Chapter 20: The Green Serpent and the White Serpent

The next moment... nothing happened. There was no explosion as he had imagined, no blinding light—only the Strange Codex swallowing the missile, and the mad, maniacal laughter of that lunatic god—"Hahahahahaha..."

That voice just now had belonged to the god himself. In the heat of the moment, Qi hadn't noticed. There was no time to berate the madman; he was already plummeting toward Earth at several times the speed of sound. The tremendous impact was like a meteor crashing down, gouging out a conical crater several dozen meters wide. Fortunately, the nearest building was still over ten meters away.

Qi glanced at his impromptu seat, Makasha Xiu, who now looked like nothing more than a dead rat. With the ordeal over, Qi slowly relaxed, letting his body return to its normal state. However, almost every part of him was injured, his muscles failing to respond as their strength was spent and connections frayed. Still, basic movement was just barely possible. He had exhausted all his spiritual energy, using it up to both power and heal his muscles. Without it, he couldn't have lasted this long—his current inner strength was indeed far superior to before.

He picked up the mangled corpse of the dead rat and removed the slightly damaged power level tester. He considered stripping off the battle suit, but the stench was so overwhelming that he gave up and tossed the rat directly into the Strange Codex instead. With a "poof," the dead rat was promptly spat back out.

"Stop throwing dead rats in here! They're not magic beast corpses. Do that again, and I'll spit it in your face next time," the god complained in disgust.

Qi shrugged, took off the battle suit, and threw it into the Codex, receiving ten energy points in return. Remembering something, he checked the status and saw that the missile had converted into five hundred energy points—a worthwhile gain at last.

The sound of sirens wailed as police cars arrived nearby. After all, half a mountainside had collapsed and a massive crater had appeared—by now, it was only logical for the authorities to show up. Dragging his weary body, Qi grabbed the dead rat, soared into the sky, and, after failing to find the boy with the shut-in look in the vicinity, simply tossed the dead rat into the ocean to destroy the evidence, then flew back to land on the Ayase household’s rooftop. The sun had already set, yet dusk lingered.

Qi sat in meditation to restore his spiritual energy and heal his body, all the while replaying the battle in his mind, weighing his successes and failures. In hindsight, he realized he had made many mistakes. The worst was remaining in a continuously explosive state throughout the fight—had he only unleashed fivefold power in bursts at critical moments, the strain on his body would have been far less than maintaining quadruple strength the whole time.

His adversary had been powerful and highly experienced. After some contemplation, the scenes from the battle became clear in his mind, even down to the smallest details. But he had little time for analysis before squads of soldiers began meticulous searches of the streets, probing every shadow and nearby house. Helicopters could be heard overhead, and one was already heading his way.

"Tch," Qi clicked his tongue and slipped in through Ayase’s window. She wasn't in her room—likely at dinner—so he closed the window and listened to the commotion outside. He hadn't expected things to escalate so dramatically that even the military would be mobilized. After a brief consideration, he decided to stop worrying about it.

He took out the damaged power level tester and fiddled with it for a while, but nothing happened. Perhaps the damage was too severe; it showed no sign of life. After a moment’s thought, he decided not to toss it in the Codex for now, setting it aside before closing his eyes to rest.

Before long, Ayase came upstairs. Opening the door, she was startled to see Qi sitting cross-legged on the floor, his clothes stained with blood. She managed to stifle her scream just in time.

"Hey, you over there, you pervert."

"Always calling me a pervert—how unpleasant. Let me properly introduce myself: I am Qi. You may call me Young Hero Qi or Master Qi. I heard others call you Ayase; what's your full name?" Qi replied, eyes still closed.

"Hmph. Ayase. Ayase Arata. People who ask to be called ‘Young Hero’ or ‘Master’ are usually labeled as chuunibyou, you know."

"Why are you always so hostile toward me? You were gentle before, sometimes even kind when you were with your friends."

"Because you’re a pervert. I just can't be nice to you. And don’t get any ideas about my friends, or I’ll report you."

"No interest. My goal right now is to find Black Cat."

"You were just off slaying monsters and demons... The military’s been mobilized outside—is this your doing?" Ayase’s tone grew uneasy.

"That mountain over there—that was the battlefield. Now there’s only half left. There’s a big crater at the foot, but it’s nothing serious. The demon was pretty strong."

Ayase was at a loss for words. Though he spoke lightly, his blood-stained clothes, the tale of a battlefield, and his still, unmoving figure all showed that he had just survived a deadly struggle.

"Are you hurt? We don’t have any medicine for serious injuries at home. Do you need me to go get something...?"

Qi smiled. "No need, but thank you for your kindness. By tomorrow, I’ll be fine. What I’d really like right now is a bath—being covered in blood is uncomfortable."

