Yu Ying looked back and saw Sui Lin standing in the shadows. Sui Lin was wearing a thin nightgown, her silver hair draped over her shoulders, her silver-white eyelashes trembling slightly, and her blood-red eyes fixed intently on her.
“Xiao Xue has disappeared,” Yu Ying replied to Sui Lin, then opened her umbrella and rushed into the darkness first.
At four in the afternoon, the sky was already completely dark, heavy and oppressive, as rain mixed with a sour stench began to fall.
Sui Lin raised a black umbrella and followed Yu Ying out of the ancient castle. “I’ll go with you.” She was sensitive to scents and could help Yu Ying find that stinky snake.
After stepping out of the castle, Sui Lin felt a twinge of regret. She must have gone insane; she felt an inexplicable heartache whenever she saw Yu Ying frown. To help Yu Ying find the little snake, she had actually walked out of the castle with her.
Damn it, she should have been taking a beauty sleep at this hour. Snakes were very particular about their appearance, and she had hoped to seduce Mother with her beauty.
Sui Lin really had gone mad. After leaving, she stopped questioning Yu Ying. Having walked for half the day, she realized something was wrong. She sensed a strange aura nearby and gripped Yu Ying’s wrist. “Don’t go in.”
“Xiao Xue is inside.” Yu Ying did not want to drag Teacher Sui Lin into danger. She did not know what might happen in the forest or if they would see those monsters again.
“You stay here and wait for me.” Yu Ying lifted the “No Entry” tape and walked into the forest, her flashlight emitting a dim light. She could only rely on the strange voice deep within her heart to guide the way.
“I’ll go with you to find it.” Sui Lin hated all rules and regulations. In her view, the “No Entry” tape was a rule made by humans. She tore the tape apart with her thick snake tail and swung it as she walked into the forest.
Yu Ying swept her flashlight over Sui Lin’s face. The cold, pale cheeks and red eyes gave her a start, and she stepped aside, clutching her chest.
Sui Lin saw that Yu Ying was afraid.
Humans are so troublesome.
“Hold onto me,” Sui Lin reached out her palm.
Thinking that Teacher Sui Lin was afraid, Yu Ying took the initiative to hold Sui Lin’s ice-cold hand.
“It’s just a snake; if it’s lost, just buy another one.” Sui Lin couldn’t bear to see Yu Ying’s face full of worry; it stung like a needle in her heart.
She spoke unhurriedly, though her words betrayed her envy of the little snake—envy that the snake was cherished by Mother. “It’s one thing to cook for it yourself, but you have to go out and look for it personally when it gets lost.”
Just to make the snake feel envious, jealous, and hateful.
Sui Lin thought of Mother again. She was short-tempered and possessive. Once, when she saw Mother interacting with other snakes, she was so angry that her liver ached, so she refused to eat and ran away from home. When Mother found her, she didn’t hit her; she just held her in her arms. She still remembered the warmth of Mother’s embrace to this day.
“To me, Xiao Xue isn’t just a pet snake; she is my family.” This was the first time Yu Ying had spoken to Sui Lin about Xiao Xue. “When I found her, she was covered in wounds, and her stomach was full of trash.”
Yu Ying turned to look into Sui Lin’s eyes and said earnestly, “I acted on impulse and brought her home.”
“I felt that such a tenacious life shouldn’t just die like that.”
Those were the exact same words Mother had once said to her. Sui Lin had died three times in the “Abyssal Python” dungeon. The first time, she was just a snake egg, crushed to death by people’s stones. The second time, she was a small snake, chopped in half by an axe. The third time, she was in a laboratory, and she thought she was dying, but fortunately, Mother came.
Whenever she talked about the little snake, Yu Ying had endless things to say. Sui Lin had played a snake demon before, so Yu Ying assumed Sui Lin was also an enthusiast of exotic pets.
“When Xiao Xue first came home, she had to stay in the terrarium for a long time. I was busy with work, but the first thing I did after getting off work was run home to see her. She would press herself against the glass to cuddle with me.”
At that time, Yu Ying was at a low point in her career, betrayed by friends and slandered across the internet. She couldn’t get good scripts and could only take offline commercial jobs. Her agent suggested she keep a pet to keep her company, and later, Yu Ying adopted Xiao Xue.
Rather than saying she saved Xiao Xue, it was more like Xiao Xue had saved her.
