Trap of the Mad Serpent 2

Chapter 2

October in Ranao was worse than the height of summer in Europe. The scents of soil and grass, the oppressive humidity, and the incessant chirping and buzzing of the rainforest insects created a chaotic din in one’s head.

Lu Xiao pushed aside the tangled undergrowth, venturing deeper into the jungle.

Her tall leather riding boots sank into the rain-softened earth, leaving a trail of prints. Her dark red military uniform brushed against leaves with a constant rustle.

According to the sentries, Major Bai had indeed gone in this direction.

It was impossible for both of them to have been mistaken.

She bent down, her fingers tracing a boot print. Judging by the size, it was Major Bai’s, no doubt. And from the state of the mud, she had passed by not long ago.

This way.

As she walked on, the footprints gradually blurred in the accumulating puddles as the humidity in the deep woods increased.

Major Bai’s trail had vanished.

Just as she was growing frustrated, a small detail caught her sharp eye.

Lu Xiao narrowed her eyes, focusing on an epiphytic orchid on a low-hanging branch to her left.

A long strand of hair was caught on it. It had a faint, almost negligible hint of gold, so pale it was nearly the white of an old woman’s hair.

It was Major Bai.

Among the Northern Chilian Alliance troops currently stationed in Ranao, she was the only one with hair of this color.

Lu Xiao immediately reoriented herself and continued in the direction the hair indicated.

But after only a few steps, the scene before her made her heart clench.

Branches were broken over a wide area, and leaves on the ground were mixed with chaotic footprints. These were traces left by large, sweeping movements, much like a brawl.

The sky was darkening, the daylight turning a fiery red.

The sun was about to set. This kind of deep, old forest was dangerous, even for people accustomed to living in the tropics.

Lu Xiao grew increasingly worried for the Alliance officer’s safety and quickened her search.

Soon, after rounding a massive banyan tree, she saw the shadow of an Alliance gray-green uniform.

But just as she was about to call out, her throat went dry. Every cell in her body felt as if it were dehydrating. Her limbs stiffened, and her mind stopped thinking.

In that instant, Lu Xiao witnessed a sight that made her heart stop.

The thing in the uniform was not a person, but a monster.

It still had a human body, but atop its unnaturally long and twisted neck was unmistakably the head of a snake. The silhouette of that serpentine head was made all the more terrifying under the light of the crimson setting sun.

Cold sweat beaded on her forehead. Lu Xiao didn’t dare move a muscle.

She had seen snakes, and she had seen people, but she had never seen a person with the head of a snake.

A moment later.

The snake-thing held a bird in its hand, opened its cavernous mouth, and swallowed it whole. The bird was still struggling before it went in; it was alive.

Then, it closed its mouth and resumed a ramrod-straight, placid military posture.

It was savagery tinged with grace.

After its meal, the snake turned around.

Its face was covered in white scales, interspersed with light brown, ring-like markings. Between its protruding jaws, rows of sharp fangs glinted menacingly.

Yet, when her eyes met that pair of green ones, a sense of familiarity washed over her.

Startled, Lu Xiao glanced at the uniform’s epaulets—two bars and a star. A major.

Could it be?

A mere second later, her guess was confirmed.

The snake had spotted the intruder. In its shock and surprise, it transformed back into a human. Back to that skin as pale as snow, that long hair like waves of wheat—a fairytale from a snow-capped mountain.

Lu Xiao struggled to remain calm, though her heart was pounding.

“Major Bai—”

Before she could finish, the woman ran toward her. She was so fast, her speed utterly at odds with her identity as a military doctor.

It all happened too suddenly. Before Lu Xiao could react, she was slammed hard against the thick trunk of the banyan tree behind her. A sharp pain shot through her shoulder.

Relying on instincts honed by years of military training, she reflexively tried to counter, only to find her opponent’s strength was unexpectedly immense. Pinned in this position, she couldn’t break free at all.

Then, a thick serpent’s tail emerged from behind Major Bai, coiling tightly around her neck and rapidly constricting, exactly like a boa strangling its prey.

The world began to spin.

She couldn’t breathe. Her consciousness grew dimmer.

In the hypoxic darkness, Lu Xiao saw a terrifying, murderous glint in those green eyes. The pupils had shrunk to thin, vertical slits—the unmistakable intent to kill.

