Chapter 89: Interrogating Shi Lei
“Sword-tailed Lizard?”
Seeing the Ferocious Beast guarding beside Shi Lei, Zhou Ming was somewhat surprised.
The last time he was ambushed in the Green Mist Jungle, one of the hunters’ beasts had also been a Sword-tailed Lizard.
“What a coincidence.”
Looking at the creature before him, over four meters long, its body mostly composed of a flexible, razor-sharp tail, Zhou Ming spoke thoughtfully.
That tail was not only agile and sharp, but it could also deal with Inkband’s nimble and slender body.
At the same time, the Sword-tailed Lizard possessed decent poison resistance—it was clear that Hu Peng had made thorough preparations.
“Click.”
The cylinder of the Thunder Type-2 Revolver rotated with a metallic sound.
Zhou Ming intended to personally take care of the Sword-tailed Lizard before him.
With his current physique, only a brief rest was needed before he could wield the Thunder Type-2 Revolver again.
“Hiss…”
As soon as Zhou Ming raised the revolver, the Sword-tailed Lizard before him became restless.
It sensed the aura of death approaching, yet instinct forced it to remain loyally by its master’s side.
“Boom.”
While the Sword-tailed Lizard hesitated, Zhou Ming pulled the trigger, ending its dilemma.
“Ah—”
Shi Lei, who had been unconscious, was jolted awake by the death of his beast, letting out a miserable cry.
Hearing the irritating sound, Zhou Ming stepped forward and struck him unconscious once more.
He had deliberately spared Shi Lei’s life—because he wanted to understand their true purpose in attacking him.
If this was for revenge, they would’ve acted the night before yesterday. Why wait until now? Zhou Ming didn’t wish to leave any hidden dangers behind, so he needed to uncover the reason behind Hu Peng and the others’ assault.
Carrying Shi Lei’s unconscious body, Zhou Ming walked toward the nearby dense forest.
The open space created by the grenade blast was perfect for a sniper ambush.
Though Zhou Ming suspected that no one else was around, he refused to take unnecessary risks.
After all, he had once been ambushed by a sniper and had no intention of experiencing that again.
After Zhou Ming departed, swarms of Ironthread Snakes slithered into the clearing, cleaning up the battlefield.
They had been toiling for two days straight—it was time to reward them. Before them lay four Ferocious Beast corpses, waiting to be devoured.
“Crackle, crackle.”
Inside a mountain cave, Zhou Ming tossed a few dry branches into the campfire before him. The burning wood let out crisp snapping sounds.
Because Shi Lei’s beast had died, his spirit suffered severe backlash. Combined with Zhou Ming’s hand strike to his neck, he remained unconscious.
Seeing this, Zhou Ming wasn’t in a hurry to wake him. In his current state, Shi Lei could die at any moment.
Zhou Ming wanted information—he didn’t want his captive to die too soon.
Originally, he had planned to wait for Shi Lei to wake naturally. Yet the man remained deathly still, lifeless as a corpse, even as night approached. Zhou Ming had no choice but to find a temporary resting place.
Using his Radar Sensory Domain, Zhou Ming located a mutated tiger near Windback Gorge and claimed its cave as his temporary shelter.
As for that unfortunate mutated tiger, its flesh had already been fed to the snake swarm. Only a tiger pelt remained—now serving as Zhou Ming’s seat cushion.
Once the fire burned steadily, Zhou Ming stopped tossing in branches and instead picked up a slab of tiger meat at his right, roasting it over the flames.
He was patient, showing no irritation at being delayed from his journey to the Northern Wasteland. To him, whether he went a day earlier or later didn’t matter. After all, this trip was largely based on luck.
He lacked the power and backing to fight for opportunities head-on—it would only be suicide.
Even if he failed to obtain any treasure, knowing who claimed the relics from the Base ruins would already be worthwhile.
“Sizzle, sizzle…”
As oil began to drip from the roasting tiger meat, letting out sizzling sounds, Zhou Ming uncapped a plastic bottle beside him and evenly sprinkled the seasoning inside over the meat.
The mixture contained salt and several other spices.
Within moments, the fragrance of roasted meat filled the cave.
“Looks like my cooking isn’t bad,” Zhou Ming commented with a faint smile, then turned his head toward Shi Lei.
“I’m right, aren’t I, Shi Lei?”
With his Spiritual Power having reached its limit, Zhou Ming’s senses were incredibly sharp—he immediately noticed when Shi Lei woke up.
After being unconscious for half a day, Shi Lei finally regained consciousness. Whether it was the smell of roasted meat that stirred him or his calmed spirit that allowed recovery, Zhou Ming couldn’t tell.
“Why didn’t you kill me?”
From the ground, Shi Lei’s weak voice came out—he was fully aware of his current predicament.
“I want to know why you came to ambush me. I don’t believe it was merely for simple revenge.”
Zhou Ming did not hide his purpose. While turning the tiger meat in his hand, he answered Shi Lei’s question calmly.
“Ha ha, ha, cough cough, cough cough……”
Hearing Zhou Ming’s reply, Shi Lei had intended to mock him, to make him give up that idea.
And judging by the situation, Zhou Ming still did not know how precious his pair of snake pupils were.
It would be best if, after being exposed, others treated him as prey — that was the only revenge method Shi Lei could think of.
But he had barely laughed a few times before his injuries provoked a string of coughing fits.
“I think you were going to sneer at me a few times, weren’t you. Heh, never mind. I’ll give you two choices.”
“First, tell me your purpose. I’ll send you on your way with one shot—guaranteed to be painless.”
“Second……”
“Hiss, hiss……”
Before Zhou Ming finished speaking, a tide of Ironthread Snakes had already gathered around Shi Lei.
“…If you keep mouthing off, I won’t waste any more effort; I’ll just let the snake swarm eat you alive.”
When he said that, Zhou Ming’s attention remained fixed on the tiger meat as if it were the most important thing.
“Ironthread Snakes — how could you control so many? I get it now, you used the snake swarm as ears and eyes to detect our movements in advance.”
As an old hunter, seeing ordinary mutated Ironthread Snakes all around, he immediately guessed the snakes’ function.
After all, in a head-on fight, those Ironthread Snakes might not even pierce combat suits.
“You have one minute to think it over. Think carefully — timing starts now.”
Zhou Ming did not waste words; he gave Shi Lei only one minute.
“Sizzle, sizzle……”
In the quiet cave, only the tiger meat hissed as oil dripped. The sound was like a ticking timer, constantly urging Shi Lei.
Shi Lei looked at Zhou Ming’s calm face and could not read his mood. The sizzling of the meat only made him more agitated.
“Zhou Ming, you won’t live long either. Someone will avenge me; you’ll die even worse than I will.”
“Xin Hui Construction Group has been watching you in secret for a long time. Leaving Qinshan Base was a death wish — maybe people are already surrounding this cave.”
“Pah.”
Whether to save his life or to try to frighten Zhou Ming, Shi Lei fabricated a string of claims.
“I know — you can control so many Ironthread Snakes, you must have some secret. Heh heh, everyone will treat you as prey.”
Seeing no reaction from Zhou Ming, and with the meat’s sizzle sounding like a death knell, Shi Lei now only wanted to enrage Zhou Ming into shooting him.
He deliberately claimed that Zhou Ming’s control of the snakes hid some secret.
“Time’s up.”
A voice, so calm it made one’s heart tremble, appeared in the cave.