Chapter 64 The Giant Python
Cheng Ying couldn't believe that Da Huang was dead, nor could she believe that Long Bu Xi would be so heartless as to abandon her and disregard her life or death.
She looked up and saw that after Long Buxi went up to the cave entrance, the cave became quiet.
It was already dark outside. A heavy rain had fallen during the day, but the night sky was filled with countless stars, illuminating the entire night.
The starry sky is beautiful, but the surrounding environment is terrible.
Cheng Ying heard wolf howls and bear roars coming from the mountains and forests at night. The two bears seemed to be circling nearby, looking for prey.
To make matters worse, she heard rustling sounds coming from inside the cave, whether from insects or snakes, approaching her.
Cheng Ying was not the kind of person who accepted her fate. In her previous life, she was imprisoned by Wei Muchen for many years, but she always seized the opportunity to escape or fight back against Wei Muchen, never bowing down to him.
Now that she has been given a second chance at life, she will never bow down to Long Buxi.
She gripped the military dagger tightly, listening warily to the sounds coming from inside the cave.
The torches that Long Buxi brought had long since gone out, and the cave was plunged into darkness again. The only sounds inside were the dripping of water from somewhere, the crawling of insects, and her breathing.
Cheng Ying tensed up, waiting for those things to get closer.
Time ticked by, but no poisonous insects or snakes appeared before her. Some insects approached within two meters of her, then quickly scurried away, as if they had seen something terrifying. Cheng Ying paused, then saw the sachet she had angrily knocked from Long Buxi's hand, now lying in a small, uneven rocky hole in the cave. Inside the open sachet, some dried herbs and hair were visible—it looked like an ordinary thing. She wondered what the insects were afraid of.
Cheng Ying's expression was complicated. Long Buxi had lied to her many times, but this sachet was indeed as he said, capable of repelling snakes and insects.
With this sachet, she should be safe from snakes and insects while she stays in this cave.
Her biggest danger right now is that her wound is infected and she has a fever. If she doesn't receive timely treatment, she will either die from the fever or from a series of complications caused by the infection.
Cheng Ying certainly didn't want to die; she wanted to live a good life.
She had finally been reborn, starting a life completely different from her previous one, able to do what she wanted and live the life she wanted. How could she be willing to die in this remote mountain cave?
But now that she has broken her arms and legs, she cannot climb up the cave on her own. As Long Buxi said, a heavy rain has long since washed away all traces of her.
Even if the branch chief saw that she hadn't returned on time and came looking for her with his men, her location was far too far from the path.
She ran through at least two large pine forests with Da Huang before she fell here. They might not be able to find her.
She was unwilling to agree to Long Buxi's request to marry, mainly because it was too sudden.
Although Long Buxi is good-looking and treats her well, he lies a lot, is a Miao, and is from Pucang Village. If she agrees to marry him, she will have to stay in Pucang Village for the rest of her life, just like Ren Qing, raise children in the village, rarely leave the village, and stay in the deep mountains for the rest of her life.
That kind of life was not what she wanted.
The life she wanted was to do what she wanted to do and live the life she wanted to live.
If there is a man who truly loves her, respects her enough, doesn't stop her from doing what she wants, and is willing to be her live-in son-in-law, she can get married.
No, she's fine living alone.
Long Buxi clearly cannot do these things.
Cheng Ying was unwilling to compromise with Long Buxi, nor was she willing to die, so she could only place her hopes on the branch director.
In that case, she would have to endure at least two more days in this cave, and she didn't know if she could make it through those two days.
Thinking this, Cheng Ying felt her head spinning again. Although she was wearing clothes, the high fever made her feel both hot and cold, and she felt extremely uncomfortable. She unconsciously fell asleep again.
When she woke up again, she heard strange noises.
It sounded like something was crushing some weeds and trees, making a loud crackling sound as dry leaves snapped, accompanied by a rustling noise.
Cheng Ying opened her eyes alertly. It was still pitch black in front of her, and the cave entrance was also dark. Only a few stars remained hanging in the sky, proving that it was still night.
Cheng Yingfei glanced at her slightly damaged watch on her left wrist. The time was around 3 a.m. She had fainted around 9 p.m., meaning she had been unconscious for a full six hours.
During those six hours, Long Buxi did not reappear, nor did he care whether she lived or died, leaving her to fend for herself in the cave.
This man is incredibly ruthless, completely unlike his seemingly gentle and innocent appearance.
As Cheng Ying was thinking this, the commotion outside the cave grew louder and louder, and a fishy stench came from outside, accompanied by a slight hissing sound.
Cheng Ying's eyelids twitched, and she had a bad feeling. She quickly gripped the dagger in her hand, thought for a moment, and then took the Long Buxi sachet that was still in the corner to her broken left hand, staring nervously at the cave entrance.
Soon, a black and white scaly python with a waist as thick as a water bucket appeared at the entrance of the cave.
It slid down the cave entrance with a rustling sound, but found another creature inside. It immediately arched its body, opened its golden vertical pupils, flicked its tongue, and slowly brought its huge snake head closer to Cheng Ying.
Cheng Ying's hair stood on end; she had never expected such a large python to appear here.
No wonder the bottom of this cave is less than five meters wide, unlike common caves which have extensions or other exits. This small space is where this giant python's den is!
