What an unexpected sight it was, to find such a massive, emerald-scaled serpent lurking within the caves of Taigu Baiyun Mushroom Rock Mountain. To make matters worse, it had already plunged into the water and was slithering toward our bamboo raft. The situation unfolded so suddenly that Fatty didn't even have time to fire his weapon. But even with the caliber of the "Jian Wei," turning it into a machine gun probably wouldn't inflict a fatal wound on a serpent of that immense size.

With no other option, we couldn't just sit there and wait for death. Fatty, Inley Yang, and I shouted in unison, raising our arms and frantically paddling the raft with the bamboo poles and rifle butts we held. Unfortunately, the raft was laden with countless "Water Leech Bees" underneath, easily weighing a hundred pounds or more. The raft sat so deep in the water that our efforts to move it forward were futile.

If that monster snake, covered head to tail in green scales, managed to crush the raft with its body, we would have no chance of retreat once we hit the river. The three of us paddled like madmen, yet because of our panic, the force we exerted was neither balanced nor coordinated. The raft, which had been drifting slowly forward, was now subjected to three conflicting forces, causing it to spin uselessly in place on the water’s surface.

I suddenly recalled something I'd heard while fighting in Vietnam: if a man ate ten cloves of garlic in succession, even tigers and giant pythons wouldn't dare bite him. I quickly fumbled through my travel bag, certain I had packed two heads of garlic specifically for insect repellent, but now, I couldn't find them anywhere.

Before we could even react to this thought, the raft suddenly shuddered violently, lifting clean off the water. It turned out the giant serpent had used its triangular head, which was the size of a grain measure, to hoist the raft upwards.

The serpent's head propelled the raft forward over ten meters before it slammed back down onto the surface. If Fatty hadn't gripped the center with all his might, the raft would have capsized immediately. Even so, it rocked violently back and forth in the water. I was completely soaked—I couldn't tell if it was from the water or a cold sweat—but in that moment, fear was forgotten. All I could think was how incredibly sturdy Yunnan bamboo truly was.

The great serpent, its green scales flashing, submerged itself again after that initial thrust, diving deep into the water. Its posture clearly indicated it was preparing for a second attack.

I remembered marching through dense forests in Vietnam and encountering large pythons and venomous snakes often enough, but I had never witnessed a python attack our raft by butting it from underneath. If it had simply coiled its body around the raft, we would have been finished long ago.

It was then that Inley Yang seemed to grasp the situation, exclaiming, "That python isn't after us; it's trying to eat the water bees under the boat! It's after them!" Those "Water Leech Bees," plump as maggots, were incredibly nutritious—a favorite snack for water snakes and pythons. However, after indulging in a snack, it certainly wouldn't hesitate to make the three of us its main course. This was so huge, I suspected that Inley Yang, Fatty, and I combined would be just enough for a single meal.

The depths beneath were utterly dark, making it impossible to see what was happening below. We saw water splash violently, and the raft was lifted into the air a second time by the serpent's head. This time, having learned our lesson, we exerted every ounce of strength to keep the raft balanced. Even so, when we splashed back onto the surface, we nearly capsized again.

A thought suddenly flashed through my mind: perhaps the human figures in the riverbed weren't traps set by mechanisms, but slaves the Xian King used to feed this giant serpent. Otherwise, why would a snake feeding only on ordinary animals grow so large? Of course, nearly two millennia had passed; the snake couldn't possibly have lived that long. Perhaps the current beast was merely a descendant of the monster kept by the Xian King, and its ancestor must have been many times larger. We had truly entered a dragon's den.

The raft was tossed about like a lotus leaf in the wind, threatening to fall apart at any moment. We could only cling tightly to it, having no room to even raise an arm to paddle for escape. The giant serpent had already swallowed two mouthfuls of the "Water Leech Bees" clinging to the underside, and very few remained. Clearly still unsatisfied, the green-scaled python flipped its massive body, opened its gaping maw, and lunged directly at Inley Yang at the rear of the raft.

Fatty and I couldn't reach her in time. Inley Yang reacted with incredible speed. Without anyone seeing, she had pulled the Jingang Umbrella from her back. Seeing the serpent’s massive mouth closing in like a lightning strike from the left, she snapped the umbrella open and braced herself. The curved surface of the Jingang Umbrella blocked the serpent's lunge, neutralizing its tremendous biting force. It only managed to fling Inley Yang off the raft like a broken kite, sending her crashing into the distant water.

