Surviving the Game as a Zombie - Chapter 54

The stream crashed against the rocks, kicking up a white, misty spray that made the mother snake’s figure flicker in and out of view. Perhaps because Tang Yu had previously dodged its attack, the snake was exceptionally furious. It gave up its pursuit of Jin Ye and the Old Blind Man, turning its head and tail to charge toward Tang Yu and Song Lengzhu.

Tang Yu suddenly took a sharp breath, freed a hand to draw Startling Dragon, and plunged into the water with a powerful dive.

She could clearly see the mother snake, as thick as an adult’s torso, rapidly approaching them in an S-pattern. The scales on its belly nearly scraped the gravel at the bottom of the stream, yet its entire body seemed to ignore friction, gliding silkily over the rocks.

The snake’s body reflected the light in the water, giving its red-and-black scales an iridescent, laser-like sheen. Its golden pupils were like those of a dragon or a jiao—it was clearly a formidable opponent.

Tang Yu held her breath and focused, staring motionlessly at the mother snake’s eyes. One hand gripped a crevice in the rock, while the other had already raised Startling Dragon.

The collision happened in an instant. The mother snake suddenly raised its head, broke the surface of the water, and then opened its cavernous mouth, biting down hard on Tang Yu and Song Lengzhu.

Tang Yu could sense Song Lengzhu move diagonally in front of her, but she had no time to worry about anyone else. The moment the snake’s jaws snapped shut, Tang Yu abruptly let go of the rock, pushed off with both feet, and used the momentum to leap toward the snake’s neck, evading its mouth. At the same time, Startling Dragon in her hand transformed into a silver flash, breaking the water’s surface and striking at the snake’s vital spot—its seven-inch point.

This was the result of Tang Yu’s foresight. The moment the snake reared its head to attack, she had activated her precognition ability and kept it active. Countless possible attacks had played out in her mind, and she had chosen the most effective one.

As expected, the tip of her knife met the snake’s scales, producing a piercing screech like metal scraping against a steel plate. The snake quickly sensed the danger and twisted its neck. Tang Yu followed its movement, putting all her strength into the swing of her knife, and managed to slice off two scales.

“Ding.” The system notification for a triggered task entered Tang Yu’s mind.

This damn system never proactively displayed task content, and Tang Yu had no time to open her panel to check. Based on her previous experience, it must have triggered a task related to killing the mother snake. Tang Yu ignored the task and focused on the enemy.

The strike hadn’t wounded the mother snake’s flesh, only damaging its scales. Yet this small wound completely enraged it. It whipped its head around, turning its neck a full 180 degrees, and bit at Tang Yu in the water.

At that moment, Tang Yu had no leverage in the water. The swift current pushed her toward the snake’s mouth. She had no choice but to dive again, gripping the rocks at the bottom of the stream to steady herself.

When Tang Yu looked back, she saw Song Lengzhu on the surface, shooting at the mother snake’s unguarded body. The bullets traveled against the current, losing most of their momentum. Song Lengzhu decisively put away her gun, took out her gold, diamond-studded dagger, and lunged forward, aiming for the mother snake’s eyes.

The mother snake had to abandon Tang Yu to dodge Song Lengzhu’s attack. At the same time, it whipped its tail, slamming it toward Tang Yu.

The snake’s tail was structured exactly like its head. Aside from not having a gaping mouth, it had pupils and a forked tongue. The flat, elongated head skimmed along the ground, moving as fast as lightning.

Great, facing a two-headed snake. Now it was a two-on-two fight.

Song Lengzhu’s attack seemed to have failed. Tang Yu didn’t hold out much hope; if this thing were so easy to deal with, it wouldn’t have been designated as a task.

Tang Yu engaged her core, flipped over in the water, and wedged one foot into a crevice between the rocks at the bottom of the stream. This freed both her hands to grip the knife’s hilt. The moment the snake’s tail rushed at her, she swung the knife in a wide arc, intending to meet it head-on.

