The garbage station was exceptionally quiet in the dead of night.
A King Cobra, over four meters long, slowly slithered out of the garbage station.
Its scales shone with a glossy blackness, its neck gradually flattening from a cylindrical shape, its eyes gleaming fiercely as it opened its mouth to send a warning "hiss" towards Ansheng.
The pattern and scale color on the King Cobra from the garbage station were vastly different from an ordinary King Cobra, marking it as a fierce mutant.
Foxes are not part of the King Cobra's diet.
Yet it still exuded viciousness, viewing Ansheng as one of its prey.
"Ying ying..."
Instead of retreating in fear, Ansheng wagged his tail and began to side-step, trying to move into the blind spot of the King Cobra's field of view.
"Kid! Do you know who I was in my past life? I was the notorious Song Jiang of South City Tea Street!"
"I enjoy shady business (stuff) and am quite famous on South City Tea Street!"
Ansheng had a mischievous smile, vigorously wagging his tail to distract the King Cobra, while murmuring, making the cobra that was glaring at him suddenly confused.
There was no story between Ansheng and the King Cobra; their first encounter was a big accident.
The King Cobra, in a way, should be the beast king of Changxi Town, with a great spirit.
It never clashed with the villagers, only ruling from the trash cans and garbage station.
On that day, Ansheng had just had a meal at the village chief's home during his second return to Changxi Town.
As he passed by a roadside trash can, the King Cobra, sensing something, lifted its head, staring fixedly at Ansheng.
This... estrange beggar poses a threat! This person must not be left alive!
Without any warning, the King Cobra shot out from the trash can, attacking Ansheng as he passed with a bottle of Maotai.
If it weren't for Yu Xueqing pulling Ansheng away that day, Ansheng would have had to straighten out the whole snake and bend it into beautiful legs.
"Hiss——"
Seeing Ansheng shaking his head and wagging his tail, diverting attention while approaching in circles.
The King Cobra, sensing its initial advantage slipping away, prepared to strike; otherwise, it might find itself cornered and bludgeoned by the fox.
The King Cobra swiftly slithered while spitting venom at Ansheng's eyes, aiming to create an opportunity for an ambush.
"You shady bastard!"
Ansheng ducked abruptly, dodging the flying venom, springing upright and leaping backward,
As the King Cobra charged, Ansheng miraculously raised his paw like a human, delivering a punch squarely on the snake's exposed neck.
"Smack——"
The almost twenty-pound King Cobra, as if hit by a cargo van, was sent flying onto the asphalt road, dazed and seeing stars.
Ansheng, with all four legs, quickly circled behind the King Cobra and placed a fox paw on its head.
"Shady bastard! Who goes hunting with a pot lid flapping in the air!"
Ansheng extended two fox claws, holding the pot lid firmly on the ground and smashing it hard.
The King Cobra's head, hitting the asphalt repeatedly, remained silent throughout.
"Bang bang bang——"
Under Ansheng's soft pats, the King Cobra bowed hundreds of times in an instant, with the lid flying and the snake straightening out.
"Haven't pressed spicy sticks in a while, this brings me such joy...."
Ansheng gradually exhaled a breath of relief, looking at the prone King Cobra with a smug smile.
Previously living in the north area of Xia, the woods were home to roe deer, wild boars, plump bamboo rats, and occasionally black bears and tigers.
Ansheng couldn't handle those large creatures, only the spicy sticks and rodents obeyed him.
Ansheng was highly experienced with pressing spicy sticks in the woods.
The spicy sticks were too slow to cast spells, usually Ansheng only needed to circle and kick to roast them over a fire.
"Pack it up!"
Ansheng licked the corner of his mouth, resisting the temptation to suck the shady stuff, before fetching a burlap sack from the garbage station.
He stuffed the King Cobra into the sack, dragging it as he walked up the hill.
Ansheng hadn't forgotten that today's main task was investigating the cause of the pest infestation in Ah Qing's family tea field.
The King Cobra was a mighty weapon against the mice, otherwise, he wouldn't have gone to the garbage station to fight it.
Why watch a big snake shit around when you can stink it up at the garbage station.
"Sss—"
Ansheng tied the sack with a rope, sprinting along the road and dragging the King Cobra uphill.
The burlap sack rustled against the asphalt with a consistent "rustling" noise.
Sitting in his yard, sipping tea and enjoying the cool breeze, Chen Fengshui heard the strange sound and peeked out, immediately seeing a fox dragging a sack and sprinting. The village chief's eye twitched slightly: "......"
In the dead of night, a white fox, dragging a heavy sack and sprinting.... ask the chief for his thoughts?
Chen Fengshui withdrew his wandering gaze, seriously lowering his head to look at his phone, muttering to himself:
"Times have progressed, technology has advanced, and the legal system has improved, touching something over two years will yield less than two years...."
"Retirement is near, let spirits be spirits, don't get kicks from licking a cat's butt."
"Winning means prison time, losing means a hospital stay followed by prison time."
The chief glanced at his house door, picked up the tape measure on the windowsill, measuring whether his door was skewed.
.......
Passing by the old Chen's without stopping, as Ansheng was racing against time.
It took half an hour to reach the hill, another half to climb it.
Greeting old Chen and asking for water would have to wait until the return trip down the hill.
Spending nearly forty minutes, Ansheng reached over 1600 meters above sea level, with Downhill Road Tea Plantation on the other side, where Yu Xueqing's family leased their tea field.
"Squeak squeak squeak?"
At night, Downhill Road Tea Plantation was livelier than in the morning with faint squeaks resonating from all directions,
Well-fed mountain mice, squeaking in Downhill Road Tea Plantation, reproducing and living.
In the moonlight, Ansheng could clearly see the male mountain mice driving large vehicles.
"The name of this tea plantation is awful, and the atmosphere here is downright debauched!"
The heavy odor emanating from the mountain mice made Ansheng's expression grow odd; the mountain mice were far more numerous than before.
Mice do reproduce quickly, but Ansheng previously released over thirty different snakes here.
No matter how fast mountain mice reproduce, can they really outpace thirty-something snakes' feeding rate?
True, the mice in Xia Dong region are plump and strong; however, aggressive and greedy mountain mice measure no larger than seventeen centimeters at most,
Could they have overpowered more than thirty large snakes?
Ansheng refused to believe it.
But the fact lay before him; the previously released snakes had vanished, while the mountain mice were partying on the hillside.
Yu Xueqing's tea field... unquestionably suspicious.
With this thought, Ansheng glanced at the just-awakened, indignant King Cobra glaring at him.
"I didn't intend for this to happen, but based on the current situation, sending up this shady stuff.... might kill it."
In the forest, although mice dig holes, a fox's talent for digging is equally advantageous.
In the city, marriage requires cars and houses, but foxes also need dens for marriage, with skills in digging burrows and constructing luxurious homes, rivaling those of dam-building beavers.
The abnormal reproduction of mice requires eliminating the cause of this anomaly——
"Ying ying ying——"
Ansheng's face turned serious, hopping into the tea field with loud murmurings akin to a class supervisor lurking behind during self-study sessions.
"Having a party without inviting me, you Xia Dong mice are self-centered indeed!"
"Such behavior, do not blame me for visiting your houses now!"
"Now, inspection!"