After keeping watch for over two hours, as dawn approached, Qin Sang still hadn't found any traces of the giant snake.
Although snakes are cold-blooded animals, such a massive body moving around wouldn't be able to escape the scan of a thermal imaging drone.
Could it be that the giant snake isn't here?
Qin Sang didn't dare to be too optimistic, but the drone's low battery alarm went off. She had no choice but to fly it back and land it under the tree where the mules and horses were sleeping.
Da Huang alertly pounced toward it, but Qin Sang quickly ran over and barked a low command to stop him:
"Da Huang, don't bite."
"Whine, whine..." Da Huang whimpered and circled around Qin Sang, unsure of what she was holding in her hand.
Qin Sang took out the drone's battery. After charging it with the solar charger for a full day tomorrow, it would be ready for use again by nightfall.
After putting away the drone, Qin Sang fed Da Huang a handful of dog food and patted his head before returning to the tent.
Inside the tent, Si Jin woke up dazed and sat up:
"Mother, is that you?"
Qin Sang hadn't expected the child to be such a light sleeper:
"Yes, it's me. It's nothing, I just went out to relieve myself. Go back to sleep."
Qin Sang grabbed a piece of clothing from the straw mat by the tent entrance to cover her stomach. Not long after she lay down, before she could even fall asleep, Da Huang suddenly began to bark loudly. Qin Sang's eyes snapped open, her exhaustion from staying up late vanishing without a trace. Just as she sat up, she heard a commotion outside.
Soon, someone started screaming.
"Woof! Woof! Woof!" Da Huang's barking became increasingly agitated.
Qin Sang thought to herself that something was wrong. She threw off the clothing, grabbed the long saber beside the mat, and rushed out of the tent.
Da Zhuang, San Gui, and Er Fu, who were right behind her, also intended to follow, but Qin Sang stopped them:
"I'm going over there to check. You two brothers look after the little ones. Don't come out unless I call for you."
She had set up barricades around the tent, which offered some defense. If everyone ran out in a panic, they would be easier targets for wild beasts in the dark.
Besides, the trouble was on the other side; this area was relatively safe.
"Then be careful, Mother."
"Grandma, can you please not go?"
Qin Sang lit a torch with a Fire striker and gave them a reassuring look:
"Don't be afraid, Grandma will be careful."
Qin Sang left the perimeter of the barricades, and Da Huang leaped out with incredible agility.
Qin Sang had been a bit scared herself, but with a "Howling Celestial Dog" like Da Huang protecting her, her fear vanished instantly.
Before long, Hunter Xu, Tian Yougen, Hei Zi, and Guihuas Father caught up with Qin Sang from behind. Some carried long sabers, while others held axes.
The group arrived at the scene of the commotion in silence, only to find it in chaos. A tree as thick as a bowl lay across the shelters everyone had built. Many children were crying in their mothers' arms, while others were scrambling to move the tree.
Since people were still walking around outside, the giant snake had likely already left.
Seeing Qin Sang and the others approaching with torches, someone immediately came forward:
"Da Zhuangs Mother, the giant snake came."
"It was the giant snake, we saw it."
"It was such a huge snake, it scared us to death."
The villagers were all talking at once. Seeing that no one was getting to the point, Qin Sang asked in a low voice:
"What happened? Where is the giant snake?"
The crowd finally quieted down, and one of them answered:
"We were sleeping soundly when a sudden 'crack' woke us up. We scrambled up alertly, worried the giant snake had come, and stepped out of the shelters. Before we could even find the snake, we saw a large tree flying toward us, crashing right onto the shelters."
Another person added:
"I saw the giant snake in the direction the tree flew from; it was on that mountain."
After saying that, he pointed toward the mountain. Qin Sang looked up, but since it wasn't dawn yet, she couldn't see any sign of the snake at all.
Hunter Xu and Tian Yougen exchanged a look and said:
"We set traps near that area."
The crowd couldn't help but get excited:
"Then could it have been caught already?"
"Right, maybe it was planning to attack us but got caught in a trap instead."
"Oh, it would be great if it's caught. That snake must weigh at least two hundred catties; we'll get to eat snake meat again."
Qin Sang wasn't as optimistic:
"Whether it's caught or not, we'll know once we go and check at daybreak."
"Is anyone injured?"
Upon hearing this, someone whispered:
"I took a fall and scraped my hand."
Qin Sang went to check, pulled a small porcelain bottle from her sleeve, and used iodine to clean the wound for him:
"Don't touch anything dirty. Washing it once in the morning and once at night should be enough."
Then she handed him the porcelain bottle.
"Fortunately, we listened to Da Zhuangs Mother and built these shelters. Otherwise, when that tree came crashing down, several people would have been killed or at least injured," someone remarked with feeling.
"Yeah, it's hard to imagine that such a big tree could be thrown so far by a giant snake."
"Da Zhuangs Mother, you should build a shelter for your family tomorrow too. Your tent is nice, but it's not as sturdy as a shelter. It's a good thing the snake didn't throw a tree at your tent today, or it might not have held up."
Qin Sang nodded:
"Thank you for the reminder. Since dawn is breaking, everyone might as well stay awake. Let's all help lift this tree off."
"Alright, we couldn't sleep now even if we wanted to."
"Exactly. Come on, everyone, heave together..."
By the time they moved the tree off the shelter, the sky was beginning to brighten.
Da Huang had been sitting quietly beside Qin Sang the whole time. Qin Sang looked at the sky and suggested:
"Hunter Xu, Paternal uncle, shall we go check the traps?"
Tian Yougen nodded:
"Alright, the sooner we check, the sooner we can be at ease. I'll call a few more people to come along. If it's caught, we can carry it back down."
Before long, Tian Yougen had gathered about a dozen men. Each carrying long sabers and axes, they headed up the mountain.
After walking for over an hour, someone asked uneasily:
"You Gen, where are these traps? Why aren't we there yet?"
"The Village Chief said to set them as far from the camp as possible, so the traps are at the top of the mountain."
Hunter Xu explained while leading the way.
"Ah? On the mountaintop?"
Some people began to have second thoughts. The three mountains surrounding the camp were all over a thousand meters high; it would take at least two hours to climb to the top. They weren't afraid of the climb itself, but rather that after all that exhausting effort, they wouldn't catch the snake—and would instead be caught by it.
Qin Sang comforted them:
"My Da Huang is leading the way. If the giant snake is around, he'll definitely be the first to find it."
The crowd was still uneasy:
"So what if he finds it? Can Da Huang actually bite the giant snake to death?"
"On the mountain, even if we find it in time, we won't be able to escape back down quickly enough. Won't we just be eaten by the snake anyway?"
"I'm not going. You Gen, I'm heading back. I don't want this job anymore."
Seeing the villagers turning back one by one to head down the mountain, Tian Yougen wanted to try and persuade them, but he was stopped by Hunter Xu up ahead:
"No need to stop them."
"Huh?"
What Tian Yougen wanted to say was that more people meant more help—why not stop them?
"Just the three of us going up the mountain?"