Chapter 76

Yin Xiaoxiao, feeling a little bored, rolled around on the ground. Roll left, roll right, roll left, roll right. And then…felt Hua Xiaohua’s tail push him to a stop. “Yin Xiaoxiao! Honestly, can’t you stay still for a while?!”

“But I’m bored! Why hasn’t Heitan returned yet?!” Yin Xiaoxiao’s tail swished in an expression of annoyance.

“You’re how old now and you can’t sit still and wait for that Mo snake to return?!” Hua Xiaohua lightly hit Yin Xiaoxiao with his tail. With a dissatisfied tone he said, “You have a future partner and you’ve already forgotten Pop, huh!?”

“Not at all!” Yin Xiaoxiao hurriedly got up, leaned against Hua Xiaohua, then rubbed his head against the underside of Hua Xiaohua’s head, “The ones I love most in our family are Dad and Pop!”

Hua Xiaohua softly snorted. He wanted to believe it! Although his heart wanted to believe this, Hua Xiaohua couldn’t help but laugh at what Yin Xiaoxiao had said.

Lying to the side, Yin Dabai laughed as he watched Hua Xiaohua and Yin Xiaoxiao. Suddenly he tilted his head to the side as he listened, then said, “They’ve returned.”

Yin Xiaoxiao heard Yin Dabai say that they’d returned. He hurriedly dropped Hua Xiaohua and looked around. “Where? Where?”

Hua Xiaohua: “…”

“I see Heitan coming!” Yin Xiaoxiao cheered and then slithered over to Mo Laoda.

As it happened, as they were nearing Yin Xiaoxiao, Yin Dabai and Hua Xiaohua, Mo Laoda outpaced Wang Yanzhen, slithering ahead. ‘Hmph, hmph, the first thing that the Little Idiot will see will surely be me! How could I let that ugly creature be the first thing that the Little Idiot sees?!’

The result of this ¹ was — “Heitan, Heitan! Where is that strange creature?”

So it turned out that Yin Xiaoxiao had been so bored waiting for Mo Laoda to return only because he wanted to see what the strange creature looked like.

Mo Laoda: “…”

Wang Yanzhen and Mo Dayi were only a few paces behind Mo Laoda. By the time Yin Xiaoxiao had finished asking this, Wang Yanzhen and Mo Dayi had only just arrived. Naturally, Yin Xiaoxiao immediately ignored Mo Dayi, impatient to see the “strange creature”, after which Yin Xiaoxiao was astonished. “Eh? A human?”

Although Wang Yanzhen indeed heard yet another snake speak, he didn’t have the strength to be astonished. At that moment, Wang Yanzhen could only think ‘I want to drink water, I want to drink water. Food, food, please! You, snakes, can eat once and easily be full for several days! But if we humans don’t eat, we become unbearably hungry! Especially since today’s work was unusually heavy!’

Wang Yanzhen really didn’t have the strength to wonder why these snakes hadn’t killed him but had instead spared his life. He could wonder over this after he had eaten his fill and slaked his thirst.

Yin Xiaoxiao blankly turned his head to look at Mo Laoda. “You’d promised a strange creature, right? Why did you come back with a human? No wait…how is it that there’s a human here?” Yin Xiaoxiao felt that something wasn’t right. Humans shouldn’t be inside this boundary, right?! Even though Ji Kang was a human, he was a ghost so he absolutely wasn’t a human!

Off to the side, Mo Laoda was rather depressed, having heard what Yin Xiaoxiao had said. His love was unreasonable. “These humans must have come from outside the boundary.”

Yin Xiaoxiao “ah”ed then looked Wang Yanzhen over.

In order to enter the snake tomb, Wang Yanzhen was wearing special metallic clothes ² . On the outside, most of it was ashen-colored, but naturally now the clothes were very dirty. On his head was a special helmet. The face part was transparent so it wouldn’t in any way hinder the wearer’s lines of sight. Originally, Wang Yanzhen had carried a backpack, but the backpack had earlier been tossed away during the large fight.

