Fan Yajun was invited to Cyan Dragon Mountain by Lu Qi to describe in detail the events of the snake release that day, at the scene.
Besides him, Xu Chunliang was also invited. Fan Yajun initially thought Xu Chunliang was also a police investigator, but upon Lu Qi's introduction, he learned that the young man was an expert they invited, said to be a snake whisperer who could communicate with snakes.
Fan Yajun, thirty-eight years old, of medium stature with a sincere appearance, was a renowned snake catcher in Dongzhou and a formal employee of the forestry bureau, having been several times recognized as an outstanding worker.
Fan Yajun was aware that the police considered him one of the suspects, but he showed no resistance in this matter and was very cooperative with the police work.
The one responsible for receiving them that day was still Zhou Meng, who was also listed as a suspect and had undergone an investigation. Therefore, he had some complaints about the police's investigative approach, feeling that their efficiency was too low. As he saw it, every phone has a network license, and checking that would clarify things.
Li Zhong told him that the case wasn't as easy as he imagined; since the incident, they hadn't rested a single day.
Zhou Meng, evidently disgruntled, said, "What are you trying to check today? You've already gone through all my schedules and accounts, don't you trust me yet?"
Fan Yajun said, "Xiaozhou, mind how you're speaking. The police officers are just doing their job, and we should cooperate." The perspective of an old comrade is indeed different.
He too had been called in by the police for questioning and had provided his schedule and bank account for those days, thinking the investigation was over, but unexpectedly he was called back to the release site today.
Lu Qi explained to everyone that the reason for gathering them there was not to suspect them but to reconstruct the scene of the snake release to check for any oversights, with another goal of searching for the surviving male snake.
Zhou Meng led them along the route taken that day back to the release site, where Fan Yajun described the specific circumstances of the release according to the police's request.
In the few days they hadn't visited, the vegetation at the release site had grown much lush.
Fan Yajun said, "Are you saying one of the snakes we released was hunted by someone?"
Lu Qi nodded.
Fan Yajun sighed, "Stealing on Cyan Dragon Mountain was rarely heard of in the past."
Zhou Meng said, "That's right. Even if there's poaching, it's usually of birds, never of snakes." Dongzhou is not like the Guangxi or Guangdong regions; locals here don't have the habit of eating snakes.
Xu Chunliang said, "Isn't the environment of Cyan Dragon Mountain unsuitable for the king rat snake to live? What was your consideration in choosing this place for release at that time?"
Fan Yajun glanced at him and explained, "You might not be aware, but king rat snakes have strong cold resistance and adaptability, with many varieties. The two king rat snakes we released can completely adapt to the environment of Dongzhou. They can live in water or trees and will hibernate when the temperature drops below eight degrees. Cyan Dragon Mountain is the largest nature reserve in Dongzhou, with many small animals, so releasing the two king rat snakes back into the mountain takes their feeding into account."
Li Zhong asked, "Have you released king rat snakes here before?"
Fan Yajun replied, "Basically, we release all kinds of wild animals here, except for national first-class protected animals."
During their conversation, they arrived at the place where the king rat snake's body was found. They discovered that the dirt mound had been dug up and the snake's body was gone. Lu Qi said, "Strange, we clearly buried the snake here before; why is the body missing?"
The group looked at Zhou Meng. Zhou Meng scratched the back of his head, saying, "I shouldn't have remembered wrong, I even made a mark at the time."
Lu Qi was very frustrated, saying, "The clue was on that snake's body, and now it's troublesome. If we can't find the snake, we might never solve the case."
According to what they said, Xu Chunliang was invited to communicate with the king rat snake to look for clues.
Li Zhong didn't believe a dead snake could escape and suggested everyone split up to search. He and Zhou Meng together, the other three together, meeting back at the original spot in twenty minutes.
Lu Qi agreed, and Fan Yajun reminded them it was summer, with many snakes and bugs around, so for safety's sake, he would lead and let the two follow from behind.
Voices came from behind.
Lu Qi said, "Strange, how could it suddenly be gone? Are you saying the snake is dead but still escaped by itself?"
Xu Chunliang said, "Didn't you say there were two snakes? Perhaps the other male snake came and dug up the female snake's body."
"Impossible; snakes don't have hands. How could it dig? Master Fan, don't you agree?"
Fan Yajun, hearing Lu Qi addressing him, turned back and laughed, saying, "Snakes don't dig holes; anyway, I've never heard of such a thing in all my years of work." He already knew Xu Chunliang was the expert invited by the police, but in Dongzhou, he knew all the snake-catching experts and had never heard of this young man, guessing he was an academic zoologist. Snake whisperer? Never heard of it, probably just a fraud. Snakes don't talk.
Xu Chunliang said, "While snakes don't dig, they will occupy the burrows of other small animals. Maybe a rat or something helps it dig, and then it sneaks in and drags the female snake's body away."
Fan Yajun said, "Animals aren't that intelligent."
"Everything has its spirituality. If that's not the case, then can you explain why the female snake's body vanished into thin air? Did it come back to life?"
