Thank you for the ko-fi Puffball 🧡 🧡
Man Man was probably the wealthiest among them and loved using money to solve problems.
Although money couldn’t solve all problems, it could solve most of them.
With the power of money, Man Man forced the boss to change his mind and reserved twenty skewers of dragon meat for the next day.
So in the end, it was Man Man who paid for the meal.
By the time they were full and satisfied, it was already dark.
There were no factories on Snake God Mountain, and with the higher altitude, the air quality was excellent. The sky was filled with brilliant stars, surrounding the moon like a crowd attending to their queen.
The girls were still reminiscing about the dragon meat, and on the way back, their discussion remained on this topic.
Min Min: “The dragon meat was so delicious! How can there be such delicious meat in the world? Man Man, you’ve seen a lot. Have you eaten this kind of meat before?”
Man Man shook her head: “This was my first time.”
Min Min rubbed her chin: “What kind of meat was that? Was it really snake meat?”
The short-haired girl said firmly, “It had to be snake meat. What, did you really think it was dragon meat? There’s a dish called ‘Dragon-Tiger Fight,’ and the ingredients are snake and chicken. Snakes are also called ‘little dragons’.”
Min Min rolled her eyes and muttered under her breath, “Tomboy b*tch,” before falling silent.
The short-haired girl frowned. She was about to lose her temper, but the long-haired girl next to her quickly grabbed her arm to calm her down.
The barbecue courtyard wasn’t far from the inn, and after five or six minutes, they were back.
Since they had planned to meet at six the next morning to visit the Snake God Temple, they agreed to return early and get some rest.
Min Min seemed to have hooks in her eyes, “Hey handsome, I see you’re alone too. How about joining us tomorrow?”
Bai Lixin: “If it’s convenient for you, I’m fine with that.”
Min Min: “Great, it’s settled then. We’ll meet in the lobby tomorrow morning at six. Don’t be late, handsome.”
After speaking, Min Min hooked her arm around Man Man’s and headed upstairs.
To return to his room, Bai Lixin had to pass by the stairs leading to the restaurant on the basement floor. As he walked by, he heard some commotion below, like there was an argument going on.
He hesitated for two seconds, then walked down the stairs. Behind the half-closed rolling door, two people were having a heated argument.
“Hand it over, or I’ll call the police!”
“Are you joking? Who the hell took your stuff? You think you’re the only one who can call the police? I could sue you for slander!”
Two men were arguing. One of them was bald, rubbing his middle finger. “I just took off my ring and placed it beside me. You were the only one sitting next to me. If it wasn’t you, who else took it?”
The other man, with short hair, snapped back, “Are you crazy? Who takes off a gold ring while eating? What, the food wasn’t tasty enough, so you wanted to add some gold to improve the flavor?”
Bald Man: “You still say you didn’t steal it? I never even said my ring was gold, so how did you know? You must have seen it! You’re the one who took it!”
Short Hair: “Of course, I saw it. It was such a big ring sitting right next to me. But seeing it doesn’t mean I took it! There were so many people in the restaurant earlier, why are you accusing me?”
Hearing the noise, the boss hurriedly came down with a friendly smile, stepping between the two increasingly agitated customers.
“Guests, don’t worry. You lost a ring, right? Let’s search again.”
Without caring about his image, the boss bent down, lifted the tablecloth, and half-crawled under the table, searching like a dog sniffing for food.
Bald Man snorted, “I’ve already searched under the table several times. There’s no ring. And I don’t remember dropping it on the floor.”
Just as he finished speaking, the boss emerged from under the table, holding a shiny gold ring between his fingers. “Is this the ring you lost, sir?”
Bald Man’s s eyes widened.
He accepted the ring blankly, stumbling over his words: “I—I clearly searched earlier, I didn’t see it. The ring…”
He glanced at the short-haired man: “It had to be him. He saw me looking for it and, when I wasn’t paying attention, threw the ring under the table.”
Short Hair was furious: “Are you done yet? If we weren’t at Snake God Mountain, I’d have punched you already.”
The boss quickly stepped in to mediate: “Guest, please keep your ring safe. Items like this shouldn’t be left lying around.”
Realizing he was in the wrong, Bald Man put the ring back on and left in a hurry. As he passed by Bai Lixin, he muttered, “Why is it all sticky? Did it fall into the soup?”
With the commotion over, Bai Lixin went upstairs, uninterested in staying any longer.
The stairs led directly to the lobby of the inn, facing the front desk.
As soon as he reached the top, he saw the young couple buying something at the reception.
The boss was still cleaning up downstairs, leaving his wife to manage the front desk.
The young man had his arm around the girl’s waist, whispering suggestive things in her ear: “…It’s a shame about the condoms I brought.”
The girl blushed, “Just wait a little longer. Once we leave Snake God Mountain, you can do whatever you want.”
The young man sighed regretfully, “We’re about to be married, and yet I still have to wait. I wish I could have you right now.”
The girl glared at him playfully, “What’s wrong with you today? Be serious, we’re still outside. Don’t you feel embarrassed?”
The young man: “I don’t know what’s wrong with me either. You just look especially beautiful today. Let’s go back to our room.”
The girl was suddenly wary, “What are you planning?”
With one hand holding the shopping bag and the other around her waist, he led her upstairs. “I’ll just hold you. I won’t do anything, I promise.”
Once the couple had gone upstairs, Bai Lixin walked over to the lobby, borrowed a hairdryer from the front desk, and returned to his room.
