Chapter 12: The Blood Python's Tongue

  When I lost the last mobile phone card that had contact with Zhou Mo, I knew at this moment, Zhuo Fan was dead.

  Now I'm just a key that needs to complete the family mission, as for whether this key can open that lock? It depends on whether the quality of the lock and key is up to par!

  I don't know, but I'm sure that from now on, my life will no longer have anything to do with Zhuo Fan. Thinking of Zhou Mei's appearance, wearing a wedding dress, this was once the thing I longed for most, but the protagonist at this moment has nothing to do with me. Today's events made me feel extremely exhausted, like a zombie whose body had been drained of all energy, dragging my heavy body, I went straight back to my room without speaking to anyone, probably because my gloomy expression also made others avoid me. I lay down on the feather bed and soon fell fast asleep.

  Perhaps at this moment, only dreams can slightly release my heart.

  I am an ostrich who is used to sticking my butt up when I'm sad, burying my head in the sand and hiding.

  I lay on the soft down quilt and soon fell asleep, whether it was too tired or too comfortable.

  I was suddenly awakened by the sound of wailing, and I couldn't describe the feeling that echoed in my ears at that moment. It was as if tens of thousands of people were simultaneously letting out a loud groan due to pain, or it was like the intersection of people's screams and howls when a disaster occurred. In short, listening to it made one feel suffocated, with their intestines churning and their hair standing on end, giving rise to an inexplicable sense of fear.

  I opened my eyes, looked around, and found that everything in front of me was pitch black, as if the world had suddenly turned off the lights. I don't know how long it took, but after a while, my eyes seemed to adapt to the darkness, and there was a feeling like a big curtain slowly opening, but it was still hazy, like a thick layer of frosted glass in front of me. I slowly opened my eyes wider, taking stock of my surroundings, wondering what had happened at that moment.

  It's clear that I'm in an unfamiliar place, a place with an inexplicable eerie atmosphere. The sky is a dull gray, my vision is blurry, and there's no sign of sunlight anywhere. Above me, there's neither sunshine nor clouds, just a barren expanse like a newly laid egg on a plate. A thick haze envelops the disaster-stricken area, and after searching every pocket, I still can't find a mask. I have a strong feeling that I'm doing my nose and throat an injustice.

  This faint, lingering light left me with no sense of time or space. The gusts of cold wind blowing against my body made me feel a chill I had never experienced before, as if it was directly entering my body. It instantly gave rise to many goosebumps fighting back, but the battle was clearly in vain. My body involuntarily shivered with cold, and I felt like I was running naked in the icy snow. What's more ridiculous is that I was wearing the pajamas my mother had just sent me, and the lace patterns on them made me feel a bit embarrassed.

  I kept rubbing my legs, and as my eyes slowly adapted, I gradually made out that what was in front of me was a river flowing by. Since there's no distinction between rivers and streams, it looked quite wide anyway, so let's just call it a river!

  The other side of the river was a mess, I don't know if it's because of this smog. As the icy wind blowing over the river surface came, it brought a wave of stinky air, like something had highly decayed and gone bad, which belonged to severe foul odor.

  I had originally planned to breathe through my nose to filter the air, but now I can only pinch my nose and breathe through my mouth, this numbness. I saw the river water presenting a strange blood red color, like boiling water, churning and rolling, waves of pungent and foul-smelling gas spreading in the air, looking at this surging red water, I suddenly felt a kind of inexplicable fear, always feeling that there was something inside.

  I inched closer to the water's edge, staring intently at the river surface. I wouldn't have known if I hadn't looked, but one glance gave me a fright. With the rolling waves, many white human skeletons were washed up, and as far as the eye could see, they were densely packed, like a bone river or a pot of bone soup.

  Perhaps it was because the soaking time was too long, those bones also turned red. As the chrysanthemum behind me tightened, I involuntarily retreated a few steps. The entire space was quiet, leaving only the sound of rushing water, which made people feel chilled to the bone. Is this not the Ten Thousand People Pit? Was I kidnapped by some pervert?

