Night has fallen, and the rain continues to patter down incessantly. Lightning still flashes on the top of Modu Mountain, like a poorly connected light bulb adding an eerie feeling to the deep night. After leaving the hotel, we quickly found a restaurant near Moganshan Lake.
Sitting in a small private room by the window, watching the rain in the night sky with dim streetlights and passing cars accentuating Moganshan Lake in the distance, making it even more mysterious and fascinating.
Xie Yilin skillfully ordered dishes. Soon, fragrant fish soup was served using freshly caught perch from Moganshan Lake boiled with only scallions and ginger as seasoning sprinkled with salt for flavor that made our taste buds tingle.
After finishing off the fish soup came charcoal-grilled fish seasoned with chili peppers, fermented black beans and green onions which also had an irresistible aroma.
In addition to fish dishes were several specialty dishes from Moganshan Lake; each one exquisitely fresh. Jietou and I picked up our chopsticks and instantly entered into gluttonous mode.
"Be careful not to choke on any bones," Xie Yilin said while looking at us with a smile on her face.
"Don't worry about us," I teased Jietou while pushing some of my leftover fish bones onto his plate. "You didn't eat any of your own so you must have eaten mine."
"Shut up! There aren't any bones over here!" Jietou retorted while giving me a dirty look.
"I envy you guys," Xie Yilin said dreamily after seeing our interaction.
"Why?" I asked curiously.
"I envy how you can be true brothers as boys are better than girls because they can have genuine brotherhood where they can joke around or even die for each other without being too petty or calculating like girls who may seem close but are always secretly competing with each other. So, compared to girls, I prefer playing with boys and having a bond of brotherhood," Xie Yilin explained.
Her words made Jietou and me silent for a while as we didn't know how to respond. Although I didn't completely agree with her viewpoint, it did make sense in some ways; it was an odd phenomenon.
"Let's not talk about these philosophical issues anymore. Tell us more about the legends of Modu Mountain," I said to Xie Yilin.
"Oh yeah! Almost forgot!" Xie Yilin's eyes lit up as she picked up a fish bone and continued speaking. "There are many legends about spirits on Modu Mountain, but the most famous one is the White Crowned Black Snake..."
According to Xie Yilin, there were many pythons on Modu Mountain in earlier years. In the 1950s when troops were sent there for construction support by blasting open mountains using explosives they discovered a natural cave where they found an extremely large python inside.
It was said that this python had a thickness like that of a water bucket and was over ten meters long; its scales were larger than human fingernails and its two eyes glowed red like fire. Due to aging over time, it even grew white feathers on top of its head which fluttered whenever it moved.
At first sight of this giant snake, the soldiers were all frightened out of their wits and dared not approach it at all until someone suggested shooting it down with guns. However, their political commissar knew that such rare creatures should be preserved so he ordered his men to retreat first before finding anesthesia guns from elsewhere hoping to knock out the snake without killing it instead.
After the snake was knocked out, it took more than ten people to lift it up. When they weighed it, they found that it weighed exactly one thousand kilograms, making it the largest snake ever discovered in China's history. Naturally, such a discovery caused quite a stir and people from dozens of miles away came to see. The crowd in the mountain valley was so dense that several people were trampled on and injured.
Unexpectedly, when the snake woke up, instead of attacking anyone, it just coiled its body and slowly swam around as if looking for a way out where there were no people. However, at this critical moment when soldiers tried to give another dose of anesthesia with a syringe filled with tranquilizer solution aimed at its head after failing once before due to the needle being shaken off by the snake's violent movements; something strange happened: The needle broke off inside while trying again but this time without any effect whatsoever - not even slowing down or weakening its movements! Then suddenly without warning or provocation from anyone nearby (including those who had been watching), this massive creature turned aggressive again - lunging forward towards one soldier who managed to hit back hard enough using his rifle butt against its skull causing an audible crack sound followed by blood splattering everywhere as he fell backwards onto ground writhing in pain from having lost an arm!
The surrounding crowd panicked immediately upon seeing what had happened next: children cried while adults screamed frantically running away as fast as possible leaving only few dozen soldiers behind who quickly drew their guns ready shoot down this dangerous beast which seemed unstoppable until...it collapsed motionless on ground right before them! Confused about how could such thing happen? They soon learned that someone had injected tranquilizer into its mouth earlier which finally took effect now rendering animal unconsciousness.
Realizing their mistake too late though since orders came directly from higher-ups demanding capture alive rather than killing outright like usual practice whenever encountering such dangerous animals. Soldiers then carefully approached the snake, opened its mouth and retrieved the soldier's severed arm from inside before carrying him away for medical treatment while leaving behind a team of experts to study this rare specimen further.
After this incident, the valley became much quieter. Although there were still occasional visitors who came to see the snake, they were few and far between. The soldiers were worried that the snake would wake up and cause trouble again, so they kept giving it regular injections of anesthetic. After a few days, people sent by their superiors finally arrived. They were from a zoo and had brought a large truck with them. On the back of the truck was a large iron cage made of steel bars welded together. It was said that this cage was specifically designed for transporting large predators like tigers and leopards.
However, there was one problem: the gaps between the steel bars on the cage were quite wide. When transporting animals like tigers or elephants whose bodies are too big to fit through these gaps, it's not an issue; but now they were transporting a python which could easily slip out if it woke up during transport.
The person in charge of moving the snake at that time insisted that everything would be fine since they weren't traveling very far and because he believed that since it had been sedated already, there was no way for it to escape.
The soldiers couldn't do anything about it so they lifted up the snake onto the truck bed themselves. To be safe though, two young soldiers accompanied them in case something went wrong - crouching inside with both eyes fixed on every movement made by this giant reptile while keeping ready with more anesthesia should its condition change.
Everything seemed perfectly arranged without any problems until halfway through their journey when something terrifying happened unexpectedly.
It is said that at some point during their trip across a bridge over rushing water in a mountain gorge where things got bumpy due to uneven terrain causing swaying movements throughout vehicle - suddenly waking up from its slumber -the python began thrashing around wildly!
Seeing what happened those two young soldiers quickly pulled out syringes filled with tranquilizers hoping to subdue the snake. However, due to the bumpy ride, they couldn't get a good shot at it and asked the driver to stop so that they could try again.
Unfortunately, because of the loud sound of waterfalls nearby, the driver didn't hear their cries for help and continued driving forward. As soon as he was about to leave the bridge behind them - disaster struck! The python suddenly lunged upwards with incredible force causing truck bed shake violently; before either soldier could react properly one had his hand bitten off by this massive creature.
Another little soldier was about to pull out his gun, but he was knocked unconscious by the big snake's tail. Afterwards, the big snake violently collided with the iron fence on its side. The driver only realized that something was wrong at this moment and quickly stopped the car. Fortunately, it didn't keep moving, but as soon as it stopped, the entire car flipped over to one side and fell directly into the river below the bridge.
This incident wasn't discovered until two days later when they salvaged the car from underwater. The scene inside of it was simply unbearable - two soldiers were trapped in an iron cage and couldn't escape after falling into water; they drowned alive. One of them had been bitten so badly by that snake that his flesh was torn apart. As for the driver, he suffocated in his cockpit. However, no one knows where that big snake went.
After this incident occurred, locals spread rumors that there is a super huge python hidden on Mount Modu. However, since then nobody has seen it again which makes it even more mysterious than before. In recent years some people have speculated that perhaps this snake has transformed itself into a dragon and flown away.