Chapter 63: – Snake Good

None of Ming Ruan’s worries along the way came true.

Because the moment the aircar docked at the Imperial Palace’s exclusive sky-lane terminal, a group of people in familiar uniforms came running toward them.

It was the folks from the Research Institute.

Ming Ruan’s sense of unfamiliarity toward the palace vanished instantly. No matter where he was, seeing these people meant whatever he was about to encounter wouldn’t be much different.

He hastily pushed the door open and got out, only having time to toss a “Bye, Brother!” to Ming Ji before being surrounded and swept up in the middle of the group.

“Mr. Ming Ruan!” A researcher quickly guided him into the palace. “My apologies for the lack of courtesy. The situation is urgent. Please, follow us!”

Hustled forward by the cluster of people, Ming Ruan didn’t even see the tips of the palace buildings. “What happened?”

“There is, ah, an animal in the palace… an unexpected situation has occurred,” the researcher said gravely.

Ming Ruan blinked. “What kind of accident? What animal is it? What are the symptoms? Is it an external injury, or a sudden-onset symptom?”

Ming Ruan had to clarify: “I’m not an animal doctor. I can barely count as a caretaker.” …And even before, he’d only raised pets.

The researcher kept a grim face and pondered Ming Ruan’s questions for a moment before answering earnestly: “No symptoms.”

Ming Ruan: Huh?

He had to seriously study the expressions of the people around him to be sure they weren’t joking.

“Then…”

“Rest assured. Just take a look first. You will definitely be able to resolve this matter.” Herded by the researchers, Ming Ruan walked for a long time until he was led to an enormous, ridiculously grand and heavy door.

Identity verified, the great doors swung open. Behind them stretched a long corridor with no end in sight.

Ming Ruan looked back.

The researchers nodded at him solemnly, as if entrusting him with something monumental.

Alright, alright then.

Though he didn’t understand what the researchers meant, or where he’d been taken, there was a new fluffball—er, perhaps not fluffy—waiting for him!

Ming Ruan rubbed his hands together and walked into the depths of the corridor with anticipation.

Behind the closed doors.

A researcher breathed a sigh of relief: “It should be fine now, right?”

“Not necessarily. According to our calculations, the Third Prince should have been able to maintain human form for three more days after stopping the forced therianthropy delay treatment. Who knew he’d suddenly transform today,” another researcher said, walking briskly toward another corridor first. “Let’s go to the surveillance room to monitor the situation.”

However, just as he turned the corner, he suddenly collided head-on with a black shadow!

“Who goes there!” The researcher was greatly alarmed. This was core royal territory. This entire area was near the Third Prince’s palace. On normal days, aside from robots and mecha soldiers, only their research team was permitted entry and exit.

His hand immediately reached into his pocket to press the emergency button, but the moment he raised his head and saw the face of the person before him, he froze.

…

On the other side, Ming Ruan was walking down the corridor leading to who-knows-where.

But because his heart was full of anticipation, he seemed to reach the end in the blink of an eye.

It was an opaque barrier, dark blue in color. Ming Ruan tentatively reached his hand out. Finding he could pass through, he walked his entire body inside.

He looked up again. Towering trees blotted out the sun, their canopies forming the sky, their roots weaving the ground. Long vines wound several times around thick branches before hanging down. The sharply risen temperature brought an uncomfortable humidity. Fortunately, the damp, hot air was filled with the scent of plants and trees, without any strange foul odors.

Ming Ruan turned to look at the barrier behind him. He almost wondered if he’d stepped into some kind of teleportation array.

The environment was quite similar to a tropical rainforest. What kind of animal could be kept here?

Monkeys, parrots maybe… and those ugly-cute magical sloths…

Filled with curiosity, Ming Ruan walked tentatively among the giant trees, having to stoop occasionally to avoid the hanging vines.

His path happened to be blocked by a huge clump of vines. Ming Ruan had to reach out and push them aside.

Oh. Cool and smooth. So comfortable.

What did he just touch?

Ming Ruan stopped walking. His hand felt around in the tangle of vines.

