Chapter 24

On the other side, Li Han inside the room waited left and right, but saw no sign of the scarred man returning; impatient, he got up from the chair.

"What's wrong with this person? Maybe I hit the mark, and he plunged face-first into the snow and can't get out."

Li Han threw on a garment and got up to look for him; pushing open the door, a cold wind like a bone-scraping steel blade came straight at him, as if a basin of cold water, instantly chilling him from head to toe.

He became much more awake, looked around, and there was no sign of the scarred man outside the door.

"He went to the bathroom, who knows where he ran off to; couldn't he just settle it at the doorway?"

Li Han muttered, catching out of the corner of his eye that the door of the neighboring room was open.

The pitch-black door revealed nothing inside, as if countless dark shadows lurked within, stirring restlessly.

"You didn't even close the door properly; what if those animals froze to death? The buyer specifically wants them alive—you're being terribly careless."

Li Han walked over, his expression suddenly changing; he saw a person lying collapsed at the doorway—indeed, the scarred man who had not returned!

Li Han initially thought he had drunk too much and collapsed here; he quickly reached out to touch him, but the temperature on the skin made his heart plummet to the depths.

This body temperature

Because the scarred man lay face up, his head plunged into the snow—whether coincidence or accident, it perfectly fulfilled what he had said earlier.

Li Han hastily turned the body over; after seeing the scene clearly, he was frightened and jerked back, involuntarily sucking in a breath of cold air.

The scarred man's eyes were wide open, his face twisted in extreme anguish and panic; no one knows what he saw before death.

Most importantly, his chest bore a huge blood hole; one could tell without looking that the scarred man had no breath left.

He merely went out to use the toilet—how could he die here for no reason?

And in just a moment, he died like that?

Li Han heard no sound inside the room, and there were no signs of a struggle around—utterly unscientific.

Everything seemed too sudden and too eerie to Li Han; he couldn't help swallowing, and his scalp inexplicably went numb.

Glancing at the pitch-black room, which seemed to hide a man-eating beast, Li Han's mind became fully alert; he dared not act rashly.

He immediately ran back to the room, grabbing a flashlight and also taking a machete for self-defense.

He stood at the doorway; the flashlight's beam fell into the room, instantly revealing the scene inside.

The cages were empty; the animals had vanished without a trace, leaving only bloody fur and flesh.

"Damn it, who's messing around in the dark? Get out here, old man!"

Li Han cursed in anger; his first thought was that someone had come, who not only moved the animals away but also killed the scarred man.

He subconsciously overlooked the strange blood wound on the scarred man's body.

That couldn't have been made by a human, and with the snow so thick around, anyone approaching would definitely leave footprints.

No matter how Li Han roared, the surroundings showed nothing unusual.

His anger flared, and he charged straight in; the room wasn't large, with few items inside, leaving nowhere to hide a person.

"Damn it, you surely ran off; if I find you, I'll kill you."

"If the tiger doesn't show its might, you treat me like a sick cat—how dare you cause trouble for me!"

Li Han's gaze turned vicious to the extreme; one look told you his hands were stained with blood—turns out he'd gotten into trouble back home, once accidentally beating someone to death.

Afterward he fled, changed his name, and took up poaching—a shady livelihood.

"Damn it, the animals are all gone; rounding them up again would be a hassle, and tomorrow I still have to deliver—no telling how I'll explain this."

Li Han, consumed by rage, failed to notice a pair of beastly eyes glowing faintly in the darkness.

He seemed to sense something and turned his head; at the same moment, the flashlight's beam shone behind him.

Besides the blocking wall, there was nothing else—a round light bulb rolled across the floor.

Li Han kicked it with his foot, thinking, "I thought it was something else—turns out it's just a light bulb; I must be too nervous."

But the light bulb was fine—how could it just fall for no reason?

No sooner had that thought arisen than a chill struck from behind; it was almost a bodily reflex, and Li Han jerked sideways.

It seemed as if something launched an attack from behind, swift as a ghost, leaving a fleeting afterimage in the air.

Li Han caught only a glimpse of a thin, green tail, and his face went pale: "What the hell is this?"

He focused his gaze and saw it was a snake of quite strange coloration!

Its tail was green, but the upper half of its body was black, about a meter long; upon seeing its head was oval rather than triangular, Li Han let out a relieved breath.

"Good, it's a non-venomous snake."

Since it's non-venomous, the threat is minor.

This snake was Ye Qin, who had been lying in ambush; after dealing with the scarred man, he expected the other accomplice to come looking, so he waited here like a hunter awaiting prey.

Yet I didn't expect Li Han's vigilance to be so high, and his skill surpasses that of the scarred man; naturally, I also saw the contempt in Li Han's eyes.

If it were an ordinary non-venomous snake, it would definitely not be a match for Li Han, but Ye Qin is different.

Having achieved great accomplishment in the First Realm cultivation, he not only gained strength, but also his body's toughness and hardness became extraordinary, unlike ordinary venomous snakes.

One could say that Ye Qin himself is a blade of unparalleled sharpness.

The blood hole in the scarred man's chest just now was the result of his fatal strike, piercing through.

Ye Qin's body was held straight as an arrow, like a drawn bow ready to release.

The next second, he sprang like a spring, shooting forward violently.

The Serpent Kind's natural springing distance is already great, using muscle contraction then instant release, like a spring shooting out, and its attack range seldom exceeds half its body length.

However, Ye Qin's attack range is wider and his speed even faster, like a sword drawn from its sheath, striking at Li Han with the swiftness of thunder before one can cover their ears.

「Whoosh! 」

Li Han could even hear the sound of breaking air; he stared in disbelief at the strange Serpent Kind before him, realizing he could not clearly see its movements, and could only awkwardly roll onto the ground.

Ye Qin, with his body as a sword, pierced a small hole in the wooden floor where Li Han stood, as if it had been run through by a blade.

Having failed to strike Li Han, Ye Qin coldly regarded him, then quickly crawled over.

The soft rustling sound unique to the Serpent Kind's crawl made Li Han's scalp go numb; he scrambled up from the ground in a panic, unable to stop swallowing saliva.

What the hell is going on?

With that speed and force just now, if this snake were to fall on me

Li Han stared at the small hole, his body shuddered, and instantly he thought of the blood hole in the scarred man's chest, comparing the two.

An unbelievable thought surfaced in his mind.

This blood hole seems to match the size of this snake perfectly!

However, upon realizing this thought, Li Han felt a chill all over; looking at the snake poised to strike before him, his back was already soaked in cold sweat.

(End of chapter)