Chapter 825: The Dark Cave and the Trapped Cubs

Chapter 825: Chapter 825: The Dark Cave and the Trapped Cubs

Yue Yue was terrified, curled tightly into a small white ball inside the dark cloth bag.

Suddenly, she felt the bag shift violently. Before she could react, it was shaken once again, and she dropped hard onto the stone floor!

Thud!

"Ow!" Yue Yue whimpered softly. She felt like she had bumped directly into the hardest stone imaginable.

Blinding light suddenly flooded her senses. She slowly opened her eyes and found herself face-to-face with the smiling mug of an unfamiliar man.

He poked his thick, chubby finger almost directly at her tiny nose, turning to look at the old man who had kidnapped her.

"This is the little snake you were talking about?" the chubby man asked, tilting his head.

The old man who had stolen her nodded with a smirk. "Of course. She will work."

Another old man nearby stroked his thin beard, his eyes filled with doubt. "Are you really sure? What is so special about her? Aside from looking pretty, she looks quite useless."

The old man who had kidnapped Yue Yue chuckled softly, his raspy laugh sounding like dry leaves.

"Don’t doubt her. What ordinary snake cubs can’t do, she definitely will. After all, she is the daughter of some big-shot snake beastman. Maybe she will be allowed inside."

Yue Yue stared at them in complete confusion. As they talked mysteriously, she had no idea what they were actually discussing or what they wanted from her.

She quickly looked around the cavern. All over the ground, she saw dozens of different snake beast cubs!

Some were green, some were brown, and some had dark red scales. They were all shivering with fear, their small bodies bound tightly with rough ropes so none of them could run away.

Surrounding the terrified cubs were several strange old men. Each of them held a different kind of crutch...some were short, some were long, and some were made of twisted old wood.

But every single one of them wore a malicious, wicked smile as they kept a close eye on the trapped cubs.

As Yue Yue stared at their crutches, her gemstone blue eyes suddenly caught something strange.

What is that? she thought to herself, her body growing cold.

A faint, unnatural black smoke was slowly emitting from the tips of their wooden crutches! She looked up into their eyes, which were spitting bad intentions and pure cruelty. Yue Yue shuddered violently.

The old man who had kidnapped her crouched down and leaned close to her face, acting like a gentle elder talking to his grandchild.

"Little snake, don’t disappoint this old man. I know those other brats couldn’t do it, but you definitely can, right?"

Yue Yue only trembled at his fake smile. She didn’t trust him at all.

The old man continued in a sweet, coaxing voice. "When you go inside, if you see a very shiny thing, you will bring it back to me, okay?"

Yue Yue immediately shook her small head. No! She wasn’t going to bring him anything. She just wanted to go home to her mother and beast fathers!

The old man’s friendly expression instantly cracked. His smile vanished, replaced by dark rage. He reached down, grabbed her small body, and squeezed her tightly!

Yue Yue gasped, feeling as if she was being strangled to death. Her small ribs ached under his harsh grip.

Without another word, the old man lifted her up and walked deeper into the mountain cavern. The other old men shouted and shooed the remaining snake cubs, driving them deeper into the dark tunnel as well.

When they reached the deepest, darkest corner of the cave, the old man threw Yue Yue roughly into the shadows. "Go inside and bring me the brightest thing!" he growled.

The other old men kicked and pushed all the bound snake cubs into the dark opening alongside her.

Yue Yue panicked. She was terrified of the pitch-black tunnel and desperately tried to slither back toward the light. But before she could get out...

BOOM!

The ground shook as if a massive earthquake had hit the mountain! A gigantic stone boulder began to move.

Terror struck Yue Yue’s face. The huge boulder started rolling heavily into place, right in front of the tunnel entrance!

Just before the opening was completely sealed, Yue Yue caught one last glimpse of the old men’s wicked, mocking smiles on the other side.

CRASH!

The giant boulder slammed shut, completely locking the cubs inside the strange, dark place.

Instantly, the entire space was plunged into total pitch blackness. Not even a single ray of firelight could penetrate the thick stone wall.

The heavy silence lasted for only a single second before the enclosed space erupted into pure panic. Dozens of trapped snake cubs burst into loud, desperate wails.

"Mother! I want my mother!"

"It’s too dark! I can’t see anything!"

"We’re going to die here! Those bad old men are going to eat us!"

"Help! Somebody help us!"

Their terrified voices echoed loudly off the cramped stone walls, overlapping into a chaotic noise of crying, screaming, and hopeless chatter.

Yue Yue curled her tiny body into the tightest ball she could manage in the pitch blackness. Every single word the crying cubs shouted sank straight into her little heart, making her blood run cold.

Die here? Get eaten?

The horrifying thoughts sent a fresh wave of absolute terror through her small frame. She trembled so violently that her scales scraped against the dusty ground.

She didn’t want to hear it! She couldn’t listen to their scary predictions anymore!

Panicking, Yue Yue raised her tiny trembling head and buried it against her stomach, shutting out as much sound as she possibly could. She squeezed her gemstone eyes shut in the dark, her little heart hammering against her ribs like a trapped bird.

She just wanted the crying to stop. She wanted the bad old men to go away. Most of all, she wanted her mother, her beast fathers, and her brothers and sisters to break down that giant rock and take her home.