Chapter 16

A round-bellied pink snake soaked in the dark, murky waters of the lake. On the grassy bank across the lake lay a large group of carrion beetles. They crowded together, emitting sharp, piercing noises.

The resting crows by the lake were startled and took flight, dancing in the dark sky.

A massive carrion beetle hovered at the shore, its tentacles continuously touching the water but hesitating to go in.

“Squeak! If you have the guts, come up!” The carrion beetle raged.

“Chirp chirp! If you have the guts, come down!” The pink snake extended its neck above the water, shaking its head and spitting out signals, looking quite pleased with itself.

After a round of squeaky arguments, the massive carrion beetle bravely plunged into the lake. Its descendants followed suit, diving into the murky waters.

Startled, the pink snake quickly swam towards the opposite shore, frantically flicking its tail.

The lake water rippled, sending a chilling sensation through the air.

In no time, the massive carrion beetle struggled, clumsily climbing back onto the shore, limbs flailing. Some of its descendants returned with it, while others had drowned in the lake, creating a scattered mass of bodies drifting slowly apart.

The pink snake glanced back, bursting into maniacal laughter, “Chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp!”

Enraged, the massive carrion beetle trembled, a crack forming in its back carapace.

The pink snake reversed course, swimming back while manifesting two large pincers along the way. It clamped onto a drowned carrion beetle, lifting it high.

The massive carrion beetle stared intently.

The pink snake elongated its neck, opened its mouth wide, and devoured the drowned carrion beetle in one gulp, deliberately making gulping sounds.

This was a blatant act of provocation!

On the lakeshore, the massive carrion beetle emitted frenzied cries, its carapace completely splitting open to reveal a pair of wings as thin as cicada wings, nearly transparent.

The pink snake wielded its two large pincers, swiftly picking up floating insect carcasses on the water’s surface, gleefully devouring them one by one. Devious gleams shone in its large black eyes.

It aimed to lure its archenemy into the water, intending to drown it.

The massive carrion beetle ceased its screeching and hesitation, its wings on its back fluttering.

The pink snake’s provocation escalated further. It tossed the carrion beetle it had just clamped high into the air, then swayed its tail and leaped out of the water, mouth wide open, ready to perform a mid-air feast.

It knew how to rile up its opponent.

A buzzing sound filled the air as the wings vibrated, the massive carrion beetle swiftly gliding over the lake’s surface, heading towards the snake.

“Squeak!” A sharp sound carried with anger.

“Chirp!” The pink snake jolted in surprise.

As the two archenemies were about to meet in mid-air, the dark lake unexpectedly churned up enormous waves, splashing water droplets everywhere, the thunderous roar echoing. Lush aquatic plants were uprooted in swathes. A water python leaped out of the water, its robust body stirring up the lake bed’s sediment, resembling a dragon emerging from the sea.

The carrion beetle, which had flown close to the pink snake, immediately changed its course and fled.

The snake, airborne without wings, had no chance to escape. Pulled by gravity, it fell into the water python’s wide-open maw.

Teeth clamped down fiercely, engulfing the dark sky and the black lake surface in oblivion. The pink snake sensed itself enveloped by a layer of wet, slippery flesh, as if descending into an abyss. The flesh slowly contracted, gently pushing and guiding it towards a deeper, darker place.

The pink snake frantically thrashed its tail, seeking an exit, only to fall into a sac filled with viscous fluid. The sac seemed packed with something soft, decaying, and putrid.

Straining to widen its eyes, the snake saw nothing. Its tail, swishing back and forth, churned the decaying, putrid mess around it into pus. Soon, it realized its eyes stung, its skin burned, and its body faced destructive devastation from within.

It attempted to wield its large pincers, only to discover they were melting away.

“Chirp chirp!” Its terrified cries, confined within the sealed space, grew fainter.

The pink snake had been torn apart, burned, drowned in floods, and eroded by sediment. However, being corroded, dissolved in drowning was a first. Death came in many forms, but the constant was always pain.

Its body gradually liquefied, soon to become a pool of pus. How could it survive?

Intense survival instinct drove the pink snake to desperately ponder escape. Images flashed in its mind of being torn to shreds by the carrion beetle. Could it employ a similar strategy now? Grow threads from its body?

Its eyeballs had turned to water, rendering it blind. The highly corrosive fluid seeped into its eye sockets, beginning to dissolve its brain. Endless pain engulfed it, akin to an abyss devoid of light. Consciousness blurred gradually, as death once again enveloped the pink snake. Yet, the will to live burned like a candle deep within its soul—flickering weakly but never extinguished.

That faint flicker of determination suddenly surged countless times, crashing against the shadows of death like a flood. With astonishing resilience and potential, every cell of the pink snake began to divide rapidly, sprouting curved, hook-like filaments.

It applied the lessons death had taught it with such precision.

The corrosive fluid made the snake’s cells loose, separating from each other, gradually disintegrating. Yet, the newly grown filaments firmly interlinked all the cells together.

As consciousness dispersed, darkness enveloped, the faint spark of wisdom teetered on the brink of extinction, yet stubbornly persisted.

—

The water python closed its wide-open maw, swaying its robust tail as it swam towards the depths of the lake. Layer upon layer of waves cascaded along its body, stirring up sediment and muddying the entire water area.

The carrion beetle flew back to the shore, emitting furious cries towards the departing water python. Its descendants followed suit, rubbing their mouthparts together, creating a grating sound.

The water python glanced back. The carrion beetle immediately fell silent, and its descendants quieted down like chickens. The tense atmosphere, on the verge of eruption, turned somewhat absurd.

