Chapter Thirteen: The Serpent's Hidden Trail

The Ma siblings and Niushan stood together at a bend in the waterway. Ma Mingming crossed his arms over his chest, his face stern as he pondered the earlier duel with the Death Ten Weasel Wolf. Though the scene had been almost comical, he nevertheless felt grateful to Li Fusi; the battle had taught him much. Ma Qiqi, still shaken from their perilous encounter, no longer wore her usual scowl. Her horse-like features seemed softer now, and paired with her striking figure, she actually appeared quite attractive.

Niushan, still sporting dried blood at the corner of his mouth, noticed Ma Qiqi inching behind her brother for protection. Seizing the opportunity, he pretended to be gravely wounded and tried to squeeze in behind Ma Mingming as well, only to be kicked aside by Ma Qiqi.

At that moment, Li Fusi returned from the other side of the bend, satisfied to see the three young people in relatively good shape. He nodded approvingly and asked Ma Qiqi, “Well? Can you track that venomous weasel wolf?”

Though Ma Qiqi never voiced it, she had come to trust and feel grateful toward Li Fusi. She immediately stepped forward and replied, “I can, but we’ll have to hurry. It’s getting farther away, and the scent of other weasel wolves is muddling the trail. My senses aren’t strong enough; I might lose it.”

She finished with a hint of embarrassment, lowering her head.

Li Fusi encouraged her, “That’s all right. As long as we have the general direction, it’s enough. Once we get close to their lair, even if you don’t go looking for it, it’ll come out to find you.”

Ma Mingming grunted, “Then what are we waiting for? Let’s go!”

Li Fusi shook his head. “No, we’ll take a detour first, to another place.”

He didn’t explain why. Ma Mingming was about to ask, but held his tongue. The three followed Li Fusi, moving swiftly through the waterway.

It was unlike the days in Lynx’s squad, when the three half-demons could run at full speed with energy to spare. Now, even with a brisk pace, Li Fusi would often scout ahead and wait for the younger trio to catch up. Ma Qiqi had to split her focus to track Li Fusi’s scent so they wouldn’t get separated.

Eventually, they learned their lesson and stopped trying to keep up. Instead, they paced themselves and conserved their strength. After winding through the waterway for three or four kilometers, the four half-demons finally regrouped in a reservoir.

The moment they entered, the three lagging behind were startled. In one corner of the reservoir was a heap of gleaming white bones.

The pile formed a small mountain, taking up nearly a third of the space. Bones of all kinds of animals were mixed together—mostly cats, dogs, and poultry, with larger creatures being rare, since cattle, horses, and sheep had no place in the capital.

But what was truly unbearable was the presence of human remains among the animal bones, scattered and mingled, filling the young trio with both rage and sorrow.

They even saw the tiny skull of a child, clearly belonging to a seven or eight-year-old. The little skull was covered in bite marks, making it all too easy to imagine the suffering the child endured before death. The more Ma Qiqi thought about it, the more her tears flowed.

Niushan and Ma Mingming grit their teeth in silent fury. Li Fusi picked up the child’s skull, set it atop the pile, and turned back to the bewildered youths. “If you leave it exposed, the weasel wolves will just use it to sharpen their teeth. If you truly pity this child or wish to avenge them, then control your emotions. Getting agitated won’t help them, and you’ll only lose your own lives.”

He continued, “These bones are freshly piled up. The flesh was picked clean, but the marrow is still fresh. Now, tell me, what does it mean that the weasel wolves cleaned and stacked their leftovers here?”

The three exchanged glances and shook their heads.

Li Fusi answered, “It means this weasel wolf pack is incredibly dangerous. They have division of labor, a hierarchy, organization, and even record-keeping. They’ve formed an underground kingdom with social rules—a species with the potential to replace humanity, though it’s still in its infancy.”

Niushan exclaimed in disbelief, “Replace humans? Impossible!”

