C56 — Cai Sheng (XVIII)

What Song Hong said next, Kou Dong could no longer hear.

 

He put down the mobile phone clutched tightly in his hand as if nothing had happened, feeling sweat seeping slightly from his palm. He blinked and looked at Beauty Snake.

 

The beauty snake didn’t react much to the prop he was holding; instead, he just propped up his body, hooked his tail tip over a bamboo basket, and pulled it in front of him. Kou Dong looked at it and saw that there were some cakes and a bag of dim sum with crispy green beans in it.

 

“Let’s eat some first,” the beauty snake said, still smiling. His eyes changed back to the yellow vertical pupils that only snakes had as he stared at Kou Dong. “Be careful not to get hungry.”

 

Kou Dong didn’t have much appetite, but under such gaze, he finally picked up a piece of pastry. He didn’t dare to actually bite, afraid that the NPC would act recklessly.

 

The beauty snake stood guard and rolled up the kettle, gesturing for him to take a sip of water.

 

Outside the curtain, the streets and pedestrians gradually disappeared, and a nearly desolate green gradually surged in. The carriage seemed to have left the center of the town, moving further and further away.

 

Kou Dong asked, “Where are we going?”

 

The beauty snake, with his silky black hair hanging down, had a smile on his face when he heard these words. He asked, “Where does Young Master want to go?”

 

Kou Dong assured him that anywhere was fine, as long as he could take him out of this ghost town…

 

The sky was the limit.

 

Anyway, as long as he could get out of Taoyuan Town, he could run away.

 

Unfortunately, the beauty snake followed up with, “We can’t leave the town yet, but sir won’t find this place either.”

 

Kou Dong was disappointed, and he couldn’t help but blurt out, “Why can’t we leave the town?”

 

The Beauty Snake let out a soft laugh. His tail curled around a strand of Kou Dong’s hair, and he said slowly, “Yes, why?”

 

Kou Dong thought carefully and understood, “Are you afraid that he will guard the door?”

 

Now that the members of the circus had retrieved the bones from the abductor’s hands, they were no longer Earth-bound spirits trapped in this place and could leave the entire Taoyuan Town. With Ye Yan’s heart, after coming out and discovering that the Beauty Snake had taken Kou Dong away, it was impossible for him not to take action.

 

At that time, the exit to the outside would definitely be the first priority.

 

The beauty snake didn’t expect to keep the abdu-ction from Ye Yan for long. Ye Yan cared so much about this child that it felt like wanting to snatch food from the tiger’s mouth.

 

Without a foolproof plan, how could it be done?

 

He hummed a babbling tune, without any panic or busyness, carefully adjusting the few strands of hair that were rubbing against Kou Dong’s ear.

 

His breath was right in his ear, so cold that it made him shiver from head to toe.

 

The Beauty Snake said in a low voice, “Young Master is indeed a smart man.”

 

This sentence sounded like a compliment.

 

Kou Dong frowned and said, “If you were in the town, you would still be discovered by him.”

 

After all, it was Ye Yan; the ultimate boss’s tactics were not something to be taken as a joke.

 

Ye Yan …

 

Kou Dong felt a tingling sensation when he thought about the other party’s furious appearance—Ye Yan originally loved him, so it was impossible for him to be subjected to body mutilation. But since he ran away this time, it was hard to say whether he would make him choose a wooden man.

 

He might even chop him and the golden python in front of him into pieces.

 

The beauty snake shook his head and lightly said, “It’s okay. It is said that under the lights, there is no safer place than this Taoyuan Town.”

 

When Kou Dong heard this, he became a little anxious. How could that be?

 

Not to mention whether this town was safe or not, he still had to escape…

 

He tried to negotiate with the NPC, “Can’t you just take me out?”

 

The singing voice of the beauty snake paused, and the pair of vertical pupils stared at him without blinking. Under such a gaze, it was almost as if Kou Dong had actually turned into a red-eyed, white-furred rabbit—a rabbit that could be picked up with one hand and stuffed into the mouth of the NPC in front of him as an extra meal.

