The water snake waved its fins.
It was the ancestor it had found, but it couldn’t be dismissed like this.
The water snake wondered if the ancestor was angry because it hadn’t answered, even though it had been listening.
But if that was really the case…
The water snake felt wronged.
“I wanted to answer too…!”
There was no other choice.
The location of the prison the water snake was trapped in was such that the moment it spoke a word of thought, the Kwangcheol would come charging.
Of course, Kwangcheol was always like that, but the one here was especially big and strong.
Unlike its parents, who were born and raised in Nessho, and had no beads, the water snake knew that facing this Kwangcheol would end up with it becoming a dried fish in no time.
So it had to keep its mouth shut.
It was always the case that closer ones like Kwangcheol were scarier than far-off ancestors.
Though the huge presence of Kwangcheol that immediately got angry at a thought was no longer felt, it was too late now.
“Why did Kwangcheol just calm down now, but now when I try to answer, it doesn’t listen…!”
Ancestor…!!”
If only it had answered quickly when it was told to.
No matter how much it sent its thoughts, the other side wasn’t listening, so they didn’t reach far.
The water snake sighed at its pathetic skill at sending thoughts.
If only it could send them a little farther, a little louder!
If it had known this would happen, it wouldn’t have ignored its mother when she was teaching it how to send thoughts.
“I thought I’d never need it…”
‘How many of its clan could even understand thoughts?’
‘Why did it have to go through all this suffering?’
The water snake felt wronged.
It started to resent its mother for no reason.
It had been the day when a huge, flaming stone fell from the sky.
“If you’re just going to roll around like that, at least deliver a greeting to the ancestor,” its mother had said.
And so, the water snake was kicked out of Nessho.
At that point, it hadn’t seemed that difficult.
It was just a simple task—ask how things were going in the city while checking in with the ancestor.
For the water snake, who had inherited the ability to open ‘passages’, it wasn’t even a chore.
Along the way, it occasionally ran into the tyrannosaurs, but they were soon frozen to death, so it became rare to encounter them.
“Fools. They should just live in the lake like us,” it had thought.
It had promised itself it would return before the sky, which had turned black after the huge stone fell, cleared up.
But now, here it was.
The water snake had failed to deliver the greeting and ended up trapped in a prison in some humans’ land.
“Hmm. I’m sure this was the entrance…”
Even when it went to the entrance its mother had told it about, it couldn’t get into the city.
‘Had it been the wrong place? ‘
‘Had its mother given the wrong directions? ‘
It had wandered around all the lakes by now.
It had laughed at the two-legged creatures slowly developing, but at some point, they had suddenly grown to a level that could rival a city.
In a flash, they had captured it.
The water snake didn’t understand why the ancestor was here, but that was also why it couldn’t see the ancestor, even though it was so close.
“Complete frauds.”
“They were just wielding stone axes, and now, in such a short time, they’ve developed this much?”
“It doesn’t make sense.”
The water snake tried to open a passage, but it was futile.
It must have tried a million times.
The passage it could use to go anywhere—it couldn’t open it as long as that lever was inside the prison.
“If I’d known, I wouldn’t have slacked off during Breaths’ lessons…!!”
In the end, the water snake had only one hope left.
***
The mysterious entity that had received its thought and sent it back.
It was now trying to reach this person who might be on their way.
The water snake glanced outside the prison.
The place was in chaos, with debris everywhere.
After all, the two-legged creatures who had guarded the lever like it was their life.
Now, maybe they’d be distracted enough to leave the lever unattended.
“The path is like this… will they be able to come?”
‘If they couldn’t make it… it would be a disgrace.’
A chill ran down its spine.
The water snake was cheering for someone whose face it didn’t even know.
“Go for it!”
The small snake moved in the direction where it had sensed the thought.
‘If a small rock was blocking the way, it jumped over it.’
‘If a large rock was in the way, it bent its body and slithered through the gap.’
The small snake was breaking through without any obstacles.
“This place is a total mess… How is it getting closer? Are you opening a passage too?”
“Passage?”
“What?”
“No.”
“Simple.”
“Moving.”
“Wow..!”
“Can you really walk here in this state?”
“Amazing!”
It wasn’t walking, but it was the first time the small snake had ever been praised for moving well, so it was happy and made a cute sound.
***
After a while, moving along the rocky path, the small snake hit a roadblock.
“Path.”
“Blocked.”
It was a wall.
“Huh?
“It’s blocked?”
“The two-legged creatures always used to go this way.”
“It should have been clear…?”
Even though it was clearly a blocked wall, the other side seemed to react as if it wasn’t.
“Could there be a reason for this thought?”
While observing the wall, the small snake eventually noticed something.
“Got it.”
“Wall.”
“Not.”