  Just as I was hesitating, I heard a splashing sound coming from the bridge, accompanied by a large amount of crimson water splashing up, as if something had been thrown into the river. This was followed by an eerie screeching sound, like fingernails scratching against iron, which gradually grew louder and became a blood-curdling scream, similar to the squealing of pigs being slaughtered.

  Suddenly I was drenched in sweat!

  I crouched down, moving slowly forward in a crawling position towards the riverbank. It was only then that I realized how necessary our military training in university had been. I wanted to see what was happening clearly, and after a while, the water gradually returned to its original state. Just as I was about to calm down, there was suddenly a sharp cry, and large amounts of bubbles and water columns began to emerge from the center of the river. I saw many arms sticking out of the water, human arms, dry and emaciated arms, struggling for help in the water. It seemed that the voices I had just heard were those of these people who had fallen into the water.

  I was hesitating whether to go forward and rescue the righteous when I saw a large amount of water splashing in the river, accompanied by the sound of something being torn apart. Red blood spattered in the air, along with many pieces of flesh, tendons, and other bloody things, like a red waterfall, shocking and terrifying to behold.

  On the river surface, numerous arms protruding from the water were struggling desperately, with increasing frequency, as if something was pulling and biting them in the water. Even more eerily, the arms protruding from the water seemed to be dissolving gradually, with white bones appearing amidst the crimson, accompanied by intermittent, ear-piercing screams or wailing sounds that made me sweat profusely.

  As I gazed at the crimson, churning water and the chunks of flesh floating beside my arm, I felt a chill run down my spine. Before long, as the struggling gradually subsided, numerous white bones began to drift to the surface of the river. Along with the water splashing against the shore were what seemed like many fragments of flesh and hair. At a glance, I hastily bent down and started vomiting violently, my stomach churning incessantly, possibly due to having eaten nothing beforehand, as bitter water repeatedly welled up in my mouth.

  At this time, I saw that there seemed to be a person escaping from the river bank. I was about to go forward and lend a hand, and also ask what place this was and what had happened.

  Who would have thought that it's nothing serious if you don't look, but once you take a look, it's a matter of life and death!

  As the man turned around, half of his body had been torn apart, leaving only a skeleton with internal organs hanging from it. The red and white things I guessed were probably cartilage, which could be pulled off to reveal the bones connected to the meat! After that, I never ate kebabs again, too disgusting!

  This scene is too beautiful, I dare not look!

  My body froze in place, afraid to move again, fearing being silenced at the crime scene. My legs trembled involuntarily, with a slightly dark rhythm.

  Just as I was hesitating, the sound of thunder and lightning came from my ears, crackling like a burst of firecrackers, the river surface began to surge violently, as if something huge and misty was about to leap out of the water. With a loud crash, the water's surface erupted into a massive wall of water, forming a magnificent waterfall-like spectacle! Suddenly appearing in the river, it was a majestic sight.

  This damn thing's constant startling rhythm is really stimulating to no end.

  Accompanied by a thick, pungent mist, I suddenly saw a monster emerge from the river, its head poking out. First, a single horn protruded from its forehead, followed by a snake-like head that slid smoothly out of the water. In an instant, it broke through the surface tension and emerged, revealing a stout, serpentine body covered in thick, reddish-brown scales, like a giant python. As it rose higher and higher, it suddenly leapt out of the water, and I finally got a clear look at this enormous creature. Its head was like a camel's, its single horn like a deer's, its eyes like a rabbit's, its ears like a cow's, its belly like a tortoise's, its scales like a carp's, its claws like an eagle's, its paws like a tiger's, and its body like a giant python, stretching over ten meters in length.