She closed her eyes.

I’m going to be silenced.

Just as she thought she was sinking into endless darkness—

Suddenly, the tail released her.

“Lu Xiao?” The tone was one of astonishment.

Lu Xiao’s vision went black. She slid down the tree trunk to the ground, gasping for air. She felt as if she had been standing on the edge of hell, only now returning to the world of the living.

When her vision refocused, she saw that the creature before her had completely returned to its normal human form, its expression once again calm.

Major Bai gracefully clapped her hands and raised an eyebrow. “Since it’s Captain Lu, I suppose I should spare your life.” She tucked a long strand of hair behind her shoulder and smoothed the front of her uniform below her belt.

Strange words, as if deliberately trying to cover something up.

Lu Xiao didn’t understand what she meant and didn’t know how to respond, so she remained silent for the time being. Her heart was still hammering, fear and unease gripping her mind.

Seeing no reaction, Major Bai let out a cold laugh, her head held high in arrogance.

“If you tell anyone, you’ll wish you were dead.”

The threatening tone made Lu Xiao deeply uncomfortable. But under the strict rank hierarchy of the Seju military, she couldn’t talk back to a superior officer, even one from an allied force.

“Yes, ma’am.”

A feather, trodden underfoot, was now firmly imprinted in a boot print.

Lu Xiao now understood what had made the tracks on the path.

It wasn’t a fight. It was a hunt.

“I don’t eat people, so don’t look at me like that,” Major Bai said, dusting off her uniform after straightening her collar.

Lu Xiao stood at attention and gave a standard military salute, her eyes fixed forward. The woman’s perfectly human behavior began to dispel the unease left by the “snake-person.”

She had only met this woman once, upon arriving in Ranao the day before yesterday. This was her first time observing her up close.

A high-bridged nose, deep-set eyes, a small face—the features of a typical Caucasian.

Her skin, snow-white yet not pallid, was flawless, not at all like someone who had lived long in the tropics, save for a faint brown marking under her right eye. Her eyes were a clear green, like two pools of shimmering water. Her hair, the color of golden wheat fields beneath a snowy mountain, fell in slight curls past her shoulder blades, and her fine eyebrows were also a pale gold.

Glancing slightly lower, one would notice that even the loose-fitting uniform couldn’t hide the curves of her full chest, and her distinctly narrow waist was accentuated by the military belt, giving her a delicate, willowy appearance.

A lazy and gentle demeanor.

Lu Xiao suddenly understood the feverish excitement of her subordinates from the past two days.

No wonder the soldiers were always secretly talking about this woman. In a military camp full of burly men, she was certainly a stunner. Even outside the army, it would be no exaggeration to call her a peerless beauty.

Major Bai stared directly at her. “What are you doing here?”

“I came to get you for the meeting, ma’am. The officers from both sides have been waiting in the conference room for some time.”

A trace of weariness flickered in those listless green eyes.

“Oh. Sorry to have troubled you.”

Her overly gentle tone and expression sent a chill down Lu Xiao’s spine, having just witnessed her ferocious side.

“Then please come back with me now, ma’am.”

But Major Bai showed no intention of leaving. She stared at Lu Xiao.

“Hmm… you went through so much trouble to find me. Perhaps I should give you a reward.”

Lu Xiao’s face was impassive. “It was no trouble.”

Major Bai nodded, a suggestive smile playing on her lips. She raised a hand, her slender fingers stroking the air in front of her.

Lu Xiao didn’t understand the meaning of that smile.

A light breeze blew, the atmosphere turning frivolous.

After a moment of silence, Major Bai leaned forward, closing the distance in a rush. She grabbed the young captain by the collar and brought her face close.

Lu Xiao didn’t move. Instinct told her this wasn’t a dangerous situation, not to mention the other party was a superior officer.

However, what happened next was worse than danger.

It wasn’t danger.

It was a kiss.

Lu Xiao’s eyes flew open. She subconsciously tried to pull back, but couldn’t escape.

Soft lips covered hers, and a nimble tongue pried past her teeth, teasing and playing. Gradually, the owner of those lips grew bolder, pressing her entire body forward, further restricting the space of the one being kissed.

The aggressive kiss was suffocating, no different from having her neck coiled by a serpent’s tail.

But surprisingly, there was no taste of blood in the woman’s mouth. Instead, there was the fragrance of grass and trees.

