When he woke up, he was greeted by a familiar face.

"Oh, thank goodness," Zeus knelt beside him, his eyes wet, apparently just crying, "you're going to scare me to death!"

"How do you ...... How do you ......" George felt his throat tighten, and it was difficult to speak.

"I'm fine, when the door panel slammed in, I was blown into the door by a gust of wind it brought with me. ”

"You're fine!" George suddenly remembered something, "Oh, I'm not dead?

Before he could finish speaking, he heard a strange laugh of "cooing". George turned his head away, and met the horrible blood-red eyes again.

"Ah!" he cried out, his neck crooked, and he almost fainted again, but Zeus helped him.

"Look closely, what's there to be afraid of!" Zeus said, half urging and half coaxing.

George shook his head weakly, but he couldn't resist an inexplicable curiosity, and still opened his eyes a slit. This time, he also saw an incomparably kind face behind those blood-colored eyes.

"You're awake, little one!" the voice was old, but very magnetic, and it sounded very charming.

George's eyes widened suddenly, and he finally saw clearly, there was an old man in a tattered black robe kneeling not far from him, his slender old body almost falling to the ground, in order to reduce the height as much as possible, so that George would not be too nervous when he saw him. On the old man's shoulder stood a snow-white dove, and she was tilting her head and looking at herself with a smile.

"Original...... Originally...... It's Dura!" George muttered.

"If she hadn't saved you, you would have been trampled to death by those two horses!" Zeus was very angry when he looked at George's unappreciative look.

"When the two horses rushed into the Colosseum with the golden carriage, Dura and I happened to be nearby, and we thought at the same time that there might be people or animals in the Colosseum who were too late to guard against it, and if they didn't get hurt, she hurried in......" said the old man, and took George up with his two large, wrinkled hands, and brought them to his cloudy but extraordinarily loving eyes, and looked at them carefully for a long time. "You're such a stubborn little mouse, you fell off such a high table, and you didn't do anything at all. ”

How did he know that? George drew a big question mark in his mind.

"The thick marble powder on the field saved my life—" Suddenly, George gasped, stared at the old man's deep, battered eyes, and cried out, "The gods of Rome are above, how can you understand what a mouse is saying?"

The old man burst out laughing, heartily and crisply, but George trembled with fright, as if he were listening to a thunderclap above his head. After all, he is not Zeus, he can speak human words, he speaks rat language!

"Everything in the heavens and the earth can speak, and who created their voices? The sound of every living being, every thing, is unique, but irreplaceable. Who is so miraculous and great that the sound of ten thousand voices has become a legend that will never be repeated?" the old man recited aloud impassionedly.

"Is he composing poetry?oh, I can't stand this trick in the amphitheater the most!" said George, with a dry gags expression that was full of horror. He didn't want to behave too badly in front of Zeus!

Zeus squinted at him and sneered slyly, "Who is scratching your knees?

George glared at him in annoyance: "If you have the ability, you can tell him to shut up quickly! Oh, the god Apollo is above, in broad daylight, what evil is he committing?"

The old man's sonorous voice echoed in the open space in front of the huge arena, and he was standing on a step near the gate, gesturing exaggeratedly as he delivered his long speech.

Through the open gate, the two horses dragging the golden carriage were still galloping through the field, and the alarmed slaves ran over, some waving long whips in their hands, some holding up huge shields with both hands, trying to subdue the two crazy horses.

"Lord Almighty, but the Great General has captured a beast from Bengal!" exclaimed a dark-skinned African slave.

"Did you hear that, she's roaring inside!" said another beautiful Greek slave, who covered her ears in fright.

"How is this good, if anything goes wrong with the beast, the general will have to skin us alive!" the third Thracian boy frowned deeply.

"Listen, Zeus, what's that sound?" George snapped Zeus's long, bright red tail and shrieked at him.

Zeus never liked to be touched by his tail, so he twisted his body and broke his tail out of George's claws: "Don't drag me!"

But he also heard the earth-shattering roar coming from the golden carriage.

"Like a tiger's cry!" George speculated.

"The tiger's cry is not so intense!" Zeus, who had been in the arena for hundreds of years and had seen all kinds of rare birds and beasts, corrected with great confidence.

"But it was the cry that frightened the two horses!" said Dura, flying off the old priest's shoulders and landing beside them, in a soft voice.

