Trap of the Mad Serpent 1

Chapter 1: Prologue

Years later, whenever Lu Xiao recalled that evening in the forest, she would wish she had died right then and there.

The crimson setting sun was like blood, and she, suffocating beneath that powerful serpent’s tail, would never again have had to breathe the choking, mortal air of the human world.

But alas, she had walked into that forest, and she had walked out alive.

From that moment on, the rope of fate was fastened around her neck, its other end handed to a snake.

Pain and attachment, caresses and torment—memories of every kind intertwined, finally giving rise to an inseparable bond.

A gentle breeze carried the salty, moist air of the Mediterranean. She extended her fingers, and the damp vapor condensed on their tips, a cool wetness like that left behind after stroking a snake’s skin.

This was not her homeland, yet it felt more like home than home itself.

She didn’t know when it had happened, but the borders of her homeland had vanished, as if any place could now be home.

“Auntie, could you please sign this?”

The words pulled her back to the present. She picked up a fountain pen, worn smooth with use, and drew a full measure of ink before signing her name on the paper. Each stroke was gaunt and spare, like an ancient, thousand-year-old tree by a riverbank.

She confirmed the contents of the document one last time, nodded, and looked at her nephew beside her.

“Is this all?”

“Yes. Thank you, Auntie.”

She screwed the cap back on and set the pen down. Her gaze lingered on the paper, a wave of both envy and relief washing over her.

When she looked up again, her eyes met a pair of green ones.

In the lazy sunlight, the woman on the lounge chair was just as languid, like a cat basking in the sun.

Those eyes, once a mixture of despair, numbness, and ferocity, had now become incredibly gentle. Lu Xiao couldn’t understand it. How could the past, so ugly and monstrous, have washed away all the darkness instead?

Is this our era too? she asked with her eyes.

Of course, the woman’s lips curved into a smile.

And so, Lu Xiao felt grateful that she had survived back then.

Because she could no longer imagine what her life would have been like if this woman had never appeared in it.

Nor could she imagine what it would have been like, had she never borne witness to that period of history.