In the middle of the night, I suddenly woke up with a start. I opened my eyes and gradually regained consciousness. The room was open, and the pale moonlight was as hazy as fog, casting a white square on the doorway. The yard was filled with white moonlight. The shed outside the workshop in the distance was pitch black. The whole city was silent, with only the faint sound of cars in the distance. 

I couldn't find anything in the whole house that could explain my awakening, but I didn't feel relieved. I kept feeling that I was awakened by surprise. I looked around again. There were two plank beds in the room, and Xiaoguo was sleeping soundly on the other bed. There were two desks with an electric kettle and some leftover steamed buns on them. I listened carefully again but didn't hear any sound. I felt relieved. There was really no need to be so nervous. 

I lay on my side for a while, but still couldn't fall asleep. I got up and walked outside. When I got out of bed, I vaguely felt that something was wrong. When I walked out of the door, the feeling of awkwardness became stronger. A few steps outside the door was a warehouse. The warehouse was recessed into a space about the size of two houses. There was a lot of scrap metal piled up on that open space. I thought about how tired I was to move all those large pieces of scrap metal here. I stood there and said, "I'm tired!" I urinated next to a pile of scrap boiler iron blocks. 

The yard was so quiet that even the sound of my urination was louder. I began to have a strange feeling, as if I was not the only one in the yard. I looked around nervously, but saw nothing. The dim moonlight was like sticky pond juice, covering up the original appearance of many things. A gust of night wind blew, and I shivered. I just wanted to finish quickly and go back to my room early, but I drank too much water before going to bed, so I couldn't finish it for a while. 

Suddenly, there was a click in front of my left. I was startled and turned my head to look, only to see a black shadow. "Get out of the way!" I nearly cried out. A closer look revealed I was seeing things; it was just the leaves of trees taller than the warehouse moving. Then I heard another snapping sound, this one coming from the front left. A chill ran down my spine. 

Dozens of empty oil drums, each over a meter tall and cylindrical, were being pushed sideways. I had no idea where the boss had gotten them, but since they were empty and the walls were thin, if someone stepped on them, they would surely make a crackling sound. The one on top had made the noise, but the problem was, I didn't see anyone on top of it.

The same sound echoed several times, reaching the second layer of empty barrels and drawing closer. I gasped. I shuddered to think that an invisible yet heavy creature was standing on the oil drum in front of me, staring at me. But it was clear something was there. I quickly pulled up my pants, my hands shaking as I reached back to grab a wooden stick and raised it. 

There was a click, a clatter, from the lowest barrel, two layers above the second layer. A gust of night wind blew from behind me, giving me a chill. Suddenly, a sound almost like a cat's meowing startled me, but then I felt relieved. A large cat (only the size of a full-grown Zimbabwean) crawled out from behind the third barrel. 

I wiped the sweat off my face. I've been so nervous lately; even a cat startled me. I was about to turn back to the house, but stopped. This was too suspicious. A cat is so light, it would never make that kind of noise by stepping on an oil drum. Besides, the gaps between the barrels are so small, how could such a large cat have gotten out? I couldn't help but grip the stick again. 

The cat, perched on the barrel, meowed twice at me. The more I listened, the less it sounded like a cat. In the dim moonlight, I examined it closely. Its head was too pointy, its whiskers too long, its claws too thin, its tail too long. It was clearly a giant rat. My head buzzed. A rat that could meow like a cat! I took a few steps back, holding the stick in both hands. 

The giant rat lazily turned around, its claws clacking against the oil barrel. In the moonlight, I saw that its claws were made of metal. Before I could figure out the answer, the rat leaped up and landed on the waste boiler block, its claws hitting the iron surface with another clacking sound. 

I tried to retreat a few steps, but the mouse, incredibly powerful yet nimble, leaped up with all its might, leaping several meters straight toward the small room that had once been the mailroom. It couldn't reach the roof, and would most likely crash into the wall. I waited for the sound of its limp body hitting the wall, but there was no sound. I watched it vanish through the wall, strutting through it right in front of me.