Chapter 65 Chapter 2 "Finally I found you..."
Because the circus boss was pushing them so hard, the workers started setting up the stage overnight as soon as they arrived.
Diamond Plaza was the only spacious place in this tiny town. It was evening, and people were square dancing, playing chess, taking their children to enjoy the cool air, and the town's residents were all looking at the busy workers in curiosity, watching how they moved steel beams out of the containers one by one and how they pieced together the prototype of the stage bit by bit.
As soon as the frame of the platform was set up, some workers began to lay wooden boards, while others skillfully pulled up the bright red tarpaulin.
With the hum of the air pump, the huge inflatable arch slowly stood up, and the tents connected to it were also opened and flattened one by one by the workers.
As a result, the thick curtain blocked people's vision, but this made them even more curious about what was inside, and they kept asking questions.
The workers could only repeat the same thing over and over again: You can see it tomorrow, you can see it tomorrow.
By the time the rough arrangements were completed, it was already very late. The townspeople who had gathered around to watch the excitement had quietly dispersed, leaving only the workers squatting on the ground wolfing down their boxed lunches.
…
"call…"
“Huff…”
There was no light in the dark container. Shengqing maintained the same posture the entire night, curled up motionless in the corner of the cage.
He had lost his sense of time. In his mind, the car had just stopped, but how come it was already light outside?
It was hot in the middle of summer, and the food that had been lying in the corner had gone bad and sour after a night.
At noon, three workers dragged the iron cage all the way to another container. One of them, with a wooden face, raised the faucet and began to wash Shengqing's body.
The other two turned their heads away, feeling a little reluctant.
Shengqing's upper body is too much like a human, except that his skin is several times whiter than that of a normal human. His facial features are the size of a palm, and his eyes are deep. He looks like a skinny teenager.
Someone outside started banging on the door again, asking them if they had washed it clean and asking them to be more careful.
After all, the performance was about to begin, and he couldn't afford to look half-hearted. So, halfway through the bath, the trainer in charge came to see how Shengqing was doing.
He was a big and strong man. Shengqing had suffered a lot at his hands, so when he saw him take out the whip, he shook reflexively.
Seeing him like this, the animal trainer seemed very proud, as if he finally had an outlet to vent the scolding and anger he had suffered from his boss before. He suddenly raised his leg and kicked Sheng Qing.
Shengqing had no legs, and his center of gravity was unstable for a moment, so he could only fall to the ground and roll around. He looked extremely embarrassed, but he had long been used to it and didn't say a word.
Seeing him like this, the trainer's tightly frown relaxed and he suddenly laughed. He looked down at the "monster" with a human body and a snake tail on the ground, and his tone was unusually sympathetic.
He said, "You will be free soon."
He said that the boss had actually wanted to do something else for a long time and was thinking of selling the circus, including Shengqing. The people who came to see him a few days ago were all buyers.
It was only because he happened to be ill at the time and was in extremely bad condition that no one was willing to buy it. Even though the price had been reduced very low, no one dared to take it over.
Other animals in the circus were easier to sell, whether they were sold to other small circuses or to individuals, or at worst, they could be sold to those black meat shops, but Sheng Qing was too special, and no butcher dared to accept such a snake man.
So this is indeed his last game.
Considering that he is in a very bad condition now and cannot perform like before, Shengqing only needs to be an exhibit for people to appreciate.
"Speaking of this, you should thank me. I fought for this for you."
The trainer squatted down and spoke. The strong smell of cigarettes mixed with his breath made Sheng Qing look away.
"I know you can talk, talk!!"
Because of some past experiences, Sheng Qing couldn't help trembling when he heard the trainer's loud voice, but he still remained silent like a mute.
The trainer became even angrier as he thought he was being ignored by a beast. He stood up and tried to get the whip, but the phone in his pocket suddenly rang.
He took out his cell phone irritably, clicked his tongue, and when the call was connected his tone suddenly turned into one of flattery.
"Hey, boss, it's me. Yeah, I've checked it out. Don't worry, he's not dead yet. He'll definitely make it through tonight... Okay... Okay? You really can't reduce my salary anymore. I know the environment is not good right now, but I... I..."
