He had devoured 500 mosquitoes for a total of 50 Energy Points, while in the last two hours, he had only managed to consume three mice for 30 points.
After that, it was impossible to find any more mice. Tu Xiao'an refused to believe he had wiped out the entire mouse population in his house.
Rats are actually very intelligent creatures; otherwise, they wouldn't be ranked first in the zodiac. He must have devoured too many of them, and the others had smelled that something was wrong, so they were hiding and didn't dare come out.
Evolutionary Energy Points: 130/200.
With so much Energy Value accumulated in his body, Tu Xiao'an felt full of power. Even his slithering speed had increased significantly.
The night was now deep. Although Tu Xiao'an didn't know the exact time, looking at the moonlight outside the window, he guessed it was already four or five in the morning.
There were no more mice to be found in the house, not even the shadow of a mosquito could be seen. Tu Xiao'an slithered out the door and into the backyard.
Beyond the backyard was the back mountain.
At four or five in the morning, silvery moonlight spilled onto the ground, and the mournful cries of insects and birds filled the yard.
A 50-centimeter, silver-white snake slithered into the yard. Under the moonlight, it shimmered brilliantly, as if draped in a translucent, crystalline veil.
Rearing up, the little silver-white snake flicked its scarlet tongue. A dark light glinted in its Snake Pupils.
'At my current Level, I'm at the very bottom of the food chain. I have no ability to survive,' Tu Xiao'an mused. 'Raising my Level is the only way to guarantee my strength.'
WOOF... WOOF... WOOF...!
Just then, a series of barks shattered Tu Xiao'an's contemplation. In the dim light, a pair of glowing eyes appeared.
A dog with shaggy yellow fur immediately appeared in Tu Xiao'an's vision. It had a pointed muzzle, a short snout, and a flat forehead. Its small tail was slightly raised as it stared intently at the little silver-white snake on the ground, its vigilance palpable.
'Xiaobai, your master is here! Stop making a racket!'
When Tu Xiao'an saw this local dog, he wasn't startled. In fact, he was delighted. He tried to speak, but only a hissing sound came out, leaving him utterly helpless.
This local dog was the pet Tu Xiao'an had raised when he was alive. It was medium-sized with a coat of scruffy fur. It looked a bit homely, but its saving grace was its obedience.
When it was just a few months old, it had been a stray. Tu Xiao'an, in a moment of great compassion, had taken it in, turning it from a stray into a pet.
Because Tu Xiao'an had always considered the number 8 his lucky number, he had named the dog Xiaobai.
"WOOF WOOF..."
Xiaobai's eyes glinted as it roared at the silver-white snake, looking like it was ready to swat the little snake dead with a single paw at any moment.
Tu Xiao'an immediately put some distance between himself and Xiaobai, thinking with a wry smile, 'Xiaobai, I'm your master! What, are you trying to kill your owner or something?'
They say dogs are the most empathetic animals. They can read their master's most subtle expressions, notice imperceptible changes in their owner's mood, and know how to act accordingly, staying very close to their master's heart.
The common insult, "You're just so-and-so's dog," is actually a compliment to a dog's cleverness.
But clearly, this dog didn't recognize the little snake before it as its master. You couldn't blame the dog for being blind. As smart as dogs are, no matter how high this one's IQ was, how could it ever imagine that the little snake in front of it was its transformed master?
Xiaobai's hostility was obvious, its eyes filled with a fierce glint.
Its duty was to guard the house. How could it let this snake run wild in the backyard? This was its territory.
'I'm done for. If Xiaobai attacks me, what am I going to do!?'
Tu Xiao'an was utterly exasperated. In his memory, his dog was a coward. It was basically only good for scaring children. If it ran into a large man, it wouldn't even dare to make a peep.
Why was it acting so majestic all of a sudden?
'Let me check my pet dog's Level first!'
'Insight!'
"Ding... Chinese Rural Dog, Level 5. A common dog breed. Docile temperament, low lethality."
Whoa, his useless little dog was actually Level 5. This was a bit beyond Tu Xiao'an's expectations, but he figured the Level was classified entirely based on its size.
"Chinese Rural Dog" sounded nice, but in the countryside, they were just local mutts. Due to uncontrolled breeding, their genes had deviated, and they weren't purebreds.
They were said to be for guarding the house, but their effectiveness was lackluster. They could only put on a brave front and bark a few times.
People in the countryside raised these dogs purely because they were easy to keep and relatively loyal. Their intelligence, however, wasn't considered high among canines.
There are three types of dogs: hunting dogs, barking dogs, and dogs for eating.
The ancients classified dogs mostly by function, not by appearance. Due to their different abilities, the best hunting dogs were called "hunting dogs." Those that couldn't hunt but were still fierce could become "barking dogs" for guarding. If they were even more useless, they could only be eaten.
And his Xiaobai basically belonged to the type that gets eaten.
In ancient times, a dog's honor came from its ability to hunt. Nowadays, a dog's future depends on its good looks.
It's actually the same with people. You either have money or you have looks; you have to have at least one of the two. If you have neither, it's a tragedy.
Pets are all the rage now, and a golden age for dogs has arrived. But the prerequisite is having a good pedigree and a handsome appearance. Otherwise, you don't even qualify to be a pet dog.
Watching his own mutt barking and growling wildly at him, a stampede of ten thousand alpacas raged through Tu Xiao'an's mind.
'Why did I ever adopt this stupid dog?'
"HISS..."
Tu Xiao'an suddenly let out a hiss at Xiaobai. He opened his snake mouth wide, looking incredibly fierce. His pair of ice-cold Snake Pupils were enough to make anyone's blood run cold.
"WHIMPER..."
Xiaobai immediately whimpered twice. The fierce light in its eyes vanished, replaced by a hint of fear, and it took a few small steps back.
Seeing the dog's cowardly display, Tu Xiao'an was deeply disappointed. 'This mutt is way too timid! I'm just a 50-centimeter-long snake right now. What the hell is it afraid of?'
'But that's for the best. If Xiaobai really had attacked, I wouldn't have known what to do. Fight back? Kill it with a single venomous bite?'
'No matter how useless it is, it's still my dog. We had a strong bond, the two of us.'
Seeing how fierce the snake was, Xiaobai lost the heart to bully it. It chose to let the matter drop and obediently retreated to lie down in front of its doghouse. However, its eyes never left the snake.
'Good boy, Xiaobai. From now on, your master will have to depend on you to survive.'
Now that Tu Xiao'an was a snake, he could only hide in the darkness, unable to see the light of day. The only one he could interact with was his own cowardly, stupid dog.
"WOOF WOOF..."
When Xiaobai saw the snake trying to get closer, it immediately stood up and barked a few times as a warning.
"Sigh..." Tu Xiao'an let out a long sigh.
'Forget it. I'll give it some time to get used to me.' Tu Xiao'an marked out a patch of ground for himself to serve as his snake's nest, no more than five meters from the doghouse.
From now on, the backyard would be his base of operations.
He and his stupid dog would guard this broken home together, protecting the two women inside the house.
One snake and one dog, one coiled up and the other lying down, watched each other from a distance. Each kept to their own side, basking in the tranquil moonlight.