Bai Lixin: “What about the strange occurrences you mentioned? The room upstairs, that’s the room my sister stayed in, right? Can I take a look inside?”
The proprietress: “If you really want to see it, I can open it for you, but there’s nothing in there. It’s all been cleaned out.”
“As for the strange things, do you remember when you told me you heard something upstairs? That was one of the strange noises. In the middle of the night, people sleeping in that room would be woken up by the sound of a toilet flushing. They thought it was their roommate, but when they opened their eyes, their roommate would be lying right beside them.”
“Everyone was so scared. Rumors spread that the inn was haunted, and for about half a year, we had no customers. After we sealed that room, things settled down, and guests gradually started coming back.”
“Auntie, a pack of cigarettes, please.” A guest came downstairs to buy something, and the proprietress quickly got up to serve him.
Once the guest left with the cigarettes, Bai Lixin thanked the proprietress and returned to his room.
He didn’t wash up or rest. Instead, he changed into a set of dark clothes and slipped out of the inn.
Bai Lixin hailed a taxi and headed back to the Dong residence.
The front gate was locked, and only one room inside had its light on.
Through the window, he could see Dong Qing standing in front of a mirror, clenching his fists and sizing up his body.
Quite the narcissist.
After a while, Dong Qing seemed dissatisfied with his physique. He frowned, shook his head, and turned off the light.
Although he was in a different body now, fortunately, this body exercised regularly. Bai Lixin easily climbed over the wall into the Dong family’s courtyard.
The leftovers from dinner had been cleaned up, and the yard was now empty and spotless.
Bai Lixin didn’t hesitate long before heading toward a small locked shed nearby.
He noticed this shed when they came here for dinner before.
Though there was a strong stench coming from the large pot, the stench coming from the shed was even more overwhelming.
Using a piece of wire, Bai Lixin picked the lock and quietly slipped inside.
The stench filled every corner of the room, assaulting his senses. The smell was so overpowering that it brought tears to Bai Lixin’s eyes.
Afraid that using the flashlight would alert the enemy, Bai Lixin packed the remaining two pieces of “dragon meat” in a plastic bag to serve as a small source of light.
The golden “dragon meat” emitted a faint glow, the only source of light in the pitch-black space.
It was a storage room.
Around him, shelves were stacked with boxes.
Yellow talismans were pasted on the outside of the boxes.
Bai Lixin walked to one of the shelves and pulled out a box, only to find that the box was sealed.
He gently pried the box open, and when he saw what was inside, his scalp tingled.
The heavy box was filled with countless small, pitch-black snakes.
They looked like eels, their bodies coated in mucus, writhing and squirming inside.
The foul stench emanated from their bodies.
The small snakes seemed to sense the lid opening, writhing even more violently as they scrambled to escape.
With quick hands, Bai Lixin quickly shut the lid before they could crawl out.
He then casually opened another box with a yellow talisman.
This box was light. When he looked inside, he saw that the surface was stained with a lot of black scabby mucus, but there were no snakes.
It seemed that this box had also once held snakes, but they were gone now.
On another shelf were more boxes, but these had no talismans.
Bai Lixin walked closer and lifted the lid. It was neatly packed with “dragon meat”.
It was his first time seeing real “raw dragon meat.”
The unprocessed “dragon meat” resembled the concept of “eggs.”
At first glance, it looked like ordinary beef or lamb, with dark red meat fibers.
But upon closer inspection, there were black substances squirming within the fibers, barely noticeable because the deep red color masked the movement of the small snakes.
When illuminated, the black shadows inside the meat became clearly visible.
Bai Lixin noticed that, perhaps due to the resonance with the golden dragon meat in his hand, the squirming snake eggs suddenly increased.
They began to hit the thin red membrane rapidly, all of them aiming in his direction.
Bai Lixin tried moving the golden snake egg a little to the left, but the small snakes didn’t change direction, still ramming toward him.
He tried moving the golden snake egg to the right, but the direction of the small snakes remained unchanged.
Bai Lixin could basically confirm it now.
What drove them crazy wasn’t the golden snake egg—it was himself.
These snake eggs…
Were they thinking of getting into his body for him to hatch them?
How bold.
After closing the lid, Bai Lixin was just about to leave the room when he suddenly heard a faint sound of the door-opening from outside.
His footsteps paused, and he quickly found a place to hide.