"...Fine, I’ll trust you for now, for Chiba Prefecture’s sake. I’ll show you to the bath." This time, both exercised caution and nothing unexpected happened. After bathing and changing into his original clothes, Qi put away the blood-stained suit given to him by Black Cat instead of discarding it.

"Have you eaten? I can get something from the kitchen."

"Not hungry, thanks."

"Are you cultivating or something?"

"I appreciate your change in attitude, but why are you suddenly so nosy? Haven’t you finished your homework?"

"Hmph, just curious about rare things. Never mind if you don’t want to talk. Mind if I make a phone call?"

"Go ahead."

"…Moshi moshi, Kirino, …"

Qi breathed a quiet sigh of relief. He was already considering finding somewhere else to stay—this place was getting inconvenient. Calming his mind, he reflected on his martial arts progress, passing the night in silence.

The next morning, when Ayase woke up, she saw the same upright figure at the computer as before. She shook her head, yawned, got up, shooed him out, changed, ate breakfast, and headed to school—resigned to her fate.

Qi, still at the computer, headed out to the area he’d visited before, searching the surrounding schools. Heaven showed him no favor; the entire morning was fruitless. In the afternoon, though, he spotted two little girls circling a big tree, looking up from time to time.

Qi glanced up as well and smiled. There, a little black cat perched on a branch, peering down nervously, hesitant to jump.

"Midnight, come down—it’s okay, I’ll catch you!" the older, about ten, called to the cat.

"Midnight, come down," the younger, six or seven, echoed, waving her hand.

"Meow." The black cat only mewed, afraid to leap.

Qi shook his head and walked over. Without a word to the two little girls, he took a running start, planted a foot on the trunk, and with a push, grabbed the branch with his right hand. With his left, he scooped up the black cat, computer tucked under his arm, and landed smoothly. Placing the cat on the ground, he left before the girls could thank him.

The afternoon yielded nothing else. On his way back to the Ayase house, the madman’s voice rang out: "Same direction—there are two more, and they’re big ones."

Qi sighed and, after some thought, spent forty energy points to retrieve his storage pouch—at double the price, a real loss. Originally, he thought he’d just snatch another one when he got back, but the madman had caused him so much trouble.

"God, do you have any spare weapons or armor you could give me?" Qi asked as he hurried on.

"If you can imagine it, I have it. But are we that close? If you want something, trade for it, or I can give you a task. Satisfy me and maybe I’ll consider it. Want to try?" the god teased.

Qi’s mouth twitched. "We’re not close, yet you kidnapped me and threw me around, spied on me for over five years, and you say we’re not close?"

"Nonsense, I didn’t throw you."

"But you don’t deny spying on me, you scoundrel!"

Stowing away the Codex, Qi arrived at the foot of the mountain, feeling a pang of relief that he hadn’t flown over directly. For before him stood two enormous pythons, one white and one green, each dozens of meters long. Though he’d never seen the Lady White Snake stories, he’d encountered plenty of jokes about them online—clearly, the madman wanted to play with the trope.

But the two giant pythons were already locked in combat. The white one breathed icy mist, radiating a cold so intense that frost formed on the earth, stones, and trees around it. The green one was wreathed in wind blades, spitting out tornadoes, its body nimble as it faced off against the white snake. Several helicopters hovered overhead, their pilots utterly speechless at the sight of two monstrous snakes. Where had such creatures been hiding? Were they some kind of government genetic experiment? And those magical wind blades and ice?

None dared act rashly, waiting instead for the Self-Defense Forces’ jets to arrive. Qi, too, held back, simply altering his appearance with a bit of muscle adjustment—an easy task.

"God, you expect me to take on these things barehanded? No gifts? No gear?"

"Don’t be intimidated by appearances—they’re all show and no substance. Toss the power level tester in here, spend ten energy points, and I’ll fix it for you. Then you can see their power levels for yourself."

"Sounds like a deal."

With the repaired tester, Qi scanned the two giant snakes. The results brought him some relief, though they also prompted deep thought. The white and green snakes’ power levels were 215 and 222, respectively—basic values during their struggle. When they unleashed wind blades, tornadoes, or icy blasts, their combat power jumped to around 250.

Qi pondered the difference between the giant snakes and the dead rat. The rat specialized in close combat, using energy blasts as support; even after transforming, it relied mainly on physical attacks. Its power level remained steady—no energy attack ever surpassed the force of a single punch. The giant snakes, by contrast, though they sometimes grappled, relied mainly on special attack methods, each surpassing their average combat power.

Now that he thought about it, cultivators must fall into the latter category—their myriad techniques, like spells, flying swords, shields, and talismans, all could exceed their usual fighting strength. He recalled the many arts of cultivation described in the novels he’d browsed the day before and wondered if their world was akin to his own.

As these thoughts swirled in his mind, five fighter jets appeared on the horizon.