At this moment, Charles was thinking even more. Mice are usually at the bottom of the ecological chain, and with so many of them, there must be other predators on the island. He didn’t know what they were yet, but he was certain they weren’t cats.

  While Charles was pondering, the mice had already retreated, leaving the yellowish-white sand devoid of even a fish bone.

  “Crew, drop anchor, weapons and explosives ready, prepare to disembark,” Charles commanded, and the crew began to move.

  For this exploration, he had prepared more explosives; although gunpowder might not be useful, it was better to have it than not.

  If the only danger on the island was those mice, the explosives would surely come in handy.

  Two wooden boats were lowered into the sea. Except for the injured crew member who stayed behind to guard the ship, everyone else got on board, with a cloth strip tied around their shoulders.

  The strip bore each crew member's name and position to ensure that no one would go missing or unnoticed when returning to the ship.

  The group slowly made their way between the rocks. The more experienced sailors remained relatively calm, while the newcomers were quite anxious, startled by every little sound.

  As they ventured deeper into the island, the rocks became looser, and animal bones began to appear scattered on the ground.

  A hint of disappointment crossed Charles's face; it seemed that the passage to the surface was not here.

  Just as he hesitated about whether to go further, a red light suddenly flickered between the distant rocks.

  Charles quickly shrank back behind a large rock and whispered to the others, “Put out the torches!”

  Although the other crew members didn’t understand why, they followed the captain’s orders.

  With the light of the torches extinguished, the red glow became clearer, shimmering between the rocks as it drifted closer.

  When it got nearer, everyone could see the true form of that creature.

  It resembled a swollen leech, measuring approximately five meters in length. The red glow emanated from spots beneath its translucent skin, flashing ominously.

  Despite lacking wings, this leech could glide through the air, seemingly searching for something, its six eye stalks writhing as they scanned the surroundings.

  The humans crouched behind the rocks, holding their breath; some of the timid ones even closed their eyes, trembling.

  Charles focused intently on those eye stalks, knowing just by looking that this was not a peaceful creature and that it was best to avoid provoking it.

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  Suddenly, someone’s stomach growled softly, but in the silence of the environment, it sounded like thunder.

  “Swish!” The leech’s eye stalks instantly turned towards the humans, its spiny mouth emitting a terrifying growl, and its translucent body flickered before disappearing right before their eyes.

  “Bad news! That thing can turn invisible; it’s coming this way!!”

  Charles gripped the explosives at his waist, his body tense and his expression resolute, ready to fight the monster to the death.

  The other crew members also tightened their grips on their weapons, their heartbeats quickening.

  As Charles silently counted down the seconds and was about to throw the explosives, the dark environment was suddenly illuminated by red light. The leech appeared out of nowhere above a rock, its eye stalks scanning the distance.

  “Eek! Eek! Eek~” The sound of mice squeaking came from that direction, growing louder as if deliberately created.

  The leech twisted its swollen body and swiftly swam towards the sound, the red glow vanishing.

  In the darkness, Charles, covered in cold sweat, exhaled; he never expected to be saved by the mice.

  He turned to speak to the person next to him, only to find a pair of glowing green eyes appearing on his left.

  But this was just the beginning; more and more eyes lit up, layer upon layer, sending shivers down Charles's spine.

  He struck a match against the rock wall, lighting it up. The fire illuminated the surroundings, revealing countless mice piled around them, surrounding them!

  “Hello! I’m Lily, nice to meet you!”

  The sudden voice from a female mouse froze the crew’s instinctive attack movements.

  After a moment of recognition, Charles saw that the speaker was a white mouse standing among the crowd. Unlike its peers, this white mouse moved with a certain grace, its eyes filled with intelligence.

  The mice seemed to recognize Charles as their leader and jumped in front of him, looking up. “Hello, I’m Lily. What’s your name?”

  Charles glanced around at the mice and replied softly, “Charles.”

  Just as the two finished their initial conversation, a roar suddenly echoed from the direction the leech had flown away.

  “Oh no! Quick, come with me! My friend can only hold it off for a moment; that thing is coming back! I’ll take you to my home.”

  After saying this, the white mouse led the other mice to retreat quickly.

  Seeing the red glow rise again in the distance, Charles dared not hesitate and hurriedly followed with the crew.

  Compared to that monster, at least these mice seemed to be capable of communication.

  In the darkness, Charles and his crew followed the mice through a chaotic scramble, eventually arriving at the entrance of a cave over a meter high.

  As they entered with torches in hand, a pair of eyes fixed intently on the humans entering their cave, and whispering sounds echoed around them.

  After lighting several torches and throwing them into the air, the light illuminated everything, revealing a cavern about the size of a football field, filled with brown mice staring at them.

  The sight of the mice wasn’t surprising, but some of them held bone tools like humans, which was rather eerie.

  Among them were low, dome-shaped houses neatly arranged, and Charles even saw a large mouse teaching a little mouse to count! He felt as if he had stumbled into a land of little people.

  The white mouse hopped onto a toy-sized stool and said, “Can you take me home? I miss my mom.”

  A swarm of mice rushed up to each human, offering a bowl of brown liquid, seemingly a gesture of hospitality.

  Home? Charles looked around at the peculiar mouse cave. “Isn’t this your home?”

  “Of course not! I’m not a mouse! I’m a human!” The white mouse protested, puffing up in indignation.

  “Human?” All the crew members stared wide-eyed at the little mouse, unable to see how it could possibly be a human.

  Seeing their disbelief, Lily the white mouse quickly began to explain.

  “I really am a human! My parents took me on a boat to go to the Island of He Fang to see my grandpa, but we encountered a whirlpool, and I fell into the sea. When I woke up, I had turned into this. I don’t know why.”

  Sure! Here’s the translation of the passage into English:

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