Bowl after bowl of meat was placed in front of the girls.
The girls no longer had the appetite for anything else; all they could see was the dragon meat.
Bai Lixin lost his appetite from the overwhelming smell, but soon a bowl of foul-smelling meat was placed in front of him.
He looked up and met Mother Dong’s bright and glamorous face.
Mother Dong smiled and said, “Try it, just take one bite. It’s really delicious.”
Bai Lixin silently pushed the bowl aside.
It was too smelly, he couldn’t even take a bite.
Min Min, who was sitting beside him, immediately grabbed the bowl and shoved the meat into her mouth, “Oh, it’s so fragrant!”
Bai Lixin: “…”
The four girls’ stomachs had already swollen into small hills, their exaggerated curves rising high.
Yet, they seemed completely unfazed.
Between bites, Min Min glanced at Dong Qing and mumbled, “Brother Qing, why aren’t you guys eating?”
There wasn’t a single bowl of dragon meat in front of Dong Qing’s family.
The whole family just smiled at Min Min and the others as they ate heartily, their gazes so gentle it seemed honey could drip from them.
Dong Qing spoke softly, “Dragon meat is meant to entertain distinguished guests. If you like it, eat more. We have it regularly.”
Min Min stopped paying attention to Dong Qing and buried her head back into her bowl.
The enormous pot as tall as a person was filled with dragon meat.
In the end, the four girls finished every last bit of it.
It wasn’t until the last piece of dragon meat entered the short-haired girl’s stomach that the four girls finally set down their chopsticks, stroking their round bellies through their clothes, and let out a long sigh of satisfaction.
Min Min staggered to her feet, “I’m so full. Thank you for the meal, we should be heading back.”
As soon as she stood up, she wobbled a bit.
Dong Qing rushed over like the wind and supported Min Min, “Be careful, don’t hurt yourself.”
Min Min took advantage of the situation and leaned against Dong Qing, her fingers tracing circles on his chest through his clothes, “Brother Qing, you’re so good to me.”
Dong Qing: “You’ve been on the road all day. Why don’t you stay at our place tonight?”
Dong Jing chimed in, “Yes, I’ll tidy up the rooms for you.”
Min Min looked at Dong Qing with a dazed expression, “Is this appropriate?”
Man Man frowned, “I want to go back to the inn.”
The short-haired girl: “I’m fine with anything.”
The long-haired girl: “I’ll follow Man Man.”
Min Min staggered and straightened up, “Fine, then let’s go back.”
Dong Qing held onto Min Min with a helpless expression, “Why don’t you wait a bit longer? Who leaves right after a meal? Sit down and relax, let your food settle.”
“That sounds reasonable.” Min Min was about to agree when the sound of a car horn came from outside.
Bai Lixin casually pulled Min Min away from Dong Qing, “Oh, I almost forgot, I called a taxi earlier, and the driver’s already here. Looks like we’ll have to visit again another time.”
The smiles on Dong Qing and his family’s faces instantly froze.
Dong Qing’s smile faded as he glared at Bai Lixin, reaching out to grab Min Min, “If you want to go, go by yourself.”
Bai Lixin’s strength was far greater than Dong Qing had expected. With a gentle tug, he pulled Min Min away from Dong Qing’s grasp, then signaled to Man Man with his eyes.
Man Man caught on and turned to head for the gate.
Man Man waddled towards the car with her swollen belly, followed closely by the short-haired and long-haired girls.
Bai Lixin finally shoved Min Min into the taxi, and the five of them drove away.
Bai Lixin sat in the passenger seat, looking at the small courtyard receding into the distance through the rearview mirror.
Dong Qing’s family stood at the gate with expressionless faces, a stark contrast to their earlier warmth. Who knew what they were thinking?
Bai Lixin had called for a six-seater van, and from the rearview mirror, he could see the four girls in the back.
They still didn’t seem to notice anything strange about their bodies, and were bickering as usual.
Bai Lixin’s eyes wandered over them, lingering on their abdomens.
Their swollen stomachs looked like those of women ten months pregnant, and occasionally, there were strange bulges and movements under their clothes, as if something was inside.
“You guys…” The strong fragrance filled the car, and Bai Lixin noticed the driver swallowing hard. He cleared his throat, “Do you feel any discomfort in your stomachs?”
Min Min rubbed her belly, “Other than feeling a bit stuffed, nothing really.”
The short-haired girl said, “I feel great, full of energy.”
Man Man leaned back in her seat, panting, “You’re pretty smart, calling us a taxi in advance.”
Bai Lixin: “Thanks for the compliment.”
Min Min pouted, “Man Man, why didn’t we stay at Dong Jing’s house? They were so warm, Dong’s mom was so gentle, and Dong Qing was so handsome.”
Man Man frowned, “That house was so shabby. If you want to stay, go ahead, but don’t drag me along.”
The short-haired girl: “Chen Min Min, you always say you like Manman the most, but you don’t even know she has mysophobia?”
Bai Lixin: “…”
Maybe, Man Man’s mysophobia just saved their lives.
The girls’ swollen bellies began to deflate, just as strangely as they had expanded.
By the time the taxi arrived at their destination, their stomachs had already shrunk by half.
After escorting the girls back to the inn, Bai Lixin didn’t go in. Instead, he turned back towards the alley.
When he arrived at the small barbecue courtyard, the boss was leisurely grilling skewers on the rack.
Tonight, only one table had customers: the young couple.
