Chapter 113

Ying Shuiwang heard this and turned to persuade the old man: "Uncle Zong, stop talking. The roads on this island were all paved with money donated by Shuigen. He makes a living by his own skills; he's not a bad person."

"Hmph, you juniors who forget your roots, this island of ours will be ruined by people like you sooner or later!" The more Uncle Zong heard, the angrier he became, and he grabbed his cane, ready to strike Shuiwang.

"Who is Shuigen?" Qi Fei asked, while holding back Uncle Zong, wondering who this rustic-sounding name belonged to.

Ying Shuiwang said: "Shuigen is my clansman; he lives in that courtyard. But ever since he was possessed by a Snake Immortal over a dozen years ago, he suddenly changed like a different person. He stopped associating with us entirely and has lived behind those high walls ever since. We haven't even seen him in person."

"Huh? A Snake Immortal?" Wu Shanqiu was confused after hearing this. "Didn't the old gentleman just say that you all have a grudge against snakes?"

Ying Shuiwang glanced at Uncle Zong with apprehension, walked a few steps away, and then said: "That's the thinking of the older generation; it's just a legend and shouldn't be taken seriously. But we have heard of Shuigen's sorcery. It is said that snakes obey him and that he can bless people with promotions and wealth. We often see rich people coming to Shuigen's place, and I heard..." As he spoke, Ying Shuiwang deliberately lowered his voice and said to Qi Fei and the others, "That big celebrity who just died also used to come to Shuigen's place often."

Hearing this, Qi Fei suddenly remembered: "You don't mean Hong Mei, do you?"

"Ah, yes, yes, yes, that's her name, Hong Mei!"

"Snake Immortal, could your Shuigen be that 'Golden Snake Immortal'?"

"Ah, yes, yes, yes, that's the name, Golden Snake Immortal."

He hadn't forgotten this name; it was the name inscribed on the Dharma artifacts found everywhere in Hong Mei's recreational vehicle.

Just as he finished speaking, Wu Shanqiu received a message on her phone and blurted out: "Oh my! It's trending."

Qi Fei now got a headache whenever he heard "trending," and he immediately asked: "What is it?"

Wu Shanqiu showed the content on her phone to the two of them. They saw a slightly chubby middle-aged man with large eyes, a hooked nose, and hair combed until it was shiny and slick. That wasn't the point; the point was the caption accompanying the photo, which only said one sentence: "I didn't kill anyone; the innocent will clear their own names."

It was the first time they had encountered a case where someone jumped out to claim they weren't the murderer before the investigation had even begun.

"Who is this guy?" Qi Fei took Wu Shanqiu's phone, scrolled up, and read the account name: "Golden Snake Immortal?"

He hadn't expected this so-called Immortal to look so worldly and greasy, not at all transcendent or refined.

The two turned their heads in unison to look at Ying Shuiwang, who hadn't made a sound after seeing the photo, and asked in confusion: "Isn't this your clansman? How come you don't recognize him?"

Ying Shuiwang immediately said: "We haven't seen him for many years; he has always been hiding in that house and never comes out. The nose and eyes look similar, but Shuigen wasn't this fat before. Oh my, this matter really is related to Shuigen. Could it really be that a Snake Immortal is eating people?"

"The important thing is that we must get to that house immediately." Qi Fei didn't say another word and took Wu Shanqiu, rushing toward the residence of the Golden Snake Immortal.

Looking at the house across the fields, it didn't seem far, but in reality, it was still a bit of a distance by car.

The police car stopped next to a luxurious Maybach.

It seemed that this Ying Shuigen had indeed made quite a lot of money by being the "Golden Snake Immortal."

Sure enough, snakes were crawling out one after another from under the tightly closed large iron gate.

The gate was tightly shut, and after knocking for a long time, there was no response.

"Brother Fei, look!" Wu Shanqiu pulled Qi Fei to the wall facing west, where a large elm tree had branches extending out, lush and green even in winter.

At first glance, it looked like vines were hanging and dangling from it, but they soon discovered that these "vines" were wriggling on their own—they were actually long snakes.

As the two were watching, a snake suddenly fell from the tree, almost hitting Wu Shanqiu's head, and landed on the ground, brushing past her face. It scared Wu Shanqiu so much that she grabbed Qi Fei's arm and jumped on the spot.

Shuiwang, who had followed them, was also badly frightened: "Since when does Shuigen's house have so many snakes?"

"Is it not like this usually?" Qi Fei asked.

Shuiwang said: "We can't even get through his courtyard gate, but this tree has been here for a long time, and I've never seen it covered in snakes!"

No matter how one looked at it, the situation was unusual. Qi Fei returned to the large iron gate and pressed the doorbell twice.

He could vaguely hear the sound of the doorbell ringing inside the courtyard, but after waiting for a long time, no one came to open the door.

Qi Fei lay on the ground and looked through the gap at the bottom of the iron gate. As if he had seen something, he immediately stood up and said to Wu Shanqiu: "Quick, notify our colleagues at the police station to come for support!"

As he spoke, he ran to the pier, borrowed a rescue axe, and smashed the lock on the iron gate directly.

When the iron gate was opened, the first thing they saw wasn't snakes, but dense, winding bloodstains left on the courtyard floor—left behind by countless blood-covered snakes crawling past.

This was what Qi Fei had seen just now while lying under the iron gate.

This farmhouse, surrounded by high walls, had been around for years. Instead of having tasteful rockeries and fountains, it was tiled with liver-colored tiles, neither rustic nor modern. Suddenly, something pitch-black darted out and touched Qi Fei's ankle, feeling cold. He looked down and saw a black snake, flicking its red tongue, coiling around his leg.

Qi Fei didn't hesitate to grab the snake and fling it away, but this was just the beginning.

The farmhouse was two stories high, and the door to the first-floor hall was ajar; he could vaguely hear "hissing" sounds coming from inside.

The closer they got to the door, the more concentrated the bloodstains became. It seemed these blood-stained snakes were crawling out from this door.

When he and Wu Shanqiu walked inside, they saw thousands of snakes intertwined and slithering everywhere. It was truly no different from a snake den, and the entire floor was sticky, making it impossible to distinguish between blood and snake mucus.

The scene before her eyes shocked Wu Shanqiu, and she muttered: "My god, what kind of living hell is this!"

Qi Fei pointed to the ground, and when Wu Shanqiu looked, she saw there were even bloody footprints coming out from a side room of the living room.

The two struggled to bypass the snakes crawling all over the floor and walked toward the side hall. After entering the room, they saw a scene they had never expected.

A male corpse lay face up in the very center, eyes wide open, mouth agape, as if he had seen an extremely terrifying sight. The designer shirt on his upper body had been torn open, exposing his chest and abdomen, and there was a large pool of blood beneath him. His body was covered in snakes, twisting and curling. Because of the snakes' movement, they had drawn scattered tentacle-like patterns on the floor, as if the man were being wrapped by these tentacles and dragged into hell.

However, this shocking, speechless scene was not what surprised them the most.

What was surprising was the identity of the male corpse. Qi Fei and Wu Shanqiu both recognized this face—Huang Daqiu, Hong Mei's benefactor, that arrogant and high-profile wealthy businessman.