Chapter 53: Xiangyang Beef Rice Noodles and Noodles

By the mist-shrouded edge of the pool.

Susu's frightened tears wet the corners of her eyes, her damp eyelashes drooping over her eyelids, and her nose tip even slightly red from crying.

"Xiao Hei..."

Don't be like this.

Don't be like this.

Don't terrify her like this.

Her slender, scallion-white fingers tightly gripped that section of the snake's tail that bound her hands, scratching off even a smooth snake scale.

This was the only resistance she could muster when facing an attack from a large animal.

The python seemed completely unaffected by any pain, launching its most ferocious assault upon its prey with overwhelming force, precisely locating the human's fatal weakness and ruthlessly crushing down.

A sense of mortal danger, as if being slowly devoured by a cold-blooded animal, lingered in her heart.

Susu cried out uncontrollably.

"Xiao Hei!!!"

The python, which had been resting with its eyes closed, brought its large head closer, inquisitively rubbing against the sleeping human.

"Hiss?"

Susu woke up with a start, her slightly rapid heart rate indicating she had just experienced a rather unpleasant dream.

When the familiar forked tongue came tasting the air, she recoiled by reflex.

The black snake had already reverted to its massive size. Seeing the female avoid its intimacy, a flash of hurt crossed the depths of those vertical pupils; it made no sound, just silently gazing at her.

Susu clutched her wildly beating heart, the scenes from the dream still vivid in her mind.

She even remembered all its vicious behavior in the water.

All of this had to be blamed on two months ago, when the suddenly shrunken black snake had sneaked into the hot spring pool, tied her by the rocks, and launched an "attack" on her... That sense of "terror" had been magnified dozens of times in the dream, pushing Susu's vigilance to its absolute threshold.

Two months had passed.

Due to heavy snow blocking the roads and mountains, with no means of transportation and no detailed map, Susu had decided to wait out the snow disaster in the mountains.

During this time, Xiao Hei's behavior had been exceptionally good; no similar actions had ever occurred again. The "estrangement" of that day slowly dissipated, and Susu's vigilance gradually returned to normal.

Had she not had that dream just now, she might have forgotten about that day altogether.

"Hiss?"

"..."

Xiao Hei's renewed display of affection still failed to elicit a response from the female. Crestfallen, it carried her to the improvised lean-to and turned to go hunting.

Before long, a bloody rabbit was tossed in front of Susu.

The large python poked its head ingratiatingly into the shelter, looking at the female with eager eyes.

Seeing Xiao Hei acting with such careful treed, Susu sighed and proactively hugged its large head.

"I'm sorry, I just had a nightmare and got scared."

"Hiss~"

Xiao Hei happily nuzzled against her, looking as though it held no lingering resentment for her earlier resistance and wariness.

A wave of emotion and guilt rose in the depths of Susu's heart.

For the past two months, amidst the snow-white mountain forests, she and Xiao Hei had depended on each other... No, it was more accurate to say that Xiao Hei had been feeding and taking care of her.

When meat was scarce, it was the one that burrowed into the ground to find hibernating small animals; when the temperature dropped, it was the one that automatically generated heat, acting as an all-night electric blanket; when bored, it was the one that carried her around to search for green leafy wild vegetables to serve as fiber.

It even carried her deep into an uninhabited mountain village, finding classic literature and early magazines left behind in villagers' homes, helping her pass the long, tedious hours.

Thinking of this, Susu's sense of guilt reached its peak.

How could she have kept her guard up against Xiao Hei for so long just because of what happened that day? Even after two months, when she had almost forgotten about it, she had gone and had a dream imagining Xiao Hei in such a vicious light.

It had only been an accident, after all.

"Xiao Hei, I'm sorry for these past days."

It was a random apology, and Susu hadn't expected Xiao Hei to understand, but the python she was hugging not only understood, but a flash of triumphant light crossed its eyes.

Hiss... It silently flicked its forked tongue, desperately restraining the impulse to lick the female. When her gaze shifted over, it put on a gentle and harmless facade once again.

Susu completely relaxed her mind.

She picked up the bloody rabbit and smiled, "Today we'll have spicy stir-fried rabbit head and spicy diced rabbit!"

The seasonings were all complete. Before the supermarket was thoroughly ransacked by survivors, she had scavenged plenty of condiments and stored them in Xiao Hei's spatial storage, greatly enriching their diet over the past two months.

Susu skillfully skinned the rabbit, marinated and stir-fried it, and a pungent, choking aroma wafted through the air.

The large black python crouching nearby almost sneezed.

Susu pushed its head away, "Move further back."

The black snake refused to budge. The forked tongue that wanted to taste the human was reined in by reason; it extended tentatively and then silently withdrew.

Susu fed half of the cooked rabbit meat to Xiao Hei, while she herself sat down to eat a bowl of rice and a basin of spicy diced rabbit.

