18: Chapter 18 The Snake Man's Golden Mask

Not long after Wu Xi followed Gray Fur deeper into the forest, the surrounding light changed; it was a ghostly green emitted from the giant fungal caps hanging from overhead.

Those fungal caps were absurdly large, like rows of inverted thatched cottages. Strings of transparent liquid hung beneath the caps, occasionally dripping down and hitting the fallen leaves with a "hiss," sending up a small puff of white smoke.

Gray Fur hopped forward, caught a drop with his paw, licked it, and looked completely intoxicated.

"Can you drink this stuff?" Wu Xi asked, pointing at the fungal caps.

"Fungal Wine, the lifeblood of our tribe."

Further ahead, the view suddenly opened up. It was a natural basin densely packed with mushroom houses—not built, but grown.

Some mushrooms were still pulsing and wriggling, like heartbeats. Mimei Rats bustled back and forth; some carried fungal nuclei larger than their own bodies, while others used leaves to wrap glowing insects as lanterns.

Many old Mimei Rats sat at their doorways, sewing something with bone needles. The stitches pierced through a shriveled snake skin, making a muffled "pfft, pfft" sound.

"That one over there, that's the Grand Elder of the conservative faction." Gray Fur's voice dropped, and his paw quietly pointed to a stone platform in the distance covered in vines.

A white-furred Mimei Rat was squatting on the stone platform, his beard hanging down to the ground. He was resting with his eyes closed, and a circle of young Mimei Rats around him didn't dare to breathe too loudly.

"They think everything outside the forest is a disaster and should all be beaten to death." Gray Fur hopped to the other side, waving his paw toward a steaming pool filled with colorful stones.

"The Speaker represents the reformist faction. They want to trade Fungal Wine and fungal nuclei with other tribes outside for things like iron tools and salt, but the Grand Elder says that destroys Mimei Rat customs."

The white-furred old man on the stone platform suddenly opened his eyes, locking them onto Wu Xi's face. The Grand Elder didn't move, remaining in his squat, but his withered paw slapped against the stone with a "snap," shaking the dew off the vines and causing it to fall into the mud.

"Gray Fur." His voice sounded like his mouth was stuffed with sand, grating on the eardrums. "You brought back a disaster from the outside world; he should be beaten to death and buried under the fungal roots as fertilizer."

Gray Fur's ears flattened against the back of his head with a "swish." He nudged half a step closer to Wu Xi, his mouth almost touching Wu Xi's ankle, and squeezed out a whisper: "That's the Grand Elder... a prophet. Although he can't fight, he has prophetic abilities, so the tribe provides for him."

After saying this, Gray Fur immediately put on a smiling face, hopped forward two steps, rubbed his front paws together in front of his chest, and bowed low: "Your senses are truly sharp, Elder! This is just a lost, foolish cub. I'll tie him up right now so he doesn't dirty our tribe..."

Just as Wu Xi wanted to get closer to take a look, Gray Fur suddenly grabbed his pant leg with his paw, using surprising strength. "You just stay here."

Gray Fur's ears twitched nervously. "Tomorrow morning, we're going to raid the Snake-Man lair; we'll be back soon. You touched that divine book, and we don't know what the aftereffects might be, so just rest here for now."

Gray Fur left Wu Xi in a mushroom house. The room had a damp, moldy smell, and the floor was covered with dry grass, which still had a few uncleaned bones mixed in. Wu Xi lay down, the hard ground pressing painfully against his back. This was his first night in the Dreamlands, listening to the sound of those fungal caps wriggling outside.

The sky had just begun to turn a fish-belly white when chaos suddenly erupted outside.

Immediately after, with a "boom," a mushroom house collapsed, having been smashed through from the middle, sending debris flying. Wu Xi sprang up with a kip-up, his head nearly hitting the fungal cap.

A group of Snake-Men suddenly appeared at the edge of the forest, their scales gleaming black in the green light. One Snake-Man was pinning an old Mimei Rat to the ground, a bone blade piercing through its chest and out its back, dragging out a string of purple-black entrails. The old Mimei Rat wasn't dead yet; its claws grabbed futilely at the air, and a "gurgling" sound came from its throat.

Several young Mimei Rats tried to rush forward, but were swept away by a Snake-Man's tail. They flew off like tattered sacks, hitting the fungal caps with a dull "thud." Green fluorescent liquid splashed all over them, hissing as it corroded their fur and sent up blue smoke.

