Closer to Revealing My True Self
Chapter 168 - 138 Here!_1

Chapter 168: Chapter 138 Here!_1

After some consideration, Feng Yi decided not to take the bicycle in the end.

What do I need a bicycle for!

Bicycles would slow down my snake-chasing speed!

After my physical upgrade, running around the lake is no problem at all!

However, these were things other people did not know, and Wei Hongxun raised objections, but Feng Yi was firm in his stance.

Although Wei Hongxun couldn’t change Feng Yi’s mind, just to be safe, he still chose to follow Feng Yi on a bicycle. Originally, he had planned to send someone to lead the way, but this suggestion was also rejected by Feng Yi. Having someone in front could interfere with his ability to discern scents and directions and might affect the speed of his pursuit.

Given the urgency of capturing the giant python, even though Wei Hongxun was not confident about Feng Yi’s choice, he compromised. After all, on this matter, Feng Yi was the expert and had already proven his abilities. It was best to defer to the expert’s wishes at such a time.

And so, Feng Yi quickly began running along the small trail around the lake, with Wei Hongxun and a forestry bureau staff member following on bicycles.

Ding and several others sat in a patrol car, trailing along the slightly more distant lakeside road.

As Wei Hongxun pedaled his bicycle, he was initially concerned that Feng Yi might not be able to keep up the pace and still be distracted by other things, but he soon discovered...

Feng Yi really seemed a bit unreliable!

Isn’t the running speed too fast?!

After setting off, Feng Yi maintained a moderate pace at first, but then his speed began to increase.

Wei Hongxun wanted to say that it was okay to run slow, running too fast would burn too much energy. However, he didn’t speak up, thinking that it was alright for Feng Yi to run at a faster pace. If he got tired, he could just stop for a rest.

A faster pace showed that Feng Yi was motivated, right?

Feng Yi had no idea about Wei Hongxun’s thoughts; once he started running, he paid no attention to other unimportant matters.

He divided his attention, partly to check the ground beneath his feet, and the rest to monitor the scent distribution around him.

Water, soil, plants, and the complex scents left by various animals or microorganisms—filtering out the unimportant information, he focused on catching those easily overlooked and suspicious scent molecules.

After running for over twenty minutes from the starting area, Feng Yi smelled several other snakes’ life signs, but they were just small snakes, and the only python scent was from the one caught in the early morning.

Wei Hongxun hadn’t stopped for more than twenty minutes and was still okay. With the capture of that large python earlier in the morning as a precursor, he had confidence in Feng Yi.

However, not everyone in the patrol car shared the same mood.

It wasn’t necessarily a matter of doubting Feng Yi’s abilities.

A python had already been caught in the early morning, and both the Joint Protection Bureau and Forestry Bureau personnel had confirmed Feng Yi’s abilities. But if there was no issue with Feng Yi’s abilities, and he still hadn’t discovered the scent of another large python by now, didn’t that mean that there might not be a second one?

"Let’s keep looking; this lake is quite large. Let’s run a full circle before we draw conclusions."

Determine whether it exists first before deciding how to capture it.

They were also aware that today’s temperature wasn’t conducive for finding snakes.

"Today’s temperature is quite high," someone in the car mentioned.

If the temperature was lower, they would only need to find a spot suitable for basking in the sun, and there would be a high probability of finding snakes.

But if the temperature was not low, pythons, as long as they weren’t hungry, would be too lazy to move, and they wouldn’t need to bask in the sun either.

With their natural color patterns providing an advantage in camouflage, they would be really difficult to find when hidden away.

If Feng Yi could truly find the python by scent, that would indeed be more convenient.

The temperature had been high in Yang City recently, and while most parts of the country were entering winter, many people in Yang City were still wearing short sleeves. Therefore, the number of tourists visiting Yang City was also high, making business at the resort quite booming. This was why the resort owners were so eager to resolve the issue—every day was about money!

They had already planned out how to turn a misfortune into a blessing, but the premise was that the python was truly captured!

"I heard that some professional snake catchers train hunting dogs to search?" the resort manager asked.

"Indeed, that’s true," explained one Forestry Bureau staff member. "Dogs can track targets by scent, but we don’t have such a working dog specialized in snake-searching right now."

The resort manager laughed lightly, his tone somewhat relaxed, "That also proves it’s really possible to track by scent. The one caught this morning was found by Expert Feng simply by following the smell."

Since one big fellow had already been captured, catching another wouldn’t be that hard.

The resort owners had done their homework on Feng Yi and his high salary when they hired him to catch snakes. They knew that one of Feng Yi’s exceptional talents was his extreme sensitivity to snake scents.

However, the others in the car were not as optimistic. Whether they could find it was one thing; how to capture it was another.

Dealing with such large snakes could easily end in disaster if one wasn’t careful and, based on the information available, the second snake also had a bad temper and might even be prone to attacking humans.

The resort manager was no fool incapable of reading the room. Glancing around and noticing the serious expressions of the others, he reined in his smile, though his voice remained unstressed, "I’ve heard that this species of python doesn’t eat people. They simply can’t swallow them, and the pythons here might eat more mice over their lifetime than anything else, right?"

"No matter how many mice they eat, they can’t be too close to residential areas. They grow fast. It starts with mice, then they move on to other small animals, followed by children," the Forestry Bureau staff member stated.

The resort manager’s face stiffened; of course, he had also heard rumors of pythons swallowing children.

