The snake scales covering Sui Lin’s tail scraped against the wooden floor as she crawled to the door of Yu Ying’s room. She easily turned the lock and slipped inside.
The room was saturated with her mother’s scent. Sui Lin noticed the little snake sleeping on the bedsheets; she flicked her index finger to pick up the small snake, threw it into a box, and locked it.
Sui Lin chose a record she liked and placed it on the vintage gramophone. She pulled the curtains shut, and the room plunged into darkness.
She preferred a dark, damp environment; it made her feel more pleasurable.
The mother’s scent filled every corner of the room, with the strongest fragrance emanating from Yu Ying’s wardrobe.
Sui Lin pushed open the wardrobe. She heard the little snake in the box emitting hissing warning sounds. She slapped the box with her thick, muscular snake tail to intimidate the hatchling.
The little snake had merely been taking a nap. Waking up to find her mother gone and herself locked in a box, she bit down on the wood. However, the wood was too sturdy, and she was far too weak; she could not bite through it.
The air in the box grew thinner and thinner. The little snake lay there limply, having no strength left to resist. She closed her eyelids, subconsciously wanting to fall asleep.
Resting her head against her tail, the little snake wondered: Will I ever see Mother again?
Without the little snake’s disturbance, Sui Lin’s mood improved significantly. She crawled into Yu Ying’s wardrobe, clutching Yu Ying’s intimate apparel to her chest, pressing her nose close to the garments, greedily inhaling the scent.
Her upper body was inside the wardrobe, but her snake tail could not fit; it could only coil on the floor. A flush rose to her cheeks, and she bit her red lips gently, extending her fingers toward the abdomen of her snake tail.
A female snake has only one cloaca.
Even a hint of the scent was enough to make Sui Lin lose herself in delirium, let alone being currently immersed in a wardrobe overflowing with her mother’s aroma.
Her reason and her lust fought against each other; in the end, lust occupied her brain. With her fingers wrapped in Yu Ying’s shirt, she reached toward the abdomen of her snake tail, rubbing her cheeks against the intimate clothing to alleviate her ache.
Sui Lin closed her eyes, her silver-white eyelashes trembling slightly. A flush of lust emerged beneath her eyes as her sharp teeth bit into her lower lip.
The record’s intro was slow, accompanied by Sui Lin’s unbearable muffled moans. As the mid-section of the music swelled, Sui Lin’s body collapsed inside the wardrobe, rummaging through and messing up Yu Ying’s clothes. Her tail curled and writhed, seemingly wanting to obtain more.
As the music faded into the final movement, Sui Lin withdrew her fingers. The corner of Yu Ying’s shirt was still lodged inside the snake tail’s cloaca. Sui Lin pulled the shirt out bit by bit; it was soaked through with the unspeakable fluid discharged by the snake tail.
Sui Lin held Yu Ying’s shirt tightly in her arms. She would hide her dark side when facing her mother, but when facing fragile humans, she felt no need to conceal her true self.
Inside the room, the pheromones produced by the female snake during her estrus lingered for a long time. Sui Lin slithered out of the wardrobe, her snake tail brushing over Yu Ying’s bedsheets, leaving her own scent behind on them as well.
Sui Lin opened the empty box to release the little snake. She needed to return to her own room to sleep and had no time to clean up the disheveled room.
She gazed at the sleeping little snake with damp, dark eyes. Arrogant as she was, she did not realize at that moment that the little snake had stopped breathing…
Sui Lin swayed her tail as she walked out of the room. The scales on her tail still had that shirt of Yu Ying’s hanging from them. As she appeared on camera, her expression was filled with satisfaction, and she extended her snake tongue to lick the sticky fluid off her fingers.
Her scent mixed with her mother’s scent—how sweet.
The snake left, satisfied, unaware that the romance variety show’s live chat room was in a frenzy.
【I declare that Teacher Sui Lin is the true definition of a “snake-person.”】
【Look! The shirt on the floor is soaking wet. Did Teacher Sui Lin really use her wife’s clothes to handle herself?!】
【It’s all wet. Is this something I can see for free?】
【Pick it up! What if Yu Ying sees it when she gets back?!】
Blackwater Town is located near Blackwater Island. It is both a small town and an island. Although it was fully morning, the sky over the island remained overcast, with a strange, eerie atmosphere shrouding these waters.
Ferries depart from the passenger port at 9:00 AM and 4:00 PM daily. If you miss the ferry, you have to wait for the next one.
