The crowd pulled open the bush and found a hole about the size of a household dustbin.
There were traces of drag marks on the perimeter of the hole, and there was also an indentation near the bush. It was quite unnoticeable, however, and had to be examined carefully.
This was a sign of a python hibernating during the winter. The bushes were still growing, although the growth rate was slow. The twisted lower half of the stem had to be checked. Otherwise, it was very difficult to find any trace of the python just by looking at the leaves.
Buick and his people were high in spirit. Most of the people were brandishing their shovels and picks as they began to work. Charles removed his pants and was left with a pair of shorts. A person next to him shoveled an animal skin on his leg and then smeared him with some animal fat.
Looking at this hole, Scott’s lower body was swaying as if he had lost balance. The police officer next to him was as dumbstruck as a newborn chicken and said, “No way. Tell me that this is not a python nest.”
Scott was unable to speak. He was just staring at the hole in a startled fashion.
Buick and his people enlarged the hole and put some hay in it. Then, they ignited the hay and blew the smoke into the hole.
After a while, they moved the hay away and placed a sturdy wooden stick horizontally into the hole. Charles was sitting in front of the opening. He stuck his leg, which was wrapped with animal skin and smeared with animal fat, into it.
God, Scott,” the police officer said nervously. “Tell me this hole is not a python nest. There isn’t a python in there, right? It’s not possible that he just pointed randomly and found a python nest, right?”
Scott still couldn’t speak. It was as if he was possessed.
After a while, Charles suddenly screamed, “It took the bait!”
This was the first time Li Du had witnessed someone capturing a python. He was shocked by this method.
First, they used smoke to wake the python up or to make it dizzy. Then, someone reached into the hole with one leg. The python would swallow this leg, just like a fish biting a hook, except the person’s leg was the hook and the animal skin and fat were the bait.
Charles continuously relayed information about how far the python was. When the python completely swallowed his leg, the people began to grab Charles’ waist and the long stick. Then, they started to drag the python out of the hole.
This scene reminded Li Du of the radish game he played when he was young. But that had just been a game—this involved the risk of a human’s life.
Soon after, he felt that the scene was familiar. It was like a Hong Kong movie film that he had seen. In the movie, the protagonist in Africa accidentally lured a huge python out of the python nest.
Lu Guan took a deep breath and said, “This python is able to swallow an entire leg? Just how big is this thing?”
Brother Wolf explained, “A python’s mouth can spread incredibly wide. It can swallow food that is two to four times of its size. For a python, the leg of a human is not considered that big.”
Just like that, a gray colored python was dragged out of the hole.
As Brother Wolf had mentioned, it was not that big. It was about as thick as an adult’s calf. But its big mouth had reached Charles’s thigh!
As the python was dragged out, a person beside the hole cut open the python’s skin with a sharp knife. At the same time, another person quickly came over and applied some yellow ointment.
At first, the python was still moving its lower body as it emerged from the hole. Gradually, it stopped moving.
Finally, the crowd of people helped Charles remove his leg from the large snake.
Due to the fact that his leg was smeared with animal fat, it was very slippery. The python’s mouth couldn’t hold onto his leg, which was wrapped with animal skin anyways so he didn’t suffer any injury.
After pulling out the leg, Charles jumped and excitedly said, “Oh yeah! Oh yeah! We caught it! We caught it!”
Scott, who was staring at them blankly, became conscious as if he had awoken from a dream. His numb face shifted and he rushed toward Li Du, shouting, “You tricked me! You bast*rd! You should be in hell, you son of a b*tch! You dared to trick me!?!”
Brother Wolf grabbed him, effortlessly forced his hands behind his back, then kicked him to the ground.
Godzilla and Big Quinn were about to go over and smack him around, but Li Du stopped them and shook his head. “It’s not necessary.”
He looked at Scott, who was like a mad cow, and said, “I did not trick you. It doesn’t matter. The main point is who wins and who loses the bet.”
Scott panted and groaned, “You tricked me! I’m convinced! We should compete again!”
Li Du laughed. “Compete again?” he asked contemptuously. “On what basis?” Scott was about to shout but Li Du immediately said, “I’ve already given you face by competing with you at all. Take a look at yourself. You really think that you deserve to challenge me?”
The police officer next to him furiously said, “Quit the bullsh*t. Stop talking as if you’re the president of America.”
Li Du said, “I am not the president of America, but I can speak to your president. Believe me, I really don’t want to deal with maggots like you. I could take care of you bast*rds without difficulty, including that so-called ‘leader’ of yours!”
“No power is necessary to deal with you guys,” Brother Wolf added. “I could kill all of you in a week’s time and no one would be able to find any evidence. Then I would return to America. Do you think there’s a way to fight back?”
The two police officers were speechless. After a good while, Scott spoke with a hoarse voice. “You are threatening the police! You are threatening the national police!”
Li Du went to him and patted his shoulder. Then, he put something inside his shirt and smiled. “To us, you guys are crap police. Not even fit to be considered human beings. Understand?”
Scott opened his shirt—hanging there was a small lump of steel.
A grenade!
Scott’s thick lips started trembling. Frightened, he looked up at Li Du, who crinkled his eyes as he looked back at Scott. “Here’s your gift. I need to take back my chips.”
He took away Scott’s glasses and walked toward Buick without looking back. At the same time, he said, “I hope that you respect our agreement. You’ve lost. Don’t interfere with the Gibra tribe anymore.”
He didn’t need the glasses so he gave them to Buick.
He didn’t stay at the Gibra tribe long. As they returned with the python, Li Du managed to experience the tribal traditional activity, which was the python massage. After that, he decided to leave.
There were vehicles at the tribe. He spent 15,000 R to buy two shabby pickup trucks. After filling up the oil, Li Du and his group prepared to go back to the forest to find the cars that they had hidden. They would make further plans after that.
After they got on the road, they went through the rainforest and drove south. Then, they took a turn and drove east.
They hadn’t traveled very far when Musa stood and waved his hand. “Wong, wong! Not deer! Wong! Go deer!”
He extended his arm and pointed northwest.
Li Du asked, “What’s wrong? We’re going to retrieve our cars.”
Musa replied with a question: “Then, the diamond mine?”
Li Du said, “There was no diamond mine. That mine was abandoned. No diamonds . . . “
Musa kept shaking his head. “No, no. Not dat. There’s another one.”
As he was talking, he continued to point northwest.
Sophie, who was next to him, was surprised and said, “Oh, dear. We’ve misunderstood him this whole time!”
