Against All Odds (China)

  Damn it, I cursed under my breath. This guy's heroic complex has struck again! If the timing wasn't wrong, I'd really want to use something to pry open his brain and see what's inside. Can I just abandon him and escape on my own at a time like this?

  He turned back, grabbed Lu Xun's collar and pulled him up. He was caught by the long-haired monster on his shoulder. When he lowered his head, he met the green eyes of the long-haired monster. For a moment, I was stunned, but quickly reacted, chopping my hand knife towards its wrist, it let go in pain.

  At this time, he finally stopped being stubborn and cooperated with me to use his hands to push against the stone walls on both sides. With my pulling force, he was instantly pulled away from the long-haired monster's body and pushed towards my back. Just as I was about to turn around and retreat, my waist was suddenly caught, and a furry long arm tightly wrapped around me. Moreover, it was dragging me rapidly backwards.

  "Xiao Jiu!" Lu Xun shouted in surprise, but in the blink of an eye, I was already ten meters away from him. He reacted quickly and chased after me, but all he felt was something brushing past his feet. When he lowered his eyes, he saw a black snake with a triangular head darting forward from beside my feet. Instinctively, he shouted: "Be careful of the snake!"

  But Luchu seemed not to have heard, and continued to charge forward in a straight line. The snake, with its neck raised about half a meter high, was ready to attack at any moment, its mouth open wide. This scene made my heart leap into my throat. Just as they were about to collide head-on, Luchu suddenly pulled out a long knife from who-knows-where, which was just the right length for this situation. With one swift motion, he swung the knife horizontally towards the snake's neck, but the snake was agile and twisted its neck, causing the blade to graze past its head.

  In the blink of an eye, he continued to draw his knife and stab again, but was entwined by the black snake, which quickly coiled around the blade. If it were a thin snake, Lucheng could still use force to shake it off, but with its arm as thick as it was, the knife was wrapped in one roll, forming a force that resisted it. Just as the snake's head was about to wrap around his hand holding the hilt, suddenly the entire snake body fell to the ground, accompanied by a metallic sound.

  It wasn't until now that he realized Lu Xun's knife was a spring-loaded retractable blade, and at this moment, all that was left in his hand was the handle, with the entire blade retracted into it. No wonder he hadn't seen him pull out such a long knife and hide it on his body before. It seemed that the switch to extend or retract the blade was right in his hand, and in the instant the snake landed, he once again extended the blade and stabbed down viciously, striking the black snake at its seventh inch. Apparently, he deeply understood the principle of "hacking a snake at seven inches".

  The snake's body was constantly twisting and moving, but the snake's head seven inches away was nailed to the ground one after another, and in the end, the black snake did not escape its doomed fate.

  I let out a long sigh, looking at Lucheng with a complex expression, it seems that I have been constantly underestimating him and getting slapped in the face by reality to wake up, without three or two, how dare I not know life and death and fight hard with a poisonous snake.

  Suddenly, a faint rustling sound came from behind my ear. It was really light, but the sound wave was enough to reach my eardrum. Then I heard the hissing sound coming from all around. Lu Xun, who had originally wanted to rush up and save me, also heard the commotion and lifted his head at the same time as me, looking pale.

  On the stone walls on both sides of our heads, there were many small holes, and a thin snake poked its head out from each hole. By looking at the shape and color of the snake's head, we knew it was the same type as the black-skinned snake. Its body was smaller than that one, but there were many more of them. It was very likely that these small snakes were the offspring of the black-skinned snake. What was even scarier was that those small snakes were crawling down along the stone walls, and each hole contained not just one snake. Not only where we were standing, but also behind us, snakes were slithering about.

  Unfortunately, we have realized one thing - we've entered a snake's lair!

  I had an even worse idea in my mind, what if the one being nailed to the ground was a male snake, then these black snakes would definitely have a mother snake nearby. In the world of snakes, females are superior to males and may be larger in size. If we were to lure out this mother snake, then Lu Xun and I would be waiting to be buried in the belly of the snake today.

  "You're actually human, aren't you?"

  Lu Xun stared at me blankly, surrounded by the black snakes in front of him. "Xiao Jiu, are you asking me?" I had an urge to roll my eyes, did he think I was talking to a non-human? Of course, I was referring to... the long-haired monster that was holding me captive from behind without attacking me.

  She slightly turned her head, and her line of sight met the green pupils of the long-haired monster. She made another inference: "You can understand what we're saying, right?" The long-haired monster didn't react, but it stopped making sounds with its mouth and stared at me motionlessly. Being so close to it, the stench on its body wafted up to my nose, and I was grateful that I wasn't a Virgo with some kind of cleanliness obsession, or else I probably wouldn't have been able to bear it.

  So, despite its terrifying appearance, foul smell and great danger, I still have no choice but to try to get its skin.