“We’re so lucky to have caught it just in time,” Yu Mianmian said, stepping onto the ferry’s metal ramp. The sea breeze blew through her light blue hair, and her pale blue eyes looked toward Yu Ying, as beautiful as a daughter of the sea.
Yu Ying stared blankly at Yu Mianmian’s eyes, captivated by them. She walked onto the ramp to head to the special-class cabin with Yu Mianmian.
The special-class cabin was not much more comfortable; the cramped space emitted a fishy stench. It seemed as though the kitchen was slaughtering live fish; Yu Ying heard the sound of blades scraping scales, followed by them hacking into fish heads.
Yu Ying recalled her first experience killing a fish. Her mother had tossed a live fish to her—it weighed a full ten pounds.
People who live by the sea must know how to make a living. Yu Ying had raised the knife, scraped the scales, and mimicked her mother in hacking off the head.
She could never forget the memory of killing fish as a child. Even after being decapitated, the fish head would still jump around, splashing blood onto her face. The combination of the fishy stench and the smell of blood was truly nauseating.
Acid rose in Yu Ying’s stomach, making her want to vomit. She dry-heaved into the trash can.
“Excuse me for a moment,” Yu Ying said. She walked to the restroom and turned on the faucet, cupping cool water in her hands and splashing it onto her face.
She leaned her hands on the sink and raised her eyes to look at her reflection in the mirror. Suddenly, a bizarre, decapitated fish head appeared in the mirror. Blood poured from the severed neck, and the fish’s bulging eyes stared fixedly at Yu Ying.
Strange sounds filled Yu Ying’s ears:
‘You are one of us.’
‘Why do you help humans? Why do you slaughter your own kind!’
‘You monster, you monster, you monster.’
Yu Ying braced herself against the edge of the sink. A shrill ringing filled her ears. In her eyes, the flowing water turned into blood; the blood spread across her chest, attempting to drown and consume her.
BANG! The mirror in front of Yu Ying shattered, hitting the floor with a loud noise. The falling fragments revealed countless fish heads.
Yu Ying acted as if nothing had happened. Her high heel stepped on one of the glass shards, and with a light crush, the fragment turned into powder.
The bizarre fish head within the glass fragment turned into a mist of blood under her foot, the bulging eyes exploding into paste.
These damn strange monsters always came to disturb her peaceful life. She was just a fragile human.
Yu Ying suppressed the black mist rising in her pupils, staring at the broken mirror.
She was just a fragile human…
“Ma’am, Ma’am, are you alright? Did the glass cut you?” The attendant heard the noise and rushed to the women’s restroom, asking about the situation.
“Sister Yu Ying, are you hurt?” Yu Mianmian grabbed Yu Ying’s arm and saw that it had been scratched by a glass fragment, small beads of blood oozing from the slender wound.
“It’s fine, just a small scratch.” Yu Ying walked to her seat and took a black card from her wallet. “Where do I pay? I broke the mirror.”
The attendant led Yu Ying to the front desk to pay for the damages. Yu Mianmian remained at the entrance of the women’s restroom. She walked toward the shattered glass and smelled a foul odor coming from the strange fish heads.
Yu Mianmian could be certain that Yu Ying had just been targeted by a “Strange.” Humans targeted by fish-head Stranges are usually eaten, but these disgusting things liked to bite off people’s heads—a very grotesque way of feeding.
She had torn the game space apart only to find her mother; she did not want Yu Ying to die at the hands of a Strange. That was why she had rushed to Yu Ying’s side the moment she sensed another Strange object.
How had Yu Ying managed to evade the fish-head Strange? Was she a human with supernatural abilities?
Yu Ying finished handling the emergency and stepped up the stairs into the special-class cabin. Yu Mianmian looked toward the stairwell. Yu Ying was wearing a qipao with blue-and-white porcelain embroidery. Her pace was slow and calm, as if she had merely broken an ordinary mirror.
“Why are you still standing there like a fool?” The wound on Yu Ying’s arm had been tended to, covered by a cartoon adhesive bandage that didn’t quite match her temperament.
“I was worried about you,” Yu Mianmian blurted out, making no secret of her concern for Yu Ying.
Yu Ying sat back down gracefully. Yu Mianmian remained seated opposite her, never taking her eyes off Yu Ying, trying to find a single clue that would prove Yu Ying was a supernatural user.
“Mianmian, is there something dirty on my face?” Yu Ying picked up her coffee cup, took a sip, and looked directly at Yu Mianmian.