Yin Xiaoxiao tilted his head, at a loss, and asked, “Now people outside wear such strange clothes?” There was no sense of aesthetics to speak of. Yin Xiaoxiao touched Wang Yanzhen’s trousers. They were somewhat stiff. Wearing these clothes couldn’t be comfortable, right?

Wang Yanzhen didn’t want to answer a snake’s question but, from behind Yin Xiaoxiao, Mo Laoda’s strict and fierce gaze made Wang Yanzhen open his mouth to answer, “No. These clothes were made to enter…these clothes were made specially to enter here.”

Just as he finished speaking, doubt abruptly arose in Wang Yanzhen. As a snake, it was absolutely unlikely that a snake would wear clothes. So why did this snake know that something like “clothes” existed?

Those on Mo Laoda’s side were not at all skeptical. Their Little Idiot’s bizarre behavior was a frequent occurrence. Moreover, Mo Laoda also knew what clothes were ³ . Didn’t Ji Kang wear clothes? And the clothes that Ji Kang wore were indeed not like those worn by the human in front of him. So, the Little Idiot’s question was very apt.

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“clothes were made specially to enter here?” Yin Xiaoxiao repeated. Then he finally realized something. “You all came to rob the tomb?”

“…cough cough.” This silver snake spoke too bluntly. Although Wang Yanzhen thought his face was quite thick (脸大: way to describe someone who is cheeky and not easily embarrassed), this snake’s question still made him feel a little awkward. He could only vaguely respond with, “Oh, generally, yes, I guess so.”

Yin Xiaoxiao zeroed in on the “yes” and ignored the other words. Then, Yin Xiaoxiao’s face became strange. He stared at Wang Yanzhen for quite a while and then said, “Fortunately you didn’t enter the old tomb, otherwise…” Yin Xiaoxiao shook his head with a sigh. Although he had set off all the mechanisms in the Mudao ⁴ , they would surely have still fallen below the grave room. They would have joined that mountain of human heads. They would have become a human skull. Were they really sure that they wanted to go in? ‘Well, even if you all had been fortunate to escape that place and enter the main grave room, hey hey! Don’t forget that there’s also Ji Kang’s ghost! A ghost several millennia years old! You all, surely all of you robbing the tomb wouldn’t be able to restrain a ghost! Black donkey hooves ⁵ are useless! Zongzi ⁶ naturally aren’t ghosts!’

Wang Yanzhen was really confused. He didn’t know what had caused Yin Xiaoxiao to sigh.

“Xiaoxiao, the so-called strange creatures are only humans. Since you’ve taken a look, this man can’t stay,” Mo Laoda suddenly said.

Wang Yanzhen was alarmed. Could it be that this black snake was going to kill him? Unconsciously, Wang Yanzhen felt the need to flee, but then he recalled his current state and couldn’t help but laugh bitterly. What escape? With his physical strength like this, he feared that he’d only manage to run one or two steps before being bitten to death. Wang Yanzhen despaired. He was sitting on the ground, waiting to die. The snake tomb, ah the snake tomb. He really shouldn’t have entered.

“Hold on!”

Yin Xiaoxiao prevented Mo Laoda from killing Wang Yanzhen.

“What is it?” Mo Laoda asked, puzzled.

Yin Xiaoxiao thought for a moment and then said, “This man still has some use! If you remember, there must still be other humans. Through him we could learn the whereabouts of the other people! Also, also, we could use him to trap the enemy and learn about the enemy’s strength! His existence is still very useful!” Yin Xiaoxiao nodded his head as he finished speaking to express that he was correct.

Mo Laoda looked sharply at Yin Xiaoxiao and said, “Well, what you said is true…Xiaoxiao, you are a snake.”

“I, I know,” said Yin Xiaoxiao, somewhat guiltily. Yes, that’s right. Even if Yin Xiaoxiao’s human name had been “Lu Hao”, even if Yin Xiaoxiao former incarnation was that of a human, even if Yin Xiaoxiao’s soul in the eyes of Ji Kang and the strange snakes was that of a human’s, right now Yin Xiaoxiao was called Yin Xiaoxiao, and Yin Xiaoxiao was a snake. He could only be a snake.

