# 59
Chapter 59: Conversation with the Snake Demon
"Ahhhhhhhhh!!!"
A shrill scream burst from the music room. Lin Qiye leaned lazily against the corridor railing and yawned.
"One, two, three… fifteen, sixteen, seventeen… that should do."
He muttered, stepped forward, and opened the door again.
Inside, Han Ruoruo—now a snake-spawn—watched him warily. On the floor lay Liu Yuan, motionless, not a wound on him.
"You didn’t tear him apart; you planted a snake seed instead—better." Lin Qiye smiled and reached behind his back.
A soft ring, and the Straight Blade came free.
Suddenly Liu Yuan jack-knifed upright like a reanimated corpse, eyes fixed on Lin Qiye, still glinting with spite.
He rose in an unnatural twist; his skull split open, baring a blood-drenched maw bristling with fangs, and roared!
"Grrraaa—pfft!"
Before the cry finished, Lin Qiye’s blade lanced straight into the mouth, twisted hard!
The snake spawn shrieked; blood gushed, the entire jaw shredded.
Lin Qiye flicked the gore from the edge and glanced at Liu Yuan as he toppled. "Now I can cut you down without a shred of guilt."
He turned to Han Ruoruo, who had been coiling for a strike.
"Relax. If nothing goes wrong, you’re the last snake spawn in this school." He wagged the sheathed Straight Blade to show no hostile intent.
"Nāga Serpent, I know your true body can see me through this shell. Drop the monster act—let’s talk."
After a pause, the fleshy crown of the creature folded shut; skin and bone knit together, blood-lines fading until Han Ruoruo’s face returned.
She stood expressionless. "Night Watch and I have nothing to discuss."
"Yet you’re not simple." Lin Qiye raised a brow. "Still, you changed back—so you do want to talk."
"More nonsense?" Han Ruoruo frowned; crimson lines reappeared, threatening to split her face again.
"You understand human society well. I’d wager you descended on this city long ago." He studied her eyes, hoping for a tell.
But only a puppet stared back; the real Nāga spoke from somewhere far away, and the girl’s face gave nothing.
"So what?"
"With your terrifying mimic gift, if you hadn’t bred spawn en masse we might’ve spent ten years hunting you. You could’ve blended in, seeded a few rich men quietly, lived in wealth and freedom. You had every advantage to stay hidden… so why, two or three weeks ago, did you start mass-producing offspring?"
Lin Qiye voiced the riddle that troubled him.
"Reproduction is my racial instinct," Han Ruoruo said flatly. "When a wolf enters a flock, would it stay silent forever?"
"Other mysteries might not, but you—you’re different." Lin Qiye was certain. "High intelligence, extreme caution. Any smart creature can suppress instinct."
"Amusing logic." She sneered. "Since you love deductions, here’s a puzzle."
"Go on."
"In this sealed school there are three Night Watch members: the spear girl, the healer, and you who can pierce my disguise. The spear girl is Pool Realm—I can’t seed her. The healer stays beside her, also untouchable. But if I kill you—merely Lantern Realm—and plant a seed in you… do you think they’d notice?"
Her mouth split to the ears in a ghastly grin!
Lin Qiye’s pupils shrank; without thinking he dived sideways!
A huge black shape smashed through the wall behind him, tail whipping down and cratered the floor where he’d stood!
He rolled, sprang up, right hand already on his hilt, eyes grim.
Before him coiled a black-scaled creature: human torso, serpent tail, vertical pupils locked on him.
The Nāga itself!
"You stalled for answers… I stalled for time." The serpent’s tongue flicked; the voice issued from its body.
"Sister Hongying, Nāga is in the art building’s music room," Lin Qiye said, drawing the Straight Blade.
"Got it! I’m on my way—hold on!" Hongying’s voice crackled through the earpiece amid rushing wind.
"Hiss—!"
The demon shot forward; its tail smashed pianos aside like kindling, claws scything the air with an ear-splitting shriek.
Lin Qiye was already moving, darting sideways. The claws raked the wall behind like knives through tofu, leaving deep gouges.
He steadied himself, glanced at the nearly pierced wall, and swore: "You call this ‘weak main body, low combat power’?!"
Another claw missed; a thick tail whipped from the flank. Lin Qiye slashed lightning-fast—sparks flew as blade met scale, and the impact hurled him back, almost off his feet.
He kept balance; a shallow cut marked the serpent’s tail.
"Strength lower than I feared, defense nowhere near the Ghost-Face King… apart from raw attack, it’s beatable," he muttered, eyes narrowing.