Li Fusi smiled. “You’ll see soon enough. The Border Marker’s ‘Red Response’ and the deployment of the special unit aren’t just for show.”

Suddenly, Ma Qiqi muttered, “Strange…what’s that smell? It’s like some kind of acid.”

She stepped toward a waterway connected to the reservoir. Not far from the exit, the channel bent, and the odor grew stronger from beyond the curve.

Li Fusi spotted her movement and shouted, “Don’t go there!”

But it was too late. At the bend, Ma Qiqi turned her head—and froze, then promptly doubled over and vomited.

On the other side of the bend, nearly twenty meters of the waterway floor was piled with weasel wolf corpses, stacked more than halfway to the channel’s ceiling. The most grotesque part was that all their flesh remained, but every single one had been flayed, their skinned carcasses thrown together in a gory heap.

Worse still, the bodies were covered in sticky, corrosive fluid. The stench of acid was overwhelming, and much of the flesh had melted away, leaving pitted and eroded marks. If there was a hell called Corrosive Rot, it would look like this.

Ma Mingming and Niushan, thinking Ma Qiqi had been attacked, ran over. They, too, were left speechless and wide-eyed at the grisly sight. Especially Niushan, who immediately turned and vomited a large puddle onto the ground.

Ma Mingming fought back his nausea, covering his mouth and dodging the mess. He muttered, “Is this…stomach acid? What kind of monster did this?”

Li Fusi approached and sighed. “I told you not to go.”

He waved toward the pile of weasel wolf corpses.

At his gesture, a bulge appeared in the heap, then began to move toward them.

The three young people tensed, weapons at the ready, prepared to strike the moment a creature emerged.

Li Fusi quickly held them back, signaling there was no danger.

Soon, a snake’s head, large as two fists, poked out from beneath the pile, followed by a body as thick as a child’s leg and at least five meters long—an enormous, pure black serpent.

What should have been a terrifying sight was absurdly comical, as the snake’s belly was distended like a barrel. As it slithered, its expression even seemed bashful, as if embarrassed to see Li Fusi. It crawled slowly to his feet and lay motionless.

Li Fusi sighed again. “Its name is Little Fiend. It’s a monster, but let’s say…my pet. Don’t worry; though it’s technically against the rules, the Border Marker knows about its existence, and you understand the inside story. I heard the explosion earlier and hurried to find you, but Little Fiend was unable to move at the time, so I left it here. That’s why we had to take a detour.”

Among the trio, Niushan was a “wild cub” half-demon and had seen many powerful hybrids keep monsters for various reasons. The Border Marker usually turned a blind eye. The Ma siblings came from a prestigious family and had officially registered monster pets at home for protection or company; this was nothing strange to them.

All three nodded but kept their eyes fixed on Little Fiend’s swollen belly, full of curiosity.

Li Fusi scolded, “Glutton! Spit it out, now!”

The three half-demons clearly saw a look of grievance on the serpent’s face. It slithered back to the pile, opened its jaws, and disgorged a weasel wolf corpse.

Niushan asked, “So…these weasel wolf corpses were eaten and then spat out by it?”

Li Fusi looked embarrassed. “This one’s often hungry, so when it finds something it likes, it overeats. Sorry about that.”

Of course, he wasn’t about to tell them the truth—if word got out about what Little Fiend actually ate, it would be a huge scandal.

He changed the subject. “Little Fiend will follow us from the shadows. If I’m not around and you run into something you can’t handle, call for it. Ordinary Death Ten monsters are nothing but food for it.”

Ma Mingming was startled. The weasel wolf corpse it had just spat out was clearly Death Ten level, and with over two hundred Young Perished weasel wolves here, if they were all its doing, then even if it wasn’t Hundred Death level, it must be at the very peak of Death Ten.

After disgorging the corpse, the serpent glanced back at them, then vanished over the pile in a streak of black.

