At that moment, we all saw a flash of red light, and then that person vanished entirely, moving at incredible speed. We were all stunned, as if he had been dragged into something. Before we could react, a scream came from the well, and then he was thrown out. Before he even hit the ground, the upper body of a giant python shot out from the well tunnel and wrapped around him in mid-air.

This was a giant python that had just shed its skin. I expected to see a golden-brown snake, but instead, it was blood-red. I immediately understood—wow, this really is the same type of snake!

Gunfire erupted around us, and in the narrow space, the sound of the shotgun nearly deafened me. The freshly shed giant python, with its scales still soft, was quickly shot and wounded. However, the power of the lead bullets was too weak. In pain and fury, the python slammed the man against the well wall, causing him to fall. Then it spiraled down the wall of the reservoir like a whirlwind, sweeping away several people with its massive body.

My uncle’s assistant was horrified, and several people turned to flee. My uncle shouted angrily, “Stay calm! Don’t run!” But these people completely ignored him, with several diving into the tunnel, scattering in all directions.

My uncle was furious, and I pulled him back while firing my gun and retreating into the tunnel. If everyone had worked together and fired at the python, even the Dragon King would have been defeated. But at such a critical moment, people panicked and couldn’t assess the situation.

We were the slowest to retreat, and the giant python charged at us. I fired twice, but unfortunately, the python’s head moved too quickly, and I missed the vital spots. I had forgotten when I last shot a flying disc, and I was out of practice when it came to hitting such a fast-moving target.

Meanwhile, the guy with the black glasses had dragged my uncle into the tunnel, and my uncle shouted for me to hurry up. I immediately turned around, but just as I was halfway in, I suddenly felt a tingle at the back of my head. My gaze crossed my uncle’s shoulder, and I saw a large mass of black shadows moving in the depths of the tunnel, quickly crawling toward us.

“Behind us!” I warned immediately.

They turned around in panic, and when the flashlight illuminated the area, we saw a dozen or so blood-red cockscomb snakes, thick as a bowl, surging toward us like a tide. It seemed the gunfire had startled them.

The guy with the black glasses quickly turned and fired a shot, scattering the first wave. A gust of wind rushed past me, and my uncle shouted, “Raise your hands!” I quickly raised my hands, and his gun extended from under my arm, producing a loud bang that sent the giant python flying. Then I heard the sound of the guy with the black glasses firing again, and he even laughed, saying, “There are too many; we can’t hold them off!”

I thought to myself, this guy is really crazy. Turning around, I saw many cockscomb snakes beginning to crawl out of the well openings, in clusters. As I reloaded, I stepped aside to let my uncle climb out, while searching for a well opening that didn’t have cockscomb snakes coming out of it to find Fatty. But I soon realized Fatty had already disappeared, and I couldn’t help but curse him for being so ungrateful, running away so quickly.

One by one, I looked over and finally found a well opening. I immediately climbed in and shouted for my third uncle. He and Black Glasses were firing their guns while moving closer, but it was already too late. The chicken crown snake was incredibly fast, almost flying through the air. It had already crawled up from the well opening I was at, making a high-pitched clucking sound. I shot it into a pulp, but the well opening was instantly filled with snakes again.

My third uncle told me to run quickly and that he would find a way. As he spoke, he and Black Glasses retreated towards another opening that didn’t have snakes. I cursed loudly, fired another shot, and then ran wildly backward.

While running, I reloaded my gun and realized I only had six bullets left. These bullets were large and heavy; I hadn’t brought more for convenience. My personality is truly frustrating—at critical moments, something always goes wrong.

I had already experienced the snakes’ speed before and knew I couldn’t afford to be distracted while running; otherwise, I wouldn’t have any chance of survival. Gritting my teeth, I began to sprint, my mind racing with thoughts of “Mud! Where’s the mud?”

I dashed past several forks in the path and spotted a crack in the well shaft, which was also filled with sand. I paused for a second and immediately squeezed inside. The space was larger than the previous one I had seen, and I quickly noticed a large number of mud cocoons and bones piled up.

I thought to myself, “I’m saved!” I immediately took out my water bottle, hearing the rustling sounds approaching outside. I poured all the water onto one of the mud cocoons, diluting the mud on the human bones. I grabbed some and hastily smeared it all over myself. After that, I pushed the dead body toward the crack to block it and curled up into the depression, closing my eyes and pretending to be dead.

In an instant, the snakes arrived, coiling around the mining lamp and water bottle I had dropped on the ground. Some snakes didn’t notice I was in the crack and continued to crawl quickly forward, but a few stopped, seemingly sensing something unusual about the crack and peering inside.

I thought it was really eerie; these snakes indeed had intelligence. I watched as several snakes cautiously crawled in, starting to coil around the mud cocoons as if searching for my whereabouts. Suddenly, several snakes climbed onto me.

