Chapter 28 - 24: Extreme Heat, White Fog

Song Hui shouted for a good while, but there was no response from inside the house.

If they delayed any longer, they wouldn’t make it back to the shelter and would have to go hungry for a day.

A sinister glint appeared in Lin Zu’s eyes as he goaded, "Captain Song, with so many of us, there’s no need to fear them. Let’s just charge in!"

Jiao Weisong, still dwelling on his near-death experience moments ago, said, "Captain, they’re illegally hoarding firearms. That makes them dangerous. We should go in and apprehend them!"

Song Hui’s gaze turned icy. "Do you have any proof? A search warrant?"

Jiao Weisong faltered, then said defiantly, "But these are special circumstances."

"Civilians might get a pass during these times, but what special privilege do you have? Being weak doesn’t automatically make you right! If you act on a one-sided story, you could be harming an entire innocent family!"

"All personnel, fall in! We’re returning to the shelter immediately!"

Jiao Weisong said through gritted teeth, "Captain, some of our people will die if they don’t get water soon!"

Song Hui stared at him coldly. "Then why don’t you conjure some water out of thin air? Don’t play the saint if you don’t have the power to back it up! If we waste any more time, even more people will be dead by the time we get back to the shelter tomorrow!"

The people who had just been siding with Jiao Weisong immediately changed their tune.

"I really don’t know how someone with no discipline like him ever made vice-captain."

"Exactly. The captain is the one who sees the big picture."

"Insisting on saving people who are already at death’s door, trying to drag the rest of us down with them... He must have a screw loose."

Jiao Weisong’s face flushed red with humiliation as he listened to the criticism, his fists clenched tightly at his sides.

Lin Zu tried to curry favor, saying, "Vice-captain, you’re just too kind-hearted. Unlike some people who just let armed thugs run free. They’ll regret it when those thugs start robbing everyone of their food and water!"

Suddenly, an idea flashed through Jiao Weisong’s mind. He looked toward the forest behind Jiang Si’s house.

’This family refuses to go to the shelter... Could it be that they’ve found a source of water?’

...

In the silent forest, the withered trees took on a strange and terrifying air under the cloak of darkness.

Jiang Si looked at Qin Shen. "Which way should we go?"

Qin Shen pointed southwest.

’Just as I thought. It’s not in the same location as the underground water source Dad discovered in my past life.’

Jiang Si followed Qin Shen, reminding everyone to be careful before asking him, "Roughly how long will this take?"

Qin Shen replied, "It’s hard to say. The variables change every day."

’The variables change every day?’

’Has Qin Shen been here more than once?’

’Did he enter the forest before the vampire mosquitoes were gone?’

’He doesn’t have a protective suit, so how did he manage that?’

’Is his skin just that thick?’

A thousand questions flooded Jiang Si’s mind in an instant. Just then, Qin Shen stopped dead in his tracks, and she nearly collided with his back.

Jiang Si looked up. In the torchlight, the dark woods were shrouded in a dense white fog, reducing visibility to less than a meter.

The white fog seemed to have a life of its own, flowing like a visible, gentle current and obscuring their vision.

Even though Qin Shen was standing right in front of her and she was holding a torch, all Jiang Si could make out was his tall, indistinct silhouette.

With daytime temperatures reaching as high as seventy-five degrees and nighttime lows of fifty, it was bizarre for such a thick fog to appear in the bone-dry forest.

Jiang Si had never heard Jiang Linhai mention anything like this in her past life. She hurriedly asked Qin Shen, "Is the fog toxic?"

Qin Shen said, "It’s not toxic. Just be careful not to get lost or step on any venomous insects or snakes."

Hearing it wasn’t poisonous, Jiang Si relaxed slightly.

Lu Zhifeng tied a rope to Niu Niu’s wrist to keep her from getting separated.

Jiang Si took a rope from her bag—in reality, from her dimensional space—and had Qin Shen take the lead while everyone else held on to walk together.

Clutching the rope and holding their torches, they walked cautiously for a while.

Suddenly, a rustling sound came from all around. Qin Shen’s ears twitched, and he said with perfect composure, "Snakes. Everyone be careful."

