Chapter 50

When Lin Bei woke up, he was still a bit dazed. After turning his head to see the surroundings clearly, he sighed. Every time he woke up from sleep, he would think about whether he could return to the modern world, but unfortunately, he always found himself in the forest.

"I wonder how things are back home," Lin Bei said with a hint of sadness.

Lin Bei's parents had only him as their son. After Lin Bei started his own family, although his wife Gao Rou was in charge, Lin Bei was definitely the mainstay. In Lin Rou's heart, her father was a pillar of support. Lin Bei really couldn't imagine what they would be like when they found out he was missing.

After wallowing in self-pity for a while, Lin Bei finally pulled himself together. He climbed down from the roof and swam to the Longtan, where he planned to take a bath.

Lin Bei had human thoughts, so hygiene had become a habit. Even though his snake body seemed to stay the same no matter how much he washed, Lin Bei still had to soak in the water at least every two days.

Snakes seemed to be naturally adept at swimming. Lin Bei, immersed in the Longtan, felt no worry at all; instead, he felt completely relaxed. His snake instincts were also relaxed, and he could stay underwater for over half an hour without breathing. If he persisted, the time could be extended, and he wouldn't feel uncomfortable. The strength of his snake body was evident.

Letting his body float and sink in the Longtan, Lin Bei suddenly felt itchy. He couldn't help but look at his thick snake body. Lin Bei rarely examined this body in detail.

So far, Lin Bei still didn't know what kind of snake he was, or what kind of python. He couldn't think of any python that could grow so large, unless it was one of the mythical creatures from Chinese legends. However, myths were not reliable, so Lin Bei believed it might be a mutated evolution.

Nature is very mysterious. Animals evolve to adapt to their environment, which could result in them becoming stronger, more defensive, or having a certain camouflage. In short, the ultimate goal of evolution is to help animals better survive and reproduce.

The evolutionary history of snakes is long, dating back to the dinosaur era, the Cretaceous period, when they evolved from lizards. During this period, dinosaurs were the rulers, dominating the sky and land, while other animals were their food.

In such circumstances, small snakes began to evolve rapidly. The snake family quickly evolved into a fierce type of snake capable of fighting dinosaurs. This snake is well-known: the Titanoboa.

As the most powerful python recognized by modern humans, the size of the Titanoboa is a matter of debate, but it is generally accepted that an adult Titanoboa could grow to 15 meters. Of course, there might be even longer ones, and their weight was quite heavy, at least one ton, or 1,000 kilograms.

Unfortunately, the Titanoboa appeared during the period when dinosaurs were about to go extinct. The impact of a comet on Earth also destroyed a large amount of fossil evidence, so modern humans have not found any evidence that the Titanoboa fought with dinosaurs. However, over the next ten million years, the Titanoboa was the most active creature, at the top of the food chain, and any creature, including crocodiles, was its food.

"Is my current body a Titanoboa?" This thought suddenly crossed Lin Bei's mind.

It wasn't unreasonable for Lin Bei to think this way, as no other python could grow so large. Only the Titanoboa could, so Lin Bei made the connection.

"Let me think. The Titanoboa is said to have disappeared about 50 million years ago. How did it disappear? Hmm, it doesn't seem to be mentioned."

Lin Bei recalled the information he had read before and confirmed that there was no explanation for how the Titanoboa disappeared. Unlike dinosaurs, for which scientists had proposed various theories, there was no theory for the Titanoboa. Scientists seemed to ignore it.

As a top predator, the sudden disappearance of the Titanoboa from Earth was clearly unreasonable. At that time, no creature could threaten its position, so the possibility of a predator was ruled out. There were no humans yet, so the possibility of hunting was also ruled out. Natural disasters? This was also unlikely, as there were no large-scale natural disasters on Earth after the extinction of the dinosaurs.

If it were before, Lin Bei wouldn't have delved so deeply, but now that he was a snake, he naturally wanted to trace his roots. The various inconsistencies made Lin Bei very suspicious. The elimination method ruled out the reasons for the Titanoboa's disappearance, so how did the Titanoboa just disappear? It was truly strange.

Lin Bei had to review the original body's memories again. This time, he was very serious, reviewing from birth to hibernation, more diligently than he studied for the college entrance exam. Finally, Lin Bei's thoughts focused on the moment the original body went into hibernation, where he found a clue.

As is well known, snakes always find a deep cave to hibernate to protect themselves from the cold. The original body also found a cave, which was not unusual. However, Lin Bei noticed that the cave seemed unusual, more like the fossilized remains of a large animal. The remains had formed into fossils, and the original body, not understanding, simply lay down and slept.

"The more I look, the more it seems like the fossilized remains of a large animal," Lin Bei examined the cave carefully. "This part looks like a large bone, but no one has discovered it after it fossilized. The original body didn't understand, so it just lay down and slept."

"So this fossil should still be in Dongshan Township, which is the sweet well where I was born. I wonder what those people did to the sweet well, whether they sealed it or continued to dig. I should go there and see."

The original body's other experiences were unremarkable, but the final cave, now the sweet well, provided some clues. Lin Bei decided to go and see it to satisfy his curiosity.

Having made up his mind, Lin Bei stopped thinking and realized that his body was getting itchier. Soaking in the water didn't help, and the itch seemed to be penetrating his scales and bones. Lin Bei couldn't bear it and quickly went ashore.

"Why is it so itchy? Could I have parasites?"

Many large animals have parasites that live off them. Although Lin Bei bathed frequently, he couldn't guarantee that he didn't have these disgusting things.

The itch was unbearable, and Lin Bei couldn't help but rub his body against the ground. The contact with the ground seemed to slightly alleviate the itch, so he naturally moved closer to the Qinglong stone and started rubbing.

Rubbing to stop the itch, Lin Bei had to continue. Not only did he rub his body, but he also rubbed his head. Lin Bei, being human, suddenly had a flash of insight, "Oh, this must be the sign of shedding skin."

Snakes shed their skin many times in their lives. Lin Bei could only laugh bitterly, as he was now experiencing it himself. According to his knowledge, after each shedding, a snake's body grows rapidly. He was already over 12 meters long, and if he grew more, he would really catch up to the Titanoboa. This was his first shedding, and if he shed more times, Lin Bei didn't know how long he would grow.

Since he knew he was about to shed, Lin Bei purposefully started by rubbing his head to break the skin, as snakes do. He had to break the skin on his head first, then the rest of his body would come out.

Lin Bei's snake scales were very tough, but even the toughest scales couldn't withstand his rubbing. The sun had long set, and it was almost 10 PM. Lin Bei finally felt a crack in the skin on his head.