The Hibernation Ability Disappeared?

"So I slept for a whole month? Winter's already here—why don't I need to hibernate?"

Bai Chuan, just waking from his evolutionary slumber, was a bit confused. He clearly remembered it was still autumn before he evolved.

But now, after finishing his evolution, he woke up to find winter had arrived.

And to his surprise, a scrawny old wolf and a rabbit had appeared before him.

Wasn't he in a cave before evolving? Where did the wolf and rabbit come from?

Though Bai Chuan had no clue what was going on, waking up ravenous and having food delivered to his doorstep was undoubtedly a good thing.

He didn't bother with politeness, taking the chance to test out his newly evolved electricity-generating ability.

As expected, the power was a double-edged sword.

He looked at his now slightly red and tingling claws and let out a sigh.

After all, his claws were covered in a thick layer of highly resistant keratin and hard, dense scales.

Yet even so, after ten consecutive electrified strikes, they had started to redden and sting.

It seemed this ability couldn't be used as a regular tool—unless he found a better way to protect himself from the current.

Still, since coming to this world, was this the first time he'd eaten cooked food again?

Bai Chuan eyed the half-raw, partially charred flesh on the ground uncertainly.

A while later.

Now mostly full, he finally understood how the wolf and rabbit had ended up in his cave.

It turned out the winter snow had piled up too thickly, and his luxurious cave wasn't dug deep enough.

Under the weight of the snow, combined with the arrival of the wolf and rabbit, part of the cave ceiling near the entrance had collapsed.

"Looks like I'll need to pay more attention to safety when digging in the future. If the cave hadn't been so spacious, I might have been buried alive."

Bai Chuan thought to himself as he looked at the exposed ceiling.

But this cave was no longer livable—it was time to leave.

Even now, he still didn't understand why he didn't need to hibernate.

And though the wind outside was biting cold, and he himself felt the chill, his metabolism showed no signs of slowing down to enter hibernation.

Snakes were cold-blooded creatures, changing with the environment—the colder it got, the stiffer their bodies became.

Yet he still maintained a normal body temperature. In fact, because of the cold, his entire body had become more active to fight it.

His food digested faster, breaking down into bioenergy for rapid absorption.

Did this mean he had lost the ability to hibernate?

Or was he no longer a cold-blooded creature?

He didn't know if this was good or bad.

After leaving the cave, Bai Chuan's mind was full of questions, completely unaware that his scales were slowly changing color to match the environment.

The scales were no longer pitch black and golden yellow, but instead took on the white, yellow, and green of the surroundings...

White for the snow, yellow for the withered trees, green for the cold-resistant pines of the Snow Forest...

Before long, the entire Snow Forest could no longer see the Great Serpent, only a deep trail on the ground proving his existence.

After crawling for a while, Bai Chuan felt something was off. "What's going on?"

He looked down at himself and saw only the color of the snow.

"Am I... invisible?"

It suddenly dawned on him—besides his electricity ability, he also had Environmental Mimicry.

But was this ability passive?

Bai Chuan clearly remembered he hadn't actively used invisibility, yet here he was, invisible. So was it passive?

He closed his eyes, carefully experiencing the strange sensation his body was giving him.

The next moment, his body slowly reverted to its original black, then soon turned entirely golden, then white, then cyan...

For a while, he played with it, finding the feeling quite fascinating.

It turned out this ability could be left entirely to instinct—that was the passive mode, changing with the environment.

At the same time, he could actively control it, changing to whatever color he wanted.

That made sense. If it were only active, he'd have to constantly focus on the environment to change accordingly.

That would exhaust him, not to mention leave no room for anything else.

After all, if you put all your attention on that in battle, how could you focus on your opponent?

Understanding this, Bai Chuan suddenly realized how wondrous and powerful this biological instinct was.

If one day he could unlock it fully, just how strong would he be?

An hour later.

Bai Chuan stopped his crawling advance, staring gravely at the desolate Snow Forest. The forest now was even more barren than in other seasons.

As far as the eye could see, there was hardly any sign of life.

"I can't keep this up. It's getting colder and colder—I can't stay exposed to this biting wind. I need to find a sheltered, comfortable place."

Bai Chuan watched the howling gale and thought to himself.

But where could he find such a place in this environment?

For a moment, Bai Chuan had no experience to draw on. He felt lost. In the past, when he faced a tough problem, most of the time his body's instincts would point him in a direction.

But now those instincts were gone. Snakes normally never came out in winter—they would have already started hibernating in autumn.

Yet because of his constant evolution, he had lost the ability to hibernate. On top of that, his den had collapsed.

All of this left him at a loss.

In the end, the winter Snow Forest simply had too little food.

If it were any other time, he would have found something to eat within the first hour of going out.

But now, he couldn't find even a trace of life.

If it weren't for the two prey that had delivered themselves right after he woke up, he might have become the shame of all transmigrators—the first one to starve to death.

With a clear goal now, Bai Chuan soon began moving again.

Along the way, he focused on places where there might be caves in the ground.

Sure enough, it wasn't long before he found a narrow cave.

He didn't care what was inside—he just started burrowing in. In fact, if there was something alive in there, that would be even better—he could have a full meal.

At the same time, his claws kept widening the cave a little.

Soon, he felt the cold air outside gradually recede, and his body began to warm up.

For the first time, he realized how wonderful warmth felt.

Before long, he entered a suddenly spacious cavern.

What met his eyes was a snake coiled inside, deep in hibernation.

Bai Chuan estimated this snake was over two meters long. Its head was triangular, with black markings faintly forming the character "King." Its body was a mix of yellow, white, and black, like the patterns of cauliflower in a vegetable patch.