It's already evening.
An old woman came out of a half-collapsed building, carrying all her gains of the day in a patched backpack. After a day's work and being too old, she was no longer able to carry the bag of "trophies", so she put the backpack in a cart she had assembled herself.
A dog ran out of the house, barked a few times, and circled around the old woman, wagging its tail happily.
"Okay, okay, I'll get you something to eat when we get back. I'll have half and you'll have half. Even though it's not enough to fill your stomach, at least you won't starve to death." The old woman smiled on her wrinkled face and looked up at the sky.
The clouds in the sky were illuminated by the setting sun with a flaming color, and the red clouds filled the sky, indicating that tomorrow would be another sunny day.
"It's sunny again."
“It hasn’t rained for days.”
"I don't know how long that well can last."
The old woman pushed the cart, and the wheels turned "wheel by wheel". From time to time, they jumped up because of running over gravel, causing the cart to shake violently, as if it would fall apart at any time.
The dog urinated beside the pile of stones, then rushed forward and turned back to bark at the old woman, as if urging her to hurry up.
The old woman laughed and walked towards the settlement little by little with her tired steps.
Suddenly, the dog raised its head and its nostrils twitched, as if it was sniffing something.
Then it started barking.
“Woof woof woof~”
It barked fiercely and showed its teeth, looking very ferocious.
The old woman had never seen it like this before, and she couldn't help but look back a few times, but her increasingly cloudy eyes made her unable to see anything clearly.
Therefore, the old woman did not see a gray shadow coming out of a window not far behind her.
It was dressed like a gold digger and even wore a helmet, but the rest of it, including its gear and clothing, was gray and translucent.
The dog continued to bark, but took two steps back. At this time, the creature raised its head and looked in the direction of the dog, but its face was very flat, without any facial features, so what could it use to look at the dog
The dog didn't know it, but was frightened. It made a 'wool' sound, then tucked its tail between its legs and ran away.
"Don't run so fast, I can't keep up with you..."
The old woman sighed, "When you are old, you are useless. Even dogs despise you. Sigh."
She continued to push the cart, which still made the "wheeling" sound. The man and the cart walked slowly on the gravel path, and the setting sun dragged their shadows very long. In their shadows, the gray-white thing emerged, standing up and almost sticking to the old woman.
Its featureless face began to split from the middle, and glowing tendrils stretched out from inside, wriggling and wrapping around the old woman.
at this time.
The thing froze for a moment, then looked back where it came from, then backed away a little bit, its glowing whiskers retracted, its face returned to its original state, and then it whooshed into the window of the building next door.
The old woman seemed to sense something. She looked back with a puzzled look on her face, shook her head, and continued on her way.
... ... ..
Ancient underground city.
Snake Temple.
"Well, I've got them all back, but I can only keep them on the surface, in the city centers, and in the sewers, and even then I can't keep an eye on them all.
Occasionally, they appear on the edge of the city.”
Su Na, with round eyes and lush green scales, was coiling her long tail. In order to take care of Tian Yang, she tried to lower her body as much as possible, otherwise Tian Yang would have to look up to talk to her.
Although now, Tianyang also has to raise his head to see the half-human snake.
"It's okay, just keep it the way it is. I will also warn the people in the settlement to try not to come to the central area, but they rarely do that."
Tianyang looked at the square and the collapsed temple: "By the way, how did you spread the 'loss of essence' to Harvest Castle? Although the castle is nearby, it is not close to here."
Su Na smiled slightly, "I rely on the help of those who come to explore underground. About a year ago, I began to feel that I was about to reach the end."
"I haven't eaten for hundreds of years, and I don't know what to do, but my instinct to survive has allowed me to gain some 'knowledge' from snakes."
Soona shook her hair, and one of them fell off. The moment it hit the ground, it turned into thousands of tiny black snakes. They spread out in all directions, swam around, and then returned to Soona, turning back into a snake hair.
"These are my clones. I let them scatter to every corner of the city and parasitize every explorer who passes by, and use them to leave the underground."
"These clones all have my aura. No matter how far away they are, I can sense and control them. After they parasitize, they will become invisible and take root deeply in the human body."
"I can use these clones to extract the host's life force, and through the invisible connection between the clones and myself, feed it back to me, allowing me to delay the process of death."
"Also, after the host dies, the clone will look for a new target. In this way, one day, my clone appeared in Harvest Castle."
