Chapter 186

Ling Yue heard this and was stunned—what situation?

She poured a cup of hot water and handed it to the man, who cupped the hot tea, his face still deathly pale: "Thank you, boss."

Ling Yue looked at his state and directly got to the point: "May I ask what you'd like to consult?"

As soon as his words fell, the man burst into tears, snot and tears streaming: "I have a problem! I have a big problem to consult! If we can't find the source, our residential community residents might just die in their sleep tonight!"

Hearing his words, it seemed to involve lives.

Ling Yue looked at the other party solemnly, never expecting that the first business upon opening the door would be such a matter.

That big brother, tall and sturdy, burst into tears without any macho baggage, snot and tears streaming as he began to explain: "It's like this: recently, our residential community suddenly had several poisonous snakes appear, scaring everyone; then we called the firefighters and caught several more, originally thinking the matter was settled, but who would have thought!"

He angrily slapped his thigh: "That night, my wife came home to sleep and directly found a plate of snake under the pillow, almost scaring her to death!"

"Boss, this is winter; logically snakes should be hibernating, so how can they be crawling everywhere? After this, our residential community is panic-stricken, afraid that a snake might suddenly pop out somewhere!"

"Moreover, these are all poisonous snakes with their fangs intact! Boss, you can communicate with animals, right? This time you must properly negotiate with them, letting these snake brothers and sisters go home quickly—our nice residential community is about to become a snake den!"

Ling Yue nodded in agreement, though privately puzzled; not yet having reached the scene, she didn't know what exactly was going on.

Soon they arrived at the scene.

An old residential community outside Jing Shi's third ring road; as soon as Ling Yue stepped out of the car, she was greeted with everyone's attention—the big brother was right, the residents were indeed greatly frightened by the snake appearances.

Some even moved out overnight, but many more had spent most of their lives tied to a single house; even knowing there were poisonous snakes, they couldn't relocate. Later someone mentioned Ling Yue, and everyone went door to door pooling money to specially invite her.

This big brother is the representative of all the homeowners in the residential community.

Ling Yue was welcomed in with utmost respect; she first surveyed the residential community's feng shui—plain and ordinary, with no other influencing factors.

As for the origin of these poisonous snakes, Ling Yue pondered momentarily, while the big brother beside her grew increasingly uneasy: "Boss, maybe it's not that serious?"

Ling Yue turned to him: "Where are the snakes in your residential community? Let me first ask about the situation."

She had decided: still, first find the party involved to inquire about the situation; continuing like this wouldn't work.

Hearing this, the big brother's calves trembled, and the onlooking crowd gasped and stepped back several paces.

They really didn't expect that the boss, a pretty little girl, would come out so fierce, opening her mouth to negotiate with poisonous snakes; some admired her immensely, while others kept their distance; as for the poisonous snakes——

The big brother rubbed his head awkwardly: "The poisonous snakes in our residential community haven't even appeared yet?"

Hearing his words, Ling Yue fell silent for a moment, then realized these poisonous snakes seemed to have a habit: they were accustomed to hiding by day and coming out at night, so once evening fell, the residential community was devoid of people, every household kept doors and windows tightly shut, fearing the snakes would slip in through cracks.

Unable to find the snakes, the situation reached an impasse; Ling Yue wasn't anxious either. She looked around, and the residents' rustling discussions reached her ears, actually letting her learn some things unrelated to the snakes.

This batch of old residential communities had been marked for demolition; everyone was happy, knowing that this place was incredibly valuable in Jing Shi, and many were awaiting the demolition payouts, each able to get at least several apartments and a large sum of compensation.

But recently, due to the news of poisonous snakes appearing, the authorities' attitude became wishy-washy.

People had no choice; that's why they invited Ling Yue, hoping to settle the matter as soon as possible, otherwise nobody would feel at ease.

Some even speculated that certain people were deliberately preventing their residential community's demolition, intentionally releasing obstacles!

This speculation gained the agreement of most people.

At this moment, Ling Yue prepared to act.

If the snakes don't come, she'll go find them; perhaps because of the snakes' presence, the residential community is extremely clean—not a small animal, not even a bird, can be seen.

Or perhaps it's the aura of natural predators that keeps all animals from lingering; she was pondering when suddenly she heard a shout: "You little brat, what's that in your hand?"

