The remote control screen popped up an electronic manual.

Sand rats were a small type of brown-yellow mouse, with flat claws at their fingertips, short necks, and long, narrow mouths.

The introduction was brief in just a few words.

...

[Sand Rat]

Habits: Social, adept at burrowing and collecting.

...

Red Kestrel said, "According to the species definition, the Guangna Species must possess a Guangna Organ, capable of collecting Death Light and converting it into energy. Sand rats don't have this characteristic; they're just a common small animal."

Zhou Yi ordered, "Retrieve records related to sand rats from the database of Recursive City."

"Retrieved."

Rows of text appeared on the screen.

"Basic Guidelines for Raising Sand Rats","Common Methods for Preventing Infectious Diseases in Sand Rats","Ethical Guidelines for Using Sand Rats in Live Experiments","Treatment Procedures for Sand Rat Hoarding Syndrome"...

In the records, sand rats were either experimental subjects, live food for other creatures, or simply a negligible footnote in regional ecological surveys.

This species seemed nothing extraordinary.

Zhou Yi patiently read the relevant information and noticed an inconsistency.

Sand rats lived socially and burrowed underground, usually making nests at animal level, typically close to water sources or humans, and away from dangerous predators.

Building underground nests in antlion-infested dunes was against their nature.

Using chicken feathers and bones to ensure nest safety, relying on antlions to deter potential predators, and constructing functionally clear and well-planned complex underground city-like nests must have required clear guidance and intelligence.

It seemed there might be a leader among this group of sand rats with unusual intelligence.

While Zhou Yi pondered this, Ajin, who was doing the digging, made another discovery.

"Chairman, there's another layer below, it's a double-layered nest!"

Zhou Yi turned his gaze.

Under the drone's camera, one could clearly see a deeper layer intersecting vertically and horizontally with the layer above.

In the deep storage room, Ajin found some seeds.

He picked up a round, rolling seed and after identifying it said, "These are acorns from the sand oak, some of which have already sprouted. Strange, they don't eat these seeds, just keep them as winter reserves?"

"This is a thorny grass seed, the Oasis Side has a lot of these." Ajin grabbed a handful of seeds that looked like peeled sunflower seeds and said, "But these seeds are dry and hard, not much to eat, what do they collect these for?"

Zhou Yi faintly had a guess.

He had the Red Kestrel elevate its perspective and immediately saw the sand rat underground city forming a strip in the dunes, one end extending deep into the dune and the other connecting to the Oasis Area.

Zhou Yi immediately ordered, "Continue digging, follow these underground passages, find the endpoints of both ends."

Thus, a vigorous overnight excavation operation commenced.

The Hunter hung high in the air, glowing all over, acting as an artificial mini Sun for illumination. Below, the Hammerhead Soldiers carried out the digging, with Ajin doing onsite surveys, identifying various items inside.

As the digging deepened, the astonishing aspects of the Sand Rat Underground Kingdom emerged from beneath the sand.

Their underground passages stretched west to the Death Dune, east through the Oasis Side to beneath the tunnels of Mao Valley Town, and further east to the beach areas near the Dead Sea, the closest point being less than 1000 meters from Jade City.

It went deep north into the Claw Pig Group's territory, and south near the Mushroom Forest.

Mao Valley Town had a massive underground kingdom crossing from southeast to northwest, allowing sand rats to safely enter these areas through underground tunnels, observing and collecting materials from different regions.

They stored a vast amount of hay, branches, dung, and seeds, building an extensive and interconnected grand underground city, a true wonder of nature.

These seemingly inconspicuous and weak creatures controlled the nearby land far better than any other group.

Even the Red Kestrel said, "The situation here is very abnormal, very abnormal!"

"The seeds and tree types they've stored highly match the ecosystem of the Oasis Area. Near the underground passages, there are the most numerous, densely packed saplings and thorny grass, all growing out from the core area of the passages... This group of sand rats continues to plant trees and create grasslands, or rather, they are maintaining or even building the Oasis Side."

"With the labor of sand rats, to construct such a complex and interconnected massive underground passage system and maintain expansion is almost impossible. Assuming 20,000 sand rats dug and built relentlessly, it would take at least 40 years of intense work to accomplish this."

"The lifespan of sand rats is less than 2 years, which equates to about 20 generations, requiring the accumulated labor of nearly 4 million sand rats for their entire lifespans."

"In terms of the scale of the underground nests, architectural standards, and the significance of their communal behaviors, this is already a city-state, even a special underground kingdom."