The water python submerged into the depths and disappeared from sight.

The carrion beetle vigorously rubbed its mouthparts, venting its anger, before eventually folding its wings and departing with its descendants, unwilling and resentful. Once its population expanded several times over, capable of dominating the entire forest, it was determined to find the water python it had encountered earlier and devour it!

The water python, lured by the scent of flesh, had anticipated a hearty meal only to find the prey too small and barely satisfying. It sniffed the lake water, honed in on a crocodile, and swiftly glided over.

Inside its body, within the fishy, slimy stomach sac, a small snake slowly ceased to breathe, its soft body dissolved into a pool of pus.

However, unlike other food that would flow into the intestines for digestion and absorption, this pus didn’t follow that path. Instead, it transformed into a thin, incredibly resilient mucous membrane within the stomach. Every cell of this membrane sprouted hook-like filaments, firmly interlocking with one another while tightly adhering to the inner walls of the stomach sac, forming a second stomach.

Silently, the water python’s body underwent a fatal transformation.

—

The serene lake surface suddenly churned, as a water python swiftly clamped onto a crocodile’s snout like lightning. The crocodile rolled in the water, trying to break free. Amidst the struggle, the water python also thrashed about, its massive body stirring up sediment and scattering the fish.

The disturbed water rapidly spread, while the crows cawed in the gloomy sky. The clamor continued for over an hour before gradually subsiding.

Satisfied, the water python swam into the deep waters, its heavily distended belly making its movements somewhat clumsy. It planned to find a place to rest for several days and nights, allowing its meal to digest before hunting again.

Its stomach rapidly expanded, secreting highly corrosive stomach acid. Before long, the crocodile it had swallowed would dissolve into pus, skin and bone alike.

Nestled among lush aquatic plants, the water python curled up in a shallow pool, relishing the sensation of a full belly. Strangely, this digestion process was remarkably swift. In just a few short hours, the once prominently swollen belly had flattened.

Typically, this process would involve multiple excretions. Undigested bones, feathers, scales, along with white uric acid crystals, would be expelled. Yet this time, nothing emerged.

No sense of fullness, no excretions.

The water python writhed restlessly, its long body probing the air for various scents. Despite having recently eaten, why did it feel even hungrier? A fierce itch, like flames, ignited from its stomach, burning all the way into its brain.

It needed to hunt! It needed to feed!

The water python plunged into the lake, swiftly swimming into the distance. The entire water area fell victim to its rampage.

It voraciously devoured schools of fish, daringly hunted fierce beasts, and even ventured beyond the lake into the depths of the forest in search of more prey. It kept eating, yet remained in a state of frenzied hunger.

The burning itch tormented its nerves incessantly.

After several days, the ravenous water python was driven to madness. It thrashed its massive head, fiercely ramming into a rock, once, twice, thrice…

Having struck the rock countless times, accompanied by dull thuds, the black water python, dragon-like and fierce, finally collapsed to the ground, lifeless. Its skull deeply caved in, blood trickling from its nostrils, eyes losing their luster.

The rock was stained with blood, a chilling sight to behold.

Mosquitoes and flies, drawn by the scent of blood, descended in a buzzing swarm, quietly feasting.

Suddenly, the lifeless snake’s body convulsed, its tail twitching, slapping against the rock with dull thuds.

The insects scattered in fright, their buzzing wings creating a cacophony of sound.

The snake’s body continued to convulse, the spasms starting from its stomach and rippling up to its neck. Mechanically, its mouth opened, revealing a slow, pink mass of flesh wriggling and twisting until it finally burst out with a squelch.

The mosquitoes and flies scattered in panic.

The fleshy mass lay dazed on the ground, taking a while to gather its bearings. It first sprouted two large pincers, then a shiny, large eyeball, bewilderedly scanning its surroundings.

Catching sight of the lifeless water python, the large eyeball blinked, memories flashing in the depths of its mind. It had been eaten, digested, and somehow returned to life!

“Chirp!” The pink flesh ball  emitted an angry, prolonged chirp, wielding its two large pincers as it charged towards the water python, delivering a series of explosive blows.

After hammering away, it extended its slender, forked tongue to lick the blood off the water python’s head. Then, following the bloody, fleshy orifice, it burrowed inside, devouring the water python’s brain.

It was constantly hungry, yet each day it thrived, while the water python had gone mad and perished.

As the soft, tender brain matter entered its mouth, the pink flesh ball ‘s eyes widened.

This is something unique! Its texture is unlike any other food! It’s extraordinary, brimming with energy, flowing into the belly like scalding liquid, igniting into a blazing flame.

Numerous scenes, like sparks flying, alternated and flickered in the pink flesh ball ‘s mind: the struggles of breaking free from the shell, the joy of swimming freely in the water, the bloodlust of the first kill…

Fragmented memories cascaded in. These were memories belonging to the now deceased water python. Every experience throughout its life was stored in its brain, easily acquired by the pink flesh ball  through consumption.

The pink flesh ball  emitted a curious, delighted hum, suddenly accelerating the consumption of the brain matter.

It enjoyed these memories, relishing the chance to view the world through the perspective of another creature, to experience entirely new sensations.

After consuming all the brain matter, the pink flesh ball ‘s body began to heat up in waves. Its smooth skin developed numerous small grooves, gradually transforming into a brain, filling the empty skull left by the water python.

The once lifeless nervous system connected to this brand-new brain, and the previously stiffened snake body suddenly quivered, miraculously coming back to life!