Chapter 5 — Midnight Snake Knocks On The Door

Its head tilted posture resembled a child trying to understand an adult's words.

“Do not… kill.”

It repeats those words. The voice was still vague, but more seamless than before. Then it started crawling along my body. The scales cover the calves, thighs and waist. The cold feeling gave me goosebumps all over my body. I wanted to break free, but its body was like an iron ring, completely inescapable. It's wrapping around me. But not the kind that tightens to hunt for prey. It was wrapped very loosely, using just enough force to keep me from falling. It brought its head to my neck, its nostrils close to my ear, the exhaled air blowing on my earlobe.

“Go.”

It said.

“Hungry.”

PART 12 I was driving an electric motorbike, most of the snake's body was loosely wrapped around my waist, with only half of its tail resting on the back seat. Its weight causes the wheel to sink slightly. The path in the research institute was empty. The streetlight pulled my shadow and its shadow was very long. The night wind blew, carrying the typical smell of pine resin from the mountains, along with the fishy smell on its body. I never thought that one day I would drive an electric car carrying a snake to the canteen to steal fish. The security captain yelled at me for five minutes over the radio.

"You're crazy, you're really crazy! Lam Vi, I'm telling you, the first thing the armed police did when they got here was shoot that thing. Now you're still next to it, do you want to die with it?"

“It doesn't hurt me.”

“It killed seven people!”

“It's true that he kills people, but that doesn't mean he kills everyone he meets.”

I lowered my voice, afraid of stimulating the unusually quiet snake on my side.

"Captain Truong, from beginning to end, it never showed any intention of attacking me. It knocked on the door, stood outside waiting and then told me that it was hungry."

“It called my name, talking about fish. It remembered me feeding it fish.”

The other end of the radio was silent for a long time.

“So what are you going to do?”

“First let it eat well, then find a way to lead it back to the cell in the third basement. There is anti-explosion glass there, so it can be locked up.”

“What happens after that?”

“Then wait for the armed police to arrive. I will talk to them.”

“What are you talking about?”

I look at the road ahead. The silhouette of the canteen appeared in sight.

“Say it's not a mindless wild animal.”

PART 13 Canteen door unlocked. This is very normal. Night shift workers often go to the canteen to eat and drink, so the main door has never been locked. I used my shoulder to push the glass door open. The snake slid off my body and quietly crawled into the cafeteria. It walked forward, its body sliding on the white tile floor, making a very small friction sound. The canteen is very large, can accommodate more than a hundred people at a time. Above the rice counter is still hanging today's menu: braised meat, fried eggs with tomatoes, seaweed egg soup. I remember Tieu Chau, remember the meat dumplings she ate this morning. My stomach immediately rolled. The snake stopped in the middle of the canteen, its head turned to the sides, its nostrils continuously flaring. It's smelling. Then it crawled towards the kitchen. I followed behind, pushed open the stainless steel door of the kitchen and turned on the cold storage light. The cold storage is not large, only a few square meters wide, filled with vegetables and meats. In the corner there is a white foam box with a label on it: Ho fish. I opened the box. Inside is Stiff frozen fish, neatly arranged. The snake's head approached. It doesn't eat right away. It looked at the pile of fish for a long time, then raised its head to look at me.

“Many.”

It said. It is exclaiming. A snake is exclaiming that there is a lot of food. I squatted down, took a fish and placed it on the ground. He bowed his head, took it in his mouth, tilted his head back, and swallowed. One child after another. After eating five, it stopped.

“Are you full?”

It curled its body up, placed its head on its body, its eyes half-closed. I can only use the phrase "full and lazy" to describe that expression. I sat down next to it. The ground was very cold, but my legs were so soft the whole way, I really couldn't stand anymore. It doesn't object to my coming near. Even when I sat down, the tip of the tail moved a little to the side, making room for me.

“You know, I was afraid of you before.”

I looked at it and said:

“I'm still afraid now, but not because I'm afraid you'll eat me.”

“I'm afraid you'll be beaten to death by someone else.”

His eyes opened a little wider. The amber pupils became especially bright under the pale white light in the cold storage.

"You remembered that I once fed you fish, so you came to find me. You killed a lot of people but didn't kill me. Do you know what this is called?"

It did not respond.

“This is called being conscientious.”

“A snake has a conscience, who can believe it?”

I bowed my head, rubbing my stinging nose.

“Do you understand what I'm saying? You have thirty-seven percent human genes in your body. Do you know what that means?”

“It means that in your body there is a part that belongs to a human.”

“Those doctors created you, locked you underground for experiments, and then said you were a monster.”

“But you still remember I used to feed you fish.”

The snake moved. He brought his head and placed it on my knee. The weight made my legs sink, but I no longer felt afraid. The human's eyes were horizontal looking at me from below. It said nothing. But the tip of the tail was gently tapping the ground. Like a dog wagging its tail.