C26

After greeting Wang Ming, I returned. I found that Qin Yue was sleeping again, but didn't sleep on the floor this time, it was on the bed. I touched Qin Yue's hair and woke her up.

I told Qin Yue that I would be out with him for a while, and estimated that it would take a while for him to give me a call. She left all her money at her place, and also prepared to move out this afternoon to stay near Wang Ming's home.

Qin Yue nodded her head, she was unhappy, there were still tears in her eyes.

I placed my hand on Qin Yue's face, telling her that after she earns enough money, she would not need to do this work anymore. In the future, she would just have to buy a house and start a small business, that would be enough for us to live.

Qin Yue lifted her head and smiled as she held my hand and told me to come back early.

In the afternoon, we moved to Wang Ming's house. It only took us ten minutes to walk.

Qin Yue is also very satisfied with the environment here, I think that it's not bad, and Wang Ming even paid a year's rent.

When night fell, I came to Wang Ming's house. He had already changed his clothes, and said that this time, it was still Lee Zhiyong, that fellow, who said that there was a trade here, but he didn't actually say that it was other people who had connected the lines in the middle of the room. Wang Ming only found out about it in the afternoon.

Wang Ming called Lee Zhiyong and set up a meeting place.

The two of them were quite polite when we met. It was as though they had forgotten what happened last time. I was stunned as I watched from the side. There really isn't an eternal friend, only eternal benefits.

Lee Zhiyong pulled me down to a seat and poured me a cup of wine. He said that he didn't expect that this time we would still be invited, and that he hadn't finished what he had done last time, so he hoped that this time's cooperation wouldn't be affected.

Wang Ming laughed sinisterly, fiddling with the blanket in his hand, he said: "As long as the money is in place, I do not care about those things, since we have already found someone to investigate, when the time comes, we will settle our scores."

Lee Zhiyong did not care, he said that he had not done anything yet, and was not afraid of Wang Ming going to investigate either. The most important thing was that this collaboration, had to be settled as soon as possible.

I looked at Wang Ming, he seemed a little unhappy, maybe because he is still brooding over what happened last time. But Lee Zhiyong is a veteran of the mall, he hasn't even mentioned it yet, he just took out another sum of money and placed it on the table.

Wang Ming looked at it and nodded his head in satisfaction, telling me to keep the money.

Lee Zhiyong said that the mission this time was a bit simpler than the previous one, so there was naturally less money to be paid. There was a total of eight hundred thousand dollars left over, but he still had to risk his life.

Wang Ming pushed the money back. He said that he had to clarify the matter first, if he was going to risk his life, this amount of money was not enough.

Lee Zhiyong glanced at the money, rubbed his chin and thought for a while, then pushed the money back. He said that he had to go this time, and there was already no time to look for other people, as long as we were serious, this would definitely not be a problem.

Regardless of whether we agree to it or not, Lee Zhiyong will begin to talk about what happened this time.

Outside Beijing, there was a remote mountain village where most of the families were poor and it was difficult to eat water. There was only one well in the village, and it had always been peaceful, but a while ago, a snake had gone there to prevent people from going to the well to fetch water.

The villagers were very scared and did not dare to go fetch water, so they went to the mountain to get some mountain spring water to drink. However, as time passed, the villagers became a bit impatient, as it was too inconvenient, and every time they brought home a few, they would go there every day to waste a lot of time.

The villagers found some mages and other stuff to play with for a long time, but the snake didn't leave. Furthermore, it was usually afraid of things that snakes usually feared, so it was very difficult to deal with them.

"We're all in this business. Why do you say it's dangerous?" Wang Ming frowned and asked Lee Zhiyong.

Lee Zhiyong thought for a while and said that the people who wanted to drive the snake away or kill it had all died by the well.

This money wasn't given to him by the villagers. It was given to him by a man who did scientific research. He wanted to find someone to bring the snake back so that he could study the differences between the two.

It was said that it was five meters long and as thick as a person's waist. He had never seen this snake eat before, or to be more accurate, it only ate at night, no one in the village had ever seen it.

Also, all snakes had to hibernate. At this time of the year, the other snakes had already hibernated, but this one was in good spirits and didn't have the slightest intention of hibernating. It just stayed by the well.

After Wang Ming finished listening, he paced back and forth in the private room. He was frowning, when he suddenly raised his head and asked me, "Have you seen a snake that does not hibernate?"

Actually, snake hibernation was due to the cold weather. As long as the temperature was suitable, snake would not go to hibernate and stay awake. However, the weather was the same near Beijing. Even if the temperature was high, it was only one or two degrees.

