Chapter 422: Sudden Change

Da Shan is also very curious; to play with that lighter, it goes to find Zheng Tan every morning, holding the lighter in its mouth.

Zheng Tan only teaches Da Shan how to play with the lighter when no one is around; when people are present, he absolutely refuses to teach.

It must be said, Da Shan's learning ability is as strong as its curiosity; although it can't compare to Zheng Tan, compared to other cats or other feline animals, Da Shan is already quite clever.

After Da Shan learned, it no longer clung to Zheng Tan; it went off by itself, holding the lighter to find a place to practice, and Zheng Tan only hopes this guy won't burn down a tree while playing with the lighter.

Without Da Shan around, Zheng Tan had free time to follow Er Mao and the others to the village to see the turtles.

Having been here so long, Zheng Tan still hadn't really wandered around the village. The day before yesterday, Er Mao and the others went to see a sow give birth to piglets at someone's house; Zheng Tan also wanted to go look, as there are many livestock breeders here, and he heard that family raised miniature fragrant pigs—he had only eaten them before, never seen them give birth, and wanted to tag along for something new, but who knew Da Shan would block him, needing to teach it to play with the lighter, causing him to miss the time to see the piglets.

Today Er Mao and the others are going to see the golden coin turtles, and Zheng Tan happens to tag along.

Don't let this remote place fool you; it may not look wealthy, but actually many families here have millions in assets, and their houses are built like luxurious villas.

Take today's household, for example: they spent one million yuan just on surveillance and anti-theft, while the golden coin turtles they breed are worth over ten million yuan in total.

However, in Zheng Tan's view, those individually priced at two to three hundred thousand yuan golden coin turtles aren't particularly special; after glancing at them twice he lost interest. He was squatting nearby, bored and yawning.

After Er Mao and the others finished touring the breeding facility, they were taken to a resting area, where they sat and drank tea on a large balcony on the second floor.

The person showing Er Mao and the others around is about the same age as Er Mao; they call him Da Hao, and people around here seem to like prefixing 'Da' to names, even though they're just twenty- or thirty-something youths.

At that moment, Da Hao was boasting to Er Mao and the other two about his recent rise to wealth; he was fairly close with Er Mao and the gang, having played together when they were here before—raising turtles was actually a suggestion Er Mao made early on. Yet this guy ended up becoming more and more successful, and now he's a small millionaire with assets in the tens of millions.

"Who is that person?" Wei Leng suddenly said.

Da Hao stopped talking, followed Wei Leng's gaze, and looked downstairs.

This balcony is already behind Da Hao's house, and you can see the path outside the back door. At this moment, a person walked along that path. The person Wei Leng pointed at is exactly that passerby.

And while Wei Leng and the others were looking downstairs, the passerby also raised his head to look upstairs; after a brief eye contact, he then looked ahead and continued walking, maintaining the same speed and pace as before.

Zheng Tan inexplicably felt that the person's gaze just now was somewhat strange.

Da Hao glanced at the person when he raised his head, then shook his head: "I don't know him; I guess he's just a relative or friend coming to visit someone's family."

As Da Hao was about to continue telling his own story of wealth, Er Mao spoke up first: "Da Hao, whose family is that over there?"

Da Hao looked in the direction Er Mao pointed and said: "Oh, that's Da Kang's family—they're the well‑known Snake King Family around here. The two brothers, Da Zhi and Da Kang, raise snakes; Da Zhi was once hired by the zoo, while Da Kang has kept raising snakes. But a few years ago Da Zhi ran into some trouble; I heard that due to poor care at the zoo, several large snakes died, and after that I hardly saw Da Zhi anymore. I heard that after leaving the zoo he was hired at a high salary to specially raise snakes for people, and I suppose he's now making a fortune somewhere—look, his family's building is now so beautifully built."

Er Mao and his two fellow disciples exchanged a glance, then Er Mao said: "Da Hao, are you acquainted with Da Kang? I'm quite interested in snakes—does his family have those big snakes? Like pythons and such?"

Da Hao replied with a sly grin: "Yes!"

Because many breeding practices, strictly speaking, don't comply with some local regulations, Da Hao hasn't been loud about it; if he weren't close with Er Mao and the others, he wouldn't say much at all.

"His family has many snakes; I've seen one huge python there—so thick! I heard it was bought at a high price from elsewhere."

Da Hao gestured with his hands, and Zheng Tan estimated visually that it seemed about as thick as the python he had seen a few days earlier in the woods.

"However, that big snake once escaped and ate livestock from several households, almost causing a human casualty. Afterwards the village set a rule forbidding them to keep such large snakes, and also forbidding venomous snakes, otherwise people would panic. …" Da Hao lowered his voice: "I think they're still keeping them in secret, just not letting anyone see."