Little Fiend’s usual size was only as thick as a fist and three meters long. No one knew what it had eaten to swell so rapidly, but it shrank down again as soon as it disappeared, without anyone noticing. Perhaps this was the secret Li Fusi kept hidden, though the three young half-demons didn’t notice.

With Little Fiend gone, Li Fusi said, “All right, our next destination is the lair of the weasel wolf king. From here on, the dangers will be great. Don’t think killing those two Death Ten weasel wolves earlier was easy—actually…”

He tapped his temple. “…it was mostly brains and ambush. The underground waterways are too complicated, and I really do need Ma Qiqi’s tracking skills. The two of you insisted on coming, but to be frank, you’re not strong enough. The dangers ahead may be more than I can handle. So, please—”

“Stop nagging like an old woman!”

Unexpectedly, it was Ma Qiqi, not her brother, who cut him off. For no apparent reason, she lost her temper, tossed off her remark, and led the way down the channel that still carried traces of the venomous weasel wolf’s scent.

“Heh, the men will go first,” Ma Mingming replied cheerfully, apparently pleased with his sister’s retort, and followed close behind.

“Haha…ha…” Niushan had meant to say something, but wilted under Li Fusi’s glare, and hurried after the siblings.

Watching their retreating backs, Li Fusi pressed his lips together and sighed helplessly.

On their way, the four encountered seven or eight packs of weasel wolves—at first just dozens at a time, but the numbers grew. The latest, and largest, group numbered nearly a hundred and fifty Young Perished, plus a Death Ten with a very strange ability.

During the battles, Li Fusi let the three young ones practice teamwork. Because Ma Qiqi lacked a suitable weapon, he even lent her his own Tang blade, Autumn Water, hoping they would grow as much as possible from the experience.

Being chosen for this bloody operation was in itself proof the Border Marker recognized their talent; all three had great potential.

Ma Mingming was agile and clever, drawing most of the weasel wolves’ attention. His twin daggers struck quickly and precisely, often finding a weak spot in their rodent faces for a fatal blow.

Niushan finally revealed his own gift—his body was a wall of muscle, hard as steel wherever he chose. He became a living shield, protecting Ma Qiqi from every charge. When the wolves clawed at him, his skin could contract like cotton, trapping their claws; then, with a single swing of his axe, he’d chop off limbs or heads.

Ma Qiqi had no qualms about using Niushan as her shield. Having trained in martial arts, she was more adept with fists and feet, but the three-foot Autumn Water blade became her kitchen knife, slicing through the wolves Niushan missed. She felt she had avenged the child whose skull they’d seen, and, pleased with herself, even patted Niushan’s bronzed back in approval.

Only the new Death Ten weasel wolf gave them serious trouble.

This time, Li Fusi truly left them to fend for themselves. It was their graduation test—if they could kill it together, they would shed their immaturity and become true field agents for the Border Marker. If they failed, the penalty was death.

This Death Ten was strange, its ability clearly physical. Its four legs were shriveled like deadwood, black and hairless, with long, pointed toes like chicken claws. It wasn’t large; if not for a lame right hind leg and patches of missing fur, it would have been hard to pick out amidst the pack.

Yet, with its chicken-claw forelimbs, it nearly ripped out Niushan’s heart! If Niushan’s muscles were iron, this weasel wolf’s claws were diamond. Its flesh was wrapped in skin tough as metal, giving it incredible defense and making the fight brutal.

Eventually, Ma Mingming discovered its weak spot was its ears. The three of them—one decisive, one loyal and brave, and the last, a woman ruthless enough—cooperated perfectly. Ma Mingming acted as bait, Niushan grappled the wolf, and Ma Qiqi drove Autumn Water in one ear and out the other, splitting its skull and nearly skewering both Niushan and her own brother in the process.

In the end, Ma Qiqi was unscathed, Niushan was covered in scratches and the most wounded, and Ma Mingming was the least hurt but the most shaken.

Li Fusi’s verdict: one truly fierce, one truly foolish, and one truly ruthless.