As the commander-in-chief of the snakes in this war between snakes and humans although, Mo Laoda didnât need to go around looking for traces of humans like the other snakes, there were still a lot of things that demanded he be kept busy.
Each day, vipers would rush over from all directions to report the latest circumstances to Mo Laoda, and Mo Laoda and these vipers would discuss new battle plans. In the same day, there would also be another Mo snake sending waves of vipers only to report that the situation was still the same, then report at noon theyâd found a tissue that had been thrown away by a human, and then that, in the evening, nothing had happened.
Although this sounded like a complete waste, it was actually a good way to compensate for the inability for both parties to communicate information to each other and a good way to get thorough and exhaustive news. Now and then, it was very effective. In addition to this, Mo Laoda, as the one gathering all this information, served a very important role. Mo Laoda, in these seemingly unrelated trivial matters, was able to find traces of humansâ movements.
So long as humans remained in the boundary, they would surely leave behind the marks of humanity. For example, if humans made fire then ashes would be left over. For example, humans, while traveling, left broken branches. For example, after humans finished eating, theyâd leave behind garbage. Mo Laoda knew by heart the locations of the scattered Mo snakes. When a snake said that theyâd found traces of humans, the Mo snake would send a snake to report the details of the situation. Sometimes this resulted in discovering the directions that some teams of humans were moving in and, like this, it was as though the humans were leaving a trail.
At the beginning, Yin Xiaoxiao had still felt excited, lying on his stomach next to Mo Laoda and listening to snakes come and give their reports. But as days passed, Yin Xiaoxiao became impatient. If things had changed from day to day, for instance if today the vipers and humans had waged war and there had been 300 clashes, or if the next day there had been many humans taken captive, then listening would be a delight! Instead, the reports everyday were all about the same things. So boring! Yin Xiaoxiao wanted to find his own fun.
So, Yin Xiaoxiao felt regret. Regret that he had agreed to let Mo Laoda send Wang Yanzhen away. If Wang Yanzhen were still here, then at least he would have a target to bully! Here and now, Mo Laoda had no time for him, Mo Dayi also wasnât here, and Wang Yanzhen had been taken away. What could he do every day?! He was just a snake! He was so bored and he couldnât even play with his hair!
Yin Xiaoxiao felt grief and indignation. When were these days going to end?! He hated humans! These damned humans!
Today, Yin Xiaoxiao lay on his stomach on the ground, staring, as before, at Mo Laoda who was surrounded by an impenetrable crowd. He was so depressed he was going crazy. Even with so many snakes surrounding Mo Laoda, he could still see Mo Laoda. Yin Xiaoxiao silently thought to himself, âMo Laoda really stands a head above the others. Oh wow, Heitan really is tall and very bold and powerful!â Yin Xiaoxiao was shocked by his own thoughts and his face quietly turned pink. Suddenly, he stood up and rushed through the crush of snakes to roar at Mo Laoda, âHeitan, Iâm going to the river!â
The busy and overworked <sup>1</sup> Mo Laoda found the time to look upwards at the scorching sun. âCome back soon!â
The crowd of snakes had already become immune to Yin Xiaoxiao saying âHeitanâ. At first, almost everyone was very surprised; after all, all vipers knew that Mo snakes loathed being called âHei <sup>2</sup> . But Mo Laodaâs lack of reaction made all the vipers aware of the Clan Headâs feelings towards the future Clan Husband. After days of this <sup>3</sup> , if Yin Xiaoxiao called the Clan Head âMo Laodaâ, they would only feel surprise!
Yin Xiaoxiao swung his tail, looked at Mo Laoda, pouted, and then unhurriedly slithered towards the riverbank.
The riverbank was a little ways away from where Mo Laoda was. This wasnât because Mo Laoda hadnât wanted to be closer to the river but because Yin Xiaoxiao had refused. While Yin Xiaoxiao liked water and didnât like the sun, the vipers inside the boundary liked the sun and didnât like water. Yin Xiaoxiao had noticed that the vipers, who came to the shore to report, had felt uncomfortable, so he took the initiative to suggest moving farther from the water. Anyway, he just needed to slither down the road, which was nothing.