The large python now hidden in the lake would indeed hunt larger prey.

With a forced chuckle, the resort manager swiftly changed the subject, asking, "What does it feel like to be bitten by a python?"

On such a matter, the expert with tooth marks on his arm had the most authority to speak.

"Being bitten by a python, huh? It’s like having four rows of nails clamped onto your arm, and they’re the kind with barbs," the expert said.

While speaking, the expert lifted his hand to mimic a snake’s mouth and suddenly snapped his fingers onto the resort manager’s arm, causing him to recoil in shock.

"Just like that!" the expert said. "See, your first instinct is to pull your arm in the opposite direction, but the python’s teeth are like barbs. You pull away, and it can directly tear open your flesh, potentially causing tendon tears!"

The resort manager’s facial muscles tensed up.

He hated snakes, particularly two kinds the most.

One type is the venomous snake.

Another is larger than him.

The atmosphere inside the vehicle was somewhat oppressive, with the only relaxed presence being Ding, who was carrying the toolbox.

The resort manager looked over the several people in the car, and his gaze finally fell on the photographer beside him. The photographer assigned to take pictures this time wasn’t the one from early morning; this one was younger, looking like he exercised regularly. Logically, someone so young probably didn’t have much experience with photographing snakes.

"Are you scared?" the resort manager asked.

"Sort of," the young photographer replied with a shy smile, "I’m not good at soccer, but my dodging is decent."

The resort manager said no more. He was not only poor at soccer, but his dodging skills were also lacking!

So, when this group went to catch snakes, he would definitely not get out of the car!

Suddenly, everyone saw Feng Yi speed up while they were talking.

"What’s happening? Did you find a trace?!"

The people in the car tensed up.

As Wei Hongxun, who was following behind Feng Yi, was about to ask, Feng Yi made a gesture and pointed in one direction.

Over there!

This was indeed proof of the existence of a second giant python!

Now that its existence was confirmed, the next step was capture!

The people in the patrol car were no longer in the mood to talk. Their respective duties had already been assigned. Once Feng Yi found the python, they would join forces to capture it.

Four of them were armed.

It would be best to safely capture the python alive, but in case of an emergency, human safety was the priority. If necessary, they could kill the python on the spot.

Feng Yi had already begun to smell the scent in the air belonging to another large python.

These scent molecules carried an aggressive intent. In the wild, this would be a local overlord, definitely an apex predator in the regional food chain.

From the information conveyed by these scent molecules, Feng Yi knew it was the "big Niuniu" from the photo, which matched the feeling he got from the picture.

As his running speed increased, Feng Yi got closer and closer to the center of the scent emission. Indeed, there were signs of the giant python’s activity in the vicinity, but the scent was not strong, suggesting it might have been days old.

Just as others had speculated, after feeding, the giant python probably stayed in a small area, likely moving very little.

Now, all the scent molecules were pointing to one location—the whereabouts of "big Niuniu."

After another ten minutes or so, they arrived at a wetland area.

Because it had likely been neglected for a long time, the narrow footpath was squeezed by branches and weeds from both sides. Feng Yi was still fine, as he could nimbly avoid the branches, and the protruding grass leaves did him no harm.

Wei Hongxun, who was riding a bicycle, encountered much more resistance. After riding for a bit, Wei Hongxun decided to get off his bicycle and run after Feng Yi, as it seemed they were getting close to the target anyway.

"How much farther?" Wei Hongxun asked.

"Just there!" Feng Yi pointed to a spot not far away.

Wei Hongxun looked in that direction.

There, by the lake’s edge, there wasn’t a distinct lake slope, and the water wasn’t deep. The trees blocked the sunlight from above, leaving only speckled light spots scattered over the water’s surface.

Many plants were also growing there, with their stems and leaves emerging from the water.

Some leaves had withered yellow, while others from herbaceous plants were still green, appearing deeper in color due to the lighting.

It was very quiet all around.

"Where?" Wei Hongxun took out his tools and called the others over.

"Just there! The snake’s head is hidden behind that log, out of sight. See that bulging section next to the clump of grass?"

"...Where?!"

Wei Hongxun squinted and stared hard, but couldn’t find it.

Where the heck is it? Which bulging section?

But since Feng Yi had already located the target, they could proceed with the capture!

The people in the patrol car had already stopped and were rushing over. Wei Hongxun was about to suggest to Feng Yi: don’t be impulsive; we have more people this time, this python has a bad temper, and the environmental conditions here don’t give us any advantage. Let’s not alarm it and discuss how to capture it.

He had only gotten out the word "Don’t—"

When he saw Feng Yi accelerate, leap forward, and plunge into the water, lifting a snake’s head from behind the log with one hand.

"Here!"

The giant python’s gaping mouth opened wide, with several rows of backward-pointing fangs glistening with a bloody and ferocious light through the splashing droplets and the dappled sunlight.

Wei Hongxun: "!!!""

Feng Yi, holding the snake’s head with one hand, stood up, preparing to drag the python ashore. But he quickly realized this action was not quite sensible!

So his other hand, which had been ready to unwrap the rest of the snake from his body, changed direction and also grabbed the snake’s head.

"Come help! It’s squeezing me; I can barely breathe!"

Feng Yi put on an extremely strained appearance, as if his strength were nearly spent, but his feet kicked away the log, as thick as a thigh, blocking his way.