Soon, light footsteps approached the door.
“Hmph, they said to save some,” Dong Qing’s voice came from outside. “Sneaking food and not even locking the door.”
The closed door was quietly pushed open, and a shirtless Dong Qing crept in.
He moved stealthily and didn’t turn on the light, so he obviously came here secretly.
Once inside, he went straight for the boxes with yellow talismans. Dong Qing lifted the lid and grabbed a slick, black snake from inside without fear.
The snake was held firmly by its seven-inch point, and it could only wriggle its tail helplessly.
Bai Lixin held his breath, not knowing what Dong Qing was planning.
Then Bai Lixin’s eyes widened in shock.
Dong Qing actually opened his mouth and shoved the black snake inside.
The sound of teeth crunching and bones breaking echoed through the room, making Bai Lixin’s skin crawl.
‘Well, well.’
‘Most people ate sashimi. You, however, went straight for snake sashimi.’
Dong Qing chewed the small black snake into pieces, swallowing it down with a look of satisfaction.
Bai Lixin noticed that Dong Qing’s upper body was undergoing subtle changes. His slightly sagging abs tightened, and his back grew broader.
Even his facial features seemed to become more refined.
Dong Qing patted his abs with satisfaction and turned to leave the room.
Bai Lixin heard the sound of a key preparing to lock the door and tensed up.
But then he heard Dong Qing muttering to himself.
“No, the door was open when I came in. Locking it now would be too obvious. It’s better to slip away.”
The hurried footsteps grew fainter until they disappeared, and Bai Lixin finally emerged from his hiding spot.
The light in Dong Qing’s room was on again, and Dong Qing was admiring his muscles in the mirror.
This time, he finally nodded in satisfaction and turned off the light to sleep.
Bai Lixin locked up and left quietly, just as he had come.
By the time he returned to the inn, it was already past eleven.
The boss was sleepwalking again, with the wife following along beside him.
The boss was holding a stick, swinging it left and right. It was unknown what dream he was having this time.
After exchanging a silent greeting with the proprietress, Bai Lixin turned and went back to his room.
By the time he finished washing up, it was already past midnight.
He waited for a while, but even as he drifted off to sleep, he didn’t hear any strange noises from above.
However, in the middle of the night, he was suddenly awakened by a commotion.
The sound of water flushing filled the bathroom, echoing in Bai Lixin’s head.
He opened his eyes and subconsciously turned on the light.
The switch clicked, but no light came on. It was unclear if the power was out or if the bulb had burned out.
He didn’t dwell on it for long, getting up to head to the bathroom.
The bathroom door was slightly ajar, a faint white light spilled out through the crack.
Bai Lixin cautiously pushed the door open. The narrow bathroom was small, and he could take it all in at a glance.
There was no one in the bathroom, but the water in the toilet was still swirling on its own.
Blood-red words appeared on the glass again. This time, they read:
—Don’t believe!
The face in the mirror was even more arrogant than before. This time, instead of trying to startle Bai Lixin, it revealed a sinister, eerie smile from the start.
The face in the mirror had eyes as gloomy as a demon’s. As Bai Lixin stared at it, the head slowly elongated and actually emerged from the mirror.
The neck grew longer and longer, and it was coming toward Bai Lixin.
Bai Lixin tried to step back, but it was as if his body was nailed to the spot, unable to move.
The neck coiled around Bai Lixin’s body like a snake, and the face, which looked just like Su Zhen, let out a terrifying cackling laugh.
That face was right in front of Bai Lixin’s, its eyes now golden vertical pupils like a snake’s. A red snake tongue flicked out of its mouth.
With the eerie “hiss hiss hiss” sound, the snake tongue brushed against Bai Lixin’s cheek.
He heard the voice call his name.
“Bai Lixin.”
“You are the snake queen I have chosen.”
“Obey my call and come to me. You will give birth to the finest offspring for me forever and endlessly.”
“Hiss hiss hiss—”
……
Bai Lixin slowly woke up. It was already dawn outside.
His left arm ached faintly. He lifted his arm and found that, at some point, a coiled black snake pattern had appeared on his wrist.
The black snake coiled around his arm several times, its head on his upper arm, its tail on his wrist. The tail extended outward, wrapping around his middle finger and forming a loop that resembled a ring.
How arrogant where’s the ML? Lol