, still trying to look back.
Bark!
Lai Fu's barking did not cease, making Chen Zhou realize there was probably more than one rat in this hole. He then firmly pressed the rat's paralyzed body with the stone and removed it, with the small wooden box still blocking the entrance.
After a moment, he heard rustling sounds inside the hole, accompanied by shrill and chaotic squeaks, as if a group of rats were discussing strategies.
Then, a rat's head as thin as a pinky finger poked out, glancing around.
Lai Fu stopped barking just at the right moment, and the tiny mouse no longer heard the terrible buzzing sound in its ears. It cautiously turned around, looked back, and then started to slowly crawl out of the hole into the wooden box.
Throughout the process, Chen Zhou kept his breathing slow and steady, making sure the box did not reveal any gaps or shake, as if the box had grown out of the ground.
The scouting little mouse encountered no danger; it had no idea where its mother went and crawled to the end of the box on its own. After hitting a wall, it began to squeak again.
The other mice inside the hole responded to its calls and came out one after another.
Chen Zhou squinted, counting the number of mice through the gap in the wooden box.
"Two, three, four... eight, I've stirred up a rats' nest!"
Once the eighth little mouse had also crawled into the box, he patiently waited for over ten seconds, saw no new rats leaving the hole, and noticed the mice inside the box were showing signs of returning. He quickly put away the box, closed the lid, and took the completely full box of rats, grinning widely.
As early as the end of October, the idea of using rats to test for poison had crossed his mind when he couldn't eat seafood.
However, the subsequent rat-catching efforts were unsuccessful, yet he unexpectedly caught a Little Dragon Cat instead.
The dragon cat was charming in appearance, quite picky about food, turned up its nose at unfamiliar foods, and there was only one of it. If it ate something poisonous and died, this made it impossible for Chen Zhou to test poisons on it.
Half a year passed in a flash, and during that long time, he had tried using a rabbit to test wild lemons and had attempted to acquire a live rat from Tu Kui, but none of these efforts bore fruit.
Partly because his work was busy, leaving him no time to catch rats—live rats were quick-moving and small in size; unless he had a rat glue trap or a rat cage, capturing them was much more difficult than catching a rabbit.
On the other hand, because he had ample and diverse food supplies, he hadn't had an urgent need for fish, shrimp, shellfish, or wild fruits, leading him to put the "rat poison test plan" on hold for a long time.
Unexpectedly, while casually taking Lai Fu out for a stroll today, he gained this fruitful harvest.
Putting the wooden box filled with young rats into a bucket of water, he covered the box with a few slabs of stone to prevent the little mice from escaping. Chen Zhou stomped on and killed the mother of the young rats, then patted Lai Fu's head.
"Well done, boy, you did a great job again, all those rabbit meat sausages, pancakes, and seal meat you had were well worth it.
What can compare to you, not Xiao Huihui and not Tu Kui.
Whenever you make a move, they all fade into obscurity."
Lai Fu didn't understand what Chen Zhou was saying, but it knew that its owner was praising it.
Thus, it sat proudly on the ground, lifting its chin, trying to tuck in its tongue hanging by its mouth, its face full of pride.