Chapter 257: A Life-and-Death Strategy
A snake isn’t terrifying—the terrifying part is a snake with intelligence.
The giant snake had stopped struggling. Instead, it began swallowing rocks.
Each rock was the size of a human head. With a single gulp, it swallowed them effortlessly, just like eating popcorn—three or four at a time.
Its plan was simple:
Crush Taotie to death with rocks.
Even if the rocks didn’t kill him, they would at least knock him unconscious.
Then, the snake would swallow him whole and digest him into a pile of waste.
“Damn beast, eating that many rocks—aren’t you afraid of indigestion? You’ll end up bloating yourself to death…”
Taotie cursed while dodging the incoming barrage of rocks.
“We need to do something!”
“If this continues, before the snake chokes on the rocks, Taotie will be crushed to death!”
Hummingbird, usually calm and expressionless, showed a rare trace of worry as she watched the snake devouring stones.
Hearing her words, Tom nodded.
He had already figured out the snake’s sinister plan.
Tom frowned, deep in thought as he watched the snake scavenging for more stones. His eyes landed on the bloodstained ground and the severed snake tongue—suddenly, his eyes lit up.
“Hummingbird, use your gun!”
“Aim for its wounds!”
“Fire every bullet we have!”
“Hurt it—make it come after us!”
Tom’s gaze was icy cold as he locked onto the giant snake, silently vowing to take it down.
Hearing his command, Hummingbird nodded.
She pulled out her gun, reloaded, and aimed at the wound on the snake’s body—the very spot that had been blasted open by a bomb earlier.
Meanwhile, Tom silently circled around to another position.
They couldn’t stand together—one swing of the snake’s tail could take them both out in an instant.
Rescuing Taotie was important, but they couldn’t act recklessly. Losing two people in the process of saving one was not Tom’s style.
Once he was in position, Tom signaled to Hummingbird.
Understanding his cue, Hummingbird pulled the trigger.
A series of gunshots rang out.
Bullets struck the open wound on the snake’s body with deadly precision.
The snake shuddered violently and turned its single blood-red eye toward Hummingbird, sending chills down her spine.
It stared at her for a few seconds.
But instead of lunging as expected, it simply resumed swallowing rocks, completely ignoring them.
Tom and Hummingbird were dumbfounded.
What the hell?
Why wasn’t it following the script?
Tom’s sharp mind was failing against a mere snake.
This beast was utterly determined to kill Taotie. Its hatred ran so deep that it had blocked out everything else—nothing could distract it from its goal.
Tom narrowed his eyes, analyzing the situation.
They couldn’t drag this out any longer.
Even if the snake eventually died, Taotie would die first.
Dangling in its jaws, Taotie was already exhausted.
Dodging the falling rocks was draining his energy. Sooner or later, he wouldn’t have the strength to resist.
Tom’s eyes darted around, searching for a way to break the deadlock.
Then, his gaze landed on Hummingbird’s backpack.
A thought struck him.
It was risky, but it was better than letting Taotie die in the snake’s mouth.
“Taotie!”
“You have bombs in your bag!”
Tom shouted at the top of his lungs.
This was his plan—have Taotie save himself by using the explosives in his own backpack.
“What?”
Taotie barely heard Tom’s voice from inside the snake’s mouth.
“Bombs! In your bag!”
This time, Taotie heard him clearly.
His eyes lit up. He understood Tom’s idea instantly.
“Hummingbird, keep shooting!”
Tom barked out the order.
Without hesitation, she opened fire again.
Their goal was to buy Taotie a few extra seconds.
Hummingbird followed suit, both of them concentrating their fire on the snake’s wound.
Bullets tore into the flesh, turning the wound into a gory mess. If they dug out the bullets later, there would probably be two pounds of them lodged in its body.
But the snake’s endurance was beyond Tom’s expectations.
Even as it trembled under the relentless gunfire, it remained fixated on swallowing rocks, refusing to acknowledge its attackers.
“You think you can kill me, you damn beast?”
“Fuck you—I’ll kill you first!”
Taotie freed one arm and struggled to unstrap his backpack.
He took a few hits from falling rocks before finally managing to remove it.
Holding the bag in his teeth, he unzipped it with one hand and reached into a hidden compartment.
Inside, he found several grenade-sized bombs.
Taotie’s eyes gleamed with excitement.
He pulled out one of the bombs, gripping it tightly.
Then, he let go of his backpack, letting it drop freely into the snake’s throat.
Coldly smirking, he activated the bomb.
Taking advantage of the moment when the snake lowered its head to pick up another rock, Taotie unsheathed his katana.
He stepped onto the hilt of his machete, using it as leverage to launch himself out of the snake’s mouth.
At the same time, he flung the activated bomb straight down the snake’s throat.
“GET DOWN!”
Taotie shouted as he escaped the snake’s jaws.
The snake’s eye burned with hatred.
It immediately lunged at Taotie, no longer caring about swallowing rocks.
Oh? Now you want to keep me inside?
Too late!
Taotie hit the ground, rolled, then scrambled to his feet and sprinted.
The snake slithered after him, jaws snapping.
Taotie ran for dear life.
At that moment, he truly regretted not having four legs.
If he had four legs, he could run twice as fast!
But he had to run—
The bomb inside the snake was about to explode.
Those bombs weren’t small. Even with the snake’s thick flesh absorbing some of the shock, the explosion would still be deadly.
Yet, the snake wouldn’t let him escape.
It chased him relentlessly, determined to kill him before the bomb went off.
Taotie cursed his luck.
No matter how fast he ran, the snake was right behind him.
The chase lasted only a few seconds—
Then,
BOOM!
A massive explosion sent flesh and blood flying in all directions.
The sky was painted red with snake blood.
Taotie, who had been closest to the blast, was flung through the air.
Half of the snake’s head was blown off.
As it spun through the air, the severed half plummeted toward Taotie.
Feeling a powerful gust behind him, Taotie turned his head—
And locked eyes with the snake’s single, lifeless eye.