The speaker was Aunt Liu from the residential community; from afar she saw her little grandson holding something limp and floppy, her old eyes blurred, she thought he'd picked up more trash, swinging it hand, and immediately flew into a rage.

Aunt Liu stormed over, furious: "What trash dare you——"

Before she could even finish the word "pick up", she was startled senseless by what she saw: "Oh my, a snake!"

She turned and ran in fright; then everyone noticed that the little grandson was actually holding a dazed rat snake, plump and over a meter to nearly two meters long, being tossed back and forth, its tail almost sticking up.

Even before Ling Yue approached, she heard the plump rat snake's whining moan: "Oh my, save me! Save me! This human brat is going to swing me to death!"

"Do you have any public conscience? I'm a protected wildlife creature, quick, let go of me, you laborer!"

It cursed while squinting its small eyes in a feeble show of menace, a fierce exterior but weak interior, completely mismatched with its bulky body.

Although they couldn't find the poisonous snakes, at least it was a snake; Ling Yue took the rat snake from the child's hand and directly asked it: "Do you know how the poisonous snakes in the residential community came to be?"

The rat snake shuddered violently at those words, about to lash out angrily, then suddenly realized a human was asking it!

News of a master in Jing Shi who understands beast speech had spread throughout the animal world; this plump rat snake naturally wasn't a fool, and it instantly guessed: Ling Yue must be that master!

The snake instantly wilted: "Master, I'm reporting!"

It said while sighing, lately it's just been horribly unlucky!

The plump rat snake is a house snake of the old residential community; despite its chubby length, it's actually just as its name suggests—non-poisonous and not aggressive; in famine years, it's still a big meal on people's plates.

It's incomparable to other poisonous snakes.

That's why it can let a five- or six-year-old child play with it to this miserable state.

Ling Yue: "Stop!"

She stopped the plump rat snake from reminiscing about hardships, telling it: "Make a long story short—let's first talk about the origin of the poisonous snakes."

The plump rat snake perked up at that: "I know, I know! They were smuggled in by humans!"

Hearing this, Ling Yue furrowed her brows; indeed her first thought had been that someone deliberately released the snakes, after all poisonous snakes aren't roadside weeds you can just pull up in bunches—the most likely scenario is intentional sabotage.

Thus, after receiving the plump rat snake's answer, Ling Yue wasn't particularly surprised; instead, the surrounding residents suddenly heard this and erupted in an uproar.

"Putting out poisonous snakes? Good heavens? Who? Who's so depraved?"

"Good lord, with kids and elders at home, fearing any mishap—whoever released the poisonous snakes, I'll beat them to death with a brick!"

At this moment, the plump rat snake whispered to her: "Master, are you going to catch them? This bunch of poisonous snakes is downright evil! If I weren't fast, I'd have already been caught and eaten by them!"

"Master, I know where they sleep; let me take you to catch them, how about that?"

Ling Yue gave the lively plump rat snake a deep look: "You're quite happy?"

The plump rat snake: It's practically about to go crazy with happiness!

When the poisonous snakes get hungry, they'll even eat their own kind; especially this plump, adorable white one, they'd surely devour it till not a scale remains!

Speaking of itself, the plump rat snake burst into tears—it's also miserable; after many poisonous snakes invaded the residential community, they first ate all the small animals, then various non-poisonous snakes; the plump rat snake ended up like this because it was packing up to flee, but was a step late and got caught by humans.

Now finally someone has my back.

Cauliflower Snake Fatty writhed on the ground: "Humans, you must catch those stinky poisonous snakes; they're too scary even for snakes!"

This fearless attitude made Ling Yue unable to watch, but although Cauliflower Snake Fatty was timid, its movements were quite swift, and Ling Yue soon found the snakes' den.

Ling Yue had just taken out pet food when the snakes in the den almost all came out, looking as if they were intoxicated by fragrance.

It only brought misery to the residents of the estate, who saw brightly colored, variegated poisonous snakes slithering out from wall bases or inconspicuous corners; many broke out in cold sweat and felt chills all over.

"Oh my goodness, how can there be so many!"

At a glance, there were at least dozens, soft and slippery, entwined together, triangular heads, making people feel numb from head to toe.

