[Umm, it's not what I expected, but it's disturbing in its own way.] — I comment as soon as I go down to the basement and see what was once intended as a recreation area in case of an emergency.
Now it's... How should I put it? A snack trash can next to an organic waste dump?
In the end, it's just a room shared by a computer geek and a chemistry geek, both allergic to cleaning and with a smell that highlights their firm belief that bathing daily is more of a suggestion than a basic need.
[ASTRAD!] — As soon as she notices my arrival, Kiti jumps on me.
[You stink.]
[I'm glad to see you too.]
The rat-boy didn't say that... Well, whatever.
Nyaa
While I was petting Kiti's greasy head, the shitty cat greets me, lying on a drawer set at the top of the shelf.
[Could you at least groom your owner?]
Nyaaa...
It seems the shitty cat also has its limits and problems.
[Fluffy is also glad to see you well.]
[Yeah, right... Kekeke, Fluffy.] — I couldn't help but laugh when reminded of the magical shitty cat's pathetic name.
NYA
Kekeke.
[One, Five, are here. I'll connect with the others.] — While I was gloating, 9 casually begins setting up the strategic meeting.
Soon, the main computer screen begins to fill with the logos and avatars of the available Rat-boys.
[Ohh, how long has it been since we had an all-hands audio meeting?] — Rat 3.
[I think since that time we left China without power for a week, after destabilizing their economy and regional political power.] — Rat 4.
[Ah, yeah, that'll teach them not to force the author of my favorite novel to give it that shitty ending because of their political censorship crap. My little witches and their engineer deserved better, sniff... Thinking about it makes me mad again, time for another blackout.] — Rat 9.
[Lol] — Rat 3
[Lol] — Rat 4
[Lol] — Rat 8
[Lol] — Rat 2
[Lol] — Rat 7
[Lol] — Astrad
[Stop it, idiot, we're already on the brink of global extinction without you causing more problems to the power grid.]
[Muuu]
9 puffs out her cheeks when she is stopped by Louise.
[Let her be, it'll be fun.]
[Don't you start.]
[Kekeke]
[I've been wondering, but... are you guys some kind of international terrorist group?]
At Kiti's sudden question, the room fell into a strange silence. I would say something, but the rat-boy likes this vibe.
[[[[[.... Nnn-nooooooo, we are just staunch defenders of literary freedom of speech.]]]]]
[That sounds like cyberterrorism with extra steps.] — Kiti pointed out.
[[[[[Maybe just a little bit...]]]]]
Kekeke.
[Umm, well, I don't think that matters at this point in the end of the world...]
[[[Exactly, don't pay attention to minor legal details.]]]
Kiti seems to have guessed something, but decided to ignore it for the sake of survival, as expected of a worthy member of my lineage.
[You're Rat 15 for a reason, kekeke] — I pat Kiti's head again. Still greasy.
[That somehow gives me mixed feelings.] — Kiti sighed.
[Well, as much as I'm enjoying myself, we have some pending work here. What is this meeting about?] — Rat 2 asked.
[Oh, right, there's been some major progress regarding the communication necklace.] — 9 clarified as she focused the camera on the hippie amulet on the room's table.
[I thought it was a dollar-store trinket.] — The rat-boy still can't distinguish those necklaces from the garbage they sell at craft fairs.
[And, actually, you're right.]
[[[[[Eh?]]]]]
At 9's comment, with the exception of Kiti, the rest of us let out a stupid sound.
[You heard me. The central base of the necklace is a common Lapis Lazuli. The carved patterns are coated in a mixture containing silver dust, copper dust, pine sap, and possibly ground ash leaves and bark. Maybe even ash. Purely terrestrial components.]
Kiti explained while pointing at the data that appeared on the huge screen.
[Well, it sure does look like hippie junk...] — Rat 4 muttered.
[So the forest hippies are actually hidden elves?] — Rat 2 asked.
[Maybe an evolutionary variant? Crossbreeding?] — Rat 3 theorized.
[It's more likely that an ancient human tribe inherited their customs from past encounters.] — Louise contributed, crossing her arms.
[There's more.] — 9 continued while zooming in on the wooden pendant, specifically on the carved patterns.
Although at first glance it just looked like a decorative line, under optical magnification, the line revealed a much more complex geometric pattern inside it.
[It's a circuit. An extremely complex one, more efficient in its distribution design than any next-generation silicon chip.] — Rat 9.
[Hey, hey, so what? Is that piece of wood a computer?] — Rat 4 asked, flustered.