"This is something that has never been recorded in the database."

4 million sand rats.

They even planted trees and grass, transforming the environment.

Zhou Yi felt a tingling on his scalp.

His judgment of the sand rats had been too conservative.

According to the Red Kestrel's assessment, this group of sand rats must have a clear division of labor and a distinct social order, with specialized food suppliers, as well as dedicated diggers and transport workers, to mobilize a vast workforce for long-term continuous operations.

They had now vanished without a trace.

"The underground city discovered the flattened footprints of the sand rats."

Red Kestrel continued, "All footprints head in the same direction, organizing an orderly retreat west toward Death Dune, not far from Chicken Head Town. I suspect it's because of the winter's arrival; they are avoiding attacks from the Guangna Species here and migrating to the area of Chicken Head Town, which falls under the jurisdiction of Sand Port and is relatively safe."

"Such a scale of evacuation would require considerable time, so it must have been planned in advance. The supplies in the nests were untouched, with no signs of destruction or alteration."

Various thoughts flashed through Zhou Yi's mind.

Given that sand rats are commonly weak and inconspicuous, they easily go unnoticed, along with their deep-rooted presence in Mao Valley Town for decades, making them a true power in the area with eyes and ears everywhere.

They have maintained a low-profile underground existence for a long time, posing no major conflicts of interest with the company. It might be worth trying to communicate with them to see if they could be appeased.

Zhou Yi instructed the Red Kestrel to mark the underground city on the map and ordered Ajin to have the samurai crabs cover the excavated nest with sand, restoring and mending the area as much as possible, leaving a substantial amount of dried mushrooms as compensation for the partially damaged constructions.

This Underground Kingdom was a marvel crafted by the sand rats; it would be a shame to destroy it.

Yet Ajin was somewhat indignant, "Chairman, you don't know, these sand rats frequently steal our things! Every person in Mao Valley Town has been pilfered from, and it's no surprise we couldn't find their nests considering their extensive burrowing!"

"When these sand rats are discovered, they slip into tiny holes, deliberately letting us catch them to cover for the other sand rats—extremely cunning."

Zhou Yi told him, "Ajin, remember, you are an employee of the Wasteland Development Company. The company aims to develop this land, maximizing the use of existing resources to generate more revenue and value, not to crudely expel the indigenous people, plundering and exploiting."

Ajin bowed his head, saying nothing.

It's normal for new humans, struggling with lives, to bitterly resent the sand rats that steal their properties.

Zhou Yi shifted his perspective, "Ajin, suppose we drove away the sand rats and clawed pigs that pose a threat to humans, what would happen here?"

"Without the sand rats, no one would plant trees or grass, and the Oasis would shrink. Because the people of Mao Valley are only used to collecting twigs, wood, and dry grass, until there are fewer and fewer fuels, making winters increasingly harsh and difficult to survive, potentially killing people each winter."

"Without the clawed pigs, there would be no excrement for our Monster Attraction Mushrooms to grow, losing a significant agricultural product. Also, people living here would lose a major source of poop production, dramatically reducing mushroom output, escalating the severity of hunger."

"Soon, Mao Valley Town would decline faster than now. Because the survival of the people in Mao Valley Town here depends closely on various living organisms around them, unable to live independently on this not-so-fertile land."

He wasn't just persuading Ajin, but also wanted the company's new human employees to understand the importance of sustainable development for long-term stability.

The voice transmitted by Red Kestrel left Ajin with a somewhat bewildered look.

The boy was momentarily dazed, but his eyes soon regained their sparkle.

"Chairman, I understand now."

"Like we scavengers, if there were no others leaving things behind, we'd have nothing to scavenge! We must allow others and monsters to exist, so our company can acquire more things!"

Zhou Yi said, "Exactly."

Excavation is easy, but restoration requires much more time.

The restoration work of the underground city continued until daylight.

New humans are accustomed to being active at night, even after joining the company, maintaining ancient traditions.

But today, Ajin was still working under the daylight, busily alongside the samurai crabs.

It was noon.

Zhou Yi went to the kitchen and cooked a portion of white rice, then opened a bag of braised chicken legs, a bag of beef jerky, and a bag of spicy kelp strips, ready to dive into his meal.

Just then, a honking sound came from outside.

As he looked out the window.

A silver-black heavy truck was parked outside the entrance wall of Jade City, with Qian Su waving in greeting while wearing a felt hat.