Chapter 303: Water Bottle

I looked at it and felt it looked like a small human head, but without facial features, covered in rotten black mud, all around it were things like fine tentacles.

"What the hell is that?" I asked.

Fatty threw it over, and I caught it in midair, then realized it wasn't big. I rinsed it with water, and soon the black mud washed off, revealing a greenish surface with rust stains.

I shook it and said in surprise: "Damn, it's a military canteen."

"A canteen?"

"Old model, decades old. I recognized it by the shape at first glance. I have one at home. Look, there are characters here too." I turned the canteen over.

On the bottom of the canteen there was indeed a series of characters stamped with a steel seal; they weren't stamped deep to begin with, and now they're even harder to read. It felt like it might be the place of production.

We looked at each other, all thinking: What's going on? How did this canteen float up from this hole? The space under the water should be a riverbed piled with gravel and pottery shards. Although we don't know what it was like thousands of years ago, it must have been like this for the past few hundred years. How could there be a canteen?

Fatty said: "Could it be from that group of reactionary armed forces that fled in here?"

"Possible," I said, "but that's not the issue. The question is how did this thing get down there?"

"Maybe some reactionary also came here and happened to fall to his death in this hole."

I shook my head: "Impossible. This kind of balanced structure can only exist once. If it had collapsed before, this place would either be a hole or be filled in by later sediment. It wouldn't have a pit covered by pottery shards again."

Fatty said: "How do you know?"

"Boss, it's common sense," I said.

"Then maybe it drifted here from somewhere else. The area underneath might be completely hollow," Fatty said.

"Theoretically possible, but practically difficult. A canteen floats and gets stuck on the ceiling of a cavity; it's not easy to drift..." I said, but before I finished, I suddenly felt the ground move beneath my feet. This 'move' was extremely strange—it felt like a bulge under my foot. I immediately spread my arms to keep my balance and said to Fatty, "Watch out, watch out, it's going to collapse again." At that moment, Fatty cursed: "Your common sense is wrong."

I looked down and saw a massive thing rapidly rising from the black pit, reflecting a series of glimmering scales, and then I saw a basketball-sized yellow eye.

I froze instantly, thinking: What is this? Fatty pushed me and shouted: "Run, run, run! Run! Run! Run!" Before I could react, he grabbed me and dashed out.

Fatty was like a madman, pulling me with all his strength. Seeing that this was really a life-or-death escape, I grabbed Poker-face and immediately bolted out.

Running in water was virtually impossible—the resistance was too great, making movement very slow. At a time like this, running was simply not an option, and our feet were stepping on sharp porcelain shards. I took a few steps and stepped on a sharp edge, immediately falling into the water and thrashing around, ignoring the intense pain in the soles of my feet.

Then Fatty and Poker-face also fell. Fatty's backpack fell off, but he got up without even looking and shouted, "Don't stop!" and used all his strength to stumble forward. I heard a tremendous sound of water behind us. Turning around, I saw an enormous python rising out of the water with mist, almost like a green dragon emerging from the river.

Looking at the size of the snake, I suddenly remembered.

My god, isn't this… the Snake Mother!

How is that possible? The giant snake depicted in the relief actually exists, and is still alive even now.

I thought "It's over," gritted my teeth and continued running. Listening to the terrifying water sounds behind me, I thought, what can I do? Just take each step as it comes. I was running and falling over and over, I don't know how many times, twisting my ankle, covered in wounds.

Many people have experience: when fleeing danger, you rely on that initial burst of energy. Before that energy runs out, even if someone slashes you twice, you won't feel the pain. So I sprinted, fell, got up, fell again, the soles of my feet torn, I don't know how many cuts I got. In the panic, I had no sense of distance, didn't know how far I'd run. Finally, my foot suddenly stepped into empty space, hitting an unexpected depression, and I rolled down. There was a deep pit below, and I plunged straight into the water.

