Part 2
Several days passed in a row, and the snake didn’t wake up. The meat placed in front of it remained untouched. The eagle became a bit anxious, having to confirm the snake was still alive several times a day. However, the female scent on its body was actually getting stronger and stronger.
The eagle paced back and forth in the cave. The snake had been unconscious for eight days. It couldn’t resist reaching out its claw and poking the snake curiously again. This was the tenth time it had touched the snake today. Recently, it had even hastily finished its foraging outside just to hurry back and guard the snake.
As it poked, its claw suddenly snagged a piece of snakeskin. The eagle jumped in fright. Were its claws too sharp, peeling off the snakeskin? At a loss, it wanted to put the snagged snakeskin back, but it wouldn’t stick no matter what. In its haste, its sharp claws tore off another large piece.
The eagle’s body stiffened, a piece of snakeskin still hanging from its claw, its gaze holding a hint of panic.
When Yu She woke up, he saw this scene. Seeing such a human-like expression on a bird of prey was somewhat comical. He couldn’t help but laugh in his heart. Suddenly, he felt that this eagle was actually a bit cute.
He didn’t know how long he had slept. Waking up this time, he felt refreshed, and his body felt much lighter. Moreover, the eagle didn’t seem to have any intention of eating him. His human life… ah, no, his snake life was temporarily safe.
Only after there was no life-threatening danger did he feel how heavy his body was, as if something was pressing down on him. He wriggled his body to leave the thing that was binding him.
After struggling to squeeze out, he took a look and realized it was his own ugly, thick layer of skin. He curiously glanced at the shed snakeskin a few times. Should he keep this? Actually, no, it was too disgusting; even looking at it made his stomach churn.
A snake shedding its skin meant growth. Did that mean he should be much stronger than before?
He twisted his snake body to the front. The previously ugly, small brown snake body was now covered in white, lustrous scales, and his entire body had grown significantly.
He excitedly swung his white snake tail. After one sleep, he had turned into the white, thick, and beautiful among snakes. It turned out that the ugly duckling—or rather, the ugly little snake—turning into a white swan snake wasn’t a fairy tale.
He didn’t get to feel beautiful for long before his body was lifted into the air.
Yu She turned his head and met a pair of curious eagle eyes.
One eagle and one snake stared at each other for a long time. The eagle’s claws gripped him uncomfortably, but he couldn’t run away anyway, and he still had to rely on the eagle for food. A snake had to understand the times. He actively wrapped his tail around the eagle’s claw and patted it.
The eagle didn’t seem to understand his meaning and tilted its large head in confusion.
The eagle thought it had accidentally killed the snake, but it didn’t expect it was just shedding its skin. The snake had become much better-looking. A snow-white strip, its scales distinctly layered and so bright they seemed to glow.
The elongated pupils inside the blue eyes stared at it. The female scent on the snake’s body was so strong. Was it constantly flicking its tongue to seduce him?
The eagle thought that it was indeed very strong. Previously in the tribe, many females had shown affection to it, but it hadn’t reached adulthood then and didn’t know what it was like. Plus, it felt that the burly females in the tribe were all so ugly.
This snake had become a bit better-looking, but as an ordinary beast, it couldn’t be his mate. Ordinary beasts had shorter lifespans. Considering how much it adored him, keeping it by his side wasn’t impossible. The snake’s body was always cold, which could be used to cool down during this summer.
Thinking of this, it responded by rubbing the snake’s head with its sharp beak.
Yu She didn’t know the bumpy journey in the eagle’s heart. When he saw the eagle lower its head and peck towards him with its sharp beak, he was scared half to death, thinking he was about to be disemboweled. In the end, the beak just rubbed against him.
It was a false alarm. If he were in human form, he definitely would have reached out to wipe the cold sweat off his forehead.
However, he was so hungry, yet he didn’t want to eat raw meat. What should he do? He couldn’t go out, so he could only ask the eagle to help him, but he couldn’t communicate with the eagle due to the language barrier.
Ah~ A snake’s life is hopeless!
He finally decided to give it a try. He patted the eagle with his tail and pointed to the fresh meat the eagle had prepared for him nearby.
The eagle showed an expression of understanding and placed him next to the meat.
Yu She didn’t know how to express his meaning to the eagle, so he could only use his tail to push the piece of meat outward. The eagle pushed it back, signaling him to eat. He pushed the meat away again. After a few rounds back and forth, the eagle finally noticed his resistance.
