Mu Yuan felt his blood run cold, a chill creeping up the back of his neck. His warning of "Careful!" cracked with fear.
Yet Ling Yan remained unhurried. Turning around, he simply raised his hand and the sword.
The wide blade plunged straight into the giant python's opened maw. Ling Yan's arm moved with his wrist, exerting force. After the initial thrust, he swiftly withdrew the sword, the blade flicked, a flash of light, *shua!*
The python's forked tongue was cleanly severed by Ling Yan and flung away, hitting the nearby stone wall.
The large snake slumped to one side, finally and completely dead.
Mu Yuan's heart pounded wildly. He nearly collapsed onto the ground.
Ling Yan smiled nonchalantly, reaching out to pull him up.
"What's wrong, General? Starved dizzy? Hurry and get the fire starter, I'll grill some snake meat for you."
Mu Yuan cursed Ling Yan inwardly, then cursed himself.
So pathetic.
What was there to worry about? Even if he were eaten by snakes seven or eight times, Ling Yan could never fall to such a small snake.
Mu Yuan sullenly took out the fire starter and tossed it to Ling Yan.
Ling Yan's lips curved into a smile. With his back to Mu Yuan, he casually gathered the snakeskin on the ground.
Then, carrying a pile of snakeskin, he went to the giant python he had just killed.
Hearing Mu Yuan walking towards him, Ling Yan quickly spoke to stop him.
"General, please keep an eye on that sea rat playing dead. We'll rely on it to find the exit in a moment."
As Ling Yan finished speaking, he indeed heard Mu Yuan turn back. So he quickly retrieved a wilderness survival kit from his police equipment space.
Snakeskin could catch fire, but it couldn't produce the kind of flame needed to grill meat like pine wood. He took out the ignition equipment from the kit, started a fire, and the entire cave, in addition to the purple light from the walls, now had the glow of flames.
After starting the fire, Ling Yan also pried a very thin stone slab from the edge of the wall, washed it clean with clear water, and placed it over the fire. He used the nearby snakeskin to conceal the water marks and then quickly retrieved the kit.
After this series of actions, Mu Yuan arrived at Ling Yan's side, carrying the sea rat.
Seeing that the large python that had threatened its life was dead, the sea rat stopped pretending. Its belly was up, its four legs frantically paddling, still not giving up the thought of escape.
Mu Yuan's fox-like eyes glanced at the sea rat, and he said lightly, "Keep struggling, and I'll roast you along with it."
As if understanding his words, the sea rat let out a squeak and became motionless, lying on the ground stiff and continuing to play dead.
Ling Yan watched Mu Yuan and the sea rat interact, tilting his head slightly, and suddenly felt a strange sensation.
While using Mu Yuan's sword to cut the python meat, he asked:
"General, last time we were captured by the spiky-scaled beast, what exactly was the large bird you summoned?"
Mu Yuan propped his head with his right hand, warming his left hand by the fire, his voice sounding lazy:
"It was a Peng bird."
Two years ago, when Mu Yuan had just led the Mu family army to Snowgate Island, he had accidentally saved an egg.
Because of that egg, two horses in the military camp were crushed to death, a considerable loss.
But one could imagine how large an egg that could crush horses would be.
At that time, food on the island was scarce, and many brothers suggested that since it had fallen from the sky, rolling down from the mountain, this giant egg must be a gift from heaven, food for everyone.
Just as the brothers swarmed forward, holding spears and longswords, ready to crack open the giant egg and divide it, Mu Yuan stopped them in time.
Mu Yuan persuaded them that although hunger could make people lose their minds, since there were still radishes and cabbage, they could last until the next supply shipment arrived.
As for the giant egg, a little thought would make it clear.
This egg was already so huge, the creature that laid it must be even larger.
Once this egg's mother came looking for her precious egg and found that her darling had become their meal, wouldn't she turn the entire Snowgate Island upside down?
Thanks to Mu Yuan's timely intervention, sure enough, when the sky-covering Peng bird appeared, the islanders, while marveling at their own insignificance, also rejoiced that they had listened to General Mu Yuan's words and hadn't done anything foolish.
