Chapter 8: Highly Venomous Short-tailed Viper

The wind blew the oily green leaves, swaying and rustling. Sunlight penetrated through the leaves, illuminating Bi Fang’s slightly constricted chestnut-colored pupils, with nearly imperceptible heaving at his chest. A man and a snake confronted each other on a tree branch, silent as two rocks in a stream.

Bi Fang stared at the brown venomous snake while scanning his surroundings out of the corner of his eye, his thoughts racing. Retreat? Behind him, the tree branch ended, with an almost ten-meter drop that couldn’t guarantee a safe landing. Escape? The distance between them was less than a meter, and with the snake being one of the fastest-attacking creatures, it wouldn’t give him much reaction time, as his agility was only 8!

“Phew, today is just really unlucky,” Bi Fang sarcastically remarked to the camera. ‘My god, the anchor can still laugh?! This picture quality is too strong; I can see the scales on the snake’s body so clearly, and I, who fear snakes the most, am almost going crazy even through the screen!’

‘Does anyone know what kind of snake this is?’

‘I don’t know, but it has a triangular head, definitely venomous.’

“This is a short-tailed viper, also known as the grass flying snake or ground flat snake. It’s highly venomous, and a bite can easily cause death in adults,” Seeing that many people didn’t recognize it, Bi Fang quietly filled them in, “And the one in front of us is longer than half a meter by my estimation, an absolute leader among its kind, with several times the venom yield of smaller individuals.”

‘Doesn’t that make it even more dangerous?’

‘I am more afraid the more I hear about it; I won’t dare to search for bird nests in this lifetime!’

The popularity of the live broadcast room kept rising, but just when everyone was engaged in a heated discussion, the screen suddenly split into two parts: one showing the drone’s view and the other a first-person perspective. Viewers could choose either and enlarge it to full screen, which instantly amazed everyone.

‘Damn, there’s a first-person perspective?’

‘Why does it seem even stronger than other devices? There’s no distortion around it, and it really feels like we’re there!’

‘This accessory is unbeatable, right?’

‘Does Fang God think we’re not scared enough?’

Even Bi Fang was surprised for a moment, not expecting the system’s external equipment to be so intelligent. In the heat of the moment, he hadn’t thought about the first-person perspective, but reality didn’t give him time to think about it. Right now, the most important thing was to figure out how to deal with the Short-tailed Rhabdophis.

‘Will Bi Fang’s explanation scare the snake with all the talking? Will it provoke the snake into action?’

Some people began to worry that Bi Fang’s talking would disturb the Short-tailed Rhabdophis and cause it to attack prematurely.

“It’s okay,” Bi Fang shook his head, “The ear structure of snakes is very simple, having only an inner ear and no outer ear or eardrum structure, so their hearing is very dull, and they have almost no perception of sound transmitted through the air.”

“But because of this, snakes are very sensitive to vibrations, which makes my situation very awkward since I can hardly move.”

‘So what should we do, just wait for it to leave on its own?’

‘Isn’t that just relying on luck?’

The audience in the live stream became even more nervous after hearing Bi Fang’s explanation.

“Don’t worry, everyone. It takes the time for a person to blink once for a snake to attack four times, and I’m already in its attack range, so there’s no use in panicking,” Bi Fang shook his head, slightly reassuring the audience.

However, why were these viewers even more nervous than him, despite the fact that he was the one in danger?

This batch of viewers was not good.

“Don’t be scared,” Bi Fang stared at the Short-tailed Rhabdophis, speaking calmly, “A old professor once taught me a principle that I’ve always believed in without a doubt: when confronted by a wild animal, never run. It’s actually observing you, and once you flee, it will know that you are losing courage and bite you from behind.”

“Wild animals can smell your fear; the more frightened you are, the more excited they become.”

With the first-person perspective, along with the sound of Bi Fang’s soft panting, the audience became even more immersed in the experience, causing their breaths to quicken as they watched the hissing Short-tailed Rhabdophis.

Many people kept asking in the barrage of comments what to do, whether to run or not to run!

