Xia Xiaolan saw Zhou Cheng whispering with an instructor for a while before the two headed into the woods.

Zhou Cheng’s expression wasn’t good.

Though in the freshmen’s eyes, the big devil king always wore a cold face, as his girlfriend, Xia Xiaolan could distinguish between when Zhou Cheng was genuinely serious and when he was just putting on airs.

Right now, his seriousness was genuine.

What had happened?

Xia Xiaolan’s cooking skills were mediocre; even with a modern kitchen, her dishes were just passable. For this outdoor cooking task, she was assigned to wash rice by the stream.

The ingredients they brought were limited – just rice and noodles, plus some cabbage and potatoes, with only salt for seasoning. Under these conditions, Xia Xiaolan had even less confidence in her culinary skills, so she honestly stuck to helping out. Ning Xue was assigned similar tasks – this flower of the Architecture Department, whom classmates couldn’t bear to see stationed at the smoke-filled stove. Ning Xue had more outdoor camping experience than most people.

Xia Xiaolan kept glancing toward the woods when Ning Xue suddenly said in a low voice: “Ji Jiangyuan and Xiong Baiyan’s group has been in the woods for over half an hour.”

Was that why Zhou Cheng took an instructor to look for them – because Ji Jiangyuan’s group hadn’t returned?

That made sense!

Then Xia Xiaolan found it strange that Ning Xue, who seemed indifferent to everything, was aware of all the details happening around them. Everyone well-informed knew Xiong Baiyan had trained in track and field, but regarding Ji Jiangyuan, it wasn’t just knowing he’d returned from America – she even knew he was a regional champion in some IPSC association competition… How did Ning Xue have time to pay attention to all this?

“You’re not thinking of going to look for them, are you?”

Who was Ning Xue concerned about – Xiong Baiyan or Ji Jiangyuan?

Going into the mountain forest to search would be completely irrational; Xia Xiaolan would stop her.

Ning Xue stared at the clear water surface, shaking her head very calmly, “No, I won’t go look. What we need to do right now is not cause more trouble.”

Ning Xue picked up the washed cabbage to take back.

The mountain breeze cleared Xia Xiaolan’s head – had she just been subtly looked down upon by Ning Xue again? Why did Ning Xue randomly bring up Ji Jiangyuan and Xiong Baiyan going into the woods and not returning? Did she think Xia Xiaolan would go looking for them and was indirectly telling her not to go?!

Heaven knows, she was only concerned about Zhou Cheng’s well-being and hadn’t even noticed Ji Jiangyuan’s group’s movements.

“These students probably just got lost while gathering firewood…”

The instructor was making excuses for Ji Jiangyuan’s group, worried Zhou Cheng would punish them when found. Male students easily bonded with instructors, and after ten days of training, the instructors had become “friends” with Ji Jiangyuan’s batch. Besides, with the “Outstanding Graduate Class” evaluation ongoing, the instructor wanted his trainees to get good scores.

“At a time like this, you still have the mood to cover for them. Let’s find them first, we’ll deal with the rest later!”

The nearby forest had been pre-scouted by local people, and there weren’t any large wild animals. Zhou Cheng was worried they might slip and roll down some steep slope.

As for which direction Ji Jiangyuan’s group had gone, they couldn’t hide it from Zhou Cheng.

In the usually deserted forest, recent human passage left traces – fallen grass, and broken branches all showed where people had passed.

They broke off two thick tree branches to probe their way, moving to startle any snakes in the grass first. In September, snakes hadn’t hibernated yet, and the crisp autumn weather was exactly when they liked to be active. The instructor called out Ji Jiangyuan’s group’s names as they walked. After 20 minutes, Zhou Cheng heard movement.

“Shh.”

“Instructor, we’re here…”

Indeed someone answered, their voice deliberately suppressed and slightly trembling.

Zhou Cheng and the instructor carefully approached, discovering Ji Jiangyuan, Xiong Baiyan, and another male student had fallen into a pit.

Surrounded by weeds, they probably fell when one person slipped and the others tried to grab him, resulting in all of them falling in.

“You three—”

“Shh!”

The instructor was angry – they couldn’t climb out of a two-meter-deep pit?

Was their military training all for nothing?!

Zhou Cheng interrupted him, telling him not to speak. Following Zhou Cheng’s pointing finger, the instructor saw why the three grown men dared not move – there were snakes at the bottom of the pit!

“Grass flyers… 5 of them.”

The instructor felt his mouth go dry.

“Grass flyer” was the local term for North Hebei’s venomous snake, scientifically known as the Ussurian pit viper. Unlike ordinary pit vipers, it was exceptionally fast in attacking. When moving through grass clusters, its color matched dead grass, and its speed was like flying!

Ji Jiangyuan’s group had fallen into a snake nest!

They’d also angered these snakes, which were now coiled up, facing off against the three men, ready to strike at any moment.

No wonder they didn’t dare move and kept their voices especially low, afraid of startling the venomous snakes.

The instructor looked to Zhou Cheng for help.

They now had two wooden poles, the instructor had a rifle, and Zhou Cheng carried his usual handgun.

Zhou Cheng took out the instructor’s roll call notebook from his jacket pocket and wrote: “I’ll pass the gun and poles to you. On my command, each of you flick away the snake closest to you at once. I’ll handle the remaining two snakes.”

Ji Jiangyuan nodded. Xiong Baiyan and the other students weren’t small-hearted either – if they hadn’t fallen into the pit and been surrounded by snakes if three people didn’t have to face five snakes at once, they would have tried catching the snakes already.

Now with Zhou Cheng and the instructor appearing, the three had backup.

Zhou Cheng and the instructor slowly passed down the poles and rifle.

Zhou Cheng thought a moment, then wrote again: “Ji Jiangyuan, you are forbidden to shoot!”

The rifle’s length was sufficient; there was no need to shoot. Zhou Cheng worried he might miss and startle the snakes.

Ji Jiangyuan was quite disappointed as he watched Zhou Cheng take out his handgun. Could Zhou Cheng handle two snakes alone? These Ussurian pit vipers, fully grown, were only 50 centimeters long, about thumb-thick, and once startled, moved extremely fast. Could Zhou Cheng hit them?!

Ji Jiangyuan was curious but had to follow Zhou Cheng’s plan.

Zhou Cheng repeatedly confirmed which snake each person would handle, while placing his hand on the gun chamber.

“Now!”

Just as Xiong Baiyan and Ji Jiangyuan’s poles touched the snakes, Zhou Cheng had already completed chambering and firing.

“Bang! Bang! Bang!”

At such close range, it was rapid point shooting.

Why three shots? Because the other student was too nervous and failed to flick away his snake. The Ussurian pit viper slid down the pole toward his foot, about to bite his ankle when Zhou Cheng’s third shot hit its head, blasting it to pieces just 2 centimeters from his shoe!

The student stumbled back two steps, scared and stiff against the pit wall.

He had just faced either being bitten by a snake or hit by a bullet!

As for Ji Jiangyuan, his hands gripped the rifle tightly – so this was Chief Instructor Zhou’s true ability? Three rapid shots at small, fast-moving targets, each a headshot! And not hitting large human heads, but snake heads the size of coins!