Shen Xingyan returned home with the giant rat in his hands fairly quickly. Shen Xingying had already returned from school and was a little worried.
When she came home as usual but didn't find her brother, she was simply surprised at first. After all, Shen Xingyan hadn't left the house at all since his Awakening. And now, the door to his room was open, but no one was inside.
For Shen Xingying, who was accustomed to a certain routine, this was unusual, and she began to worry. After all, her brother was her only family in this world, and she was a bit flustered from the anxiety.
Fortunately, this state didn't last long—Shen Xingyan returned, and her worry disappeared.
"Brother, where did you go? I came home and you weren't here," Shen Xingying said with a mix of relief and reproach in her voice.
They had always gone to school and returned home together, but after her brother's Awakening, she had to do it alone. It would be a lie to say that she didn't feel lonely. No matter how good her relationships with her classmates were, they could not replace her own brother.
But before Shen Xingyan could answer, Shen Xingying noticed the black creature in his hands. Frightened, she instinctively took a few steps back and asked in surprise:
"Brother, brother, what is that in your hands? It looks like a giant rat from the Calamity textbook?"
Shen Xingying pointed at the creature in her brother's hands, stammering slightly from nervousness.
Although the rat was so severely mutilated that it was difficult to determine its former appearance, Shen Xingying was still able to recognize what it was. You have to give credit to the base—it protected the children well. In this place, surrounded by Calamities, they had managed to grow up in a safe environment, not encountering any external creatures for more than ten years.
Therefore, this was the first time Shen Xingying had seen such a strange creature, and besides being scared, she felt genuine curiosity.
"You're right, it's a giant rat. Don't worry, I've already dealt with it on the way," Shen Xingyan replied, relieved to see that his sister was safe at home.
After all, if there was one rat, there could be others. With her abilities, if she were unprepared, the possibility of getting injured was very real.
Answering his sister's question, he took out his butchering tools, intending to butcher the rat according to the school's methods and find out what that strange bulge was on its belly.
"It looks like I'll have to escort my sister to and from school, at least until we can move closer to the school. Just to be safe," he thought with concern.
Seeing her brother's actions, Shen Xingying, driven by curiosity, forgot her fear and moved closer to get a better look at what was happening.
Shen Xingyan, seeing his sister's inquisitiveness, explained the basics of butchering Calamities with a smile. Although these subjects were studied at school, in practice, he himself was a novice.
When Shen Xingyan had fully cut open the rat's belly, its contents appeared before them.
"Brother, this rat has something in its stomach!" Shen Xingying exclaimed, having overcome her initial disgust with the dissection and noticing a strange, unusually colored leaf inside the rat.
In contrast to his sister's excitement, Shen Xingyan frowned. Seeing this item, he instinctively felt that something wasn't right and grew wary.
He cautiously took the leaf with a pair of tweezers, intending to examine it more closely.
But as soon as the leaf left the rat's body, it suddenly seemed to come alive. Caught completely off guard, Shen Xingyan watched as the leaf began to tremble violently, its movements becoming more and more intense, as if it was trying to break free and fly.
Although this unexpected event flustered Shen Xingyan, his calm nature prevented him from immediately grabbing the leaf with his bare hands—safety was his top priority.
"It... it's moving!" Shen Xingying exclaimed, shocked by this strange phenomenon, and wanted to help her brother hold the leaf down.
But Shen Xingyan refused her help, asking her to stand back for her own safety.
While he was thinking about what to do, his Star Card suddenly appeared next to the leaf with a quiet whoosh.
The violently trembling leaf, as if sensing the card's presence, shot toward it. Shen Xingyan watched in amazement as this strange leaf merged with the Star Card in a fraction of a second.
Then the card, as if nothing had happened, returned to Shen Xingyan's hand and settled there calmly, and silence once again fell over the room.
This incident frightened both of them. Such an inexplicable phenomenon left them frozen in bewildered silence.
The Star Card appeared naturally upon Awakening, and its true nature still remained a mystery.
It was only known that it always followed the awakened person, and no one could restrict its actions.
Even if one were to throw the Star Card into an unknown place, as soon as the owner thought of it, it would automatically appear in their hand—an amazing property. And only the awakened person themselves could use its functions.
The importance of the Star Card was obvious—besides its function as a bridge connecting to the Star Source world, it possessed many other features, although some of them required money to activate.
The fact that the card had consumed the leaf on its own was an extremely strange phenomenon.
Shen Xingyan hurried to check his Star Card and saw that a small, elegant drawing of a leaf had appeared in the bottom right corner of its face.
"It looks like this is the same leaf the card absorbed," Shen Xingyan guessed.
Shen Xingying, noticing her brother's expression, came closer to see what was happening, but for her, the Star Card remained just a black object; she couldn't make anything out.
After some hesitation, Shen Xingyan slowly placed the card against his forehead to check its contents.
Seeing the new information on the Star Card, Shen Xingyan's mouth fell open in surprise.
"How could a thing like this have ended up inside that giant rat?" he thought.