Yin Xiaoixiao ran for his life. From behind came a roar like thunder, as Mo Laoda chased him, a malevolent expression on his face. But how could Yin Xiaoxiao escape Mo Laoda? The distance between the two snakes was only getting smaller and smaller, the two growing closer and closer. Close enough that Yin Xiaoxiao could feel Mo Laodaâs breath against his own body.
Behind him, Mo Laoda was chasing him. a malevolent expression on Mo Laodaâs face as he issued a roar like thunder. But how could Yin Xiaoxiao escape Mo Laoda? The distance between the two snakes was only getting smaller and smaller, closer and closer. Close enough that Yin Xiaoxiao could feel the exhale Mo Laodaâs breath against his own body. Huh? Why was Mo Laodaâs breath cold?
Then Yin Xiaoxiao woke up.
Yin Xiaoxiao wiped away what was definitely not a cold sweat with his tail. He sighed with relief, then Yin Xiaoxiao noticed the weather outside.
It was raining and thundering. Wind whistled outside the cave. No wonder dream Heitanâs yelling had sounded like rolling thunder and his exhales had been so coldâNo! Why was he even dreaming about Heitan?!
Hua Xiaowu saw the expression on Yin Xiaoxiaoâs face change from smiley to gloomy in .01 seconds, and he swallowed. âThat, that, I had better go and look to see if Er-ge and San-ge are playing nicely.â
Yin Xiaoxiao, still immersed in thoughts of âHow could I dream of Heitan? Itâs absolutely impossible, right? In a dream, everything is an illusion.â, completely failed to notice Hua Xiaowu vanish like a puff of smoke.
Off to the side and in the background, Yin Xiaosi looked pensively at Yin XIaoxiao, watching and nodding.
âXiaosi, have you finally realized that thereâs something wrong with your head?â Yin Xiaoyi, very concerned, asked the continuously nodding Yin Xiaosi. Yin Xiaoyi had always felt that, even though Yin Xiaoxiao was the last to be born, it was Yin Xiaosi who seemed even more strange.
Yin Xiaosiâs head stiffened a little. âThereâs something wrong with your head! Thereâs something wrong with your whole familyâs headâŠwait, he is his familyâ! Yin Xiaosi crawled away, head stiff. Forget it. Someone who was smart wouldnât bother with a fool!
Yin Xiaoxiao slithered to the mouth of the cave and gazed at the scene outside. Tsk tsk, it was pouring as though a large basin had overturned <sup>1</sup> . But in that case, when it was raining like this in an area like this with so much vegetation, no âsmokeâ would be seen. Looking outside, Yin Xiaoxiao felt satisfied. A fork of lightning struck. Yin Xiaoxiao felt as though his mind had cleared.
âAh, a strike of lightning. Ah, a peal of thunder. Ah young master, would it be possible to get a break from eating raw eggs? In the beginning, mankind ate raw food. Only later did mankind eat cooked food. Why was this? Because mankind had fire! That wasnât a mistake, it was because mankind could make fire! Then why canât I use fire to roast eggs to eat? Because with my body I canât prepare eggs 108 different ways <sup>2</sup> , but I can change the style in which theyâre eaten!â
At this point, Yin Xiaoxiao felt very aggrieved. Why had he turned into a snake? If he was a bear or a dog he could do anything. After all, these other animals had claws, you know. After training himself or something, wouldnât roasting strips of meat be easy for him? Unluckily, since he didnât have claws or hooves, of his whole body, apart from his mouth, only his tail could be of use.
Snake Yin Xiaoxiao had just thought of what he wanted to do, but the weather wouldnât allow for it. This heavy rain was not at all suited to lighting a fire, and Yin Xiaoxiao was forced to drop it. Logically, he knew that he had to wait until the rain stopped to light a fire! But, nothing could stop Yin Xiaoxiaoâs excitement. And so, inside the cave, the many snakes all saw Yin Xiaoxiao circling the cave. Yin Xiaoxiao did this to calm the excitement in his heart!
âHuh? Dabai, did you notice, Xiaoxiao doesnât seem to be affected when the weather turns cold.â
Bored of watching Yin Xiaoxiao going in circles, Hua Xiaohua suddenly took his tail and poked at Yin Dabai beside him. Yin Dabai listened to Hua Xiaohuaâs words and looked at Yin Xiaoxiao.
After observing for a moment, Yin Dabai arrived at this conclusion, ââŠThatâs right. Although Xiaoxiao is the slowest of the six children, right now I see that Xiaoxiaoâs speed doesnât seem to have changed from earlier. His mobility hasnât diminished.â
At this point, let me explain what this is all about. Snakes are cold-blooded. That is to say that they are what is called poikilothermal <sup>3</sup> animals, which means that the outdoor temperature has a very large effect on snakes, whose body temperature can change based on the outside temperature. Thus, if the air temperature is lowered, a snakeâs mobility will become sluggish. When the air temperature drops to a certain degree, a snakeâs muscles will contract and movement will become difficult <sup>4</sup> . This is also the case with snakes brumating <sup>5</sup> in high-altitude areas.
As for the vipers clans living in this mountain range they like to bask in the sun. This is very normal. Snakes outside are also like this. But quite unusually, these vipers are very fond of high temperatures. Snakes from the outside are unable to withstand temperatures 40° Celsius and higher. But here everyday the temperatures exceed 40° Celsius. And why are the vipers so fond of such high temperatures? Naturally, itâs because itâs very difficult to increase a viperâs body temperature and if it rose, it rose very slowly. This means that they required hotter weather and for the temperature to remain hotter for longer.