The resistance in the swift current was immense, so Tang Yu used every ounce of her strength. The tip of her knife met the charging snake tail head-on. Just as she was about to succeed, the tail, which had been coming straight at her, suddenly twisted to the side, bypassing the blade and striking directly at Tang Yu.

Tang Yu knew it would make this move. In the instant it turned its head, she abruptly changed the path of her blade and sliced off a piece of its forked tongue.

The mother snake recoiled in pain, trying to retract its tail. Tang Yu suddenly shot out her right hand, dug her fingers into the scales on the tail, and with a twist of her feet, pulled herself out of the rock crevice. She turned and climbed onto the snake’s body, straddling its tail.

She had been underwater for too long, and her brain was starting to feel the lack of oxygen. Coupled with the continuous use of her precognition ability, her head was buzzing. But thanks to that ability, she had managed to wound the mother snake before Song Lengzhu.

The mother snake let out a low roar and suddenly launched its entire body out of the water. The five-meter-long behemoth emerged, sending up a massive spray of water.

Finally able to breathe fresh air, Tang Yu greedily gasped for breath. She looked up and saw that Song Lengzhu had, at some point, also mounted the snake’s neck, her short golden dagger embedded deep within its scales.

The two of them had coincidentally chosen the same tactic, controlling the mother snake from both head and tail.

The snake’s sudden leap into the air flung both their bodies high. Song Lengzhu gripped her dagger’s hilt tightly, her face showing no trace of panic. She remained relentless even in mid-air, engaging her core and bending her legs into a semi-squatting, dragon-riding posture, planting her feet firmly on the snake’s neck.

Tang Yu, on the other hand, was not faring as well. She hadn’t had time to plunge her knife into the snake’s body before being thrown into the air. Now she was fluttering like a piece of paper amidst the splashing water. Seeing how effortlessly Song Lengzhu was handling the situation, Tang Yu gritted her teeth, a competitive spirit rising within her. Unwilling to be outdone, she tightened her grip on the scales, raised her other hand, and stabbed viciously at the golden pupil on the tail.

The moment the blade fell, Tang Yu’s precognition told her something was wrong. The sensation of piercing a glass eyeball never came; instead, it felt like stabbing into a piece of flesh.

The golden part on the tail wasn’t an eye.

Tang Yu had a sudden realization. This wasn’t a two-headed snake at all. The eye and forked tongue on its tail were just markings and long tendrils meant to intimidate prey.

Even so, the tail could open and close like a mouth, and it had fangs inside.

Tang Yu had originally thought this strike would pierce the eyeball and inflict a fatal wound on the mother snake. Who knew the eye was fake? This injury would, at most, cause the mother snake some pain.

In an instant, the airborne snake slammed back down into the water. A huge splash hit Tang Yu in the face, stinging her skin. She held her breath and squeezed her eyes shut. When she opened them again, the mother snake had already carried them a long distance down the stream.

They were getting farther and farther away from their respective teammates, but neither of them had the mind to care about that.

The mother snake, desperate to shake off the two people on its back, continuously twisted and coiled its body, thrashing between the water and the air. Several times, Tang Yu and Song Lengzhu nearly collided.

But both of them held their knife and dagger tightly, not letting go for a second. The twisting motions only worsened the mother snake’s injuries, and foul-smelling snake bl00d was already dripping from its wounds.

Tang Yu licked her gums uncomfortably. The smell of the snake bl00d was too strong, easily stirring the bloodlust she had suppressed for so long.

Just then, the mother snake landed on the water’s surface and its entire body suddenly coiled up like a tower, crisscrossing itself in an attempt to crush the two of them within its coils.

Tang Yu looked up at Song Lengzhu, her eyes signaling the other to prepare. No matter what, two people working together was better than one fighting alone. Tang Yu didn’t want Song Lengzhu to die here.

For a second, Tang Yu was dazed. Both of them were soaking wet, their faces and bodies covered in water droplets. Song Lengzhu’s hair tie was gone, her wet hair hanging loose, plastered to her body along with her jacket.

