Barely had Ba Yunye’s shout faded when the king cobra sprayed a jet of venom directly at the eyes of Diao Zhuo, who stood at the front. Fortunately, his eyes happened to be closed at that moment, and the venom splattered entirely across his eyelids. Had they been open, the consequences would have been unthinkable. Even having just narrowly survived, Ba Yunye was so frightened her soul nearly left her body — with his face covered in venom, Diao Zhuo could not open his eyes, and the startled king cobra was in a highly aggressive state. A single bite would be absolutely fatal.
Then it struck Ba Yunye: the crucial piece of information she had overlooked was this — the whole large group had been going around in circles through this forest, without any snake-repellent on them, walking for so long without a single snake encounter. The only possibility was that there was just one dangerous king cobra in this area.
And that one king cobra, as ill luck would have it, had appeared directly in front of Diao Zhuo.
Sure enough, the king cobra reared its body in preparation for a venomous strike. From several meters away, Ba Yunye felt as if ice water had been poured over her. Competing with a snake in speed, even if she pushed herself to her absolute limit and charged forward, she would never reach Diao Zhuo in time…
Though Diao Zhuo could not open his eyes, he had a clear sense that he was in serious danger. He waved his hand, signaling everyone to fall back quickly, and as he retreated he brandished the trekking pole to intimidate his opponent. King cobras are ferocious and exceptionally combative — even when the other party means it no harm, it will still launch an attack. It showed no fear of the trekking pole, flicking its tongue in a hissing stream of sound, then suddenly lunged at Diao Zhuo’s lower leg.
“Diao Zhuo!!” The entire rescue team cried out in alarm, Ba Yunye screaming his name with every last ounce of breath in her body.
Bang!
Someone fired a shot.
The bullet passed just beside the snake’s body — it didn’t hit, but gave the cobra a genuine fright, sending it whipping sharply backward, its entire body emerging from the leaf litter and unfurling like a vivid, patterned ribbon. Good heavens — it measured more than three meters by any estimate, with a body as thick around as a bowl at its widest point.
Seizing the moment, Ba Yunye and the rescue team shoved aside their guards and charged forward together to pull Diao Zhuo back; the king cobra’s second strike nearly closed on the toe of his boot. Bang! Another shot rang out — Red Beard’s aim was sound, and a bullet found the snake’s body. It convulsed, its pale belly and dark brown back twisting together in a deeply unsettling sight.
“Run!” Ba Yunye called out, and the whole group fled in a noisy scramble. Between the illusions and the panic, by the time everyone felt the danger had passed, they had absolutely no idea where they were.
Diao Zhuo used clean water to carefully wash the venom from his face and looked around; everyone was breathing hard. Ba Yunye rushed over and threw her arms around him; he patted her on the back by way of comfort. She had thought their encounter with the criminals was the bad luck — who knew that misfortune can also be fortune: without the criminals’ guns, he would likely be dead of poisoning by now. So whether something is fortune or misfortune, no one can say.
“Damn it! Where are we supposed to go now?!” the Earring Man swore.
“I remember the direction,” Diao Zhuo said. Because he hadn’t been able to open his eyes throughout, he had had the presence of mind to keep track of directions and count his steps. “In a little while, we go back the way we came and continue.”
Ba Yunye looked pensive, glancing over at Diao Zhuo. “In a moment, I’ll walk at the front.”
Before Diao Zhuo could respond, the others in the rescue team spoke up:
“Master Ba, we understand how you feel. Never mind Diao Zhuo — we won’t allow you in front either.”
“How about we take turns leading, twenty minutes each?”
“Goes without saying! We can’t let Diao Zhuo take all the risk alone. Any man worth his salt steps up!”
Red Beard watched them with cold detachment, and when he had rested enough, stood and started walking again. Diao Zhuo led everyone back by memory to the vicinity of the king cobra encounter. When they looked, the snake was still there, but lying motionless, its body still loosely coiled yet hanging slack — it appeared to be dead.
“Hey!” The camouflage-bandana guard grinned with wicked delight. “Dinner’s sorted.”
The other criminals’ eyes lit up at this, all except Red Beard, who maintained his customary air of authority and composure. The camouflage-bandana guard sauntered over cradling his rifle and fired several more shots into the snake’s body, setting it twitching with loud, dull thuds — it writhed weakly in obvious distress, convulsing for a short while before going limp again. He let out a few barking laughs, drew a hunting knife, pressed the snake’s body down with one hand, and with the other began cutting off its head.
“We—” Just as he was about to yank the nearly-severed head free from the body, the snake’s head suddenly gaped wide and clamped down on his finger.
The whole group jolted in shock.
