I immediately shouted, and when the fat guy saw my expression change, he reacted quickly. Without even looking, he swung the butt of his gun back, but it was already too late. The shadow shrank away and then lunged forward. I saw a scaly creature spring out of the darkness like lightning, rushing toward the fat guy.

The fat guy was no slouch; despite his bulk, he reacted surprisingly fast, rolling away just in time. As he moved aside, the light from the torch illuminated what was behind him, and I immediately saw the true form of that shadow: it was a giant python, as thick as a barrel, with a brownish-golden color, covered in blood. Its massive head hung down, revealing numerous bullet wounds, all mangled and bloody.

In a flash, I recognized it as one of the two giant pythons that had attacked us in the canyon. To my shock, we had encountered it here again.

The giant python missed its strike and, without pausing, retracted its head and opened its enormous, blood-filled mouth to bite down on the fat guy, who was rolling on the ground.

This time, the fat guy had nowhere to escape; the python bit down hard on his backside. The python’s strength was immense, and it coiled around him, lifting him into the air, ready to constrict.

The fat guy didn’t have the skills to slip away like a slippery eel; he was completely immobilized, his gun tossed aside, as he screamed and spun headfirst in the air several times.

I don’t know where I found the courage, but I rushed over and swung my torch at the snake. However, it was a foolish move; the coiled snake slammed into me, sending me flying. The torch hit my pants, igniting what little fabric was left. I rolled to extinguish the flames, but by then, the fat guy had already been lifted into the treetops.

I panicked. At that moment, my hand brushed against the fat guy’s rifle, and I quickly picked it up, lying on the ground and aiming one-handed at the snake’s head, firing a shot.

Having not fired a gun in a long time, the recoil shattered my palm, but shooting one-handed was too difficult. Despite the close range, I missed, and the bullet veered off, hitting a nearby tree trunk.

I got back up, ready to shoot again when suddenly, a gritting voice came from above in the trees: “Young Master, give me the gun!”

I looked up and saw that Panzi was still alive, reaching down with a blood-soaked hand among the branches. “Hurry!!!!”

I immediately tossed the gun up to him. He caught it and leaned against the branches, not aiming at the snake but instead at the massive branch coiled around by the snake, gritting his teeth and firing three shots in quick succession.

At such close range, even a gun of this caliber had tremendous power. The branch, as thick as a person, was blasted through, and the heavy python, along with the fat guy, caused the branch to snap down heavily, crashing to the ground like a fallen tree.

The impact was severe, stunning the snake, which coiled up in confusion, not knowing who had attacked it. Seizing the moment, the fat guy managed to slip out from the snake’s body and rolled to my feet. He was red-faced and breathless, lacking the strength to stand. I grabbed him under the armpits and tried to drag him behind a tree, but he suddenly began to vomit.

I thought, oh no, could it be that his insides were crushed? I hurriedly asked him how he was.

He pushed me away, struggling to stand up. After vomiting a large mouthful, he said, “I feel dizzy from that snake. Damn it, it’s worse than a roller coaster!”

Before the words fell, the giant python lunged at us again. Its massive mouth swiftly wrapped around the tree trunk and bit down on the fat man’s shoulder, pulling him over with a force that also sent me tumbling into the bushes nearby. The fat man let out a loud scream as he crashed into a tree and rolled onto the ground. The python didn’t stop; it raised its head again, its mouth full of backward-curving teeth opening wide, ready to deliver a fatal blow to the fat man.

In my heart, I screamed that it was over. Just at that critical moment, a small branch suddenly fell from the tree and struck the python on the head. The python looked up and immediately spotted Panzi, changing its attack target and lunging toward the tree. I saw Panzi, holding a gun with one hand, thrust it forcefully into the python’s throat, along with his shoulder. The python then jerked its head, lifting him off the tree, and before it could constrict him, there was a muffled sound, and suddenly the python’s throat burst open in several places, causing it to flip over in pain.

Panzi flew out, crashing into the darkness, while the enraged python thrashed around wildly, its immense strength sending the surrounding bushes flying and branches crashing down like rain. I crouched behind a tree, covering my head, watching as the bark was stripped away, too frightened to move. After about ten minutes, the commotion gradually quieted down. I peeked out and saw the python lying on the ground, twisting a few times before going still.

I was completely dazed until I heard the fat man wailing, which snapped me back to reality. I stood up and ran over; the fat man was completely unconscious. I helped him up, and he looked at me, mumbling incoherently, “Pull the driver who killed the snake over here; while I’m not dead, let me crush him.”

Seeing that he could still talk nonsense reassured me that he wasn’t in serious trouble. I laid him back down and immediately ran off to find Panzi; that guy was probably in real danger.

Panzi lay under a tree about six or seven meters away, covered in blood, still clutching the already exploded rifle tightly in his hands, the barrel blown to bits. I rushed over, and as soon as he opened his mouth, blood poured out. He looked at me but couldn’t say anything. Seeing him in such a pitiful state made me anxious, and I slapped my own face several times to calm down a bit. I immediately began to unbutton Panzi’s shirt.

As I pulled it open, I felt nauseous. His body was covered in wounds, caused by the giant python dragging him through the bushes. Fortunately, his skin was already tough from previous scars, and the wounds weren’t deep. I took out my water bottle, intending to clean his wounds first, but he struggled to raise a hand and pushed it towards me, his mouth moving with difficulty.

