Lei Ao writhed on the ground in agony. Before long, he was foaming at the mouth, his face covered in so many mosquito bites that it was swollen and utterly unrecognizable.
These mosquitoes, subjugated by Tu Xiao’an’s system, had no fear of death. Once they landed on a person, they clung like maggots to a bone, refusing to leave until they had drawn blood.
After five minutes, Lei Ao was convulsing on the ground, his Life Force rapidly draining away until his body went stiff, stopped moving, and he died.
’That’s the second person I’ve killed today.’
Tu Xiao’an never dread he would one day kill soone, much less do it so easily and decisively.
Having turned into a snake, his temperant had grown detached. He now regarded human life as worthless.
’Have I beco so cruel?’
Tu Xiao’an looked at Lei Ao’s corpse and couldn’t help but ask himself this question in silence.
’No, they deserved to die. They were bad people, so they deserved it. Who told them to ss with ?’
’I don’t bother anyone who doesn’t bother , but if soone cos after , I will kill them.’
’The law? The police? They can’t control a venomous snake like .’
With a single thought from Tu Xiao’an, the massive swarm of mosquitoes surrounding Lei Ao vanished.
’These mosquitoes look weak, but in large numbers, they’re actually quite terrifying. It seems I’ll have to gather more of them in the future.’
When the venomous snake struck, a life was taken. If he encountered people who didn’t quite deserve to die, Tu Xiao’an could also use the mosquitoes as a ans of attack, a minor punishnt.
......
Beneath a streetlight, a pale-faced Tu Xiaoyue walked down the road. She was completely out of it, as if she had lost her soul.
A voice echoed in her mind: "Sis, you go on ahead. I’ll punish this scumbag."
That was the House Snake’s voice. ’Sis?’
Tu Xiaoyue’s eyes widened, and she stopped in her tracks. Even though a snake could talk, even though a snake had saved her life, why would this snake call her "Sis"?
In her mory, that term of address had been exclusively used by only one person since childhood: her own younger brother.
If Tu Xiaoyue hadn’t seen with her own eyes that it was a snake speaking, for a mont, she would have thought it was her brother.
That snake gave her the feeling of her brother, and this feeling was terrifying.
For a person to overlap with a snake...
But the feeling that snake gave her was just like her brother’s—so familiar, so much like the bond of blood.
Tu Xiaoyue’s mind was a complete ss. Everything that had happened felt like an unrealistic dream.
She crouched dazedly on the road, clutching her head in anguish as a line of clear tears stread down her face.
That voice, that na... it was just too much like her brother.
They were practically identical.
’But it was just a snake. It can’t be real. I must be overthinking things.’
Just then...!
"Sis! Hey, Sis!"
A gentle voice suddenly called out from behind her. Tu Xiaoyue’s body froze, and an expression of utter disbelief filled her eyes.
"My brother?"
The voice that suddenly appeared by her ear petrified Tu Xiaoyue. Her mouth hung open, but she couldn’t utter a single word. Her heart trembled. ’Why am I hearing my brother’s voice again? There’s no mistaking it. I heard it so clearly.’
Her eyes widened in astonishnt. She remained crouched there, motionless, as if turned to stone.
The Spiritual Stele on the stove at ho ca to mind, the words on it still vivid in her mory. Her expression was a mixture of complexity and pain.
Her brother was dead. It was impossible for him to still be in this world.
’This must all be a hallucination, just my imagination running wild.’
Tu Xiaoyue tried hard to convince herself, her mind still lost in the voice she’d heard monts before. She wanted to turn around but didn’t dare, afraid that what she saw would be far from what she hoped.
’I must miss my brother too much. That has to be it. I must have misheard.’
Tu Xiaoyue tried to hold back her tears but finally failed, letting out a heart-wrenching sob that echoed through the night-shrouded street. She only had one younger brother, whom she had doted on and loved since they were children. The two siblings were incredibly close; Xiaoyue couldn’t even recall if they had ever argued or fought.
When her brother turned eighteen, he beca Bai Town’s famous Snake Catching Youth, enjoying a mont of unrivaled popularity.