"I haven't asked you yet, how did you get mixed up with that old fellow?" Zeus was upset to see his mount so close to the old priest.

"An eagle flew to catch me, and if it weren't for the old priest, I would never see you again!" said this, Dura was still a little shocked.

"What kind of trick did he do again? Why do I think he's more like a wizard? How can he manage the affairs of heaven when he is on earth?"

"He's amazing! With a slingshot, he knocked the eagle away!"

"He hits an eagle with a slingshot? What kind of pebbles fly so high?"

At this time, he suddenly heard a voice from behind: "Little holy mouse with a bright red tail, this is the third time we have met!"

Zeus was caught off guard by these words, and he jumped up in a panic, and when he landed again, the two small soles of his feet were already standing in the palm of a warm hand. Zeus hurriedly raised his head, and at that moment he saw that incomparably loving face.

"My name is David, I'm from Byzantium, you're a little afraid of me, aren't you?" asked the old man with a smile in his eyes.

Zeus nodded unconsciously, he was stunned at that moment, but he immediately realized it, and hurriedly shook his head again.

"It's okay, don't be afraid of me, didn't Jesus perform many miracles? and I was just one of his more devout disciples!"

"Ah, really?" Zeus asked in disbelief, "he has more disciples, but not everyone can perform miracles!"

"Perhaps, like you, I have seen him?" said the old man, raising his palm higher, and Zeus's small body was pressed to the tip of his high nose, when through the thick gray eyebrows on the old man's right, our little mouse faintly saw a scar in the shape of lightning—perhaps a birthmark!

"Impossible!"

The Lord is not pleased with conceited, arrogant disciples. The old man said, smiling secretly.

"You—you—" Zeus was speechless when he heard this.

"You have seen Jesus, and I know that it is His blood that stained your tail red and gave you immortal life!"

"But I would rather not have seen him suffer on the cross, when his disciples all forsaken him, and only two murderers who were also crucified accompanied him, and they laughed at Jesus – that scene was so tragic!"

"You are a little mouse who has stolen the forbidden fruit, and your mind is indeed extraordinary! Yes, I came straight to this gladiatorial arena, and of course I asked many of your distant relatives about the situation here, because what people say is often not credible, but rats can always hear what people are most reluctant to say to their kind!"

"I've eaten so many nuts that I stole and didn't think it could make people smart!" Zeus had apparently misheard the two similar-sounding words. "But I'm surprised that you speak rat language! You don't look down on us rats, it's even rarer! I have a crush on you. ”

However, this was exactly what the old priest wanted, and he didn't want the little mouse to figure out the mystery. So he smiled mysteriously again, and said to Zeus, "I heard that they say that you are the boss of this gladiatorial arena?"

"I am a saint here!" Zeus emphasized.

"Everything here is what you say, huh?"

"Then you still need to ask?"

"Then I have a request, I don't know if you can grant it!"

"Say it, if I can do it!"

"Can you put me in that cell in the deepest part of the earth?"

Hearing this, Zeus was stunned, and his two shiny little eyes widened: "You-are you here to die? Only those who are about to perform in the gladiatorial arena will be locked up there!"

"Even so," replied the old priest with a smile, "can you help me?"

"Do you understand what I say? Those who are imprisoned there will end up being pushed into the arena and hacked or bitten to death by men or beasts, and they will die as badly as they want!"

"I know, but I have to go!"

"You are a Christian, not an infidel, and who would put a Christian like you on death row in a country where Christianity is the state religion?"

"So I ask you!"

"Then you can run out into the streets, rob someone, or kill someone, and I promise there will be soldiers to get you!"

"But you also know that I am a religious person, so I must abide by the teachings, and I must not do such things that hurt nature and reason. ”

"So you're coming to beg me for such a little mouse?"

"You're a rat who stole the forbidden fruit!"

"I've eaten a lot of nuts, but I've never done anything like that in my life!

"You just have to think of imprisoning me, you are helping me by doing this, as for whether you will die or not, then it is up to fate, it has nothing to do with you. ”

"How could it not matter!"

"Help me, okay? for the sake of me saving George's life!" said the old man earnestly, his eyes filled with a fervent longing that Zeus could not bear to refuse.

"Then I-I'll just have to try!"