"Hey! Where are we going, Blacky?"
Led by the King Cobra, Ansheng had traveled from Upper Slope Mountain to Skinny Dog Creek, crossed the Changxi River, and entered the neighboring county area.
Another six kilometers forward, he’d reach the city of the adjacent county. Another ten kilometers would bring him to the sea.
"Hiss—"
The King Cobra turned back, hissed at the little fox, and gestured for him to keep walking.
Ansheng, seeing this, helplessly continued his journey, crossing through the city of the next county and entering a forest.
Both the fox and snake moved swiftly, like two shadows darting through the woods.
Once in the forest, the occasional hiss of snakes could be heard among the trees.
Ansheng was startled to see several King Cobras tangled up with each other, trying to pin down their opponents, making a sport of their battles, while nearby female snakes watched.
But upon seeing Blacky approach, they panicked visibly, abandoning their mating fray to seek hiding spots.
King Cobras have a propensity for eating other snakes.
Even during mating events, they cautiously probe to ensure opponents aren’t dead foes flaunting meals, before proceeding to reproduce.
A six-meter-long Blacky...
It had already flaunted meals twice here, and the mated King Cobras remembered it.
Upon seeing Blacky arrive, they didn’t approach with mating invitations but fled immediately, fearing Blacky would devour them whole.
Blacky glanced around nonchalantly and continued deeper into the forest.
Reaching dense woods, Blacky, guiding Ansheng from the front, coiled into a ball, its spoon-like head burrowing into the earth.
"You say there’s something here?"
Ansheng reached the big tree, raised a paw with a strange look, and brushed away dead leaves, unsure of why the King Cobra led him here.
Yet, since he was there, Ansheng followed Blacky’s directions and dug down.
The area Ansheng was in belonged to a snake mountain nature reserve adjacent to the provincial capital.
This was Changle Snake Mountain, a place no Xia Dong person approached during summer.
In summer, many snakes held parties in the mountain, and Ansheng was in the area for this year’s King Cobra party.
If Ansheng came during the day, he’d immediately recognize the area.
But with the dark of night, and Blacky leading him over ridges, he had no clue where he was, vaguely seeing the city’s neon lights from the mountain.
"Bang—"
Ansheng dug into the soil, and before long, his fox claw hit a suitcase.
"Huh!? Suitcase?"
Surprised, Ansheng looked up at Blacky, who seemed ready to flaunt snakes while scanning the surroundings:
"Blacky, you didn’t bring me here to unearth someone’s illicit income stash, did you?"
Ansheng eagerly pulled the buried suitcase out of the soil, its weight exceeding expectation, not a stash of cash it seemingly held.
"Hey... Isn’t this a coincidence? My name is right on the suitcase."
Ansheng squatted, raised his upper body, and fiddled with the suitcase combination lock.
Before he could touch the lock, Blacky slithered close, used its tail to manipulate the lock.
"Clack—"
Three crisp unlocking sounds echoed through the forest, and a device glowing green emerged before Ansheng, softly flickering with fluorescence.
Aside from the device at the lock, thick velvet trays filled the suitcase.
The three-layered velvet trays’ grooves held items resembling bicycle pumps.
Different from portable pumps, the suitcase’s pumps were smaller, smeared with grease, shining with metallic luster.
A total of nine pumps in all.
"Yip?"
Ansheng froze, staring at those pumps.
"These things... What are they?"
The metal components in the suitcase clearly took Ansheng aback, fitting outside his knowledge realm, leaving him baffled.
"Hiss..."
Seeing the fox’s puzzled expression, the King Cobra naturally shook its head.
It didn’t know the contents either, but days before, saw two people behaving furtively, burying them in the lunchroom under night cover.
When burying, they deliberately checked the opened suitcase.
The King Cobra remembered the lock’s combination then, leading to today’s reveal.
Instinct told the Cobra that people sneaking into its snack den weren’t benign.
So, it brought Ansheng to see, lest they moved unknown when the bulldozer came.
"Troublesome..."
Ansheng sighed helplessly; previously, he could search online when his knowledge failed.
But out in nature, carrying a phone wasn’t practical; normally, he played with it on the sofa or holding it between paws on a stand.
"Alright! Let’s head back once more."
Ansheng shook his head; he still didn’t know what the suitcase content was.
Yet, what kind person stashes items in a cobra-infested dense forest?
Such behavior is never virtuous.
The little fox instinctively opened its mouth to bite the metal components but paused, moved them onto Blacky’s tail.
When Blacky felt something fall on it, it reflexively coiled with intent to strangle the object.
"Yes! Exactly! Hold that pose!" Ansheng nodded satisfied, lifted Blacky overhead, and sprinted swiftly home by the same mountain path.
In less than an hour, Ansheng descended from Upper Slope Mountain, raced through Changxi Town at midnight, intending to grab his phone.
"Whoa?! Defeated and being chased?!"
Still lounging in the courtyard, the note-taking Lao Chen caught a glimpse of a shadow flashing by, instinctively looked up.
Spotting a small, white fox upright and holding a coiled King Cobra, bouncing swiftly down Changxi Town’s street.
Even with understanding that Master Fox defied norms, the sight was impactful.
Furthermore.
Seeing Master Fox’s hurried expression; wasn’t it rushing from a mountain scuffle? Defeated then urgent to get a partner to a pet hospital...
Lao Chen never doubted Master Fox’s wisdom.
Yet.
His "Whoa" didn’t escape the fox’s sharp ears.
Thus.
When Lao Chen recovered from surprise, he saw two heads, big and small, dark and light, peek silently from the courtyard gate.
The fox and snake stared at Lao Chen.
Stare—
Lao Chen stiffened with shock, sheepishly said, "Master Fox...Are you heading to the city? Coincidentally, I haven’t drunk today; we might be going the same way."