Because she swallowed the bird whole, it never touched her mouth.

The bridge of her own nose was rubbed by that high one, and a pair of cold hands roamed freely over her neck. The woman’s body was cool to the touch, which, in the humid heat, actually felt pleasant.

It was a strange sensation—uncomfortable yet electrifying, and impossible to break free from.

Just as she was growing dizzy, the invasive lips finally pulled away.

Lu Xiao gasped for breath. The air felt hotter and more stifling than ever. Beads of sweat dotted her entire face.

The sky was growing darker.

The patch of sky between the branches had faded from blood-red to ink-blue.

Lu Xiao steadied herself with one hand against the tree, the other rubbing her temples. She was trapped in a state of shock and confusion, unable to pull herself out of it.

She had been forcibly kissed out of nowhere. And the person was the Chief Medical Officer of the allied forces.

A female Chief Medical Officer.

The culprit nonchalantly touched her own lips, as if savoring an aftertaste. In stark contrast to the panting captain, she hadn’t broken a sweat, looking as if she were bathing in a cool autumn breeze.

Major Bai’s deep green eyes narrowed, like a cat sunbathing on a clear day. “Consider this kiss your reward.”

With that, she turned and walked away.

Reward?!

The muscles in Lu Xiao’s face twitched, blood rushing to her head.

As she turned, her wheat-colored hair swayed in the wind. Major Bai’s tall figure melted into the dense forest.

As if nothing had happened at all.

Lu Xiao took a deep breath to calm her racing heart, then quickened her pace to follow.

Antagonizing an Alliance officer at this juncture was not a good choice, especially since they had to work together for at least two more weeks. Besides, the officers participating in this operation had been waiting for a long time; they needed to hurry.

Moreover, soldiers of Seju were not ones to dwell on trivial matters. They were cogs in a machine of public duty.

It’s not like I’ve never been kissed before. It’s no big deal.

The two of them walked through the hot, humid jungle.

The rubber soles of their leather boots sank repeatedly into the mud.

Major Bai was truly a soldier of the Northern Chilian Alliance, quite familiar with the tropical environment. Without a second thought, she moved nimbly through the chaotic tangle of branches and vines.

Walking side-by-side, Lu Xiao noticed the woman was a few centimeters taller than her, estimating her height at over 175cm. Perhaps it was a natural advantage of being Caucasian; after all, the white people she had met so far hadn’t been short.

The path gradually widened, the undergrowth and low branches no longer a nuisance.

Major Bai slowed her pace, looking up at the last sliver of daylight between the leaves. “I didn’t expect you to find me all the way out here. You truly live up to your reputation as a former military police officer.”

How does she know I used to be MP? The question surfaced in her mind, but questioning a superior was impolite. Lu Xiao kept her mouth shut.

“Honestly, I was hidden so well, and then you found me,” Major Bai’s tone suddenly turned soft, almost like a pout, as if laying the groundwork for some scheme.

So now it’s my fault, Lu Xiao thought, speechless. She was equally speechless at the woman’s deliberate, coquettish act.

She took a deep breath. “This is too close to the base, ma’am. It’s very dangerous for you to be doing this.”

Major Bai was unconcerned. “I was in surgery for ten hours today. I was starving. Are doctors supposed to go hungry?”

“You could have asked the mess hall to prepare something,” Lu Xiao reminded her calmly.

“It was the wrong time. It would have been too much trouble for just one person. It’s much more convenient to catch a bird myself.”

“…You have a point.” Since it had already happened, she didn’t want to argue further.

Major Bai let out a lazy hum.

“No, you should say I’m considerate.”

Another wave of nameless anger rose in Lu Xiao’s heart. She had never met such an arrogant person in her life.

The unbearably humid rainforest came to an end. A wide dirt path, trodden by countless feet, came into view, leading to the main road.

Major Bai suddenly stopped.

Lu Xiao didn’t know why, but she could only stop as well. A breeze blew in from the open road, drying the sticky sweat on her forehead.

The woman slowly turned her head. A vulgar glint suddenly flashed in her emerald-green pupils.

“Do you like to have sex?”

…

Author’s Note:

This story is set in a purely fictional world. The year has no relation to the real-world calendar. The level of technological development is comparable to about 80 years ago in our world.