In the chaotic cluster of vines, one seemed to twitch.

Was he seeing things?

Ming Ruan leaned in to look closer. The vine slid again. Ming Ruan’s eyes met a pair of amber, vertical pupils.

The ‘vine’ flicked out a crimson, forked tongue, its tips nearly touching the tip of Ming Ruan’s nose.

It was… a snake.

…

HELP! THERE’S A SNAKE!!!

“I—!”

Ming Ruan recoiled as if electrocuted, springing backward. For an instant, he moved like a cat terrified into levitation by a cucumber, retreating three paces in a single bound, far exceeding his own maximum speed, and warped back to the barrier entrance.

But that wasn’t enough to vent all his shock.

At the entrance, someone was just coming inside.

Ming Ruan’s body sensed a familiar presence, and out of pure instinct, he scrambled up the person, clinging tightly, desperately trying to stuff himself into the person’s clothes.

He grabbed fistfuls of the stiff black collar, burying his head by the nape of the neck covered in short white hair. “Snake-snake-snake-snake-snake!!”

Ming Ruan shouted, his language devolving into broken syllables, eyes squeezed shut. He sensed the person he was clinging to move a hand, as if to pull him off. In his panic, he clung even tighter, terrified that if he opened his eyes, the snake would be right in front of him.

But unexpectedly, the person flipped him around. Instead of forcing Ming Ruan onto his back, he was now carrying Ming Ruan in his arms.

Su Yuyun slid one arm under Ming Ruan’s thighs. His other hand shielded the side of Ming Ruan’s face facing outward, pulling the young man closer against his chest. The large, black-gloved hand nearly blocked out all light from the outside world, wrapping Ming Ruan in a narrow, secure darkness.

Su Yuyun held Ming Ruan and shot a cold glare at the snake that had slithered after them along the ground.

The snake raised its front body, flicked its tongue, and then leisurely slithered up a nearby tree to hang, dangling its head to observe the scene before it.

“Scared?” Su Yuyun looked down and asked Ming Ruan, who was huddled by the crook of his neck.

Ming Ruan didn’t make a sound.

Su Yuyun didn’t ask further. He strode back toward the exit with Ming Ruan in his arms. “I’ll take you back.”

If Ming Ruan didn’t like it, no one could force him.

The snake lifted its head, rising up and watching the two figures retreat. Its vertical pupils showed no discernible emotion.

But just as Su Yuyun was halfway through the barrier, Ming Ruan suddenly changed his mind.

“Wait-wait-wait! No, don’t go! Don’t go!” Ming Ruan straightened up and craned back to look.

It was a snake! Who doesn’t like snakes?! They’re so cool!

And emerald green!

So beautiful!

Held by Boss, Ming Ruan’s bear’s heart and leopard’s gall came roaring back.

He didn’t even have time to wonder how his boss appeared here. He just wanted to go back and look at that very pretty snake some more.

Su Yuyun silently carried the person back.

The snake was still hanging from that same tree.

Seeing the two return, and the Outworlder among them staring fixedly at it, the snake slithered a bit toward them.

Ming Ruan immediately shrank back into Su Yuyun’s arms again.

Su Yuyun looked down.

Meeting Su Yuyun’s silent, questioning gaze, Ming Ruan said, completely unabashed: “I, I’m… Lord Ming who loves snakes in theory.”

In all reason, Ming Ruan should be afraid of snakes. At the orphanage he’d stayed in as a child, due to poor management, a child had been bitten by a snake—thankfully, a non-venomous one.

At university, in the city’s new district, it was close to the mountains. Certain months of the year, snakes would appear frequently. Everyone walked around jumpy and startled.

But a fluffy, furry world was not complete without a slithery snake!

Ming Ruan had raised plenty of digital snakes in the online world. Every night, after finishing dog mukbangs, cats ordering cardboard boxes, kneading fox-shaped bread loaves, pulling rabbit tails, rolling hamsters into flatbreads, and watching bird courtship dances, he still had to rush off to check if the pink Hognose Snake was drinking water properly, and whether the Black Jade King Snake had managed to swallow its little mouse today.