The expressions of affection from a human made Sui Lin feel repulsed. She rubbed her arms with her palms, goosebumps rising on her pale white skin.
The same name, similar experiences—she and the little snake had different “snake lives.” Mother had never expressed affection toward her; Mother’s gaze was always cold, oppressive, or aggressive. Mother always lectured her sternly.
“Careful.” Yu Ying pulled Sui Lin’s wrist and stepped back twice. She swept the flashlight across the sky, and a black crow fell rapidly, crashing at her feet.
“The rain is getting heavier.” Yu Ying reached out a fingertip to catch the rain. Just as a drop was about to land on her finger, Sui Lin dropped her umbrella, huddled under the same one with her, and gripped the handle, tilting it toward Yu Ying.
The rain falling from the sky was actually blood, but Sui Lin could not speak the truth to warn Yu Ying; she could only stay by her side, protecting her in this way.
Heaven, she actually wanted to protect a human. Mother often whispered about “love and peace” in her ear. It seemed this method of education had had some effect, causing her to develop the desire to protect a human.
The weak light of the flashlight swept across the raindrops falling outside the umbrella. It wasn’t rain falling from the gloomy sky, but beads of blood. The blood beads fell into the black petals, and the petals rapidly absorbed them.
Yu Ying looked up at the sky. The canopy of trees blocked the moonlight, and the forest fell into an eerie silence. Rows of crows hung upside down on the branches.
Hiss, hiss, hiss.
Yu Ying heard a familiar snake hiss and guessed that Xiao Xue was nearby. She shone the flashlight ahead. A broken metal shell appeared directly in front of them, with countless poisonous spiders crawling all over it, their mouthparts licking the mucus on the shell.
Hearing human footsteps, the spiders scattered and hid in the bushes. The dim beam shone into the broken metal shell, and a silver-white little snake lay coiled on the iron plate.
“Xiao Xue.” Yu Ying called out to the little snake and took out its favorite snack, shaking it. The little snake did not react; it just lay coiled on the iron plate like a dead snake, motionless.
Sui Lin stopped Yu Ying. “I’ll go pick her up for you.” Sui Lin smelled a strange aura; the salty, fishy smell of the sea was growing stronger. She hated this nauseating scent.
Humans were too fragile. If a human died, the Supernatural Containment Bureau would discover their existence. The tentacle octopus monster had warned them not to let humans discover who they were. Mother also often taught her not to let humans know her true identity.
Sui Lin found a reason for her actions. She left the shelter of the umbrella and stepped into the iron box. She picked up the little snake and coiled it around her wrist. Just as she was about to step out, the broken box rapidly sealed itself, trapping Sui Lin and the little snake inside.
“Sui Lin! Xiao Xue!” Yu Ying rushed over to the box. She had watched with her own eyes as this box “ate” Teacher Sui Lin. She pulled out the dagger at her waist and stabbed it hard at the box, trying to carve out a gap.
Not a single drop of blood stained her, and the umbrella that had fallen to the ground was controlled by supernatural power, floating in mid-air to shield Yu Ying from the blood rain.
She did not know what was happening inside the iron box, nor did she understand what was going on. Her pent-up emotions had nowhere to vent, and at this moment, they transformed into strength, stabbing the box again and again.
The “Domain of the Supernatural” was a virtual space created by supernatural objects, capable of pulling those in reality into the domain. Feeling insecure, the little snake coiled tightly around Sui Lin’s wrist; compared to the octopus, she preferred her own kind.
Sui Lin stepped through the ice-cold, piercing seawater, slowly approaching the center of the domain. She knew the octopus was watching her from the dark. “What are you doing, lurking in the shadows? If you have the guts, come out and fight me face-to-face.”
A ghostly, ethereal voice echoed from all directions.
“I am looking for an opportunity to parasitize you.”
The dark supernatural mist dissipated, and “He” emerged from it. His long, curly red hair looked like octopus tentacles, and a pair of deep blue pupils stared at Sui Lin. His pitch-black lips did not look sickly but rather held more tension. He held a crow-feather fan, shaking it gently, and cursed Sui Lin viciously, “So that you and your mother will never meet again.”
He successfully enraged Sui Lin, enjoying the look of fury on her face. Sui Lin’s thick snake tail attacked him agilely. He took flight and landed steadily on the snake tail. He closed the crow-feather fan in his hand and stepped on the snake tail, leaning in toward Sui Lin’s human form.