The camouflage-bandana guard howled in immediate agony, frantically tearing the head away and flinging it as far as he could. On pure instinct he ran toward the group sobbing and wailing, screaming for help over and over. The faces of everyone around went grave. Compared to the criminals, who stood there watching a companion stare down death, the rescue team members were far more decent: they immediately pulled open their packs and produced everything that could possibly be useful — Diao Zhuo used a bandage to bind the man’s arm tightly, slowing the venom’s spread through the bloodstream; Da Qin used a disinfected blade to open the wound, flushed it with clean water, and pressed down hard to squeeze out the blood; the camouflage-bandana guard screamed in unrelenting agony, and Liu Ming and the others helped hold him down to prevent him from thrashing, which would speed up his circulation and help the venom spread faster…
Ba Yunye stood to one side watching, and exhaled softly. Everyone knew these emergency measures were merely futile gestures, but they still worked at it with great effort, hoping to save a life.
King cobra venom is a complex mixed toxin, delivered in enormous quantities, with extraordinary potency. Even with immediate hospital treatment, amputation remains a possibility — let alone in a place a day or two’s travel from the nearest clinic.
Half an hour later, the camouflage-bandana guard fell unconscious, delirious with murmured babbling.
Red Beard stepped over the camouflage-bandana guard’s body. This was apparently not the first of his group to be killed by a venomous snake — he seemed entirely unsurprised, and with utter indifference ordered everyone to keep moving without delay. The coldness and cruelty in his heart was on full display.
The other criminals hoisted the enormous snake carcass, and like Red Beard, stepped around the barely-alive camouflage-bandana guard without a word, discussing how they would roast the snake meat after dark — as though everything that had just occurred had never happened.
Afraid the snake’s head might attack the police officers and volunteers who would come searching later, Ba Yunye dug a deep hole, used a stick to pick up the head, dropped it in, and buried it. She looked at the king cobra’s immense body, then looked back at the camouflage-bandana guard who was about to depart this world. If the one who had been bitten had been Diao Zhuo… she didn’t dare think it.
The thought brought to mind a dream she’d once had, and she reflected: even if Diao Zhuo went his own way in the future, found himself a wife and children, and could only exchange a nod when they passed each other on the same street — that would still be better than leaving his life here.
“Hey — are you done? Get up and move.” Li Haozhang pointed his gun at her, urging her to get going.
Ba Yunye gave him a contemptuous look, stood, and pressed the turned-up soil down flat with her foot. Li Haozhang inspected the spot several times to make certain she hadn’t left any markers before again pushing her to catch up.
Diao Zhuo continued to lead at the front; the others all quietly figured out how to get rid of these criminals. Ba Yunye even lifted her head to scan the trees for wild wasp nests, thinking that if she could knock one down and the wasps went into a crazed pursuit, everyone would scatter in all directions… though that approach was the kind that hurt the enemy ten thousand while costing yourself eight thousand — they’d suffer just as badly themselves.
The group walked for a long time. The sky began to darken, but Ba Yunye wasn’t in any hurry; Long Ge was not going to starve in the forest, the worst he’d do was lose a few pounds, and the criminals who had been chasing him were now with them and posed no threat to him. Suddenly one of the criminals called out with excitement: “Ha — a rabbit!”
Everyone followed his pointing finger and saw a large grey rabbit with its back to them, apparently grazing.
The criminals’ appetites stirred again. This time they took careful aim, and with a bang brought the rabbit down, then came back holding it up by its ears with evident satisfaction. In places rarely visited by humans, wildlife was abundant; along the way they had spotted not only rabbits but brilliantly colored pheasants and other birds. The birds, however, moved quickly and kept a wary distance — beyond the criminals’ marksmanship for now.
“Go gather some mushrooms and wild greens while you’re at it,” one criminal instructed. “We’ll have a proper dinner tonight.”
Ba Yunye agreed and wandered through the undergrowth. Some spots had already been stripped of their mushrooms by someone who had come through before — clearly Long Ge; she gathered some of her own and at the same time looked for Long Ge’s markers. Before long, she actually found fresh notches in a tree and eight beads strung together.
The notches were fresh, and the work of someone unhurried — which meant Long Ge had reached this spot without anyone on his heels. Though the people who had been tracking him were now here with them, steadily closing in.
After spending most of the day wandering in circles and then a half-day of hiking, most of the group were exhausted. While the sun had not yet fully set, they each began to make camp. The criminals seized the rescue team’s portable gas stove; the Earring Man set about skinning and cleaning the rabbit, Yellow Hair and Blue Hair got to work cutting up the snake, all of them wearing the bright-eyed look of people preparing a lavish banquet.
Red Beard sat atop a large, upthrust tree root, and — remarkably — produced a copy of Homer’s Iliad in English from his pack and began to read. He seemed utterly absorbed, his lips moving in what appeared to be silent recitation, leaving Ba Yunye completely flabbergasted. Even after Diao Zhuo quietly told her the title and author, she was none the wiser about what the book actually was.
Not that it was her fault — their immediate priority was not acquainting themselves with Homer’s epics, but filling their stomachs.
