Chapter 53: Roasting a Rat for Snake! Snake needs to attend literacy classes too! But...
The snake-man seemed startled by Pei Qing's sudden outburst. His tongue snapped out and retracted as if in response, and his sharp fangs on both sides reflexively emerged, coiling around him and baring his teeth.
Pei Qing took a deep breath, looked at the can that had been overturned by a tail, rubbed her forehead, and silently recited the "Song of Calmness" in her heart: Don't get angry, don't get angry, anger will make you sick and no one can take your place, don't get angry, don't get angry...
Pei Qing finally calmed herself down and began to squat down to clean up the mess. Sensing the oppressive atmosphere, the snake-man's face remained expressionless, but the tip of its tail silently tapped the ground slightly, dutifully reflecting its master's anxiety.
"Well, actually, it's not your fault, it's just..."
Pei Qing talked on and on for a while before suddenly realizing that the other person couldn't understand her at all. Fine, she'd just be more careful next time.
She went to get fresh water, filter it again, and boil the canned food again. After working busily for more than twenty minutes, she finally got to eat. After finishing her meal, Pei Qing sat on the ground, patting her belly with satisfaction, and tidied up her things, categorizing and arranging the food and other ingredients for later use.
As she packed her things, the snake-man slowly slithered to her side, stopping at a safe distance, and carefully placed a mutated rat near the heater.
Then it pointed its tail tip in mid-air at the heater, the canned food Pei Qing had finished eating, and the mutated rat on the ground, and then pointed to its own mouth.
Pei Qing watched the snake-man's open mouth and series of coordinated movements, pondering its earlier act of knocking over the can. So, perhaps, maybe, it meant it wanted to cook its food?
Is its intelligence really that high? It can understand such complex things? If so, their future communication will be much easier; they could even teach it to talk, and perhaps even find some other underground exits?
Pei Qing picked up the mutated rat from the ground. The snake-man did not stop her. Although its face remained expressionless, she inexplicably felt that the snake-man must be very anxious now.
She couldn't help but chuckle, shaking her head to banish the jumbled thoughts from her mind. She picked up the mutated rat and shook it, causing the snake-man's vertical pupils to sway from side to side.
“This can’t be put directly on it, this thing is very hot,” Pei Qing said, trying to slow down her speech and using the simplest words to form sentences, interspersed with various gestures.
"It'll burn. It'll be inedible if it's burned like that, understand?" She pointed at the heater for a moment, and then at the mutated rat next to it that had been roasted to a crisp.
"So we need to strip away these skins, these things."
As she spoke, she rummaged through the piles of scrap metal, finding some relatively sharp, thin, and clean-looking metal materials. She rinsed them briefly with filtered water, then heated them on the heater for a while as a form of sterilization, before clumsily peeling them.
The snake-man seemed to understand, but his gaze shifted back and forth as he followed her movements. His forked tongue would occasionally dart out. When Pei Qing nodded or shook her head, it would do the same. When Pei Qing spoke, it would open its mouth as well. Its forked tongue moved and darted through the air, but it could only make hissing sounds.
After painstakingly peeling off the skin and cutting off the tumor, Pei Qing found a large piece of metal, placed it on the heater, and began roasting the rat.
She took out another can, mixed the salted minced meat with filtered water, and poured the mixture evenly over the roasted mouse.
The taste... shouldn't be too bad, right? Pei Qing was a little unsure. To be precise, this should be considered her first time trying barbecue. She didn't expect it to be mutated rats, and the one tasting it was a snake. Just thinking about it made her feel sad.
She wiped away non-existent tears of bitterness, placed the roasted rat meat on another clean piece of metal, and beckoned the snake man over.
The snake-man stared intently at the plate of poorly presented roasted rat, behaving extremely obediently. He went wherever Pei Qing told him to. His intense gaze made Pei Qing feel like a five-star chef, and she unconsciously straightened her back, even though her skills could only ensure that the meat was cooked through.
Cough cough, it should be cooked by now, right?
If you're not familiar with them, just ignore it. Anyway, the snake-man shouldn't die from eating them if you're not familiar with them, since it's already eaten so many raw things...
Ugh, the thought of that pile of mutated rat corpses sent another chill down Pei Qing's spine.
She suppressed her urge to vomit again and carried the roasted rat to a pile of rocks about half her height. The snake-man followed closely behind her, watching it longingly.
Pei Qing didn't say anything; it just watched from the side, even though its mouth was watering, it didn't try to snatch the food.
"So obedient! It wasn't for nothing that I spent half a day teaching it while roasting the rat. I didn't expect it to actually understand a little. Not bad, not bad," Pei Qing nodded in satisfaction. "Come on, eat up, eat up, be careful it's hot... Hey! Don't take such big bites! It's very hot!"
Watching the snake-man's tongue twitch and keep moving despite the burn, yet he still tried to swallow large mouthfuls, Pei Qing held back for a while, but finally couldn't help but lower her head and burst out laughing. She squatted down, clutching her stomach, her shoulders shaking with laughter.
Pei Qing sat beside the snake-man and watched him eat. She sorted through the canned food again, estimating it would last her ten to fifteen days, but she couldn't wait that long. At most, she would have to leave in three days.
Feng Qi can't get in touch with her now, I wonder how worried he'll be. Sigh, what a mess this is.
The snake-man bent down and ate the roasted rat bite by bite, not stopping even though it was hot. If it weren't so hot, it would have swallowed it whole. It seemed quite satisfied with this novel food. As it ate happily, the tip of its tail twitched rhythmically, tapping the ground like a puppy wagging its tail, and its forked tongue flicked out gently from time to time.
Isn't this just a little snake? Pei Qian suddenly remembered a black dog that the welfare center had adopted many years ago. It was said to be an abandoned laboratory dog. At first, it was very afraid of people and would bark whenever someone approached, not letting anyone get close.