"In order to allow people to continue to enter the ancient city to explore, I did not allow the clones that parasitized the explorers to immediately absorb the life energy of their hosts. If they died in large numbers, I'm afraid no one would enter the ancient city again."
"After I used them to enter Harvest Castle, I let my clone leave the explorer and look for a new target, which is the residents of the fortress."
“But it didn’t go well in the beginning.”
Tian Yang thought for a moment and said, "Could it be the Church of the God of Nature?"
"Yes."
Su Na nodded: "They seem to have ways to deal with my absorption of vitality. After repeated failures, I also obtained information about the city through my clone."
"I know that the old city lord is dissatisfied with the Church of the God of Nature. When he was a human, similar things happened in our city."
"So I let one of my clones parasitize the old city lord. I used his identity and status to expel the Church of the God of Nature. This way, I could safely absorb the life force of the residents."
Tian Yang chuckled: "You are quite smart."
"I'm not smart. I was anxious to survive at the time, so I could only rack my brains and think of all the ways I could." Su Na's eyes moved and fell on Tian Yang. "But now I can survive. According to your instructions, I have also released all the clones, including the one in the old city lord."
"From now on, I will continue to stay here and look for a way to save my compatriots. Although, that method may never appear."
Sona clenched her huge fist: "But I won't give up."
"I will also help to inquire. On the surface, I should be able to obtain more information than you. In addition, I will come to see you often and bring you some relevant books. However, you are so big that it may be difficult for you to read."
Su Na immediately shook her head: "No, my eyesight is very good. I can see an ant clearly in the distance."
"That's good. If you feel 'hungry' again, tell me. I will come to see you about once a month. If I don't come, you must be patient and don't lose your mind again."
Tianyang clapped his hands, called Xingluo, and prepared to leave.
Su Na stretched her snake body and swam over: "Um, what should I call you?"
"Tianyang."
"Tian of sky, Yang of sun." The young man waved his hand and walked out of the temple gate.
"The sky and the sun..." Su Na's eyes were vague, as if she was thinking of the years long ago, "I haven't seen them for a long time..."
Outside the Snake Lady Palace.
"Tianyang has been in there for so long, Liu Ya, do you think we should go in and look for him?"
"Hmm..."
"Why don't you say something? Oh, you've got me so anxious that I've forgotten you're dumb. So why don't you show me something?"
Fusheng and Liu Ya were considering whether to enter the temple when suddenly a voice rang out.
"No, it's done. We can go back now."
They turned around quickly and saw Tianyang and Xingluo coming out. The fat man jumped up excitedly and trotted over.
"Brother Tianyang, are you saying that the 'source' has been solved?"
Fusheng asked excitedly: "Then is our boss okay?"
"She should be awake by now."
Tian Yang kept walking: "If you walk faster, you might be able to see her before she goes to bed."
"Liu Ya, let's go. Hey, don't run so fast, wait for me."
"Damn Liu Ya, I'm going to die soon!"
It was already late at night when we returned to the settlement.
However, the settlement was brightly lit, and even music with local characteristics was playing. After Tianyang and his friends entered the settlement, they discovered that a bonfire party was being held in the square.
People sat in a circle in the square, holding either skewers of meat or wine bottles. Not far away, the chef of the Chamber of Commerce was grilling meat and cooking, and in the middle of the square there was a big bonfire, and young men and women from the settlement were dancing around it in a circle.
"came back."
"Our distinguished guest has returned."
Before Tianyang even arrived at the square, someone had already gone to spread the word, and as soon as he entered the square, he was immediately surrounded. Those skinny men excitedly lifted him up, made him into a human sedan, and let him walk to the square without touching the ground.
Then a group of enthusiastic girls rushed over from both sides and kept sprinkling flower petals prepared early in the morning on Tianyang's body.
Tianyang didn't know whether to laugh or cry, but seeing that everyone was happy, he didn't spoil their fun. He let them carry him to the front of the wooden building and then put him on the ground.
When they landed on the ground, they saw Huang Li supporting a white-haired old man coming forward. This old man was the pioneer of the settlement and also the spiritual leader here, Father Huang Sheng.
"Thank you, distinguished guest. It's you who saved me and everyone else. I am so grateful to you." The old man was so excited that he was a little incoherent. As he spoke, he was about to kneel down.
Tianyang quickly supported him, and then heard Fusheng yelling, "Boss, you're okay. I was scared to death."
The fat man was crying loudly. Not far away in the square, Moonlight, who was awake but looked a little pale, also looked at Tianyang.
Their eyes met, and everything was said without words.