Too exciting!

More people recalled the origin of these snakes and grew even more furious: "Master, hurry and ask—just which bastard is so vicious as to release poisonous snakes!"

"If I find out who it is, I'll definitely tear him apart limb from limb!"

Amid the crowd's clamor, Ling Yue noticed a person who seemed to keep slipping backward; he appeared to be one of the homeowners, but had now retreated to the edge of the crowd.

Ling Yue lowered her head and glanced at the snakes; to others they were a huge hassle, but for Ling Yue, who could understand beast speech, it was as simple as could be.

She used pet food to get the snakes to promise to help her find their owner.

Under everyone's gaze, a pig-slaughtering-like wail rang out; everyone turned to look, and upon seeing that face, many were greatly surprised.

The young man plopped onto the ground, a triangular snake coiling around his calf: "Don't look for me, don't look for me! It's not me!"

He trembled with fear; in his eyes, the cold snake scales seemed like the most terrifying killing intent: "Master, save me! The poisonous snakes are biting people!"

This miserable sight aroused many people's sympathy, yet they hadn't forgotten Ling Yue's earlier words; many covered their mouths, secretly astonished.

"Could it be him?"

"How could it be him? I think Xiao Du is a decent guy."

The poisonous snake coiled around Xiao Du's leg, hearing the crowd's discussion, couldn't help stick out its tongue and lick his calf: "Clearly he's a big bad guy!"

"If he hadn't bought us here, we would have run away long ago; we wouldn't have stayed several days in this unfamiliar place, and I'd almost have starved to death!"

After saying that, it almost wanted to give him a bite.

Ling Yue listened, her brows rising; not only Cauliflower Snake Fatty, but these snakes also felt wronged—what exactly was the truth of the matter?

At this moment, Xiao Du's psychological defenses completely collapsed.

He lay on the ground, clutching his head and wailing: "I was wrong! I was wrong! I'll never engage in releasing animals again!"

The crowd exchanged glances, only then catching the full story from his intermittent pleas for mercy.

It turned out that a few years ago Xiao Du came into contact with a release organization; as the contact increased, he became obsessed with releasing animals, and this year, in a moment of confusion, he directly bought over a hundred poisonous snakes intending to release them into the wild.

Unfortunately, plans changed—because his bag wasn't sealed tight, a few of his snakes escaped, and the contacted release organization suddenly went silent; seeing it wasn't a big deal, Xiao Du simply released all the snakes into his own estate.

He still had a bit of cleverness, knowing to sprinkle realgar around his own home to repel snakes, but this caused suffering for the other residents of the estate.

Hearing his explanation, the furious estate residents wanted to beat him to death!

Xiao Du still insists: "I just meant well but messed up; these poisonous snakes are lives too—you shouldn't be angry. Haven't we already found all of them? Isn't that a scare without harm?"

"A scare without harm, my ass! You piece of trash, I'll beat you to death!"

With a big brother leading the charge, the scene instantly spiraled out of control; everyone fumed and hurled insults, practically wanting to split open his head to see what was inside—truly depraved and smoky!

Ling Yue couldn't help touching her face; it was still the first time she'd seen such a bizarre thing—poisonous snakes? Can they really be released at will? And released into one's own estate?

This guy truly doesn't use what's on his shoulders as a brain.

Finally, the police temporarily took Xiao Du away on charges of endangering public safety, and the batch of snakes was also taken away by the officers; one would think they can finally go home now.

The happiest should be Cauliflower Snake Fatty; after its life-threatening danger was perfectly resolved, it didn't know where it crawled off to, probably hiding again.

After the estate incident ended, Ling Yue stopped taking orders, directly posted a notice in the group, and began preparing for the New Year!

This was Ling Yue's first time preparing for the New Year herself; without her mother, but with a group of small animals gathered together, the Mysterious Cat Queen led the kittens in putting up couplets and hanging blessings, while a flock of Azure Spirit birds carried fresh flowers to decorate the interior.

"Waila waila!"

Jun Jun saw the tiger-skin parrot couple gripping a big blessing character, pasted upside-down on the villa gate, and couldn't help speaking up to remind them.

The Wind-Water Turtle Master chuckled, saying: "Not crooked, not crooked!"

