Chapter 21

Xiaoqing, the little green snake, had been restless all night and had not stopped by the next day.

Xu Mo found a large transparent mineral water bottle, put the snake inside, and capped it to prevent the little snake from escaping and potentially hurting someone.

The little green snake coiled its body at the bottom of the bottle, raised its upper body, and lifted its head. It pushed against the bottle wall with force, causing the large mineral water bottle to fall to the ground and roll around on the floor.

Xu Mo held the mineral water bottle in his hand and looked at the little green snake inside. The little green snake flicked its tongue and looked back at him.

After a while, the little green snake lightly tapped the mineral water bottle with its head again, as if testing. Xu Mo felt a slight vibration in his hand, and the little green snake quickly withdrew its head, raised it again, flicked its tongue, and looked at him once more.

Xu Mo was puzzled. What did this little snake want to do?

The little green snake seemed to sense his thoughts and tapped the bottle wall again, looking at Xu Mo. Its actions clearly conveyed something, and they had a somewhat human-like quality, appearing somewhat playful, almost like a child pouting.

"Is it hungry?" Xu Mo wondered, looking at the little green snake. "Otherwise, why would it be so restless? But I remember that snakes can go without food for several days, and in winter, they hibernate. Is this little snake different from ordinary snakes?"

Thinking about this, he looked at the little green snake again. The little green snake flicked its tongue and tapped the bottle wall, gazing at him intently.

Xu Mo was a bit at a loss. "How should I feed it? Besides Dream Powder, does it eat anything else?"

He had nothing to eat himself, so he took some bread crumbs and threw them into the bottle.

The little green snake lowered its head, flicked its tongue at the bread crumbs, and immediately raised its head again, looking at Xu Mo and tapping the bottle wall, more restless than before.

"Not eating?" Xu Mo hesitated. He was reluctant to feed the little green snake with Dream Powder.

After much deliberation, he made a decision to try feeding it some Dream Powder, as he couldn't let it starve. Later, he could investigate what it ate when he had the time.

So, he picked a green fruit, smeared some Dream Powder on it, and threw it into the mineral water bottle. Then he left to look for a job.

He didn't find a job that day. When he returned home at night, he first checked on the little green snake.

"Huh! Escaped?" Xu Mo picked up the mineral water bottle and was stunned.

The bottle was lying on the ground, with a hole in the bottom, and the little green snake was gone. The green fruit was still there, but the Dream Powder on its surface seemed unchanged.

"Why didn't it eat?" He was puzzled. He searched the room and found two dead mice in a corner. The dead mice had small bite marks and were black, indicating they had been bitten and poisoned by the little green snake.

The little green snake, as he had suspected, was highly venomous.

He cleaned up the dead mice and threw them in the trash downstairs. Back in the room, he was worried that the little green snake might come out and bite him while he slept, so he searched the entire house but found no trace of the snake. It seemed to have left the house.

Xu Mo felt a bit disappointed but quickly rationalized, "If it's gone, so be it. I still don't know what it's for. Besides, if it only eats Dream Powder, I can't afford to keep it."

He then took a basin, went downstairs, and dug up some soil to transplant the unknown plant that bore the green fruit. He placed it on the balcony, watered it, and went to bed.

Before sleeping, he took some Dream Powder, lay down, and, following the theory of static breathing, imagined himself exercising, carefully experiencing the realistic hallucinations brought by the Dream Powder, comparing them to his normal exercise routine.

After a while, he began to try controlling his breathing, using it to influence his blood circulation, and feeling the changes in his circulation at different breathing rates.

These theories were ones he had developed over the past few days after obtaining the Dream Powder, and he wasn't sure if they were effective.

But he believed that as long as he persisted, he would eventually be able to distinguish the realistic hallucinations brought by the Dream Powder from reality and simulate them in real life.

By simulating the realistic hallucinations in real life, he could achieve the effects of exercise while being still, thus resisting the cold.

This continued for over an hour, and his mind gradually became heavy, feeling drowsy and less clear. He had to stop.

Fortunately, this time wasn't wasted, as he found some sensations. He didn't know if they were real or not, but he didn't mind the trouble of getting out of bed to write them down before going to sleep.

