Chapter 257: 257: Snake’s Smile II
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Then Snake looked back at John. "They do not collect to protect. They collect to own. They will call it ’secure containment.’ They will call it ’public safety.’ They will call it ’national interest.’"
Snake’s smile did not change.
His eyes, however, looked older for a moment.
"They will take it," Snake said. "And if you resist, they will take you too."
John’s throat tightened. "I will hide it."
Snake nodded once. "Good."
Fizz floated closer to John’s shoulder, voice low and sharp. "How did they even feel it. It was small."
Snake answered without being asked. "Void is not loud, Professor Fizz. Void is strange. People feel strange and they look for the cause."
Fizz’s ears drooped. "So the ant is basically a walking rumor."
Snake smiled. "Yes. A rumor with legs."
John forced his face to remain calm. "No one connected it to me."
Snake’s eyes warmed slightly. "Not yet."
The two words landed like stones.
John did not flinch. He only said, "What do I do?"
Snake looked pleased, as if John had chosen the correct question.
"You restrict it," Snake said. "No wandering. No windows without your command."
John’s eyes narrowed. "How?"
Snake’s voice stayed calm. "Control. Discipline. Training."
Fizz muttered, "That sounds like suffering."
Snake nodded. "Yes. It is."
John did not like vague answers, but he understood something else.
Snake was not here to teach Nyx.
Snake was here to make sure John did not lose control of something Snake wanted to keep close.
John’s stomach tightened at that thought, but he swallowed it down. He could not prove it. He could not fight it.
He could only be careful.
Snake’s gaze shifted slightly, as if changing topics casually.
"And your auction," Snake said.
John’s attention snapped back. "The paperwork."
Snake nodded. "In process."
Fizz perked instantly. "Ah. The money festival."
Snake gave the smallest smile. "Yes. The money festival."
Then Snake looked at John again. "The royal registry does not approve unknown artifacts easily. They want origin. They want a maker. They want lineage."
John kept his voice steady. "My identity stays hidden."
"It will," Snake said. "I have layers."
Fizz leaned forward. "Layers like cake."
Snake paused as if considering whether to entertain that. "Yes," he said dryly. "Like cake."
Fizz looked pleased.
Snake continued, returning to the main point. "The permission is close. You will have the right to sell under a registered shop name. ’Fizz Holdings.’ The public name will be the shop. The private name will remain buried."
John’s chest loosened slightly. "When."
"Soon," Snake said. "Not tomorrow. But soon."
Fizz whispered loudly, "Soon is a cruel word."
Snake glanced at him. "Yes."
Snake then added, as if tossing something small into the air, "Your friend Gael is competent."
John did not answer.
Snake’s eyes sharpened again. "But competence attracts attention. Attention attracts questions. Questions attract thieves and nobles and inspectors."
John nodded slowly. "I know."
Snake’s smile returned, calm and kind again, like the previous warnings had not been threats at all. "Good. Then you will proceed carefully. You will sell enough to build desire, not enough to build panic. You will let the name grow, not the face."
Fizz nodded solemnly as if hearing holy scripture. "Name good. Face hidden. Snacks secured."
John shot him a look.
Fizz pretended he had not spoken.
Snake turned slightly toward the wash curtain.
John’s body went tense again.
Snake did not approach it. He simply spoke, casually.
"Do not let Nyx out inside the academy grounds," Snake said. "Not again."
John swallowed. "Understood."
Snake’s eyes returned to John. "If you need a place to test Nyx, you will request one. Quiet. Controlled. Under my authority."
John’s jaw tightened. "So you will watch."
Snake’s smile did not change. "So you will live."
Fizz muttered, very quietly, "He is too calm."
Snake heard anyway. His eyes flicked to Fizz. "I am old. Calm is what keeps you alive when you have more enemies than friends."
Fizz puffed. "I have many followers."
Snake’s gaze was polite. "You have friends."
Fizz froze. "Same thing."
Snake let that sit for a second, then turned back to John.
He spoke more gently now. "You handled the retrieval well. You did not panic in public. You did not sprint like a guilty child."
John did not know whether to accept that as praise or warning.
He only nodded once. "Thank you."
Snake’s smile widened slightly. "Do not thank me. Thank your own discipline."
Then Snake stepped toward the door as if the visit had been nothing more than a casual check-in.
At the threshold, Snake paused and looked back.
His eyes held John’s again.
"One more thing," Snake said. "If you feel watched, you are."
John’s spine chilled.
Snake smiled like it was a joke.
Then he stepped out into the corridor and closed the door behind him with gentle care, like someone putting a lid on a pot.
John stood still for a full breath after the latch clicked.
Then he exhaled slowly.
Fizz’s glow returned, brighter now, as if he had been holding himself dim on purpose.
Fizz drifted closer and sniffed the air like a suspicious dog.
Snake’s smell lingered in the room.
Old paper. Ink. Smoke. Dry herbs. Something sharp beneath it, like metal hidden under velvet.
Fizz’s nose wrinkled. "He smells like book dust and secrets."
John’s jaw tightened. "Yes."
Fizz floated up and down once. "And he knows."
John nodded.
Fizz’s voice dropped. "He said the royal office collects trophies. That means if they find Nyx, they will put it in a box."
John’s chest tightened again. "Yes."
Fizz leaned closer, eyes hard now. "Then we do not let them find it."
John’s voice was flat and sure. "No one finds it."
Fizz nodded sharply, then tried to return to normal by forcing humor back into his voice. "Also, I hate that he called my followers. As my friends. They are my fans."
John did not answer. He moved to the window crack and closed it fully.
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