[Weren't we talking about elven magic? How did we jump to semiconductor science?] — Louise asked, genuinely intrigued.
[Any sufficiently advanced science is indistinguishable from magic. Show 15th-century Europeans a flashlight and the next thing illuminated will be the bonfire under your corpse.] — Rat 9 replied.
[I found it.] — Rat 8 interrupted.
[[[[[Umm?]]]]]
[The central engraving seemed familiar to me. It's identical to the Fourth Pentacle of Mercury. It has a direct connection to Hermeticism and the Key of Solomon.]
Rat 8 sent the image to the server and 9 quickly enlarged it, overlaying it with the necklace's patterns. They matched perfectly.
[There's no electrical circuit of our kind, but the conductivity baseline is certainly similar... esoteric physics?] — Rat 9 muttered, fascinated.
[Excuse me, Deep Web eggheads, could you translate all this into plain English for those of us who don't read pirated grimoires?] — Rat 3 requested.
[It means the coincidences are too numerous to ignore now. The monsters from ancient diaries, the magical cultures seemingly similar to ours, the mostly compatible ecosystems... When coincidences pile up to this level, they stop being called coincidences and become a demonstrable pattern.] — Louise explained.
[And what does that pattern tell us?] — Rat 2.
[It tells us that the thing in the sky, rather than being an alien world from another dimension... could be a world from another time... or... it might not be the first time it has crossed paths with our world. The cosmological possibilities are endless.] — Rat 9.
[I shouldn't have asked, sorry. My head hurts.] — Rat 3 complained.
[How probable is the theory of an Earth in a different time?] — Rat 4.
[Very. That planet in the sky seems to follow Earth's orbit, but according to some initial astronomical data, its orbit and continents appear to match Earth from about 400,000 years ago. A superimposed elliptical period.] — Kiti concluded, adjusting her glasses.
[[[[[I see...]]]]]
[You guys didn't understand shit, did you?]
[[[[Right.]]]]
Honesty above all on the network.
[One, what do you think about this?] — 4 asked.
[I think the rat-boy couldn't care less?]
I answer Four's question with indifference.
[[[[[Hey]]]]]
At the network's complaint, I shrug.
[Am I wrong? The whole 'solving the mystery' thing is great and all, the rat-boy is down for it like any good geek, but the rat-boy has priorities. First I guarantee survival, and then I ask myself stupid questions. Different times, different dimensions, or if they suck my dick in a thousand alternate universes. That comes later.
For now, the only useful thing I see is that cultures and myths have a high coincidence rate with that shitty world up there. Let's focus on figuring out how to take advantage of that.
For example, now that we know the necklace's materials can be found here, let's look for them so the elf can make more.
Also, we can try to replicate the technology on our own and adopt it.]
When I say that, the room falls silent, although it's not a sweet, desperate silence, tsk.
[Ahhh, I hate how this idiot is right.] — Rat 4
[As expected of One.] — Rat 9
[Well, it makes sense.] — Rat 2
[Kekeke, then let's change the protocol a bit. 6 and 8, you no longer have the free choice to gather here; you are obligated to move your asses. You're the only experts in history, mysticism, and ancient cultures we have.]
I remember asking them a lot when I was making the diary.
[I already told you I'm coming, I was just prepping some things, I'll head out soon.] — Rat 8
[What about 6?] — Rat 4
[He said earlier he was going, he must be on his way. Possible dead zone for Wi-Fi.] — Rat 3
[That makes sense.] — Rat 2
Kekeke, damn apocalypse, nagging and nagging with the mystery, but you can't even give me a full-combo elf. You'll pay for this to the rat-boy.
...............
DIARY ENTRY NO.: 046
SCIENTIFIC NAME: Vulpes fallax nebula
REGIONAL ALIASES:
Japanese Folklore: Lesser Kitsune / The Fox of Illusion.
European Folklore: Reynard the Trickster.
Network Nickname: The Mist Thief.
NICKNAME (ASTRAD): The Walking Vape
📊 THREAT EVALUATION
CLASSIFICATION: TERRITORIALIS
It's a common animal that developed a party trick with a single purpose: to be nature's most annoying pickpocket. It's the 'Rogue' class NPC that steals your loot and runs away.
DANGER LEVEL: YELLOW (2 stars)
Let's be clear: this thing isn't going to rip your head off. It's a fox; if you kick it, it breaks. Its danger is logistical. It blinds you, disorients you, and steals your supplies. At best, you skip dinner. At worst, it drops its mist right when you're walking on a narrow ledge and you accidentally break your neck. It's not a killer; it's the banana peel in the hallway.