The trainer's footsteps were getting farther and farther away, and the two remaining workers didn't know what to do for a moment.
Since Shengqing was already clean, he followed the next steps, stopped flushing, picked out a cheap sequined performance costume from a pile of wrinkled clothes and threw it on him.
Shengqing could now hear the increasingly noisy sounds outside, the expectant laughter of children, and the excited screams of someone unknown.
"The Royal Horse Troupe—"
A child about ten years old was queuing with her parents. While the adults were buying tickets, she looked up at the banner above the arch and read the words word by word.
The adult holding her hand was paying for the ticket. When the mother heard what the girl said, she took the time to touch the girl's head and praised her for being so smart. The girl was obviously happier.
After buying the tickets, the family of three followed the crowd into the circus tent.
The first feeling after entering is the overwhelming red. The red light reflected by the red curtain, coupled with the constantly shaking laser lights on the ceiling and the deafening music, makes you feel like you have entered another world.
The staff on stage were holding microphones and delivering their opening remarks, while animals were waiting to take the stage one by one. The most eye-catching among them were the lions and tigers that kept circling in their cages...
The brave children went over to take a look out of curiosity, but the terrifying beast in the cage moved just a little, and they screamed in fright, took several steps back and fell to the ground. The adults around them laughed at this.
The host was naturally happy to see such a lively atmosphere. He turned up the volume of the microphone and began to introduce the story of the "reincarnation of the snake spirit" on the small banner outside.
After telling the story, he asked everyone if they wanted to see it. After receiving a unanimous response, he said that he was in a small room under the stage, but if you wanted to see him, you had to spend an extra ten dollars to go in and watch for a few minutes.
The ticket price is 30 yuan, and spending another 10 yuan is not a lot. Although many people complained that they were not told to pay extra money when they came in, many people still paid extra money.
The little girl's parents spent extra money.
After all, before my own child came in, I was particularly interested in the so-called "reincarnation of a snake spirit" printed on the billboard outside. Not to mention that this kind of big circus can only be seen once a year, so I just bought it.
The little girl, with twin ponytails, eagerly handed her extra ticket to the uncle at the door for inspection. Her parents were worried that their daughter might be frightened, so they told her to come out immediately if she was scared.
The girl nodded.
He reached out, pulled open the curtain and entered the small room.
In this temporarily separated small room, there was indeed a young man with half human body and half snake tail lying, with ink-black hair draped over his shoulders, a face so beautiful that it was difficult to tell whether it was male or female, and long eyelashes drooping.
The upper body was no different from that of a human boy, but the skin was an unnatural paleness. Below the waist, there were no human legs, but a long, thick snake tail, with white scales reflecting a cold silver light under the light.
Probably because they were afraid that the snake man would hurt the audience, his neck and both hands were tied tightly with iron chains.
The audience standing in front of the little girl and observing was a little boy about eight or nine years old.
He must have been very curious about the snake man and wanted to know whether Shengqing was a real person or a fake, so he reached out and pulled the hair of the "snake man boy" and poked his face. Seeing that he did not resist, his actions became more and more excessive.
The little girl saw this and spoke up to stop him, "You can't do this...it will hurt him..."
The little boy who was stopped must have been used to being a boss at home. When he was accused, he just made a face and said, "Humph, it's none of your business. I spent the money!"
"you!"
The little girl's parents, who were following behind slowly, heard the noise inside and immediately stepped forward to protect their daughter.
Just as the conflict was about to escalate further, an old man's voice was heard outside calling his grandson, and at the same time, the staff guarding the exit also shouted that the time was up.
You can only watch for 5 minutes for 10 yuan.
During the five minutes, the little girl did not act naughty like the previous children. She just squatted in front of Shengqing and stared at Shengqing's face for a while.
"He's injured and must be in pain. Why did the uncle just say he was sleeping?" The little girl with twin pigtails looked up and asked innocently, "Why don't they take him to the doctor?"
Faced with their daughter's question, the couple who came from other places looked at each other.
After all, they worked in other places and traveled around for several years. They had seen more than those who had never left the town in their lives. The moment they saw Shengqing, they vaguely guessed something in their hearts, but they were just ordinary people and could not do anything. They could only make a few random remarks and left with their little daughter when the time came.