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Yin Xiaoxiao turned to the side. Mo Laoda was talking to Yin Dabai and Hua Xiaohua. In a daze, Yin Xiaoxiao looked at Mo Laoda. Suddenly, more than any other time, he clearly realized something – he was going to be with the Mo snake in front of him.

Yin Xiaoxiao tilted his head and smiled. He was now only a snake. His Daddy and Pappy were snakes. His older brothers were snakes. His future partner was a snake. His friends were snakes and a ghost (…). Humans, what relationship did he have to them?

If he was indecisive like this again, standing with the vipers while not wanting to harm humans, he ultimately feared that it likely to harm the most important snake in his life, which was naturally not something that he wanted to see. If Heitan was injured because of him…Yin Xiaoxiao’s expression became ugly. No, he wouldn’t be indecisive like this. Either choose vipers or choose humans.

Actually, the choice wasn’t very difficult, was it?

‘I am a viper. I am a viper tasked with guarding the old tomb inside the boundary. So what if I don’t have any inherited memories? No one can change that I am a viper. I want to protect my snake kin (as in close relatives), my friends, and the snake I love. I will not allow anyone to harm them. I am no holy mother ⁷ , I won’t save just anyone on sight, but I am also not lacking in kindness. I have my bottom line. If only so that I can have a clear conscience, that’s enough.’

“I say, is there food?” Wang Yanzhen asked weakly from where he sat on the ground. Wanting to eat with a snake was very foolish and naive, but he really was very hungry.

Yin Xiaoxiao, upon hearing this voice, looked contemptuously at Wang Yanzhen. “Of course not! Do you mean to say that you came without even any food?”

Wang Yanzhen forced a smile. “Yes, we’d brought some, but it was all recently lost.”

“So it’s like this.” Yin Xiaoxiao, after thinking for a while, “First drink some water to allay hunger. I’m not hungry right now. After I’m hungry, then you can eat.”

Wang Yanzhen: “…Could I go and find something to eat?”

Looking at Wang Yanzhen, Yin Xiaoxiao’s gaze became even more contemptuous. “You think you could possibly go by yourself?”

“…Then will you go with me?” Wang Yanzhen thought he was really powerful now to be able to chat enthusiastically like this with a snake – but I’m afraid that it’s only you who thinks that it’s enthusiastic. By looking at him, Wang Yanzhen’s courage was born of hunger. Perhaps after he satiated his hunger and thirst he might feel lingering fear from this.

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“Yeah right!” Yin Xiaoxiao said bluntly, laying on the ground. “When I’m hungry, Heitan will get me something to eat. Why would I go with you to look for food?”

“Heitan? You have a name?” Wang Yanzhen recalled that the black snake in front of him had seemed to call this snake Xiaoxiao.

“Of course! Could it be that you humans don’t have names?” Yin Xiaoxiao asked disdainfully. Humans were indeed such an arrogant species. “I’m called Yin Xiaoxiao. The one who said he wanted to kill you just now is Mo Laoda. The other Mo snake is Mo Dayi. The Yin snake over there is my Dad, Yin Dabai. The Hua snake is my Pop, Hua Xiaohua. Make sure you remember it!”

Wang Yanzhen trembled in fright from Yin Xiaoxiao’s last statement of “Make sure you remember it”. “Remember. I’ll remember.”

—But was it really okay to say something like “The one who wanted to kill you just now is Mo Laoda”?

Wang Yanzhen silently went to drink water to allay his hunger, not knowing if he could complain here about the abuse of captives.

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T/N:

Footnotes

<ol>added for clarity sentence restructured for clarity sentence restructured for clarity 墓道: aisle leading to the coffin chamber in an ancient tomb 黑驴蹄: literally a black donkey’s hoof; in Grave Robber’s Chronicles, they’re said to restrain zombies 粽子: refers to well-preserved corpses in Grave Robber’s Chronicles that are kind of like Western zombies or other supernatural undead creatures 圣母: used to refer to female deities like Mazu, The Queen Mother of the West and the Virgin Mary</ol>