Qin Bing'er was clearly stunned by my sudden outburst, snatching the flashlight to shine it on my face, holding her breath, not uttering a word. She must have thought the snake venom had conquered my mind, I mused.

I closed my eyes, splitting my lips into a grin, and said, "I'm fine; I just suddenly felt like cursing Man Niao Niao. Think about it, if he had his 'Ping' [weight/scale] here, would my 'Tuo' [counterweight/standard] be able to leave you utterly pale-faced and distorted?"

Understanding the reason, Qin Bing'er chuckled lightly, surprisingly letting slip a phrase in authentic local dialect, "Mori Bai le, let's just figure out what we should do next, shall we?" I looked suspiciously at Qin Bing'er, hidden in the darkness, thinking that this girl not only had become bolder and more unrestrained lately, but even her speech patterns had subtly shifted, which truly caught me off guard.

Just as I was about to ask Qin Bing'er about the cause of this change, she urgently prompted, "Hurry and move behind the memorial archway..." while directing the flashlight beam upward and diagonally above our heads. I squinted and saw an even larger, blacker "basketball" hurtling toward us. With a loud "Bang," it slammed into the central gate of the archway, causing the stone structure to vibrate slightly. The "smoked sausages," big and small, long and short, began to splatter outwards, followed by a series of dull "thump" sounds that startled both Qin Bing'er and me into quickly crawling sideways, hiding behind one of the archway's plaques, clinging to its edge with both hands, cautiously peering outside.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the eaves gutter, the scene was completely different. After a brief flurry of confusion, those severed snakes finally located their "kin." They organized themselves seamlessly into a cohesive unit, then the snake heads tilted slightly, their bodies writhing in S-shapes before slithering into the gutter. That shallow gutter quickly transformed into a writhing mass of countless snakes. From a distance, the sight truly resembled a torrent of "black water" surging through the ditch...

After the black sphere that struck the stone archway exploded, no more black spheres rolled down from above. The only sounds besides the rustling whir of the ten thousand snakes squirming and the hissing of their flickering tongues were the ragged gasps of Qin Bing'er and myself, which were loud enough to be deafening.

"Ying, look," Qin Bing'er pointed the flashlight toward the other side of the eaves gutter and said in astonishment, "...why aren't those severed snakes moving?"

I followed the flashlight beam and indeed vaguely saw some "smoked sausages," thick or thin, lying still on the ground like discarded dog droppings, haphazardly scattered, reminiscent of stragglers on a battlefield. I puzzled inwardly: if these black snakes, brittle as ice shards, could break into pieces and then reassemble, why were those severed snakes looking so listless and limp? Could it be that even they conformed to the objective law of "The Dragon begets nine sons, each different"?

I pondered many things, even considering the subjective initiative of the snakes; perhaps they were simply shirking work—isn't it often said, "Lazy snake, lazy snake"? But Qin Bing'er quickly provided the answer: "I looked closely; those motionless severed pieces seem to be the ones we stepped on, or the ones that fell from above and shattered..."

A thought struck me, and I quickly asked, "Were those motionless segments all snake heads?"

"Not entirely. Some were heads, some were middle sections of the body, and some were tails..."

Another thought surfaced: Could it be that after these "Niu Boyi" black snakes were broken by impact, if even one section was completely pulverized, they couldn't reattach, no matter how much they possessed the ability to "reach the heavens"? — I later learned this guess was correct. After narrowly escaping death, I looked it up online and discovered this snake is called the "Thousand-Foot Snake," or "Brittle Snake," long inhabiting the Shennongjia forest region, reputedly an excellent medicine for setting bones and healing wounds. Executing them completely was also simple: just smash one broken section or throw it far away, and they could only return their souls to the netherworld.

Scene shift—

"Hua'er... Hua'er... Hua'er is back..." Qin Bing'er suddenly shouted, her voice ecstatic and nearly startling me out of my contemplation.

"Where? Where?" For some inexplicable reason, hearing that Hua'er was back made me shamefully shed tears. My eyes were already gritty from staring for so long; now, hot tears streamed down, blurring my vision even further, and for a moment, I couldn't clearly see where my beloved Hua'er was.

Qin Bing'er aimed the flashlight directly at the other side of the eaves gutter, "At the end of that stone-stepped street... Oh no..."

