Chapter 319: Speculation

Chapter 319 -320: Speculation

Li Yang just chuckled. “So, do you believe me now?”

“It’s a miracle!” Tears welled up in Chen Quan’s eyes. He gripped Li Yang’s hand and said, “Young man, the way you water these plants is truly something else. Ah, we were just ignorant. We almost completely misunderstood you. Please don’t be angry.”

Li Yang smiled and shook his head. “Don’t say that. Why would I be angry? The most important thing is that the herbs are all right.”

“Yes, yes…” Chen Quan said excitedly. “Now that these herbs have recovered, my family won’t have to worry anymore. This is all thanks to you. Thank you so much.”

Li Yang gave a faint smile and said, “I’d like some of the Iron-wire Grass, if that’s okay.”

“Of course! It’s yours!” Chen Quan generously stepped forward, plucked a large handful, and placed it in Li Yang’s hands. “I don’t have much else to repay you with, but if you want Iron-wire Grass, take as much as you like. It’s on me!”

Li Yang was thrilled. He finally had some Iron-wire Grass.

“Alright!” Li Yang said. “Thanks, Brother Quan.”

“Don’t be so formal. We’re the ones who should be thanking you.” Chen Quan grew excited as he spoke. “Now, we can go back to how things were before.”

“No!” But to their surprise, Li Yang shook his head and said with a serious expression, “Things might not be what you expect. These plants can’t actually go back to how they were.”

“What?” Chen Quan and Zhou Jianlin asked in unison.

“This stuff will be poisoned again soon,” Li Yang said grimly.

“Poisoned again?” Zhou Jianlin looked confused. “What’s going on? Don’t leave us hanging.”

“There’s a giant snake on this mountain…” Li Yang said coldly. “If I’m not mistaken, it wasn’t that the snake ate the Iron-wire Grass’s fruit. The snake itself is highly venomous. When it was feeding, its saliva must have dripped onto the plants, poisoning them and causing them to die off so quickly. The scent I picked up last night must have been the snake’s unique smell.”

“A giant snake?” The color drained from both men’s faces again.

“That’s right, a giant snake,” Li Yang said seriously. “Only a massive snake would leave no footprints.”

“I…” Chen Quan’s expression changed abruptly. “On Qishan Mountain… there actually is a legend. It says there’s a Snake Spirit here, a massive one… Many of our elders passed down the story, and some even claimed to have seen it with their own eyes. But we always treated it as a myth, never took it seriously. Could it be real?”

“It most likely is,” Li Yang said flatly. “Otherwise, your Iron-wire Grass wouldn’t have ended up like this.”

“Then what do we do?” Chen Quan was getting anxious. “Now that the snake has had a taste, it’s bound to come back… Why don’t we call the police? Get the fire department to come and drive it away.”

“Drive it away how?” Li Yang laughed. “If there really is a snake that large, the most they could do is chase it back into the forest. And to be blunt, a snake like that would be very difficult to drive off for good. Even if you did, it would just come back. It knows there’s something good to eat here, so it will definitely return.”

“Then… then what do we do?” Chen Quan looked sick with worry, completely at a loss.

“I’ll go have a talk with it,” Li Yang said.

“What?” Chen Quan and Zhou Jianlin stared at Li Yang, dumbfounded.

You’re going to talk to it?

“You mean, talk to the giant snake?” Chen Quan was baffled, staring at Li Yang in utter confusion.

Li Yang nodded. “That’s right. I’m going to talk to the giant snake.”

“Are you… insane?!” Zhou Jianlin blurted out. “How are you going to talk to a giant snake?”

“You don’t need to worry about that,” Li Yang said with a smile. “I’m guessing the snake will be back, maybe even today. How about this: we’ll wait for it here. It might show up soon. When it does, I’ll go out and have a proper chat with it. Maybe I can convince it not to come back again.”

“No way…” The mere thought of giant snakes from the movies filled Zhou Jianlin with terror. “That’s too dangerous! Let’s just go back. If worse comes to worst, we can just transplant this Iron-wire Grass somewhere else. This is crazy, let’s get out of here…”

“You can go ahead,” Li Yang said, dead set on solving this problem for Chen Quan. “If I don’t sort things out with this snake, I’m guessing it will find the Iron-wire Grass no matter where you move it. You won’t be able to grow it anywhere.”

In truth, Li Yang had another question on his mind. If a giant snake had been living here all along, why hadn’t it come to harm the Iron-wire Grass before?

The snake had already eaten the Iron-wire Grass by the cliff’s edge, which meant it knew where to find it. So why did it leave the grass alone before, only to come and eat it now? Something was definitely off.

“I…” Zhou Jianlin’s face was pale. He wanted to leave but felt too embarrassed. Finally, gritting his teeth, he said, “Giant snake, small snake, whatever. I think you’re both just talking nonsense. Fine, I’ll wait here with you and see for myself. I refuse to believe there’s any giant snake here.”

To this, Li Yang just smiled. “Fine, fine. You guys just watch from here. I’ll handle the snake.”