Chapter 8: It Turns Out to Be a Little Green Snake

Ye Qin carefully crawled out of the cave entrance, the temperature outside the cave was relatively high, a wave of heat came towards him.

He was used to the cold damp environment, touching the warm ground still felt somewhat uncomfortable, but that was secondary, after all snakes can regulate their own temperature.

Now Ye Qin faces the biggest problem, which is danger everywhere.

The natural enemies of serpents are many: hedgehogs, eagles, giant lizards, snake eagles, snake hawks, weasels, roadrunners, etc.

Moreover, he is now just a small black snake; these creatures can easily threaten his life, so he must be cautious.

Ye Qin does not want his hard-won life to become another creature's meal again.

Snakes are carnivorous animals, food types are many.

From small invertebrates like earthworms, spiders, various insects and their larvae, to some vertebrates: fish, frogs, toads, lizards, snakes, birds and small mammals.

Although Ye Qin was once a human, although he has turned into a snake, some concepts cannot be changed; whenever he thinks about having to eat raw meat and drink blood, he feels a bit unable to get over that hurdle.

"Forget it, let's first look for some wild fruits to fill my stomach."

Ye Qin observed himself, he should still be just a juvenile snake stage, even lacking fangs, likely a non-venomous snake, but what specific species he doesn't know.

With such a small body, hunting is practically a fantasy; any random carnivore could kill him.

Serpents have poor vision, mainly rely on tongue sensing vibrations or their built-in 'heat sensor' to perceive the world, they will use rapid tongue flicking to collect "odor particles" in the air.

This is why whenever humans see snakes, they can see them constantly flicking their tongue.

But perhaps because of cultivation, Ye Qin's sense of smell and vision are both higher than ordinary serpents, and his speed has also increased considerably.

Ye Qin himself doesn't know this, because there is no reference around, he just thinks all serpents are like this.

After all, in his previous life he had no contact with serpents, never imagining he would one day transmigrate into a snake.

The slender black snake slithered through the grass; if not looked at closely, one might think it was a dry tree branch, the bright red snake tongue flicking back and forth in the air.

Everything in Ye Qin's eyes was magnified several times, but his adaptability is not bad, he quickly got used to this perspective.

Since snakes lack olfactory in the nose, Ye Qin extends his tongue, using the vomeronasal organ located on the front sides of the midline of the upper palate bone to detect smells; finally, a fresh sweet with a hint of bitterness aroma drifted into Ye Qin's mouth.

"It's coming from the southeast direction; there should be the food I want there."

He followed the scent and this time didn't encounter any enemies.

A towering giant tree came into view.

Of course, this is relative to Ye Qin's snake body; actually the tree is only about half a person tall, an adult can encircle it.

The tree is covered with red fruits, already ripe, some even fell to the ground, juice splattered, bursting out dark red flesh.

The smell Ye Qin just detected comes from there.

I don't know what kind of fruit tree this is, but it should be non-toxic, as many birds are also pecking at it.

Ye Qin on the tree can't reach, but there are many fruits fallen on the ground; snakes lack chewing ability, can only swallow.

But Ye Qin is special; although he cannot chew, he can crush them before swallowing; he eagerly ate, the sour-sweet taste instantly burst in his snake cavity.

Although there is a somewhat rotten feeling, it doesn't matter.

After all, his species has changed, he can't be as particular as humans; having something to eat is already good.

Ye Qin ate like at a fruit buffet, heartily, after filling his stomach, he returned along the original route to the cave.

He then continued contemplating and digging a pit.

Wild fruit doesn't fill the stomach; although Ye Qin spends most of his time contemplating, this can greatly reduce energy consumption.

But digging a pit consumes huge physical strength.

He focused his concentration, gathering all his strength in his tail, using it as a tool to dig soil and make a pit.

The scattered clumps of dirt around were pushed aside by his body or head, appearing mechanical but actually testing strength and precision.

Ye Qin kept adjusting, finally found the most comfortable and relatively labor-saving method.

During digging, occasionally scales would rub against nearby harder dirt clumps and accidentally fall off.

Ye Qin loves cleanliness; each time after using his tail to dig the pit, his lower body will rub against leaves beside the pit to clean sand and stone from his scales.

That day he as usual cleaned, a flash of green light suddenly attracted his attention; originally he thought he was seeing things,

Looking at his tail tip faintly glowing green, Ye Qin couldn't help but fall into deep thought.

Probably because the tail was used frequently, plus friction with the ground, the scorched black dead scales on it have all fallen off, unknowingly new scales have grown.

The green scales like new sprouts are very small and delicate, because they haven't fully opened yet, they even look somewhat fragile.

Compared to the other parts' black serpent scales, they form a stark contrast.

Ye Qin couldn't help but widen his eyes, "Actually I'm not a little black snake?"

He always thought he was black; now it seems maybe not.

When he first transmigrated, this little snake was struck by lightning horribly, leading him to mistakenly think its original color was like that.

Anyway Ye Qin isn't in a hurry; wait until the new scales fully grow out then talk.

Although these burnt black scales are ugly, really affecting appearance, but now he is a snake and doesn't care about looks, so he isn't in a rush.

Everything proceeds naturally, without deliberate insistence.

A familiar hunger sensation came from the abdomen, making Ye Qin involuntarily sigh.

"I just finished foraging in the morning, yet now I'm hungry again; it seems just eating wild fruits simply won't work."

Wild fruit is not the main food of serpents; occasionally using it to supplement vitamins is fine, but the main source of nutrition still needs to come from meat.

Just like now, Ye Qin frequently feels hunger; he can only go out again to that fruit tree.

After eating like this several times, he has developed resistance in his heart.

No matter how delicious something is, eating it every meal will cause boredom.

"Just eating wild fruit won't do."

Ye Qin's head feels a bit dizzy; this is the body's warning, snakes are carnivorous animals, if he doesn't hunt, he might become the first snake to faint from starvation.

"Looks like I need to figure out how to hunt some small animals."

Ye Qin observed the surroundings and the terrain; there were also many fallen fruits on the ground, and he also saw traces of some small herbivorous animals nearby.

In other words, as long as he waits by the stump for a rabbit, there is still a chance to catch some small animals.

As for birds, Ye Qin gave up on them right away.

Although there are many of them, birds are too timid and agile; at the slightest rustle, they fly away, making them hard to catch, and Ye Qin does not want to waste too much stamina.

His target is those field mice, wild rabbits, and similar rodents; that is most suitable for him.

(End of chapter)