21: Chapter 21 The Sap of the Moon Tree

"Sort of, but not entirely."

After saying this, he paused again. "Let me tell you a story, a story about the Mimei Rat and the Ulthar Cats."

"Many years ago, the Mimei Rat were the most numerous race in this forest." The Speaker's voice turned deep. "We knew every inch of the underground tunnels, every hidden river, every cave. We could run in the darkness, travel through the soil, and appear where our enemies least expected."

The Speaker raised a hand, fingers grasping at the empty air.

"Relying on these advantages, we actually—actually truly believed that we could contend with the Ulthar Cat Tribe."

"At first, the Mimei Rat launched sneak attacks, suddenly surging from the ground to bite the cats' ankles and drag them into the caves, not even letting them make a sound. For a time, the cat tribe was truly thrown into chaos."

The Speaker smiled suddenly at this point. "But that was only a flash in the pan."

His voice suddenly turned cold: "The cat tribe realized what was happening. They organized a surprise attack. The cats pounced down simultaneously from the trees, from the rock walls, from every place the Mimei Rat thought was safe. That night, the forest was filled with screams. The rat tribe's caves were ripped open one by one, and the old, weak, sick, and disabled hiding in the deepest parts of the underground were all dragged out."

The hair on the back of Wu Xi's neck stood up one by one.

"It was a crushing defeat," the Speaker said. "Pure crushing. The numbers the rat tribe was so proud of were nothing before the cat tribe. The terrain they were proud of was more familiar to the cats than to them. The sneak attacks they were proud of—the cat tribe's night vision was ten times theirs."

"After the war, a peace treaty was signed. Every year, the Mimei Rat must pay tribute to the cat tribe with a large amount of grouse, quail, and pheasant. The best prey, the fattest ones, must all be sent to Wusa Town."

The Speaker held up three fingers.

"And twelve of the rat tribe's brightest talents must be imprisoned in the Ulthar Cat temple. It's called learning, but it's actually imprisonment. As long as the rat tribe dares to make any move, these children will surely die."

"Forever submissive, never daring to offend again. This is the end for the Mimei Rat."

Suddenly, the Speaker burst into loud laughter. He laughed until he bent over, laughed until tears came out, laughed until the wine bowl in his hand shook violently, spilling quite a bit onto his pant leg.

"The Mimei Rat worship the cat tribe, the Snake People worship the Ancient Gods, hahahahaha!" The Speaker wiped the corners of his eyes. "In the end, it's all just worshipping one's own natural enemies to survive! What right do we have to mock the Snake People?"

The laughter echoed in the cave, sharp and ear-piercing.

The Speaker slowly stopped laughing. "The Ulthar Cat Tribe is one of the strongest races in the Dreamlands. Cat Priests, Cat Generals, Cat Elders—the Ranks are strict and orderly. They can organize an army of one hundred thousand cats, sweeping away everything in a single night."

"Moreover, they are kin to Cat Goddess Bastet and are protected by the Cat Goddess. Their headquarters is in Wusa Town in the south, which is one of the oldest towns on this continent."

After saying this, he picked up the clay pot beside him and poured a bowl of wine for Wu Xi.

"Try this. It's brewed from the sap of the only Moon Tree in Mimei Forest, a specialty of our Mimei Rat. It can bring you wonderful hallucinations."

The liquor fell into the bowl, presenting a strange, pale cyan color. Wu Xi took the bowl, and his nose was immediately occupied by a clear, cold fragrance. The scent was not like ordinary wine, but rather like the first batch of mushrooms to sprout in the forest after the rain, carrying the raw sweetness of soil and the sharp bitterness of trees.

Wu Xi took a sip.

The moment the liquor slid down his throat, the texture was icy at first, like spring water from a mountain stream, then quickly turned scorching, burning from his throat all the way to his stomach.

But that wasn't the weirdest part; the scene before his eyes began to distort.

The campfire, the cave, the Speaker's face, all blurred into a mass of color blocks, replaced by a city.

A city submerged on the seabed, boundless seawater churning above his head, but strangely, he could still breathe. Or rather, he did not need to breathe.

He saw an immensely vast city spread out on the seabed, the building complexes extending to the end of his vision, swallowed by darkness. Only one megalithic fortress protruded above the water, like a broken finger pointing toward the sky.

The city's structure exceeded his understanding; buildings slanted, intersected, and overlapped at impossible angles. Stairs led to walls instead of floors, corridors turned at impossible heights and then disappeared into the air. Those structures violated every geometric common sense; just one look made one's head ache as if it were splitting.

Wu Xi felt a strong sense of disgust rising from his stomach.

The buildings were constructed from massive green stone, covered in dizzyingly high megalithic carvings, magnificent stone statues, and ornate reliefs. Those carvings flickered in and out of view in the swimming seawater, as if they would come alive at any moment, and the entire city exuded a strong, unclean aura.

It was not filth, not decay. It was something more primal than that, a mistake in the order of things itself, something that should not exist in this world.

Wu Xi wanted to look away, but he couldn't. His consciousness was pinned there, forced to watch.

