The Enigma of the Shadow Snake

Su Mu sank into thought, a strange unease settling over her. She hadn’t found any useful information online. Those trying to slander Saint Lily were simply jumping on the bandwagon, chasing clout and attention—no grand conspiracies like she had imagined. And when she finally encountered a hacker with similar abilities, it turned out they were just a temporary ‘cyber police’ hired by the authorities due to her own butterfly effect.

How frustrating.

It seemed as if no one had been plotting against Saint Lily all along; everything was just a coincidence.

But could that really be possible?

So, she delved into the official database, searching for information on ‘Shadow Snake.’

And lo and behold, she found something.

The city’s large projection screens displayed a list of wanted villains, cycling through daily. Twenty pages, five names each, a hundred in total. Each page lingered for one to three minutes, longer if there were updates on the villain’s abilities.

Thus, only someone with as much time on their hands as Su Mu would bother to study the entire list. Memorizing it all was a habit she had cultivated over time, a result of daily accumulation.

Most ordinary people, at best, had a vague impression of a few names—usually from grainy videos of villain attacks, often not even reaching 360p quality. The official reason was that these were real-life footage, emphasizing authenticity.

This meant that if you happened to pass a villain on the street, you might only realize later, back at home, that you had seen that person somewhere before.

The villain list was publicly available online, but precisely because it was easily searchable, no one bothered to memorize it.

True, villains represented danger—like fires or earthquakes. But people only had a general idea of safety measures: cover your mouth, hide under a table. Other details? They’d look them up when needed.

‘Shadow Snake,’ Villain No. 101.

Seeing that number, Su Mu frowned.

The villain list had been updated a few times over the past decade, and she was familiar not only with the top hundred but also with the next dozen or so. There was no way ‘Shadow Snake’ could be number 101.

The description said: Can transform into anyone, undetectable by any means, extremely resilient, able to survive any danger.

“…”

Su Mu’s expression twisted. What a terrifying ability. How was one supposed to find ‘Shadow Snake’? Rely on precognition?

Then came the list of its crimes—almost all were forced sealings.

Oddly enough, ‘Shadow Snake’ had been forcibly sealed twice, a day apart, in two different cities.

She snapped her fingers and pulled up a map, marking the two locations. The distance was such that even a flying ability user would struggle to cover it in a day.

But then again, a mysterious being with such survival skills might have all sorts of strange tricks up its sleeve. That wasn’t too surprising, was it?

It could be plausible.

Su Mu rested her chin on her hand. The crime descriptions were too brief—especially for the later entries. It had become a uniform format: time, location, sealed by XX squad.

Still, having time and place gave her a direction.

She could surely dig up something.

Of course, she would start with the first detailed entry: the ‘Binhai City Ocean Hotel Incident.’

……

…………………………………..A Division of Time~…………………………………..

The ‘Binhai City Ocean Hotel Incident’ took place at the XX Ocean Hotel in Binhai City.

Yes, that sounded like redundant literary nonsense, didn’t it?

Haha~

Binhai City, near the coast, boasted rich marine resources and a temperate oceanic climate, making it a popular tourist destination.

The incident occurred during peak tourist season.

A tour group of twelve arrived in Binhai City, with the travel agency having booked the Ocean Hotel for their stay.

The hotel was lavishly decorated, facing the sea, with a large aquarium inside. It even offered a premium room where guests could ‘eat and sleep’ with over twenty sharks, promising a thrilling, once-in-a-lifetime experience.

It was quite famous locally, and even though it had been closed for years, plenty of information remained.

The incident was not a secret.

In fact, it had become one of Binhai City’s most classic ‘ghost stories’ in recent years.

The story began with the tour group checking into the hotel.

That night, the power went out.

But the staff quickly restored it using backup generators.

The blackout lasted about ten minutes.

During that time, a bloodcurdling scream was heard.

The staff later explained it was a woman who had been frightened by the darkness.

But the truly bizarre events began afterward.

Members of the tour group started disappearing one by one.

Since a guide was leading the tour, there were designated meeting times.

At first, one or two were missing, with some in the group saying they wanted to explore on their own. Such situations were not uncommon for guides—tourists sometimes paid for the trip but went independent. Over the next few days, the numbers dwindled. By the third day, only five remained.

The guide finally grew suspicious.

He tried to contact them via the group chat, and everyone replied. When he returned to the hotel, the front desk confirmed that the missing members had indeed come back. So he abandoned the idea of calling the police.

But that night, the police received a distress call—a woman’s voice. It said there was a monster in the Ocean Hotel: a black sea serpent that could change its appearance, hunting them down. She begged for help.

Though the call mentioned a monster without triggering a disaster-beast warning, the authorities took it seriously. A D-level super squad was dispatched. However, several squad members were ambushed by the very people they had come to rescue—or even by their own comrades—and never returned.

The situation escalated. A C-level squad was called in, and the hotel was cordoned off. When even the C-level squad couldn’t distinguish friend from foe using their abilities, a ‘forced sealing’ was ordered to minimize casualties. The Ocean Hotel was razed to the ground, and the incident was considered resolved.

“…” Su Mu scratched her cheek. Something didn’t add up.

So ‘Shadow Snake’ was just an alias, with no real name or appearance.

That was the end of the incident, but netizens’ discussions continued. Some speculated that ‘Shadow Snake’ was a man entangled in a love affair with a woman in the tour group. She cheated on him, ran off with the other man after draining his money, and in a fit of rage, he killed her. But then he realized he didn’t know who the lover was—or even if it was a man or woman—so he decided to kill the entire tour group.

That was one theory.

It also suggested that many netizens believed ‘Shadow Snake’ had a clear target—the tour group. Had it finished them off, it might not have harmed other hotel guests. Opinions on the ‘forced sealing’ were mixed.

Later, the C-level squad held a press conference, vehemently claiming they had dealt with the culprit and there was no need to worry about similar incidents. They expressed regret over the casualties but emphasized that they had saved more lives by acting decisively.

That barely quieted the voices.

But about two years later, reports of ‘Shadow Snake’ began cropping up in various places, accompanied by online accusations of the super squads’ incompetence and the unnecessary loss of innocent lives.

The authorities chose a cold approach. In the end, the squad leader reluctantly left this remark: ‘At the time, we didn’t consider that. We indeed found no survivors.’

“…”

Su Mu tilted her head, lost in thought.

‘Shadow Snake’ seemed to exist, but the more she learned, the more confused she became.