# 135
**Chapter 135 – Serpent Eyes**
Top of a signal tower, Cangnan City.
A woman casually rested her hand on the railing. The breeze lifted her black, curly hair, revealing a bewitching, alluring face. A pair of eerie vertical pupils quietly watched the city slowly wake, her lips curved in a faint, unreadable smile.
Buzz… buzz…
Her phone vibrated.
She took it out and answered lazily.
“Hello…?”
“The agents we planted in the training camp have been exposed. Yuan Gang has already left the camp. You don’t have much time left.” A deep male voice came from the other end.
“Oh dear~” The woman propped her chin with her other hand, speaking slowly. “So it’s time to wrap things up already? I haven’t had enough fun yet…”
“【Serpent Woman】, I think I need to remind you—you didn’t come to Cangnan to play.” The man’s voice turned serious.
“Lin Qiye is the first-ever dual-god agent in history. If we truly cannot recruit him into the Church of the Ancient Gods, we absolutely cannot let him live. Otherwise, in the future, we’ll have an enemy even more troublesome than Wang Mian.”
“Wang Mian… last time he nearly cut me in half. How can there be such an unromantic man in this world?” Serpent Woman sighed.
“You’re still a newcomer to the Church of the Ancient Gods, and your realm isn’t high either. When you make contact with Lin Qiye, prioritize recruitment. If that fails, have Han Shaoyun take action—kill him on the spot!
With Han Shaoyun’s combat power, the only one in Cangnan who can defeat him head-on is Yuan Gang. But when the time comes, someone will help you delay Yuan Gang.”
“So besides Han Shaoyun and Yuan Gang, there’s still a Sea Realm hiding in the city…” Serpent Woman’s eyes narrowed slightly.
“That’s right. But he won’t be able to hold Yuan Gang for long. You don’t have much time.”
“Got it~” Serpent Woman slowly straightened up from the railing, stretched lazily, and gazed at a small shop in the distance. A strange smile curled at the corner of her lips, as if she’d thought of something amusing.
“Dual-god agent… sounds like an interesting man.”
…
After sweeping the snow, Lin Qiye turned and walked into the office. He picked up two black cases from the corner, hesitated for a moment, then grabbed some New Year goods from the table and stuffed them into his pocket.
“Heading out?” Chen Muye walked out of the kitchen and asked.
“Yeah.” Lin Qiye nodded. “Going to pay a New Year visit, sort of.”
The explosion at the love hotel earlier still echoed in his ears. Though he didn’t think the little chubby guy was in any real danger, it was better to check just in case.
If everything was fine, then as he said—he’d just pay a New Year visit.
Of course, there was another more important reason. Since tomorrow was the last day of the holiday, those lurking in the shadows were likely getting restless. Taking an extra lap around town would help test their limits.
If any overly powerful enemies showed up, Lin Qiye wasn’t worried—he could just release Nyx and blink away under the cover of night. But Nyx’s divine power could easily stir up the Night Watch, so unless absolutely necessary, he didn’t want to use her.
Chen Muye didn’t stop him. He simply nodded lightly. “Alright. Go ahead.”
Lin Qiye carried the black cases and New Year goods, quietly walking past the dining room filled with snoring, and pushed open the door.
After he left, Wu Xiangnan, who had been lying on the couch like a dead dog, slowly opened his eyes. He sat up, glanced at Chen Muye, and slapped Wen Qimo awake beside him.
“Let’s go. Time to work.”
…
After leaving Peace Office, Lin Qiye headed straight for the love hotel.
The once-bustling street was now deserted. Shops on both sides were tightly shut, brand-new “Fu” characters pasted on their doors, their owners long gone home for the holidays.
Occasionally, a car drove by, scattering clumps of snow by the roadside. Lin Qiye, wrapped in a scarf, turned into a remote side path, and the world fell completely silent.
This was an old road, its flanking houses low and dim. Moss-covered walls bore the marks of time, and bare tree branches stabbed into the sky like deep brown thorns.
The love hotel where Baili Pangpang and the others stayed wasn’t far from Peace Bridge—just a ten-minute walk. But the further he went, the more uneasy Lin Qiye felt.
He couldn’t quite place where the unease was coming from.
Eventually, he stopped.
On the quiet sidewalk, Lin Qiye frowned, as if sensing something. After a moment, he turned to look at a derelict building on his right and reached out to touch its wall.
His hand, wet with melted snow, gently wiped away the dust and moss. Slowly, a strange crack appeared on the wall.
The crack looked natural, forming a narrow semicircle. Within it, several other cracks intersected. At first glance, it seemed like nothing—but upon closer inspection…
The pattern looked like an eye?
A narrow, sinister, bewitching serpent eye.
“This is…” Lin Qiye’s frown deepened. He crouched, sweeping the snow at his feet with one of the black cases. The sidewalk beneath him was now covered in these strange serpent eyes!
They were formed by black lines—like charcoal sketches, or natural stains. Some were as small as a thumb, others as large as a manhole cover. Dense and countless, they littered the ground.
Lin Qiye fully extended his mental perception, his expression growing graver.
Tree branches interlocked overhead—viewed from certain angles, they formed serpent eyes.
The snow swept aside by sanitation workers had mostly melted; the remaining patches on the ground also shaped like serpent eyes.
On the surfaces of the old houses around him, serpent eyes appeared in bizarre, impossible forms.
Even the winter sun hanging in the sky had somehow transformed into the shape of a serpent eye…
The entire street had become a world of serpent eyes!
Lin Qiye finally understood the source of his unease.
“This is… a Forbidden Ruins?” His eyes shimmered with a faint golden light. He set down the New Year goods, gripped both black cases tightly, and warily observed his surroundings.
Suddenly, a figure slowly approached from the opposite sidewalk.
It was a woman. Her black, curly hair spilled naturally over her shoulders, swaying in the breeze like writhing black serpents. A pair of eerie vertical pupils fixed on Lin Qiye.
The corner of her mouth curled upward—she was smiling.