"After I returned the egg to the Peng bird, it said it owed me a favor and that I could summon it if needed. So last time when we encountered danger, at a critical moment, I tried summoning it. Fortunately, it arrived in time and saved us."
After Mu Yuan finished speaking, he didn't feel anything was amiss, until he saw Ling Yan's deep chestnut eyes staring at him, and his breath hitched.
Ling Yan gave Mu Yuan his signature roguish smile, relaxed his entire body against the large snake corpse behind him, raised a single eyebrow, and said in an indifferent tone:
"It seems I've discovered a remarkable secret of the General's."
This time, Mu Yuan finally rediscovered some familiar sensations.
That feeling of being unable to escape the oppressive aura of Ling Yan, the star police captain.
After being "Mu Yuan" for a while, he had gradually become unable to distinguish which memories belonged to himself and which belonged to this General.
Ling Yan didn't explicitly state his thoughts.
He merely said casually—
"Your secret."
And that was enough to make Mu Yuan's heart pound and his palms sweat with apprehension.
Actually, he didn't need to be so flustered. Although what Ling Yan had discovered was indeed a secret, even if he knew it, he would assume it was the secret of this General Mu Yuan.
However, in fact...
It was another coincidence between this General Mu Yuan and him, Mu Yuan.
That was—the ability to communicate and interact with animals and alien beasts.
Just how was this possible?
Mu Yuan felt a surge of agitation in his heart. He kicked the sea rat playing dead with its belly puffed up, as if venting his frustration, then gave a wry smile.
"Alright, you little soldier from the Silver Continent are indeed extraordinary, truly sharp."
Ling Yan's hand slicing the snake meat paused.
He hadn't expected Mu Yuan to confess to him.
"That's right, I can indeed communicate with some animals."
Ling Yan raised a single eyebrow. "Some?"
"Uh, most of them, I guess. At least, I haven't encountered any I couldn't communicate with so far."
"Then, General, could you tell me how you communicate with these animals?"
As an interstellar thief, this innate ability of his was naturally something he wouldn't mention to Ling Yan. He recalled the memories of this original owner, the General.
And generously shared this original owner's secret with Ling Yan.
Mu Yuan was the youngest child in his family, with two older brothers.
But he was Mu Ming's most beloved child.
Since the elders in the family showed favoritism, there would naturally be conflict among the children.
His two older brothers formed a team specifically to bully Mu Yuan.
Mu Yuan was isolated by his brothers. The neighborhood children who dared to approach him would also be bullied by his brothers, and over time, no other children wanted to play with him.
Growing increasingly withdrawn, Mu Yuan's favorite place to go was the small woods behind the Mu family's residence.
Although it was a small woods to adults, it was large enough for little Mu Yuan to explore and release his pent-up emotions.
He probably first discovered his ability to communicate with animals when he suddenly heard a "person" shouting for help in the small garden.
In such a small woods, to hear someone shouting for help truly made Mu Yuan's heart pound.
But when he followed the sound, cautiously pushing aside branches, and saw a small white rabbit caught in a snare, his surprise was no less than before.
"From then on, I tried to communicate with all sorts of animals. If I looked into their eyes and met their gaze, I didn't need to speak; they could understand my heart. If I didn't look into their eyes and wanted to communicate with them, I had to speak."
Saying this, Mu Yuan kicked the sea rat playing dead. "Hey, say something."
*Squeak!*
"Since the General can communicate with them, why didn't you ask for the reason when these alien beasts attacked Snowgate Island before?"
Mu Yuan chuckled inwardly, thinking helplessly: [How would I know why the original owner didn't communicate? I'm new here too, okay?]
Although he thought this way in his heart, he couldn't say it directly to Ling Yan. He cleared his throat and told a lie:
"When these alien beasts attacked, it was completely different from when the Peng bird was looking for its egg last time. They were much more frenzied. And with so many pairs of eyes watching in the Mu family army, I couldn't just not fight and only stare into the eyes of the spiky-scaled beast; that would be too strange."
Mu Yuan's answer left Ling Yan speechless for a moment.
However, what he said did make sense.
[Mei, how is it?]
[Boss, the book *To The Realm Of Flesh* doesn't mention General Mu Yuan's ability to speak with animals. It seems this is a result of the character in the original work developing on its own.]