This time, Nan Xian smashed the bowl on the ground.

The rich soup spilled all over the floor, leaving dark brown stains on the carpet. Ding He looked up in surprise and saw her holding chopsticks with a look of astonishment on her face. She couldn't help but panic and hurriedly got up, forgetting about her meal.

"Sis, what happened?"

Nan Xian seemed not to hear her words, remaining frozen in place like a statue, her eyes flashing with complex emotions.

After a long while, she finally spoke, her voice hoarse: "Mingke, what did you just say?"

There was an eerie silence in the headphones, followed by a woman's voice accompanied by the wheezing sound of an old, worn-out bellows:

"Nan Xian—" she said in a strange accent, like a foreigner who had just learned to speak Mandarin, "Do you want to save her?"

Nan Xian's back tensed instantly, like a taut string, and even the strands of her hair trembled.

"Who are you?" she managed to squeeze out the three words from her throat.

She chuckled, her voice high-pitched and unpleasant: "Don't be nervous—of course you know who I am, you know me better than anyone, right?"

As soon as she finished speaking, Nan Xian felt as if a bucket of ice water had been poured over her head, and she felt as if she had fallen into an ice cellar.

But at the same time, she couldn't help but feel a little relieved—in all those previous dreams, the black snake's target had always been her.

As long as the other party has something to gain from you, you still have a way to control them.

"...Black Serpent, it's you." She took a few deep breaths to calm her racing heart. "What do you want?"

The black snake chuckled sweetly upon hearing this, then slowly said, "Of course I want you—your skin, your body, and—your fortune. Give me all of these, and I'll spare your family. How about it?"

Skin, body, and destiny?

Isn't this just an attempt to replace me?

Nan Xian couldn't help but laugh in exasperation, "Are you so sure I'd be willing to sacrifice myself?"

"Of course," the black snake said decisively. "What have you thought about it? Do you want to make this deal with me?"

Nan Xian lowered her eyes, pondered for a moment, and said, "If you let Yao Mingke go, I'll agree to meet and talk."

Meeting in person was just a way to buy time, and besides, this was the Cloud Central Hospital, where not only Situ Ting was present, but also the hospital director, from whom she could seek help.

But after speaking, she didn't receive a response for a moment. Nan Xian frowned and was about to ask when she suddenly saw Ding He, who had been anxiously guarding her side, suddenly jerk as if she had been electrocuted. Her head drooped in front of her chest and then instantly lifted up again.

She suddenly opened her eyes, which abruptly turned a ghostly green, flashing an ominous light against the backlight.

She tilted her head, grinned, and two sounds came from her mouth simultaneously—

"OK--"

Nan Xian stared in astonishment into her eyes. Her heart pounded wildly with a sense of impending doom. She instinctively tried to run away, but her legs felt as heavy as lead and she couldn't lift them at all.

Ding He smiled and reached out to her, placing her hand on her shoulder. Her two fair and delicate hands seemed to weigh a ton, causing Nan Xian to involuntarily collapse to the ground.

"Ding He" leaned down and pressed down on her, a scarlet snake tongue slowly emerging from its mouth, flicking and wrapping around her hair.

Nan Xian stared wide-eyed in horror, opened her mouth, but couldn't make a sound.

The snake's tongue seemed to be surveying its territory, sweeping inch by inch across her jaw and cheek, finally landing on her lips.

Nan Xian felt both fear and strangeness. She pursed her lips tightly, trying to turn her face away, but her chin was forcefully pinched.

In the nick of time, a sudden inspiration struck Nan Xian. Her eyes lit up, and she let out a loud shout with all her might—

"Earthly fire reflects the moon, all spirits return to their divine form, break!"