 

Kou Dong: “……”

 

Okay.

 

It really didn’t look like it was going to work.

 

He sat back down heavily, but he suddenly felt the car stop abruptly; the carriage wheels seemed to have tripped on something, letting out a crunching sound that was too heavy to bear. The driver’s forehead was covered in a fine sweat, and he threw up his whip to beat the horse in front of him, urging, “Run! Run!”

 

But no matter how he hit it and how the horse raised its hooves, it couldn’t move forward any further. It looked as if it had stepped into a mud puddle and was trapped.

 

In this cold winter month, the driver actually sweated all over.

 

“Can’t go,” he finally hissed, lifting the car curtain up with one hand, “can’t go… It’s like a ghostly wall.”

 

There was only one real ghost in the car, the beauty snake.

 

He glanced at the front, and his eye refocused on the car driver again: “Give me the whip.”

 

The driver saw that he didn’t seem right; how would he dare to speak again? He obediently handed over the whip in his hand.

 

Without saying much, the beauty snake rolled up the whip with its tail and swung it forcefully; there was a sudden sound of gold and stone shattering in the air, and then the horse stumbled forward and jumped out forcefully.

 

The carriage swayed, and Kou Dong followed suit, almost hitting his head.

 

The beauty snake hooked his tail on him, with a hint of laughter in his voice. The laughter wasn’t very gentle and calm but rather eerie, making the listener’s spine shiver.

 

“Trying to trap me with a move like this…”

 

Kou Dong and Ye Yanzhi glanced at each other, and in their hearts, they understood that these were two NPCs who were on a collision course. So it seemed that the beauty snake’s ability wasn’t much lower than the teenager’s, and if the two evil spirits really fought, it wasn’t certain who would win and who would lose.

 

But this was a good thing for him.

 

Kou Dong’s little plan began to move again.

 

What was that saying? –The snipe and the clam fight; the fisherman gets the benefit.

 

Although Kou Dong wasn’t a fisherman, he was more like a fish on a chopping board—but if the two people who wanted him fought, wouldn’t he be able to live a little longer?

 

As the carriage resumed its journey, the Beauty Snake commanded, “Run faster.”

 

The horse spread its hooves and ran forward as if it had no caution. Kou Dong already had a plan in mind, so he asked the Beauty Snake, “Is there a river where we are going? I have a craving for fish.”

 

He acted like a normal child who loved to eat, so the Beauty Snake didn’t think too much about it and casually replied, “If you like it, there will naturally be fish.”

 

Kou Dong followed up with, “Then, will we live at the foot of the mountain?”

 

It was said to be a mountain, but in fact, everything in Taoyian Town was just a small hill that was no more than 200 meters high.

 

The Beauty Snake nodded, surprisingly easy to communicate with.

 

“If you want, we will live at the foot of the mountain.”

 

“……”

 

Kou Dong muttered in his heart, ‘Brother, at least you should be more approachable when speaking at this time…’

 

Judging from your posture, it doesn’t seem like you’re going to live at the foot of the mountain, but more like you’re going to be buried at the foot of the mountain.

 

There was a strong aura of seeking death all over his body.

 

He soon said he wanted to get off the car and use a restroom, but the beauty snake wasn’t so perv-erted as to randomly find a jar for him in the carriage and let him go.

 

Kou Dong didn’t let him hold him; he jumped off the carriage and hurriedly tiptoed all the way. When he stepped into the wilderness, he deliberately kept a distance from the carriage.

 

The beauty snake was guarding not far away and warned, “Don’t go far; be careful of snakes.”

 

…Big brother, no snake is as troublesome as you.

 

After all, other snakes only want to eat me, but you want to make me into a rabbit …

 

Without a trace, Kou Dong moved further away again.

 

Borrowing the cover of the grass blades, he felt out the old mobile phone in the luggage bar. Song Hong’s voice on the other end was still huffing and puffing, but it was a lot more relaxed than the last time, and he opened his mouth and asked, “Where are you?”