At this moment, the next audience member also walked in...
"Oh my, it really is a snake man!!"
…
…
Because of the big circus that hasn’t been there for many years, the small place of Yongxing is finally bustling with activity.
Many audience members who came out of the huge red tent said that the performances inside were particularly good. They said that there were not only lions and tigers going through fire rings, but also bears performing acrobatics and snake spirits with long tails.
Except for the snake man at the back, which cannot be photographed, taking photos with other animals is only fifteen yuan per person.
Also help with developing photos!
The news quickly spread throughout the town like the wind, and more and more people lined up to buy tickets. However, starting from the next day, the small room specially set aside for visiting the "snake spirit" was cancelled.
Many audiences who came to the circus were disappointed. They asked about the whereabouts of the "snake man" in the circus, but were still given vague answers.
No one knew that on the night after the first day of performance, Shengqing's illness became more and more serious, and a faint foul odor emanated from his body.
So, in the dead of night one morning, Sheng Qing, who had made a lot of money for the circus in the past few years, was put into a snakeskin sack by two strong men and thrown into the town's garbage dump like a piece of discarded garbage.
They all thought Shengqing would die,
Shengqing himself also thinks so.
By then he had no strength left and lay motionless in the sack, closing his eyes and waiting for the bitter smell of death on his body to consume him bit by bit.
As time went by, more and more people came to throw away garbage. Among them was a bag of kitchen waste. The garbage seeped into the sack through the broken plastic bag, attracting a lot of buzzing mosquitoes.
Shengqing remained motionless.
A long, long time later, when Shengqing recalled this moment again, he still couldn't remember when the footsteps appeared.
I just remember that it should have been very late?
Drowsy in his sack, he first heard a burst of hurried footsteps and panting, as if someone was running. Then the footsteps got closer and closer, finally stopping in front of three trash bins lined up side by side...
After a while, the heavy garbage covering his body loosened a little bit, the opening of the snakeskin bag was torn open from the outside, and fresh and hot air poured in.
At this time, Shengqing was still slow.
His consciousness was like a chaotic paste, and he instinctively curled up his body. He slowly raised his head when he felt the unique warmth of a human palm.
Shengqing was in a trance at that time, and could only see a gray figure and a flesh-colored face like a mosaic.
The figure's mouth opened and closed quickly, but the sound seemed to come through thick cotton, buzzing and inaudible. What was he saying?
Before his consciousness completely faded, the thing Shengqing heard most clearly was a heavy sigh.
"well……"
"Finally I found you..."
*
The midsummer night was still filled with the heat of the day. The man standing in front of the trash can looked like he had just undergone strenuous exercise. His hair was disheveled, sweat was dripping from his forehead, and a large area of his clothes on his back was wet.
“It’s actually true…”
“It’s actually here…”
He reached out and pushed aside the layers of garbage, sinking almost half his body into the stinking trash can. He completely ignored the filth staining the snakeskin bag and carefully carried the "boy" out.
After carrying the boy out, his eyes were inevitably drawn to the thick, long snake tail below the boy's waist. The scales, which should have been as white as snow and shimmered like pearls, now had several very conspicuous wounds.
Several scales had fallen off the base of the tail, seemingly from natural loss, more like they had been roughly ripped off. Without the scales to hide the scarlet flesh, streaks of blood mingled with the dirty water from the garbage can, leaving a pang of pain in the heart.
Although he was already 90% sure that it was him, the man still asked the strange voice for a final confirmation in his mind:
[That's him, right?]
An electronic beep answered.
[Yes, according to the original plot, the target of the mission will die in the early hours of tomorrow night, but luckily we arrived in time~]
Yan Hao was wearing an expensive black suit and shiny leather shoes. He looked like a successful elite, totally out of place in this run-down, backward and gray town.
In fact, he is indeed a businessman.
"You told me to come and save him, but why didn't you give me the location earlier? Why did you have to do it now? If I had come any later, he would have died."
"There's nothing we can do about this. There are so few anchor points for saving someone." The electronic voice immediately explained dryly, "You read the script yourself; it's just a short line..."
