Bang bang bang…
The crisp sound of gunfire was particularly deafening in the quiet, secluded jungle.
When the gunshots rang out, numerous wild beasts scattered and fled, and the originally quiet forest immediately turned into a humdrum of activity.
Humans?
Ye Bei was coiled where the Snake King had sat.
At the moment, he looked extremely hostile.
After all, he had the mind of a human. It was merely his outward appearance that had changed.
However, when he heard that the humans had slaughtered the snake colony, a sense of fury ignited in his heart.
The emotion itself was very subtle.
"It would be really naïve of me to think from a human's perspective while in this current body."
"As a snake who needs to eat live creatures, I've been the humans' enemy from the very start."
"Should I kill them or not?"
Ye Bei was feeling very conflicted on that point.
Logic told him that he couldn't consume humans regardless of the circumstances.
But his body kept telling him otherwise, and it kept tempting him… Humans stood at the very top of the food chain, and they were the most evolved species. If he consumed them, he'd be able to attain his Evolution Points at an even faster rate. At the very least, it would be a lot faster than eating ordinary creatures.
Bang bang bang…
The sound of gunfire continued.
If he wasn't mistaken, those people had probably come into contact with certain animals in the jungle.
Swish!
As the gunshots reverberated throughout the jungle, Ye Bei once more swept his gaze across all the Blood Pythons present.
If the humans were in groups, then they were bound to have a leader.
The same rang true for the snakes… The Snake King was only a single entity; there had to be others who assisted the Snake King.
"Who among you used to be the previous Snake King's assistants? Come forward! I want the ones he trusted the most," Ye Bei announced in a low voice.
Seeing his gigantic body and his blood-red forked tongue, none of the ordinary Blood Pythons even dared to entertain any thoughts of resisting.
Upon hearing Ye Bei's command, eight snakes, each approximately 1.5 meters in length, slowly moved away from the crowd.
These snakes all looked roughly the same.
However, Ye Bei could tell at a glance that among these eight snakes, four were male, and four were female!
"My king! My king… please don't kill us!"
"We were all forced to serve under the previous snake king."
"Please have mercy, my king!"
"I don't want to die yet."
Although they were snakes, standing in front of Ye Bei, they nevertheless seemed to possess a human-like intellect. They knew what fear and terror felt like, and they knew how to beg for mercy.
"From today onwards, you are all my subordinates!" Ye Bei declared decisively. His voice was cold and authoritative. "You will be responsible for delegating tasks to the rest of the snake colony. If any mistakes are made, you will pay with your life! In addition, to make it easier for me to become familiar with you, I'll be giving you new names. Remember them well! In the future, whenever I call your name, come forward."
The eight snakes rejoiced when they heard what Ye Bei said.
Ye Bei pondered for a few seconds before giving them their names.
"From left to right, you will be called Chun, Hua, Qiu, Yue, Xun, Huan, Zuo, and Le respectively!"
Fortunately, the four leftmost snakes were female, and the remaining four snakes on the right were male.
"Yes, our king!"
"Thank you, king!"
"We will obey."
These eight snakes were extremely excited after they were given their new names.
All the other snakes stared at them with envious eyes. As one of their own kind, Ye Bei could acutely sense their emotions.
After giving them their names, Ye Bei continued with his instructions.
"Chun, tell me how many snakes this colony has!"
He was going to have to rely on these snakes in the future to help with his consumption of live creatures and to accelerate his evolution. Hence, right now, he had to first figure out how big his team was.
"My king! There were a total of 358 snakes in our colony. However, due to the humans' hunting, seven were sacrificed. Taking into account the Snake King, who died, we now have 350 snakes. Among these snakes, more than a hundred of them are babies who are less than 50 centimeters long! Approximately 200 of them are mature snakes measuring one meter in length. A hundred and twenty of them are skilled in combat."
Chun's answer was very detailed.
However, these numbers made Ye Bei a little depressed.
He had hoped that these approximately 300 snakes could provide him with combat strength and help him hunt for living creatures.
He hadn't expected that only 120 of them would be useful.
"I guess I'll have to find a way to increase my combat strength!" he mumbled to himself. Then, he spoke aloud and continued, "Let us first find a way to increase our population to 800. That way, each of you can be responsible for a hundred snakes!"
"But, my king! For some crazy reason, those humans keep creating trouble for us Blood Pythons!" Chun said cautiously, after hesitating for a moment.
"Right now, if we wait and rely on the normal growth period for the snakes to mature, we'll all die the moment the humans discover us!"
Humans again!
Ye Bei's eyes turned cold.
After roughly two seconds of silence, Ye Bei instructed the snakes in a low voice. "This swamp is our base, isn't it? Take good care of the snakes here, and have them increase their physical strength as quickly as possible… Also, Chun, Hua, Qiu, Yue, Xun, Huan, Zuo, and Le, pick four snakes out for me. Have them hunt for prey within a five-kilometer radius, deliver the prey back here, and await my return! Leave those humans to me for the time being. I'll deal with them."
Truthfully speaking, Ye Bei didn't harbor much animosity towards the humans…
If he could, he was going to just scare them away…
However, if the humans acted rashly, Ye Bei certainly wasn't going to hold himself back!!!
After saying all this aloud, Ye Bei turned his head away from the shocked and horrified gazes of the Blood Pythons and moved off in the direction of the gunshots!
…At that very moment, all the surrounding snakes could feel the sense of death in the air!
It was almost as if… this newly-crowned Snake King was preparing to play big!!!