“Every year, during July, August, and September, clusters of placental tissue appear in the mountain’s forests. When you peel open the placental tissue, you’ll find dragon meat inside—neat little pieces, one after another. At first, no one knew what it was, so no one dared to eat it. But once the first brave soul tried it, people realized it was edible.”
“Though dragon meat is delicious, it’s scarce. It only appears deep in the mountains, so a group of people called ‘dragon meat hunters’ started collecting it in the mountains to sell.”
The boss paused. “Oh, by the way, Xiao Dong’s family does that. If you want to buy dragon meat, you can get it from them.”
Bai Lixin: “Dong Jing’s family?”
The boss: “That’s right, her family. Aren’t you all close? Didn’t she tell you that?”
Bai Lixin: “Oh, I’m not that close to her. We just met on the bus. She’s closer to the other four girls—they’re classmates.”
The boss: “I have to say, dragon meat is something special. If I weren’t a vegetarian, I’d want to try it too. I still remember how ugly the Dong family used to be. Old Dong had a crooked face, and his wife was cross-eyed. Their son and daughter were even uglier. But ever since they started working as dragon meat hunters on Snake God Mountain, they’ve all gotten better-looking.”
“Dong Qing, that kid, now that he’s good-looking, he’s become a real player. Every summer, he brings home a new girlfriend, and each one is prettier than the last.”
Bai Lixin: “He’s that much of a playboy?”
“Of course! I really don’t like how he’s always playing around with girls. But don’t tell anyone I said this,” the boss lowered his voice. “This time, Dong Jing brought four of her female classmates, and all of them are pretty. I just hope they’re not too naive and don’t fall for Dong Qing’s tricks.”
Bai Lixin: “And what about Dong Qing’s ex-girlfriends? Did they leave after being brought here?”
The boss: “Of course they left. You think they’d stay here and marry that bastard, Dong Qing? They’re all city girls. They come here for a vacation, but they wouldn’t stay permanently.”
After chatting with the boss, Bai Lixin didn’t return to room 101. Instead, he went up to the second floor.
If all that dragon meat was actually snake eggs, then the girls who had eaten the dragon meat might have already started incubating those eggs in their stomachs.
Their increased appetite wasn’t because they were hungry; it was because the snakes inside them were.
These snake eggs were immature.
Whether exposed to air or water, they ended up as shriveled snakeskins.
This might be the survival mechanism of these snakes.
They attracted hosts with their scent, so the hosts would ingest them. Inside the host’s stomach, they would absorb nutrients like parasites, growing until they were fully developed. Once mature, they would leave the host’s body and complete their hatching process.
If that was the case, then the four girls had unknowingly become the hosts for these snake embryos.
Bai Lixin first knocked on the door of room 205.
The one who opened the door was Man Man. She was wearing pajamas, a face mask on her face, and her belly was slightly swollen. She looked at Bai Lixin in confusion, “What’s up?”
Behind her, Min Min was still eating, and the room was littered with snack wrappers.
Bai Lixin lowered his long eyelashes to conceal his gaze. “It’s not about me, but something serious might be happening with you all.”
Man Man: “?”
Bai Lixin: “Call the other two girls. I’ll explain everything at once.”
Though puzzled, Man Man could see Bai Lixin meant no harm, so she followed him to knock on the door of room 207.
Suddenly, there was a crashing sound and a scream came from inside. The door was flung open, and the pale long-haired girl rushed out in panic, “Man Man, Man Man! Shen Qiu, she’s, she’s…”
Man Man pushed past her with a frown, “What’s wrong with Shen Qiu?”
Another cry of pain came from inside. Shen Qiu was lying on the floor, clutching her stomach.
Her belly had swollen even more, and you could see snake-like lines wriggling under her taut skin.
With a pale face, she called out for help, “Man Man, help me!”
Man Man’s eyes widened in horror, and she took two steps back, bumping into someone.
She turned around and found it was Min Min.
Min Min covered her mouth, her face pale with fear, and she stammered, “Shen… Shen Qiu, what’s wrong with her?”
Bai Lixin glanced at the four girls and said to Man Man, “Go buy some emetic medicine! Buy a lot.”
Man Man stumbled downstairs, and Bai Lixin entered the room, grabbed Shen Qiu by the neck, and shoved his hand into her throat.
Shen Qiu’s eyes widened, staring at Bai Lixin in shock.
Bai Lixin ordered sternly, “Throw it up.”
“Bleurgh!” The pressure on her throat triggered the movement of her stomach and intestines, and Shen Qiu knelt on the ground, throwing up.
As she vomited, one black snake after another wriggled out of her mouth.
Seeing the little snakes writhing on the ground, Shen Qiu’s eyes rolled back and she almost fainted.
