Chapter 52 – Hit the Snake at its Weakest Point
Seeing she was unharmed, he breathed a sigh of relief.
The bullet had hit the pillow, sending white goose feathers flying everywhere.
The bullet hole was less than a centimeter from the woman’s forehead, cutting off a lock of her hair.
“Consider this a warning. If you dare to play any tricks again, I can’t guarantee she will remain unharmed next time,” Tu Ran said fiercely.
Ding Naiqing, lying on the ground, couldn’t help but want to give her a thumbs up.
To strike a snake, you must hit its weak spot—Sister Ran really knew how to handle it.
Unfortunately, his arms hurt too much to lift, so he couldn’t express his admiration at that moment.
Tubin looked at Tu Ran with a sinister gaze, wishing he could swallow this despicable human whole.
“Sneaky human! She is one of your kind, yet you use her to threaten me, an alien being.”
Tu Ran laughed coldly, “No, no, no, she is not one of my kind. From the moment you showed concern for her, she has stood on the opposite side of humanity. From today on, she will enjoy the same treatment as you aliens.”
“She is not an alien!” Tubin emphasized sharply.
“I know she isn’t,” Tu Ran said, curling her lips into a smile. “But other humans won’t believe my judgment. They only trust their own eyes.”
After a long silence, Tubin stared at Tu Ran with his countless eyes simultaneously. “I want to make a deal with you.”
“What kind of deal?” Tu Ran was intrigued. She had originally intended just to stall for time until the two assistants Xie Xu had sent arrived to capture him.
Now, it seemed she might gain something unexpected.
Tubin remained silent for a while longer, then looked at Ding Naiqing.
Ding Naiqing: …
He had a bad feeling.
Sure enough, a tail covered in silver scales extended from under Tubin’s clothes, sweeping across and hitting Ding Naiqing heavily on the back of his head.
Ding Naiqing felt as if his head had been split open, his vision went black, and he instantly lost consciousness.
“What did you do?” Tu Ran gripped her submachine gun tightly, her finger on the trigger.
“I just made him sleep for a while,” Tubin said calmly.
Tu Ran’s heart eased a bit.
“Now, let’s talk about our deal.”
Tu Ran didn’t respond, waiting for him to continue.
At the same time, she remained vigilant, observing her surroundings out of the corner of her eye, wary that this so-called deal might just be Tubin’s way of stalling for time.
“Don’t tell anyone about what you just saw, and I’ll give you a gift,” Tubin said.
“What gift?”
She needed to weigh her options.
“A gift you need the most right now.”
What she needed the most right now?
There were many things she needed—her original memories, her original abilities, survival…
“Specifically, what is it?”
“The past,” Tubin said. “I can let you see the past, give you the real Tu Ran’s memories.”
Tu Ran’s hand holding the gun trembled. How did Tubin know she wasn’t the real Tu Ran?
And how could he make her see the past?
The Snake King, covered in silver scales, slowly crawled out from Tubin’s shell. The metallic sheen gave it a mechanical beauty. It raised its upper body to be level with Tu Ran.
Its tail had a sharp spike like a rhinoceros horn. Slowly, it moved the tail upward, piercing its own nape. With the sound of flesh being stirred, its body shuddered, and then a silver-white bead was held out by its tail.
It was brought to Tu Ran’s eyes.
Seeing the bead, Tu Ran immediately thought of the “stone” from the chicken monster.
“What is this?” Tu Ran blurted out.
“My inner core. Eat it, and you can have my abilities—see the past and foresee the future.”
She had guessed it right!
This thing was indeed an inner core!
Tu Ran took a deep breath, trying not to look too eager. “How can I trust this isn’t one of your tricks? What if it’s just poison to deceive me?”
The Snake King was enraged. “My Hook Snake clan values honesty the most and despises lying. Unlike you humans, who are deceitful, treacherous, unreliable, insidious, hypocritical, and ungrateful—”
“Stop.” Tu Ran cut him off.
This snake had a deep hatred for humans.
If she didn’t stop him, he might go on cursing indefinitely.
Reaching out to take the so-called inner core, Tu Ran was still a bit wary. “You say that if I eat this inner core, I can see the past, which I believe. But foreseeing the future? If you could foresee the future, wouldn’t you have predicted that I would plant bugs on Li Wu and Liang Feng? Or that I would use this woman’s life to threaten you?”
“Foreseeing the future has its limitations,” the Snake King said, looking tired. Extracting its inner core had greatly weakened it. “I have only reached the intermediate level. I can only see five minutes into the future, and each time I do so, it consumes a tremendous amount of energy. It’s not something I can do anytime, anywhere.”
“Can this thing see other people’s pasts?” Tu Ran asked.
“Yes, it was by using this ability that I saw your past, which is how I know you are not from this world. That is also why I chose you for this deal.”
The Snake King could no longer support itself and slumped weakly by the bed, close to the unconscious woman’s hand.
“What do you mean?” Tu Ran didn’t quite understand. Did he choose her for this deal just because she was from another world?
“I hate the humans of this world. They are selfish, cruel, and greedy. They invaded my world, intending to destroy it to expand their own territory. They exterminated my kind, disassembling, modifying, and reassembling our bodies.”
“I hate them. I hate everyone in this world.”
His voice was extremely weak, but Tu Ran could still hear the deep-seated hatred in his tone.
“You do not belong to this world. Everything you do is just to survive. I do not hate you. Moreover, I used all my energy to look into the future, and I saw… I saw you…”
The Snake King mimicked a human smile, though it looked somewhat grotesque and a bit comical.
Tu Ran was dying of curiosity and wanted to ask what exactly he had seen.
But looking at the snake, now so weak and feeble, she chose to remain silent and listen.
“You must… keep your word and protect her.”
These were its final words.
It fell into a deep sleep beside the woman, its head cautiously near her but never quite touching.
The world suddenly grew quiet, and the gunfire outside diminished.
Tu Ran looked at the bead in her palm. Without hesitation, she tilted her head back and swallowed it.
The bead transformed into a stream of fragrant energy as it passed down her throat, spreading throughout her body.
In her mind, different scenes flashed by like a flowing river, forming a complete story.
Humans had first brought the alien species, the Hook Snake, out from the Threshold.
This matter was highly classified and kept secret from everyone, including the pioneer team formed later.