"You wouldn't know, having come into the world late, but the blessing character must be pasted upside-down to bring good fortune."

Jun Jun scratched his head, still somewhat puzzled by the pun.

The Wind-Water Turtle Grandpa chattered on about various New Year customs, making Jun Jun feel dizzy; upon looking up, he saw Ling Yue cutting window flowers and instantly went numb-pawed.

This was a secret technique Ling Yue learned from Qiao Qiao's home; the crimson window flowers stuck on the glass instantly gave the New Year feeling.

She cut a few sheets, then hastily lifted her head; it was already evening, and in the cozy room, the kittens curled into balls and snuggled into the plush cradle to sleep.

Jun Jun lay on the sofa, his tail sticking out of his pants, two white pointed beast ears having sprouted at some unknown time, making Ling Yue hardly able to look.

Ling Yue yawned, seemingly infected by the atmosphere, feeling a bit drowsy.

Outside the window the wind howled, but inside the room all was peaceful and tranquil.

However, for some people, it was just too tragic.

This refers to the Mysterious Gate Association; after being investigated by the state and discovered to have secretly contacted foreign organizations, the association never regained its former glory, and its members were powerless before the vast state apparatus.

The closer to the year's end, the more they resembled rats in a sewer—no, they were even worse than rats, for when rats discovered them, they would alert humans.

Thus, within a few days, the once-flourishing Mysterious Gate Association quietly fell silent.

When Ling Yue heard the news, she was stunned—this is too illusory, right?

The usually stern captain couldn't help chuckling at her words.

Ling Yue quickly came to her senses, but the present matter was still more important.

Her gaze shifted slightly to the river surface covered with a thin ice layer; through the thin ice she saw the effect of the formation she had set up earlier, which was quite evident.

The Wind-Water Fish Goldy chimed in: "I also sensed it—there are plenty of aquatic creatures here, their aura makes me very comfortable!"

It has now become the Wind-Water Fish King, having previously stayed here for a long time; in a sense, Goldy's fortune has become linked with the aquatic clan.

Its feeling is also the most intuitive.

So, the aquatic ecosystem in the Yangtze River is truly changing.

Ling Yue finally let out a breath of relief; before today, she had been worried that the effect of the formation she had reformed was too poor, wondering what to do.

At this moment, the heavy stone in her heart finally settled, and Jin Jin, after receiving an affirmative answer, leapt straight out of the fish tank.

Its body covered in gorgeous scarlet-purple scales that refracted dazzling light in the sunlight, it then went "plop" and dove headfirst into the river water.

Hehehe, little fish, come greet me, this great king is back again!

A ripple spread across the river surface; the small fish hiding in the water poked their heads out, and upon seeing Jin Jin, they immediately swam over excitedly.

Ling Yue's gaze fell back onto the thin ice: "Let's begin."

The others nodded in agreement.

Besides herself this time, Ling Yue also brought all her colleagues from the Special Safety Bureau; regarding the formations set up on the Yangtze, she planned to have all of them in place before the river freezes completely this winter.

According to estimates, the changes in the Yangtze next spring and summer will surely astonish everyone.

The only shortcoming is probably that the expense is a bit high; for Ling Yue, that's not a problem at all.

She and her colleagues spent three full days to set up the formations completely; on the third day, Ling Yue nearly drained all of her cultivation, while the others had already begun taking shifts, and in their dazed, exhausted moments they couldn't help but glance at Ling Yue.

"Captain, this is too amazing!"

Everyone took turns shifting, but only Ling Yue stayed at her post the whole time.

Many thought, seeing her was like seeing a divine needle that stabilizes the sea; just looking at her there put their hearts completely at ease.

What they didn't know was that Ling Yue had already finished her work at that point.

Ling Yue chose to possess the Dragon Fish King Jin Jin, using Jin Jin's perspective to explore the underwater Dragon Palace together.

Ling Yue hadn't forgotten the strange sensation she had felt earlier.

Revisiting the old site, the abandoned Dragon Palace remained as it was; Ling Yue hadn't even spoken when the Feng Shui fish Jin Jin suddenly darted about, its large eyes fixed on the vaulted ceiling above: "I sense… something is calling me."

Ling Yue stared, unable to stop it in time, as Jin Jin, seemingly possessed, lunged madly at the dome. ，，.