She looked a bit disheveled.

But her expression was completely calm, and her body was extremely stable as she straddled the snake—an external manifestation of an incredibly strong core.

Is this the ability of the strong? Tang Yu sensed the gap in their physical fitness from these minute details.

Song Lengzhu first met Tang Yu’s gaze, then leaned down, her hand secretly applying more force, pushing the dagger an inch deeper until almost the entire blade was buried in the snake’s flesh.

In the instant the mother snake coiled its body to crush them, the dagger in Song Lengzhu’s hand suddenly seemed to glow. She gripped the hilt with both hands and sliced forward, forcibly tearing through the mother snake’s tough scales and ripping a large gash in its body. The end of the wound even extended to the mother snake’s head.

The smell of bl00d in the air exploded, and bl00d gushed out, dyeing the stream red.

Tang Yu wasn’t idle either. She coordinated with Song Lengzhu, pressing down on the snake’s tail to slow the coiling. The moment Song Lengzhu succeeded, Tang Yu’s knife also plunged down with all her might, nearly piercing through the tail.

The two consecutive heavy blows made the mother snake give up coiling, and its swimming speed slowed. Tang Yu couldn’t help but be shocked. It took all her strength for Startling Dragon to break through these scales; Song Lengzhu’s short dagger shouldn’t have been able to achieve such an effect.

Tang Yu turned her head to look. The dagger in Song Lengzhu’s hand had returned to its dull, lackluster state.

An ability? Tang Yu confirmed this guess in her mind. Song Lengzhu had an ability she didn’t know about.

By now, the scenery on both sides had become completely unfamiliar. They had no idea where the mother snake had taken them. Wherever it passed, the stream turned red, and even their bodies were stained with some bl00d.

However, judging from the fact that Song Lengzhu was still alive, the snake bl00d was not poisonous.

The mother snake’s struggles lessened. It stopped leaping into the sky and diving into the water, now just floating on the surface. But its forward speed not only didn’t slow down, it got faster and faster.

“It’s the stream, the current is getting faster,” Song Lengzhu said loudly. After a pause, she turned back to Tang Yu on the snake’s tail and said, “Quick, come to the front. Help me control its head.”

Her words had barely faded when a previously faint roar grew louder and louder—it was the resounding echo of a massive volume of water falling.

There was a waterfall!

Tang Yu quickly got up and stepped onto the snake’s body. She forcefully pulled out Startling Dragon, turned, and ran across the scales toward the snake’s head. In her line of sight, the stream ahead had already dropped off.

The waterfall was moments away. Tang Yu had just scrambled to a spot an arm’s length from Song Lengzhu when the sudden drop threw the unsteady Tang Yu into the air.

Without hesitation, Song Lengzhu reached out, grabbed Tang Yu’s forearm through her jacket, and forcefully pulled her back.

Personal grudges were insignificant in the face of danger. Song Lengzhu couldn’t let Tang Yu die here either.

With the support, Tang Yu finally stabilized herself in mid-air, twisted her body, and got back onto the snake. Seeing that Tang Yu was out of danger, Song Lengzhu quickly withdrew her hand, unwilling to hold on for a second longer.

One behind the other, separated by an arm’s length, Tang Yu stabbed Startling Dragon back into the snake’s body and leaned out to look down.

The mother snake had already carried them over the waterfall. But it wasn’t falling in a straight line; instead, it was twisting its body like a jiao, swimming down with the vertical flow of water.

This waterfall had a drop of over thirty meters, almost the height of a ten-story building. The mother snake’s thrashing was violent. The feeling of weightlessness made the dull pain in Tang Yu’s head increasingly clear. Coupled with the impact of the falling water on her back, her body couldn’t take it, and she had to stop using her precognition ability.

Song Lengzhu, sitting in front, called out a reminder, “Hold your breath!”

