Return to the City: The Strongest King
Chapter 787 - 788: The Terrifying Snakes’ Nest

Chapter 787: Chapter 788: The Terrifying Snakes’ Nest

Half an hour later, Song Xiaodong and Sun Yiyi arrived at the campsite where the little devils had stayed the previous day. The little devils had already left, but under a tree there was a new mound of earth, which was likely the final resting place of the deceased.

"Did they say how this person died?" Sun Yiyi asked quietly.

Song Xiaodong had just been following those two and had overheard their conversation. He now said, "They mentioned that the person was bitten by a snake, but for such an expert, even if he was bitten, he surely wouldn’t have died immediately. He would have had the chance to call for help. Moreover, they came here prepared with snake venom serum, which should have been able to save him. Yet, he died silently, with nobody noticing, not even knowing at what time he died yesterday."

Looking somewhat pale, Sun Yiyi said, "Really? Doesn’t that mean the snake’s poison must be extremely potent, almost instantly fatal upon biting?"

"That would only be possible with an exceptionally strong neurotoxic poison that rapidly paralyzes a person’s central nervous system. Otherwise, such an effect wouldn’t occur. Even with neurotoxins, it would take some time. To be bitten and then immediately lose consciousness—I have never heard of such a thing."

"Could it have bitten directly on the neck, then?"

Song Xiaodong paused for a moment and said, "That... it’s hard to say for sure. After all, in almost ninety percent of human snakebite cases, the legs are bitten. It’s very rare to hear about a bite to the neck. However, being close to the brain, if it were on the carotid artery, it might indeed directly reach the brain and rapidly dissolve one’s consciousness."

"Should we... ah, never mind, it’s none of our business anyway. We obviously can’t dig him up to have a look."

Song Xiaodong shook his head and said, "Then let’s hurry on our way, lest it rains again and we lose their trail."

Soon, they found the path the group had taken and stealthily followed along. The people they were following had clearly become more cautious; the two at the rear kept looking back, causing Song Xiaodong and Sun Yiyi to dare not follow too closely.

By noon, they reached a valley where the group stopped at the entrance, ate some simple food, and began to prepare. They took off their backpacks, equipped themselves with some gear, and then started walking into the valley.

Song Xiaodong and Sun Yiyi bypassed the guide and also walked in. Although it was called a valley, the dense trees provided good cover for their movements.

The further down they went, the sparser the trees became, until near the valley’s bottom, there were only some shrubs left. The two had no choice but to hang back and not follow any closer.

At the bottom of the valley, there was a white mist, and all the people put on gas masks. They were indeed well-prepared.

Song Xiaodong said, "This must be toxic gas. We haven’t prepared for this."

Sun Yiyi said somewhat resentfully, "How was I to know about this? The texts only mentioned poisonous snakes, they didn’t say anything about toxic gas."

Song Xiaodong said somewhat speechlessly, "It seems that what you know is even less than these people."

"That... seems to be the case," Sun Yiyi admitted dejectedly, then asked, "So, what do we do now?"

Frowning, Song Xiaodong said, "I don’t know the situation with the gas down there, so I dare not act rashly. How about this: let’s go back and find that guide. I saw that in those bags, there should be spare gas masks. At the very least, since one of them has already died, there should be an extra one left."

"Yes, exactly," Sun Yiyi said, delighted.

The two of them hurried back to where the guide was, knocked him out stealthily, and, sure enough, found two gas masks inside. They also found a katana.

At this point, if they wanted to get the Snake Saliva Fruit, conflict with the others was unavoidable. Even if it wasn’t ideal, the pair would definitely have to flee, and they would never face them again, so they didn’t worry about being discovered.

This time, they quickly made their way back down to the valley floor the same way they came. Although going back and forth took quite some time, those people were moving very cautiously and slowly, so Song and Yiyi quickly found them.

"So many snakes," Sun Yiyi whispered as she looked at the ground.

Song Xiaodong nodded. There were many dead snakes on the ground, undoubtedly killed by those people, and there were also quite a few live snakes squirming around, displaying high aggression. Almost all of them would actively attack upon seeing the pair.

Song Xiaodong handed the katana to Sun Yiyi and used the only dagger he had left to fend off or slay the attacking snakes.

As he killed snakes, Song Xiaodong focused on his Perception Ability, avoiding the venomous snakes’ strikes without even looking at his feet.

After a while, Song Xiaodong took the katana back from Sun Yiyi’s hands.

With a dagger in one hand and the katana in the other, his casual swings would land precisely on the snakes’ necks. Even with Sun Yiyi following behind him, he managed to clear out snakes that sprung at them from behind in a timely manner.

Sun Yiyi watched Song Xiaodong from the back, her eyes wide with astonishment behind the gas mask. Song Xiaodong’s relaxed yet accurate technique was incredibly proficient.

Continuing forward, they rounded a boulder and saw a group of people standing together. In front of them, the ground was covered with snakes, all triangular-headed with vivid colors, clearly highly venomous.

In the middle of the snakes, there was a small puddle. In the puddle was a small tree about a meter tall with very few leaves, but it held eight bright red fruits, the size of lychees and looking irresistibly juicy.

Song Xiaodong and Sun Yiyi exchanged glances, obviously identifying the fruits on the small tree as the Snake Saliva Fruit.

Looking around, they saw no similar plants, meaning there was only this one specimen with just these eight fruits, making them seem even more exceptionally precious.

Several venomous snakes encircled the small puddle, their heads facing inward, mouths wide open, and the venom squeezed out from their fangs dripping into the puddle. That puddle wasn’t filled with water, but clearly with snake venom.

This sight horrified Sun Yiyi, while Song Xiaodong was inwardly astounded. Snake venom was even more expensive than gold, and so much venom was itself a huge treasure in terms of value.

And the Snake Saliva Fruit, nurtured by such venom, had to be extraordinarily valuable. For someone like Song Xiaodong, who had medical skill, it was something he was determined to obtain.