The fat man did not resist; I didn’t even see him move. The chill in my heart grew colder. Could it be that he was already dead? The snake swarm was writhing. I had imagined quite a few ways to speculate how they transported corpses, but I never expected it to be like this. Red snakes of various sizes coiled around each other, wrapping the body in the center, then moving their bodies to push the corpse forward. The fat man was extremely heavy, yet these snakes managed to move him here quickly. Clearly, this method of transportation was quite efficient.

After the fat man fell into the pool, the snake swarm dispersed and began to crawl back onto the shore, quickly disappearing over the stone wall. I watched the fat man lying quietly in the water, feeling a bit at a loss. I didn’t know if he was alive or dead. If he was dead, I felt that someone as tough as him being dead meant I would inevitably die here as well. If he was alive, then I had to save him, but going over could also mean just walking into my own death.

After thinking it over, I realized that no matter what, I had to take a look. The fat man and I had been through life and death together; I couldn’t just leave him here without knowing if he was dead or alive. I cautiously looked around, and it seemed the snakes had gone far away. After checking the mud on my body, I climbed down again along the vines, carefully descending into the water. I lay against the rock wall and moved closer to the fat man.

The fat man lay completely still, most of his head submerged in the water. A chill ran through me, and I felt a tremor in my heart. Listening closely, I heard no sounds around me, so I approached the fat man and turned him over completely. His lower body was submerged in the water, and when I touched him, I finally relaxed a bit; there was still a faint breath. However, I immediately noticed the blood hole on his neck—he had also been bitten by a snake…

The snakes here were truly deadly, biting right on the neck. Unless a person had immunity to snake venom, there was basically no way to deal with it; they could only wait to die. I had no idea what had happened earlier, how the mud on him had been washed away. The dull oil bottle had escaped because of quick movements and a small amount of injected venom, but the fat man was certainly not so lucky. I didn’t know why he was still alive. However, even if he wasn’t dead yet, he was close to it. I looked around and thought that I had to drag him out of this pool first, then immediately take some measures; otherwise, those snakes might come back for another bite.

This was quite difficult. Fortunately, the vines were downstream. I propped the fat man up, using the buoyancy and push of the water to push him downstream. Unexpectedly, after just two steps, I lost control. To avoid being swept away by the current, I twisted my body with all my strength to keep my hands above water. When I passed the vines, I grabbed onto them, regaining control of my body.

With all my might, I managed to steady myself in the water. Then I hung the fat man onto the vines, using his belt to secure him, before climbing up first, intending to pull him up. However, after trying to pull him up twice, I realized it was impossible. Although the vines were strong enough, the fat man was just too heavy. My strength was simply not enough. I looked around and saw a thick Y-shaped branch above me on the tree I was standing on. I immediately hung the vines onto it, making a pulley, and then used my weight and strength to lift him up.

With just one push, I bent the branch above into a bow shape, and the entire tree emitted a chilling sound. Suddenly, I felt that the fat guy was too heavy; it was simply outrageous. My weight combined with my strength should not have made it this difficult to lift him. But now it was clearly quite a struggle. I had carried him on my back before, and he was definitely not this heavy now.

If I could survive this and make it back, I would definitely make him lose weight, I thought to myself. I continued to exert all my strength, little by little, taking a full half hour to slowly pull him up from the water. By the time I dragged him onto the branch, my hands were completely torn, and I no longer had the strength to lift my arms. At that moment, the branch I was standing on was bending dangerously under the combined weight of the fat guy and me.

I no longer had the energy to ponder these things. After taking a moment to catch my breath, I realized I had to deal with his poison. It was too late for me to suck it out, and it seemed I had to return to the camp, which meant dragging him through the woods. It was certainly going to be tough for me alone, but I had to do it; otherwise, if he died, how would I get through this myself?

After resting for a bit, I immediately went back down, scooped up some mud, and applied it to the fat guy’s body. I then grabbed some vines from around and hastily tied them together to create a makeshift stretcher to lower him from the tree.

While binding him, I realized he was too fat, making it very difficult to secure him. I had no choice but to tie a few places tightly with the vines. The vines were thick, and I didn’t have enough strength in my hands, so I stood up and used my feet to help tighten the knots. Perhaps I pulled too hard; suddenly, the fat guy opened his mouth and spat out a mouthful of green liquid.

The green liquid was extremely foul-smelling, and I immediately covered my mouth, wondering what he had eaten. At that moment, I noticed that the green liquid was mixed with many tiny red scales.

I picked up a piece and thought it was bad. I quickly tore open the fat guy’s shirt and discovered that his stomach was enormous. When I pressed down hard, it felt as if he had swallowed a weight.