The words had just left her mouth when the mother snake took a sharp dive, carrying them down and plunging straight toward the water’s surface below the waterfall.

Below the waterfall was a bottomless pool. The falling water stirred up the silt from the bottom, making the dark green water incredibly murky. The addition of the snake’s bl00d reduced visibility to a minimum.

Tang Yu’s eyes stung. There were too many impurities in the water, and floating sand had gotten into her eyes.

The mother snake swam down for about ten meters, seemingly intent on drowning them, relentlessly diving toward the bottom. The pool was also strangely deep. After two minutes of thrashing, the mother snake still hadn’t reached the bottom. If Song Lengzhu hadn’t reminded them to hold their breath, they would have run out of air long ago.

Tang Yu had thought she had gained the upper hand in the fight against the mother snake, but who knew this snake would be so tenacious. Tang Yu let out a bubble, gripped her knife with both hands, and pressed down. The mother snake suddenly halted its downward momentum and raised its head, trying to lessen the pain.

Seeing that this move was effective, Tang Yu pulled out Startling Dragon and stabbed it dozens of times, mangling that section of the snake’s back.

These few stabs severely injured the mother snake, but it did nothing to alleviate their lack of oxygen. A sharp pain began to emanate from Tang Yu’s lungs, and her mind was slowing down. She quickly sheathed her knife, gave up on tangling with the mother snake, and swam forcefully toward the surface.

Her vision was filled with murky water. Light couldn’t penetrate these impurities; the surroundings were dim and lightless, with visibility of no more than two meters.

Tang Yu didn’t know if Song Lengzhu had followed. She reassured herself that Song Lengzhu was more capable than her and probably didn’t need her to worry.

Just as she swam up a meter, a muffled grunt sounded from behind her. Tang Yu couldn’t help but look back and saw Song Lengzhu being sent flying by the massive snake’s head.

Only then did Tang Yu remember that her body’s functions operated slower than a normal person’s, so she could hold her breath longer than a human. She still had half a breath left, but Song Lengzhu was already at her drowning limit.

Before Tang Yu could decide whether to save her, the mother snake’s second wave of attacks arrived in an instant, heading straight for Tang Yu. It clearly didn’t intend to let either of them go.

Unable to dodge in time, Tang Yu was struck by the mother snake, sent tumbling several times, and lost her balance, sinking toward the bottom of the pool.

She struggled to flip over and stabilize herself, just in time to glimpse Song Lengzhu’s figure at the bottom. The other woman hadn’t died as Tang Yu had expected. Instead, she was still moving her arms, swimming deeper into the water, and had even thrown off her backpack.

Tang Yu couldn’t help but wonder if holding her breath had damaged the woman’s brain. Why was she swimming toward the bottom? She would die if she didn’t surface for air soon.

At that moment, Song Lengzhu suddenly turned around and beckoned to her, signaling for her to follow.

Tang Yu froze for a moment, glanced back at the mother snake charging toward them, then gritted her teeth and followed.

As she got closer, Tang Yu discovered a round, person-wide hole in the rock underwater. By now, Song Lengzhu was already halfway through it.

The mother snake’s head bit down again. Without time to think, Tang Yu followed right behind Song Lengzhu into the opening.

The pursuing mother snake crashed into the rock at the entrance, shaking the stone. Tang Yu quickly pulled her feet in and sped up her swimming.

The opening was very narrow, only allowing one person to pass at a time. They first swam down for a short distance before the tunnel began to ascend. Judging by the direction, it seemed to lead into the cliff face behind the waterfall.

If there was a cave above that wasn’t flooded, they could get some air!

Before Tang Yu could feel happy about this guess, the tunnel behind them vibrated with another impact. The familiar sound of scraping scales grew closer. The mother snake had actually followed them into the cave.

Perhaps due to exhaustion, Song Lengzhu’s swimming speed had noticeably slowed. But she made no move to ask for help; her movements just became more sluggish, showing signs of drowning. Tang Yu had no choice but to reach out, grab Song Lengzhu’s exposed ankle, and use some of her strength to push her forward.