 

Kou Dong couldn’t tell where he was. While examining, he heard a faint voice on his shoulder saying, “Go two miles to the left, turn onto the small path, and go three miles forward…”

 

He repeated the route easily.

 

Kou Dong then remembered that his cub had a superb memory and could basically be used as a human navigator.

 

He quickly whispered his current position to his teammates.

 

Song Hong’s voice rose in excitement as he said, ”Then you are south of us. Can you look to the north and see the road?”

 

Kou Dong: “……”

 

Kou Dong: “Where?”

 

Song Hong: North!”

 

Kou Dong was silent for a long time and asked from his heart, “Where is north?”

 

Song Hong: “……”

 

Kou Dong hesitated: “Up north, down south, left west, right east…”.

 

Song Hong: “……”

 

What’s the matter? Do you want to go to heaven?

 

He didn’t delay any longer; he asked about the main thing, “He took me out; what about that one?”

 

He staggered, “That person, in front of you and not in front of you, are completely different people.”

 

Song Hong had seen Ye Yan go crazy before, just when Kou Dong collapsed on the bed for some unknown reason. He and Ah Xue pinched him for a long time but couldn’t wake him up. When the boy came back covered in bloo-d, he saw this scene and had such a deadly aura that they didn’t dare to utter a word and were almost strangled to death by the NPC at the bedside.

 

After finally realizing that it had nothing to do with them, Ye Yan didn’t let them go so easily and threw them directly into the courtyard where the children were imprisoned.

 

Nowadays, there were still a lot of children locked up there, and they were able to meet up with a few other players inside.

 

“If you’re not there, he’ll go crazy,” Song Hong warned, “and when he finds you, it’ll be even harder for you to run out.”

 

Kou Dong lowered his voice: “Can you stall?”

 

Song Hong: “It’s possible for me and Ah Xue to deceive a few other people, but if we want to deceive him… I don’t think it is very realistic.”

 

He touched his neck, still feeling a lingering fear; there was still a bruise on his head that was still black and blue. “I’ll try and keep in touch.”

 

Kou Dong answered and heard Song Hong over there whisper, “Hang up; the big-headed doll is coming.” The beauty snake had already begun to urge, as he hadn’t returned for a long time and he was preparing to come grab him. Kou Dong quickly comforted him and found a thin, sharp branch on the ground. He first drew a river on the soil and then a mountain.

 

The river was marked by Kou Dong with a bulging heart; Kou Dong pondered and then drew a small leaf next to it before throwing away the stick with dirt in its hand.

 

Ye Yanzhi looked at it and said quietly, “He may not be able to read it.”

 

By the river, at the foot of the mountain—the drawing was unreadable to the average person, it was more like some child’s random doodle.

 

“That’s what you don’t know, right?” Kou Dong educated, “Whether he can understand it or not is his problem.”

 

He told the truth, ‘I was thinking that this snake probably wouldn’t be able to beat him. If I were caught, wouldn’t I become a traitor who eloped with someone?’

 

Ye Yanzhi coldly said, “You are seven years old.”

 

How could he be an adulterer?

 

Kou Dong didn’t listen at all and was still addicted to this melodramatic plot, unable to extricate himself: “Even if he really forgets his old feelings and gets angry, I still have an explanation. – Sigh, after all, I’m not the kind of person who steps on two boats.”

 

Little Character: “……”

 

He was obviously joking, Kou Dong, who hooked up with four NPCs in the game at once; how wasn’t he a person who played in two boats?

 

Kou Dong, who had made preparations, went back leisurely. When he got into the car, he picked up something from the ground.

 

At least there were more safety nets.

 

The tip of the beauty snake’s tail wrapped around his leg, obviously not happy that he was out for so long. His orange-yellow vertical pupils stared at him firmly, as if he was going to ask for an explanation.

 

“What did you do just now?”

 

Kou Dong sat across from him and confused him: “Something.”

 

The beauty snake’s thin brows knitted up, and his expression was vaguely grim.

 

“What is it?”

 

Kou Dong avoided answering, “You don’t need to know.”