“Do you think I don’t know what you’ve done? Do you think those filthy means of yours can stay hidden for long?”
He glared into Sui Lin’s pupils, his burning rage consuming her rationality. His evil thought was to pluck out all of Sui Lin’s scales, break her “seven inches,” and trap Sui Lin in the game space as well.
If he were still a monster that only knew how to kill, he would certainly have fought fire with fire against Sui Lin, or even let her lose everything.
But someone had taught him how to love; someone had taught him how to use others; someone had taught him that problems could be solved without violence.
Mother had once taught him about love and peace. Naturally, he would not be stupid enough to kill Sui Lin and stain his hands with her blood. He preferred to control Sui Lin’s brain and make her go through fire and water for him. Once he found Mother, Sui Lin would have no value.
“I can let bygones be bygones regarding everything you’ve done to me.” He was smiling, but the smile was chilling. “Sui Lin, you are different from those stupid humans. We are the same kind.”
“We are both supernatural objects; we should help each other.”
Sui Lin actually believed his lies, believing the octopus could let bygones be bygones. But she knew the octopus approached her with a motive; supernatural monsters would not help each other, they would only look for a chance to kill the other.
Perhaps the tentacle monster was too weak now and lacked the ability to kill her. Some snake thought darkly.
She proactively asked the tentacle monster, “How do you want me to help you?”
Mother had said that there is no such thing as a free lunch; no one would help you for no reason unless you had utilization value. What did the tentacle monster want to use her for?
“Help me monitor someone. I need to know what she does every day and if there is anything unusual.”
“Who?” Sui Lin asked, though she already had the answer in her heart. She vaguely felt the tentacle monster would say Yu Ying’s name.
“Yu Ying.”
Yu Ying—a human irrelevant to Sui Lin, a human Sui Lin had used repeatedly.
However, Sui Lin kept her guard up and began to wonder why the tentacle octopus monster wanted to spy on Yu Ying. What secrets did Yu Ying have? This octopus had a high IQ; following him to find people would never be a mistake.
“Can’t you spy on her life yourself?” Sui Lin knew the octopus could parasitize, so she deliberately stood at a distance from him, keeping a constant watch against him.
Trust? Supernatural objects do not trust each other; they only stab each other in the back.
“What do you think? Who is to blame for me being trapped here?” He asked Sui Lin in return.
Before meeting Mother again, he had to create the most exquisite shell in the world; Mother loved all things beautiful. Perhaps Mother would favor him even more because of his beautiful face.
Before they met again, he had to hunt and restore his supernatural energy. Only children strong enough were worthy of being by Mother’s side and becoming her support. By then, Mother should be holding his tentacles, leaning against his massive body.
Sui Lin remembered using dirty tricks to trap the octopus and felt guilty for a moment. She pretended to agree to the octopus’s request on the surface, but in reality, a spirit of rebellion arose in her heart. However, she also wanted to see why the octopus wanted to spy on Yu Ying’s life.
A warm palm gripped Sui Lin’s wrist, pulling her out of the domain. Sui Lin looked back and saw Yu Ying’s worried face outside the iron box; her gaze moved down to see the cuts on Yu Ying’s hands, dripping blood.
The blood rain had stopped. The forest returned to silence, quiet enough to hear the sound of mountain spring water passing over rocks. Sui Lin’s blood-red pupils held the reflection of Yu Ying. In their eyes, there was only each other.
In that instant, Sui Lin seemed to understand why Mother wanted to save humans. The temperature on human bodies was burning hot, their tears were scalding, and even their beating hearts carried warmth.
Fragile, tiny humans possessed powerful hearts; they could risk their lives for the people they cared about.
Sui Lin looked down at the little snake coiled on her wrist. Was Yu Ying doing this for her or for the little snake?
Damn it, why was she thinking about this question? She caught sight of Yu Ying’s bleeding hands again. Her gaze collided with Yu Ying’s bright pupils, and she heard Yu Ying call out to her softly.
“Teacher Sui Lin.”
Sui Lin thought, humans are truly stupid—they don’t even know how to protect themselves.
Sui Lin took Yu Ying’s finger and placed it to her red lips, her scarlet snake tongue licking the blood flowing from the wound. She had never treated a wound for another human before; Yu Ying was the first.