"When the core body temperature drops to 30°C, the hypothalamic temperature regulation center fails, blood vessels abnormally dilate, and skin blood flow surges, causing a feeling of heat,"
Maxwell examined several snake-man corpses with a grave expression, pondering, "The brain's pain and fear perception disappear, facial muscles relax, and the corners of the mouth naturally lift, forming a 'frozen smile'."
"Wait,"
Dylan hesitated, "I remember watching on the Discovery Channel when I was a kid, snakes are supposed to be cold-blooded, right?"
"Snakes are cold-blooded, snake-men are not,"
As he spoke, Maxwell used a little knife to cut open along the spine to the tail of a snake-man corpse, revealing brown fat, "Snake-men are between warm-blooded and cold-blooded animals, with a basal metabolic rate relatively lower than humans but can rely on the thermal inertia of their thick, long tails to regulate body temperature."
