Mice dominate the dungeon

Clusters of glowing mushrooms in the dungeon emitted a faint light.

In the winding, serpentine cave passage, a large and impressive group of mice meanders forward.

It was that expedition team that returned victorious from the neighbor's ant nest!

Unlike the quiet and secluded time when the soldier rats were placed in the barracks before their departure, their return was much more lively.

This is a special privilege granted by Twitch; there's no need to keep the soldier rats in the barracks all the time. Appropriate relaxation helps the soldier rats release the negative emotions brought about by the expedition.

Leading the way was still the scout with big ears. Holding up a glowing mushroom, it trotted along with its ears perked up, occasionally turning back to squeak and let out a sound to let its companions behind it know that the rat trail ahead was safe.

Following closely behind is the main force of the rat army. Before the expedition, the barracks had 80 rat soldiers, and now there are about 50 left.

The number of casualties in this battle is completely acceptable for Twitch.

It can be described as an epic victory!

Of course, the main reason for this achievement is that Twitch personally went to the battlefield and used the Great Puppet Technique to micro-manage and command the entire process!

Apart from the overly aggressive "Korgan", everything progressed as Tucson had predicted.

If the soldier rats were to fight on their own, it would be a stroke of luck if ten soldier rats returned alive.

Meanwhile, Korgan grinned, revealing a smug expression, his little tail held high, and whined as he recounted his heroic feat of venturing into the anthill to the younger recruits.

When a new recruit asked about his anthill exploits, Korgan paused.

He immediately responded proudly:

"I teamed up with a giant soldier rat to cut down dozens of burrowing ants!!"

These words immediately caused many soldier rats to dance with joy, their admiring gazes becoming impossible to conceal.

The giant soldier rat, which had been sitting at the back looking rather dazed, seemed to be infected by the joyful atmosphere and raised its paw to clap its hands.

Normally, giant soldier rats cannot walk on ordinary rat trails, but this time Twitch made the rats take a detour and choose a spacious tunnel to travel through.

It wasn't specifically for the giant soldier rats; the main reason was that they harvested a lot of food and other valuables from the anthill this time.

These couldn't be put into the barracks; the mice had to carry them back to the park bit by bit.

Dozens of soldier rats and logistics rats carried the grain they had scavenged from the ant nest in small baskets woven from grass stems.

The first food source is plant seeds, which are the main food of burrowing ants.

This is also the most abundant food in the ant nest, and it used to be the primary target of competition between rats and burrowing ants. Now, it all belongs to the rat colony's storage.

The basket also contained insect carcasses, meat scraps, and burrowing ants.

In addition, there are many other varieties of mushrooms.

One of the logistics rats, responsible for escorting the mushrooms, kept sniffing around the basket the whole way, its whiskers covered in fluorescent juice, clearly indicating that it had already secretly tasted some.

There was also a newborn support mouse, holding a plant seed in its two front paws. The grass stalks stuck to the seed swayed back and forth on its head. The mouse insisted that this was a "large prey" it had caught and refused to let any other mouse help.

Four robust, giant soldier rats worked together to drag a large leaf, on which lay their prey.

The most prominent one was the 'queen ant,' which was tightly bound to the leaves by the mice.

A dozen or so slightly thin, dull-eyed male burrowing ants are slowly extending their antennae, seemingly unaware that they have become 'trophies'.

There were also piles of eggs that looked like small mountains, and some minerals that had been found from who-knows-where.

The mice nearby were drooling with enchanting greed for those eggs, but then they remembered their boss's repeated warnings before they moved them...

"Anyone who dares to steal the eggs of the burrowing ants will be punished when they return to the park!"

The mouse could only imagine the taste while secretly drooling.

Meanwhile, the five thieving rats responsible for escorting the ant saw that the queen ant was still wriggling unwillingly, so they jumped up and used their paws to straighten her up from time to time to make sure she wouldn't escape.

It didn't even care whether the queen ant understood or not, and kept making squeaking noises, as if to say:

"Behave yourself! We'll see how the boss deals with you when we get back!"

Actually, Twitch didn't want the logistics rats to send the queen ant back to the park first.

But considering that there were other monster neighbors lurking around the burrowing ant, it gave up the idea.

Don't work so hard only to have your neighbors steal your money!

On the way,

Whether it was Korgan who started it on a whim or not, the mice's triumphant song soon filled the ranks.

It's actually just a humming "squeak squeak squeak" sound, but the melody is light and the rhythm is neat.

In this relaxed atmosphere, the army of mice safely and smoothly passed through the tunnel and entered their territory.

At the entrance to the outpost, the remaining logistics rats had already lined up in two rows, their tails curled up in a welcoming arc.

Leading the way was Ironclaw, the warehouse manager. He stood at the very front, his expression still serious, but if you looked closely, you could see that the tip of his tail was slightly upturned, clearly indicating that he was very much looking forward to the harvest of this expedition.

When the main group entered the park entrance, the long-awaited mice that had stayed behind rushed forward.

Some peeked out to survey the spoils of the expedition, while others tickled and patted the returning soldiers on the shoulder, seemingly asking if they were injured and whether the expedition had gone well.

"squeak!"

Ironclaw let out a cry and tapped the ground with the tip of its tail, signaling everyone to be quiet.

The somewhat noisy scene gradually quieted down.

Subsequently, under Iron Claw's command, the logistics rats who remained behind took over the expedition's harvest. They had already assigned tasks and efficiently placed the food and supplies in the corresponding warehouses.

The once somewhat empty warehouse was instantly filled to the brim, and the light from the fluorite illuminated every excited little face, as well as the mountain of grain.

The logistics rats responsible for managing the animals had already laid out fresh grass leaves in the corner of the wall, and the male burrowing ants were gently placed into a shallow pit filled with fine sand, covered with a breathable grass curtain.

One of the support mice even squeaked softly to the male burrowing ants, seemingly trying to comfort them:

"Don't be afraid, don't be afraid. You're just food, you won't be beheaded. Just stay put."

As for extremely special spoils such as the 'Queen Ant,' 'Eggs,' and 'Ore,' Ironclaw is specifically responsible for counting them.

Because these kinds of spoils are usually directly controlled by the Twitch leader.

As for the queen ant, the leader had already given instructions that she should be sent to the main camp as soon as she returned to the park.

[Headquarters - General Command]

A long-haired golden hamster stood in front of the door, and the crown was back on Tucci's head.

Looking at the intact ant queen placed in front of him, Twitch nodded in satisfaction and waved to shoo away the other mice.

Twitch extended his claws and dragged the queen ant into his base camp.

Then he closed the door again.

He usually does this kind of thing with the door closed and the lights off!