"How... how is this possible?" A Grand Elder collapsed on the ground, pointing a claw at the lead Snake-Man. "Our scouts... our scouts are spread across ten miles; how did you get in?"

The leading Snake-Man was a sturdy fellow with gold rings wrapped around his scales. He grinned, licked his lips with a forked tongue, and pulled something out from his bosom.

It was a golden mask, shaped like an exaggerated human face that seemed to be both laughing and crying. A layer of flowing light covered the surface of the mask, making one feel dizzy just looking at it.

"Thanks to the grace of our tribe's High Priest." The Snake-Man leader pressed the mask onto his face, his voice becoming muffled and resonant. "Those scouts of yours? The moment they saw this mask, they were already my family's little pets."

He turned his head, the eye sockets of the golden mask aiming at Wu Xi. Wu Xi felt a "buzz" in his brain, as if a red-hot needle had been driven in, and a voice whispered in his ear: Kneel, obey, stretch out your neck.

Wu Xi's knees actually went weak, and he almost knelt. That foreign will collided with the True Qi generated by his Three-Turn Heavy Origin Technique, and like hot water poured onto snow, it dissolved instantly. Wu Xi's vision cleared, and he saw the same ferocious Snake-Man leader.

The Snake-Man leader let out a surprised sound, his eyes widening behind the mask. He clearly hadn't expected anyone to be immune to the soul-controlling effect of the golden mask holy artifact.

Now is the time.

Wu Xi lunged out, not at the masked leader, but at the Snake-Man nearby who was raising a bone blade to strike the Grand Elder. The Snake-Man heard the wind, just turned his head, and Wu Xi's right hand, already formed into a blade, stabbed into the gap between the third scale under his rib. A sticky, cold sensation came from his fingertips as they pierced in, and the Snake-Man shrieked in pain, the bone blade slipping from his grasp.

In that instant, two Tentacles sprang up from behind Wu Xi's hips. The left one wrapped around the bone blade the Snake-Man had just dropped, and the right one stabbed directly into the Snake-Man's open mouth. The Snake-Man's eyes bulged, and a muffled "hng, hng" sound came from his throat. Wu Xi grabbed the bone blade brought over by the Tentacle with his left hand and, without pausing, stabbed backward behind him.

"Pfft."

The throat of the Snake-Man behind him who had tried to ambush him was pierced through, his snake tongue hanging limply over the blade edge. Blood sprayed onto half of Wu Xi's back, scalding hot. Wu Xi kicked the corpse away, the smell of blood numbing his nasal passages. The Tentacle pulled out of the Snake-Man's mouth, dragging out a string of mucus, flicked in the air, and retreated back under his clothes, leaving two wet trails.

"You're courting death!" The Snake-Man leader reacted, roaring as he swung his tail. The tail, as thick as a bowl, swept toward Wu Xi's waist with a foul wind. Wu Xi didn't dodge; he met it head-on, and just as the tail was about to strike his body, he suddenly sank downward. The tail flew past his scalp, the wind pressure scraping his ears painfully.

At that moment, Wu Xi's two tail Tentacles suddenly plunged into the ground like two steel nails, firmly anchoring his body and making his sinking movement eerily steady without a single sway, and he thrust the bone blade upward violently.

"Clang!"

The blade struck the scales on the leader's chest, slipped, and sent up a trail of sparks. The Snake-Man leader grinned savagely; his scales were as hard as iron armor. He reached out to grab Wu Xi's neck, his webbed fingers spreading to reveal hidden poisonous barbs. Wu Xi didn't retreat. At that moment, the Tentacle under his right chest suddenly exploded outward. This Tentacle was shorter and thicker, like a concealed whip, and it "slapped" across the Snake-Man leader's eye. The leader cried out in pain, his head snapping back, and that eye instantly became bloodshot.

The Snake-Man leader was furious. With a flick of his wrist, the poison barbs still stabbed down. Wu Xi blocked with his left hand, and the Tentacle by his left chest moved as well. This Tentacle quietly wrapped around to the back of the leader's head, its suckers adhering to his crown, and it gave a violent suck and pull. The leader lost his balance and fell backward. Wu Xi wrapped both hands around the golden mask and pried it off with all his might. Assisted by the suction of the Tentacle, the mask came off with a "crack," revealing the Snake-Man leader's stunned face.