"What? What is it?" I asked urgently. But with my poor sight, I could only crane my neck as much as possible toward the direction of the light.

"Hua'er seems terrified of those black snakes..."

Hearing this, I recalled the hesitation and fear in Hua'er's eyes when I had previously asked it to find the lost embroidered shoe. I felt a chill, wondering if the usually daring Hua'er was actually afraid of these black snakes that broke so easily upon falling. Had they encountered each other before, and had Hua'er suffered a hidden injury?

"Hua'er stopped... something in its mouth... Hua'er jumped up... Oh no... a black snake bit its hind leg... Good, good Hua'er... excellent kick, that black snake was snapped by Hua'er's hind leg... Hua'er landed amidst several other snakes... Hua'er is circling... Bad, many snakes are surrounding it... all lifting their heads... Hua'er! Hua'er! Hua'er! Hua'er is standing up... Hua'er is standing upright... Hua'er extended its front paws and severed many black snakes... Ah, there's a lot of blood on Hua'er's head... Yes, jump left... jump right again... jump right again... kick it, kick it hard... Good Hua'er, clever Hua'er... Careful, the gutter is ahead... Yes, step back a few paces... Fly..." I couldn't see Hua'er's location, but through Qin Bing'er's vivid, on-the-spot narration, I clearly pictured how clever, how brave, how agile my Hua'er was... and how much it tortured my nerves.

While frantically searching for Hua'er, I sighed inwardly: It's a blessing Qin Bing'er is here, acting as my eyes; otherwise, these two orbs of mine are merely useless decorations in the current environment, no different from a pair of fish eyeballs... Damn it all!

As the flashlight beam shortened, I knew Hua'er must have fought its way through the bloodshed and was getting closer to us.

"Hua'er..." Qin Bing'er called out excitedly. This time, I finally saw Hua'er's blurry silhouette. It was right beneath the stone archway, its bloody head tilted up looking at us, its short, thick tail whipping vigorously...

About ten incredibly thick black snakes were pursuing Hua'er, all rearing their heads high, closing in on Hua'er in a Z-pattern.

"Partner," I roared at Hua'er, "Jump onto that stone lion quickly, and then jump back up here..."

Hearing my shout, Hua'er swung its waist, braced with its front legs, stood up, and spun rapidly twice, the embroidered shoe still tightly clamped in its mouth. It shook its head, and a cloud of bloody mist rapidly dispersed. The snakes in front, seeing Hua'er's ferocious display, dared not attack rashly, their winding bodies suddenly halting. The snakes behind couldn't stop in time and lunged forward, actually knocking the heads off the snakes that had stopped abruptly, sending them tumbling to the ground with dull thuds. The severed snake heads rolled a couple of times, then turned back, moving toward the "tailgaters" rushing toward them, rejoining in a matter of seconds.

Seizing this opportunity, amidst my and Qin Bing'er's loud shouts, Hua'er pushed off the ground with its hind legs, leaping toward the stone lion's head like a cannonball. Unexpectedly, at this critical moment, a monstrously thick black snake suddenly emerged from behind the stone lion, its hideous mouth wide open, lunging straight toward Hua'er's face.

Startled, Hua'er tapped the stone lion with its front paws, instantly recoiling, tilting its head back to reveal its neck smeared with foul blood. What a creature Hua'er was! Seeing the snake's huge mouth about to strike its most vital spot, it violently smashed its head down, using its chin to cleanly snap that black snake in half. In that split second, Hua'er’s front claws scraped squeakily against the stone lion, its body helplessly sliding toward the ground along the statue...

Seeing Hua'er in grave danger, I leaped with all my might toward the wall top beside the archway, using the momentum to push off the wall top and jump down toward Hua'er's location. Qin Bing'er shrieked. While airborne, I shouted loudly to Qin Bing'er, "Don't come down, keep that flashlight steady..."

Before the word "steady" even finished, my feet slammed heavily onto the ground. Ignoring the pain in my legs as if they were broken, I closed my eyes and blindly lunged to Hua'er's side, snatching it up and tightly embracing it in my arms, wrenching the embroidered shoe from its mouth and clutching it tightly. I spun like a whirlwind... I slapped, I slapped, I slapped—