Well, what Yin Xiaoxiao would say was that had only done this because he was acting as the future Clan Husband, who ought to be magnanimous, kind and thoughtful of the people within the clan and not â Yin Xiaoxiao would not admit that he had once again gained weight â because he could lose weight by slithering like this!
Yes, the crux of the matter, which Yin Xiaoxiao wouldnât reveal to Mo Laoda, was that he would slither upstream every time he went to the riverbank. Today, like always, Yin Xiaoxiao once more unhurriedly slithered upstream.
Liu Zhixin followed his master, a famous person in tomb robbing circles who had been underground countless times, possessed abundant experience entering tombs. In tomb robbing circles, this Su Lao was considered an elder. This time, Su Lao had entered the snake tomb in response to a close friendâs request, and he had brought with him his apprentice, ie Liu Zhixin.
Liu Zhixinâs team was the largest of the eight tomb robbing teams that had entered the snake tomb, totaling 23 people. The biggest difference between this team and the other teams was that they didnât all head in the same direction.
âI swear, the old tomb probably isnât far from where weâd entered. We only need to search where weâd entered!â The leaderâs solemn countenance as he swore this convinced the majority that what he was saying was true <sup>4</sup> . The main reason why most chose to believe him was that, as the teamâs founder and leader, they were more or less convinced that he had some insider knowledge not privy to the rest of them <sup>5</sup> .
As a result, this team of 23 people had, for the past ten days, only been searching the mountains around the entrance. Naturally, they ultimately gained nothing.
âOld Bai, you sure you information is accurate?â Su Lao was a heavy smoker, smoking all year round. What he smoked were cigarettes. Su Lao furiously smoked the cigarette held in his hand, and said, âThis mountain is the last one.â
âOf course itâs accurate! It was with many trials and tribulations that I found this information!â As Su Lao smoked, Old Bai insisted that his information was correct. âI think that old Zhou tomb is surely on this mountain!â
Su Lao took one last drag on his cigarette, then tossed the butt to the ground and ruthlessly stomped twice on it. âI hope your information is right. You must know that we arenât the only group. If your information is wrongâŠâ Su Lao intentionally met Lao Baiâs eyes. âThese ten days of work, itâs enough time for them to find the old tomb.â
Su Lao paused, then turned to the side and shouted, âZhixin, go to that river we just passed and bring back some water! Weâre running low on drinking water!â
Sitting off the side, Liu Zhixin carp flipped upright <sup>6</sup> and picked up two <sup>7</sup> military-style canteens and walked towards the river bank.
This huge team had been assembled from all over. Among them were tomb robbers whose names were well-known and those whose names were unknown. Naturally, in tomb robbing circles, there were more people who hadnât made a name for themselves than there were people who were famous. Many of these people were unfamiliar with each other, and so were naturally somewhat guarded against others. After all, tomb robbers were people who dared dig into the ancestral graves of other people. What wouldnât they dare do? There was nothing wrong with taking precautions against others.
This was most evident in the procurement of potable water. People could go seven days without eating but couldnât go very long with water. The drinking water theyâd brought with them was finite so, in this snake tomb, looking for water was a necessity. Thus, after they all reached the next mountain, the first thing they did was find potable water. And, after finding fresh water, everyone gathered their own and absolutely wouldnât let someone unknown gather water for them. Even though the old tomb hadnât yet been found, it was also in no oneâs interest to engage in conflict. But vigilance absolutely wouldnât be lessened even a bit; wasnât it said that calm comes before a storm?
Liu Zhixin held the military canteens. After walking ten minutes, he finally arrived at the river bank.
It was one or two oclock in the afternoon, the time it was the hottest inside the boundary. Liu Zhixinâs brow was beaded with sweat but he didnât dare delay in getting water. Like all teams in the beginning, Liu Zhixinâs team hadnât encountered any vipers. Su Lao and the others, unlike Feng Yuan, didnât believe that the vipers had died. Even without knowing why they hadnât seen any of the numerous vipers, which according to legend were said to populate the snake tomb, Su Lao and the others didnât relax their vigilance even a little. Liu Zhixin always obeyed his master <sup>8</sup> so he took remaining vigilant to heart. Obtaining water was something he had no choice but to do, but he was going to do it as quickly as possible and then rush back.