I reacted quickly enough, steadying myself, but it was too sudden. I swallowed several mouthfuls of water and couldn't find footing. Fatty was still paying attention to me; he had run more than ten meters but turned back and pulled me up. But before I could grab his hand, suddenly there was a flash of scales, and an overwhelmingly powerful force with a current of water pressed down, knocking both him and Poker-face into the water.

This was deadly. The three of us thrashed about, seeing the python's body, huge as a train car, coiling around us in the water. Fatty pulled out his dagger, but after comparing sizes, the dagger was worse than a toothpick, so he gave up. Then I saw the massive snake head plunge into the water, appearing before us. Its giant scales were like mirrors—too big. The aura of it made me feel like I was seeing a clawless green dragon.

How did that canteen get down there? Someone must have been eaten by it and carried beneath the sand. The three of us wouldn't even be enough for its appetizer.

We thrashed in the water, trying to swim out of the giant python's encircling body, but found we couldn't control ourselves. Every time the snake moved, the water churned with immense pressure, messing up our direction.

Fatty refused to give up. He raised his gun, aimed at the snake's eye, and fired two shots. The snake's head moved slightly with no reaction, and Fatty threw the gun away.

I told him not to waste his energy; we knew the gun was useless. If it had been a double-scaled python, we could have fought, but this thing was too big. How could we fight it? No effect at all. Fatty yelled: "No, elephants don't eat ants. We're too small. It won't be easy for it to eat us."

Before he finished, the snake head suddenly retracted and lunged at Fatty with indescribable force. I was immediately thrown back by the surge of water.

I got up, yelling for Fatty, but saw him and Poker-face also washed far away. The giant snake had missed.

Missing its strike, the giant snake became enraged. Its enormous body twisted, creating huge waves. Its massive scales, like countless mirrors, reflected the light from my miner's lamp into a gorgeous, illusory spectacle.

Fatty shouted at me: "Hide!"

I immediately swam toward a huge stone pillar nearby. Finally climbing up, I turned around and felt my scalp tingle as I saw the dinosaur-like python head silently approaching me, staring straight at me.

There was no hiding. The python was too huge. The distance I had exhausted myself swimming, it crossed in an instant. Its direct attack range might be two or three hundred meters.

I shone my light on it up close and found the python even more enormous. My legs gave way and I knelt. The python turned its head, looking at me with its giant snake eyes, but didn't attack immediately, its head turning occasionally.

I thought I was dead. On the surface, its attack would surely be more accurate than in the water.

But after waiting a few seconds, the snake still hadn't attacked us. I stared fixedly at its huge head and realized it seemed uncertain about something.

I thought for a moment, then suddenly saw the miner's lamp I was shining on the snake, and I understood immediately. The lamp was extremely bright, and this snake might not have seen any light for hundreds of years; now it was dazzled by it.

Suddenly a plan came to mind. I slowly placed the miner's lamp on a stone pillar beside me, intending to slip away while its attention was distracted.

However, the stone pillar was almost impossible to put anything on; as soon as I placed it, it would slide off. I was drenched in cold sweat, and after several attempts, I still couldn't manage it.

I forced myself to stay calm while trying to think of a solution. I was really amazed that my mind could still work at a time like this; in the past, I would have been completely scared to death.

I suddenly saw Fatty on the other side, behind the giant python's head, gesturing to me as if he wanted me to toss the miner's lamp to him.

I instantly understood his intention. I took a deep breath, swung hard, and flung the miner's lamp past the snake's head. An arc of light flew toward Fatty. The giant python, attracted by the light, immediately turned its head. At that very moment, I plunged into the water.

The python immediately moved. I didn't care about anything else and swam desperately away, until I was exhausted and finally surfaced. I saw that I still hadn't swum far; the giant python was right behind me, and all around were coils of its massive body. But the python moved swiftly and soon disappeared, seemingly burrowing into the sand beneath.

Soon, I saw Fatty carrying Poker-face on his back as he quickly waded out of the water. I asked him what happened, and he said, "I sank the miner's lamp into a hole, and it chased after it. Hurry, if it comes back up, we're dead."