Darkness fell without warning. Qin Sang could only vaguely discern Da Huang's position, but she had no idea what kind of danger lay ahead.
"Woof! Woof! Woof!"
The frantic, fearful, and urgent barking made Qin Sang's heart tighten. Ignoring everything else, she pulled a pair of night-vision goggles from her space and put them on.
Soon, she could faintly see Da Huang's shadow leaping continuously in the darkness ahead.
She could also see a figure lying on the ground not far in front of Da Huang; it should be Zhou Lin.
Zhou Lin was rolling and struggling on the ground. Upon closer inspection, Qin Sang saw a snake nearly as thick as an adult's arm coiled around him.
Zhou Lin was currently clutching the snake's neck to keep himself from being bitten, but the snake's body coiled around his throat was constantly tightening. If she didn't save him, Zhou Lin would be strangled to death by the snake even if he wasn't bitten.
Qin Sang didn't hesitate and took out a stun gun from her space. This was a high-power stun gun, with a current much stronger than a typical electric baton.
The Mall's description said that five seconds of continuous discharge could take down a water buffalo.
Qin Sang shouted loudly to the others catching up behind her:
"Be careful, everyone! It's a giant snake!"
As she spoke, she ran quickly toward Zhou Lin with the stun gun in hand.
"Woof! Woof! Woof!" Perhaps seeing Qin Sang's arrival, Da Huang's barking became less fearful.
Following Qin Sang as she approached the giant snake, the dog lunged forward and bit directly onto the snake's tail.
The giant snake hissed in pain, shook off Zhou Lin's hand that was gripping its neck, and turned its head to open its massive maw at Da Huang. Seeing that Da Huang was about to lose his life to the snake, Qin Sang instantly activated the stun gun. The buzzing sound of the current immediately spread through the snake's entire body.
Suspended in mid-air, the giant snake instantly began to thrash and sway wildly.
"Ying..." Da Huang's mouth went numb from the electricity. He jumped to the side and hid behind Qin Sang, whimpering softly.
"Zhou Lin, hang in there..."
Qin Sang gripped the stun gun tightly and pressed it against the snake's body, releasing the current for a full ten seconds.
With a "thud," the giant snake's head slumped and it fell to the ground.
The snake's body coiling around Zhou Lin loosened. Once Qin Sang confirmed there was no more threat, she quickly stored the stun gun and night-vision goggles back into her warehouse.
"Da Zhuang's Mother?"
Hunter Xu was the first to arrive, holding a lit torch. Seeing Qin Sang's back, he hurried forward:
"What happened?"
Xu Hu also ran over:
"Auntie... a snake? Such a big snake?"
Tian Sangui was not far behind Xu Hu. When he saw the arm-thick giant snake lying before Qin Sang, his legs went weak, and he nearly collapsed to the ground.
But seeing the back of his Mother, who was facing away from him, Tian Sangui was instantly filled with strength again. He took two steps forward and asked anxiously:
"Mother? Mother, are you okay?"
Qin Sang waved her hand:
"Quickly, chop the snake and move its body away. Zhou Lin is suffocating."
Hunter Xu raised his blade and brought it down, severing the giant snake in two and kicking the pieces far away. Everyone immediately rushed forward to pull the pinned Zhou Lin out.
Qin Sang checked the pulse under his neck. Zhou Lin had already been strangled by the snake, and then he was hit by her stun gun's electricity; his heart had stopped.
Qin Sang immediately knelt on both knees and began CPR. The others didn't know what Qin Sang was doing, but no one stepped forward to disturb her.
Given that giant snake just now, they didn't know what means Qin Sang had used to knock it out. Now that she was clearly trying to save him, they were afraid that even a single sound from them might ruin things.
Qin Sang repeatedly compressed Zhou Lin's chest for about five minutes. Suddenly, Zhou Lin took a deep breath and began to cough:
"Cough, cough..."
Everyone's faces lit up with joy:
"He's awake! He's awake! Zhou Lin is awake!"
"Da Zhuang's Mother is truly amazing; she can even bring the dead back to life..."
"It's good that he's alive. It's good that he's alive. Otherwise, how would we explain this when we get back?"
Everyone was sighing with emotion. Qin Sang was also drenched in sweat. She let her strength go and sat to the side, saying crossly:
"You just went to take a leak, how did you end up all the way over here?"
This wasn't the path they had just been walking on; otherwise, it wouldn't have taken so long to find him.
Zhou Lin was still shaken. Seeing the giant snake lying nearby, he crawled back two meters in fear. Only when he saw the snake had lost its head did he gradually calm down.
Seeing everyone holding torches, Zhou Lin said very sheepishly:
"I... I wanted to see if there was any more Golden Thread Lotus here. I'm sorry... I... I shouldn't have..."
Zhou Lin thought back to the moment he felt a chill down his spine, turned around, and saw a giant snake hanging from a tree; he still felt a cold shiver through his whole body.
When Da Huang rushed over, the snake that had been confronting him suddenly lunged and coiled around him:
"Da Zhuang's Mother, thank... thank you for saving my life..."
Qin Sang looked at him, her face full of speechlessness.
Zhou Lin hadn't found any Golden Thread Lotus yesterday, which was why he took such a risk today. It seemed that even if they encountered rare herbs in the future, the price shouldn't be set too high, lest people take desperate risks and throw their lives away just to dig up some herbs.
The others didn't know what to say. Zhou Lin had indeed held them back, but he had also nearly lost his life.
Tian Yougen asked:
"Da Zhuang's Mother, it's already dark. We..."
"This forest isn't safe. This snake was so big, who knows if there's a second one?"
Qin Sang analyzed.
The others had originally thought that spending the night in the wild would be better than traveling in the dark, but seeing such a large snake, none of them dared to linger any longer:
"Then let's light more torches and travel through the night."
Qin Sang nodded. There really was no better way now.
Everyone looked at the three-meter-long snake body lying on the ground:
"What about this snake?"
Qin Sang thought for a moment:
"San Gui, you and Hu Zi dig a deep hole and bury that snake head. Remember, a snake can still bite even after it's dead, so don't put your feet near the head. Use a stick to push it in and bury it."
Then she looked at the others:
"This snake has some meat on it. If you can't bear to leave it, you can find a long pole to hang it in a tree. When we pass by here later, we can carry it to our stopping point."
Everyone nodded. Seeing them go to find a long pole, Qin Sang took out a dagger, slit the snake's belly, and dug out the snake gall.
The snake was large, and so was the gall. Another thousand mall coins added.
After hanging the giant snake up in the air, everyone set off again.
They were on edge the whole way, but fortunately, they didn't encounter any more giant snakes blocking the path. After walking all night, they finally reached the area of the back mountain that Hunter Xu was familiar with in the latter half of the night.
"It's still a two-hour walk back to the village from here. There's a cave not far ahead where we used to stay. How about everyone goes there to rest until dawn before moving on?"
Everyone was truly exhausted from walking. Having a safe place to get some good rest was something no one would object to.
Qin Sang also had no objections. Once inside the cave, she gave everyone a boiled egg and ate one herself, along with a flatbread. She leaned against the cave wall and dozed until daybreak.
The moment they stepped into the village, the group let out a long sigh of relief. Tian Dajiang said:
"Before, I thought if we could grow vegetables and farm in those mountains, we wouldn't have to come out again. Now I feel it's still better to live in the village."
Zhou Lin added hurriedly:
"Yes, yes, yes, I don't want to live in the mountains anymore. Da Zhuang's Mother, I signed up with your Wen Mo before. Is it okay if I withdraw now?"
Qin Sang looked at him with some doubt:
"Are you sure?"