Chapter 31: Something Out of the Ordinary

In an instant, the lynx felt a heavy, soft body coil around it, locking it down tight and leaving it no chance to resist.

Then, a warm current of heat began pouring ceaselessly into its body from its neck, spreading throughout its entire frame.

At that moment, alarm bells rang wildly in its heart—its instincts told it: it was going to die, going to die!

Death—how terrifying it was.

Death's approach drove it to struggle frantically, yet its usually obedient, agile body now refused to listen, remaining utterly still.

And that constricting force grew tighter and tighter; it seemed it could barely breathe.

Heart twisting in pain, body racked with agony, breath coming in gasps—finally, its head grew heavier and heavier, heavier and heavier.

A powerful wave of drowsiness surged over it—how it wanted to sleep…

In the end, it finally closed its eyes.

Outside, Baichuan could only feel that, as he exerted more and more force and as Time passed.

He finally sensed the lynx slowly cease its struggles; along with a spasm of its four limbs, a trickle of blood began to seep from the corner of its mouth.

This lynx had finally breathed its last under his constriction and venom.

Only then did Baichuan release the body coiled around it, and was astonished to discover that the lynx's form had already begun to warp and distort.

Seeing this, even Baichuan clicked his tongue in amazement—he hadn't expected that the very first time he used his constriction ability, it had compressed the prey's body until its bones deformed.

This power was truly somewhat terrifying.

In his past life, Baichuan had once seen this saying: felines are the most powerful and most successful predators that evolution has produced on the planet he came from.

This one, though not a tiger, was by no means a weakling—at least among felines it could be said to have a name, not something to be compared with nameless nobodies.

In other words, its bone and muscle strength could be considered excellent.

And yet now, he had taken one down with ease.

This signified that he was growing ever stronger.

After marveling at his current strength for a moment, Baichuan extended two sharp claws and began frantically tearing off chunk after chunk of flesh and blood.

For a time, he ate with great relish, while the bloody scent also spread wildly on the cold wind.

Eating and eating, Baichuan suddenly realized he seemed to be missing something.

Right! Teeth.

Now, when he ate large bites of meat, it was always like swallowing dates whole—no chewing, no biting, just gulping down—a bit unsatisfying.

Decided—next time he evolved, if he got the chance, he'd grow himself a pair of razor-sharp fangs.

By then, even if he didn't have the Time to use venomous fangs to pierce the prey's flesh and inject venom, as long as his fangs could bite open a wound, the venom that naturally seeped out could smear a little onto the wound.

That effect was not to be underestimated.

Silently thinking this, Baichuan also sped up his eating.

After he ate his fill, the lynx's carcass still had a small remaining portion of hind legs, and most of the warm internal organs he couldn't quite bring himself to eat.

Logically speaking, when swallowing food—especially in winter—eating the prey's warm internal organs first is the best choice.

But he just couldn't quite accept it; not because it tasted bad, but because his past-life human psychology was influencing him.

After all, internal organs and the like are still rather close to the animal's excrement, so much so that he couldn't bring himself to eat them.

Besides, as a snake, he didn't need to prioritize internal organs over flesh and blood.

So let it be considered a small indulgence.

Of course, if he swallowed the whole thing snake-style, he wouldn't mind so much—after all, as the saying goes: out of sight, out of mind.

Seeing it would make him feel uncomfortable; not seeing it, no problem. But ever since he started liking to tear flesh open with his claws to eat, he hadn't much liked the snake-swallow method anymore.

Because that way of eating was a little too dangerous.

So it seemed animal organs were not meant for him.

After eating his fill, Baichuan once again slowly faded his form and left.

Only the cold wind still blowing, the great resting impression on the snow, and the patch of crimson on the snow with the remaining internal organs bore witness that a snake-like creature active in winter had once been here.

Not long after Baichuan left, a big furry fellow with a yellow coat, black stripes, and white belly arrived.

It looked at the still-warm internal organs, twitched its nose, as if sniffing something.

Then it drew close and began tearing into them in big bites.

……

In the days that followed, Baichuan once again settled into a relatively peaceful life.

And as he grew more and more accustomed to winter's climate and temperatures, finding food had become easier and easier for him.

Especially after he once discovered large prey such as moose, white-lipped deer, and roe deer, his food sources suddenly became abundant.

Relying on his ever-growing body, along with his stealth, constriction, and venom abilities, he could now kill prey utterly without a sound.

However, worth mentioning is that, ever since some time when he left animal organs uneaten, a little tail had been following behind him.

That one time, he and it locked eyes from a great distance; finding that the other made no other moves.

Since the other had done nothing out of line for the moment, and he was also somewhat wary of its strength, he ignored it for the time being.

Letting it eat the fresh animal organs he had left behind.

And so, Baichuan's body length finally reached 6.7 meters—approaching the world's second-largest python.

But as Time passed, winter too was slowly fading away.

The temperature began to warm gradually; the snow on the ground had long since vanished, and in some places the ice had even begun to show signs of melting.

Looking out, on the dark, rich soil, tiny specks of green had already sprouted.

All things were about to revive.

That day, Baichuan crawled out of his den and slithered toward a brook where the gurgling water had begun to flow once more.

Suddenly, his body paused; with some puzzlement, he gazed at the brook whose flow had inexplicably grown smaller again, and slowly looked upstream.

Only to see that, for some unknown reason, ice had once again formed there.

"What is this?"

Hasn't winter already passed?

Baichuan had clearly seen with his own eyes just a few days ago the ice surface melt, the last remaining bit of ice drifting slowly along with the stream and melting away.

But now, for some unknown reason, it had frozen over again!

Strangest of all, he sensed that an incomparably intense chill existed upon that frozen surface — a cold on par with the coldest stretch of the entire winter.

One must understand that winter is a natural phenomenon bound to occur in the world's cycle, and only becomes so cold through the combined effect of accumulated snow, snowflakes, and biting wind.

It could be said to be the vast, majestic power of heaven and earth itself.

But now? A mere frozen surface of a small stream had defied natural law, giving rise to such a frigid chill.

What on earth has happened?

As the saying goes: when something defies the norm, there must be something uncanny at work.

For such a chill to appear again in an already warm season — it almost certainly could not be a normal occurrence.

Baichuan's expression grew somewhat grave. Could it be that the place where he had stayed so long still harbored some undetectable mystery?

(End of this chapter)