Chapter 22

The black substance was the venomous saliva secreted by the little green snake, which covered the surface of the green fruit. From a distance, one could smell a pungent odor, and even feel a slight dizziness.

Xu Mo's heart tightened, "How poisonous! With such intense toxicity, if it bites me, I won't survive even if I don't die. I need to get it off as soon as possible..."

He tried to lure the little green snake with the green fruit dipped in Dream Powder several times, but the snake wouldn't fall for it. No matter how he tried to tempt it, it refused to leave his wrist. Xu Mo, feeling helpless and unable to think of any other way, finally decided to ignore it.

If you want to bite, then bite.

He extended his right hand outside the blanket, lay down on the bed to sleep, and during the night, he was on edge, checking the little green snake several times. The little green snake remained calm, coiled around his wrist, but made no other moves.

Xu Mo took the Dream Powder and soon fell asleep. The next morning, he woke up and looked at his wrist first. The little green snake was gone, having left his wrist at some point.

Xu Mo searched the room but still couldn't find it, so he had to go out to look for a job. In the evening, when he returned home, the little green snake still hadn't come back.

In the middle of the night, he woke up from the cold. The little green snake was lying on the edge of his pillow. Remembering the previous lesson and knowing that the little green snake wouldn't bite easily, Xu Mo ignored it and let it lie on his pillow.

When he woke up the next morning, the little green snake was gone again. It came and went, working harder than Xu Mo.

Xu Mo got out of bed and saw a five to six centimeter long red scorpion by his shoes. The scorpion had been dead for a while, with small tooth marks on its tail, identical to those on the two dead mice he had seen before. This scorpion had clearly been bitten to death by the little green snake.

He lived in an old-style apartment building, which was dark and damp. Scorpions, rats, and venomous spiders often appeared, and no matter how many he killed, they never seemed to end. Last year, Xu Mo had been bitten by a centipede on his finger, which swelled up and took many days to heal.

Seeing the dead scorpion, he felt a chill of fear. If it hadn't been for the little green snake, the scorpion might have crawled into his shoes, and he could have been stung when he put them on, which would have been disastrous.

Given his current situation and financial status, he couldn't afford any accidents. Thinking of the little green snake, he felt a faint sense of gratitude.

The job search that day ended the same as before. In the evening, when he returned home, he heard a few sharp, frantic squeaks of rats before he even entered the door, as if they were fighting.

He pushed the door open, turned on the light, and followed the sound of the rats. He saw the little green snake biting the tail of a rat and dragging it backward. The rat was quite large, about twenty centimeters long, and was struggling fiercely. The little green snake, being smaller, was being dragged forward step by step.

When they reached the edge of the table, the little green snake's tail lashed out and wrapped around the table leg, fixing the rat in place. The rat, in a panic, squeaked and darted around aimlessly.

Xu Mo quickly picked up a broom, approached, and pressed the rat down with the broom head. The rat struggled desperately, and the little green snake darted forward and bit its belly. Soon, the rat fell silent, having been poisoned to death.

The little green snake raised its head, flicked its tongue at Xu Mo, and made a soft hissing sound, as if claiming credit.

Xu Mo smiled, tore a piece of paper, wrapped the rat's tail, and threw it into the trash bin downstairs. When he returned, the little green snake was gone again.

Xu Mo searched around and found it on a nameless plant on the balcony.

The little green snake was hanging upside down from a stem, licking one of the green fruits.

Xu Mo was surprised, "The green fruit hasn't grown white hair yet, what is it licking so intensely?"

He approached and took a closer look, and was stunned. The part of the green fruit licked by the little green snake had turned completely black.

Xu Mo thought for a moment and frowned. He knew the little green snake's saliva was toxic, but he remembered that when the little green snake licked the green fruit on North Mountain, it didn't turn black.

He had seen this phenomenon of the green fruit turning black once before, but hadn't paid much attention at the time.

Seeing it again now, he became suspicious: What's going on?

He wanted to figure it out but didn't dare disturb the little green snake, which was licking intensely. After about ten minutes, the little green snake seemed to have had enough, climbed down from the plant, and slithered away along the outer wall, disappearing somewhere.

Xu Mo picked the green fruit, brought it to the light, and examined it closely.

"Wow!"