Liu Zhixin spent less than a minute filling two military-style canteens. Liu Zhixin heaved a very obvious sigh of relief, knowing that he would soon be returning.
Liu Zhixin picked up the canteens and turned around to leave but, from out of the corner of his eyes, he saw a thin silver creature.
What was that?
Liu Zhixin had remained alert due to years of training; before his brain could respond, his body had already moved itself, retreating back several steps. At the same time, he took a cautious look at the creature.
It was a snake!
Liu Zhixin felt his hands tremble slightly. Damn it! He hadnât wanted to encounter any, neither sooner nor later, and then, as soon as he split from the group, he ran into a snake. OnlyâŠ.this snake was a little strange.
The snake Liu Zhixin encountered was none other than Yin Xiaoxiao. Yin Xiaoxiao was amusing himself quite well. Over half of Yin Xiaoxiaoâs body was still underwater while only a small portion of his upper body and his head was on the shore in the underbrush. First his head slowly moved forward then, under the water, his body swam after. He performed these two movements over and over. Even though this âslitherâ was slow going, it was a constant uninterrupted movement. âYes, this was actually Yin Xiaoxiaoâs new weight loss method. Like this, heâd already lost weight and kept boredom at bay. Yin Xiaoxiao was very satisfied with this method.
Liu Zhixinâs retreat had generated some sound. No matter how lazy Yin Xiaoxiao was, he was still a Yin snake, and his sense of hearing was in no way lacking. At first, Yin Xiaoxiao stared blankly then, after a short time, without conscious thought, he slithered out from the river. He raised his body and looked towards where the sound had originated.
Liu Zhixin saw that the entire body of this silver snake had risen up and had seemingly turned towards him. It didnât matter whether this snake was strange or not. He hurriedly tossed aside the canteens, pulled out the pistol he was carrying, and took aim at Yin Xiaoxiao.
Yin Xiaoxiaoâs pupils constricted. This was a human! Not only was it a human, but this human was pointing a gun at him!
Yin Xiaoxiaoâs next action was to lower his body as fast as possible. Unfortunately, before Yin Xiaoxiao had even realized that there was a human in front of him, Liu Zhixin had already fired his gun! He had only just heard the gunshot and already the bullet was in front of Yin Xiaoxiao. At this moment, even though he wanted to duck down, it was impossible to dodge, and he might even still be struck even if he lay down! Without any other option, Yin Xiaoxiao was forced to abruptly twist his body to the side to dodge rather than to, as originally planned, duck.
Fortunately, Yin Xiaoxiaoâs move worked and Yin Xiaoxiao wasnât directly shot. However, Yin Xiaoxiao felt severe pain and the world <sup>9</sup> before his eyes went black. Involuntarily, his body fell backward into the slow moving water of the river behind him. As it happened, although the bullet hadnât directly hit Yin Xiaoxiao, it had still grazed the left half of Yin Xiaoxiaoâs body, and the flesh of Yin Xiaoxiaoâs left side was now split, flesh exposed and blood flowing freely.
With a âsplashââ Yin Xiaoxiaoâs body fell backwards into the brook. Following the current, Yin Xiaoxiaoâs body floated downstream. Yin Xiaoxiaoâs entire body ached, and he was consciousness was waning more and moreâŠ.
The blood flowing from Yin Xiaoxiaoâs upper body fell into the brook and was washed away. The faint smell of blood followed after Yin Xiaoxiao as he floated downstream.
T/N:
Footnotes
<ol>çŠć€Žçéą: literally beaten head and scorched brow; can be used to describe someone who is overworked é»: black added for clarity added for clarity sentence restructured for clarity âéČ€é±Œææșâ: that upright roll people do where they bring their knees up their chest and then hop upwards https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDWER17o9YA changed from one for continuity ćžć : shÄ« fu: these days, a teacher of skills or a trade https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E5%B8%88%E5%82%85/6735510 added for clarity</ol>