He’d always planned to raise a small pet snake in the future.

Ming Ruan sneaked a glance at the one hanging from the tree—none he’d ever seen was as beautiful as this one.

As if receiving Ming Ruan’s silent praise, the snake slid down from the tree and slithered toward Ming Ruan.

But but but—cyber snake-raising and meeting a real snake at least three meters long in a rainforest were two different things!

Ming Ruan followed his heart. (Aka, he chickened out).

Seeing the snake slithering this way again, Su Yuyun bounced Ming Ruan slightly higher, securing him with one arm. His other hand opened at his side, palm up. Flecks of golden light began to swirl around it.

Anyone who had seen Su Yuyun fight knew this was his pose for summoning his Light Armor weapon. But now, only motes of light danced; the longsword did not appear.

He had no intention of provoking a conflict. It was merely a warning.

The snake ignored both of them. The snake slithered into the transparent feeding box placed right next to the barrier. It coiled up, rested its head atop its own body, and used the tip of its tail to hook the box’s door. The little door clicked shut.

Snake quiet. Snake behaved. Snake good.

Ming Ruan stared at the feeding box, mesmerized, his heart thumping.

So… so well-behaved.

This was the feeling of being lovestruck!

He patted Su Yuyun’s shoulder, jumped down, and walked toward the feeding box.

…

Even if the current Royal Family held no real power, Third Prince Lochus was still diligently balancing his nation. Perhaps, as outsiders speculated, he was a born schemer. For him, making a figurehead monarchy stand steadily between the Adjudicator, the Council, the nobility, and the new plutocrats was not difficult—

The snake looked deep into the distance, pressing the tip of its tail against the wall of the transparent feeding box, sliding it slowly.

Ming Ruan, pleasantly surprised, pressed his own finger against the box, following the snake’s tail back and forth. The person who had been so scared just moments ago was now glued to the feeding box, completely inseparable from it.

—See. Just as simple as the snake wrapping Ming Ruan around its finger.

Lochus met Su Yuyun’s gaze and flicked his tongue at him.

Su Yuyun stood beside Ming Ruan, saying not a word.

This person, Lochus… was somewhat troublesome.

The feeding box was very large. Ming Ruan had no choice but to sit on the ground to accommodate it, pressing his face close to study the snake before him.

Its entire body was a translucent emerald green. Its scales were fine and dense, glistening like the finest jade, as if rapping on them would produce a clear, metallic ring. Along its back ran a line of deeper-colored scales, resembling the hue of imperial green jade, threads of color winding through, enhancing the entire snake’s texture of carved gemstone. As its head moved, one could faintly see two spots of tender yellow scales beneath its jaw and at its brow, making one itch to reach out and poke them.

Even more magical… this snake had two tiny, pointed horns on its head!

Ming Ruan’s knowledge of snakes was limited, but he knew horned vipers lived in deserts and never came in such a color.

But then again, this wasn’t Earth. As long as it was beautiful!

Ming Ruan thus stared at the snake from top to bottom, back and forth. His gaze was practically tangible, tracing over the three-meter-long snake in its entirety. Eventually, he couldn’t resist tilting his head, wanting to inspect the snake’s underside to see if it was male or female.

Just as Ming Ruan was about to act on the impulse, an inquiry came from outside the barrier. Someone was requesting to enter and deliver something.

Su Yuyun said nothing. Ming Ruan took the initiative to approve it.

Benny had served the Third Prince for many years. This period of the Third Prince’s Therianthropy had aged him considerably with worry. Now that the legendary Mr. Ming Ruan had finally arrived, he was eager to assist and serve at their side.

He carried a tray of items the esteemed guest might need—clothing, towels, etc.—and waited outside the barrier. After receiving permission, he stepped inside.

Then, at a single glance, he saw His Highness the Third Prince, placed inside a transparent box like some ornamental creature.

The tray Benny held crashed to the ground with a loud clatter.