He heard a noise at the door, but when he opened it, there was nothing there. This situation was not something Zhai Man considered lucky.
He began to inspect every corner of the room.
Staring at the empty air in front of him, he frowned and asked in a low voice, "Who are you? Did you follow me here? What do you want?"
I asked three questions in a row, and quite a while later, no one gave an answer.
Zhai Man couldn't find this "person," but he was absolutely certain that this person was right beside him.
Another late night.
The atmosphere in the house was already very heavy. People died every night, and no one could find the murderer, because the dead could very well be the murderers in another murder case.
The old man was stabbed badly; the best medical equipment and the best doctors in the East District have been used on him.
But his condition has not improved to this day.
Of his sons, only two and a half are still alive. The reason I say two and a half is because one of them... was crippled by injury.
Those who survive to the end, regardless of their intelligence, must be ruthless enough.
Zhai Man did not stay in the room any longer; he walked out of the room.
I had only taken a few steps when I heard a commotion.
Zhai Man stopped and listened carefully. He vaguely heard that they were saying the old man was dying.
As soon as he finished speaking, a shadow fell over Zhai Man.
“Zhai Man”.
The shadows obscured his vision, making it impossible to see the person in front of him, but he could hear a voice. It was the voice of his only remaining, and only, rival brother.
"They all say you're the one you shouldn't mess with."
"They can't kill you, but looking at you, how could you be hard to kill? They're useless. They can't even kill you, so they deserve to be dead."
The shadows were so thick that it was hard to tell where the voices were coming from.
Zhai Man knew that this was probably caused by the abilities of superhumans or mutants. He himself was just an ordinary human with no superpowers and no one with him.
Faced with such an attack, Zhai Man remained calm, without a trace of panic in his eyes.
"My father is about to die, and you will die too. The entire East District will be mine!"
As the roar subsided, an attack from the shadows hurtled towards Zhai Man's face. Zhai Man neither dodged nor flinched, not even blinking.
He's gambling.
Almost instantly, the attack aimed at his face was completely blocked, and a python whose body suddenly swelled up reappeared.
The moment Zhai Man saw the python, his guess came true.
He stood there, feeling split in two. One half of him was calmly and rationally thinking, "It really was him. His illusions these past few days weren't illusions after all; this giant python had been following him all along."
His other half, however, abandoned reason and was driven only by instinctive fear.
He was so terrified that he almost turned to stone.
The giant python easily resolved all his crises, and just as he was about to disappear again, Zhai Man regained his voice.
He clenched his fists tightly, using the pain to keep himself awake.
"What is your purpose in following me?"
Zhai Man forcibly ignored his fear and asked the question to the giant python that had been entangled with him until now.
The giant python looked down at him, its eyes, which seemed devoid of any emotion, momentarily showing a hint of confusion.
It was already quite an achievement that Zhai Man could muster the courage to look at him; naturally, he couldn't possibly look at him so closely that he could even discern the emotions in his eyes.
This time, the giant python did not remain silent.
As Zhai Man questioned him, the giant python slowly spoke, its voice cold and somber as it said, "You begged me for help, and I saved you."
Zhai Man frowned, refusing to admit it: "What nonsense are you talking about? How could I possibly ask you for help? You were the one who was following me the whole time."
Even if Zhai Man were to die, even if he were beaten to death, he would never beg for help from a python.
As Zhai Man stubbornly denied everything, the giant python in front of him slightly raised its body.
Zhai Man: "..."
For some reason, Zhai Man was suddenly startled.
He took two steps back, forcing himself to remain calm: "What? You're getting angry even though you're in the wrong? Do you want to eat me?"
Before he could finish speaking, the giant python swept him up, coiled around him, and slithered away towards the outside.
The giant python was so fast that Zhai Man, who was entangled by it, was having a buzzing in his head.
Not long after.
Zhai Man was carried into the river by the giant python.
The suffocating feeling of drowning enveloped him again, and Zhai Man struggled desperately with his hands and feet. Before struggling, he pressed his face against the giant python's skin, and the memories from many days ago finally returned.
Zhai Man instantly understood.
"It's you—"
The aquatic mutant who rescued him from the water, whom he thought would be a girl, turned out to be the giant python that had tormented him in his dreams!
At this moment, Zhai Man even lost the will to live.
He closed his eyes and gave up struggling.
Giant python: "..."
Just before Zhai Man was about to drown, he was finally pushed ashore.
Soaked to the bone, Zhai Man sat on the shore, hugging his knees, burying his face in his arms, in a state of self-deception and escapism.
He couldn't see it, he couldn't see the giant python in front of him.