The screams woke everyone up. Jack and Grace bumped their heads together, and the pain made them both cry out at the same time.

The boys were thrown into chaos, dazed for quite a while before they finally saw the still-screaming officer.

Those heads that had appeared one after another finally lost patience. Failing to lure them, the manipulator behind the scenes revealed its true form: a gigantic snake head, suspended in midair two or three zhang high, with two lantern-sized yellow eyes flickering with a cold light.

This time, there were no Xuanfu soldiers to take the lead. The snake demon seemed to know that this was a group of humans with little fighting power, so it slowly lowered itself, sizing them up one by one.

The young officer finally stopped screaming—this was the third time he had fainted in less than a day.

The boys from Wild Forest Town had tried to escape twice before, but this time, under the direct gaze of the snake demon, their legs seemed frozen; they couldn’t move at all, forced to stand obediently in place, their minds numb with terror.

The snake demon slithered around the boys, stopping when its head and tail nearly met, encircling them with its body. Then it continued to stare at the humans, flicking its long tongue at each of them, as if searching for something.

The boys could finally speak. Bruce Smith was the first to think of a possibility, and said in a trembling voice, “It ate its fill during the day, and now it’s circling us, saving us for breakfast.”

This scene terrified everyone. Lance, who was a bit chubbier than the others, was especially scared when he heard this. He pressed tightly against Eric, “What should we do? Maybe we should just hand over your bay horse.”

Surprisingly, the snake demon wasn’t interested in the larger prey. The bay horse was left outside the circle. It wandered a bit farther away, sniffing around for grass, not abandoning its master, but also not thinking of saving him.

Eric swallowed hard, hid his longsword behind his back, and whispered, “Wait for the right moment—if you can run, run.”

Looking at the snake’s body, taller than themselves in the darkness, the boys couldn’t figure out how they’d ever get a chance to escape.

“It’s taking prisoners,” Jack suddenly suggested.

The snake demon’s huge head gradually drooped, until it was only a few feet from the ground, its gaze level with the boys, hissing as if issuing some kind of command.

Jack took a step forward. The boys nervously huddled together, but also felt a surge of admiration.

“Me.” Jack met the snake demon’s enormous round eyes, trying hard not to blink, pointed at himself, then at the fainted officer not far away. “Wake him up, and then we’ll go with you.”

The snake demon blinked, as if trying to understand the tiny human’s words, then nodded—it actually understood.

Lance grabbed Eric’s arm. “What does Jack mean? Go with it? Go where?”

Eric shook off Lance’s hand, gave his companions a slight wink, signaling them not to be afraid—Jack had a plan.

Jack slowly walked toward the officer.

The officer had fainted near the middle of the snake demon’s body. With his back to the snake’s head, Jack knelt down and pushed him hard.

The officer slowly opened his eyes, first looking at Jack in confusion, then noticing the huge, slimy snake body beside him. He shot upright, mouth wide open, about to scream again.

Jack quickly covered the officer’s mouth. “Don’t scream. What’s the point?”

The officer’s eyes were wide and round. He managed a nod.

“Are you calm now?”

The officer nodded again.

“Can you stand up?”

The officer nodded once more.

Jack removed his hand from the officer’s mouth and, in the same motion, stuffed a stack of talisman papers into his hand.

The officer froze, then understood Jack’s intention. He finally got his protective talismans back, but didn’t have the courage to use them. “My legs…”

Jack helped the officer to his feet, grabbed his shoulders and shook him twice. “Feeling better? Can you walk?”

The officer nodded at first, then shook his head, not even daring to glance at the snake demon.

Jack really wanted to give the officer a good beating like Eric would. A dignified member of the Xuanfu Army—so strict and cold with prisoners, but when it came time to step up, he was as timid as a lamb, even worse than the most cowardly boy in Wild Forest Town. Grace was a girl, and she wasn’t this useless.

The snake demon’s head moved over, stopping a few feet away to observe the two humans. The officer nearly collapsed in fear again, but Jack caught him and did his best to stand in front, blocking the snake demon’s view of the talismans.

“If you can’t move, I’ll just have to give you to it for a meal,” Jack said, secretly gripping his dagger in his right hand. With no way out, he was actually less afraid—he wasn’t about to just sit and wait for death.

The officer, after extreme terror, finally regained some composure. “I can move now, don’t—don’t give me to it.”

Jack took a step forward, facing the snake head that towered over him, and shouted, “Where are we going? Are we leaving now?”

The snake head slowly rose, stopping at a height of over a zhang, looking down at the tiny humans. In its lantern-like yellow eyes, a strange green light flashed from left to right and quickly disappeared. Then, it opened its mouth, revealing long, sharp fangs and an unfathomable black abyss.

“What’s it doing? Isn’t it supposed to be taking prisoners?” Jack asked in confusion.