He Heng was dead.
Dead beyond dead.
His eyes were wide open as he fell backward onto the ground, the back of his head making a crisp sound against the concrete floor.
But now, he no longer needed to worry about getting a concussion.
The black python coiled on the beam “flew” down to the ground, opened its mouth, and spat out a ball of fire—He Heng’s right hand was burned into a pile of ashes.
“Xiao Hei.”
Su Su was still tied to the operating table, softly calling its name.
The black snake immediately turned around and crawled onto the operating table.
“Hiss!!!”
It should have been happy about this hard-earned victory and their seamless cooperation, yet the black snake’s reaction was nothing like that.
It bared its fangs at the female, its dark green vertical pupils filled with fury.
Su Su had a reasonable suspicion—it was cursing at her.
“Xiao Hei, let me go first, okay?”
The female’s soft voice rang out, interrupting the black snake’s anger.
It slithered around the operating table several times, but it refused to spit out flames to burn off the restraints binding the female’s limbs.
Su Su could only soften her tone even more: “Xiao Hei…”
The black snake’s head had already reached her neck, and its scarlet tongue flicked out precisely, licking her right cheek—the spot where He Heng had touched her.
Now, the cool, slick tongue repeatedly rubbed over that area.
That strange, repulsive scent that the snake detested was finally erased.
Su Su only assumed it was angry and said helplessly, “Xiao Hei, I discussed this with you for so long before. You clearly agreed to cooperate properly and not get mad.”
Was that a discussion?!
The black snake raised its head in fury.
That was clearly coercion through relentless pestering!
Ever since those humans came up with the plan to feint in the east and strike in the west, Su Su had been hugging it nonstop, coaxing and tempting it.
Saying things like cuddling to sleep, morning kisses, noon kisses, night kisses, personally giving it a bath…
Luring it into the embrace of tenderness while repeatedly preaching to it.
——”Xiao Hei, you just need to cooperate with me in putting on a bitter-meat act. When the time comes, I’ll pretend to hand you over to He Heng, and you just have to act like you’re turning against me. If he tries to scheme against me or lock me up, you have to secretly hide in a corner at that time.”
——”No matter what he does, before I gain control over him, you must not act rashly. Otherwise, he will definitely take out the bomb remote control to threaten us, and all our previous efforts will be wasted.”
——”You have to remember this! No matter what happens, do not come out until I call you!”
The black snake was completely unwilling to cooperate.
But the female would take away all of its tenderness, not even allowing its snake tail to rest around her waist when they slept at night.
It had no choice but to compromise!
After successfully “having a falling out,” it shrank down to the size of a palm and slipped back into the basement, coiling up on the beam and watching everything unfold below.
When He Heng touched the female’s cheek, the black snake’s vertical pupils nearly turned blood red.
Not to mention everything that happened afterward!
Its tense body had squeezed a deep groove into the beam!
The foul stench of that man’s presence still lingered on the female.
The black snake slithered downward, its head reaching her lower abdomen. It stared for who knew how long before a small cluster of blue flames precisely burned through a palm-sized piece of fabric.
That was where He Heng had once placed his hand.
The heat flashed by in an instant. Su Su struggled to lift her head, only to see that a large hole had been burned into her assault jacket!
What was it doing?
She looked at Xiao Hei in confusion as it continued to slide downward… its head gradually reaching a certain spot He Heng had once tried to cut open…
“Xiao Hei! What are you doing?!”
Her shocked and angry voice did nothing to stop the black snake.
Its tongue still flicked out, licking over the fabric a few times as if trying to completely erase any trace of contamination.
But this action was far beyond Su Su’s limits of acceptance!
Even if it was through fabric, even if… no! She couldn’t comprehend this!
“Xiao Hei!” Su Su took a deep breath. “Move! Let me up now!”
The black snake didn’t listen.
It continued to bury its head, occupying territory like an impatient wild dog.
Its domineering possessiveness only grew stronger. It had already suppressed all of its bloodthirsty urges just to endure seeing its chosen female being touched by another human male…
Anger, agitation, repression, restlessness…
All these negative emotions tangled together.
At this moment, it even had the impulse to completely…
Completely what?
A flash of unreadable light flickered through the black snake’s eyes.
Its thick tail writhed layer by layer, and that stifling heat, ever since the end of the snow disaster, clung to it like a shadow.
Its tongue’s movements grew uncontrollably rough.
Su Su watched the scene unfold with wide eyes, and involuntarily recalled the words He Heng had spoken before he died:
——”I’ve never seen a cold-blooded creature so clingy. The way it looks at you, it’s like it’s looking at its own mother snake.”
——”Have you mated with it?”
——”How did it get inside your stomach?”
This was utterly ridiculous!
When he spat out those words, she only thought he was deliberately insulting her.
