Chapter 209 - 90: Hunting the "Snake" (Finale)

"The. Snake. Is. Me."

"..."

"But you all discarded that theory yourselves. I remember someone asking me before," she said thoughtfully, "why I act so mature, not like other sixteen-year-olds. I might as well tell you everything now. Dead men tell no tales, after all. What if I told you…"

She said with a playful smile:

"That I'm not sixteen like you think, but ten times that? That I'm actually one hundred and sixty years old?"

Zhang Shutong was speechless.

His chest burned hot and felt ice-cold at the same time. It was like a waking dream. For a moment, he even stopped breathing.

'One hundred and sixty years old…'

'The incarnation of a snake…'

At this moment, the mysterious girl had finally dropped her disguise…

She wasn't human at all!

His brain could barely process this information, but Lu Qinglian gave him no room to breathe.

"Oh, and Gu Qiuyan. You think you've protected her so well? You think staying in the villa means she's safe? You think…"

She paused, then added coldly:

"That there were only two frozen snakes? That they really couldn't move? Remember what I told you in the car?"

Zhang Shutong instantly recalled her words.

At the same time, the girl before him said, word by word:

"Frozen snakes aren't necessarily dead. Once they warm up, they'll become active again. And now…"

She looked up at the bleak daylight, as if she had predicted this all along, and whispered:

"It's morning."

'Morning…'

Zhang Shutong remembered the snakes he had seen on the mountain road, their frozen, densely packed bodies hidden beneath the heavy snow. And now…

"You can make a call right now."

Zhang Shutong frantically pulled out his phone and dialed Song's number. He tried to stay calm and wait, but no matter how long he held on, all he heard was a busy signal.

He then dialed Gu Qiuyan's number. Same result.

The worst possible scenario occurred to him.

'Those snakes…'

'They've probably all gotten into the villa.'

'The three of them are surrounded by countless snakes. They probably can't even fend for themselves.'

No, this wasn't actually the worst outcome. He was still banking on one possibility: that he could return to eight years in the future again, just like the time reversal that had happened that morning. Zhang Shutong gritted his teeth. All he could do was stall. Only by dragging this out would anyone have a chance of survival. But soon, even this hope was ruthlessly shattered as the woman before him slowly began to speak:

"Actually, there's one thing you got wrong in those legends you mentioned.

"The secret to long life isn't shedding skin. It's eating people.

"Devouring the living."

She extended her arm—the one with the birthmark, a work of art in itself—and crouched down, gently covering Zhang Shutong's eyes with her hand. The girl's voice was completely calm, as if this were commonplace, yet it also sounded like a form of comfort.

"Close your eyes. For the sake of that cup of hot water, I'll make it painless."

'It won't hurt…'

...

「An unknown amount of time passed.」

Upon the boundless snowy plains, everything was silent. The only sound he could hear was his own violently pounding heart.

When Zhang Shutong opened his eyes again, the girl was already on her feet, standing quietly beside him.

He instinctively checked for any changes to his body, but there were none. Only the pain in his chest reminded him that he was still alive.

He raised a hand and stared at the lines on his palm. They had never seemed so clear. Zhang Shutong opened his mouth but didn't know what to say.

'Devoured… Am I dead? Or was it a hallucination?'

He turned his head, looking at the girl before him, speechless. But then, Lu Qinglian's lips suddenly curled into a faint smile.

"Zhang Shutong, I see you're capable of other expressions. How interesting."

"...What do you mean?"

He snapped his head up, but his voice came out a beat too slow as he asked blankly.

"I mean," Lu Qinglian's smile vanished as quickly as it had appeared, her tone becoming calm, "that all of this was fake."

"...Fake?"

"Yes. I made it up on the spot, based on the stories you just told. I believe I warned you about this," she said expressionlessly. "Some things I say are serious, and some things I say are off the cuff. Don't analyze every single word I say."

She pulled a hair tie from her blue robes and calmly tied up her hair.

"Your imagination is even wilder than I thought. Or are all you boys this childish? Snakes? Long life? Shedding skin? What other stories do you have? Tell me. I can share them with future visitors to the temple."

"You..."

Zhang Shutong was about to say something, but he felt the bag in his hand lighten. It was Lu Qinglian, who had taken the bag of apples. She nonchalantly opened it, picked out a slice, and placed it between her delicate lips, chewing slowly, her face still expressionless.

"Haven't I reminded you several times not to doubt me? I don't know why you think I'm the killer, but this cheap trick of setting a trap for me without saying a word is very troubling. I figured you wouldn't believe me if I tried to explain properly, so I had to resort to certain measures. Please forgive me."

"...Then what about Gu Qiuyan?"

"Her? I don't know. She should be at home right now. Oh, and the snakes were a lie, too. There were fewer than ten, and they were basically beyond saving," Lu Qinglian added lightly. "Judging by your expression, are you about to ask why you couldn't get a call through?"

Zhang Shutong nodded subconsciously.

"Because there's no signal here."

"..."

He stared in disbelief at the girl eating an apple before him and confirmed once more:

"It was all a lie?"

"Yes."

"You're not some kind of snake?"

"Of course not."

"One hundred and sixty years old?"

"I'm only sixteen. The same age as you."