“No, there is nothing dirty on your face.” Yu Mianmian pretended to be shy and lowered her head, her fingers tightly intertwined, like a teenage girl blushing.
Yu Mianmian picked up her own coffee to distract herself and took a large gulp of the bitter brew. She hadn’t expected human-made things to be this bad! She frowned tightly as she swallowed it.
【Mianmian, I understand you; it is natural to fall in love with your mother.】
【The little sister is so cute, her face turning red so fast after being discovered by Yu Ying. I’m shipping sexy mom and cute little sister.】
【A certain damp, clammy snake is watching you two from the castle, insanely jealous.】
【Haha, everyone knows we’re talking about Teacher Sui Lin now!】
Yu Mianmian had drunk too quickly and choked on the bitter coffee, coughing violently with a bright red face as she patted her chest.
“Pull on your ears.”
Yu Mianmian didn’t hear what Yu Ying said.
“Like this.” Yu Ying stood up, leaned over toward Yu Mianmian, tucked a lock of her long hair behind her ear with her fingers, and gently tugged on her earlobe.
Yu Mianmian went stiff with tension, her hands half-clenched on her lap. She looked up at Yu Ying’s eyes, which were soft like water.
For a moment, she was dazed, feeling as if her mother were standing right before her—her mother gently asking her if she was okay, using her fingertips to softly rub her earlobe.
“Do you feel better?”
It was strange; Yu Mianmian felt much better, and the coughing had stopped. She pinched her own burning earlobe, covered it hurriedly with her long hair, and looked elsewhere.
“Sister Yu Ying.”
“I know how to read palms. Do you want me to help you check your marriage line?” Yu Mianmian began to probe whether Yu Ying was a supernatural user.
Yu Ying extended her hand, laying her palm open on the table. Yu Mianmian’s fingertips traced every line on Yu Ying’s palm.
Supernatural users and Stranges are mutually reinforcing and antagonistic. Stranges can see the color of a supernatural user’s palm lines, with different colors corresponding to different abilities. However, Yu Ying’s palm looked just like any ordinary person’s; there was nothing unusual about it.
“Are you done?”
“I’m just a beginner; this is my first time reading for someone.” Yu Mianmian hadn’t seen anything at all and began to ramble aimlessly. “Your marriage line is excellent; surely many people must love you.”
【Hahaha, just say you want to touch Mother’s hand; you don’t need such a clumsy excuse.】
【Even if I were trying to be difficult, I couldn’t come up with a line that bad.】
Yu Ying rested her chin on her hand, her fingers rubbing her temple. The fishy stench was not only nauseating her but also causing a headache.
“Sister, do you have a headache?” Yu Mianmian didn’t give up on testing Yu Ying.
“I’ve learned a massage technique. Do you want me to help you massage it?”
Yu Ying was not a supernatural user; she could only be a Strange object disguised as a human, like herself. Strange objects like to call human bodies “shells.” They can turn into humans, but they prefer their own true, monstrous forms.
Every S-class Strange has a slit behind their neck, allowing them to crawl out of their shell.
Yu Mianmian stood behind Yu Ying, pretending to massage her temples, while her gaze fell on the nape of Yu Ying’s neck, trying to find that telltale crack.
There was nothing. Yu Ying was not a Strange object. She had no strange power and no supernatural abilities. What had she relied on to protect herself just now? Could Yu Ying’s luck really be that good?
Yu Ying closed her eyes, enjoying the sensation. Yu Mianmian’s fingers were cold, providing a natural cooling effect, and her strength was neither too light nor too heavy—it was just right.
Yu Ying opened her eyes abruptly and met the gaze of Yu Mianmian, who was sneaking a look at her. Yu Mianmian hurriedly looked away.
“It’s done.” Yu Mianmian sat back in her seat, propping her face up with her hands and staring out the ferry window, letting her mind wander. She had been too eager; would Sister Yu Ying think she liked her?
She couldn’t continue like this; she couldn’t keep fawning over Yu Ying. The person she liked, the person she adored, the person whose body she wanted to offer herself to, was always one person.
That person could only be her mother.
“We’ve arrived.”
The ferry pulled into the port and stopped. Yu Ying picked up her vintage handbag and walked in front. She did not know what was on Yu Mianmian’s mind, and she couldn’t be bothered to guess.
However, she was quite satisfied with her own performance just now—successfully hiding her identity and fooling Yu Mianmian.
She was just a fragile human.