【……】
Yes, in such a thick story book, what the protagonist saw and heard along the way was recorded, and this snake man named Shengqing was just a fleeting background board in the protagonist's story.
The first time he appeared was in a performance that the protagonist occasionally watched, and the second time he appeared was as a casual topic of conversation between the protagonist and his lover during a date.
The system introduction revealed even less information about Sheng Qing. It simply stated that he accidentally fell into another world as an egg, was trafficked and exploited by the humans there, and ultimately died in a stinking garbage dump before reaching adulthood.
As for Shengqing's personality, his preferences, age, and all his personal information are a row of question marks.
There was even a blurry photo of Shengqing in full snake form, sleeping coiled in the grass.
——A white snake as thick as a wrist curled itself into a round ball, with its little head resting on top. From a distance, it looked like a fluffy ball of wool.
Before meeting Sheng Qing in person, Yan Hao had always been skeptical about everything the electronic voice said. Even when he was told that the person he was about to rescue was a tragic half-human, half-snake creature, he did not feel deeply touched. It was like he had just listened to a fantasy story.
Until he arrived in this town he had never heard of, and witnessed with his own eyes a living being thrown into a trash can like garbage. He saw the "boy" curled up in a stained, foul-smelling sack, his body so thin that it seemed a gust of wind could sweep it away, his breathing intermittent, so weak that it was almost non-existent...
Only at this moment did Yan Hao finally believe that everything was true, that fantasy story was real, and the few words mentioned briefly in it were his entire life.
My heart felt like it was hit by a sledgehammer, and the heartache and anger intertwined and surged, all blocked in my throat.
Yan Hao carefully carried the man out, gently brushed away the messy hair on the boy's face with his slender fingers, and carefully wiped off the oil on his face with a handkerchief.
To be honest, he is very handsome.
With black hair, snow-white skin, and bright red lips, even if there are a few stains on her face, she looks like an angel who has accidentally fallen into the world.
The faintly visible scales on both sides of his cheeks not only do not make him look scary, but instead add a mysterious and unique charm to him.
The "boy" had his eyes tightly shut, his body visibly and abnormally hot. According to the voice claiming to be the system, his normal body temperature should be ice-cold, but now, he was infected with the virus, and the situation was at its most serious.
It's just two or three hours.
The system said that there were few plot anchor points in this mission, and they were extremely unlucky to be randomly transferred to the most time-sensitive node, and the location was only given a rough direction.
No matter how small this town is, it is still a town. He ran to several garbage recycling outlets. At first, he deliberately went to the garbage station near the square, but ended up at the farthest recycling outlet.
【Take him back now.】
The system showed the real body of the light ball, floating around Shengqing, and from time to time it stretched out its virtual little round hand to "touch" Shengqing's body temperature.
He still has a fever.
[The antidote is currently being produced——]
Yan Hao hummed, took off his crisp black suit jacket, and gently covered the frail body of the "boy".
This alley was too narrow for the car to drive in, so he parked the car on another street. It only took a few minutes to walk there, not far away.
Yan Hao leaned over and picked up Sheng Qing like a child. The moment he held him, his heart suddenly tightened. How could he have become so thin?
Through that nearly transparent, pitifully thin skin, he could even clearly see the outline of Sheng Qing's bony bones. Holding him, Yan Hao felt almost weightless, as if holding a piece of thin paper that could be blown away by the wind at any moment.
The long snake's tail hung limply and lifelessly. Yan Hao was worried that the rough ground would scratch the fragile scales, so he patiently supported it with his arms and guided it.
Perhaps it felt Yan Hao's kindness, after several attempts, the snow-white snake's tail slowly followed Yan Hao's guidance and climbed up Yan Hao's waist softly.
——Even the snake's innate instinct to coil around has become so weak, which shows that he is extremely weak.
Thinking of this, Yan Hao didn't dare to delay and quickly walked towards the car.
The small town is different from the big city. Generally, the lights in every household are completely darkened at around 8 or 9 o'clock, which just happened to cover the man and the "monster" he was holding.