’Thick fog and now snakes? What is this, extreme challenge mode?!’

’I have all sorts of antivenoms stored in my dimensional space,’ Jiang Si thought, ’but in this dense fog, I can’t see what kind of snakes they are. Injecting the wrong antivenom could be just as fatal.’

A shiver went down everyone’s spine, and they proceeded with even greater caution.

"HSSSS~"

The quieter it became, the more clearly they could hear the hissing of snakes’ tongues.

"CRACK~"

A dry branch snapped.

A startled snake suddenly lunged at Jiang Si.

With lightning reflexes, Qin Shen grabbed the snake, snapped its neck, and flung it several meters away.

Before anyone could recover from the shock, several more snakes dropped from the trees.

"AHHHH—"

Niu Niu screamed in terror and buried herself in Lu Zhifeng’s arms.

Jiang Si brandished her blade, slicing a venomous snake in two. The severed halves fell to the ground, still writhing.

As everyone leaped back, the air filled with the incessant sound of a whole swarm of snakes slithering across the ground.

Jiang Si and Qin Shen were killing snakes at an incredible speed, but the spattering blood and its thick, coppery scent only served to attract more of them.

The two of them were doing their utmost to protect everyone else.

’This can’t go on,’ she thought. ’Eventually, one will get through.’

’The realgar spray is too weak.’

Jiang Si grabbed her backpack. With a quick reach of her hand inside, she instantly filled it to the brim with realgar powder from her dimensional space.

The very moment she started to pour out the realgar powder, a red venomous snake at Shen Baoying’s feet opened its jaws wide, its fangs poised to sink into her leg.

"Mom—!" Jiang Si cried out, her face draining of all color.

Shen Baoying’s gaze fell and met the snake’s cold, reptilian eyes. In that instant, her mind went completely blank.

In the nick of time.

Qin Shen grabbed the snake by its tail. Its fangs met only air, but in less than half a second, it whipped its body into an S-curve and sank its teeth into his arm.

Qin Shen’s brow furrowed slightly as he tore the snake in two and hurled it far into the darkness.

Jiang Si let out a breath of relief before backhanding her blade to cleave through two more snakes.

The power of the realgar powder gradually took effect, and the attacking snakes all scattered.

Qin Shen, despite his agility and having killed countless snakes, was paradoxically the only one who had been bitten.

Shen Baoying was overcome with guilt. Not only had she been unable to help, but she had caused Qin Shen to be bitten.

Jiang Si walked up to Qin Shen. "Let me treat the wound!"

Qin Shen held his arm out to her. On his right wrist were two deep fang marks.

Jiang Si remembered what the snake looked like. It was a Red Teng Snake, and it was highly venomous.

To treat the wound, she had to squeeze out the venom.

Then, she would need to tie a tight tourniquet above the wound with something like a shoelace to slow the spread of the poison.

After finishing the initial treatment, while repeatedly washing the wound with soapy water, Jiang Si retrieved the Teng Snake antivenom from her dimensional space. She made an excuse, saying, "I’ll give you an antibiotic shot. It should suppress the toxin for a while. If you’re lucky, you might not die."

’Qin Shen probably can’t tell the difference between antivenom and antibiotics,’ she thought.

Qin Shen shook his head. "It wasn’t a venomous snake. I’ll be fine."

Shen Baoying’s heart eased with relief. "Oh, that’s wonderful! Thank you for saving me!"

Jiang Si froze.

’But I saw it perfectly clearly,’ she thought. ’It was a Red Teng Snake!’

’How could it not be venomous?’

Besides, Qin Shen’s wound was already starting to turn a dark color, and his face had gone pale.

Qin Shen stood up nonchalantly, pulled down his sleeve, and said, "We should get moving."

’If it really wasn’t a venomous snake, giving him the antivenom wouldn’t hurt.’

’But if it was, and he dies from the poison, he’ll arrive in the afterlife still owing me a favor.’

Jiang Si grabbed his sleeve. "Let’s do the antibiotic shot anyway. Just in case."

Qin Shen glanced at her, then relented and held out his arm.