The Earring Man let out a curse that at first no one paid much attention to, until he walked over carrying the skinned, blood-soaked rabbit in one hand and the freshly removed internal organs in the other, and everyone’s attention was drawn to what he was holding. “How did the rabbit end up with this inside it?!” The organs were a mass of blood and flesh; the criminals crowded around and frowned at it for a long while before Li Haozhang’s voice broke through: “Isn’t that a mouse’s skull?”
A mouse’s skull found inside a rabbit’s stomach was beyond all rational explanation. The rescue team and mountaineering club members looked at one another blankly, completely at a loss.
The Earring Man tossed a mouse’s skull and a tail found inside the rabbit’s stomach on the ground and went back to cutting up the carcass.
Staring at the blood-soaked mouse remains, Diao Zhuo felt a faint, disquieting wrongness. He glanced at Red Beard, who was also looking at the rabbit with an expression that suggested deep reflection. One could say that from the moment the electronic devices all failed, many things had begun to change — to change in ways that exceeded what people had previously understood to be possible.
Diao Zhuo firmly believed that there were blind spots and new territories in this world that human knowledge had not yet reached, but whether those blind spots and new territories could overturn existing understanding still required observation and proof.
Ba Yunye rubbed her eyes and looked at Diao Zhuo; he shook his head and sent her a signal that said wait and watch. She let out a long breath and continued foraging for edible mushrooms. The trouble was that the mushrooms nearby had already been picked clean; she told Li Haozhang she needed to go further afield to find more.
Li Haozhang immediately reported to Red Beard, then relayed the answer: “You go alone. I’ll come with you.”
“I’d love the company,” she said with a smile that didn’t reach her eyes.
He glared at her. “In your dreams.” He pointed at Diao Zhuo. “Keep an eye on this one.”
Diao Zhuo gave him a look of disdain and turned away, then said to Ba Yunye: “Be careful.” His fingers simultaneously tapped out two characters: the big picture.
Ba Yunye made an “OK” gesture and set off with an empty backpack. If she alone had been in danger, she might have risked everything and gone for it — but as Diao Zhuo had said, with the big picture at stake, her lone act of bravery would only get the others killed. So she would make no rash moves.
Walking a stretch further, the mushrooms grew plentiful again. She found several of the sort that might generously be called “feeds-the-whole-village mushrooms” — brightly colored, of bizarre shape. The idea of picking them and slipping them into the criminals’ food…
Li Haozhang seemed to read her mind and gave a quiet cough of warning.
Ba Yunye pretended she hadn’t been scheming anything and continued picking mushrooms. Soon she found another variety, not particularly brightly colored but equally toxic. With an expressionless face she turned her back, quickly picked a handful with her left hand, then pretended to pick other mushrooms and quietly pocketed the poisonous ones in her trouser pocket, reminding herself not to touch any other mushrooms or food with her left hand until she had washed it.
“Tell me something,” Ba Yunye suddenly asked. “Ma He — I mean the Hippo — what exactly does he do in your circles? Is he a spy sent by He Zhengren to keep tabs on me and steal intelligence?”
“Him…” Li Haozhang seemed to hold Ma He in rather low regard. “He’s just a minor errand boy. Mostly drives a car. As for spying… I think you’ve watched too many TV dramas. Driving doesn’t pay well in your neck of the woods — why wouldn’t he look for other work?”
“Is that right? But from what I hear, ever since Ma He went over to He Zhengren’s side, you’ve been sidelined and left kicking your heels — clearly, even when it comes to driving, you lost out to him.”
Li Haozhang remained unfazed. “Ha. If he likes being a driver, no one’s stopping him.”
“Where did you get that gun? Looks like foreign-made goods,” Ba Yunye asked.
“Shut up, or I’ll put a bullet in you!” Li Haozhang’s expression hardened.
Ba Yunye just gave an indifferent smile. Having survived genuine firefights, she knew that if someone had truly decided to kill you, they didn’t give you a chance to speak — they simply pulled the trigger. Anyone who said something like that was either still hesitating to act, or hadn’t yet reached the moment when they could. Besides, his grip on the gun was far too sloppy; if it weren’t for Diao Zhuo repeatedly warning her not to be impulsive or reckless, she’d have disarmed him in no time flat.
Before long, her pack was half-full of fresh mushrooms, all smelling wonderfully fragrant. Bending down to keep searching, she noticed a short white object stuck upright in the ground not far away, and on closer inspection realized it was not a bone at all — it was a mushroom stalk with two caps growing from it, milky white, pitted and lumpy, resembling bone only in color. She had never seen this type of mushroom before and naturally dared not touch it. She was about to look elsewhere when she suddenly recalled something Long Ge had once boasted about: “grave mushrooms,” also known as “coffin mushrooms” — supposedly identical in appearance to what lay before her now. Long Ge had said grave mushrooms grew exclusively in places where a corpse lay buried.