This tunnel was too narrow. If the woman surnamed Song didn’t swim faster, Tang Yu would be the first one to be eaten.

Song Lengzhu’s skin felt cold and clammy, smooth but like a block of ice. They had been in the water for so long that both their body temperatures had dropped significantly. Tang Yu had no mind to dwell on this; she was more concerned that the touch was for nothing. Song Lengzhu wasn’t using her ability at the moment, so she gained no benefit.

Feeling Tang Yu touch her skin, Song Lengzhu struggled for a moment, but the movement was slight. Tang Yu hummed twice with her mouth closed, signaling Song Lengzhu not to move and to hurry up and swim.

Fortunately, the tunnel finally came to an end before the oxygen in their lungs was completely depleted. Soon, they broke the surface of the water. While gasping for air before the mother snake arrived, they looked to either side.

It was pitch black all around, but Tang Yu could still make out a patch of dry ground to her right. However, on the cliff wall above that patch of ground hung a four-to-five-meter-long, whitish shed snakeskin.

Damn! This was probably the mother snake’s nest!

Only then did Tang Yu realize that the size of the round opening was clearly the same as the snake’s body.

Tang Yu whipped her head to look at Song Lengzhu, her eyes filled with resentment. Wasn’t this leading her right into the snake’s nest?

Having caught her breath, Song Lengzhu showed no surprise at the snakeskin. She glanced back at the water’s surface, then raised her hand and swam toward the dry land. The mother snake was already in pursuit. Tang Yu didn’t linger and quickly climbed ashore.

Once on solid ground, the two turned to look back. The giant snake broke through the water, two golden lights rising higher and higher in the darkness. Tang Yu quickly turned on the camping light on her waist. Under the light, the mother snake held its head high, its eyes fierce, flicking its tongue incessantly. Half of its body was still bleeding; its injuries were not light.

Before it could attack, a sharp “click” of metal sounded in the darkness. Tang Yu turned to see that Song Lengzhu had taken a grenade from her waist. She had decisively pulled the pin and thrown it in the mother snake’s direction.

“Ho…” Before Tang Yu could finish her exclamation of shock, a massive explosion erupted from the water’s surface. Tang Yu hastily dropped to the ground and covered her head.

Using a bomb in such a confined space, that woman Song was insane.

The cave walls shook from the blast, dislodging some loose rocks that fell into the water with a splash. The dust kicked up by the explosion coated both of them.

After the massive explosion, half of the mother snake’s body was blown to shreds, and a thick mist of bl00d filled the air. Tang Yu peeked out with one eye and saw the mother snake, incredibly, still swaying as it crawled onto the shore.

It still wasn’t dead?

The mother snake once again opened its cavernous mouth and charged at Song Lengzhu, but its momentum was much weaker. Song Lengzhu leaped, pushed off the cliff wall, twisted her body to land on the snake, and with a swift motion of her hand, plunged her dagger into the mother snake’s seven-inch vital spot.

The mother snake struggled for a while, then quickly stopped moving.

Tang Yu stood up, the way she looked at Song Lengzhu having changed. The woman’s ability to react in a life-or-death situation was completely beyond her imagination. One moment she was on the verge of drowning, but the next, having seized a sliver of hope, she had immediately thrown herself back into a state of decisive combat.

Tang Yu pointed at the snakeskin on the wall and looked at Song Lengzhu questioningly. “You knew all along, didn’t you?”

Song Lengzhu followed her finger. Although she couldn’t understand Tang Yu’s words, she guessed their meaning. She lowered her head to pull out her dagger and, on account of Tang Yu having helped her, patiently explained, “The opening was about the same size as the snake’s body, and there were fallen scales nearby. I knew it was a snake’s den before we entered. But snakes are reptiles, and most of them need to breathe, so its hiding place should have air. Besides, swimming into the cave was closer than swimming to the surface.”