Fan Yajun paused for a moment, "How is that possible? Isn't it already... dead?"
"Why not? Snakes have incredibly strong vitality."
Lu Qi nodded along, "A centipede dies but never stiffens, maybe it wasn't completely dead back then?"
"You're talking about centipedes."
"Close enough, aren't they all among the Five Poisons? Teacher Xu, as long as you find that snake, can you find clues on it?"
Xu Chunliang confidently replied, "Once I find it, I can make it talk."
Fan Yajun stopped in his tracks, noticing two trails on the muddy ground ahead. With his years of experience in snake catching, he immediately recognized them as snake tracks, and the snake was likely quite large.
Before he could speak, Xu Chunliang had already said, "There's a snake."
Fan Yajun nodded and pointed to the ground. The two trails extended in different directions. They had to either split up and search separately or follow one trail for now.
After a brief discussion, they decided to split up again, with Fan Yajun going left and Lu Qi and Xu Chunliang heading right.
Parting the bushes, Fan Yajun slowly followed the snake's trail. After a few steps, he looked back, confirmed the others weren't following, and secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Venturing about fifty meters into the forest, he lost sight of the snake trail, stopped, glanced back, and then began searching the area.
Suddenly, his gaze fixed on something ahead. An object lost in the grass caught his attention. Fan Yajun walked over, parted the grass, and picked up an object: it was a phone's outer packaging, deformed by wind and rain. Fan Yajun quickly ripped it open, flattened it, and stuffed it into his pocket.
A rustling sound came from above. Fan Yajun slowly raised his head to see a king snake coiled on a tree branch, looking at him and flicking its crimson tongue.
Fan Yajun instinctively stepped back, recalling Xu Chunliang's claim about the king snake coming back to life. Impossible, absolutely impossible! This wasn't a legend; how could it come back to life?
Fan Yajun quickly retrieved a tranquilizer blowpipe from his toolkit and aimed it at the snake.
The king snake showed no intention to attack but continued climbing the branch.
Fan Yajun tightly pressed his lips, his expression extremely stern. His heart waged an intense battle, yet he ultimately decided to shoot.
Poof! With a gentle blow, the tranquilizer dart accurately hit the snake's body. After being punctured, the king snake crawled a few more steps before falling powerlessly from above.
Fan Yajun rushed forward, securing its vital spot firmly with his strong hands. He intended to kill this king snake before the others arrived. While Lu Qi repeatedly emphasized the snake held a clue to solving the case, Fan Yajun wasn't sure what it was but believed the snake must not fall into the hands of the police. What about that enigmatic snake whisperer? What if he indeed could communicate with snakes?
Just then, he heard someone calling his name from behind, "Master Fan, are you there?"
Fan Yajun muttered inwardly that this was not good. It was too late to act now. After a brief hesitation, he slowly released his grip on the snake's vital spot.
Xu Chunliang and Lu Qi had arrived. Fan Yajun shouted, "Come quickly, I've found it."
Lu Qi looked at the motionless king snake on the ground, surprised, "Is it dead?"
Fan Yajun shook his head, "No, I tranquilized it. Just now, it launched a sudden attack on me from its hiding spot."
Xu Chunliang's gaze fell on the blowpipe on the ground, which Fan Yajun used to release the tranquilizer dart. The man had some skills.
Fan Yajun picked up the blowpipe from the ground and chuckled, "We often receive tasks to capture wild animals. Since I don't have a gun permit, I made this tranquilizer blowpipe for handling large animals."
Lu Qi nodded, contacted Li Zhong, asking them to hurry over.
Xu Chunliang squatted down beside the snake, reached out, and touched it, his fingers lingering at its vital spot.
Fan Yajun felt uneasy inside. Could he notice anything amiss? Impossible. With his years of experience in catching snakes, at least nothing was apparent from the outside.
Xu Chunliang removed the tranquilizer dart, took out a needle pouch from his waist, and selected a fine needle, slowly inserting it behind the king snake's neck.
Lu Qi and Fan Yajun were drawn to Xu Chunliang's actions. They had seen acupuncture on people, but this was their first time witnessing acupuncture on a snake.
Xu Chunliang chose the atlantodental space for acupuncture. Although a snake's structure is vastly different from a human's, it too has meridians, and wherever there are meridians, there are acupoints. Humans are the most complex, with a highly intricate network of meridians and acupoints. Other creatures are much simpler; for instance, dogs have just over a hundred acupoints. For snakes, the number is even less, not exceeding fifty.
What seemed unbelievable to Lu Qi and Fan Yajun was quite normal for Xu Chunliang. Chinese medicine indeed has a branch dedicated to veterinary practices, which includes acupuncture treatments. However, modern veterinary acupuncture is mostly limited to pets and livestock.
The fine needle penetrated about half an inch into the king snake. Xu Chunliang then bent his right hand's middle finger to press against the index finger, which flicked the needle's handle like lightning. This was a common acupuncture technique called "flicking the needle," causing the needle to vibrate rapidly, spreading the sensation throughout the snake's entire body.