Wen Ning and Lu Ming kept watch at the temple entrance until well past midnight, but Green Snake never returned.
Just look at this snake. After saving someone, she hadn't even come back to rest. She had gone off to play again.
In the small hours, Big Green Snake finally returned. By then, she had gnawed the roast chicken in her mouth down to a bare skeleton.
She hooked the chicken bones with the tip of her tail and tossed them neatly into the trash can by the temple entrance, then slithered toward the doors with a swagger.
Just as she reached the threshold, two figures dropped down on either side, trapping her between them.
Wen Ning leaned against the doorframe with his arms crossed, while Lu Ming blocked her path with his hands on his hips. Both stared down at the plump Big Green Snake on the ground, their expressions very stern.
Wen Ning spoke first, his tone that of an interrogator questioning a criminal.
"Why are you impersonating a deity? Don't you know that violates Heavenly Law?"
Lu Ming nodded along beside him, brow slightly furrowed as he tried to look more imposing.
After all, they were facing a monster impersonating the Dragon King. They had to project some authority.
Big Green Snake raised her head to look at Lu Ming, then turned to Wen Ning and moved her mouth.
"Who are you two? Why are you bossing me around?"
The moment that voice came out of her mouth, Wen Ning could no longer keep a straight face.
It was a sweet, babyish voice.
She sounded like a seven- or eight-year-old girl wheedling, with a slightly nasal upward lilt at the end.
The contrast with Big Green Snake before them—fat as a green radish, with grease still smeared