“Yo ho!” Chen Junnan gave a mischievous laugh and looked at the big rat before him. “You’re quite the talker, aren’t you?”

“You flatter me,” Earth-Mouse gave a silly laugh. “Compared to you, Leader, I should be considered an introverted person.”

“Hey, what are you saying?” Chen Junnan waved his hand. “This young master is Beijing’s number one social anxiety case. When I go out, I don’t even dare burp. We’re pretty much the same, you and I.”

“Then I really get along well with you, Leader. I’m also the type who won’t actively speak up once in eight hundred years,” Earth-Mouse showed his rodent teeth and grinned at Chen Junnan. “Us two introverted people are most suited to be friends.”

“Isn’t this just perfect then?” Chen Junnan also walked toward that “Zodiac” with a face full of smiles, constantly sizing up the other party. “Because this young master has been introverted all his life and still doesn’t have any friends yet.”

Earth-Mouse also scanned Chen Junnan from head to toe. Although both were smiling, the atmosphere somehow felt very strange.

Qiao Jiajin lazily scratched his head at this moment. “Are you two alarm clocks…? Why are you so noisy as soon as you meet…?”

“Hey, Old Qiao, don’t worry about it. This young master is making friends here.”

“What…?” Qiao Jiajin also felt his strength had recovered enough at this point. He slowly climbed up from the ground, looked at the two people gradually approaching each other, and felt utterly confused.

Earth-Mouse bowed his head slightly toward Chen Junnan at this moment and said, “Leader, since we two hit it off so well, why don’t you come in and sit? I have fruit to eat inside.”

“Aren’t you being a bit too polite? This fruit isn’t cheap, is it?”

“What you’re saying, Leader, I don’t even know how to respond.” Earth-Mouse shook his head. “How could I take your money? At most, I’ll just collect a life. Since you all can lie on the street playing corpses, ‘life’ must be completely worthless to you.”

“Oh, so it’s lives you want? This young master thought you wanted money. Isn’t this a misunderstanding?”

“That’s right, that’s right, hahaha!”

“Junnan boy, what are you trying to do?” Qiao Jiajin looked at Earth-Mouse with a cautious expression. His many years of experience on the streets told him that this type of smiling tiger character was difficult to deal with.

“I’m just chatting, aren’t I?” Chen Junnan smiled. “This big rat wants us to participate in his game… Old Qiao, what do you think?”

“I think…” Qiao Jiajin turned to look at the rat before him. “It doesn’t matter. Although I don’t like this type of person, since the other party is being arrogant right in our faces, he’s asking for it.”

“Two leaders, how am I asking you to participate in a game? Just come in and sit for a bit.” Earth-Mouse opened his mouth somewhat embarrassedly. “I really do have a lot of fruit here. You two come in and eat some?”

After hearing this, Chen Junnan and Qiao Jiajin exchanged glances. Their expressions were calm and composed, showing not the slightest trace of panic.

“Since you’re inviting us to eat fruit, then we’ll come in.”

The two of them swaggered into Earth-Mouse’s game venue, and Earth-Mouse naturally opened the door to welcome them, then led them all the way to the “Mouse House” in the game.

“Leader…” Earth-Mouse looked at Chen Junnan’s face and couldn’t help but smile slightly. “Please come in.”

Chen Junnan and Qiao Jiajin discovered that inside this building, there really was a sweet fruit fragrance. And in the “Mouse House” where Earth-Mouse led them, there was indeed some fresh fruit placed on the table.

“Eh…?” Chen Junnan was a bit stunned. “Big Rat, you really are planning to treat us to fruit?”

“That’s right.” Earth-Mouse nodded. “The fruit here has a daily quota. Today, it seems most of the participants died, so no one will come participate in the game. Rather than waste it, why not find a few people to eat it together?”

“What kind of strange logic is that…” Chen Junnan couldn’t quite understand. “Couldn’t you just eat it yourself or throw it away? For this reason, you’ve been standing at the door watching us the whole time?”

“Leader, I’ve always been this kind-hearted.” Earth-Mouse smiled, then stared at Chen Junnan’s face for a long time.

“What are you looking at?” Chen Junnan also smiled.

“Leader, I have to say you’re reasonably presentable,” Earth-Mouse said.

“Of course. Between the two of us, at least one has to be good-looking, right?” Chen Junnan also responded in kind.

“Ha…” Earth-Mouse slowly opened his mouth wide. “I really do miss this…”

After hearing this, Chen Junnan frowned. Those two words “miss this” made him feel something wasn’t quite right.

“I won’t hide it from you two—bringing you here, besides having fruit for you to eat, I also wanted to chat with you both.”

“Chat?”

Earth-Mouse nodded. After bringing the two inside, he closed the door, then walked to the side and turned on the radio on the table. An extremely noisy rock music blared out from it, the volume turned up very loud, irritating them both with its noise.

This old radio’s speaker was both loud and of poor quality. The two of them only felt that even the floor beneath their feet was vibrating with the speaker.

“What kind of nonsense are you pulling?” Chen Junnan asked.

“What?!” Earth-Mouse cupped his hand to his ear in the noisy music. “Leader, speak louder! I can’t hear you clearly!”

“Damn it, can’t you turn off that broken speaker?!” Chen Junnan shouted loudly. “Didn’t you want to chat?!”

“I can’t, Leader!” Earth-Mouse also shouted in the music. “Only like this can we chat!! Don’t you like listening to music when you’re slacking off at work?!”

“I don’t have a damn job!” Chen Junnan also shouted.

“Leader, if you don’t have a job, how do you support your wife?” Earth-Mouse shouted again.

“I… I don’t have a wife either!” Chen Junnan felt the rat before him seemed a bit strange—he gave him a sense of déjà vu.

“What…?” Earth-Mouse’s expression was obviously startled for a moment. “Leader, what bullshit are you telling me? Don’t you have a whole bunch of dating guides?”

“Me…?” Chen Junnan really did want to have a proper chat with Earth-Mouse, but the music in this room was really too noisy. “Who the hell are you?”

Earth-Mouse walked to Chen Junnan’s side and lowered his voice, saying, “Leader, I’m an old friend of yours.”

“Old friend…?” Chen Junnan frowned as he looked at him. He had clearly retained nearly eight years of memories, yet he had never remembered knowing this person.

“Right now there’s a troublesome matter that requires you two to help with,” Earth-Mouse’s voice grew quieter and quieter, yet Chen Junnan heard it more and more clearly.

“What trouble…?” Chen Junnan paused.

“The matter you and Qi Xia are plotting is now on the right track. Quite a few ‘Zodiacs’ have gotten involved in this, and I suspect there are spies from opposing forces among them.” Earth-Mouse smiled, his expression looking as if he were just chatting about everyday matters.

Chen Junnan and Qiao Jiajin exchanged glances, unsure whether they should believe what Earth-Mouse was saying.