What surprised us was that even when we reached under the tree, the sound that came down from the tree was still that kind of rustling noise similar to electromagnetic interference, with no other sounds or movements at all. Moreover, it sounded to me like there was more than one source of that noise; could it be the sound of walkie-talkies?

Once we entered this place, all judgments became uncertain, and I always felt that I hadn’t grasped the key point.

“Those long worms are really calm!” the fat guy mouthed beside me.

The best scenario I had imagined was that those snakes would be stunned by our actions and couldn’t react, allowing us to pass through without any surprises or dangers. However, I felt that this was a bit greedy. Although the treetops remained motionless, I could already sense an indescribable agitation rising around us. I didn’t know if it was just my psychological effect or if I could genuinely feel the scent of danger.

We were quite close now. If these snakes were really that intelligent, their lack of action now indicated that they were extremely cautious.

This caution was something we could exploit, as we had no resources at all. If these snakes suddenly changed their minds and decided to attack us, we wouldn’t even have the ability to resist. This strategy of taking advantage of the opponent’s cautious nature is called “stealing a chicken.” I used to think that only humans could play such tricks, but I never expected that this time we could also “steal a snake’s chicken.” The weasel must be feeling frustrated this year.

We moved stealthily, slowly making our way forward, not daring to speak, make any large movements, or even stop. The sound grew closer, and sweat poured down my face like rain. The clearer the sound became, the harder it was for me to concentrate.

This feeling made me anxious. The fat guy noticed something was off with me and immediately pinched me to reassure me. I turned to look at him and found that he was also sweating profusely.

However, his pinch helped a lot. At that moment, the sound was right above our heads. We looked up, fearing that those things would pounce down directly, and continued to step forward.

Unconsciously, we quickened our pace a bit, moving about ten meters like puppets. Just as a glimmer of hope surged in my heart, suddenly, the sound from the treetops came to an abrupt stop, and the forest fell silent. We all shivered.

In that instant, all three of us froze, but the fat guy reacted the fastest. He pushed me and urged me to run. I stumbled and fell to the ground, and just as I was getting up to run wildly, something astonishing happened.

I actually heard a tremor in the treetops nearby, followed by a faint voice from above: “Who is it?”

We were all stunned, exchanging bewildered glances. What was going on? Who was speaking?

“Could it be someone from San Ye?” Panzi suddenly became excited. “Damn it, it’s not snakes. I was wondering why nothing was happening; we were just scaring ourselves.” He immediately shouted up to the tree, “It’s me, Da Pan. Who are you?”

The voice from the tree went silent again, and it was quiet for a long time. We exchanged glances again, and Panzi called out once more, “I’m asking you, who are you?” Saying this, he waved the torch and the miner’s lamp up towards the tree.

As soon as the torch was lit, the treetop shook slightly, and then a faint voice said, “Who is it?” This time the tone changed, sounding pained. Moreover, it was a man’s voice.

I sensed something was off, but at this point, there was no way to just walk away. Panzi said, “I’ll go take a look.”

With that, he bit down on the torch and began to climb the tree, while the fat man provided cover with his gun. I kept my knife ready, staying alert to the surroundings to protect the fat man. Panzi moved quickly, climbing halfway up in just a few moments. Just then, the treetop shook again, and without hesitation, he sped up, rushing into the canopy. I had no time to look around and turned my face upward.

I initially thought I would soon hear Panzi’s voice, but suddenly everything went silent. My nerves tightened as I watched the torchlight moving among the leaves, noticing there seemed to be no signs of a struggle.

After a moment of stillness, the fat man looked at me in confusion. I thought to myself, “Looking at me won’t help; I don’t have x-ray vision.” We lingered in silence, and still, there was no response from Panzi.

This was beginning to feel abnormal, and cold sweat broke out on my forehead. I thought, “Could this be a snake trap? Panzi couldn’t have been killed instantly, could he?”

The fat man whispered, “Da Pan!”

Still, there was no response. Cursing under his breath, he handed me the gun and prepared to climb up. Before I could even take it, suddenly a chill washed over our faces as something dripped down from the tree. When I touched my face and looked, it was blood.

“Motherf***er!” The fat man panicked, dropping the gun and swinging the torch up into the treetop, then fired his weapon.