Cheng Ying's heart began to pound uncontrollably, her whole body tensed, and her right hand unconsciously gripped the military dagger tightly, filled with inexplicable fear.
She forced herself to calm down, slowed her breathing, and tried not to do anything that would provoke the giant python in front of her, while thinking about how to escape from its jaws.
She didn't move, and the giant python wasn't in a hurry to eat her either. It just stared at her with its cold, serpentine eyes.
A human and a snake stared at each other with wide eyes, their expressions unsettling.
They seemed to be observing each other, or perhaps they were competing and confronting each other.
The air was filled with the damp smell of the cave, the stench of the python, and the strong smell of blood emanating from Cheng Ying.
In such a suffocating atmosphere, Cheng Ying's hand gripping the military dagger was sweating profusely.
If she were uninjured and completely unharmed, she could still fight and struggle against such a python and have a chance to survive.
But now, she has broken her arms and legs, suffered a head injury, lost too much blood, has a high fever, and is weak all over. She doesn't even have the strength to crawl, let alone escape.
Encountering such a python meant certain death for her.
Even so, Cheng Ying was determined to fight to the death. She would never let fate dictate her life. Even if she were to die, she would die a glorious death!
She gripped the military dagger tightly, enduring the pain of her broken bones, and threw the sachet that Long Buxi had given her onto the python's head. Taking advantage of the moment when the python closed its eyes, she gathered all her strength, endured the excruciating pain of her broken bones, jumped up, and plunged the dagger in her hand fiercely into the seven-inch spot on the python's head!
However, she overestimated her strength when she was sick and underestimated the hardness of the python's scales. The military dagger only penetrated the python's seven-inch mark, a mere three centimeters. Not only did it fail to cause fatal damage to the python, it also angered it.
It let out a strange cry, and with a flick of its thick tail, it flung Cheng Ying against the cave wall three meters away, making a loud thud that sent dirt and pebbles tumbling down.
Cheng Ying was so dizzy from the impact that she spat out a mouthful of blood and fell heavily to the ground from the wall, her whole body aching as if it were about to fall apart.
Before she could recover, the python used its thick tail to coil around her, wrapping her up from head to toe, trying to strangle her with its body.
Cheng Ying was so tightly wrapped up that she could hardly breathe and couldn't move. She wanted to struggle, but she had no strength at all.
Gradually, she was strangled until her face turned purple and her fingers turned white. Just as she was about to be strangled to death by the python, she saw Long Buxi's tall and slender figure jump down from the cave entrance through a sliver of flesh exposed by the python's body.
Long Buxi's sudden appearance startled the python, causing it to loosen its grip on Cheng Ying's tail slightly. Cheng Ying immediately felt her breathing become much easier and quickly took a few breaths.
"Cheng Ying, do you want to live?" Ignoring the giant python's wary gaze and its gradually opening, blood-red maw, Long Buxi stood opposite Cheng Ying and asked her coldly.
Cheng Ying peered at Long Buxi through the crack with difficulty. His expression was indifferent, but his narrow eyes held an uncontrollable excitement—the kind of thrill one gets when you've been eyeing your prey for a long time and it's about to fall into your mouth.
He looked as dangerous as a python coiled around Cheng Ying, and Cheng Ying instinctively wanted to refuse.
But if she really refused Long Buxi, she would really die in the mouth of this python.
She didn't want to die; she wanted to live a good life and get out of there. If she died, her mother and sister would cry themselves to death, and she didn't want her mother to bury her child.
Cheng Ying closed her eyes, her mind in turmoil, before finally opening them and saying with difficulty, "I can grant your request, but you must also grant mine. Otherwise, I... I would rather die here."
"What are your requirements?" Long Buxi's dark eyes turned slightly cold, and a strange smile appeared on his face.
When he smiled, his narrow eyebrows, high nose bridge, and pale lips all appeared extremely beautiful, like a fiery red spider lily blooming in the mountains, so beautiful and dazzling that even knowing he was dangerous, people would be willing to risk their lives to get close to him, pluck him, and possess him.
Cheng Ying's hair was disheveled, her cheeks were purple from the python's constriction, and a trace of blood clung to the corner of her mouth. Yet, her mind remained clear, and her face showed signs of near death. With great effort, she said, "I can marry you, but I won't live with you in Pucang Village for long. I'll take you as my live-in son-in-law. After the marriage, you can live in my house or not. You can't force me to do anything, nor can you stop me from doing what I want to do. We'll have a walking marriage, each living in our own homes, only together for intimate moments. If you don't agree, if you don't accept my conditions, I... I'd rather die."
This is the most favorable condition she can think of right now.
Her parents have always wanted her to get married. Whether she likes it or not, she will be pressured by her parents to go on blind dates and get married sooner or later. Since that's the case, she might as well choose the outstanding-looking Long Buxi in front of her.
Although Long Buxi looks sinister, crazy, and a habitual liar, and acts strangely, he has an undeniably handsome appearance.
Marrying him, considering his face that's even more beautiful than a woman's, isn't a bad deal for her.
She was in grave danger. Although she didn't know why Long Buxi was still here, she really didn't want to die. So she could only offer these conditions that were favorable to her, gambling on whether Long Buxi would be willing to compromise even a little for her.
If he's unwilling to compromise, then it proves he's a cold-hearted bastard. No matter how handsome a man like that is, she won't want him!
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