There wasn’t much to do on Snake God Mountain. Unlike the bustling city, the place was quiet by eight o’clock in the evening. Other than the occasional distant barking of dogs, there was hardly a sound.
For some reason, Bai Lixin felt particularly sleepy.
He quickly washed up, changed into his pajamas, and lay down. It didn’t take long before he drifted off to sleep.
In the middle of the night, footsteps woke him from his dreams.
Bai Lixin glanced at the electronic clock on the wall. It was 1:00 a.m.
The footsteps came from the corridor outside his room. He quietly got up and cracked open the door to peek out.
He saw the boss wandering in the corridor. His back was turned to him, and his walking posture was strange—his body was stiff and his steps were rigid.
Suddenly, Bai Lixin felt a gaze on the back of his head in the dark.
He subconsciously turned around and saw the proprietress standing in the dark corridor, staring straight at him.
Bai Lixin’s pupils contracted.
The proprietress raised a finger to her lips, signaling him to stay quiet.
Then, she tiptoed over and whispered in a voice that was barely audible, “Sorry, did we wake you?”
Bai Lixin: “?”
The proprietress continued, “He has an old habit. Sometimes, he sleepwalks at night. I worry he might get into trouble, so I secretly follow him. I’m sorry for disturbing you. I’ll reduce your room fee by half for tonight.”
Bai Lixin peeked out and saw the boss had reached the lobby. He paused at the top of the stairs, then turned and went down toward the restaurant.
The proprietress repeatedly apologized to Bai Lixin, then hurriedly followed behind her husband.
Bai Lixin stared down the dark corridor for a while longer before finally retreating and closing his door.
He locked the door again and decided to use the bathroom before going to bed.
When he stepped into the bathroom and turned on the light, Bai Lixin suddenly froze, his pupils reflecting red.
On the once-clean and bright mirror, three red words had appeared at some point.
The bold red characters were really eye-catching and terrifying in the stillness of the dark night.
——Leave this place!!!
Bai Lixin frowned and looked at the mirror. He reached out to touch the words, but his hand met nothing.
The words weren’t on the surface of the mirror but seemed to appear from inside.
These words were directly in front of his face, as if dividing his reflection into several parts.
He stared at the words and the face in the mirror, and suddenly, the face in the mirror showed a strange, eerie smile.
The next moment, he lost consciousness.
When he regained consciousness, it was the sound of an alarm waking him up.
He shut off the phone alarm in a daze, forced his eyes open, and found himself lying in bed.
The phone showed it was 5:10 a.m. Bai Lixin put on his shoes and walked to the bathroom. The mirror was spotless; there were no scary red words.
He stared at his reflection again. When he smiled, the reflection smiled back. When he frowned, the reflection also frowned. This continued for five minutes. The person in the mirror did everything he did, perfectly mimicking his actions, with no flaws.
The red words and that twisted face from last night seemed to have been just a nightmare.
The sun rose early at Snake God Mountain.
By 5:30 a.m., the sun was already up.
Bai Lixin arrived at the lobby ten minutes early, and daylight had already flooded the area outside.
There were already some people having breakfast downstairs in the restaurant. The boss was greeting guests at the front desk, while his wife was tending to the flowers in the courtyard.
Looking at the energetic and refreshed boss, it was hard to connect him with the rigid, sleepwalking figure from last night.
The first to come downstairs was the short-haired girl, her cheeks rosy and full of life.
The proprietress was very friendly and waved at the girl with a smile when she saw her come down, “Young lady, you look really good today. Did you sleep well last night?”
The short-haired girl touched her face, “Can you really tell my complexion is good? Auntie, are you just saying that to make me happy?”
The proprietress: “Auntie never lies. If you don’t believe me, ask this handsome young man here.”
Since Bai Lixin had been called out, he had no choice but to nod, “Your complexion has indeed improved a lot.”
The short-haired girl muttered quietly to herself, “Could the dragon meat really be that magical? Does it have immediate beauty benefits?”
Bai Lixin: “…”
Just as she finished mumbling, the other three girls also came downstairs one after another.
They all looked radiant and beautiful before, but now they looked even more exquisite, like the idols in a popular girl group.
The boss lady didn’t hold back her compliments, praising them so much that they couldn’t stop smiling.
Man Man: “Auntie, I have a question. Does your place have any dragon meat? I’ll buy it all.”
The proprietress’s smile didn’t waver, “Our inn is vegetarian, there’s no meat, dear. If you want dragon meat, you can try your luck in town. You might be able to find some.”
Min Min chimed in, “Auntie, do you know what dragon meat is? Is it just snake meat?”
The proprietress: “Oh, heavens! Dragon meat is dragon meat, dear. Don’t ask me any more questions, or I’ll be committing a sin by talking too much.”
Seeing the proprietress’s evasive manner, the short-haired girl became even more convinced that dragon meat was actually snake meat.
“Why say it’s sinful? Because she doesn’t dare to admit it’s snake meat. This is Snake God Mountain, after all. The locals worship the snake god. This inn was even once visited by the snake god.”
She was still dwelling on this as they walked.
Snake God Mountain wasn’t just a single peak but a range of rolling mountains.
To honor the snake god, four temples were built on the peaks of the mountains: the East Temple, West Temple, South Temple, and North Temple.
The Snake God Mountain formed a giant circle, or you could say, a giant coiled anaconda with Snake God Town nestled in its belly.
