Chapter 143: Braving the Rain

Qin Yun was still speaking to the livestream when a piercing scream echoed from the distant rain curtain.

The voice wasn't loud, but it was clearly picked up by the microphone. Instantly, all the netizens in the livestream heard it, though some remained confused.

"Did I just hear someone shouting for help?"

"Did you? I didn't hear anything."

"I heard it too—it sounded desperate. Could it be Zhang Kui calling for help?"

"It's possible, Brother Qin, did you hear something?"

In the instant the voice appeared, Qin Yun leaned toward its source. From this angle, the mountain peaks rose steeply, as if carved by axe and chisel—the sound was coming from ahead. If no one had fallen into the undeveloped zone of Mount Qixing within the past few minutes, it was almost certainly Zhang Kui.

He quickly said: "I heard it too. Someone is definitely calling for help."

A flicker of hesitation passed through Qin Yun's eyes—venturing out to rescue someone in such terrible weather required careful consideration, even for him.

But he did not hesitate long; his expression soon hardened with resolve.

Returning to the camera, Qin Yun took off his windbreaker, slung his backpack on, then put the windbreaker back on.

Watching his actions, the livestream viewers were stunned.

"Holy shit, Brother Qin, what are you doing?"

"Whoa… is Brother Qin really going over there right now?"

"It's pouring rain—just walking is hard enough. Brother Qin, take it easy."

"Adar sent the streamer a pair of glasses—Brother Qin is a real man."

"Xue You Ge sent the streamer a plane—Brother Qin braves this weather? I'm impressed."

"San Shang sent…"

Amid a flood of gifts, Qin Yun remained calm. He gave a brief thanks: "You didn't hear it clearly, but from that voice, I could tell it was filled with agony. I suspect Zhang Kui was attacked by some animal or venomous creature. If I get there a few minutes sooner, he might be saved a few minutes sooner."

After saying that, he patted the windbreaker he was wearing.

"This windbreaker is waterproof and high-quality. My boots are specialized mountaineering shoes—I'm not afraid of traversing rain-soaked mountains. But the rain will impair my vision and sense of danger. Brothers, wish me luck."

After saying that, he secured the drone to his shoulder, turned on the action camera on his head, and rushed straight out of the shelter.

The rain was heavy. In just a few seconds after leaving the shelter, he was soaked through; a powerful chill had already seeped through his clothes.

Fortunately, the windbreaker's fabric kept the rain out—otherwise, in this low temperature, even he would have struggled to endure it.

"From the sound earlier, I can roughly estimate the distance, but only roughly," Qin Yun said, stepping over a fallen tree and wiping rain from his face. "In the wild, under these conditions, if the sound is clear, it's about fifty meters away. If clear but scattered, about two hundred meters. If faint and indistinct, it's over three hundred meters. So judging by that, the sound was roughly two to three hundred meters from me."

"Brother Qin is so damn professional—it's reassuring just to watch."

"No wonder he's a legend of the outdoors, a giant of the Dengshan world, a wilderness survival expert, a superhuman of extreme sports."

"Damn, does Brother Qin even know how many nicknames he's got?"

At this moment, he couldn't see the drone's screen, nor did he have time to check it.

"In this weather, the only large wild animals still active are wild boars. They forage more frequently in the rain. I hope we don't run into any."

He chuckled bitterly: "I always seem to attract bad luck—could it really be that I'll run into one?"

At that moment, something suddenly stuck to his left hand. He quickly raised his left hand toward the camera—everyone saw a black, wriggling creature on his forearm.

"Holy shit, that's disgusting—what the hell is that?"

"Leech! Don't you recognize a leech?"

"There are leeches in the mountains?"

"I'm gonna puke!"

"(.. #ﾟДﾟ) That scared the hell out of me—Brother Qin, get it off!"

"Is Brother Qin gonna eat that for protein?"

Qin Yun snapped off a branch, gently prodded it, and the creature on his arm lifted up. He flicked his wrist and tossed it away.

"It's a leech—mountain leech. They're common in the mountains during rain. Though you don't feel pain when they suck blood, the wound can get infected, so I can't satisfy its dietary needs."

The mountain terrain was complex; undeveloped trails had no flat ground, and Mount Qixing was especially steep, making walking even harder.

But for Qin Yun, whose Wilderness Survival skill was at Level 1, these were trivial matters. Whenever a problem arose, dozens of solutions instantly surfaced in his mind.

Another ten minutes passed; the rain showed no sign of stopping.

In this environment, even a rescue team would be severely hampered—their search speed would drop drastically for safety reasons.

He stopped, took a thermos from the side of his backpack, unscrewed the lid, and drank a sip of hot ginger tea. The warm liquid slid down his throat, instantly dispelling much of the chill.

At this point, he could no longer find any trace or clue in the forest—he relied solely on the direction from which the sound had originally come.

After resting a moment, he glanced at the comments. The chat was buzzing.

"Brother Qin, why don't you shout? Maybe Zhang Kui will hear you and respond."

"Yeah, better than blindly searching like this."

"You guys are idiots. This is undeveloped land—like Brother Qin said, there are wild boars, venomous creatures. He's not afraid, but if Zhang Kui responds, what if he's hiding somewhere? Wouldn't that expose him?"

"Exactly. Brother Qin is fearless, but Zhang Kui is just an ordinary person. Let's be blunt—that scream might've been his last."

"…"

Qin Yun looked at the comments and said calmly: "Some fans are right and wrong. I'm afraid too—I'm flesh and blood, how could I not be afraid? Don't see me as some god. I bleed when bitten—I'm not made of steel."

"Hahaha, Brother Qin's scared."

"Dead."

"Brother Qin, we've never seen you fail."

