Chen Ji stood frozen in place. He didn’t move—not that he didn’t want to. His limbs felt wrapped in cold, damp mud, every attempt to act coming with excruciating difficulty.
He seemed to be sinking downward, yet everything visible to the naked eye insisted he remained rooted in place, utterly still.
His pinky finger twitched with effort. His tongue tip inched along bit by bit until it pressed against his teeth. He tried to bite down hard, but the motion was agonizingly slow.
Something clung to his shoulder. A curious voice whispered eerily in his ear: “You’ve responded to me.”
“You can hear me… hee hee…”
“Hee hee… you’ve answered me…”
Chen Ji’s body shuddered involuntarily. An ice-cold chill seeped from his shoulder through his entire frame. His teeth chattered against his tongue tip. Right before his eyes, the bright sunlight was devoured drop by drop by an eerie black-purple hue.
Harder… come on, bite harder… move!
Chen Ji poured all his strength into biting his tongue to draw blood, but it was no use. With his body immobile and speechless, every trick was useless talk. As the sky was consumed, even the sunlight turned blood-red. An upside-down human face materialized bit by bit in the crimson glow, as if it had always been there—Chen Ji simply hadn’t been able to see it before.
The face was deathly pale, its lips an unnatural scarlet. Its eyes bulged beyond human limits, perfectly round as if the eyelids had been sliced away, revealing sharp beast pupils. Its neck was a slender snake’s, patterned with markings. Chen Ji looked up and saw the neck arching over his head in a semicircle. He couldn’t see farther—but not seeing it didn’t mean he didn’t know what it was.
He felt sharp nails digging into his shoulder. He could easily picture it: a monster with a human body and snake head, wearing a face peeled from some poor soul, standing behind him with its neck extended for a face-to-face stare.
【Chen Ji, what’s wrong?! What happened?!】 The System Cat’s urgent voice rang in his mind: 【Why is it all pitch black?! Did you pass out?! …Is the positioning busted?! I can’t find you at all!】
This meant the System Cat had reached the spot where he’d vanished.
But the System Cat couldn’t detect him. Given the bizarre surroundings now, Chen Ji realized he’d likely been dragged into some isolated space.
Wasn’t there an old saying? Humans tread the Human Path, ghosts tread the Ghost Path. He wasn’t on the human path anymore.
Terror gripped Chen Ji, though his features remained calmly composed, showing no hint of surprise or panic. He stared fixedly at the face before him and rapidly replied: 【Got nabbed. Probably gonna die.】
The System Cat freaked out. After the earlier events, it had some inkling that this place was off, but it hadn’t imagined things could get this freaky—dragging Chen Ji to another dimension and even blocking high-tech returns to base like itself: 【Hang in there—don’t die! I’m rounding up help right now!】
Chen Ji didn’t respond. The face before him parted its scarlet lips, extending a snake tongue that brushed lightly across his face. The lips stretched wider and wider. In the next instant, the skin at the corners of its mouth split open, peeling back to reveal yellowish-brown scales and razor-sharp fangs in Chen Ji’s field of vision.
A live snake transformation straight out of a horror flick.
A foul stench blasted his face. In a crisp child’s voice utterly at odds with its features, it giggled “hee hee hee.” “Chen Ji!”
“Chen Ji!… I’m going to—eat—you!”
Just as it lunged to bite, Chen Ji felt his body suddenly loosen. Freedom surged through him in that moment. He flung his mouth open and spat a mouthful of blood from his tongue tip!
“AAARGH—!!!” The snake let out a wretched screech, its childish tone turning piercingly shrill. At the same time, that massive head—which looked like it could swallow him whole—jerked backward. Chen Ji ignored the grip on his shoulder and wrenched himself free!
With a ripping sound, his outdoor jacket tore. Five deep gashes appeared on both sides of his shoulder, blood spraying out in an instant. Chen Ji didn’t glance back. He plunged headlong into the woods.
His tongue wound burned like fire. Sweat beaded on Chen Ji’s forehead. Unceasing shrieks echoed from behind, like some enormous thing barreling through the forest in pursuit!
Probably that snake—they really should’ve cast it in Anaconda.
Chen Ji thought this but didn’t dare look back. What good would turning around do? It’d only terrify him more and slow him down. His only option now was to run! Run!!
He had to escape this space!
Realizing this, Chen Ji darted through the trees, hoping the trunks would hinder the snake somewhat. Luckily, his outdoor jacket was rip-resistant and grippy; otherwise, he’d be in even worse shape. Even so, branches snagging his exposed shoulder wounds sent stabbing pain through him!
【Xiao Ba!】 Chen Ji called out mentally in a rush: 【If I don’t make it back, go straight to the next host. You know my account and password.】
【Quit talking crap!】 the System Cat shot back: 【Give me five minutes to grab stuff from home! Didn’t your grandpa leave you something? Where’d you put it?! It has to help at least a little!】
Turning into a cat came with limits—its running speed couldn’t exceed the peak average for cats.
【Nightstand.】 Chen Ji said this, though he held little hope. He still wore the hand string bracelet, but it seemed useless.
