Chapter 60: The Killing Begins

Hong Tianyun pulled Hong Wen back to the village, and immediately saw dozens of strong men holding all kinds of different weapons, nervously guarding the village entrance.

Behind the strong men were many women, children, and the elderly, who were peeking out anxiously at them.

When they saw that it was Hong Tianyun and Hong Wen returning, everyone first let out a sigh of relief, then quickly asked:

“How is it? Did the snake horde leave?”

Hong Tianyun shook his head.

The faces of the dozens of strong men all turned ugly:

“Damn it, what’s going on with these snakes? Why are they all gathering together? And they even kidnapped our villagers??”

Hong Tianyun looked at everyone, hesitated for a moment, then said:

“Hong Jing is one of the people kidnapped by the snakes. He seems to still be alive. He just told us outside the village that those snakes are back to take revenge on us.”

At once, everyone exploded in uproar:

“Revenge on us?!”

“Why take revenge on us?!”

“What did we do?”

“Those damned snakes! My son died at their hands and I haven’t even settled that score yet. Now they dare to come into our village!”

“These wretched beasts deserve death a thousand times over!”

Listening to the villagers’ outraged complaints and curses, Hong Tianyun said helplessly:

“This is probably the reason why they are gathering at the village entrance.”

“We discovered that the snakes in that horde are all dead snakes. Hong Jing said they might be snakes our village once hunted and killed, and now they have come back for revenge.”

Hong Tianyun’s words made the cursing strong men all stop, dumbfounded:

“Dead snakes?”

“What do you mean snakes we killed have come back for revenge?”

“That’s impossible, right?”

“Hey, Tianyun, this isn’t a joke……”

A villager close to Hong Tianyun spoke, his voice trembling.

No one laughed at him, because everyone hoped Hong Tianyun would suddenly laugh and tell them it was just a joke.

Even if they had to face a horde of snakes, they didn’t want to hear that it was a horde of living dead snakes!

Suddenly, Hong Xiu, hiding in the crowd, spoke while trembling:

“Could it be… they really are the spirits of the snakes that already died?”

Everyone shuddered.

Clearly, Hong Xiu had spoken the thought in everyone’s heart.

However, Hong Wen immediately said firmly:

“Impossible! That’s nothing but baseless speculation. Ghosts can’t possibly exist in this world!”

“And among those dead snakes are poisonous snakes, non-poisonous snakes, and pythons all mixed together. They don’t look like the poisonous snakes we once killed for tax collection.”

Hong Xiu, whether from shame or fear, retorted furiously at Hong Wen:

“See! You admit they’re dead snakes too, don’t you? If they aren’t ghosts, then what else could they be?”

Seeing the two young men about to start arguing, Hong Tianyun stepped between them:

“Enough. Whether or not they are snakes we once killed that have come back to take revenge is no longer the point we should focus on.”

“What we really need to worry about is that they are right outside the village entrance, and about to come in. We need to immediately come up with a way to stop them.”

Hong Tianyun’s words received everyone’s agreement.

Seeing the quarrel subside, Hong Tianyun immediately arranged instructions for all the villagers:

“Bring out all the children, women, and elderly from their houses, and move them to the open altar grounds of Hongjia Village!”

“Don’t let them stay in the houses. In complex terrain, snake hordes are extremely dangerous!”

“Bring torches, kerosene, machetes… Hey, Little Green, get your wooden arrows—never mind, bring those too.”

“All able-bodied men follow me to hold the rear line, and buy time for the retreat of the women, children, and elderly!”

Hong Tianyun tore a piece of burlap from the nearest house and wrapped it around his arms and legs, to cover his body as much as possible against poisonous snake ambushes.

Just as Hong Tianyun finished giving orders, the villagers saw a dense horde of snakes surging into the village from the entrance.

“Ahhh! They’ve come in!”

At once, many villagers screamed and fled into the distance, leaving only about a hundred men standing tightly beside Hong Tianyun, their cautious eyes tinged with panic.

Someone hurled realgar wine at the horde.

The clay jar shattered among the snakes, and a pungent odor spread through everyone’s noses.

Yet the snake horde remained unmoved by the realgar wine.

Under Mo Lin’s command, they continued to advance at a steady, relentless pace toward the people.

Hong Wen shouted:

“They’re all dead snakes! The smell of realgar wine won’t drive them away.

Use kerosene! They can’t withstand kerosene!”

Hong Wen grabbed kerosene handed to him by a villager and hurled it hard at the snake horde.

At once, many snakes were covered in greasy kerosene.

Hong Wen threw a torch.

The torch landed precisely among the kerosene-soaked snakes.

In an instant, a wave of flame burst up from the horde, illuminating every patterned scale clearly.

The next moment, the wave of fire engulfed the snakes entirely.

Although this kerosene was only animal and plant oils, far inferior to petroleum, the fire’s heat was still enough to burn the snakes to death.

And compared to the torch Hong Wen had thrown outside the village earlier, this kerosene fire was much harder to extinguish.

“Good!”

“Well done!”

Some villagers praised Hong Wen’s accuracy.

Seeing his snake horde set ablaze, Mo Lin gave a cold laugh.

Did they really think his zombie snakes were so useless?

If they could be killed so easily, what use would they be to him?

Zombie snakes naturally had their own uses.

Even on fire, it was the same.

While the villagers praised him, Hong Wen himself remained grim, without the slightest relief—because although kerosene could indeed burn snakes to death, what if the horde was already dead to begin with?

The next moment, Hong Wen’s pupils contracted sharply.

Amid the villagers’ cries of shock, those snakes—burning with kerosene, their bodies seared by blazing flames—charged at Hong Wen and the others with swift, unfeeling movements, like emotionless machines.

“No, don’t come near me!”

“Stay back, damn it!”

One strong man swung his machete down hard at a burning snake lunging at him, splitting it cleanly in two.

Smelling the roasted snake meat from the flames, the man burst out laughing:

“Hahaha! I’ve been a snake hunter for twenty years. Whether you’re venomous, what angle you’ll strike from, what method you’ll use to ambush—I’ve long since figured it all out.”

“You, without venom, and half a body gone—how are you going to kill me? How can you possibly kill me!!”

“When I finish slaughtering you all, I’ll roast you and eat you!”

As the man grew excited, Hong Tianyun shouted loudly:

“Watch out!”

The next instant, that half-bodied snake, still burning with kerosene, clearly long since dead, suddenly whipped its body.

In the moment the man failed to react, it leapt at him—

It swung the sharp spine exposed from the machete’s cut, like a small, razor-edged knife, and stabbed straight into the man’s throat with deadly precision!