Chapter 3: The Serpent House
In Liang Xiaoyu’s livestream, the viewership hadn’t waned. The scrolling comments fell like a curtain of rain.
She quickly spotted several familiar usernames.
“Sweetheart, be careful: Don’t be afraid. Your father has already sent a rescue helicopter.”
“Knight Without a Horse: Xiaoyu, what’s going on? I just logged in. People are saying there are dinosaurs?”
“Yanran: Bestie, send me your location!”
Liang Xiaoyu tore open a piece of bread and ate it. She took out her compass and gave it a shake. “The magnetic field here seems off—the compass isn’t working at all.”
“As for my location—” She displayed her private phone to the camera. “I don’t know what’s happening. My phone shows full bars, I can make calls and surf the internet, but I just can’t get a GPS fix.”
She looked at the comments, hoping someone might offer a useful suggestion.
After a while, she realized most people were still asking about the dinosaurs and Transformers.
One comment did catch her eye.
“Cut the Moon: Do you think this could be a military test site, with some special magnetic interference—making GPS impossible?”
“Can’t Afford Three Kids, Born in the 80s: By the way, I checked the area on a live satellite map—guess what I saw?”
Liang Xiaoyu was intrigued. “Brother Three Kids, what did you see on the satellite map?”
“Can’t Afford Three Kids, Born in the 80s: Haha, I’ve followed you for so long and finally got noticed by the streamer… When you zoom in on Yunling Mountain, it’s all covered in white mist. Can’t see a thing.”
Permanent mist? Liang Xiaoyu had traveled widely and heard of such places. But here…
She looked up, sunlight streaming through the leaves.
Where was the mist?
She packed up her trash and stood. “Since I’m already lost, I guess I’ll leave it to fate.”
“Might as well show everyone around.”
She adjusted her selfie stick, wiped her face with a towel, and considered touching up her makeup, but decided against it—she’d probably sweat it off soon anyway.
After seeing a dinosaur, she was even more convinced this forest was extraordinary.
Even the trees in the Amazon weren’t this gigantic, were they?
Curiosity piqued, she set her private phone to silent.
As she walked, chatting with her viewers, she said, “What? You’re saying that was an Allosaurus earlier? I thought it was a T-Rex.”
“T-Rexes are even bigger, huh?”
“Haha, guess I’m lucky—it it had been a T-Rex, I’d have been nothing but dinosaur dung by now.”
Just as she finished, she suddenly felt the ground tremble.
Boom! Boom!
It was as if some enormous creature was drawing near.
The viewers noticed too; many asked why the camera was shaking.
Liang Xiaoyu turned and saw that the distant trees were swaying even more violently.
“Shh, something big is coming.”
“I’m going silent!” She quickly turned off her private phone.
Liang Xiaoyu crawled into the bushes, covering her head with broken branches and leaves, and set her streaming phone a short distance away, aiming it at the area with the most movement.
Boom! Boom!
The tremors grew stronger. Her heart squeezed painfully in her chest.
At last, the source of the shaking appeared.
When she saw it, her heart nearly skipped a beat.
Compared to the Allosaurus from before, this was a true behemoth.
Its body was nearly twice as long, and its height matched a three or four-story building.
Tyrannosaurus rex.
Liang Xiaoyu pressed a hand to her mouth, terrified her breathing might give her away.
If this thing noticed her, even the Transformer from before might not save her.
When the beast was about ten meters away, it suddenly stopped.
It turned its cold gaze toward her hiding spot.
Under that icy stare, Liang Xiaoyu almost bolted in terror.
She pressed her face to the ground, her wildly beating heart making her chest ache.
She didn’t dare make a sound.
After five agonizing seconds, the dinosaur slowly turned and walked away.
Only after ten more minutes, once the trembling had completely faded, did Liang Xiaoyu sit up.
She retrieved her streaming phone and saw the screen filled with comments—so many that the video was nearly obscured.
She read them silently.
“Damn, was that real? Not a movie?”
“I’m scared just watching through the screen.”
“My mom just asked me why I’m lying on the floor watching a livestream.”
“Selling T-Rex, Allosaurus, Velociraptor—live!”
“Hello, streamer, this is cyber police. Please check your private messages.”
“Xiaoyu, stay where you are—the rescue team is on their way.”
…
Calming herself, Liang Xiaoyu spoke to the camera, “To be honest, if I died like this, I suddenly feel there’s nothing much to regret.”
“I’m just sorry to my parents. If I make it back alive, I’ll do as you say…”
Her eyes reddened.
That moment under the T-Rex’s gaze had genuinely shaken her.
She felt she’d brushed up against death itself, and memories flooded her mind.
She thought of all the arguments she’d had with her parents, and a wave of sadness washed over her.
After a sip of water, she continued onward, camera in hand.
She wasn’t sure if she was walking in circles.
“Might as well take this rare chance to show everyone around,” she said.
The leaves rustled beneath her feet as she walked, narrating for her viewers.
“Everything here is huge. Look at that butterfly…”
“Wow, can anyone identify this bug? It looks like a giant firefly. I bet it’s beautiful at night.”
“What kind of tree is this? The leaves are big enough to use as fans.”
“Wait, there’s a wire fence up ahead.”
Liang Xiaoyu jogged closer.
The fence was about ten meters high, with a small, unlocked gate in the center. A little sign hung nearby.
“Serpent Pavilion.”
She read aloud, “Is there a giant snake in here?”
“I’ll take everyone inside for a look.”
“I once went to the Amazon to look for forest pythons. Compared to dinosaurs, snakes are adorable.”
Inside the fence, the trees grew shorter but even denser.
Before long, Liang Xiaoyu heard the sound of running water.
“Can you hear that? Water!”
“If this really is some research institute, it would make sense to build it near water, right?” she said excitedly.
She ignored the comments warning, “Be careful near water—predators abound,” and ran toward the sound.
Within minutes, she stopped short, her expression freezing.
A gigantic snake’s head appeared before her.
It was larger than half her body—without opening its jaws, it could swallow her whole.
The rest of its body stretched out into the distant pool.
Judging by the trees, it had to be thirty or forty meters long—far surpassing any known giant python.
The serpent flicked its blood-red tongue.
When it brushed across Liang Xiaoyu’s face, she felt a sticky, foul slime.
The viewers, wondering why she’d frozen, were shocked into silence as the enormous tongue and half-exposed snake’s head came into view.