The next day.

  Xi P leaps from the sofa and darts into the study. Min takes a deep breath and peers through the peephole. It is a deliveryman.

  'Is that doorbell really that inconspicuous?' Min wonders silently.

  He opens the door and tiptoes slightly, positioning himself to block the delivery person's view of the living room. The man seems a bit puzzled, but doesn't ask any questions and quickly leaves after signing for the package. Min can't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

  Hearing the door close, Xi P emerges. Seeing the package in his hand, he acts like a fox that has spotted its food, eagerly approaching with excitement. He knows the time is up: the mouse has arrived!

  While such products do not rely on elaborate packaging, the company certainly hasn't resorted to an austere or plain look either. A lifelike mouse is printed in vivid colour on the surface. Unlike typical mouse illustrations, this one is deliberately upside down, lying on its back. The meaning behind it is obvious.

  Opening the box, as expected, five emaciated, stiff mice lay neatly arranged before him. Exactly ten counting the layer below. These mice are, of course, dead. Obtaining ten live ones would cost far more than this. Their emaciated appearance is nothing to worry about — it's not due to inadequate feeding, but simply from proper dehydration treatment with a touch of formaldehyde to prevent rapid decay. Min had not intended to purchase ten at once, but such items are typically school teaching materials, and ten is the smallest available package.

  Unlike the dissection classes Min remembers, there is no noticeable odour — mainly because each mouse remains sealed in its own plastic packaging. Their pure white, spotless fur also makes them look less repulsive than their name suggests. Of course, that will change once they are cut open.

  'And what creature doesn't look disgusting after being dissected? Sea urchins?' Min thinks to himself.

  Seeing Min open the packaging, Xi P comes over too. As he sees the five mice in the box, his eyes immediately sparkle with excitement — or rather, with the passion of a researcher.

  "Pfft..."

  Min's laughter breaks the silence. He tries desperately to stifle it, but he can't stop laughing.

  "What are you laughing at?"

  Trying not to laugh too loudly, Min shakes his head vigorously to signal to Xi P that he shouldn't mind. He just recalls a video of a fox digging a mouse out of the snow and devouring it whole. Seeing Xi P's gaze fixed on the mice in the box has somehow bring that image to mind. Min simply can't suppress his amusement.

  'No wonder human nations are perpetually at war. With such eccentric personalities, conflict between individuals is practically inevitable.' Completely unaware of Min's thoughts, Xi P can only comment inwardly with resignation.

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  Without further inquiry, Xi P carries the box into the study. Meanwhile, Min continues laughing in the living room. Only after he has finally suppressed his laughter does he put on the mask and head towards the study. Jokes aside, he also wants to observe the actual dissection process.

  To his slight disappointment, Xi P is being cautious and is already wearing a chemical protection suit. He had hoped that Xi P would dissect the mouse without taking any precautions. From his experience, once dissection begins, the mouse smells awful, truly awful, worse than faeces. Maybe Xi P's sense of smell doesn't match up to a dog's, or even a real fox's, but he would certainly have suffered...

  ***

  Admittedly, the scene is somewhat comical. A full hazmat suit, wall-projected diagrams, sophisticated equipment, and intense concentration — all for dissecting a single, ordinary mouse. Setting aside the question whether the suit is necessary, those two long ears sticking up from the top of the hazmat suit seriously ruin the atmosphere, adding to the ridiculousness of the situation.

  First, Xi P pulls out a pad-like block. Then he takes a mouse out of its packaging and places it belly-up on the block. Turning away, he grabs a box of needles, pins the mouse's limbs to secure it, and begins the dissection. Min watches from a distance with quiet interest. This scene does not unsettle him, though the faint scent wafting through the gaps in his mask makes him wrinkle his brow slightly.

  Xi P's professionalism shines through in this process. His movements are precise and efficient, clearly the work of someone who has done this many times before. Even the task of removing the fur-covered skin before formally cutting open the belly is executed with clean precision — something Min has always struggled with.

  However, Xi P's actions soon begin to exceed Min's expectations. He picks up the mouse's small intestine, raises it to head height and brings it within inches of his eyes for a close examination.

  Though he understands the purpose, the sight of Xi P holding the intestine like a strand of noodles, so close to his face stirs a wave of queasiness within Min. It also sparks an odd thought: since they're carnivores, to them, intestines probably really are like noodles...

  Xi P, engrossed in dissection, misses Min's expression entirely — let alone what he's thinking.

  ***

  Having finished off the first mouse and cleaned away the carcass and bloodstains, Xi P removes the hood of his hazmat suit. He looks quite pleased.

  With a hint of curiosity, Min asks about the experience. His response, however, is somewhat unexpected:

  "The blood was too red and too thick. It obstructed my vision."

  "Wait, that's all you noticed? And what colour did you expect blood to be?"

  Xi P tilts his head: "Shouldn't it be orange?"

  Before Min can reply, Xi P bursts into his own kind of laughter. If not for the joy in his tone, his peculiar movements wouldn't have suggested laughter at all: "Alright. Yours is usually red, I suppose. Blood on our planet tends to be more orange. This doesn't smell like blood either. I didn't get any reaction."

  Min is even more confused: "What are you talking about? What reaction?"

  "That urge to hunt. Ra, you probably... yes, you probably don't have that."

  This answer left Min feels somewhat uneasy. It suddenly dawns on him that he is standing next to an apex predator from another planet: "So you haven't had that reaction since arriving on Earth?"

  "Of course... no. And, are these mice need to be cooled, freeze?" Xi P asks back, his grammar slightly off, seemingly tries to avoid Min's probing question.

  "Definitely."

  Xi P nods and immediately picks up the box containing the remaining nine mice, heading towards the kitchen. Seeing this, Min quickly intercepts him and asks: "Wait wait, are you just going to put them in the fridge?"

  "Is there a problem?"

  "That's disgusting. They're all... corpses."

  "Isn't all meat in the fridge corpses? Besides, the box is clean, and, sealed, isolated, very safe."

  "That's different... And I... Pfft...Hahaha..." Min burst into another fit of laughter while trying to argue. Xi P could only stare at him in utter bewilderment, completely unable to comprehend.