I looked back. The tactical headlamp on Inley Yang's mountaineering helmet flashed once underwater and then vanished. It seemed she had sunk. The area was too dark; I couldn't see the conditions at all.

With Inley Yang gone, the raft, stabilized only by the gear we had tied down and our own weight, immediately tilted forward, its bow rising slowly.

Just as the raft was about to flip, Fatty, though usually clumsy, had been tempered by rough experiences. In this critical moment, he quickly threw himself backward, lying flat across the middle of the raft, his hiking pack still tethered behind him. This shift in weight brought the rising bow back down.

Lying flat, Fatty didn't forget to curse wildly amidst the chaos. He even aimed his "Jian Wei" and fired a shot at the giant serpent in the water. The air rifle's penetration was strong, and it fired medium steel shot. The shot struck the serpent directly in its left eye, causing blood to gush out.

The green-scaled serpent's blood flowed into the water, carrying a rank, fishy stench that could be smelled from far away. A snake that had never suffered such an indignity erupted in a roar like thunder, shaking violently and churning the water into a frenzy. It swung its massive body sideways, delivering a powerful blow toward our raft.

Inley Yang had fallen into the dark water. In this vast cavern, the only lights were the floodlight mounted on the front of the raft and the tactical lamps on our helmets. We couldn't see where she landed; everything around was pitch black. I couldn't even confirm if she was alive or dead.

The "Nickel Foil High-Intensity Floodlight" mounted on the raft’s bow had been knocked out, plunging everything into deeper darkness. Seeing the serpent closing in with a look of pure malice, I knew we were reduced to a desperate last stand. Our bamboo poles for paddling were long gone, so I used my entrenching tool to push the water, steering the raft as far as possible from the serpent’s attack range. Fatty frantically reloaded the "Jian Wei" with steel shot.

But the sheer bulk of the green-scaled serpent meant that even if we had a motor, we couldn't escape. This time, it intended to finish the job in one go, using its coils to crush our insignificant raft.

I yelled to Fatty, "Fatty, stop dawdling! If you don't shoot now, we’re going to die heroically right here!"

The "Nickel Foil High-Intensity Floodlight" mounted on the raft’s bow had been knocked out, plunging everything into deeper darkness. Seeing the serpent closing in with a look of pure malice, I knew we were reduced to a desperate last stand. Our bamboo poles for paddling were long gone, so I used my entrenching tool to push the water, steering the raft as far as possible from the serpent’s attack range. Fatty frantically reloaded the "Jian Wei" with steel shot.

But the sheer bulk of the green-scaled serpent meant that even if we had a motor, we couldn't escape. This time, it intended to finish the job in one go, using its coils to crush our insignificant raft.

I yelled to Fatty, "Fatty, stop *** dawdling! If you don't shoot now, we’re going to die heroically right here!"

Fatty gritted his teeth and stared, having just managed to load the steel shot into the "Jian Wei's" magazine. The theoretical firing rate of this weapon wasn't low; under strict training, a person could fire twenty-two steel shots per minute. However, in this chaotic, leaf-in-a-gale moment, simply managing a second reload was beyond most men.

Fatty didn't hesitate; he raised the gun and fired. But the raft was shaking too violently, and the shot missed its mark. He couldn't spare time to reload again. He immediately whipped out the Nagant revolver tucked at his waist, flipped the safety, cycled the bolt, aimed, and fired—all in less than a second. Crack-crack-crack-crack-crack! He emptied every round directly at the serpent's head.

In the darkness, we couldn't tell if he hit the target. Having exhausted the bullets, he was about to throw the empty gun away when he thought better of parting with his expensive sidearm. Just as he reached for something else to continue the fight, he saw the great green-scaled python suddenly flip its body and swim away into the distance.

This turn of events completely shocked Fatty and me. We were cornered, ready to jump into the water and fight hand-to-hand, so why would the overwhelmingly superior giant serpent suddenly flee? Did it fear the sheer heroic spirit radiating from us two men?

Then, we heard a sound like countless iron leaves scraping together coming from the water to the east. The sound of rusting iron grating against itself sent a chill down my neck; it was like rubbing two pieces of Styrofoam together—a noise that aggressively irritated the nerves.