I closed my eyes and held my breath, feeling my heart was about to leap out of my throat. Those few seconds felt like a year. Suddenly, I felt a chill at the back of my neck, and cold sweat broke out all over me—I realized with a jolt that I had forgotten to smear mud on the back of my neck in my haste.

I cautiously opened my eyes and, sure enough, saw a dark red chicken crown snake coiled on my shoulder, curiously trying to wrap around to my back. This is it, I thought; I’m going to end up like that fat guy.

Just as the snake was slowly inching towards the back of my neck, a strange sound suddenly came from the bones beside me, and the snake immediately raised its head to look in that direction. Almost simultaneously, something even more horrifying happened: the skeleton next to me suddenly moved, its hand pressing down on the back of my neck, covering the part that hadn’t been smeared with mud.

My scalp tingled, and I glanced over, realizing something was wrong. That wasn’t a skeleton’s hand; it was a human hand covered in mud. Upon closer inspection, I saw that behind the dead body next to me, there was a person covered in mud hiding there.

Who is it? I couldn’t see clearly and thought to myself that I wasn’t the only one who knew about the mud. I had no idea what I was feeling; I couldn’t feel happy, just an incredibly strange atmosphere.

The chicken-headed snake looked in that direction for a long time but couldn’t figure it out. Then it came back to search my neck but couldn’t find it either. It suddenly seemed very confused, making a few clucking sounds while searching around my neck. I felt its tongue brush against my neck several times, but it just couldn’t detect me.

I didn’t dare to move, standing still for over ten minutes, until those chicken-headed snakes were suddenly attracted by some noise from outside and all quickly chased out. This one slithered out as well.

Even after they disappeared for a long time, I still didn’t dare to move, afraid they would suddenly come back. It wasn’t until the hand covering my neck moved slightly that it felt like a signal; I immediately went limp and collapsed.

Just as I was about to turn around to see who that person was, I suddenly heard a woman’s voice softly say, “Don’t turn around.”

I was taken aback for a moment but still turned around, and the person beside me immediately covered my eyes. My hand instinctively reached out and touched someone’s collarbone, and to my surprise, I realized that the person was not wearing any clothes. Then my hand was slapped away, and I heard the woman say, “Close your eyes, don’t look, take off your shirt.”

I froze, and before I could react, my shirt had already been stripped off. There was a rustling sound, and it seemed that the person was putting on my clothes.

When the hand covering my eyes was removed, I saw a woman sitting in front of me. She was very petite, and wearing my clothes made her look like she was in a big coat. When I looked at her face, I immediately recognized her.

“Chen… Wenjin… Auntie!”

Right in front of me was actually Wenjin!

I stared at her in shock, unable to speak, and stammered, “You weren’t caught?”

Wenjin was adjusting her clothes and then burst into laughter, saying, “Caught? What do you think I am?” She looked completely different from when we were chasing her before. After speaking, she used the mud-covered bones to block the entrance of the mud well, then used a water bottle to scoop up mud and seal all the gaps. I noticed that the bundle of bones was actually made up of her clothes and bra.

After finishing, she turned back to me and smiled, patting my hair, “You’ve grown up.”

I looked at her, almost unable to react, wanting to say something, but my mind was blank.

This was too surreal. I had only seen her in photos before, and now she was smiling at me, looking so beautiful while covered in mud.

She looked at me and, seeing my expression, asked, “What’s wrong? Can’t you react?”

I nodded, thinking how could I possibly react? This should be a middle-aged woman with a face full of wrinkles who disappeared over twenty years ago in a mysterious underwater ancient tomb. For all these years, she had been doing some extremely secretive things, affecting countless people and creating numerous mysteries. Now, she was standing right in front of me, covered in mud but playfully looking at me, her eyes and skin clearly more youthful than mine. How could I possibly react?

She smiled and said, “When I saw you all grown up, I couldn’t believe it either. It’s been over twenty years now. Back then, you were still wetting the bed, and I even changed your diapers. You were so adorable back then, much cuter than you are now.”

As soon as she mentioned my childhood, I immediately looked towards the gap, and suddenly felt an indescribable sense of wonder. My uncle had been trying hard to find Wenjin, but just a few meters away, I was unaware of his fate while I was here talking to Wenjin. If my uncle had followed me a bit faster, he and Wenjin would have already met.

“You’ve become much cuter too…” I stammered, scratching my head. “Wenjin… Auntie, it’s been so long since we last met… I really don’t know how to react. Should I be crying right now? By the way, I have so many questions for you… We really miss you… What on earth happened—damn it, what am I even saying?”

Seeing me at a loss for words, Wenjin made a gentle gesture, listened to the outside, and chuckled softly, saying, “Who says it’s been a long time? Didn’t we just have tea together not long ago?”

“Tea?” I was taken aback, thinking back to when I last saw her in the swamp; she hadn’t been holding a teacup then.

Wenjin then twisted her hair up into a Tibetan hairstyle and wiped the mud off her face with her sleeve. When I saw her, I was instantly stunned: “You! You! You’re the wife of Ding Zhuoma!”