Snake Corpse

The next morning, dawn had barely broken.

Thin morning light leaked through the dilapidated roof, casting several grayish-white shafts across the ground.

The campfire had long since gone out, leaving only a pile of warm ashes.

A wisp or two of lingering smoke occasionally curled upward, spiraling alone in the morning light.

The two men on watch had not dared close their eyes all night. It was not that they were not sleepy—they simply had not dared sleep.

Now that the sky had brightened, they finally breathed a sigh of relief and woke the others beside the fire one by one.

Everyone rubbed their bleary eyes and sat up with yawns. They looked at one another, and seeing that everyone was safe and sound, the hearts they had held suspended all night finally settled completely.

Their stomachs were empty, so naturally they needed to find something to eat.

But when they looked around, everything in the relay station that could be burned had been burned clean the night before. There was not even a decent stick of firewood left beside the fire.

One guard rose and headed for the door, intending to gather some dead branches outside.

Who would have thought that the moment his front foot crossed the threshold, his whole body would freeze in place, staring straight ahead.

"What is it?"

Seeing him standing motionless, the bearded man inside also walked out.

Then he too froze at once.

Several thick sections of snake body lay strewn haphazardly across the ruined courtyard, each as thick as a millstone.

Their blue-black scales glimmered with a cold, ghostly sheen in the morning light. The cuts were smooth as mirrors, yet not a drop of blood had flowed.

The vicious snake head lay crooked by the roadside, its mouth half-open.

A pair