 

The sliver of snake tail silently tightened around his leg. Kou Dong felt the cold and slippery snake scales; they clung to his skin, and now the rounded edges were slightly open, like they were angry.

 

The beauty snake whispered, “Tell me.”

 

His voice trailed off as he trapped the child in his shackles.

 

“You want him again?”

 

The child jerked his head up, seemingly extremely incredulous, and stared at him. The beauty snake’s face completely sank, just the thought that what he was chanting in his heart was still Ye Yan was enough to make him jealous; at this moment, the snake’s tail curled and went straight to touch the child’s palm. “What did you take? Let me see.”

 

Kou Dong dodged backwards, seemingly extremely embarrassed. “Don’t look…”

 

The Beauty Snake’s expression became even more ugly. He steadied the child’s hand and almost forcefully poked the tip of his tail through the gap to fish out what was inside. When he pulled it out, he realized it was nothing more than a tiny white flower.

 

Nothing unusual, a common, half-special flower from the roadside.

 

Why did he hide it?

 

He rolled the flower, slightly surprised as he looked at the person in front of him. The child’s face reddened as he put his hand behind his back and whispered, “That’s for you…”

 

 

The beauty snake froze, not yet reacting; he only subconsciously repeated his words.

 

“–For me?”

 

“Hmm.”

 

The child shyly gave an affirmative answer, his inky, jade-like eyes lifted to look at him, and then it quickly dropped down again. “I think it matches you.”

 

He said, “From the first time I saw you, I thought a flower would fit you.”

 

No, that was just what he grabbed before he got into the carriage. Without something to calm him down, the beauty snake would probably go crazy too.

 

Kou Dong was now in a dilemma; he had to coax this side and that side at the same time.

 

Luckily, there were many people in his friend group who were involved in fan circles, and they were best at climbing the wall and praising their idol. Song Hong had learned something in the two years he had been an anchor. Now, when he closed his eyes and opened them, compliments would spray out.

 

“Flowers aren’t for everyone—you’re perfect; you look like a fairy brother.”

 

Beauty Snake: “……”

 

He stared at the soft petals of the small white flower, still somewhat incredulous.

 

Since entering the circus, with this good voice and this graceful good figure, he was also considered to be the pillar of the house. What kind of reward hadn’t he seen?

 

Relying on this strange form, he even sang for the county officials; what flowers and plants had he not seen?

 

But those seemed to be not as precious as the one in front of him.

 

He fiddled with it for a while and inserted it into his hair, and his cheeks turned slightly red. Because of this, he even lost the desire to ask more questions just now and even gave him another piece of mung bean crisp and hummed a few songs.

 

Kou Dong saw that he was so easy to coax, and his mood was also complicated.

 

It wasn’t that it wasn’t good that he coaxed him well; it was just that in this way, he always felt like he was going further and further down the road of the scum—or the kind that ran wild and couldn’t be turned back.

 

Firstly, he drew Ye Yan’s heart, and then he offered flowers to the beauty snake.

 

There was only one word for it.

 

Scum.

 

He rubbed his arms; for some reason, he felt a little cold. Just as he was thinking, he suddenly felt the carriage brake suddenly, as if it had encountered something extremely terrifying. It screeched loudly several times in succession, and then it stumbled to a stop.

 

There was silence outside, but the beauty snake’s expression suddenly changed. He lifted the curtain with an uncertain expression.

 

In the middle of the day, the corners of his crimson lips ticked upwards, and he said, not lightly but not heavily, “Sir came quickly.”

 

Kou Dong’s heart sank downwards.

 

He came so quickly!

 

He stared at the curtain and saw that a pale and slender hand grabbed the edge of the curtain and lifted it up—outside Ye Yan was still sitting on the wooden wheelchair, looking at the two in the carriage; his eyes were cold and gloomy, and there was no trace of a smile at all.

 

Being given such a glance by him, Kou Dong broke out into a back sweat, and his heart thumped wildly.

 

“–Hong Xiao.” He faintly said, “Where are you taking him?”

 

---

TN:

Happy new year 🎉 🎉 🎉 🎉 🎉 🎉 🎉