"Officer Bai, do you believe it now? Snakes have spirits. They don't want to die, and they're begging you to spare them."

After a long moment, Tu Xiao'an spoke softly.

With his current level of control over snakes, no phenomenon the swarm exhibited would be surprising.

Even if Tu Xiao'an wanted to make all these snakes commit mass suicide, it would only take a single thought.

Bai Chuyan stared blankly at the handsome youth not far away, momentarily at a loss for words.

Meanwhile, the discussions among the spectating students swelled like a tidal wave.

"Damn, can snakes really be this intelligent? This is completely unscientific! We can't kill them. Not a single snake here should be killed."

"I'm starting to believe in snakes getting revenge now. With snakes this smart, it wouldn't be surprising if they did anything."

As a biology teacher, Sophie felt incredibly conflicted seeing this. She was now terrified a student would ask her to explain why it was happening.

Because she didn't know why either.

'Animals have spirits, but the behavior of this swarm of snakes... this goes beyond simple intelligence, doesn't it?'

"Captain Bai, these snakes are just... creepy. It looks like we really can't just slaughter them."

A uniformed officer said to Bai Chuyan, swallowing nervously.

Back in the nineties, there was a hit movie where a tycoon killed all the snakes in a nest to build a house. Afterward, the Snake King led a swarm of snakes to get revenge. The film was filled with scenes of snakes crawling into the house and strangling people, which became a source of childhood trauma for many.

After that movie came out, many people stopped killing snakes on sight. Even if a snake wandered into their home, they would respectfully escort it out.

They were afraid that, just like in the movie, killing one snake would cause a whole swarm to crawl into their house for revenge.

Police officers are people too, and they were also afraid of the snakes' revenge.

A mocking smile touched the corner of Bai Chuyan's lips, her eyes filled with disdain. Snake revenge? She wasn't afraid of that in the slightest. But given the current situation...

If she stubbornly insisted on killing the snakes now, she would probably cause a public outcry.

She could only look at the crowd and say coolly, "Since these snakes are so smart, I'll give them a chance to live."

"Someone, get rid of the realgar powder. If they're smart enough to leave on their own, I'll let them go."

Several officers complied, kicking the realgar powder away until the circle of encirclement was gone.

At this, many of the student onlookers automatically backed away, a lingering fear in their hearts. What if the snakes went berserk and charged into the crowd?

Many people retreated. Without the realgar powder to suppress them, the thousand snakes would probably scatter in all directions like autumn leaves in the wind.

"I'd like to see for myself just how intelligent these snakes really are."

Bai Chuyan said this while looking at Tu Xiao'an.

Tu Xiao'an remained calm and composed. He stood his ground and gave the swarm of snakes a faint glance.

In an instant, the snakes erupted into motion. The air filled with their HISSING, a sound that made one's skin crawl.

The snakes moved. The entire swarm moved as one. One by one, they began to slither, heading in a specific direction.

But to everyone's astonishment, the swarm wasn't slithering toward the campus gate, but deeper into the campus.

"It seems these snakes aren't willing to leave campus," Bai Chuyan said coldly. "If we don't stop them, all our previous efforts will be for nothing. These snakes will still be hiding in every corner of the campus, and students will have to attend class alongside them."

Bai Chuyan turned to the distant crowd of students. "Do you want to share your classrooms with snakes? Does anyone still think we should let them go? Beasts are beasts. They don't know what's good for them."

"Officer Bai, be patient."

Tu Xiao'an said coolly, "Why don't we all follow them and see where they're trying to go?"

Although the snakes weren't heading for the campus gate, they moved with purpose, one following another, like a great army on the march.

Many of the students were both scared and amazed, but they also looked curious. The snakes were moving deeper into campus. Where was their final destination?

The long line of snakes slithered onward. They were all well-behaved, not scattering randomly, as a large crowd of people followed slowly behind them.

「Ten minutes later」, by a section of the campus wall, the snakes began to disappear one by one.

Only then did the crowd realize there was a small hole at the base of this part of the wall, big enough for an adult cat to squeeze through.

The snakes were slithering out through this small hole, one by one.

Soon, everyone noticed that even more snakes, ones that hadn't been captured, were emerging from all directions and crawling out through the hole as well.

There were at least five hundred of them, a scale that was secretly shocking.

'So there were still hundreds of snakes hidden on campus.'

They couldn't help but think how lucky it was they hadn't burned those thousand snakes alive. Otherwise, what would they have done if the hidden ones came out at night for revenge?

It was too close a call.

The police would just finish their job and walk away without a care, but what about the students who had to attend school here?

In the end, the swarm of snakes did indeed leave Wencheng University on their own. Their intelligent and docile behavior was unbelievable to many.

Unscientific. It was completely unscientific.

Could snakes really be this smart? Their intelligence was almost comparable to a human's.

"Who are you? Are you the one controlling these snakes?"

Suddenly, Bai Chuyan's beautiful eyes locked onto the unfazed Tu Xiao'an as she sensed something was wrong.

'If these snakes were so smart from the beginning, how were they caught so easily?'

Tu Xiao'an shrugged, feigning ignorance. "Officer Bai, I'm a person, not a Snake Leader. How could I control these snakes? Besides, did you see me make any special moves from start to finish?"

"Hey, don't you go slandering people! He just got to campus with me," Li Qingzhao attested.

'This woman must feel like she's lost face and is just looking for someone to take it out on.'

"You, come with me."

Bai Chuyan ignored Li Qingzhao's words and spoke to Tu Xiao'an.

Li Qingzhao jumped in again. "Where do you think you're taking him?"

"Little girl, this doesn't concern you. No one is to follow."

Li Qingzhao grew anxious and motioned for Tu Xiao'an not to go, but he just smiled and followed Bai Chuyan.

"Teacher Su, why is that police officer so unreasonable? You were classmates with her?"

A complicated look appeared in Sophie's eyes. "Her surname is Bai. It's normal for her to be a bit domineering."

"What's so special about the name Bai? She's just as annoying as Bai Chen."

Bai Chuyan led Tu Xiao'an to a quiet corridor on campus. Then, she slowly raised her arrogant eyes, as if waking from a century-long slumber. Her aura changed abruptly, and ripples spread through the air.

"You're not an ordinary person. You're the one pulling the strings behind all this, aren't you?"

Bai Chuyan stared at Tu Xiao'an, her beautiful eyes fixed on him as if he were a criminal.

The moment this kid stepped forward, the snakes became intelligent, as if possessed. The swarm was able to form words—something unthinkable for ordinary people.

But she knew someone had to be controlling the swarm from behind the scenes.

It had to be the young man before her. He looked young, but he had been far too calm from beginning to end. Nothing the snakes did seemed to surprise him; it was as if he knew it would happen.

Even she had been momentarily stunned when she saw the snakes form words, yet this youth hadn't shown the slightest bit of surprise.

'Something's strange. Something's fishy.'