"Why be afraid? You're Brother Qin—the man called 'Brother.' How can you be afraid?"

Qin Yun put the thermos away, shook his head, and kept walking.

This time, after walking another fifty meters, he suddenly noticed bloodstains on the ground ahead. As he crouched down, the drone's camera captured the scene.

"You can judge the freshness of bloodstains by their appearance."

"Under normal weather conditions, freshly spilled blood is bright red; within about half an hour, it turns dark red or deep red but still retains a glossy sheen without turning black—it only gradually darkens after one to two hours."

"The texture feels wet and sticky, and the edges won't fully contract."

"But if it's raining, the blood's color will be diluted; however, within half an hour, as long as it hasn't been completely washed away, the center of the bloodstain will still appear reddish—look at this bloodstain, isn't it exactly like that?"

The online viewers in the livestream carefully observed and quickly understood Qin Yun's conclusion.

"Hey, actually, judging by what Brother Qin said, this bloodstain really is within the last half hour."

"666, learned something new, got it."

"Brother Qin is a walking encyclopedia—he knows everything."

"That Zhang Kui doesn't even know the first thing about this and still dares to run into the mountains—he's just desperate for fame."

"Isn't that how things are these days? All sorts of weird and bizarre internet celebrities keep popping up, and the worst part is, they're all making money—way more than you or I earn sitting in an office."

"Times change, that's just how it is."

Qin Yun examined the shape of the bloodstains—they were irregular, not like bites, but more like scratches from thorns or broken stones on the mountain.

He took a few more steps forward, and as expected, bloodstains were scattered all along the path.

Following the bloodstains, Qin Yun quickened his pace. Soon, the intermittent traces extended into a thicket ahead.

He carefully parted the thicket—and instantly…

"Sssshh—!"

A brown blur shot through the air and lunged viciously at Qin Yun's wrist.

The attack came with shocking suddenness; the livestream viewers didn't even catch what it was before the camera jerked violently, spun around, and Qin Yun's voice rang out.

"Damn it, sharp-nosed viper—scared the shit out of me."

Qin Yun's neural reaction speed was no slowpoke—from the instant he parted the thicket, to the viper's lunge, to his own evasion—he didn't hesitate even a fraction of a second.

If he'd been even a hair slower, he'd have been bitten.

Once bitten by a sharp-nosed viper in this primitive forest zone, even if he could treat it himself, saving someone else would be impossible.

Qin Yun looked across—and the livestream viewers finally saw it: a thick, deep-brown venomous snake, coiled and head raised, on the ground.

The viper still flicked its tongue, poised to strike again at Qin Yun.

The guts on this thing were insane!

"This is a sharp-nosed viper—what we commonly call the five-step snake."

The fans exploded.

"Holy shit, five-step snake—that's a deadly venomous species!"

"Isn't it said that if you're bitten by a five-step snake, you just need to stop walking?"

"Damn, are you kidding up there?"

"The 'five-step' refers to how fast the poison takes effect—if you don't treat it immediately, you're dead anytime."

Facing a surprise attack from a sharp-nosed viper, Qin Yun didn't dare underestimate it. But since it had shown its health bar, he'd naturally kill it.

A dagger appeared in his hand, seemingly out of nowhere.

He thought for a moment, then detached the drone from his shoulder and launched it. Though the rain was harsh, as long as the wind stayed within limits, the drone could still operate stably.

"I have a long-lost skill—the Xiao Qin Flying Dagger. Let me show you today."

As he spoke, his right hand flicked—and through the rain, a blade flashed. The agile sharp-nosed viper hadn't even sensed danger before its entire body was pinned firmly to the ground, motionless.

The snake writhed wildly but couldn't break free; instead, a wave of weakness surged through it, and the sharp-nosed viper gradually lost control of its body.

As the saying goes: strike the snake at its seventh inch. Qin Yun's dagger struck precisely at the viper's vital seventh inch, causing it to lose vital signs almost instantly.

"..."

"..."

"..."

The comment section filled with a string of ellipses.

"Brother Qin, you're serious?"

"Your damn, that move was so cool, holy shit."

"Awesome, 666."

"I wanna learn Xiao Li—no, Xiao Qin's Flying Dagger."

"I knew Brother Qin knew martial arts, but I didn't expect him to master the legendary Xiao Li Flying Dagger, ranked third on the Weapon List—so badass."

"Ah..."

"Sharp-nosed viper: I'm dead, did you all see that?"

Qin Yun stepped forward, swiftly pulled out the dagger, confirmed the sharp-nosed viper was dead, then bypassed the thicket and spotted a small mound ahead—on its edge, a figure lay curled up, utterly motionless.

His heart jolted.

"Guys, I found Zhang Kui."

He rushed forward two steps, leaned close, and examined closely: Zhang Kui was caked in dirt and blood, his clothes and pants torn, his arms and legs clearly wounded, his head swollen like a pig's head, his face covered in scratched, torn wounds, his complexion a sickly green, lips cracked, eyes tightly shut.

Without careful observation, anyone would mistake him for a corpse.

Qin Yun felt his nostrils—there was still breath, but extremely faint.

"Look here," Qin Yun brought the camera close to Zhang Kui's ankle—his entire left leg was swollen, faint blisters beginning to form, the wound showing signs of decay. "Without doubt, Zhang Kui was bitten by a sharp-nosed viper—and it must've been that 'help' cry. So the timing matches—about half an hour ago."

His expression turned grim.

"The condition of this leg matches the timeline of toxin progression. If rescue isn't administered promptly, within another one or two hours, his Blood-coagulation function will collapse—meaning his blood will keep flowing nonstop. Once six hours pass, death is virtually certain."