Bai Lixin quickly pulled her up, “If you pass out now, you’re as good as dead! Throw up everything you’ve eaten, leave none behind!”
Shen Qiu fought the urge to pass out and continued vomiting.
She kept vomiting until she had no strength left, but her stomach was still slightly swollen, and faintly, something could still be seen moving under her skin.
That thing moved faster and faster, crashing around inside Shen Qiu’s stomach. Shen Qiu clutched her stomach in pain, groaning repeatedly, her face pale as paper.
The snakes on the ground soon turned into withered snake skins, sticking to the floor one by one, forming a massive black carpet.
The long-haired girl and Min Min were already scared stiff. They stood frozen at the door, pale and unmoving like two statues.
Man Man rushed back panting heavily, “I got the vomiting medicine.”
Bai Lixin: “The three of you, come in and close the door.”
Min Min subconsciously stepped back.
But in the next second, she clutched her stomach and looked down in disbelief.
Her belly was swelling visibly, growing bigger right before her eyes.
Bai Lixin urged, “Hurry and get inside. You have them in your stomach too.”
With just one sentence, Min Min dashed into the room in terror.
Bai Lixin gave Shen Qiu the vomiting medicine, and moments later, Shen Qiu started vomiting violently again.
Strangely enough, from morning till night, she’d been eating almost non-stop, yet what came out was only these little black snakes, there was no trace of food.
The other three girls saw what was happening to Shen Qiu, and realized what was happening inside their own bodies as well.
Without waiting for Bai Lixin to prompt them, the three girls scrambled to take the vomiting medicine and began vomiting violently.
Min Min was hugging the toilet as she vomited, Man Man was vomiting in the sink, and the long-haired girl was sitting on the floor, vomiting.
The room smelled bad, and black snakes crawled everywhere.
It wasn’t until they had vomited everything out that the four girls collapsed on the ground, completely drained. Their faces were as white as paper, their cheeks sunken, and they looked like they had aged several years in just an instant. There was no trace of the vibrancy they had a few days ago.
Bai Lixin Xin: “Is there any food left? Eat something to regain some strength.”
The moment they heard the word “eat”, the four girls shrank back in fear and huddled together, their eyes filled with terror.
There was an open package of biscuits on the table. Bai Lixin handed the biscuits to the short-haired girl who looked the weakest, “Eat something, it’s over now.”
The short-haired girl took the biscuit and took a bite, but immediately started vomiting.
Bai Lixin: “…”
It seemed like it would be a long time before these four girls would have any appetite for food.
Bai Lixin went down to buy them a bag of glucose powder, mixed it into water, and helped them drink it.
After they had drunk three or four glasses, about half an hour later, the four girls began to regain a bit of energy and could finally speak.
Min Min lay on the bed, “What the hell is going on? Are we cursed or something?”
Bai Lixin: “How do you know Dong Jing?”
“Dong Jing?” Min Min struggled to sit up, “Oh right, Dong Jing. It must be her doing!”
Man man: “We’re in the same club, it’s a travel-related club. Dong Jing said her hometown is a famous travel destination and invited us here, so we came.”
Min Min: “Is she sick? We have no grudge against her, why would she harm us?!”
Man Man leaned against the wall, looking up at Bai Lixin, “Is it because of the dragon meat we ate?”
Bai Lixin nodded.
Man Man’s face turned pale, “What would’ve happened if we hadn’t thrown up the snakes?”
Bai Lixin paused for two seconds, “Uh, maybe they would’ve… been born?”
“Fuck!” Min Min kicked the bedpost, “I haven’t even given birth to a kid, and now I have to give birth to snake babies? Man Man, we have to go find them and settle this!”
Man Man rolled her eyes, “You’re in their territory. How do you plan to settle things? Before you can even do anything, they’ll have us locked up.”
The short-haired girl grabbed Man Man’s wrist like it was her lifeline, “Man Man, let’s escape tonight, okay?”
Man Man sneered, “Escape? To where? There’s a sandstorm outside, the mountain is sealed off, and we’re trapped inside.”
The long-haired girl shivered, “Was this all planned by Dong Jing? Earlier, her brother kept urging us to stay the night at their house. What would’ve happened if we’d agreed? Man Man, do you think Dong Jing will come to catch us? Do you think the boss of this inn is in on this? Man Man, I’m scared.”
Man Man: “You think I’m not scared? Why are you just standing there? Call the police, tell them we’ve been kidnapped.”
The long-haired girl snapped back to her senses, scrambled to her feet, and fumbled for her phone. She dialed the police, but after a while, she hung up with a blank expression, looking at Man Man in despair, “Man Man, the police are outside the Serpent God Mountain, and the sandstorm has sealed off the mountain. The police can’t get in.”
“Fuck.” The short-haired girl cursed, “Dong Jing planned this to trap us here.”