But when Xiao Hei actually did it through the fabric… she couldn’t understand. A trace of fear even surfaced in her heart.
“Xiao Hei!!!”
Su Su’s voice carried a sharp edge.
There was even an unmistakable sense of deep rejection.
The dazed black snake instantly froze.
It lifted its head, meeting Su Su’s terrified gaze.
The black snake remained stiff for a long time.
As if a bucket of cold water had been poured over it, the burning agitation in its body quietly extinguished.
What followed was a bone-chilling cold.
“Hiss…”
Its tail instinctively rubbed against the female’s calf, but it could feel—it could feel that her body was tense, her mind was tense.
The black snake had gained intelligence.
It knew—the female was rejecting its excessive closeness.
She saw it as her closest and most inseparable companion, but she did not see it as a male that could share the deepest kind of intimacy with her.
“Xiao Hei.”
Su Su’s voice was trembling.
“He Heng was joking, wasn’t he?”
“He was deliberately trying to provoke me, so he spoke without thinking. You could tell that too, right?”
The black snake gazed at her in silence.
It knew what she wanted to hear.
But it was unwilling to go along with her words to cover it up.
He Heng wasn’t wrong.
It just wanted… to be pleased by her. Of course, it also liked pleasing her.
If she liked it, it would do even better than that human male it had seen in the woods.
“Xiao Hei…”
Su Su’s voice now carried a desperate plea.
She really, really hoped it would nod, that it would admit, just like her, that He Heng had only been joking.
But from start to finish, the black snake never nodded.
It slid off the female’s body and spat out blue flames, burning away the four restraint straps.
Su Su was finally free again.
Yet a heavy weight pressed down on her heart.
Not wanting to delay matters, she jumped off the operating table and forced a smile.
“Xiao Hei, we still have things to do. Let’s leave here first.”
“Hiss~”
The black snake slithered behind her.
One did not bend down, and the other did not slide to her feet, seeking to be held.
One human and one snake, just like that, stepped out of the basement one after the other.
Outside He Heng’s villa.
There were still some people standing guard.
They had full confidence in their city lord—until they saw—
The woman who should never have appeared walk out of the basement.
There were still splattered bloodstains on her cheeks, and behind her followed a black-scaled, green-eyed python.
Where was the city lord?
Why was she the one coming out?
Everyone instinctively took a few steps back until Su Su stepped onto the last stair.
She lifted her gaze and swept it around. More than ten Tier 2 and Tier 3 ability users were blocking her way.
At this critical moment, Su Su shoved all the chaotic thoughts to the farthest corner of her mind.
The shrill alarm was still blaring, and amid the noise, the woman’s clear and melodious voice rang out.
No one dared to ignore it.
“Where is the Eternal Squad now?”
The dozen or so people looked at each other, not one daring to speak.
Su Su’s expression darkened. “I’ll ask again. Where is the Eternal Squad?”
The white light in her eyes reappeared.
These Tier 2 and Tier 3 ability users were no match for a Tier 5 ability user—their weak mental defenses were almost instantly taken over.
“In… in the western villa.”
“Take me there.”
Immediately, someone stepped forward to lead the way for Su Su.
The villa where Si Zhe and Lin Weiran lived wasn’t far from the city lord’s residence. A quick walk of a few kilometers would get them there.
Along the way, the black snake followed behind the female, neither too close nor too far.
It was silently observing her.
Not straying away, but not approaching either.
Su Su rarely kept such a distance from Xiao Hei, but… she forced herself to calm down and focused all her attention on the villa where Si Zhe and Lin Weiran were.
Bang.
She commanded the ability user in the lead to kick the door open.
She had expected to see the members of the Eternal Squad, but inside—the place was completely empty.
Su Su swept her gaze around.
Everything had been packed up neatly. It didn’t look like they had left in a hurry for the eastern hunting zone.
She stepped upstairs.
One by one, the rooms on the upper floor were opened, but not only were Si Zhe and Lin Weiran nowhere to be found, even their luggage had disappeared without a trace!
Perhaps due to the commotion, a window in the neighboring villa was pushed open, and a family member of an ability user peeked out anxiously.
“Who are you looking for?”
Su Su asked, “Where are the people who lived here?”
“You mean the Eternal Squad?” The neighbor sounded somewhat sympathetic. “They moved out yesterday. Said they were leaving the Southern Base to find a higher-tier healing ability user for treatment.”
The entire base knew that the captain of the Eternal Squad, Si Zhe, had been crippled.
Some people sympathized, while others took pleasure in their misfortune.
As for what happened afterward, the nearby residents weren’t too sure.
They only knew that the Eternal Squad had left the Southern Base.
Just yesterday.
Upon receiving this news, Su Su’s heart instantly sank to rock bottom.
Her original plan was to deal with the city lord first and then finish off the barely-surviving Si Zhe and Lin Weiran.
But they had already run away!