The long-lost sunlight filtered through the leaves onto the crude shelter. She narrowed her eyes in enjoyment, her voice involuntarily carrying a hint of briskness, "Xiao Hei! In a few days, we can hit the road again!"

The pitch-black snake tail unhappily slapped the ground.

Accustomed to the solitary life of just the two of them, it didn't want to hit the road at all, nor did it want to return to the previous days and watch Susu surrounded by those stinky humans again.

Susu didn't notice its displeasure.

During this time, following Xiao Hei, she had traveled all over the mountain range, seeing neither familiar villages nor City G, which could serve as a directional marker.

This left only one possibility—she had traveled far away from City G, and wanting to go back and find Pang Cancan and the others would mean wasting a lot of time on the road again.

A few days later, the ice sheet coating the road completely melted. Susu simply tidied up the shelter and turned to climb onto Xiao Hei's snake back.

"Let's go, we're heading out of the mountains!"

"Hiss!"

The black snake transformed into a suitable size, large enough to carry the female along without being too conspicuous.

Just before nightfall approached, the human and the snake cleared the mountain range and spotted the familiar highway!

Within a short span of time, several cars had already sped past.

Susu and Xiao Hei hid in the woods at the edge of the mountain, looking at them enviously, "Xiao Hei, if only our off-road vehicle were still here."

There were still hundreds of kilometers to the Southern Base; she couldn't possibly ride openly into the distance on a giant python.

Leaving aside whether it would attract unwanted attention from the curious-minded, just think about Xiao Hei... Traveling this far, the scales beneath its belly would probably spark against the asphalt.

"Hiss!"

Snatch one.

The black snake's vertical pupils stared gloomily at the moving "steel boxes" below, already beginning to scout which vehicle was most suitable for its female to travel in.

Susu patted its head, "We can't snatch one."

Vehicles were scarce supplies in the apocalypse; they could be threatened or traded for, but outright snatching was a bit too barbaric and overbearing.

Having gone through so much, her personality hadn't changed much; she remained mild-mannered and didn't want to bully others with force.

Susu stared at the road and observed for a while longer, a plan forming in her mind.

"Xiao Hei." She opened the backpack she carried with her. "Hurry and crawl in."

To reduce the weight for the human, the black snake shrank back to a size of nearly two meters, slipping perfectly into the backpack.

Susu scrambled down the steep slope at the edge of the forest.

With the snow having melted not long ago, the mud was extremely slick. Not paying attention for a moment, she took a heavy tumble, landing flat on her bottom, and her clothing below the waist was instantly stained with mud.

"Hiss!"

The black snake poked its head out with a swish, seeming puzzled as to why she could fall so easily.

She truly couldn't do without it after all.

Susu struggled to stand up, "Xiao Hei, did you get hurt from the fall?"

"Hiss..."

The crimson forked tongue wanted to lick away the mud splattered on the female's cheek, but was briskly swatted away by her.

"It's dirty, you're not allowed to lick!"

The black snake silently retracted its forked tongue, using its tail instead to gently brush away the mud.

Stained like this, no amount of salvaging would help, so Susu bundled up the emerging Xiao Hei and stuffed him back into the backpack.

"Don't come out yet, I'm going to try to flag down a car."

Her plan was to use food or other supplies to stop a passing vehicle, have them drop her off at a town, and then go search for an ownerless car that was still operational.

However, reality slapped her hard in the face.

Susu stood by the roadside waving frantically, but every car that passed sped up the moment they saw her, driving right past and leaving her with a trail of cold exhaust fumes.

Soon, another car drove up from behind.

"What the hell? There's a major beauty hitchhiking ahead!"

Inside the car, someone leaned over the seat, their eyes shining brightly, "Boss, stop the car and pick her up?"

The man driving growled, "Can you use some common sense! Before the apocalypse, people on road trips wouldn't dare stop casually for hitchhikers. Let alone now that it's the apocalypse—out in the middle of nowhere, a woman suddenly appears, who knows if it's a trap! If you want to die, just say so, and I'll kick you all out right now!"

He successfully woke up his companions, and several of them shut their mouths sheepishly.

The accelerator was pressed to the floor, and the car vanished from sight in a flash.

Susu: "..."

Could it really be that the only option left was to hijack a car?

Just as she was reflecting on this, another white beetle car drove toward her from the opposite direction.

Susu waved without much hope, but the next second, the car stopped right in front of her.

The driver was a spirited-looking woman, and a handsome man sat in the passenger seat.

The woman glanced at Susu's dirty clothes and frowned, "Did something happen to you?"

Seeing a glimmer of hope, Susu quickly recited the excuse she had prepared: "My companion and I were heading to the Southern Base, but we had a dispute halfway and he kicked me out of the car... I still have some food on me. As long as you're willing to take me to the next town, I can give you all the food!"

The woman lingered her gaze on Susu's face for a few seconds, then readily agreed.

"Seeing that you're pretty, hop in."