AGGRESSION LEVEL: OPPORTUNISTIC
The definition of a coward. It doesn't want to fight; it wants your can of tuna. It will avoid direct confrontation at all costs. Its strategy is chaos: create a smokescreen, run between your legs, grab whatever is shiny or smells good, and vanish.
🧬 COMBAT PROFILE (TL;DR)
TYPE: Elemental Beast
AFFINITY: Wind / Water
🎯 MAIN WEAKNESSES:
Strong wind: A natural gust dissipates its cover and leaves it with its ass hanging out.
Gluttony: It's smart, but it's hungry. Falls easily for baited traps.
Fragility: Physically, it's a normal fox. One well-placed hit and it's game over.
📌 KEY STRENGTHS:
Smokescreen: Instant exhalation of dense mist (AoE blindness).
Manual Dexterity: Capable of opening zippers, backpacks, and simple containers.
Stealth: Inaudible footsteps until it's too late.
Agility: Sure, if you hit it well, it's game over for it; the trick is, can you hit it? Let me tell you, you probably can't.
📚 ORIGINS AND COMPARATIVE MYTHOLOGY
The Kitsune Myth (Japan): Ancient Japanese people saw weird lights and mist in the forest and thought: "Magical nine-tailed demon foxes!". The reality is more disappointing. They probably just stumbled upon this species. There was no magic, no complex illusions, no beautiful transformed women; just a very smart fox blowing smoke to steal their fish. People love to invent tales so they don't have to admit an animal made them look like idiots.
Reynard the Fox (Europe): Fits perfectly with the French fables of Renart, the fox who used his brain to humiliate strong wolves and bears. Basically, humanity has spent centuries documenting that these critters are complete assholes, only before they called it a fable and now we call it "they stole my gear".
📝 DETAILED ANALYSIS
PHYSICAL AND SENSORY DESCRIPTION: It's a fucking fox, period. Although they tend to have slightly duller or grayish fur, maybe due to chemical residues. The only real anomaly is when they open their mouths: their throat has a bluish or whitish coloration. The mist they expel is cold, dense, and smells faintly of ozone or rotten eggs (sulfur).
BEHAVIOR AND ECOLOGY: It's a hyper-intelligent kleptomaniac. It doesn't hunt large prey; it views human camps as free vending machines. It watches, waits for you to relax, and activates the mist. The chaos lasts for seconds, but it's enough. It's famous for having almost prehensile digits; backpacks have been found unzipped without a single scratch. They know how zippers work.
☣️ PROTOCOLS
RECOMMENDED ENCOUNTER PROTOCOL:
DO:
Secure food in rigid containers or hang it high (like with bears, but assuming the bear is a ninja).
If the mist appears: Stand still and protect your backpack. Don't run.
Light a fire: Heat dissipates the mist faster.
DON'T:
Chase the fox into the cloud. It's its turf; it's probably leading you toward a ravine or a natural trap.
Leave shiny objects in plain sight. They'll even take spoons.
FIELD REPORT: (Recovered audio transcript, Base Camp "Echo-3")
[Sound of wind and birds]
Voice 1: "Did you see that? Behind the tree."
Voice 2: "It's a dog. Or a coyote."
Voice 1: "Shit! I can't see anything! Where did this smoke come from?"
Voice 2: "Cough, cough! Smells rotten! Grab the rifles!"
[Sound of a zipper opening quickly and light footsteps on gravel]
Voice 1: "Hey! Drop that! My radio! It took the damn radio!"
Voice 2: "It's gone... the mist is gone. What the hell was that?"
🎤 ASTRAD's NOTES (THE ONLY SHIT THAT MATTERS):
If there's one thing that pisses me off, it's a thief with style. And this bastard has it. It's the fucking Solid Snake of the animal kingdom. A critter that has maxed out its 'Smoke Bomb' skill and uses it exclusively to screw up your picnic.
It's not going to kill you, but it will humiliate you. A reminder that no matter how strong you are, if the opponent just wants to ruin your day, they can do it with the right trick.
"I'm currently working on a manga/webcomic adaptation of this novel! If anyone wants to check it out, feel free to drop by. You can subscribe and leave a like to support the series. Thank you all so much for reading and following the story!
The comic is available on Webtoon under the same name. Here is the link: [https://www.webtoons.com/en/canvas/the-rat-kid-survives-the-apocalypse/list?title_no=1143504]"