A few minutes later, the man in the car followed the system's prompts and instructions, prepared the medicine in an orderly manner, expelled the air from the tube, inhaled the medicine, and slowly inserted the needle into the vein on Shengqing's wrist.
After the transparent potion was slowly applied, Yan Hao realized that he had unknowingly formed a layer of sweat on his back.
Because it takes time for the drug to take effect, and one dose is obviously not enough, the second and third doses must be given at appropriate times based on the patient's response.
Yan Hao didn't sleep the whole night.
After the first injection of the potion, he drove to the nearest city with Shengqing.
Outside the car window, the night was as dark as ink, the road in the town was bumpy, and the car body shook violently from time to time, and Yan Hao's heart was also hanging in the air.
He frequently looked back to check the snake man's reaction, worried that he would feel uncomfortable. Sheng Qing, on the other hand, seemed to have long been accustomed to such bumps, and his long eyelashes covered his eyelids softly.
Until the car stopped, until Yan Hao carried the tightly wrapped snake boy into the prepared suite, he gently changed him into clean clothes, applied medicine to the wound on his tail, and covered him with a quilt.
During the entire process, Shengqing just lay there motionless. Even when the wound was irritated when the medicine was applied, he just shuddered slightly and did not resist at all.
At three and five in the morning, Yan Hao gave Shengqing two doses of medicine based on his body temperature.
Outside the window, dawn was gradually breaking, and the sun shone through the gaps in the curtains, casting a few rays of light. Only then did Shengqing's temperature slowly drop.
Yan Hao finally had time to turn on his phone, which had been off all day. As soon as the screen lit up, a barrage of notifications began to chime in, and work tasks flooded in.
He quickly replied to the message, his slender fingers tapping on the screen rapidly, and from time to time he looked up at Shengqing who was lying on the bed with his eyes closed and resting.
Yan Hao said that he was a businessman, but considering his family background, this statement was indeed a bit modest.
If it weren't for the mechanical sound that appeared out of nowhere, he might never have set foot in such a small place in his life.
For example, the only star-rated hotel in Yongxing City that everyone envied was just a temporary place to stay with simple conditions in his eyes.
Recalling the moment when he was approached by something claiming to be a system, Yan Hao still felt as if he was dreaming.
The strange voice suddenly sounded in his mind, asking him if he was willing to save another person. At that time, he had just finished a long meeting and was rubbing his brow tiredly. He subconsciously thought that he had been working too long and was in a trance and had hallucinations.
After a long time, the voice still did not disappear and sent him a novel.
The protagonist in the film is an acquaintance of his, and he is a supporting role who has helped the protagonist.
The system said that there was a background person who was about to die, and asked him to save him quickly! Otherwise he would die!
Please save him...
[Something went wrong here. I haven't found a suitable savior, and it's too late to find a new one...]
Hearing the voice urgently asking him to save people, Yan Hao sat at his desk, rubbed his eyebrows, and thought to himself that he had to make an appointment with a psychologist quickly, but he agreed with his mouth for some unknown reason.
[Okay, I'll go take a look.]
Then, he followed the vague clues of the location and started this absurd and bizarre rescue journey, which kept him busy for a whole day.
After sending his assistant his current location, the latter replied with several messages almost immediately.
[Great! I finally got in touch with you. You suddenly disappeared yesterday and didn't leave any messages. Your husband called several times to ask about you...]
[Yongxing? Where is this?]
[Mr. Yan, why did you go there suddenly? ]
【……】
Not only was the assistant surprised, but Yan Hao himself found it unbelievable.
This is ridiculous. Driving nearly a thousand kilometers to a small town for no apparent reason and searching through countless trash cans to find a monster?
This is so unlike him.
After a whole day of long-distance travel and a whole night of careful care, Yan Hao felt his temples throbbing and his body was filled with fatigue like a tide.
He knew that he needed to rest urgently, but his consciousness was extremely clear and he couldn't relax. He was always worried about the fragile "monster".
Just at this moment, the eyelashes of the boy lying on the bed trembled slightly, and he... woke up.
Yan Hao's fatigue suddenly disappeared. He immediately leaned over and asked softly, "Are you hungry?"
.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