But his accidental death was like a massive bomb dropped on their family, blowing it to pieces!
"Sis..."
Behind Xiaoyue, the gentle voice sounded again. A Silver White Snake stood poised behind the young woman, its head held high. Its Snake Pupils held a complex emotion that no mber of the Snake Race should possess.
Her whole body trembled. She cried like a child lost at nightfall, crying for herself, crying for the loved one who had so suddenly vanished. Finally, with great difficulty, she turned to see where the voice was coming from.
A Silver White Snake ca into view. Under the glow of the streetlight, the patterns on its body shone with a brilliant luster. It was breathtakingly beautiful, like sothing that had slithered right out of an ani.
It really was this snake calling to her. The tears on Xiaoyue’s face flowed even more freely.
A thought occurred to her, but she didn’t dare to truly consider it. The legend of the House Snake, once told throughout Bai Town, quietly surfaced in her mind.
"Sis, don’t be afraid. It’s , Xiao’an. I’m your brother, Xiao’an."
The street was dim, the light faint. The Silver White Snake’s body glimred. As Xiaoyue heard these words, tears stread down her face like a flood.
The image of this snake slowly began to overlap with the mory of her younger brother, becoming inseparable.
"Sis, I know this is hard for you to accept right now, but please believe . The snake you see before you is your brother, Tu Xiao’an."
They say life is like a play, and a play is like life. In your lifeti, you will encounter all sorts of unimaginable and unbelievable things. When you do, you must try to accept them.
"My brother? Xiao’an?"
Her eyes grew vacant as she murmured to herself, staring blankly at the venomous snake poised before her. The tears in her eyes burst forth like a broken dam.
’This House Snake has beco my brother. My brother has beco a snake, a venomous snake.’ Xiaoyue found it ridiculous, absurd, yet for so reason, a deep part of her already believed it. And how could she not believe it? The truth was right in front of her.
But why did her heart ache so much? It was a clenching pain, a pain so intense it felt like she was suffocating.
Her brother had just co of age, a handso, fair-skinned boy who had been smart, clever, and well-liked since childhood. But the heavens were blind, allowing him to die so young. And now, a snake that could speak human words had appeared, telling her it was her own brother.
Xiaoyue truly couldn’t accept it. She remained frozen, staring blankly, as silent tears stread down her face.
One minute...
Three minutes...
Ten minutes...
Tu Xiao’an simply watched his weeping sister with his Snake Gaze, not saying another word. He knew his sister needed ti to process the fact that her brother had beco a snake, and he was willing to give her that ti.
Perhaps the closer a loved one was to him, the harder it was to accept this reality. "Blood is thicker than water" wasn’t just a saying; it represented the most intimate of human relationships.
His sister remained crouching on the ground, unresponsive, her tears flowing endlessly. Tu Xiao’an’s heart sank.
’Forget it. Maybe I was being too naive!’
Tu Xiao’an sighed softly, feeling utterly dejected. He knew it was hard for people to accept, which was why he had first tested the waters by revealing himself to Sister ilin.
But even though ilin had been incredibly shocked, she had ultimately accepted and believed him. It hadn’t been as difficult as it was for his sister.
He knew it wasn’t that his sister was unwilling to acknowledge him as a snake, but that she couldn’t bear to believe her own brother had beco one—a venomous snake slithering in the darkness.
The poised Silver White Snake moved. He turned, preparing to slither away. Tu Xiao’an believed that one day his sister would co to terms with it and accept him. He wasn’t in a rush for it to happen this very mont.
Seeing the snake before her about to leave, Tu Xiaoyue’s heart suddenly jolted. As if struck by a sudden epiphany, a light returned to her eyes, and she cried out in alarm.
"My brother! My own dear brother!"
Her cry, filled with the purest emotion in the world, struck Tu Xiao’an’s heart like a heavy hamr. He felt the urge to burst into tears, but no tears would co. He replied, "Sis... Sis, you finally believe it’s ?"
A human acknowledging a venomous snake as family—this scene was truly a marvel for the ages, unprecedented and never to be repeated.
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