Da Hao led Er Mao and the others to the so‑called Snake King Family's house; it's not far from Da Hao's own home—just walk down the path a few hundred meters, turn a corner, and you're there. From the second‑floor balcony you can see the Snake King Family's house.

Upon reaching the door, Da Hao began knocking: "Da Kang! Da Kang, are you in?"

Da Hao was about to keep knocking, but Er Mao stopped him.

Er Mao took out a thin steel wire and started fiddling with it; in a few seconds the lock opened.

Da Hao: "…Your skills haven't deteriorated at all."

Er Mao gave Da Hao a shushing gesture, while Wei Leng and Peiliang had already slipped inside silently.

Although Da Hao didn't quite understand why Er Mao and the others were doing this, and felt something was off, he trusted Er Mao, knowing that Er Mao and his companions were far wealthier than him and had no reason to envy his and Da Kang's modest assets; since it wasn't a matter of interest, something must have really happened. He knew Er Mao and the others still had some real ability.

Zheng Tan followed behind; while Peiliang and Wei Leng went inside to look for the person, he and Da Hao stood at the doorway, not moving around randomly.

After a while, Wei Leng's voice came from inside the house: "Er Mao, come on in."

"What's happened?" Da Hao followed Er Mao inside and asked.

When they entered the house, they saw the owner of the house in a room—the young man Da Hao had referred to as Da Kang. He looked to be in his early twenties, now lying limp on the floor, gasping with difficulty, as if someone had just choked his throat.

"Da Kang, what's wrong with you?!" Da Hao rushed over, anxiously asking. Although his relationship with Da Kang wasn't ironclad, it was decent; seeing Da Kang like this worried him, because Da Kang was not only having trouble breathing, his eyes also seemed unfocused.

"It's nothing, he'll be fine soon." Wei Leng said, and as Er Mao looked over, he raised his hand and pointed to a few spots on the neck.

Er Mao suddenly understood.

"After the carotid arteries and veins are choked off, blood flow to the brain is cut off, the brain suffers oxygen deprivation, leading to loss of consciousness within seconds. Don't worry, Da Hao, he'll recover soon." He paused. Er Mao looked at Wei Leng and Peiliang and said, "You look very professional."

"So you're saying Da Kang has made an enemy?" Da Hao asked. Since his wallet had fattened, his horizons had broadened, he'd met many people and experienced many things; thus, hearing Er Mao's words didn't alarm him too much. "In that case, the person just now…"

Da Hao said while looking at Er Mao; seeing Er Mao nod, Da Hao also couldn't help but take a deep breath. Such a terrifying person had actually just passed by his back door moments ago, and he himself hadn't noticed anything amiss. If it weren't for Er Mao and the others showing up, would Da Kang even have a chance to breathe now? Or perhaps he'd already been taken away just then?

After Da Kang finally recovered, Da Hao couldn't help but ask: "Da Kang, what trouble did you run into that you provoked such a dangerous person? Is he out to take your life?"

"Life? Yeah, they're just trying to take our lives! To take their lives!!" Da Kang looked somewhat hysterical.

Seeing Da Kang like that, Da Hao couldn't help but step back. Meanwhile, Er Mao and the others focused their attention on the latter sentence.

"Them?" Er Mao asked.

Da Kang stood up, looked at the snake sculpture placed on the nearby table, and lightly stroked it with his hand.

"They're so beautiful, so fascinating—how could those people…… how could they……"

Seeing this, Zheng Tan also couldn't help but shiver, his whole body feeling goosebumps. That kind of cold‑blooded creature that doesn't even blink—this person actually calls it beautiful!

In this world, some people like furry cats and dogs, while others are fond of hair‑cold‑blooded reptiles and become deeply enamored.

Obviously, the Da Kang brothers are that kind of person.

Da Kang briefly explained how the incident came about.

The key point actually isn't with Da Kang himself, but with his older brother Da Zhi.

Back then, Da Zhi had problems while caring for snakes at the zoo, but the fault wasn't actually his; the truth is that the few snakes thought to have died due to improper care were actually taken away by someone.

"When my older brother was falsely accused by the zoo staff back then, he said, 'Justice lies in the hearts of people,' and the fact is, many at the zoo know what really happened." Da Kang said with a mocking laugh, "Ha! 'Justice lies in the hearts of people' is actually just a useless piece of crap! If it's not spoken out, it remains forever a grievance! My older brother was framed for five years! He was also exploited for five years!!"

After Da Zhi left the zoo, he was hired at a high salary to help care for snakes, and the large python that the two brothers had bought and raised for several years was also purchased at a high price and taken away; Da Zhi continued to care for it there. A few days ago, Da Kang received a text message from his brother.

