Mouse? Hedgehog? Can't Tell

"Hahaha," a childish voice rang out from beside him. Tom turned his head and saw a black-haired girl stepping forward. She was wearing a slightly ill-fitting sportswear outfit, with short sleeves, shorts, and a ponytail, exuding vitality at first glance. Combined with her East Asian facial features but Western blue eyes and nose, she looked like a mixed race.

She wasn't tall, giving the appearance of a little girl, but she had an impressive pair of breasts.

Tom blushed and quickly lowered his head to scratch his burning cheeks. It wasn't that he was lecherous, but with her petite stature and those magnificent mountains, it was hard not to notice them at first glance. Plus, Tom was accustomed to observing and remembering things carefully at first sight, so he naturally fell into the trap of admiration.

"Uh... sorry," Tom stammered, feeling embarrassed and awkward.

The girl didn't mind, she just ran up to him with shining eyes, examining his Old Street Armor up and down. "Rough yet sophisticated craftsmanship, whose company made this?"

The roughness came from the fact that the armor was made from native iron blocks, shaped round or flat as needed, without any detailed polishing or decoration. Because armor was meant for defense, scratches and dents rendered decorative elements useless. The sophistication, on the other hand, came from the fact that the metal shaping was integral, requiring no secondary processing, just like it was straight out of the furnace. This girl had sharp eyes to notice these characteristics at a glance.

"This... this is made by myself... um... I mean, with an old man," Tom replied awkwardly.

"Made? Do you have a lathe?" The girl asked, examining the armor on his body while speaking. "Is this a cannon? It looks a lot like those Gundam robots. Can it really fire?"

Tom nodded. "Yes!"

"Oh? Hey, you still haven't answered my question. Do you have a lathe? Did you really make it yourself? Or did I misunderstand the concept of 'making'? Did you just assemble it from ready-made iron models?"

In the apocalypse, people were full of suspicion and vigilance towards each other. Suddenly, someone barged into their home, but this girl didn't have any guard up; she was naive. With her provocative figure, if it were some bad person, it could be dangerous.

Shaking his head, Tom set this aside. The girl had many questions for him, and he had many questions too. So, he grabbed the girl's wandering hand, brought his face close to hers, and said, "Wait, wait! Let's start from the beginning, okay? I'm Tom, safe and ordinary. What's your name?"

The girl gave him a disdainful look. "Names are just code names. What's the big deal? But Tom... Anpu? Tom Wadon? No, when it comes to names, Anubis is more appropriate."

Tom was confused. "Anubis? What does that have to do with the Egyptian god of death?"

"Is your dad named An?" The girl retorted. "This name has some knowledge behind it, don't you know? Anubis, the jackal-headed god of Egypt, is another name for Tom."

Tom scratched his head. His thoughts were all messed up by this girl. He straightened up and returned to the original topic. "What's your name?"

"Sigh, what a hassle. You, this jackal god, I'm Lin Meiqi. Remember? It's just an ordinary mixed-race name. Yes, I'm mixed-race. No need to be so curious; I know you want to ask as soon as we meet. Every first-time person who meets me thinks like that and wants confirmation from my mouth. They're really troublesome and gossipy, wasting time on meaningless things."

At this point, Tom was completely baffled. Who was causing the trouble? Clearly, it was just exchanging names, so they could start a conversation. Who was making things so complicated, even bringing it to Egypt? Everyone who heard his name was just surprised for a moment; why make such a big deal out of it?

"Okay, I've told you. I made this armor with an engineer. What about you? The mains power has been out for a long time. Why can your room's door open automatically, have electric lights, and even this toy tank?" Tom asked.

Lin Meiqi gave him another disdainful look. "Are you an idiot? Haven't you heard of smart home appliances integration? Haven't you heard of batteries? Haven't you heard of solar charging module kits? In the mostly sunny summer, it's basically able to maintain the balance of storing and releasing energy. It's just that there have been frequent typhoons recently, and my solar charging modules have been broken twice."

Well, she was from a wealthy family after all. What smart home appliances, solar charging module kits, and whatnot, they all sounded like expensive gadgets. Tom felt a bit depressed hearing this. Storing electricity in batteries, plus solar charging... indeed, it could last for quite a while.

"Were you here the whole time?" he continued to ask.

"Hey!" Lin Meiqi frowned. "Jackal god, for a fair trade, it's my turn to ask. Your head doesn't look very strong, so how did you put on this thing? You must be very tired climbing stairs with it."

The Old Street Armor at this time was 9.9 cm, which, when enlarged proportionally, was the size of the previous 2.3-meter figure. And Tom was only 1.7 cm tall, so his head looked very awkward with the large armor on it, naturally making Lin Meiqi comment that he wasn't strong.