But then, why is it so very difficult to raise a viperâs body temperature, and even if it is raised, why is it so slow to rise? The cause is currently unknown.
At this point in time, Yin Xiaoxiaoâs speed and mobility hadnât diminished due to the air temperature. Hua Xiaohua and Yin Dabai watched attentively.
âXiaoxiao, come here.â
Yin Dabai spoke, so how could Yin Xiaoxiao not obey? He suppressed his excitement and obediently slithered over to Yin Dabai. âDad, you called for me.â
âXiaoxiao, donât you feel very cold and not want to move? And if you move, donât you also feel more sluggish than usual?â
âHuh?â said Yin Xiaoxiao, doubtfully. He turned in place a few times and, at a loss, said, âAh, no.â
Cough cough, this was understandable. In Yin Xiaoxiaoâs past life as a human, he hadnât known much about snakes. Even moreso, Yin Xiaoxiao had also been afraid of snakes, rendering it even more unlikely that he would be interested in snakes. So, as it pertained to snakesâ habits and properties, he only knew one and understood half <sup>6</sup> .
Hua Xiaohua and Yin Dabai exchanged glances, then Hua Xiaohua stretched out his upper body and plastered himself to Yin Xiaoxiao.
âHot???â The volume of Hua Xiaohuaâs voice involuntarily increased, attracting the gazes of all the young snakes inside the cave.
Hua Xiaohua swallowed a mouthful of spit and paid no mind to the group of snakes around him, lively talking over each other, asking âWhatâs hot? Whatâs hot?â
He turned and spoke, stammeringly to Yin Dabai, âXiaoxiao, Xiaoxiaoâs body is hot!â
âHot?â Yin Dabai repeated, then he also snuggled up. âHe actually is hot!â
Hua Xiaohua ran his head along Yin Xiaoxiaoâs body, from head to tail. âHis whole body is hot!â
Yin Xiaoxiaoâs face was full of black lines. Could someoneâŠcould there even be a snake with a hot head and a cold tail? Only, after feeling the temperature of Hua Xiaohuaâs body, Yin Xiaoxiao slowly became aware of what Hua Xiaohua and Yin Dabai meant when they said âhotâ. Hua Xiaohuaâs body was ice-cold so, when touching his own body, it felt hot!
It was now that Yin Xiaoxiao recalled that snakes were poikilothermic. At the moment, his own body was warm. That with the added fact that he hadnât been in the sun, Yin Xiaoxiao realized that, perhaps, he was a snake with a constant body temperature <sup>7</sup> .
Yin Xiaoxiao wanted to burst out swearing. âGod, are you trying to tell me not to forget me roots? Are you trying to tell me that, even though my body is that of a snakeâs, I mustnât forget that my soul is human?! Bastard, bastard, ptooey!
Regardless of how much Yin Xiaoxiao resented God, a crowd of young snakes had formed with Yin Xiaoxiao in the middle, encircling him. The crowd of young snakes had also realized that Pop and Dad had said that Xiaoxiaoâs body was warm, right? And, at the moment, their bodies were cold. So, if they rested against Yin Xiaoxiaoâs body, then they would be warm, right? Never underestimate the IQ of snakes. See, didnât they see it very clearly this time?
Under the fierce gazes of the crowd of snakes, the circling hemming in Xiaoxiao closed in further and further. In Yin Xiaoxiaoâs heart, he felt a sense of unease and he cried out in fear. Immediately, he rushed towards Hua Xiaowu, hoping to break through the surrounding circle and escape.
But even if the mobility of this crowd of snakes was somewhat reduced, Yin Xiaoxiao still was not able to thwart them and he ended up back in the center of the circle courtesy of Yin Xiaosiâs tail, who was next to Hua Xiaowu. Without even waiting for Yin Xiaoxiao to recover from being whipped back into the circle by Yin Xiaosi, the five young snakes immediately swarmed Yin Xiaoxiao and squashed him underneath them.
Watching from outside, only the tip of Yin Xiaoxiaoâs tail could be seen. At first, Yin Xiaoxiaoâs tail was sticking up, but then it hung down, motionless. Let it be. It wasnât as though they were going to crush him to death. Anyway, like this it seemed that, in order for these snakes to sleep at night, they had to twist into the mĂĄ huÄ. And this was all because his body was warm at night.
Cough cough, Yin Xiaoxiao, ainât that the truth.
âSo warm~â
âXiaoxiaoâs body is really warm~â
âHaha in the future we only need to cuddle Xiaoxiao on rainy days!â
Yin Xiaoxiao: ââŠâ
Everyone, donât misunderstand. It wasnât that Xiaoxiao didnât want to speak, but rather that, at that moment, Yin Xiaoxiao couldnât speak because heâd been squished.
Hua Xiaohua gazed at Yin Dabai with great feeling. âDear, even though your and my body are both ice-cold, I can still feel that you love me and that your heart nevertheless is burning with passion. Oh, dear~!â As he finished speaking, Hua Xiaohua rushed into Yin Dabaiâs embrace. The two snakes wrapped around each other.
Yin Dabai: âMy dear Xiaohua, I wish my heart could warm you!â
The many young snakes: âBarf~~â
Yin Xiaoxiao: ââŠ.â
âHey hey, itâs not that I donât want to vomit, but that right now I canât vomit because Iâve been squished!â