Chapter 44: A Perilous Moment

An hour later, Baichuan, now well-fed and watered, grabbed a large clump of fresh, living flesh and set off on his way back.

It's been an hour already; that little Xiao haozi must be starving by now.

Baichuan couldn't help but find it amusing when he thought of that little thing — so full of Spirit yet so incredibly timid.

These past few days, ever since he had brought that little thing into the water, it had been so scared that it hugged its tiny claws and trembled, thinking he meant to harm it.

After gradually spending more Time together and realizing he had no such intention, it slowly began to relax.

Even so, whenever his emotions fluctuated even a little — especially the negative ones — this little thing would startle and shrink back in a panic.

It seemed as if it could sense the intensity of his emotions, whether good or bad — truly quite miraculous.

At first, he hadn't paid much attention, until one Time when the little thing accidentally dribbled a few drops of urine on his scales, putting him in a foul mood and making him want to toss it away.

Fortunately, he thought it through rationally at the Time — he still needed this thing to scan the Ice Silkworm — and held back.

Unexpectedly, it seemed as if the little thing had sensed this, and from then on, such incidents never happened again.

Whenever it needed to relieve itself, it would wait until he went out to hunt or began eating, then go ashore to handle it on its own.

At first, he had wondered if the little mouse had gone mad, ready to grab the small wooden box and run for it, and he had nearly lunged to pin it down.

But after observing it carefully, he discovered it had actually been sneaking off to relieve itself!

He had to admit, this little thing — perhaps because it had spent so long around humans, or perhaps because of some special training — was indeed rather good at winning people over.

Unfortunately, these things didn't seem to count as abilities; just like his electric current perception, they were special and didn't show up on the panel.

Thinking back on the experiences of these past few days, Baichuan smiled knowingly, narrowing his sharp snake pupils. He glanced down at the large chunk of fresh meat held in his mouth — surely enough to feed that little thing for several days.

Before long, Baichuan returned to the spot where he had entered the water earlier, lowered his head, and transferred the crocodile meat from his mouth to his claws.

The powerful muscles beneath him contracted, driving his ventral scales backward in neat order, and his entire snake body glided smoothly toward the tree hollow.

Just as Baichuan was in high spirits, returning with a full load of food, he suddenly froze and stopped his gliding body, because something seemed off.

His slender forked tongue flicked out, then quickly whipped up and down, capturing the scent molecules in the air.

Right — the surrounding scent seemed a little fainter; the scent belonging to the little Xiao haozi had grown much weaker.

Suddenly, as if realizing something, his body Burst forward toward the tree hollow, while a pair of sharp eyes continuously scanned the surroundings.

Not long after, he stopped his rapidly speeding snake body again; with a bend and a twist, his body shot out to the side.

Because he saw it!

He saw a reckless snake in the middle of swallowing a mouse alive, its exaggerated jaws opened past 90 degrees, swallowing its prey inch by inch.

Of course, none of that was the point!

The point was that the prey was a mouse! His familiar mouse!

At this moment, the little thing was in a wretched state, being swallowed inch by inch by the snake's jaws. Even though its hind legs had already disappeared into the snake's mouth, and it was being swallowed by this snake like that—

Its little claws were still clutching the small wooden box tightly, occasionally letting out a tiny squeak, proving it was still alive.

And thanks to the small wooden box, the mouse hadn't been completely swallowed yet.

Even so, the wooden box was also barely holding up, seeming on the verge of bursting open.

Once the wooden box Burst open and the mouse died, what would descend upon this place would be a violent wave of cold air.

There was no Time to think about why this little Xiao haozi — which could survive alone through the flood season all the way to the end of winter, and even live in such comfort in the wild when that Zhang Dadan came looking — would be caught by a small snake.

Baichuan's snake pupils dilated, his eyes filled with killing intent.

How dare a mere little snake try to steal his food?

His snake body suddenly Burst forth at the fastest speed it had ever achieved, and in just a few moments, it shot toward the small snake's position like an arrow.

Then he quickly decelerated — slowing down!

By the Time he had fully arrived before the small snake, the momentum carried over from the Burst had already dissipated.

Only a gust of wind, carrying the inevitable fishy smell from Baichuan's meal, remained to prove just how fast he had been moving.

A shadow descended — a massive shadow, accompanied by a strong gust of fishy wind — arriving in an instant.

This startled the small snake that was in the middle of swallowing; its coiling body stiffened, and as it twisted, its head happened to turn.

And with that turn, its snake eyes looked toward the direction from which the fishy wind had come.

At that moment, the small snake couldn't help but freeze, because the owner of the shadow had so unreasonably burst into its black-and-white world.

A long, sleek, broad neck, like a king's cloak; a raised, ferocious snake snout with a pair of unusually prominent bulges; and from high above, sharp eyes like those of its natural predator — eyes now filled with killing intent toward it.

At this moment, even though its forked tongue couldn't capture scents because it was eating, the instinctive senses of a snake still picked up the pheromones from a fellow snake.

It was the wrath of the Ten Thousand Snakes — the king among snakes, bearing titles such as the Snake Bane and the King of Venomous Snakes!

In a daze, even without much intelligence, the small snake's tiny brain understood the situation: it had offended the king's presence, and what was coming was the wrath of a king.

Instinctively, triggered by its nature, it began trying to spit its prey out right there on the spot.

However, the squirming and twitching movements it made were disgusting to Baichuan — the posture was simply too ugly.

He looked at the little Xiao haozi, which seemed to have noticed his arrival and let out a soft squeak, and he sighed softly in his heart.

He extended a sharp claw and picked up the small snake, then carefully raised one claw — enormous and sharp compared to the two of them — and gently inserted it into the side of the small snake's mouth.

With just a gentle pull, the sharp claw sliced through it from head to tail like a razor-sharp blade cutting through a piece of white paper, without the slightest resistance.

Only after this did Baichuan gently cradle the little thing. Its fluffy fur was now soaked, and combined with the faint blood seeping from its hind legs, it looked utterly wretched.

At this point, without the heavy weight pressing on it, the little Xiao haozi seemed to have caught its breath a little.

It groggily opened its small, round black eyes, and with its little claws trembling, it lifted the small wooden box it had been clutching tightly to its chest and held it out to him with an ingratiating expression.

This wasn't the first Time it had done this during this period.

In its simple little mind, it vaguely remembered that since they had been on the run, every Time they came ashore to eat, the wooden box had been handed to it for safekeeping.

Every Time they finished eating hastily, the big snake would have it hand the wooden box back, and then take it back into the water to continue fleeing.

Without a doubt, this thing must be incredibly important to the big snake. Even though it didn't understand, doing this was the right thing to do.

Because this was the second being to be good to it, after that monk.

This time will be no exception.

(End of chapter)