Black Snake thought this thing should be edible.
Recalling how the hunter had carved up wild boar meat with a short knife, dividing the enormous prey into small pieces easy to swallow, Black Snake found the process well worth imitating.
Since this thing posed no threat, perhaps Black Snake could try cutting it apart.
Black Snake fixed its gaze on the whitish, flesh-like tissue and flicked its tongue.
Then it lunged and sank its teeth in. There was no helping it; the instinct to strike swiftly was impossible to change.
The strange lump of fatty flesh did not react.
Black Snake had a firm bite and could ensure its prey would not escape, but unprecedented confusion followed. How was it supposed to tear off a piece small enough to swallow? Which muscles should it use?
After a moment of stunned stillness, it tried shaking its head from side to side. That helped a little; the flesh seemed to loosen, but it was nowhere near tearing free.
After a little thought, it switched to pulling backward. This time, the piece in its mouth seemed to loosen. Since this method worked, it kept pulling, carefully sensing which muscles were exerting force and directing the cool energy within its body toward them.
The method worked beautifully, unleashing far greater strength than usual.
The strange thing was not as tough as meat. Black Snake tore off a piece of glistening white fatty tissue, and its muscles rippled with practiced ease as it swallowed smoothly.
It paused briefly to savor the taste.
There was none of the rank smell of ordinary flesh and blood. The flavor was unexpectedly mild, it filled the stomach, and nothing felt amiss.
It was edible.
Once again, Black Snake struck like thunder, clamped down on the strange thing, and pulled backward with its whole body.
It forcibly tore away a large, quivering chunk of tissue. Its technique grew more practiced, and its throat muscles rippled as it swallowed smoothly.
No other beast or bird coveted the meal. Black Snake enjoyed it alone.
Its slender body, more than twenty feet long, had just finished shedding and was at the point of greatest hunger for energy. This strange meat had appeared at exactly the right time. It looked enormous, but the coiled Black Snake was hardly small either, and its digestive capacity far surpassed that of its kind, bordering on greed.
Black Snake remained unhurried. Every bite and swallow was slow and steady, and it became absorbed in its own business.
The turning of day into night meant nothing to it.
Late at night, moonlight illuminated the little basin among the mountains. The wind could not sweep away the reek of rotting mud.
Black Snake stopped swallowing and slowly raised its head. Its slit pupils reflected the moonlight as it silently faced the mountain forest, fixing on a pair of bright points emerging from the shadows.
Wildcat stopped at a distance, observing the strange lump of meat and the great black snake.
It was extremely careful, cautiously studying the enormous Black Snake that lay far beyond its understanding, weighing whether there was any need to provoke it.
Its survival instincts warned it to stay away from this abnormal Black Snake.
Wildcat turned and left, branding the great black snake's scent, carried on the wind, deep into its memory.
Black Snake confirmed that the heat source belonging to Wildcat had gone far away. Its cold slit pupils slowly swept the surroundings, and only after confirming there were no more threats did it lower its head and resume tearing off pieces of meat and swallowing.
The cool energy was directed with precision, flowing into its head. With this special energy strengthening it, tearing and swallowing became ever more efficient.
It ate without stopping...
The moon slipped silently from the mountains on one side to a mountain on the other.
Several early-rising wild boars came grunting out of the woods without a care.
The sight of wild boars left Black Snake utterly speechless. They were among the few beasts that had left any impression on it, simply because these reckless creatures understood neither caution nor weighing their options. They only charged headlong with single-minded determination. Its shortsighted eyes could already make out their grayish-brown figures. What a headache.
Little of the strange meat remained. Black Snake coldly watched their movements and arched its body in warning.
Near this river and the little basin with its lush meadow, one really could run into anything.
The wild boars, large and small, discovered the strange meat and the great black snake coiled beside it. They gathered with grunts, their coarse snouts twitching as they kept edging closer to test the waters, as though debating whether the creature opposite them was edible.
They drew closer and closer, and the smell of soil mixed with pine resin hit Black Snake head-on!
Black Snake hissed a warning.
"Hiss-!"
The boars startled and backed away, but soon approached again.
The warning had failed. Black Snake had no choice but to consider cutting its losses in time.
Risking a fight with a herd of wild boars was pointless. Any injury could bring death. Better to withdraw unscathed. Survival mattered most.
Just as Black Snake prepared to retreat, a reckless boar suddenly entered its threat range.
The situation changed abruptly, and Black Snake's reason was instantly supplanted by its instinct to fight.
Its taut body sprang forward in a sudden strike!
The boar's little eyes caught a glimpse of the attacking black shadow. It reflexively recoiled in haste, but not fast enough. A brief, stabbing pain shot through its snout...
The boar's piercing squeal shattered the morning stillness. The herd instantly exploded into chaos. Panic spread, and every boar fled blindly in whatever direction it could.
The chaotic scene sent Black Snake's heart pounding. Large heat sources swarmed in confusion, and the vibrations were utterly disordered.
One little boar actually charged straight at Black Snake.
Black Snake swiftly bit its target and injected venom, then immediately released its prey and hissed warnings at the other boars.
The reckless creatures merely kicked up their hooves and ran madly, scattering the piles of broken branches and driftwood.
Something unexpected happened. Thick fog suddenly spilled from around Black Snake's body. White vapor billowed and spread, quickly forming a low cloud that covered an area several dozen feet across and rose roughly ten feet high.
The white fog blocked sight. The boars ran about in agitation outside it, while Black Snake could sense its surroundings clearly through its heat perception, gaining the advantage.
The confused hoofbeats and squeals quickly receded. Even the boar whose snout had been slashed by venomous fangs staggered away.
Only the little boar remained, lying in a pile of driftwood and kicking wildly.
A mountain breeze swept past.
The cloud of fog was slowly pushed sideways, while wisps of vapor continued spilling from Black Snake's body, maintaining a faint connection with it.
Black Snake recovered from the excitement of battle, and the familiar thirst returned.
Watching mist still spill from its own body, it confirmed that this was the rain energy and fog it had consumed. Unfortunately, it could not hold on to that precious thing; it would scatter uncontrollably during sleep or when its power surged. There was a wistful sense of having lost something wonderful.
The white fog soon stopped spilling out, but Black Snake's worry grew heavier.
This uncontrolled loss made Black Snake suspect that the precious substance it had painstakingly accumulated was being squandered for nothing.
It stared blankly for a moment, then finally lowered its head and mechanically tore and swallowed. Before long, the enormous lump of strange meat had been hollowed out completely, leaving only a ring of shriveled empty skin and a few scraps.
Warm morning sunlight fell over the little basin. Wisps of white vapor rose from the damp mud and the piles of broken branches and driftwood.
The little boar before it gradually fell silent.
Black Snake lay coiled where it was. The food in its belly had not yet been fully digested, and it intended to stop eating for now.
Suddenly, it caught a trace of almost imperceptible vibration.
Its enormous serpentine body turned.
Its slit pupils and heat perception
swept toward the source of the vibrations. Its shortsighted eyes saw only a blur, and its heat perception revealed nothing either, yet the faint vibrations continued intermittently.
Black Snake gathered its focus and concentrated on its thermal field of vision. Using the technique it had learned before, it stopped chasing conspicuous heat sources and instead outlined the ambient temperatures of its surroundings, rapidly piecing together patches of color and locking firmly onto the missing area.
There was a clear gap in the temperature background of that area, and its outline was unmistakably human!
Nearly forgotten fragments of memory resurfaced.
Black Snake remembered him.
He was the person who had once appeared on the icy path at the bottom of the valley on that bitterly cold night. He could control his body so that no heat escaped-a powerful, mysterious man!