This explanation is a bit tricky, he asked tentatively, "Do you know about crystals or gems?"

"You mean those useless stones?"

It seemed she didn't know.

Tom couldn't nod or shake his head now, unsure where to begin. 

Whenever gems were mentioned, Lin Meiqi lost interest. She generously answered Tom's question, "I have enough food stored in my room to last a year. Besides not being able to use my phone or play games or do daily cash tasks, it's not a big deal."

"Do you... not know what's happening outside? You've shrunk... never thought about going out to see?" Tom actually said this hoping she wouldn't go out, considering her room seemed quite comfortable and safe.

"I've been busy with a project lately, took up some of my time. Now that I've shrunk, are you here from the authorities to rescue me? How did you shrink too? How many people have shrunk?" 

"I... am not... I'm just a survivor... wait, you said solar-powered batteries? Your windows!" Tom immediately thought of a problem. If the windows of the house weren't sealed, it could be possible for other creatures to crawl in. He quickly stood beside the girl, nervously scanning the surroundings. Finally, he saw a pair of red eyes under the TV cabinet next to them. "Mutant creature! Be careful!"

A mouse crawled out, staring at them with its red eyes.

Tom breathed a sigh of relief. This mouse was as small as the one they first encountered attacking Zhao Yingying, even if it was mutant, it would be easier to deal with than the one they fought with Bozi. So, he shielded Lin Meiqi behind him, pulled out the shield on his back, and said, "Miss Lin, you find a place to hide first, I'll deal with it."

"Huh? Swollen eyes, is it the onset of the plague?"

This should be the same level 2 mutated creature Tom saw in the shelter, on the second floor. He advanced cautiously, activating the power mode but not rushing to draw his weapon, instead holding two cookie shields, carefully meeting the mouse's first charge.

Even though it was small, he wouldn't take it lightly.

The mutant mouse glared angrily at Tom, baring its sharp teeth and emitting a threatening squeak. The sound was sharp and piercing, even though Tom's helmet had soft padding to muffle it, it still made him slightly annoyed. But this didn't affect Tom, he kept his eyes fixed on the mouse, ready to respond quickly to any movement it made.

Best to kill it if possible, but if not, at least drive it away, then close the window.

As the armored Tom approached step by step, the mutant mouse finally lost patience. It leaped forward, jumping high into Tom's line of sight.

Because he was wearing a helmet, Tom couldn't raise his head conveniently, this jump was in his blind spot. Last time he fought a mutated mouse because he couldn't see, couldn't react in time, almost made a mistake. This time Tom was prepared, it didn't matter if he couldn't see, the landing spot was right in front of him. He immediately raised his shield, this cookie shield condensed the defensive essence of a whole big crystal, the mouse's attack couldn't break through.

With a bang, the Old Street Armor staggered back two steps, and as Tom stepped back, he didn't care about his numb hands, gritted his teeth and pressed the shield down to resist the mutant mouse's charge.

Simple combos, leaping to the target's head, biting, and then locking its throat after landing. Tom's last battle with the mouse summed up this attack routine, so how could he be caught off guard again? The cookie shield was hit hard by the mouse, knocking the Old Street Zero Armor back a step, but there was no dent on the surface of the shield.

Tightening the shield, Tom knew it was time to counterattack. He switched the shield to his right hand, hung the electric iron fist on his left arm, and punched out. The current flowed over the mouse, making it uncomfortable although not severe.

The mouse squealed and turned to run, creating distance between them.

"This guy is not dumb!" Tom lamented inwardly, if he could directly electrocute its eyes, the next battle would be easier to resolve. However, holding up the shield limited his field of view, he couldn't accurately judge the specific position of the mouse's head, so the attack was too high, and the current only touched its head.

He wouldn't give the mouse a chance to catch its breath, taking advantage of its panic, he pressed forward, taking control of the battle.

"Is this a hedgehog?" Lin Meiqi's voice came from behind, and Tom saw the mutant mouse's fur suddenly stiffen, turning into sharp spikes covering its body, looking just like a hedgehog in a defensive state.

He was taken aback, "This mouse's mutation actually involves its fur organs?"

Just as he was amazed, two spikes suddenly shot out. He quickly pulled up the shield to block, but one hit his chest, slanting into it. The other hit the shield, but failed to pierce it and fell to the ground.

Seeing the spikes just below his line of sight, only a little distance from his throat, Tom's scalp tingled. If it was a little higher, the cortical neck protection would have been pierced.

Although he wasn't stabbed in the chest, the spike was only stuck in the chest plate, it still made Tom feel challenged by the strength of this mutated little mouse.

It seemed this mutant mouse also had its own "repulsion cannon".