Exhausted, he soon fell asleep. However, in the middle of the night, the effects of the Dream Powder wore off, and he was woken up by the cold. In a daze, he reached for the Dream Powder by his pillow.

As his hand touched the edge of the pillow, he suddenly felt something cold and slippery. It moved when he touched it, as if it were alive.

Xu Mo was startled and immediately woke up. He sat up quickly, turned on the light, and looked at the pillow.

On the pillow, next to where his head had been, was the little green snake, coiled at the edge of the pillow, its flat head resting on its body, flicking its tongue and staring at him.

Xu Mo felt his scalp tingle and a sense of discomfort spread throughout his body. He didn't know when the snake had returned. If it had bitten him while he was asleep, with its venom, he would have ended up like the two dead mice.

He shivered, almost unable to imagine the outcome. He carefully moved away from the bed, trying to avoid startling the snake and causing it to attack.

Once he was off the bed and felt safe, he breathed a sigh of relief, walked to the corner, picked up a broom, and returned. He didn't dare get too close, so he waved the broom at the snake from a distance, shouting, "Go! Go! Get away!"

Fearing the snake's venom, he was worried about provoking it and also didn't want to dirty his bed by killing or injuring it. He just wanted to scare it away.

However, the little green snake seemed to see through his intentions. It slightly raised its head, looked at him, and then lay down again, motionless.

Xu Mo waved the broom at it a few more times, shouting loudly, but the little green snake ignored him.

"If I don't get it out, how can I sleep?" Xu Mo gritted his teeth, steeled himself, and used the handle of the broom to gently tap the little green snake.

The little green snake was startled, left the pillow, and climbed onto the broom. Xu Mo was startled and quickly let go.

But the little green snake was incredibly fast. By the time he let go, it had already climbed onto his hand and wrapped around his wrist.

Xu Mo felt the cold, slippery sensation from the snake's body, which made him feel extremely uncomfortable, as if thousands of tiny insects were crawling on him, causing goosebumps to break out all over his body.

He extended his right arm away from his body, not daring to pull it back, and stood still, not daring to move.

He cautiously looked down at the snake. The little green snake seemed to enjoy the warmth of his body. After wrapping around his arm, it remained still. When he looked at it, it seemed to sense his gaze, raised its head, flicked its tongue, and looked back at him.

Meeting the little green snake's gaze, Xu Mo broke out in a cold sweat, silently praying it wouldn't bite him.

Fortunately, the little green snake seemed quite docile and didn't bite. It just coiled around his wrist, not coming down, like a playful child, flicking its tongue at him and then lying down on his skin, its entire body pressed against Xu Mo's skin.

Xu Mo felt even more anxious and uncomfortable. Although he didn't dare move, his mind was racing, trying to figure out how to get the snake off.

Almost instantly, he thought of the Dream Powder and made a decision, "I'll use food to lure it down."

He thought and acted, keeping his right arm at a distance from his body, slowly walking towards the balcony, being extremely careful not to make too much noise and startle the little green snake, which could bite him, and that would be the end.

He reached the balcony, opened the window, picked a green fruit, and brought it back to the room, placing it on the table. He used a chopstick to hold the fruit, opened the paper packet containing the Dream Powder, and dipped the fruit in it, coating it with some Dream Powder.

Holding the other end of the chopstick, he slowly extended the fruit with the Dream Powder to the little green snake. At this point, he was even more nervous, feeling his heart almost leap out of his chest, and his movements slowed, almost holding his breath.

The little green snake looked up at him, flicked its red tongue, and lightly licked the green fruit, still with a playful air.

Xu Mo was delighted and moved his left hand holding the fruit back, mentally urging, "Come on, follow me."

But the little green snake, for some reason, looked at the fruit, showing no interest, and lay back down on his wrist, motionless.

"Doesn't want to eat even with good food?" Xu Mo cursed in his mind and extended the fruit to it again.

The little green snake flicked its tongue and licked the fruit again. Xu Mo moved back, and the little green snake lay down again, motionless.

"Is it full? This is a bit troublesome," Xu Mo thought.

He retracted the chopstick and looked at the green fruit, only to be startled.

The part of the green fruit that the little green snake had licked had turned black.