Chapter 39: Snake-Catching Experts

They arrived at the snake fields.

On the lush green lawn, thick red-and-black snakes were scattered evenly. Each one was at least as thick as a man’s forearm and over two meters long. Seeing them, all three shivered, none daring to step forward.

Huoyang looked at the two girls, took a deep breath, and tried to steady his courage.

He carried the snake-catching tongs and approached a large snake. Seizing an opportunity, he tried to clamp the snake’s head, but the snake was quick and dodged, biting Huoyang’s thigh. Its body began to coil around his leg.

Qiao Duoduo, holding the snake-catching fork, didn’t care about her fear and swung it at the snake’s body.

Su Ning quickly shouted, “Duoduo, stop hitting it! Use the fork to control the lower half of the snake—hold it in place!” She then rushed forward, ignoring her fear, and grabbed the snake by the throat, forcing it to release Huoyang.

Seeing Huoyang free, Duoduo finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Huoyang stepped back, took the snake from Su Ning’s hands, and held the tongs. But Su Ning’s strength was too weak to attack effectively, so she had to take the tongs back.

Now Su Ning clamped the snake’s head, Duoduo controlled its tail with the fork, while the snake writhed violently in between. All three were drenched in sweat.

Huoyang didn’t hesitate—he raised his long knife and chopped the snake in half. Blood sprayed everywhere, some hitting Duoduo, who couldn’t suppress her disgust and vomited, leaning on the fork.

Su Ning and Huoyang also couldn’t hold back. In an instant, all three emptied their stomachs from breakfast.

Fortunately, they still kept an eye on the snake’s HP, and Su Ning managed to land the finishing blow.

After vomiting, they could no longer tolerate the stench. Staggering back to the main road, they collapsed and sat down to rest.

“This is disgusting. I can’t take it!”

Duoduo began to vomit again.

“Even if you can’t take it, you have to endure. Yang, next time, don’t cut it in half—it’s too gross,” Su Ning said, managing to suppress her own gag reflex.

“Right, don’t cut it. Let’s try another method later,” Huoyang agreed. Killing it this way felt far worse than butchering cows or mice.

“Use a snake-catching net,” Su Ning suggested.

“That works, but it’s too slow. Find the seven-inch point. Either the heart or the gallbladder—those are the key spots,” Duoduo said, wanting to finish quickly.

“How do we find it? Cut open the snake’s belly?”

Huoyang felt extremely troubled. “What have I done to deserve this?”

“That’s too disgusting. Just hit the belly hard, from top to bottom. See where the critical hits land, kill a few, practice a bit—it should be enough,” Su Ning quickly suggested. Cutting open each snake would take forever; they’d probably skip dinner entirely.

“Agreed, let’s just hit it. It may be slow at first, but we’ll find the pattern,” Duoduo nodded. She couldn’t bear the thought of Huoyang gutting a snake—it was terrifying.

After resting briefly, the three readied themselves. Facing the next large snake, their fear had eased slightly.

Su Ning bravely moved to clamp the snake’s head, though she was still scared of being bitten. She carefully approached the red-banded snake from behind, sliding the tongs around its neck. Her trembling hands gripped the tongs tightly, trying not to alert the snake. Slowly, she moved until the tongs were around the snake’s throat.

Su Ning pressed the tongs to the ground, and the snake’s body thrashed violently on the grass. Duoduo immediately pressed the fork against the tail.

Huoyang then attacked, circling the snake’s midsection, changing position repeatedly. After ten or so strikes, he finally landed the first critical hit.

Repeating this with several snakes, Huoyang finally found the highest critical-hit spot: the “seven-inch point.”

By now, their fear hadn’t vanished entirely, but they were acting like normal people.

“Once the next snake is dead, let’s collect it. Snake meat soup is delicious, the gallbladder is great for medicinal wine, and the skin can even be made into equipment,” Duoduo said, her foodie instincts kicking in despite her fear.

“Really eat it? Snake skin actually wearable?”

Su Ning knew snake meat was tender from pre-apocalypse knowledge, but eating it for real was still a mental barrier. And snake-skin clothing… that was hard to accept.

“Sweetheart, what if—”

Huoyang didn’t finish, as Duoduo shot him a glare, immediately correcting herself.

“You’re right, don’t worry about eating for now. Just collect it—better safe than sorry.”

“Collect it,” Huoyang obediently agreed. Su Ning shrugged—there was nothing else to do. Her best friend came first.

That day became the most disgusting day of Su Ning’s post-apocalypse life.

By evening, they were all somewhat bloodied, so they went home to shower before dinner. Otherwise, the smell would make them vomit again.

After Su Ning finished showering, she received a friend request from Ma Shangting. Without thinking, she rejected it—deciding to cut ties completely.

However, the request kept coming—eleven times in a row. Su Ning was puzzled. What could be so urgent to send a friend request so many times?

She asked Duoduo, who said they had already blocked the sibling pair and silenced all messages, worried Huoyang’s soft-heartedness would cause trouble. Su Ning thought, “Right, no girl wants some pitiful, unrelated ‘wild little sister’ hanging around her boyfriend.”

Curiosity piqued, Su Ning accepted the request.

Su Ning: “???”
Ma: “Save me, save me.”

As expected, trouble—and the opening line was so blunt it didn’t capture any interest.

Su Ning: “No time, can’t save you.”
Ma: “Please, Su Ning, save me.”
Su Ning: “Impossible, see you if fate allows.”

Su Ning was speechless. This girl thought she was some saint? She had tried scheming as a teammate, and now that they were separated, was Su Ning supposed to risk being trapped?

Ma: “I know a secret about bloodlines. Planting area XXXX, XXXX. Save me, and I’ll tell you.”

The words “secret about bloodlines” immediately sparked Su Ning’s excitement. She called Duoduo and Huoyang, and the three set off toward the planting area.