Tang Yu took a breath. True, that did make some sense.

Song Lengzhu pried open the mother snake’s massive mouth and, using her dagger, followed the seams of the bone to extract the two fangs. She had decisively abandoned her backpack earlier in the narrow opening, so now she simply hung the fangs on the utility belt where her grenade had been.

Tang Yu squatted a meter away, watching Song Lengzhu work with the knife. The snake’s body was now a gruesome sight, a bloody mess with a foul, fishy stench.

Tang Yu couldn’t help but lick her lips.

Song Lengzhu noticed her action and paused. “What… are you doing?”

While she was asking, Tang Yu had already extended a finger, dipped it in some snake bl00d, and then carefully licked it.

Song Lengzhu’s pupils dilated abruptly as she stared at Tang Yu in disbelief.

Tang Yu’s eyes lit up. This snake bl00d… was it actually this delicious? Since becoming a zombie, she hadn’t consumed any bl00d or raw meat. Although zombies had a natural desire for these two things, Tang Yu was able to suppress it.

But this massive snake, with its huge amount of bl00d, had stimulated her nerves, and she couldn’t resist a taste.

However, it was limited to just a taste. She couldn’t just start drinking bl00d and eating raw flesh.

Song Lengzhu gave Tang Yu a suspicious look and unconsciously took two steps back. They had fought side-by-side for a moment, which had almost made her forget that Tang Yu was a zombie—a bl00d-drinking, flesh-eating zombie.

Tang Yu ignored Song Lengzhu. The danger was over, so she took the opportunity to open her game panel and check the task that had been prompted earlier. As expected, the triggered task was to kill the Red Earthworm Mother Snake.

Unfortunately, the one who dealt the fatal blow to the mother snake was Song Lengzhu, so she didn’t receive the reward for this task.

However… Tang Yu’s gaze slid down and noticed a line of small text after the task.

【Drink one liter of the mother snake’s bl00d. Progress: 1%.】

It seemed to have been triggered right after she tasted the bl00d. Tang Yu swallowed. Maybe… she should drink a little more?

It was already dead, so it shouldn’t go to waste.

Having convinced herself, Tang Yu first looked up at Song Lengzhu, who wore a disgusted expression, looking at her as if she were a monster. Tang Yu huffed and, right in front of Song Lengzhu, bent down and drank a mouthful of snake bl00d from a wound on its body.

The warm bl00d slid down her throat, stimulating Tang Yu’s nerves. The taste of the bl00d was strong, which Tang Yu herself didn’t like, but her brain became excited because of it. Not only that, she could feel a scorching heat gradually coursing through her limbs.

Her body, which had lost heat from falling into the water, now felt feverish. She didn’t know what effect this snake bl00d had. At first, it tasted good, but after a few more mouthfuls, it became difficult to swallow. Tang Yu watched as the system’s progress went from 1 to 100%. As soon as the task was completed, she promptly stopped.

If there was another bl00d-drinking task in the future, she would absolutely not accept it casually.

If she drank any more, she would die from the heat.

Tang Yu moved to the water’s edge, rinsed her mouth with the pool water, wiped the bloodstains from her face, and then lay down on the ground in a star shape.

The task settlement panel, which hadn’t closed, quickly displayed the rewards.

【1. Task Points: 20. 2. Physical Fitness increased to 160 (Initial value: 20). 3. Health increased to 50 (Initial value: 10).】

Tang Yu shot up. The points for this task weren’t high, only twenty, but her physical fitness had increased by a full 80 points, which was more than the previous two tasks combined, and her health had also increased by 30 points.

Tang Yu couldn’t help but make a celebratory fist pump, then she put her hands together and bowed to the mother snake’s corpse. This was great. The snake hadn’t been killed in vain, and the bl00d hadn’t been drunk in vain.

“Jumping up and down like that, did you drink too much bl00d and get poisoned?” Song Lengzhu looked at Tang Yu and said coldly.