Suddenly, the water beside the raft parted, and the beam of a tactical headlamp shone out. It was Inley, swimming back. She wiped the water from her face; her lips were tinged blue from the cold river water. Before even hauling herself onto the raft, Inley Yang demanded, "Are you two planning to just leave me in the water?"

Seeing that she had cheated death, Fatty and I both let out a breath of relief. In the intense rush, we hadn't thought much. I quickly said to Inley Yang, "How could we? The organization was just about to dispatch comrades to rescue you, but you swam back on your own before they even had a chance to prove themselves." I reached out and pulled her onto the raft. Through all the fighting, Inley Yang’s Jingang Umbrella, passed down from her grandfather, hadn't been lost in the water; she still held it.

The sound of scraping iron from the distance grew louder and more frequent. In the direction the green-scaled serpent had fled, the water seemed to be boiling, as if some creature beneath was fighting desperately.

Since the main floodlight was out, we couldn't see anything in the distance, but we could see the nearby river water turning a dark crimson under the beam of our helmet lamps, completely stained with a massive amount of blood.

We didn't dare delay another second. We quickly used our entrenching tools to paddle, turning the raft, and charging toward the exit of the Mushroom Rock Cave. The sound of scraping iron behind us intensified.

We couldn't leave without knowing for sure. Inley Yang aimed a flare gun in that direction and fired an illumination round. The distant water surface was lit up as brightly as a snowfield by the white, lantern-like flare. We saw countless schools of golden-scaled fish, each the size of a human hand, completely enveloping the emerald-scaled serpent. These fish had two rows of jagged, sharp teeth like saw blades, tearing strips of flesh and skin right off the python’s body with a single bite.

The school of fish was enormous, numbering in the thousands. They rolled and twisted around the great serpent, gnawing fiercely. The more blood flowed, the more frenzied the fish became, biting like mad things. Poor emerald-scaled giant—even a mighty tiger cannot withstand a pack of wolves. It was completely surrounded by the ghost-like swarm of fish, and in less than half a minute, it was gnawed down to nothing, not even a shard of bone remaining.

That sound of scraping iron was the sound of the fish’s teeth. Inley Yang’s face changed instantly, and she repeatedly urged Fatty and me to paddle harder: "Paddle! Paddle! That’s the Sawtooth Viperfish! The Sawtooth Viperfish! They go insane when they see blood!"

Even without Inley Yang’s warning, we wouldn't have dared slow down. That massive, dragon-like serpent looked like nothing more than a turkey dinner to this swarm of "Sawtooth Viperfish," offering no chance for resistance. Moreover, the sheer number of these fish made them impossible to fight off. Our only option was to paddle for our lives toward the exit, since, after all, this swarm of Sawtooth Viperfish didn't have legs.

It was likely that these bloodthirsty "Sawtooth Viperfish" congregated in a nearby underground river system. Our gunfire had caused the serpent to bleed, thus drawing the massive swarm. The natural principle of one thing overcoming another—the cycle of life and death—was vividly playing out in this Mushroom Rock Cave. Who knew what creature preyed on the Sawtooth Viperfish, but humans certainly weren't it. In the water, our only chance was to flee.

Startled by the bloody scene, Fatty’s face turned sickly green. He swung his arms hard with the entrenching tool, paddling furiously: "Hurry, run! I swear, I’m most afraid of piranhas. I didn't check the almanac today; why is everything I fear showing up?"

Inley Yang and I used every skill we possessed to maximize the raft’s speed. As I paddled with my entrenching tool, I told Fatty, "I’m the same as you; I fear these fish the most. If we escape today, we’ll both make a solemn vow to Buddha that we will never eat another bite of fish for the rest of our lives."

Fatty agreed vehemently, "Exactly! First, I hate eating fish, and second, I hate seeing blood—especially if, damn it, I see my own blood..."

Before he could finish his sentence, we heard the sound of scraping iron leaves, now coming from near, arriving right around our raft. From beneath the bamboo, came a chorus of "Ch’k-ch’k-kacha"—the sound of teeth gnawing. This intensely abrasive grinding sound made every hair on my body stand on end.

It seemed the few remaining Water Leech Bees that the green-scaled serpent had left behind were now being claimed by this school of "Sawtooth Viperfish." Worse yet, the ropes binding the raft together were also being chewed through by the fish's razor-sharp, saw-like teeth...