The eagle seemed to tilt its head in thought for a while, then flapped its wings and left. After a short while, it came back carrying a very large rabbit and dropped the rabbit in front of him, signaling him to eat.
He sighed softly in his heart and pushed the rabbit a bit further away.
The eagle understood very quickly this time. It flapped its wings and left again. After a while, it caught a creature that looked like a sheep for him. He felt somewhat helpless and pushed the sheep further away too.
Afterward, the eagle successively caught several types of creatures for him, to the point where the cave couldn’t even fit them all. He was almost too embarrassed to refuse. Before the eagle could leave again, he hooked it with his tail.
The eagle irritably scratched the wall with its claws, making a harsh sound. Its gold-ringed eyes stared at him for a while, seemingly having thought of a solution. It grabbed his body and flew out.
After Yu She slowly adapted in the air, he realized the eagle was flying very slowly, as if letting Yu She see for himself and pick for himself.
A surge of warmth welled up in Yu She’s heart. This fierce bird of prey didn’t mind the trouble of going back and forth so many times just to find food for him.
His previous family had been very messy. His parents each had their own families, and both sides ignored him aside from giving him money. He never expected to feel cared for by a wild beast in this unpopulated primeval forest.
He hooked his tail and rubbed it against the eagle’s claw.
The eagle thought he had found what he wanted to eat, stopped in the air, pecked him once, and looked at him in confusion. Its entire eagle face seemed to spell out, “Which one do I catch?”
Yu She followed its gaze and looked down. The animals running around below hadn’t even realized the danger yet, but he didn’t want to eat raw meat. His eyes strained as he patrolled the surroundings.
Snakes and eagles were completely opposite. He used to see on Animal Planet that an eagle’s eyesight was six times that of a human, let alone such a giant one in a primeval forest, while snakes were naturally nearsighted.
He struggled to distinguish from the colors. There seemed to be a fruit tree, but it was too far away for him to see clearly. He could only see a few specks of red on a patch of green.
He pointed at the tree with his tail and nodded under the eagle’s confused gaze.
The eagle landed on a branch of that tree and put him down. Yu She slithered over. Only when he got close did he realize they were apples. He hooked one down with his tail and took a bite. It was crisp, sweet, and quite delicious. He ate a few more. After filling his stomach, he looked worriedly at a pile of apple cores. He wouldn’t have to eat apples for the rest of his life, right?
His depression came quickly and left just as quickly. No matter what, life had to go on. He sighed in his heart, slithered back to the eagle’s side, and patted the eagle’s claw with his tail, signaling that he was full.
Although the eagle didn’t understand what was so delicious about these fruits, seeing the snake eat so many, it thought it should pick a few more to bring back to the cave for the snake to eat, just in case he got hungry at night.
It plucked a few off with its claws and piled them in front of the snake.
Looking at the apples in front of him, Yu She thought this situation wasn’t particularly bad. At least he had a long-term meal ticket.
After he rolled up the apples with his tail, the eagle tossed him onto its back, and the two beasts flew back the way they came.
Yu She lay on the eagle’s back, boredly flicking his tongue out to practice his survival skills. A snake’s eyes were poor, relying entirely on the tongue’s thermal imaging to perceive the surrounding environment.
He unexpectedly saw a creature rushing toward them at an incredibly fast speed, getting closer and closer. He wanted to warn the eagle, his tail slapping against the eagle’s back.
However, this action caused the eagle to shift its attention to him, thereby missing the optimal moment to dodge the beast’s attack.
The eagle’s wing was instantly slashed, revealing a bone-deep wound. That wild beast was also a bird, and its speed was even faster than the eagle’s. It launched another attack on the eagle. The eagle struggled to turn in the air with its injured wing to dodge. With this sideways movement, Yu She, who was on its back, fell off.
The weightlessness of falling made Yu She feel terrified. It seemed he was really going to die this time. He saw the eagle rapidly dive to catch him, but they were getting further and further apart.
Translator’s Note:
- “She” (佘): Yu She’s name uses a character that is a homophone for “Snake” (蛇 – Shé) in Chinese, which is why he laments his name when he transmigrates.
- White, thick, and beautiful (白粗美): This is a playful spin on the modern internet slang “白富美” (White, rich, and beautiful) used to describe ideal women. Here, it describes his snake body.
- White Swan Snake (白天蛇): The author uses this term as a play on “Ugly Duckling turning into a White Swan” (白天鵝).
- Lying flat: Refers to the modern internet culture of giving up on struggling and doing the bare minimum.
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