Wang Ming picked up the money and told Lee Zhiyong that he would go take a look during this period of time, but it was not guaranteed that he would succeed.

Without caring about the attitude from the other side, Wang Ming took the money and left with me.

On the way back, Wang Ming said that there were a few things that he had to do after he returned.

First of all, go back and check which kind of snake didn't hibernate, and it had to be four or five meters long.

Second, check out the natural environment, temperature and humidity, as well as the ecological environment of the village.

Third, make a list of all the large snakes that grow near the water's edge. Compare them with photos to see which one is most likely to be the one that won't miss even hibernation.

After returning, he searched through Wang Ming's house for information for an entire night, including Wang Ming's family's books and the information on the internet. He even called his peers to ask and took out similar cases in the past.

The two of them did not sleep the whole night, but in the end, they came to a conclusion, the spotted snake.

This kind of snake should be living in the south of the river, basically only half a meter long, but after some crosses, there would be some special situations. Also, this type of snake liked water very much, so the chances of hibernation were very small, unless it was very cold.

Snakes hibernate for the next year to reproduce, but the rate of reproduction is very low, so the impact will be small.

The environment of that village was not suitable for this kind of snake to grow in. In the cold winter, the wells would freeze and the trees would die.

There were indeed similar situations when he was looking for a case, but he had never found any where these snakes took the initiative to attack people, unless there was a special time when these snakes would occupy the wells of the dead and eat their corpses.

This was the only explanation he could come up with. However, why did he stay there for so long when there was not even enough food for one person?

In the end, the two of them still did not come to a good conclusion. Wang Ming decided to go over and take a look first, not to alert them, and observe from the sidelines for a few days.

As they were closer this time, they did not bring many things with them. They only brought some tools to catch snakes, as well as some to ward off evil.

The two of them slept for a while, and after lunch, they set off. First, they went to Lee Zhiyong's place and asked for a copy of the map there, and got Lee Zhiyong to send a driver.

The road is too narrow. Wang Ming and I could only walk into the village and let the driver drive us back.

The moment we entered the village, Wang Ming looked around. He must have been looking at the environment here, and I started to look around as well, only to realize that there wasn't any suitable place for snakes to live in. What exactly was Wang Ming looking at?

Wang Ming said that the place is indeed not suitable for snakes to live, but there must be a reason behind for the snakes to be here. We cannot let go of any place, and after entering, we need to ask the people in the village about their situation, and also ask them about what happened previously.

I followed Wang Ming not too far away and saw the only well in the village. There were no snakes nearby, but there were traces of snakes crawling past them. After Wang Ming saw the well, he attempted to get closer to it.

I pulled on Wang Ming's arm and said, "Let's first clarify the situation first before talking about it. Right now we're in danger, if the snake were to run out, we won't even have a chance to escape."

Wang Ming nodded and followed me into the village.

Arriving at a household, Wang Ming knocked on the door. A middle-aged man came out, his tanned skin and muscular body.

Wang Ming gave the person some money and said that he would stay here for the night and ask the middle-aged man to make some food for him.

After seeing the money, that person was very happy. Without asking anything, he went to prepare food for us. He busied himself until nine in the evening, when he made a table full of dishes.

Wang Ming allowed the man to rest for a while, and told him everything that had happened in the village.

This middle-aged man's name was Liu Xi, and he was a genuine farmer. He was born here, and ever since the snake appeared, it had messed up their entire lives.

Liu Xi used to have a wife, but after the snake came, the wife ran off with the child. In the past, they didn't want to stay in the mountain village, but after the snake came, they found an excuse.

Before the snake came, something strange happened in the village, but it didn't affect everyone's lives.

When the villagers were fetching water, they would occasionally see a person in the well. Moreover, he was facing up against the people who were fetching water. His eyes were wide open, and he looked like a woman.

Afterwards, the villagers would have a stomachache after drinking water, and not everyone would be like this. Just a portion of them guessed that there was something inside and decided to fish it up together.

After much fishing, they found that there weren't any dead people inside. Everyone's life was still the same.

After saying that, Wang Ming patted Liu Xi's shoulders and said: "You mean, even though we saw him, we didn't manage to get anything from him. Are you guys coming down by yourself, or do you want to use a bucket to get something out of him?"

Liu Xi thought for a while and said: "We have tried these before, and I have also personally gone down there. I have used a wooden stick to stir it back and forth, but I did not find anything down there."

Wang Ming told Liu Xi to stop and think about something.

After about two to three minutes, Wang Ming slowly sat down by Liu Xi's side, and suddenly asked: "Is this well water dead or alive?"