Chapter 50: Mushroom Chicken Ramen Stew

Why did it get bigger? That is quite a long story.

After the giant python swallowed the black snake, before it even had time to digest its meal, scorching flames burned straight through its serpent body from within.

The black snake drilled its way out from the bloody ruptured hole, biting fiercely into the giant python's vital spot.

The latter did not struggle for long before its breath ceased entirely.

As creatures of the same kind, both eager to devour each other, the black snake ultimately outwitted its rival, emerging as the ultimate victor.

However, it was also severely injured. Driven by a latent instinct, it forced itself to swallow the giant python's crystal core, flesh, and blood.

A massive surge of energy flooded into its body. It felt its frame expanding and its flesh growing rapidly. After dozing off groggily for a short while, it awoke to find itself dozens of times larger.

Next, it vaguely caught the sound of human voices.

Resisting the chaotic energy crashing through its system, the black snake tracked Su Su's scent all the way, following her direction until it found her.

Unable to answer human speech or explain the events of the journey, it could only gently rub its massive head against her.

Cradling Little Black's head in her arms, Su Su roughly pieced together the truth.

"You won against that giant python, didn't you?"

Little Black could only have grown to this size after consuming the giant python's crystal core... At this thought, Su Su hurriedly channeled her ability, bathing the entire serpent body in a glowing white light.

"You've been swallowing crystal cores so frequently, do you feel any discomfort anywhere?"

Of course it was uncomfortable.

The rapid growth of flesh and blood brought many side effects, and that residual energy and impurities were still rampaging through its system, shifting its internal organs nearly out of place.

The arrival of the white light timely dispelled those excess impurities, guiding the energy to be absorbed gradually.

The black snake's body instantly felt much better. It squinted its eyes in bliss, its forked tongue instinctively flicking out to lick the human's face.

Yet forgetting that it was being cradled in her arms, it accidentally missed its mark.

Huh?

The forked tongue instinctively gave a few extra licks.

"Little Black!" Su Su cried out in bashful indignation, her earlobes blushing crimson as she forcefully slapped away its massive head. "No random licking!"

"Hiss!"

The black snake pressed its head forward once again, its bell-sized vertical pupils staring at her with displeasure, seemingly puzzled as to why it wasn't allowed to lick.

Su Su's cheeks grew even redder.

Taking a deep breath, she said as calmly as possible, "Little Black, I'm very cold right now. Get some clothes out."

Though the black snake clearly understood, it simply refused to move.

Those vertical pupils fixedly stared at the human's folded arms, completely unfathomable in their intent.

Slap!

Driven to exasperation, Su Su patted its head, urging, "Hurry up!"

Reluctantly, the black snake conjured several sets of cold-weather clothing out of thin air, its vertical pupils still staring straight at her.

"Bring your head closer."

Su Su beckoned to it with a finger. As Little Black obediently leaned in, she threw the tattered garments over its head.

"You are not allowed to look!"

With lightning speed, she put on a dry, warm sweater and a down jacket. Glancing back, she saw that the fabric covering Little Black's head had slipped halfway off, revealing a brazenly unblinking eye that had likely been staring at her the entire time.

Su Su took a deep breath, abandoning any hope of teaching this cold-blooded creature about modesty.

She withdrew her ability, and the white light that had purged all impurities quietly faded away.

The human and the serpent locked eyes in silence.

The surroundings were exceptionally quiet, and the light remarkably dim. Amidst this atmosphere, Su Su finally remembered that before this accident occurred, she had been at odds with Little Black.

The matter of it attacking a companion for no reason had not been resolved yet.

Su Su remained silent for several full minutes before speaking slowly.

"Do you know you were wrong?"

The black snake's massive head swung from the front to behind its body, refusing to meet her gaze.

Its evasive posture made Su Su draw a deep breath. The next moment, she scrambled up from the coils of serpentine folds, kicked off her shoes to step onto the warm scales, and threw her arms tightly around the black snake's head to prevent it from hiding any longer.

"Little Black, Cancan is our companion. Why did you bite her for no reason?"

"If she weren't a poison-attribute ability user, do you know what would have happened to her? She would have died on the spot, just like Wu Zhi and Zhang Er whom you bit to death before!"

The black snake gently wriggled its head, its untamed and rebellious demeanor truly vexing.

Left with no choice, Su Su resorted to her ultimate winning strategy.

She planted a heavy kiss right on Little Black's head.

Mwah!

"Can you listen to me properly now?"

Having tasted sweetness, the black snake finally quieted down, silently staring at the human so close at hand. "Hiss~"

Su Su went straight to the point: "Why on earth did you bite Cancan? Was it because she asked me to go to the hot springs and didn't invite you?"

Under her gaze, a flash of disdain crossed the depths of those emerald-green vertical pupils.

It didn't even like hot springs. Unless it was soaking with its own servant, that would be acceptable.

"It seems that wasn't the reason." Cupping its head in her hands, Su Su stared straight into its eyes. "Then what was it? Because of what she said, it displeased you?"