He fired three shots in quick succession. The loud noise echoed through the silent forest like thunder, causing the entire treetop to shake. In the flickering light, I saw countless snake shadows stirring among the branches.

I was alarmed, but it was too late. Countless red lights, like lightning, slithered down from the tree. Hundreds of blood-red cockscomb snakes covered the tree trunk like a bleeding wound, slanting down and rushing towards us.

“Oh shit, this is a snake nest!” the fat man yelled, firing two more shots at the swarm of snakes. But this level of firepower was insignificant against such a large number of snakes. He grabbed my arm and shouted, “Run!”

At that moment, there was no way to think about Panzi anymore. My heart sank, knowing it was likely the worst for him. I immediately turned and ran back. Behind us, the sound of rustling was like a waterfall, rushing after us.

Following the path we had come, we dashed out for several meters. When we looked back, we realized that in such dense foliage, the snakes couldn’t move quickly. Yet, these cockscomb snakes moved through the vines and underbrush like lightning. As soon as we paused, they almost reached us, rising up and preparing to attack.

The cockscomb snake king really did fly close to the ground. I thought to myself, “This time, we’re definitely done for.” The fat man saw that I was still holding the torch and immediately snatched it away, swinging it to drive back a few of the nearest snakes. At the same time, he tossed the gun to me and shouted, “Load the bullets!”

I reached out to catch it, but I missed, and the gun fell to the ground. As I bent down to pick it up, a cockscomb snake lunged toward the gun, startling me into retracting my hand.

The fat man was almost spitting blood as he swung the torch and charged over, swinging it to drive the snake back. Then, he hooked the gun strap with his heel and tossed it to me. I caught it and immediately opened the chamber, loading bullets. Just as I had loaded two, I suddenly felt a chill at my neck. Before I could see what it was, the fat man’s torch swung over, and the flames whooshed past my ear, knocking the snake away.

At the same time, my hair caught fire, and it burned so hot that I screamed. The fat man had already grabbed the gun, firing two shots with one hand at the approaching snakes, blowing the heads off two of them. But immediately, the snakes behind covered up the dead ones.

The fat man tried to fire again, but after pulling the trigger twice, he cursed, “Damn it, you only loaded two rounds!” I retorted, “You grabbed it so fast; two rounds is pretty good!”

By this time, we had backed up against a giant tree, with no space left to retreat. The fat man waved the torch futilely, managing to push the snakes back for the moment, but I knew that if he showed even the slightest weakness, we would be done for.

Just when things were getting desperate, suddenly, a loud bang erupted from a tree nearby, and a fireball whistled through the woods, shooting into the group of snakes in front of us and exploding. The intense heat blinded me momentarily, and thankfully my reflexes were quick; otherwise, I would have been completely blinded.

“Signal flare!” I wondered. Before my eyes could adjust, another one flew in from a distance, landing right at our feet. I squinted and saw a blinding white light; the ground was scorching. I touched my pants and realized they were on fire, causing us to pat them down frantically.

Signal flares aren’t offensive weapons, but their high temperature when burning can be used to ignite oil depots during a surprise attack, which is incredibly powerful. If one had hit us directly, we would have turned into half-cooked steaks.

The bright light lasted for fifty seconds before dimming, and it took a long time for me to open my eyes, which were filled with spots. I wasn’t sure if my retina had been burned. Looking in front of us, the rooster snakes had been burned to death in large numbers. The high temperature had ignited the bushes and vines at our feet, creating a sea of fire in front of us, filling the air with a charred aroma. The remaining rooster snakes had all retreated.

Everything happened so quickly; it was a life-and-death situation, and I felt almost limp as I took in the scene before me. The fat man extinguished the fire on his pants leg and wondered who had saved us. Suddenly, the bushes shook, and Panzi stumbled out, clutching his shoulder, holding a signal flare launcher. Upon seeing us, he collapsed to the ground.

I was overjoyed: “You’re not dead!” But Panzi was covered in blood and seemed to have sustained severe injuries. I rushed over to help him up. He struggled to rise and gasped, “Run!”

I was taken aback. Run from what?

Suddenly, from the bushes behind Panzi, a huge dark figure sprang up, grabbing Panzi’s leg and, with a terrible scream, dragged him into the underbrush like lightning.