Da Zhi discovered that the person who hired him to care for the snakes was using the snakes as a covert transport tool, and the fate of that 'tool' was certainly death. Unable to bear it, Da Zhi secretly tampered with the cage, hoping the large python could escape mid‑journey. Meanwhile, Da Zhi found an opportunity to leave; up to now Da Kang hasn't been able to contact his brother. Until today, when that person came to the door asking about Da Zhi's whereabouts, unexpectedly, shortly after the person arrived, Er Mao and the others showed up, and upon hearing the commotion outside, the person immediately jumped out the window.

Er Mao and his companions also came to a realization. If things are truly as Da Kang said, it's obvious that Da Zhi was indeed being used; ever since the zoo incident, someone has been setting a trap.

While Er Mao and the others were thinking about the matter of the Da Zhi and Da Kang brothers, Zheng Tan was thinking that the big snake he had seen in the woods a few days earlier was probably the one Da Kang had spoken of, the snake that his brothers treasured greatly and that Da Zhi would not hesitate to risk danger to help.

It's a pity that the Da Kang brothers won't know, that big snake had already been dissected by those people.

Just as they were speaking, Er Mao's phone rang, and almost at the same moment, Wei Leng's and Peiliang's phones also rang.

Something happened over there in the courtyard.

To be precise, it was Peijie who had something happen.

Peijie is missing.

Today Peijie took Er Yuan and Wei Xiao Pangzi to play near the courtyard; while Zheng Tan was out, he sneakily took out the small box that Zheng Tan had always kept in Er Mao's car trunk, saying he wanted to explore its secrets, but no matter how he tried, he couldn't open it.

There were two mothers in the courtyard, so Peijie didn't feel comfortable trying to open the lock there directly; he took the box out of the courtyard and roped the two kids into helping him, but unfortunately, Er Yuan and Wei Xiao Pang didn't know the box's password.

"When is Hei Ge's birthday?" Peijie asked.

"I don't know." Er Yuan and Wei Xiao Pang shook their heads.

"What is Hei Ge's family phone number?" Peijie asked again.

"I don't know." Er Yuan and Wei Xiao Pang shook their heads again.

"Then what do you two know?"

"I don't know."

Peijie: "……"

But just as they were trying to open the box with the password, a stranger approached them.

When the two mothers in the courtyard heard the sound and came out, Lin Shu, who had been watching the three kids, was knocked unconscious on the ground; Er Yuan and Wei Xiao Pangzi hid behind the car, and Peijie had vanished.

Er Yuan and Wei Xiao Pang said that Peijie had been taken away by that stranger.

And after Lin Shu woke up, Er Mao and the others learned from Lin Shu's description of the person that the one who had taken Peijie was the very person they had seen half an hour earlier.

Leaving aside how anxious Peiliang was on his side, over there, when the kidnapped Peijie woke up, he found two strangers before him—one was the person who had seized him, the other he had never seen before.

Peijie took a minute to react and think, then with a tearful face he said to the two people before him: "Uncles, my family is very rich; don't kill me for ransom before you get the money!!"

The two people facing Peijie: "……" How does this little brat even know what "kill for ransom" means? No, his reaction shouldn't be to cry and call for his parents upon waking? Kids these days are so precocious.

Then, with no strength to resist, Peijie was grabbed and thrown into a cloth shed; the strong stench inside almost made him vomit the scallion pancake he had eaten that morning.

Peijie was locked in a cage; no one knew what animal had previously been kept there.

He also didn't know when his father and the others would be able to find him. Peijie sighed to himself.

Peijie had once fantasized that one day he would be like a superhero, punishing evil and promoting good, rescuing the weak—just like today, when he sensed the situation was wrong, his first thought was how to let his two younger siblings escape, then he would deal with the bad guys himself. But today's experience told him that not everyone can be a superhero; the enemy's level is too high, and our side is at a disadvantage. Usually he thought himself pretty awesome, but when he actually encountered trouble he realized he was helpless. Peijie felt he was just a ridiculous dreamer.

Although he was afraid, Peijie still forced himself to calm down.

Peijie had known since childhood how to use cooperation to achieve his goals, so in the village, although he was mischievous, every time he caused trouble he would smartly recruit many accomplices— not only was his success rate high, but when punished by his parents he would also share the blame, so the adults' anger wouldn't all be focused on him, the instigator.

Now, without the help of companions, he alone would surely not be able to escape—but what possible collaborators could he find here?

After adapting to the dark environment, Peijie used the light coming in through the small window on the side of the cloth shed to look around himself.

He couldn't see clearly farther away, but within close range he could still make out a bit.

In the neighboring cage was a little panda; compared to another of its kind lying listlessly in the cage, this one's spirits were slightly better— at this moment, the little panda curiously looked at Peijie while lifting its paw to rub its face.

Peijie felt like crying even more.

Looking at this guy's foolish expression, you know he's unreliable; if only Qi Dada were here. Sigh. (To be continued…)

ps: I originally planned to release two more chapters, but now I see I overestimated my typing speed; sorry, I can't put them out, here are four thousand characters.