When I looked closer, I saw it was his compass. During the intense dragging, his backpack had come loose, but somehow he managed to hold onto this. The compass was covered in blood, but I could still see the marks he had made and the angle ruler. He managed to utter, “Find Third Master… be careful… the snake will…” then his body convulsed, and he could say no more.

“The snake will what?” I didn’t understand his meaning, but it was pointless to ask. I cursed under my breath, took the compass, and put it in my pocket, telling him not to speak anymore. He coughed up several more mouthfuls of blood, and his breathing became labored.

I thought to myself, how could there be such a persistent person? While hastily rinsing his wound with water, he rummaged through his backpack and took out antibiotics to inject into him. The fat guy had already recovered somewhat and was limping over while holding his wound, asking me about the situation.

To be honest, I had no idea what the situation was; I didn’t even know if Panzi could be saved, but I didn’t have the courage to verify these things. I could only do my best to save him. The fat guy also cleaned his wound with a water bottle and injected himself with antibiotics. We moved Panzi next to the snake’s corpse, and I sat down on the ground to begin a full-body examination of him.

There was a pulse in all four limbs, and he didn’t seem to be weakening, which made me breathe a sigh of relief. However, I couldn’t afford to relax; I immediately searched his entire body. He had lost so much blood along the way that it was very likely he had an arterial bleed. I had to find that wound; if it wasn’t treated, he would definitely bleed to death.

Finally, I found the wound on the back of Panzi’s left thigh. It was incredibly deep and horrifying, but surprisingly, it had already stopped bleeding and had formed a large blood clot, covered in bits of leaves. This was probably something Panzi had done in a moment of desperation while being dragged.

This wound needed to be cleaned and stitched; otherwise, it would get infected, and he would lose the leg. But we had no equipment to treat the wound, as we had traveled light.

Now, we really had to reunite with Uncle San, and the sooner, the better. I took out the compass Panzi had given me, wiped off the bloodstains, and tried to find the direction, but I couldn’t understand the markings at all. I handed it to the fat guy, who also shook his head. I slapped my forehead and scolded myself for not putting in more effort to learn about it back then.

The fat guy was exhausted and had no strength left to mess around. He said, “Well, now we can only wait until dawn. It might take a while to get to your Uncle San. We’re both covered in blood, which could easily attract unwanted attention. It’s safer to stay here, and if we move Panzi, he might not be able to withstand the long trek.”

I looked at Panzi; his consciousness was already fading. If I had been injured that severely, I would surely be dead. This guy’s willpower was truly commendable. But indeed, the injuries were real, and moving him might really be impossible. So, I cleared out a spacious area and temporarily settled Panzi down. I checked the time; dawn was approaching, and I prayed that he would hold on.

I took off my clothes and covered Panzi to keep him warm. Suddenly, I felt a bit overwhelmed. After such intense fighting and extreme fatigue, I felt a bit faint. I sat down to catch my breath and drink some water. The fat guy picked up Panzi’s gun and showed it to me, saying, “This guy is a real man. He blocked the gun barrel with something, causing the gun to explode in the snake’s throat and break its spine. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have been easy to kill it.”

I found it strange; earlier in the canyon, Panzi had shot the snake multiple times, nearly blowing its head apart. I thought it was definitely dead, but surprisingly, the snake was still alive and could attack us.

The fat guy said, “This kind of big snake is very intelligent. It probably remembered Panzi after he shot it several times and has been tracking us, waiting for the chance to take revenge.”

I swung the torch to light it up, stood up, and went to examine the snake’s corpse. Upon closer inspection, I realized that this snake was truly enormous, almost dragon-like, and just looking at it sent chills down my spine. The snake’s entire body was covered in large, brownish-golden scales, each about the size of a palm, and the thickest parts were as wide as a barrel. Its body was riddled with wounds, some of which were rotting and emitting a foul smell.

I cautiously approached the snake’s head and illuminated it with the torch, only to find that its tongue was still moving, clearly indicating that it was not completely dead. The snake’s head was nearly split open, and its black, vengeful eyes reflected the torchlight, resembling a malevolent dragon from hell. At the neck, where the gun had blasted it, there were several gaping wounds, with flesh spilling out and blood flowing profusely, creating a pool on the ground.

This snake wasn’t going to die easily; it might even come back to life. Fearing that it might suddenly lash out and harm us, the fat guy pulled out a machete, intending to chop off the snake’s head. However, after two strikes, he realized that there wasn’t even a mark on its body. He tried to scrape the snake’s scales with the machete, only to discover that the scales were incredibly hard, almost like armor. As the fat guy leaned in closer to the snake’s wounds, he noticed that the snake actually had two layers of scales, with tough skin and thick flesh. No wonder Panzi couldn’t kill it no matter how hard he tried.

He pried off two or three giant scales from near the wound, boasting that he could take them back to show off and that they could definitely take down a lot of people. As he spoke, he put them in his pocket. I told him to be careful because python scales often harbor parasites. Before I could finish, he suddenly exclaimed, as if something had bitten his wrist.

When we turned to look, I found a small spider-like bug biting his forearm. We recognized it immediately; it was a tick. I used the torch to heat the machete and quickly burned it off. Just then, I felt a sharp pain in my groin, and when I touched it, I discovered I had a patch of blood on my hand.

I immediately sensed something was wrong. As I leaned the torch against the bushes on the ground, I noticed that the bushes surrounding us were crawling with these terrifying bugs, some of which had already made their way onto our exposed calves.