Psycho little snake tamed by the dragon king

21) Underground tunnel

"Wen Xiao" Pei Sijing screamed as she ran to the hole, the others close behind her.

"I'm okay" Wen Xiao called from below. "It's not that deep"

"Wait there, Goddess" Ying Lei said. "I'll come down for you"

Before he could move, Pei Sijing hurried forward. "I'll go" she said, looking down.

"There's a ladder down here" Wen Xiao added from below.

"It looks like a door to an underground storage or something" little Snake spoke up, "It's may be an old storage room. The floor must have rotted and collapsed under our weight."

Pei Sijing carefully climbed down the ladder. When she reached the bottom, she saw Wen Xiao sitting on the ground, smiling despite being clearly injured.

"You said you were okay" Sijing scolded.

"It's just minor injuries. I'll be fine" Wen Xiao replied.

Sijing knelt down to check the wound on Wen Xiao's leg. "Let's go back up. Bai Jiu can treat you."

"Wait" Wen Xiao stopped her by grabbing her hand. "Look at that."

Sijing turned to see what Wen Xiao was pointing at. She realized she hadn't noticed their surroundings because she was focused on Wen Xiao. They weren't in a storage room after all, it was a tunnel. The only light came from the hole above, and everything else was pitch black.

Sijing pulled a small bamboo pole from her waist, opened its cap, and blew into it a few times until it lit up with fire. Holding it up, she examined the tunnel. It was long, with unlit torches lining both sides. Using her bamboo torch, she lit one, and one by one, the rest of the torches began to light, illuminating the tunnel.

"I think the others need to come down" she said.

"It's a big tunnel" Pei Siheng said as everyone climbed down. Little Jiu treated Wen Xiao's wound with help from Pei Sijing. The others explored the tunnel further in.

"This was made by humans" Ying Lei said. "And I can smell Chenhuo's tracks everywhere."

"Look here" Little Snake said, pointing to a small hole in the tunnel wall.

"It looks like the Chenhuo connected their tunnels to this one" the Dragon King said. "If we follow this tunnel, we might find their nest. But I think we should prepare and come back later."

"That's true" Pei Siheng agreed. "Even though they're small creatures, there must be a lot of them."

"They're active at night, so they must be resting now" Little Snake said. "It's better if we come back during the day. Let's go prepare and return tomorrow."

"How about we go further in and check things out?" Pei Siheng suggested.

"Let's not alert them for now" said the Dragon King. "From their actions, they probably have a leader too. That'll be more trouble."

As they came out and reached the front of the house, they saw the old lady standing there, looking around, confused. When she heard them, she turned to face them.

"Oh no" Ying Lei said. "Didn't you say you put her to sleep?" he whispered.

"I didn't use much sleeping powder because of her age" Little Snake whispered back. "What if she never woke up?"

"You" the old lady screamed, pointing her finger at them. Her eyes narrowed when she saw Little Snake holding the Dragon King's hand. "You're the ones hurting him! Let me just-"

She looked around and grabbed a broom. Raising it, she held it like a weapon.

"Wait, no" Little Snake said, stepping in front of her. "It's not what you think. They're here for a job."