“Door.”
It was a wall that could open, one that the two-legged creatures frequently passed through.
At about mid-height, there was a bent iron bar.
The small snake watched as the two-legged creatures would grab it and press it down, and the wall would open wide.
Surely, if it bit and snatched that, it would be able to pass through.
The small snake bent its body and leapt, biting the iron bar.
Click.
The door opened.
“!!!”
However, the small snake, which had opened the door, was too startled to think about passing through.
It was struggling on the floor instead.
“Ckweeek,” it whimpered.
“What’s going on? What’s happening?”
Before the small snake could respond with its thoughts, something very small and opaque fell near its head.
The small snake teared up.
It felt a sharp pain from its broken tooth!
“Hurts…”
It was the same tooth that had hurt when it tried to punish the two-legged creatures who had dared to treat it as they pleased after receiving a bead from the ancestor.
A two-legged creature with an iron arm—looking back on it, that had been too underhanded in the small snake’s eyes.
It would take a long time to heal.
The thought of living as a toothless snake, no better than a wingless bird, until then brought tears to its eyes.
“Sad…”
At that moment, the small snake felt warmth from beneath its chin.
It was the bead the ancestor had given it as a gift.
Though it had always been warm, it had long since gotten used to it… but this warmth felt even stronger than usual.
And then—
The small snake couldn’t help but be surprised.
“Sssshhh.”
“Teeth.”
“Growing back!”
The warmth from the bead gathered and, in an instant, its teeth returned to their original state!
It didn’t even have time to be surprised.
There was only one day left.
The small snake, simply sending its thanks with thoughts that couldn’t reach, set out again.
“Ancestor.”
“The best.”
“Yeah!”
“I’ve never seen them, but the ancestor is always the best!”
“I have seen.”
“Wha…?”
“What is going on with that Gamma-level person? I heard that the Gamma-level holding area was destroyed, but they should at least be able to move freely…”
“Quiet.”
“It’s him.”
“Huh?”
“Oh…”
“I didn’t recognize him because he looks so different.”
“Understood.”
Giselle Hartmann, who was part of FPL’s 4th Research Institute, said.
“…His nails are intact, and no scales.”
“Phew, thank goodness.”
“He’s still the same today.”
Giselle had been coming to check on the status of her subordinate, who had been temporarily isolated in IF-017, every single day.
Since the director of the research institute, E, who had issued the absurd demotion order, had disappeared, Giselle’s demotion order had become practically meaningless.
It hadn’t been long since the huge incident occurred at the research institute.
The rule was that, unless there were grounds for dismissal, people demoted from Beta level to Gamma level had to be reinstated at the earliest opportunity in case of emergency.
If things had gone as usual, Giselle would have already been back in her lab coat by now.
But because E, who should have issued her reinstatement order, was absent, this was the situation.
Since Giselle was the one who knew these regulations best, she wasn’t swayed by the meaningless and ridiculous demotion any longer.
“Maybe because everyone knew how absurd the situation was, when Giselle, wearing the Gamma-level uniform, came every day, the personnel assigned to IF-017 started to take it in stride.”
And Giselle was looking at two people guarded by the ‘Munmu King’ unit.
The larger one was Kang Hana.
She had definitely been thought to be dead, but miraculously survived not once, but twice.
Now, she was breaking records with her third miracle.
“It didn’t absorb…”
“So, I thought it would assimilate, but…”
Even though Giselle had watched every day, it wasn’t happening.
Yesterday and today, her subordinate still looked like a perfectly normal human.
“If it had been like this, even back then, when she begged for forgiveness, shouldn’t it have been possible?”
Giselle couldn’t help but think this, and her eyes grew misty.
Then—
“Gyao….”
The smaller one was IF-017, ‘Dragon.’
Just like the day before and the day before that, Giselle had thought it would be asleep when she arrived, but when she got close, it was awake.
When their eyes met suddenly, Giselle almost screamed.
Her subordinate was sleeping peacefully, holding IF-017, but if that hadn’t been the case, she definitely would have shouted.
IF-017, curled up in her subordinate’s arms, glanced sideways at Giselle.
Somehow, that gaze…
Was like a predator, pretending nothing was wrong when the prey it was about to ambush glanced back.
Giselle was so shaken by the feeling that she narrowly escaped a disaster without even realizing it that chills ran down her spine.
***
After sending a mental command for everyone to assemble, she waited a moment.
The first human to arrive made her click her tongue in disappointment.
It was that one, the one who’s called Giselle “senior.”
Just like the others in the white coats, when she saw her walking around collecting anger, she reacted provocatively.
So, she had thought she wouldn’t come.
But, of course, she came anyway.
“Gyao….”
How disappointing.
It was supposed to be a disgrace…