The leader tried to turn back, but the Tentacle behind his head was still sucking onto him, slowing his movements by half a beat. In that half-beat, the bone blade in Wu Xi's hand stabbed into the gap between the vertebrae of his neck, burying itself up to the hilt. The Snake-Man leader's body stiffened, a "hng, hng" sound coming from his throat, and his massive body crashed to the ground. His snake tail twitched neurotically, slamming against the ground with a thumping sound, kicking up a spray of blood and mud.

The remaining Snake-Men panicked. They had never seen this kind of fighting style; those four Tentacles darting out from under his clothes from time to time were impossible to guard against. One Snake-Man tried to flee, but just as he turned, Wu Xi's tail Tentacle wrapped around his ankle and gave a violent yank, sending the Snake-Man face-planting into the dirt. Before he could crawl up, the other two chest Tentacles wrapped around his neck, their suckers tightened, and with a "snap," his neck bone broke.

Wu Xi's mouth was full of blood, and a few drops had splashed onto his face, dripping down stickily. He picked up the golden mask; it felt ice-cold in his hand. He didn't feel any of the dizziness he had felt when the leader wore it; instead, he felt a strange sense of peace. He didn't look at it closely and stuffed it into his bosom. The last Snake-Man trying to flee was pounced on by the enraged old and weak Mimei Rats, who used all their claws and teeth, tearing him to shreds. The forest was instantly filled with shrill screams and the sound of chewing.

Wu Xi paid no attention to this. He was panting heavily; those four Tentacles were hanging by his sides, still wriggling slightly, suckers opening and closing, stained with blood and mud, looking both disgusting and eerie.

The Grand Elder dragged his broken leg as he crawled over, his throat full of bloody foam, white fur matted on his face. "... This old thing talked nonsense before, but now I shamelessly beg you to go and save Gray Fur and the others."

Wu Xi reached out and grabbed the arm of the Grand Elder's broken claw, lifting him up to help steady his swaying body. Then, staring into the old man's eyes, he nodded.

Wu Xi thought of Gray Fur and the others, the ones who had gone to raid the Snake-Man lair; they were likely being counter-encircled right now. After learning the direction Gray Fur had taken from the Grand Elder, he sprinted off in the direction Gray Fur had left.

On the other side of the forest.

Gray Fur and the Mimei Rat Speaker were surrounded by Snake-Men in the middle. His Gray Fur had already been dyed a dark brown by blood—some from enemies, some from himself. Gray Fur's left front paw hung unnaturally; he had just taken a bone blade hit head-on, and the bone was broken. Around them lay the corpses of Mimei Rat warriors in disarray; some were still twitching, while others had already become cold, lifeless lumps.

The surviving warriors formed a circle, protecting their injured companions in the center, but the circle was getting smaller and smaller; the Snake-Men's encirclement was tightening like a noose.

Outside the circle, on a high rock, stood a Snake-Man wearing black robes. He wasn't tall, but his exposed arms were covered in eerie tattoos that moved under his skin as if they were alive. The Snake-Man held something in his hands: a statue, palm-sized, made of what looked like some kind of black wood. It was carved into a coiled giant snake-like creature, but the giant snake's eyes were two blood-red gemstones.

"Speaker, your clansmen are about to die out, sss~~~~" The High Priest's voice was raspy, as if a snake were crawling in his throat. "Once our warriors finish off the dead weight in your tribe, it will be your turn to die, sss~~~~ sss~~~~"

A Snake-Man beside him obsequiously leaned in: "High Priest, the Holy Statue can finally be used again! The last time it was activated was thirty years ago..."

The High Priest stroked the toad statue, his eyes fanatical: "The great Toad God Tsathoggua, His embrace is wider than the Mimei Forest. The power He has bestowed this time is unlimited, unlike before. It's a pity I sent Snake-Mus to run an errand with the golden mask; if the mask and the Holy Statue were used together, these gray rats before us would have already been crushed into dust."

He paused, then suddenly held the Holy Statue high. The blood-red light flared brilliantly, stinging Gray Fur's eyes and making tears stream down.

"Quick!" The High Priest hissed at the other Snake-Men. "While the power of the Holy Statue shrouds this place, hurry and guide the Toad God to move to our territory! At this critical moment, we absolutely cannot let anyone interrupt! Tighten the circle, don't let a single rat escape!"