Chapter 1 The White Snake Tattoo

• Were girls with tattoos considered indecent? This was prejudice! Since tattoos had become trendy, and for the sake of individuality and beauty, even girls would get tattoos. However, one must ensure that they get their tattoos from a professional!
• Due to me being a cheapskate, something terrible happened after I had the tattoo and nearly died as a result.
• Celeste Loughby was my name and I was 20 years old. There was a brown birthmark the size of a fist under my collarbone, which was why I wouldn't dare to wear low-collared clothing. After trying to get rid of it twice with laser treatment, the birthmark grew again within half a year and the color deepened. As a result, I was afraid to undergo laser treatment again.
• When I started college, my roommate noticed my birthmark and told me I could get a tattoo to cover it up. Coincidentally, her family owned a tattoo parlor, and she even showed me a carp tattooed on her back shoulder. The brightly colored fish looked great on fair skin, so I was slightly tempted to do it. After asking her for the address, I went there the following day.
• The shop was located on Windmill Street. It had a small door, and her father was the only one in the shop. The interior decoration of the shop was elegant and antique, but a foul odor permeated the air. I thought it was the smell of pigments, so I didn't pay much attention.
• My friend's last name was Yales, so I addressed her father as Mr. Yales. After hearing that I wanted to cover up my birthmark, he took out a box wrapped in animal skin from behind the counter, opened it, and pulled an album out.
• As he flipped through the album and showed it to me, he said, "Since you're Mindy's friend, I'll be honest with you. Your birthmark is too large and dark to be covered by an ordinary tattoo. I have a special pigment that can guarantee to cover up your birthmark, but I can only draw the ones available on this album."
• All the images in the album were dragons, phoenixes, and other monsters or beasts. Imagine a girl getting a green dragon tattoo! Wouldn't that look too tough?
• "Mr. Yales, don't you have other patterns that are more feminine? Like flowers or something."
• "Tattooing flowers in front of your chest has a bad meaning. How about this?" He turned the album to the last page.
• The last image was of a white snake with silver scales that glistened as if reflecting the sunlight. It looked nothing like an image but a real snake coiling on paper. It's beautiful, but tattooing a snake…
• "I'll do it for you at no cost. If I cannot cover up your birthmark, there will be no charge. If I can, then you will only be charged half the price. You are beautiful, so you can help me to promote my shop in school." Since Mr. Yales could tell that I was still hesitating, he added, "There are a lot of young girls getting snake tattoos these days because they think it looks beautiful. Since you're Mindy's friend, I won't lie to you."
• I grew up in a single-parent household and wasn't rich, so upon hearing that I could get a beautiful snake tattoo for half the price, I immediately agreed. So, I followed him to the workshop. The workshop was small; there was only a bed, his tools, a table on one side and a tablet on the table, but the tablet was blank. Nothing was written on it.
• As soon as I entered the workshop, the stench odor intensified, and it seemed as if something had rotten, which was very pungent. I covered my nose and asked, "Mr. Yales, what is that smell?"
• Instead of answering my question, he pretended not to smell it. He told me to lie on the bed while he went to the table beside me, lit three candles, and mumbled something I couldn't hear.
• After that was done, he walked over and held my hand. Suddenly, I felt a sharp pain, and I looked down to see that he had poked my finger with a needle, causing blood to quickly drip into the tattoo ink bottle.
• Then, he held the ink bottle up and smiled at me with his head lowered. "It'll hurt a little. Try to bear with it."
• Mr. Yales was a skinny man with a pallid face. When he smiled, his eyes crinkled into a slit and with his lips curved upward, he looked… like a gray rat. My thoughts had frightened me and by the time I tried to focus again, I saw him concentrating on drawing the tattoo for me with a serious expression on his face.
• Sure enough, I was hallucinating.
• He had tattooed meticulously, which took him more than two hours to finish the job. Once he was done, I could see a white snake on my chest with its body covered in silver scales that looked incredibly realistic. However, the brown birthmark underneath the white snake was still visible, which created an unsightly image of the white snake swimming in mud.
• "It didn't even cover my birthmark." I regret getting the tattoo.
• However, Mr. Yales seemed pretty satisfied with his artwork. When he realized I was on the verge of tears, he finally comforted me, "Your birthmark will disappear after tonight. If it's still there, come back and find me tomorrow."
• Since his shop was here, and he was the father of my classmate, I thought he would not be able to run somewhere else, so I agreed to wait it out for a day.
• Back in the dormitory, I didn't show it to others because the tattoo was ugly, so I went to bed early.
• As I was dozing off in the middle of the night, I felt a huge, cold hand sliding into my pajamas. This sensation caused goosebumps all over my body, especially the areas that he had touched. I shuddered and opened my eyes. When the moonlight streamed through the window, I glimpsed a man holding me down in the dimly lit room.
• The man had a very handsome face with three-dimensional features, fair skin, dark orbs, and a perfect face shape. When I looked at him, my heart began to race uncontrollably. It wasn't because of butterflies but because of fear. From such a close distance, I could clearly feel his cold breath, and his neck was covered with silver scales. He looked like… a snake!