Chapter 240: Snake Swamp Ghost City (Part 2): Snake King

This turned out to be a "Wild Chicken Neck".

How could there be this kind of snake here! I looked more carefully, and the fiery red comb and snake body, along with that frightening upright posture, it was definitely a "Wild Chicken Neck".

Cold sweat immediately oozed out of me. This snake is extremely rare. In my hometown, it's called "Lei Wang Hong" (phonetic). I saw it once in the mountains when I was a child. According to the old folks, this snake is the emperor of snakes; all snakes fear it. It glides close to the ground like lightning, is incredibly venomous, and wherever it crawls, even plants and weeds will part on their own. Moreover, you mustn't strike this snake, because if you kill it, its kind will come to retaliate.

Later I read a Qing dynasty anecdotal novel that said this snake is a lesser dragon, dwelling along the dragon veins of mountains and rivers, and is also said to be a snake spirit coiled on dragon veins. In some places there are legends of heavenly thunder killing demons, often involving thunder striking mountains and blasting out such snakes. However, this snake has been almost extinct for decades. To have one here really surprised me.

Fatty and the others had never seen this kind of snake and clicked their tongues in wonder. Among them, only Poker-face and I had our expressions change. However, the fiery red body and fierce posture marked it as highly venomous, so none of them dared to act rashly.

This was truly escaping from a python's mouth only to encounter a venomous snake. I felt annoyed while reminding myself that in this place, I really needed to be doubly careful and not just recklessly crawl everywhere.

Fighting a python head-on still gave a glimmer of hope, but battling a venomous snake usually meant either total victory or total defeat. No one was willing to take that risk. Besides, "Wild Chicken Necks" generally don't provoke humans. Its current threatening posture was a warning; probably this crevice was its nest.

Then we absolutely couldn't stay here. I waved for them not to assume an offensive posture and to slowly move out. A Ning pulled out a cold flare and handed it to me to use as a weapon.

I held the cold flare horizontally in front of me so that if the "Wild Chicken Neck" suddenly attacked, I wouldn't have to block with only my hands. We carefully backed out of the crevice, one by one, all smoothly. When it was my turn, I finally breathed a sigh of relief. I turned to look inside the crevice—it was pitch black and I could no longer see the snake. I thought to myself, at least nothing happened.

Coming down from the crevice and stepping into the water, Fatty shone his mining lamp outside the waterfall, circling a few times, and said, "The big snake is gone too. We're safe..."

Everyone let out a sigh of relief. We went to check on Panzi, who was being supported by Fatty. He waved his hand weakly and said it was nothing, just internal injuries from the fall, but he wouldn't die. We looked at each other and gave bitter smiles. We were all disheveled and covered in mud. A Ning's chest was almost exposed; she casually pulled her clothes to cover it, but we had no energy to look. Only two equipment packs remained. Poker-face had lost his black-gold ancient knife. Fatty was holding my dagger; his own dagger was gone. Poker-face's and Panzi's shoulders were covered in dense bloody holes from the python's fangs. Especially Poker-face—he had probably torn himself free, so many wounds were gaping open.

I really never imagined that a single python could reduce us to such a miserable state.

I looked at the sky—the rain had stopped, and the sky was brightening. At the edge of the canyon, trees were sparse, revealing the dawn colors of approaching daybreak. On one side was a waterfall, on the other a jungle; birds sang all around. If I hadn't personally experienced the fierce battle just now, this would have been such a beautiful scene.

Everyone quietly looked at the scenery for a while. Fatty asked, "What now?" A Ning walked to the waterfall's edge, caught some falling rainwater, washed her face, and said, "When it's light, we'll go back and retrieve our equipment, then find a place to rest. This place is too dangerous; we need to get out quickly."

Fatty said, "Damn it, that's easy for you to say. When we ran just now, it was completely random. We don't even know where that tree is. How are we going to find it?"

"We still have to find it. If we don't go back now, it'll be even more impossible when we need it later." A Ning tiredly pressed her face, then rolled up her sleeves, stuck her head under the waterfall for a quick rinse. After washing, she shook her short hair, the mud washed away, and her pretty face returned to its former look. Then she gestured for us to set out.

Thinking about having to go back to that place, I sighed deeply in my heart. But this woman was right; at this moment, we really had to do it, even if it left no time to catch one's breath. I felt like I hadn't even recovered yet.

Everyone picked up their belongings. A Ning, after all being a woman who cared about cleanliness, when she saw we had walked a bit farther, she pulled open her clothes and used water to rinse her chest. At that moment, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a flash of red inside the waterfall, and at the same time we faintly heard a "cluck, cluck" sound.

I suddenly felt something was wrong and said to A Ning, "Be careful! Stay away from the waterfall!"

"What's wrong?" A Ning turned her head and looked at me. For some reason, she gave a faint smile, different from her previous smiles. I was momentarily stunned by its charm.

At that very instant, a fiery red snake burst out of the waterfall and coiled around A Ning's neck in an instant, raising its head high and emitting a series of shrill, piercing "cluck cluck cluck" sounds. I thought, it's over! I dropped my things and rushed over. But before I could take even one step, I saw the "Wild Chicken Neck" strike like lightning. A Ning tried to block with her hand but failed; the snake's head bit into her neck. She screamed, yanked the snake off, threw it aside, covered her neck, and collapsed into the water.

We rushed over. The snake didn't flee; it suddenly leaped from the water like an arrow, flying toward us. Fatty shouted and swung his knife but missed. It looked like he would get hit next. But Poker-face beside him grabbed in midair and caught the snake's head. The snake's body immediately coiled around his arm, trying to pull its head free. Then Poker-face used his other hand to grip the snake's neck, twisted both hands in opposite directions—crack—and twisted the snake's head three hundred and sixty degrees. Then he threw it into the water. The "Wild Chicken Neck" twitched a few times, then stopped moving and slowly floated to the surface.

We hurried to check on A Ning. I went over and lifted her up, but saw that her expression was frozen. Her throat moved as if she wanted to speak, tears streaming from her eyes, as if she had a million regrets. My scalp went numb. I didn't know what to do; my whole body started trembling. Then, in just a few seconds, her eyes lost focus. Her body went limp, and then her head drooped.