Despair.
I had never seen such an expression on a snake.
After signing the external contract with the little white snake, it felt less like a snake and more like a person with a snake’s appearance.
The little white snake was held in the expert’s hand, its proud head naturally drooping. Its bright, crystal-clear eyes dimmed, and after glancing at me, it closed them again, as if resigned to its fate.
“Expert, it won’t die like this, will it?” I asked worriedly, looking at the limp little white snake in the expert’s hand, which was as soft as noodles.
“Don’t worry, it won’t die. It’s just sulking with me. You are its master now, so you need to communicate with it properly. Call me when you’ve communicated well.”
As soon as the expert finished speaking, he tossed the little white snake towards me.
I caught it in a panic, as if I were catching a piece of jade rather than a small snake. I had to be careful because it was my only hope of leaving this place.
At this moment, the little white snake lacked its usual spirit. Its human-like eyes were tightly shut, and its forked tongue was retracted into its mouth. If not for the tiny, rice-sized nostrils occasionally puffing out air, I would have thought it had committed suicide.
I was a bit dumbfounded because I had no idea how to communicate with it. I could only helplessly seek help from the expert, “Expert, how do I communicate with it! Look at it, it’s half-dead.”
The expert lay on the pile of weeds and yawned, “How you communicate is your business. Tell me when you’re done, and don’t disturb my sleep.” Immediately after, his snores echoed in the cell.
I felt a surge of speechlessness, even a feeling that the expert was tricking me. If the little white snake could help me leave here, why wouldn’t the expert subdue it himself and give it to me instead?
I grabbed the little white snake by its tail and shook it a couple of times.
No reaction.
I tried to pry open its eyelids, but found that its eyelids seemed to be fused together, completely ineffective.
Just as I was about to pry open its mouth and pull out a tooth, a voice sounded in my ear.
“Are you done yet?”
The voice was very sudden and unfamiliar, sounding a bit sharp, and I couldn’t tell if it was male or female.
Looking at the expert still sleeping soundly, it was clear this voice wasn’t his; someone else was speaking.
I scanned the entire room. Besides the expert, myself, and the little white snake in my hand, there was no one else. Could the speaker be the little white snake in front of me?
“Are you the one speaking? If so, give me a response.” As I spoke, I grabbed its tail again and shook it.
This time, the little white snake reacted. Its tightly closed eyes opened, filled with anger. Before I could react, it bit my finger.
The sensation was like being pricked by dozens of steel needles, causing me to immediately let go.
The little white snake, which I had thrown away, did not fall to the ground. Instead, it floated in mid-air, its small head looking at me with a sickeningly fawning expression, filled with disdain.
“Idiot, it wasn’t me speaking to you. Is there anyone else speaking to you? What bad luck have I had to be entangled with an idiot like you…”
Following a string of curses, each more colorful than the last, I was utterly stunned. I had never imagined that a snake could curse like a boisterous northern woman.
“You, who were born with a father but raised without one…”
“Shut up.”
My sudden shout caused the little white snake, which was happily cursing, to immediately stop its foul-mouthed tirade.
If the little white snake was just cursing me because of the contract, I could understand it. Even if cursing could relieve its resentment, I could accept it. To suddenly go from being free to being someone’s pet, no one would find that acceptable.
But when it mentioned my father, I absolutely could not allow it to speak about him that way.
My father was an eternal pain in my heart. For the past ten years, I had diligently studied Yin Gua techniques, all for the sake of waking my father from his coma as soon as possible.
“You can curse me about anything, but you cannot curse my father. If you dare mention him again, I will kill you.”
I clearly saw a look of surprise on the little white snake’s “face,” its eyes filled with confusion, and even a hint of fear. But these expressions quickly turned into anger, as if a young woman had suffered immense injustice.
“You… you dare to be fierce with me? This lady will fight you to the death, I’ll bite you to death.”
Following the little white snake’s hiss, I felt a white blur flash before my eyes, and then pain on my face. Immediately after, my neck, wrists, and fingers – any exposed skin – were instantly attacked.
Its speed was too fast. It was like a shadow, spinning rapidly on my body. No matter how I defended myself, I would feel pain somewhere.
In the blink of an eye, all the exposed skin on my body felt as if it had been pricked by steel needles. My face, in particular, felt like it had been slapped countless times with a shoe sole, burning with a fiery pain.
“Ow, damn it, are you a dog?”
“Don’t bite my face, it hurts too much.”
“…”
“Stop it.”
The anger I felt earlier when it mentioned my father had completely vanished after its barrage of “tearing and biting.”
Looking at it floating in mid-air with a triumphant expression on its “face,” I was filled with hatred, but also utterly helpless.
Seeing that the expert had stopped snoring, I knew he had probably let the little white snake vent its resentment about becoming someone’s pet. However, this method of communication was too “cruel.”
“How was that? Know how formidable this lady is?” The little white snake, coiled in mid-air, flicked its tail up and down, looking as if it were crossing its legs. “Since you can’t beat me, from today onwards, you are my pet. Come, give me a full body massage.”
Damn it, I, a living person, being a pet to a snake as small as an earthworm, wasn’t this a joke?
During this time, I looked at my bitten hands and exposed arms. They were covered in dense red spots, looking like a heat rash. I knew these were its handiwork. Fortunately, they didn’t bleed, just hurt a little.
“You’re dreaming. If you have the guts, bite me to death,” I said through gritted teeth. “Also, I forgot to tell you, I only bathe once every two months. You didn’t break my skin just now, so doesn’t the muddy smell on me taste delicious?”
The little white snake, which had been looking smug, began to gag in mid-air upon hearing that I only bathed every two months.
“You… you’re going to make me sick, how… *gag*… can you be so unhygienic.”
I chuckled, “Fortunately, I’m unhygienic, otherwise I would have been bitten to death by you. It’s all thanks to the protection of the mud. Why don’t you bite me a couple more times?”
“You… *gag*…”
At some point, the expert had sat up on the pile of weeds and was watching my standoff with the little white snake with keen eyes.
“It seems you’re communicating quite well.”
Seeing the expert awake, the little white snake flashed to my shoulder, its gaze cautious as it looked at the expert. The sound of its flickering tongue was like a printer in my ear, making a “da da” sound. Perhaps due to the contract, I knew it was cursing the expert, but it was using snake language.
The expert’s hand flashed with a silvery-white flame, and he glared fiercely at my shoulder, “If you dare make another sound, I’ll roast you directly.”
Then, I felt the little white snake snuggle behind my neck, hiding its entire body and refusing to meet the expert’s gaze. Sudancn.com
I said with a mournful face, “Expert, you’ve really gotten me into trouble. Look how it’s bitten me. Why don’t you stew it?”
The expert scoffed disdainfully, “Kid, don’t be ungrateful. If only living people could sign contracts with Yin Ming Snakes, do you think I would have given you such a bargain?”
Looking at the expert’s reluctant expression, I felt a wave of speechlessness. I truly didn’t want any of this benefit. With the expert here, the little white snake was relatively well-behaved. But if the expert left me, wouldn’t I be bitten to death by it?
“Alright, kid, stop acting like you’re losing out when you’re actually gaining. Hurry up and have it steal the Tiger Kui Seal.”
I looked at the expert with confusion, “Steal things?”