She still tried to guess along the lines of logic, hoping Little Black hadn't just attacked someone at random to grind its teeth simply because it was in a bad mood.

Having consumed the giant python's crystal core and flesh, the black snake possessed strength equivalent to a tier-five ability user. Its intelligence was closer to human nature, so it naturally understood the human's question.

"Hiss."

It tacitly admitted it.

Su Su began to recall: "What did Cancan say back then? She said I should agree to Wei Yan and try finding a few more boyfriends..."

Before she could finish, the black snake threw another tantrum.

Fretfully thrashing its tail, it violently shattered a protruding rock on the cave wall.

Su Su finally understood.

"You don't want me to find a boyfriend." She pursed her lips. "Are you afraid I'll abandon you?"

Hah, abandon her?

The only one doing the abandoning would be it; she needn't even dream of getting rid of it!

Having finally grasped the cause and effect, Su Su hugged Little Black's head and fell silent for a long time.

In her eyes, Little Black was much like an unsupervised, violent "child." If having a "boyfriend" equated in its mind to her being stolen away, it would naturally and instinctively react with hostility.

"I won't abandon you."

The black snake stared coldly at her.

Su Su added, "I won't get a boyfriend either."

The black snake's vertical pupils rolled, and its restless tail gradually came to a halt.

"Hiss?"

Su Su inexplicably understood its language, as if it were asking—Really?

"Really." She stood on tiptoes, taking the initiative to rub her forehead against Little Black's head. "I promise you, I won't get a boyfriend. It will always just be you and me, alright?"

This was not a lie thought up on the spot to pacify Little Black.

It was a conviction she had held steadfastly from her past life into this one.

The cruel days of the doomsday apocalypse and the volatile turmoil of safe zones where tomorrow was never guaranteed had long since stripped her of rosy illusions about romance and expectations for a partner.

"Hiss!"

A scarlet forked tongue instantly swept across her cheek. Having grown dozens of times larger, the surface area of its licks was much broader now.

Su Su felt a tickle and instinctively pulled back a few centimeters, only to be chased and licked several more times.

"But you have to promise me too, no more attacking companions at random!"

The black snake instantly retracted its tongue.

Su Su: "...If you refuse to promise me and pull that kind of stunt again, we'll fight again, and I'll ignore you again."

"And the moment you completely infuriate me, I'm going to go find a new..."

Before she could finish, the serpentine tail whipped around her, wrapping her tightly and stuffing her back between its coils, violently cutting off her sentence.

Su Su hugged the snake's tail and gave it a resentful bite.

The force of it was like scratching an itch for the black snake.

It even actively pressed the very tip of its tail against the human's lips, half to let her vent her anger and half to draw close to her.

Wearing an angry expression, Su Su widened her lovely eyes. "Little Black, I'm giving you one last chance!"

The black snake stood rigid for a long moment before finally lowering its head in reluctant submission.

"Hiss."

Fine.

No biting then. If worse came to worst, it would just beat up anyone who dared talk nonsense in the future.

Su Su instantly breathed a sigh of relief.

A carrot must follow the stick. She hooked her arms around Little Black's head once more, dangling nearly her entire weight upon it.

"I don't want to fight with you at all."

"What if you hid in the mountains to hibernate and I could never find you again? Where in this world could I ever find a second snake as cute as you?"

"And when that giant python appeared, I was terrified too. Seeing it bite you made my heart fall completely to pieces."

Within those vertical pupils, the figure of the human was reflected.

A pair of soft, rosy lips parted and closed, speaking the sweetest sweet-nothings capable of melting a serpent's heart.

An inexplicable stirring arose deep within the black snake's core.

It was true.

It liked this human too, liked her so much it couldn't eat or sleep properly. Having roamed the mountains for days, it had originally planned to just—quietly sneak back today.

Su Su continued pouring out her heart: "When we plunged into the pool, I thought I was going to die, that I'd never see you again."

"You see, the outside world is so dangerous. If the two of us quarrel, even if it's just out of spite, the moment we separate, we might never see each other again."

"Hiss!"

The black snake stopped her from saying any more.

As it crawled toward her earlier, it had sensed her breath growing increasingly weak. When its tail had coiled around her, it had felt just how low her body temperature had dropped.

Humans were truly far too fragile, liable to perish if one wasn't careful.

It silently licked the corner of Su Su's lips, the warmth radiating from its serpent body passing steadily into hers.

The human and the serpent fell silent once more.

Only this time, the silence was tacit, warm, and entirely without barriers.

In this subterranean cavern, colder than the outside world, Su Su was wrapped up securely, feeling practically no chill at all.

Nuzzling the snake's body with a hint of dependency, she murmured, "I'm hungry."

Plop.

A vast pile of food and drinks materialized out of thin air.

Su Su picked out a few of her favorites and ate daintily until she was full, attempting midway to feed eggs and tomatoes into Little Black's mouth.

"Eat these together, and it's practically scrambled eggs with tomatoes."

The black snake swallowed the egg whole and unceremoniously spat the tomato right back out.