“Damn it! It’s coming!”

Just as Bi Fang was thinking about how to break the stalemate, the short-tailed viper surprisingly began to wrap itself around the tree branch, lifting its triangular snakehead, and slowly approaching him!

The distance was getting shorter!

From the first-person perspective, the audience felt as if the short-tailed viper was coming toward them as well. Coupled with the restrictive feeling of being on a tree branch and seeing the snake’s head flicking its tongue, it was as if a fishy smell was assaulting their faces.

Oh, my God, I can’t bear to look anymore, wuwuwu!

I’m already terrified!

Seeing this, Bi Fang knew that he couldn’t just sit and wait for death, so he hurriedly spoke: “Calm down, we have to stay calm. Usually, snakes don’t actively attack people. It might just be curious about me. At this time, we mustn’t make any sudden movements or it’ll be over if we startle it.”

But if we don’t hide, it’ll be right in our faces!

Bi Fang took a deep breath and said, “I mentioned earlier that snakes are very sensitive to vibrations, yet they won’t be stimulated by slight movements. As long as we don’t provoke the snake, it won’t attack. Now, what we need to do is slowly move away and try to make it hesitant by creating some minor vibrations.”

With that said, he lowered his body, rubbed his legs together slightly, and retreated bit by bit.

The tree branch was strong and sturdy; otherwise, no birds would have built their nests there. As a result, the movements he made didn’t create much of an impact.

Nevertheless, Bi Fang still felt somewhat anxious. While snakes’ habits generally follow a pattern, individuals can still differ. No one knew whether this snake was the kind that tends to be extremely aggressive, or very timid and prone to lashing out when slightly startled.

For this reason, every time he moved, Bi Fang had to take a deep breath to calm himself down.

The short-tailed viper, sensing the subtle tremors, also paused, staring at the massive heat source in front of it while flicking its tongue.

As a snake species, the short-tailed viper was not large, belonging to the short and thick category. However, it was precisely this body type that endowed it with unparalleled explosive power and attack speed.

When it attacks, its triangular head strikes like an arrowhead, fiercely piercing into the prey’s body!

“Heh…”

After moving for a while, Bi Fang finally took a breath, looking at the temporarily motionless short-tailed viper and temporarily calming down.

As expected, the slight vibration didn’t disturb it, instead making it hesitate and withdraw.

The audience was also relieved, half-sighing, which fully proved that Bi Fang’s method worked.

666, worthy of being called a divine tactician

yyds

Presenting a gift

The barrage of gifts in the live broadcast room suddenly exploded into a rainbow of colors, but Bi Fang did not let his guard down, as he hadn’t completely escaped the short-tailed viper’s attack range.

Moreover, a new problem arose; he had retreated to the limit of the thickness at which the branch could support his weight. Going further back would not only increase the amplitude of the sway but might also break the branch directly.

He had come up from a branch on the left side, but now he couldn’t jump across while straddling the branch, and the nearest landing point on the branch below was almost five meters away vertically.

Bi Fang pinched his sweaty palm and looked at the ferocious snakehead not far away, his heart already having made a decision.

Following this, he slowly raised his left leg, carefully straddling over the branch, transitioning from straddling to sitting on the side.

However, to his surprise, as he moved, the retracted venomous snake continued to advance!

Although its movements were considerably slower, the distance between them shortened once again!

The atmosphere became tense again!

Bi Fang swallowed his saliva: “Not good, it might sense the threat, considering me as an enemy, so it keeps staring at me.”

“Now it’s difficult to handle, I don’t know how long I can scare it for.”

The live broadcast room instantly became chaotic, with all sorts of suggestions flying around.

But Bi Fang had no interest, and no time to look into them. Each delay resulted in the distance between him and the snake shrinking, and the danger becoming even more significant!

No, it will definitely bite if this continues!

Bi Fang astutely noticed that the short-tailed viper’s frequency of tongue flicking was increasing. This was both a sound warning and a means of collecting information about its enemies, deciding whether to attack or flee!