Playboy: Medical and Martial Master

Seeing Huang Qianggang poking the snake dung with a branch, Bai Ran couldn’t help but frown and grimace, her face filled with disgust.

She pinched her nose and said, ”Are you crazy? Why are you poking at it? It’s disgusting!”

”Still fresh. You want the edges, or do you want to slurp the tip?”

Sun Zhe, who was standing to the side, nearly burst out laughing. He asked, ”By the way, Brother Huang, is this the giant snake you mentioned earlier, the one that caused the flood?”

”It’s very likely.”

Huang Qianggang nodded. ”Honestly, this is the first time I’ve ever seen snake dung this big.” He added, ”I really can’t imagine how enormous the snake that produced this must be.”

Bai Ran stomped her foot anxiously. ”Alright, that’s enough, you two! Let’s pack up and get out of here!”

”I have a bad feeling about this place; we shouldn’t stay too long.”

”Besides, when snakes aren’t hunting, they move slowly. That giant snake could be nearby, watching us right now. We’ll be in big trouble if it finds us.”

Hearing this, Huang Qianggang casually tossed the branch aside and braced his hands on his knees to stand up. Just as he was about to turn and leave, he froze. His eyes were fixed on the snake dung in the grass, as if he had noticed something.

”Hold on!”

Bai Ran asked impatiently, ”What is it now?”

Huang Qianggang hurriedly picked up the branch he had just discarded, squatted down, and covered his mouth and nose with one hand while vigorously rummaging through the pile of snake dung with the other.

Before long, he used the branch to pry pieces of clothing from the disgusting pile.

There were camouflage work pants, a windbreaker, and women’s underwear.

With a solemn expression, Huang Qianggang said, ”It’s obvious the person swallowed by the snake was a woman.”

Bai Ran said expressionlessly, ”No kidding. Do men wear bras?”

Enduring the stench, Sun Zhe moved a bit closer and asked, ”What else did you find?”

Huang Qianggang didn’t speak. He suppressed his revulsion and used the branch to lift the clothing and take them to the stream to rinse them out.

After giving the clothes a quick wash, he began searching through them.

A moment later, he pulled various personal items from the pockets: a powder compact, lipstick, a necklace, a ring, and a whole mess of other things.

But he was clearly not interested in these items. He tossed them aside and resumed his search.

Sun Zhe and Bai Ran exchanged a glance. They knew he was looking for something that could identify the woman, so they stood quietly to the side without interrupting.

Suddenly, Huang Qianggang found a driver’s license in the pants pocket.

He held his breath and slowly opened the license booklet. The moment he saw it, his eyes turned red.

Bai Ran leaned over for a peek and suddenly covered her mouth, her body trembling as her own eyes welled up with tears.

Seeing their expressions, Sun Zhe asked, ”Do you two know her?”

Bai Ran clenched her fists, her voice trembling. ”It’s Li Juan... she handled logistics for the Hengyun Medicine Collection Team. We’ve known each other for four years. We weren’t just colleagues; we were very good friends.”

”Before she entered Celestial Prison Mountain, she even came to my house for dinner... We played mahjong together that night.”

Hearing this, Sun Zhe turned to look at the pile of bones in the snake dung, which had long been corroded beyond recognition by stomach acid. He fell silent, a sudden pang of guilt washing over him.

If they hadn’t come to this dangerous place to help him find the herb, the Medicine Collection Team wouldn’t have met such a fate.

She was only in her twenties, in the prime of her life...

Sun Zhe couldn’t bear to imagine how devastated Li Juan’s parents would be when they learned this terrible news.

At that moment, he also thought of Su Nanzhi.

Li Juan from the Medicine Collection Team died here. That means Su Nanzhi and the rest of the team must have encountered the giant snake!

…

The three of them didn’t speak again.

With heavy hearts, they retrieved Li Juan’s bones, found a place to bury them, and then continued on their way.

According to Huang Qianggang, the base camp was just a few more kilometers ahead. Su Nanzhi had arranged with him before entering the mountain that she would wait for him there.

However, when the three of them arrived at the base camp, all they found was a scene of utter devastation.

The rudimentary wooden huts and tents seemed to have been washed away by a flood. As far as the eye could see, there were broken trees and scattered supplies everywhere.

”Damn, it really was the giant snake!”

Huang Qianggang stared at the serpentine path worn into the grass nearby, his heart growing heavy as he couldn’t help but curse.

”Just how damn big is this snake?”

Just then, Bai Ran suddenly pointed to a broken tree not far away. ”There’s a corpse over there!”

Hearing this, Sun Zhe turned and discovered the body of a man lying under the tree.

The man’s death was extremely gruesome. His mouth was wide open, his eyeballs nearly forced from their sockets, with two streaks of blood trailing from the corners. His posture on the ground was also strange, as if he didn’t have a single bone in his body.

Huang Qianggang clutched his stomach as he staggered over. After examining the body, he said, ”His bones are completely crushed. He must have been constricted to death by that giant snake.”

He then added, ”Judging by his clothes and the dog tag around his neck, he was probably a mercenary hired by some wealthy family from abroad.”

Sun Zhe glanced at the corpse, his heart growing even heavier. He said nothing, quietly turning to search another area.

His mind was completely filled with thoughts of Su Nanzhi.

He wanted to find her, but he was also terrified of what he might find. What if she’s lying on the ground just like this man? Or... like Li Juan?

Bai Ran looked at Huang Qianggang and said, ”Let’s search over there.”

”Alright.”

As they searched, Huang Qianggang started calling out loudly, hoping for a response.