  "Let's make a deal, you let those snakes retreat first, okay?"

  The long-haired monster didn't react, but Luchu behind him asked in surprise: "Xiaojiu, have you gone crazy? You're actually communicating with it in human language! You say it's a person, how is that possible?" I growled angrily: "Luchu, shut up!"

  How is this possible? I also want to ask, even I myself was shocked by such a ridiculous guess. But just at that moment, when I heard the sound wave coming from behind me, which made the black snake move, I suddenly felt that this long-haired monster, which had always been unable to be judged as what kind of creature, might actually be human. Even if it can't be explained why there are so many hairs on its body and face, why its eyes are green, it stands upright like a human, its movements are even more agile than humans, etc., but there is only one point that makes me feel impossible to appear in animals, that is intelligence.

  Most animals in the world, as clever as monkeys, are not capable of setting up layers and luring people into traps. But just now, I suspected that it actually understood human language, not only could hear but also understand the secret eye contact between me and Luchu. It can even grasp the frequency of snakes and control them. Which animal is so intelligent?

  Assuming it's not human, but some kind of unknown animal, then at least it can understand human language and that would be relatively better. Generally, animals attack when their territory is invaded by other species to defend their sovereignty.

  I slowed down my tone and spoke slowly, word by word: "We don't want to hurt you, entering your territory was just a coincidence. First, let the snakes retreat, and we can discuss things properly." Although the long-haired monster's eyes staring at me didn't move, its long arms wrapped around its waist relaxed slightly. I didn't urge it again, giving it space to think.

  At this time, Lü Su finally stopped making noise. With a long knife across his chest, even though he was surrounded by snakes on all sides, his eyes were still tightly focused on me.

  A puff of foul air blew across my face, and at the same time, another sharp sound arose, the rustling sound echoed around again. Miraculously, all the small snakes slid back along the original path to the stone wall and then swam back into the small hole.

  It confirmed my judgment, the long-haired monster was indeed able to understand human language, and it also accepted my negotiation. But after all the snakes retreated, its waist suddenly tightened, and it dragged me in again.

  "Stop right there!"

  I only felt the long-haired monster raised its hand and threw something out, making a crashing sound against the stone wall. It turned out that it was a stone block crushed by its huge palm. In the continuous moment of using my elbow to block, a beast-like howl came from beside my ear, scaring me badly. I stared at it with wide eyes, it was the howl of a wolf! It actually learned to imitate the call of a wolf. My mind cleared instantly, no wonder its eyes would glow green, in the dark, only wolves' eyes are green.

  So, is it a werewolf? The idea had just come out and was immediately overturned by me. Werewolves are all fictional and fabricated, and such bizarre things as transforming at midnight are simply impossible. But I knew that in many places, there were stories about wolf children, could the hairy monster be a product of this kind of situation?

  The long-haired monster's roar was meant to shock and stop Lucheng from chasing after him, but I was being held in its grasp, and Lucheng couldn't help but continue the chase. As I was being dragged along, I kept thinking about whether or not to attack it. If I did, the fragile peace we had just established would be broken. At times, I could hear it letting out a low, angry growl by my ear, clearly showing that Lucheng's pursuit had driven it into a frenzied state.

  I clenched my fist, deciding to wait and see how things developed. Provoking the long-haired monster at this time was very disadvantageous for me, and I also didn't have the confidence to knock it down. To be honest, its brutal strength grasping my waist was extremely heavy, pinching me in a lot of pain.

  I was dragged for a long distance, and although they were hot on my heels, the unfamiliar terrain hindered their pursuit, and they couldn't catch up. Suddenly I was lifted into mid-air, and with a flip, I was flung into a confined space. The long arm that had been restraining me at the waist finally loosened its grip. It was pitch black, and I couldn't see my fingers even if I stretched out my hand. I didn't know where the hairy monster was either. Judging from my senses, this space wasn't small. Listening carefully to the sounds around me, it seemed like there were fighting noises coming from somewhere, but they weren't close by.

  I pulled out the flashlight from my pocket, turned it on, and found that the place was so dark that the light seemed to be swallowed up immediately. Only a small beam of light shone out, which also proved that the space here was indeed large. Following the source of the sound, I shone the light over there, and soon discovered the entrance. It turned out that there was a hole there, and I had been thrown in from there earlier, meaning that after the long-haired monster threw me into this pit, it went back to deal with Lusu?

  No time to observe the surrounding terrain, wanting to move towards the cave entrance, but kicked something while moving his feet, and stumbled and fell heavily to the ground, but didn't feel any pain, because under him was a soft and thick blanket.

  The flashlight rolled to my feet, and just as I was about to pick it up, my whole body suddenly froze.

  The faint light of the flashlight barely illuminated something within its range, and it just so happened to be... a human leg.