  An idea suddenly flashed into my mind like a bolt of lightning: "Damn, it's not a dragon, but a red-blooded Jiao." The thing in front of me was actually the legendary Jiao. As soon as this thought emerged in my brain, I instantly turned into a limp noodle. This legendary creature was at most three or four meters long, but the thing in front of me was at least over ten meters long, with a red glow flashing all over its body, extremely terrifying.

  The whole body was covered in dark brown scales that shone with a cold, metallic luster, like polished leather. Each scale was as big as a fist, and the body was as thick as a water barrel. The tail had hard, fleshy spines at the end, and the claws that protruded from it reflected a metallic sheen. One claw alone was as big as a washbasin. As I watched, this creature leapt up and opened its massive jaws to swallow whole the people who were still struggling on the surface of the water. It didn't even chew, just swallowed them down in one gulp. The sight made my whole body feel numb, and I wanted to run, but my legs seemed rooted to the spot. I hoped that this monster couldn't see me, but Murphy's Law told me that it was now flying straight for me. Even though it was still several meters away, I could smell the stench of its breath, which reeked of strong foot odor.

  The smell of death turned out to be foot odor! Unfortunately, I found out too late!

  At this time, my upper limbs were swinging at a rate of 100 meters per second, while my lower body was motionless, as if it had been cast with a petrifying spell. When the thing finally approached me from above and to the side of my head, I saw a flash of red light, and then its head appeared in front of me, staring at me fixedly. Since I've been afraid of snakes since childhood, seeing such a huge one appear before my eyes made me want to faint, but instead I became even more alert. Alas, heaven is not always benevolent! So I violently bumped my head against the ground, trying to knock myself unconscious, so that at least I wouldn't feel any pain when bitten!

  The blood python's two nostrils were panting heavily, the airflow between each breath making me unsteady on my feet, hot and scorching like a sauna. With a roar accompanied by a rolling stench, the dragon head rushed towards me rapidly, don't ask what I was thinking at that moment, it was all blank!

  Who would have thought that this thing suddenly stopped like an emergency brake right in front of me, its braking system is so fierce that it's breathtaking. I was staring at my impending doom, thinking about my illustrious family and wanting to pretend to be tough but lacking the guts, I puffed out my chest and knelt down with a thud. It wasn't because I was scared, but because I've been calcium deficient since childhood, so I knelt down.

  That was a humiliating episode in my otherwise bold life, but I later caught an opportunity to vent my anger and got revenge, which is another story to be told later.

  No matter what, I knelt down by the river Naihe, facing a fat and stout blood python!

  Who would have thought that the blood python opened its big mouth, just as I was about to close my eyes, and surprisingly stretched out a huge tongue to lick my face. The flesh felt scorching hot with a hint of elasticity, the force contained moisture, and the drool flowing down like a basin of hot water poured over my head, both stinky and scalding, releasing an unprecedented foul odor!

  It seems that I won't be able to escape this calamity after all. This guy looks at me as if I'm too delicious and can't bear to swallow me in one gulp. I lie down on the ground with a flourish, forming a "too" character shape, and chant, "I stick to the earth and laugh at the sky, my liver and kidneys still intact!" A heroic and passionate male image!

  When I was waiting anxiously, I squinted my eyes and secretly sucked on that blood python! It's strange to find out that after licking me, the guy actually twitched his mouth a few times, looking like he was smiling. Is this guy flirting with me? This is literally the most perfect explanation of the two words "drooling". Is this guy drooling over my beauty? Is this blood python male or female? Alas, blood python, give me a quick and painless one!

  At the moment I was stunned, this blood python suddenly made a loud noise and returned to the water, splashing up a huge amount of water that would have sent a diving judge straight into the ICU. As I watched it swim away with a flirtatious glance, it vanished from sight. At that time, all I could think about was what did it mean? Was it disdainful of my unwashed state? But its stench was clearly more pungent than mine! Luckily, I had narrowly escaped disaster and managed to salvage my life. It was only then that I realized I had lost bladder control. After checking around to make sure no one had seen me, I stood up, facing the wind, shaking my crotch in an attempt to dry off quickly.