He saw that what was carved on those reliefs were characters. Not characters used by humans, but older, more twisted symbols. Those symbols glowed in the seawater, flickering on and off, like a heartbeat.

Rlyeh.

This name appeared directly in his mind, bypassing sound, pouring straight in. It was as if someone had pried open his skull and poured the knowledge inside.

Wu Xi opened his eyes abruptly; the Speaker was still sitting opposite him, looking at him with a strange expression.

"You froze just now," the Speaker said. "For a full quarter of an hour, without moving."

Wu Xi looked down at the wine bowl in his hand, his hand still shaking. Only half the wine remained in the bowl.

The seabed city, Rlyeh.

Wu Xi asked in his heart, "Tentacle Lady, have you heard of Rlyeh?" Tentacle Lady fell into a daze, "Ah... so familiar... so familiar... family."

That wasn't his memory; it was Tentacle Lady's. Tentacle Lady had once seen that city. Or rather, Tentacle Lady came from there.

"What did you see?" the Speaker asked.

Wu Xi did not answer; he needed time to digest. What exactly was Tentacle Lady? Why was she in his body? What was her connection to that seabed city?

He realized that only by finding out Tentacle Lady's identity could he know his own connection to this world.

"The Cat Priest you mentioned just now," Wu Xi raised his head, "do they have the ability to read dreams?"

The Speaker nodded slowly. "The Cat Priests of Wusa Town can indeed read dreams. Most things that happen in the Dreamlands cannot escape their eyes."

Wu Xi put down the wine bowl and stood up. "I'm going to Wusa Town."

No matter what that seabed city meant, no matter what Tentacle Lady's background was, he had to find the answer. The Speaker looked up at him, the expression on his face unclear whether it was worry or something else.

"Be careful," the Speaker said. "The cat tribe doesn't like outsiders. Especially—people carrying secrets."

---

Deep in the underground caves.

The High Priest of the Snake People slid down the last rock wall. His snake tail brushed against the cold, damp stone surface, making a rustling sound. He raised his head, his pupils dilating into two vertical lines in the darkness.

The ruins of the Ancient Snake Empire lay before him. Massive stone pillars rose from the ground, their tops broken, the cross-sections jagged like dog teeth. Most of the glowing crystals on the walls had gone out, with only a few still emitting green light, illuminating the surroundings with ghostly shadows. Water dripped from the rock crevices above, drip, drip, falling into the accumulated water.

The High Priest slid forward. Behind him, the Snake People followed, no one making a sound.

A Snake Person emerged from the shadows. His left eye was a sunken scar, the eyelid long since grown shut. The remaining single eye was pale gold, the vertical pupil as thin as a needle. He wore heavy yellow shoulder armor on his upper body. This was Wu Xiu, the strongest warrior of the Snake People. He had been in seclusion for twelve years and had just emerged from the underground caves three days ago.

"The Gold Mask is lost."

The High Priest's voice was suppressed, the tail end of his words trembling. It was a tremolo squeezed out from between his teeth. His snake tail slapped the ground unconsciously, making a slapping sound. His fingers clenched tight, nails digging into his palms, blood seeping out.

"It was taken by someone." The High Priest took a breath, his chest heaving. "A human mixed in with the Mimei Rat tribe, named Wu Xi."

He stared at Wu Xiu's single eye. A low hissing sound emanated from his throat.

"You go up, find him, and bring him back."

Wu Xiu's single eye blinked; he did not ask why, did not ask where. He simply nodded, crisp and decisive.

"At all costs." The High Priest leaned forward, his vertical pupils shrinking to needle points. "If you encounter resistance, kill. If the mask has changed hands, seize it back."

"If you also don't come back..." The High Priest's voice lowered, like the hissing sound of a snake rubbing against rocks when shedding its skin, "then destroy it; smash it, burn it. Do not let it fall to other races."

Wu Xiu turned and slid toward the rock wall, claws hooking into the rock crevices, muscles tensed, climbing up. Gravel fell with a rustling sound. Then, he disappeared into the darkness above.

The High Priest watched as that figure disappeared, stone chips still falling from the rock crevices.

The High Priest turned around and looked toward the center of the square. Two holy statues stood there.

On the left was the Snake God, carved from obsidian, a giant snake coiled, its head raised, its giant mouth open. Two rubies were embedded in its eye sockets, glowing with a dark red light in the darkness.

On the right was the Toad God, a toad cast in bronze, crouching on the ground. Its surface was covered in green verdigris, its frog mouth slightly open, as if smiling.

The High Priest walked closer and stood still. Beneath his feet were dried bloodstains, left by sacrifices from who knows how many years ago.

A thought emerged. Crazy, but clear.

Fusion of them. Twisting the power of the Snake God and the Toad God into one. This was blasphemy, a taboo.

But he didn't care anymore; his heart was pounding in his chest, thumping loudly. His tongue licked his fangs, tasting the smell of blood.

He stood between the two holy statues and opened his mouth. The incantation flowed out. It was the oldest sacrificial language of the Snake People, every syllable like a hiss squeezed hard from the depths of his throat. The sound echoed in the square, layer upon layer, like a tangle of snakes.