Wen Ning and Lu Ming silently followed the Big Green Snake.
She did not slither very fast.
After all, she was fat, and she still had half a roast chicken in her mouth.
She circled from the temple entrance to the path behind it, crossed a field, then turned into an alley barely wide enough for a single motorized tricycle. The houses on either side were the tiled-roof homes typical of the countryside.
The Big Green Snake stopped outside one house.
She glanced back, seemingly checking whether anyone had followed her.
Wen Ning and Lu Ming had already concealed themselves, standing behind utility poles on opposite sides of the alley entrance.
The Big Green Snake noticed nothing. She turned back and climbed over the wall with the roast chicken in her mouth.
Lu Ming asked curiously,
"Whose house is this?"
Wen Ning rolled his eyes at Lu Ming.
"This is my first time here too. How would I know?"
The courtyard light was on, and a woman's agonized scream came from inside the house.
"Push! Push harder!"
An older woman's voice rang out from inside. She was loud, but her tone held a panic she could not quite conceal.
"I can see the head! Give it another push!"
Wen Ning and Lu Ming vaulted over the courtyard wall and landed beside a water vat in the corner.
They remained invisible. The people inside could not see them, but they could see everything happening in the room.
A young woman lay on the bed in the inner room.
Her face was deathly pale, and sweat-soaked strands of hair clung to her cheeks. She had bitten through her lip, and blood trickled from the corner of her mouth.
Her hands gripped the bedsheet tightly. Agony made her curl into herself, only for