But she was stubborn and secretly fed the black dog for several days. Gradually, the black dog became familiar and friendly with her and was no longer afraid of strangers. Every time it saw her, it would wag its tail affectionately.
She remembered that she had even named the dog Big Black. If life had ended like in a fairy tale, it would have been wonderful.
Unfortunately, real life is not a fairy tale, and Big Black is not the protagonist. Reality is always absurd and full of irony and humor. On a night similar to when Big Black came, it was captured by the community security team on the grounds of endangering public order and sent to be destroyed.
No one stood up to stop her, including herself.
They were also homeless, but they had a small shelter from the rain, which was too small to even accommodate a dog.
Pei Qing hated the ending of the story.
After the snake-woman finished eating the roasted rat, her thoughts gradually returned to normal. During their brief time together, she discovered something.
The snake-man's arms seemed unable to lift, including when eating. He would use his tail if he could, and if he couldn't, he would simply lie face down with his upper body down.
Is it that it can't be used, or that people aren't used to using it? Pei Qing leans more towards the second possibility.
As she pondered, her hand unconsciously touched the delicate skin in front of her, pinching the beautiful, full muscles; the touch was wonderful.
After eating his fill, the snake-man lay lazily on the pile of stones, flicking the tip of his tail, but did not stop Pei Qing's rather offensive actions.
To be clear, she wasn't being indecent; she was just making a general assessment of the snake-man's physical condition. His muscles hadn't atrophied significantly, especially his waist and abdomen, which were very firm and supple.
The snake-person was modified, meaning it was a normal human before. It learns quickly and can think. It has spent many years in this research institute. If she gradually teaches it to regain human knowledge, will it be able to remember anything?
For example, the structure of the research institute and other underground passages.
The problem now is that she knows absolutely nothing about the snake-man's background, and memory stimulation is not very reliable. She decided to teach it to read, speak, and use simple tools to see if she could evoke anything.
Snake-humans learn quickly and are capable of thinking. In just a few hours of time with the two, it had already learned to eat cooked food and could roughly understand Pei Qing's words. She believed that it wouldn't be difficult for it to learn to speak before long.
Now, the most important thing is to give it a name and let it get used to that name, just like training a puppy, the first step is to get it used to its name.
As for the name, Pei Qing made a quick and easy decision in less than a second.
Let's call him Xiao Hei! I used to have a Da Hei, and they're both black, which is great. This name is perfect! It fits the situation perfectly; simple and easy-to-understand names are the best.
With the name chosen, Teacher Pei's teaching career officially begins!
"Little Black! Little Black, Little Black, Little Black—"
The first step is to repeatedly call your pet's name, allowing it to become ingrained in their instincts.
"Little Black! Over here, over here! Oh, you're so good! Carry this stone over there, and I'll roast a hamster for you later!"
"Little Black! Why are you eating junk food again! Didn't we say you weren't allowed to eat it? Your roasted rat snacks are canceled!"
The second step is to provide appropriate rewards and punishments. A clear system of rewards and punishments is conducive to motivating pets.
"Little Black! Come on, repeat after your sister, Black, drink Black—"
"Ho, ho—"
"Oh right! Have a roasted rat treat and take a break! I'll make you rat food soup tonight!"
The third step is to provide more encouragement and quickly begin literacy work!
Thanks to Pei Qing's persistent efforts, chasing after him every day to teach and feed him, Xiao Hei can now not only produce some simple notes but also understand some simple language. He no longer needs any physical assistance, and success is just around the corner!
During this time, Pei Qing was not idle either. After almost emptying the pile of scrap materials, she discovered a new passage that allowed her to reach the rocks in front of the cave without taking the waterway.
So she decisively built a simple little shelter; if she continued to sleep by the water, she would really get rheumatism.
As they spent more time together, Xiao Hei seemed to become increasingly clingy, following her every moment and constantly sticking the tip of its tail to its tentacles.
In the past few days, Pei Qing has also unlocked a brand new form, which is a bit strange, but really useful.
Previously, she could only release a small portion of her tentacles. However, while moving things again, Pei Qing suddenly discovered that her lower body could completely transform into tentacles, as if she had come into contact with some kind of restraint.
Not only does it perfectly replace walking, but it can also be hung anywhere you want, which is very convenient. Most importantly, you don't have to wear tattered pants anymore.
However, there is one downside: ever since she unlocked her new form, Xiao Hei has become even more attached to her.
A few days later, Pei Qing still hadn't made any progress, and Xiao Hei's literacy progress had also reached a bottleneck. Currently, he was at the stage where he could understand most languages and express simple sentences, and could only utter single words.
Pei Qing lay in her simple little nest, with Xiao Hei's big tail next to her. She placed her hand on it and tapped it intermittently.
Gradually, her tapping slowed down, and she slowly closed her eyes.
A pale blue spiritual energy had somehow appeared around the two of them, growing richer and more intense, intertwining around them, and Xiao Hei lowered his head.
Pei Qing's consciousness found itself in an unfamiliar place. She was acutely aware that she was dreaming, but she couldn't wake up. As the dream unfolded, the scene before her gradually became clearer.
She was sitting in a chair, seemingly in a hospital, surrounded by display shelves filled with medical products.
She looked at the operating system of the instrument she was clicking on, and then spoke uncontrollably, "General, your condition is very dangerous. You need to go to the capital planet for treatment as soon as possible."
The female voice was gentle and refined; this was not her voice.
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Author's note: [Go for it!][Go for it!][Go for it!] Here I am, my darlings!
The content about snakes referenced some sources and may not be entirely accurate. [Facepalm emoji][Facepalm emoji][Facepalm emoji]
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