Chapter 29: Granny Xia Enters the Grand View Garden

After spending nearly twenty minutes by the Tam River, Xia Rong and Scar Johnny made their way together toward the western wall of the Horseshoe Mountain Heights. Staring up at the five-hundred-meter-long wall, built from loess and brick, Xia Rong was left utterly astonished as she stood beneath the city gate. It was almost inconceivable—while her own people still relied on wooden palisades to fend off invaders, these diminutive ratfolk had already constructed such formidable defenses. She couldn’t help but genuinely admire their diligence and courage.

“Open the gate!”

Scar Johnny craned his neck and shouted up from below the city gate.

“Who goes there?”

A rat’s head popped out above the wall.

“It’s me! Johnny, captain of the Scouts!”

“Ah, Scar Johnny’s back! Open the gate!”

It wasn’t long before the massive three-meter-tall wooden gate slowly creaked open. Within the entire ratfolk tribe, the scar on Johnny’s face was the best pass anyone could have.

“Once we go through, we’ll be in the inner city. Just follow me,” Johnny said, turning. “The chieftain instructed me to show you around our town, but there are some places we can’t let you visit. I hope you understand.”

With that brief explanation, Scar Johnny led Xia Rong and her fellow lizardfolk into the city. Past the gate lay a fifty-meter stretch of the inner city, and only after traversing this would they truly enter the ratfolk’s settlement.

The lizardfolk looked around in wonder; peering over the inner walls, they could glimpse towering watchtowers, twelve meters high, rising in the distance. The city was laid out symmetrically, with the inner city at its heart.

Only after passing through the innermost wooden door did they enter the core of the ratfolk’s settlement. The moment Xia Rong crossed the threshold, the world erupted into noise. Compared to outside the walls, this place teemed with ratfolk, bustling in every direction. Vendors hawked their wares along the roadside, and the throng of ratfolk darted back and forth in lively commotion. The road was paved with sunbaked bricks, pleasant beneath their feet, and rows upon rows of neatly arranged burrows lined either side.

All the dwellings were built of wood and brick, with not a trace of clay. Mixing in moist, heavy clay would only invite mold and damage the structures themselves.

“This is one of the main residential districts. About a thousand ratfolk live here on the west side of town. If you follow this stone-paved road straight ahead, you’ll reach the administrative center. We’ll take you there soon to meet our chieftain,” Johnny said, his chest swelling with pride as he noticed the amazement on the faces of the three lizardfolk, adopting the tone of a tour guide.

Towering more than two meters tall, the lizardfolk stood out among the ratfolk, like cranes amidst a flock of chickens. The trio was impossible to miss—even from a distance, they drew every eye. Before long, a crowd of curious ratfolk had gathered around them.

None of the ratfolk had ever seen a species like the lizardfolk before. A gaggle of gossip-loving ratwomen clustered together, whispering and pointing at Xia Rong and her companions.

“Look at those three big fellows—are they dinosaurs?”

“Emmm… I don’t think so. That pure white one, at least, definitely isn’t a dinosaur.”

“They look fierce, don’t they…”

“No need to be afraid. See Johnny standing next to them?”

“They must be captives, caught by Johnny and brought to meet the chieftain.”

“Ah, Johnny’s luck is always so good. He’s probably made another achievement.”

A group of ratfolk of all shapes and styles sized up the lizardfolk, their gazes reminiscent of visitors at a zoo. One bold ratling leapt onto Xia Rong’s back, and soon several other mischievous younglings followed suit, scrambling to perch atop Xia Rong’s head. In no time, all three lizardfolk were festooned with chattering, squirming young rats.

“Hey, everyone, look! I’m riding on top of this big guy’s head!” crowed a young rat with a half-broken front tooth, sitting proudly atop Xia Rong and grinning at his friends.

“Kao, pull me up, I want to climb up too!”

“Get out of my way—don’t block me…”

Seeing the toothless ratling claim the highest spot, the other youngsters threw caution to the wind and scrambled after him, only to be ruthlessly kicked down by their companion desperate to defend his perch. The scene resembled a troupe of monkeys fighting over food on Emei Mountain.

Scar Johnny, exasperated, leaped up and grabbed the toothless ratling—called Kao—by the scruff of his neck. Kao squirmed and struggled to break free, but Johnny’s grip was unyielding. “Dad, let me go!” Kao protested, and only then did Xia Rong realize they were father and son.

Unmoved, Scar Johnny simply tossed his son back into the rat crowd and, grabbing his spear by the butt, began swatting the remaining mischievous ratlings off the lizardfolk, one by one. Soon, the little troublemakers scattered like startled birds.

“Dinosaurs are coming!” someone suddenly shouted, and in an instant, the crowd that had been watching Xia Rong and her companions dispersed.

On the western reaches of the Northern Plain, outside the city beneath the Horseshoe Mountain Heights, a spinosaurus more than ten meters long was charging up the slope. This carnivorous dinosaur, midway in size between a tyrannosaurus and a velociraptor, was distinguished by a row of spines along its back—a familiar sight to anyone who had owned its toy model as a child. It was a solitary creature, dwelling in the hills.

The spinosaurus approaching the city gates was not an elite beast, nor did it possess any special skills. It was simply strong and robust, bellowing as it thundered toward the gate.

Standing atop the ramparts, Xia Rong and her party felt an overwhelming sense of pressure at the sight of the enormous creature, and she couldn’t help but recall the terror she’d felt that day under the ironclad tyrannosaurus’s rule. Yet, strangely, the ratfolk atop the walls were far less perturbed than she’d expected.

To her right, two ratfolk soldiers stood, clutching spears and watching the spinosaurus’s approach with keen eyes. Suddenly, the beast’s left foot missed its step, and its entire body tumbled into a pit the ratfolk had dug in advance. The space was narrow, and the spinosaurus’s neck snapped as it fell, leaving it slumped helplessly to one side. The bottom of the pit was lined with sharp wooden spikes; even a creature of its size was instantly impaled and killed.

Crude as the trap was, Xia Rong had to admit its effectiveness—what could be more practical?

“Ha! I win again! Did you see? The right foot! The right foot!” The rat soldier closest to Xia Rong leapt up in triumph the moment the spinosaurus fell. The other stomped his foot in frustration.

“Damn that spinosaurus! Why does it always step with the right foot first?” he cursed, pulling a chunk of meat from his pouch and hurling it at his gloating comrade.

Now Xia Rong understood: the two had been betting on which foot the spinosaurus would use to step into the trap first. She could only sigh in exasperation.

“Could you at least show some respect? That was a spinosaurus, you know!” she protested.

The winning rat cast her a sideways glance. “We stand guard here all day, bored out of our minds. These dinosaurs show up maybe three times a day at most—can’t we have a little fun?”

Xia Rong tried to explain, “That’s not what I meant, I was just…”

“Say what you want, but who are you? This is a restricted area—you’re not allowed up here! Get down, down!” The two rat soldiers promptly shooed her off the wall.

As Xia Rong, dusty and disgruntled, prepared to vent her frustration, Scar Johnny strode over and said, “The chieftain is free now. He’ll see you right away!”

“Could you wait a moment? I’d like to look around a bit more…”

There were so many parts of the town Xia Rong hadn’t yet explored, and she hoped Johnny would show her the way.

“Our chieftain said immediately! Right now! Didn’t you understand?” The previously genial Scar Johnny suddenly glared at Xia Rong, his beady eyes wide and fierce, the scar on his face twitching with menace.

Little did Xia Rong know that a trap, long prepared for her, was about to spring the moment she stepped inside…