Jiang Jue was about to go mad from that icy gaze.
For the past three months, whether he was working through the night at the office or crammed into the last subway train, he always felt a sticky, inhuman gaze fixed on the back of his neck.
Late at night, with every door and window locked, he felt something slippery coil around him.
After calling the police, he discovered the security footage showed nothing but himself, trembling with fear.
The last of this overworked employee's reason finally snapped.
Jiang Jue smashed his mouse, quit his job, and fled back to his hometown, taking over the old guesthouse his parents had described as warm and rustic.
He thought the fresh mountain air would wash away the bad luck he'd picked up in the city.
But what happened instead?!
The guesthouse was anything but warm and rustic. It was downright eerie.
Every night, he could hear snakes hissing and see a huge snake-shaped shadow outside the door. Not only did guests stop coming, but three cleaning ladies had been scared off as well.
Later, Jiang Jue went into the hills behind the guesthouse and stumbled upon a dilapidated shrine. The eyes on a snake-shaped wooden carving inside made his scalp crawl.
Just as he was about to make a run for it, a snake took up residence in him. More precisely, it was a man with a snake's tail.
Those icy eyes fixed on him. A chill radiated from his entire body as he said, "You're finally back. Now it's time to repay what you owe me."
The Snake God began collecting his debt in inhuman ways:
--The guesthouse was on the verge of bankruptcy? The next day, an inexplicably huge sum appeared in its account.
A rainstorm washed out the mountain road? A construction crew promptly arrived to fix it.
Under the Snake God's constant, icy stare:
Sense of security: -100%
Guesthouse safety rating: +infinity
Snake-related PTSD: +200%
Then, one night, after being coiled around until he could barely breathe, Jiang Jue finally lost his temper and roared at Xie Xianqing, "What the hell do you want? Can't you just get it over with?"
The icy snake tail suddenly tightened around his waist. Cold, damp breath brushed his face as Xie Xianqing replied, his voice chillingly excited, "Get it over with? I've waited three hundred years to collect this debt. Why would I rush?"
#Poor overworked office worker forced to sign away three hundred years of romantic debt
#This Snake God's collection methods seem a little off
#He seems to be coiling around me, not the ledger
*Poor overworked office worker x cold, obsessive Snake God
Extra scene:
After being tormented until he was sick of living, Jiang Jue finally decided to sneak away.
He'd leave the guesthouse behind. He didn't care about the money, either. His life mattered most.
Unexpectedly, he passed out before he even met the friend who was supposed to pick him up.
When he woke up, he was back in the guesthouse bed. Xie Xianqing stared down at him with dark, sinister eyes, as if he meant to devour him whole.
"If you ever run again, I'll fuck you to death..."
(You don't have to decide whether he means kill or fuck. It's a double entendre.)
Theme: Honesty in business