Tang Yu rolled her eyes at Song Lengzhu. They couldn’t understand each other’s language, so Tang Yu couldn’t be bothered to speak.

Although they were now two grasshoppers on the same rope, that didn’t mean the two grasshoppers had to get along peacefully.

Tang Yu chose a dry spot to sit down. She checked her limbs and found that besides some pain in her ribs from being hit by the mother snake in the water, she had no other injuries.

Her physical condition was slowly improving. She was no longer the fragile body that would get seriously injured at the slightest incident. Only now did Tang Yu understand why players valued points and tasks so much, even developing the habit of putting tasks first.

Because they were truly useful.

By the light of the lamp, Tang Yu secretly observed Song Lengzhu’s condition. The other woman also seemed uninjured. Her breathing was steady, her expression calm, and she appeared to be checking her game panel.

She had already straightened her messy long hair. Strands of wet hair clung obediently to her skin. She paid no mind to the water droplets sliding down her cheeks, letting them drip into her collar.

Tang Yu was dazed for a moment, as if the image of Song Lengzhu nearly drowning in the tunnel was just a figment of her imagination. This woman, Song, had always been as steady as a mountain.

On this trip, the two had saved each other several times—Tang Yu couldn’t even count how many. But the other party seemed to have no intention of thanking her, nor did she seem to expect any thanks herself. This wasn’t a good time to bring up old scores, so they both refrained from mentioning their grudges, acting as if nothing had happened.

Weird, this was just too weird.

Tang Yu unzipped her jacket to let some air in. The heat from drinking the snake bl00d hadn’t dissipated yet, and the tank top underneath was soaked and uncomfortable.

Her movement caught Song Lengzhu’s attention. Song Lengzhu looked over, her gaze sweeping from Tang Yu’s hair, down her neck, to her pant legs.

What are you looking at so closely for! Tang Yu immediately zipped up her jacket, clutched her chest, and shrank back, as if she had been visually assaulted.

Song Lengzhu’s mouth couldn’t help but twitch. She said, “Not injured? If you’re not injured, let’s hurry back and regroup with our teammates. I’ve contacted them. They’re still upstream, and there are no casualties for now.”

As she spoke, she stood up, walked to the water’s edge, and was about to jump in.

Tang Yu followed behind her. As they reached the mother snake’s corpse, Tang Yu suddenly remembered something and muttered.

Song Lengzhu stopped her jump and turned back to ask, “What?”

Tang Yu dipped her finger in some bl00d and wrote two word on the ground: “mother snake”, then drew a question mark after them.

Song Lengzhu pondered, “You’re asking why it’s called the mother snake?”

Tang Yu nodded slightly.

“Either this group of snakes has changed its habits, becoming like a matriarchal society with a massive queen, or…” Song Lengzhu’s gaze shifted to the soft belly of the mother snake’s corpse, where the scales were slightly smaller and the surface looked smooth and flat.

“…or, it’s the literal meaning. It’s the mother of those smaller snakes.”

Tang Yu shivered.

Either way, the enemy they faced was not just this one mother snake. If it was as Song Lengzhu said, and this mother snake had hatched the swarm of snakes, then it must have mated with another snake. Where was that snake?

Tang Yu steadied her nerves and, following closely behind Song Lengzhu, jumped into the water.

This time they entered the water not in a frantic escape, but with Tang Yu turning on her waterproof camping light as they returned to the tunnel entrance they had come from.

But they soon discovered that the exit of this tunnel had been destroyed by Song Lengzhu’s grenade.

A stalactite from the ceiling had fallen directly into the opening, blocking it completely, and the surrounding cave walls showed signs of collapse.

Song Lengzhu: …

The two of them tried to pry it open with their weapons for a while, but seeing it was no use, they swam back out of the water and climbed onto the bank.

Song Lengzhu’s voice was devoid of any emotion. “We’ll just have to find another exit.”

Tang Yu rolled her eyes internally. You don’t feel guilty at all, do you!