He couldn't help but exclaim. The black saliva on the surface of the green fruit, when examined closely under the light, turned out to be fine, long hairs. Except for the color and smell, they were almost identical to the white hairs used to make Dream Powder.

"This..."

Xu Mo was shocked, "Could it be..."

He couldn't help but take out the Book of Enlightenment and compare the third page's illustration with the green fruit. The similarity was even more striking.

A strange thought suddenly came to him, and Xu Mo's expression became peculiar, "Could it be that the so-called Dream Powder isn't grown on the green fruit, but is the little green snake's saliva?"

He thought for a moment and felt puzzled, "If it really is its saliva, why did it turn from white to black? From Dream Powder to a highly toxic substance?"

Xu Mo couldn't guess the reason but decided to find out. He didn't rush to sleep, took the Dream Powder, and waited for the little green snake to return while practicing deep breathing.

But the little green snake didn't return all night, and Xu Mo, for some reason, began to worry about it.

When it was light, he went out to look for a job again. Due to lack of sleep, he felt exhausted and returned home at noon.

The building he lived in had a flower bed downstairs, planted with fig trees and roses. However, because the trash bin was nearby, some residents would dump their garbage in the flower bed, turning it into a garbage pile.

As Xu Mo passed by, a stray cat was digging through the garbage pile, suddenly jumping up and climbing a fig tree, startled by something it had dug up.

Xu Mo, curious, approached to see what was happening. In the garbage pile, a golden centipede about twenty centimeters long was facing off against the little green snake.

"That's my little green snake," Xu Mo thought involuntarily. After a few days of coexistence, he had subconsciously considered the little green snake as part of his family.

The little green snake coiled up, head raised, staring at the golden centipede, extremely alert. The golden centipede circled around it quickly, ready to attack at any moment.

Centipedes are natural enemies of snakes. Under normal circumstances, even if a snake is twice the size of a centipede, it would still struggle to defeat it. This centipede, being about the same size as the little green snake, had a clear advantage.

From the situation, it was clear that the little green snake was at a disadvantage. If it weren't for its unique nature, which made it much stronger than ordinary snakes, it would have been bitten to death by the centipede long ago. Xu Mo picked up a brick, ready to help.

At that moment, the golden centipede suddenly stopped circling and lunged forward. It moved extremely fast, leaping from a higher ground to a lower one, and pounced on the little green snake in mid-air.

The little green snake dodged quickly, biting the golden centipede's tail. The centipede, with its hard exoskeleton, didn't feel much pain from the bite. It swung its head, and its body folded like paper, biting the little green snake's lower jaw.

The little green snake, in pain, released its bite and tried to escape, but the golden centipede held on tightly, dragging it a distance. The little green snake, in extreme pain, rolled and thrashed on the ground, trying to shake off the centipede, but was held by its many legs, unable to break free.

The little green snake rolled several times, twisting and turning, even flipping over, but to no avail. It was about to be bitten to death by the golden centipede.

Xu Mo, without hesitation, stepped forward, found an opportunity, and pressed the golden centipede to death with the brick. The little green snake, regaining its strength, freed itself from the centipede, looked at Xu Mo, flicked its tongue, and then pounced on the centipede's corpse, biting the venom sac at the end of its head.

The venom sac quickly shrank and flattened.

Xu Mo was stunned, "It... It's sucking the venom sac of the golden centipede."

The little green snake quickly finished sucking the venom from the centipede's venom sac, looked at Xu Mo again, and then slithered into the flower bed, disappearing in an instant.

Xu Mo followed a few steps but couldn't find it, feeling slightly disappointed, and returned home to sleep.

Lying in bed, he was still puzzled. Thinking about the little green snake sucking the centipede's venom sac and combining it with the information from the previous night, he couldn't help but make this guess: Could the little green snake be feeding on the toxins inside other venomous insects? During the day, it leaves home to hunt venomous insects? And the black saliva left on the green fruit is secreted after consuming the toxins from other venomous insects?

If his guess was correct, then the Dream Powder...

Suddenly, he remembered the bottle of poison powder he had obtained with the little green snake. His heart raced, and he couldn't sleep. He sat up, put on his shoes, walked to the table, and picked up the bottle of poison powder, examining it.

"This bottle of poison powder was stolen by Ma Wu from a large courtyard by the river and placed with the bamboo tube containing the little green snake. If the little green snake eats this poison powder, would the saliva it secretes be Dream Powder?"