On their table was a plate with six or seven skewers of dragon meat.
Bai Lixin: “Boss, do you have any more dragon meat?”
The boss: “Sorry guest, it’s all sold out!”
Bai Lixin showed a look of regret as he pulled up a stool and sat at the couple’s table, pushing 200 yuan towards them, “Hey, handsome and beautiful, would you sell me one skewer of dragon meat? It smells too good.”
Money makes things easier, and it didn’t take much effort. Bai Lixin exchanged 200 yuan for a skewer of golden, grilled dragon meat.
Before leaving, Bai Lixin asked the couple, “Are you staying in room 202?”
The man immediately became alert, “Why are you asking?”
Bai Lixin: “Don’t be nervous, the inn boss’s wife told me there’s a couple staying in 202. I’m in room 102 downstairs. If you are in 202, I just want to ask if you could keep it down at night. The walls aren’t very soundproof, and especially around midnight, it’s easy to wake people up.”
The couple looked at each other, and the woman frowned, “You must be mistaken. We’ve been going to bed early these past few days, how could we make noise at midnight. Besides, we’re in room 201, not 202.”
Bai Lixin suddenly realized, “Oh! I must’ve misheard, sorry about that.”
After saying this, Bai Lixin did not linger. He quickly left the small courtyard with the dragon meat skewer he had spent two hundred yuan to buy.
He walked along the path until he reached the riverbank and stopped.
By this time, the sky was completely dark, the stars were twinkling, and the moonlight was bright.
The stars and moon reflected in the small river in front of him, rippling gently, but they were not as dazzling as the dragon meat in his hand.
In the darkness, the dragon meat in Bai Lixin’s hand shimmered with a golden glow. Beneath its beautiful exterior was a foul stench.
There were four pieces of dragon meat on the skewer.
Bai Lixin placed one piece of dragon meat on the ground, then found a sharp stone from nearby.
He pressed the tip of the stone against the dragon meat. As he applied pressure and ground it, the meat began to twist, deform, and tear apart.
“Splurt.”
Suddenly, the dragon meat exploded like a water balloon.
A black, snake-like thing wriggled out from inside.
The golden glow on the surface of the dragon meat instantly dimmed, and an even stronger stench filled the air.
The thin, snake-like creature writhed wildly, and immediately crawled towards the river after leaving the dragon meat.
With quick reflexes, Bai Lixin stabbed the creature’s body with the sharp stone.
The creature’s body writhed violently for a few seconds before gradually coming to a stop and its slick body shriveled up at a speed visible to the naked eye.
In the blink of an eye, it had turned into a dried strip of meat.
Bai Lixin: “…”
He wrapped the remaining three pieces of dragon meat in napkins he had taken from the small courtyard and brought them back to the inn.
He filled a water bottle halfway and placed one piece of dragon meat at the mouth of the bottle. The moment the meat was torn apart, a wriggling black snake-like creature fell into the bottle of water.
Bai Lixin immediately tightened the cap and watched as the black snake squirmed violently in the water.
In the light, Bai Lixin finally saw the appearance of the black creature.
It was a black snake the size of an earthworm, with red eyes and a red tongue.
After thrashing in the water for a while, its body began to twist frantically again.
Like the first one, its body quickly shriveled up in the water. In the blink of an eye, only a piece of floating snakeskin remained.
Bai Lixin: “…”
Although it was a bit disgusting, it was clear that dragon meat was not snake meat, or rather, it wasn’t meat at all.
It was eggs. Snake eggs.
Bai Lixin got up and went to the lobby. There was only the proprietress at the counter.
He bought a bottle of purified water. “Madam Boss, I’ve been here at Snake God Mountain for a while now. What are the local specialties? I’m thinking of buying something to bring home for my family.”
The proprietress: “Snake God Mountain has many specialties, but if you’re looking for something to take back as a gift, I recommend snake mushrooms.”
Bai Lixin: “I heard that dragon meat is a specialty of Snake God Mountain.”
The proprietress was stunned for a moment. “Well, you could say that.”
Bai Lixin: “Where can I buy dragon meat? I’d like to bring some back.”
“Haha,” a man’s voice came from behind. The inn’s boss walked in from outside. “You can’t take dragon meat out of here. Once it leaves the mountain, it rots. You can only eat it while you’re here.”
“Now’s the season for dragon meat. If you want to eat it, you’d better enjoy it while you’re still on Snake God Mountain. But… if you haven’t tried it yet, I suggest you don’t start.”
Bai Lixin raised an eyebrow curiously. “Why? Is it because it’s so delicious that once we leave Snake God Mountain, we’ll crave it?”
The boss laughed heartily. “Hahaha, that’s one reason. But there’s another reason—not everyone can eat dragon meat. Out of ten thousand people, there might be one who ends up in the hospital after eating it.”
Bai Lixin frowned. “Is it poisonous?”
The boss quickly waved his hand. “No, no, it’s not poisonous. Maybe it’s just an intolerance. After eating it, some people get diarrhea and fall seriously ill. Who knows if you’ll be the one in ten thousand unlucky enough to have a bad reaction, right? But if you really want to try it, there’s no harm. The odds are only one in ten thousand—it probably won’t happen to you.”
Bai Lixin: “…”
‘You never know, it just might.’
“Boss,” Bai Lixin held the water bottle, playing the role of a diligent student, “can you tell me what dragon meat really is? Where does it come from?”
The boss pulled over a small stool and sat down. “Sure, let me tell you.”