The metallic tang of blood thickened in his mouth. Amid his frantic sprint, Chen Ji could barely tell if it was from his tongue or sheer exertion. Suddenly, he heard rustling nearby. On pure instinct, he rolled forward. A massive yellow-black shadow whooshed over him from above, snapping at empty air!
Only then did Chen Ji glimpse its full form. Same thought as before—they really should’ve cast it in Anaconda. A body as thick as a barrel, the huge snake head unnaturally joined to it by a segment of white bone. It emitted a low, raspy hiss, but that childish voice echoed through the woods: “Hee hee! Got you!”
“Chen Ji! Hee hee! Got you!”
“Gonna eat you! Eat you up!”
Chills ran down Chen Ji’s spine. Deep down, he knew he probably couldn’t escape this doom. The glutinous rice and salt clearly had zero effect. Even if this thing was real, with that white bone at its neck, a purely physical tool like the high-voltage electric baton wouldn’t cut it. His only weapon so far was tongue blood—but one spray had only made it recoil for a split second.
How much tongue blood did he even have left? Even biting it off, how long could that last?
Perhaps savoring its prey, the giant snake slowed down, toying with him. The crisp laughter echoed through the entire space.
Chen Ji slowly tried to rise from the ground. In the next instant, he heard the whoosh of air—but it was too late. The snake’s tail whipped right at his face, sending him flying into a nearby tree trunk.
Agonizing pain exploded in his chest and back. Chen Ji’s mouth flew open as he vomited a gush of blood. Before he could react, the cold, fetid breath was upon his ear.
The fangs pierced inch by inch into his shoulder.
—It’s over.
Abruptly, a rift tore through the dim world before him. Outer sunlight burst in. Chen Ji saw a white shadow flash through the crack. Dazzling blade light filled his vision. The knife sliced across his shoulder, embedding in the giant snake’s mouth. Fabric tore like relentless sheets in a downpour.
The pressure on his back vanished. Chen Ji whipped around to see the giant snake cleaved clean in half. A young man in a white tracksuit gripped a tang dao, his gaze icy as he stared down Chen Ji.
Chen Ji tumbled from the tree but was caught by the young man. The youth glanced at his shoulder. Chen Ji opened his mouth to speak, but his throat was hoarse. He nearly sighed as he rasped, “It bit me.”
Too late.
Chen Ji’s vision blurred—probably the venom kicking in. Suddenly, he realized why the snake looked familiar. The spectacle king cobra from yesterday, the one that tried to bite him only to get killed by White Tiger, matched this one’s look perfectly.
That neck bone lined up too.
Always picking on the softest target.
“Mm.” The youth nodded coolly, then ripped open Chen Ji’s shirt. A chill like snow flashed over Chen Ji’s shoulder. The youth’s thin, pale lips parted and latched onto the wound, sucking out the poison. Black blood oozed from the corner of his mouth, tracing a dark line.
Chen Ji struggled to look down, then at the youth. He even mustered a joking tone: “…This gonna work?”
The other gave him an odd look, as if to say, You’re cracking jokes right now?
Chen Ji smirked faintly. Seizing the moment, he mentally dictated his last will to the System Cat.
“You’re awake?” Chen Ji suddenly heard a voice.
He opened his eyes to see the same youth from before. The man’s handsome features carried an unmistakable sharpness, like he was appraising a weapon. Impossible to mistake.
Chen Ji nearly blurted, I survived? But the youth spoke first: “Good to see you’re fine.”
“…” Chen Ji asked softly, “What happened to me?”
The youth stood, gathering a nearby bamboo basket. His voice was even, devoid of emotion: “You ate poisonous mushrooms. I made you puke them up. Stay off the mountain in the future—wouldn’t want you dying up here.”
Chen Ji: “…?”
Who was he fooling?
System Cat: 【Chen Ji, he’s lying—! You two popped up at the coordinates out of nowhere! I saw it with my own eyes!!!】
【And! You puked up black blood! Black blood! Be careful around him!!! Don’t buy his story!!!】
Chen Ji nodded, then burst into an excited grin. He grabbed the youth’s hand and shook it vigorously: “Thank you so much! Did you save me? I’m endlessly grateful—I don’t even know what to say! You’re my lifesaver! What’s your name? I have to set up a longevity plaque for you! Burn incense three times a day! Come on, lifesaver—my place is halfway up the mountain. Join me for a casual meal before you go!”
The youth went still for a beat, then shook off Chen Ji’s hand and bolted into the woods. Chen Ji didn’t get a chance to stop him—he was gone in a flash!
System Cat: 【…Chen Ji, you okay in the head?】
Chen Ji sighed: 【You wouldn’t get it…】
A powerhouse who single-handedly chopped down the supernatural version of Anaconda with one hand—you don’t let a guy like that slip away without digging for intel. Was he supposed to keep fumbling around blind?
……
The big shot turned out to be socially anxious too. Get too enthusiastic, and they’d just bolt.
Note to self for next time: be more careful. Try a different approach.
