Chapter 69

Cheng Si’s exclamation of “ah” was also heard by Professor Zhou and the others, who hurried over.

Feng Yi, who had been wandering around looking for fruit to eat, also ran over upon hearing the commotion, without even bothering to wipe his mouth.

Professor Zhou glanced at him, made a mental note, and reminded him, “Don’t eat random things,” before rushing over to Cheng Si.

Now was not the time to talk to Feng Yi about these things.

When Professor Zhou and the others arrived, Cheng Si was squeezing the venom out of his wound.

“Bitten by a snake?” Professor Zhou quickly approached.

“Yeah.”

Cheng Si looked relatively calm, but his face was slightly pale, his expression stiff, and his eyes somewhat dazed.

Professor Zhou assumed he was just scared.

“What kind of snake?” Professor Zhou asked, looking at the wound.

“The same as yesterday, a cobra.”

“Is this the only wound? Any other injuries?”

“No, just this one. My sunglasses fell, and when I picked them up, I didn’t notice the snake in the grass and got scratched.”

Steve looked at Cheng Si’s wound, “You reacted quickly. It didn’t bite down, just grazed you with its fangs, but there’s still some venom.”

Seeing no other wounds, Cheng Si remained calm, and Professor Zhou felt a bit relieved.

After being bitten by a venomous snake, the first three minutes are crucial for detoxification.

These three minutes are very important. If you don’t detoxify in time after being bitten and run around in panic, it’s over.

The faster your blood circulates, the faster the venom spreads.

This is why the expedition team always requires sufficient field experience. Otherwise, they wouldn’t dare to hire. People with field experience are generally calmer and more experienced in handling such emergencies.

If it were someone else, they might panic and scare themselves half to death, or run around in a panic, which could easily lead to trouble.

In recent years, the only exception to the recruitment criteria was Feng Yi.

However, Feng Yi had a recommender, Captain Yuan of the Joint Security Bureau, who specially recommended him. They were also very interested in Feng Yi’s talent for finding snakes, so they made an exception.

Initially, when the expedition team decided to recruit Feng Yi, they were prepared for him to be the first to be carried out midway.

But unexpectedly, although Feng Yi lacked experience and some of his actions were quite bold, he remained unharmed, while the first to get injured was Cheng Si, who had field experience.

When they agreed to work with Cheng Si’s team, both sides planned to live-stream the entire journey from start to finish.

But it didn’t turn out as expected!

Each person had their own thoughts, but the most pressing matter now was to provide first aid to Cheng Si.

“Syringe!”

“Water!”

“Bring the first aid kit! Prepare the封闭液 for injection!”

Since this wasn’t the first time they encountered such a situation, Professor Zhou quickly assigned the first aid tasks and contacted the rescue team.

Although Cheng Si’s condition was still stable, no one could guarantee that there wouldn’t be any complications.

Snakes that survive the abnormal climate periods in the wild and their offspring are generally stronger, with more potent venom. Who knows what other changes there might be?

Antivenom serum is prone to denaturation and inactivation at high temperatures and needs to be stored in a cool, dark place. The climate conditions in the Nan Chong Mountains are not suitable for carrying it.

However, the first aid kit they carried was sufficient to hold out until the rescue team arrived.

The封闭液 contains certain proteases. The main component of snake venom is toxic protein, and the proteases in the封闭液 will break down the snake venom into non-toxic peptides.

Injecting the封闭液 is to block the spread of snake venom in the lymph, bloodstream, and soft tissues, breaking down the venom to some extent and preventing the absorption of local venom.

Different snake venoms require different封闭液 formulations. For example, the best formulation for pit vipers like the five-step snake and the bamboo leaf green snake is different from that for cobras and king cobras, which have mixed venom, including both hemotoxic and neurotoxic components. Knowing the type of snake venom allows for the selection of the best protease formulation.

The expedition team was well-prepared. After treatment, the amount of snake venom entering the human circulatory system was reduced, and the toxicity to human tissues was also decreased.

The first aid kit also contained oral antivenom and wound treatment medications. In short, Cheng Si’s life would not be in danger before the rescue team arrived.

After completing the first aid, Professor Zhou noticed the phone that was still recording video. He walked over and took it without looking at it.

“Cheng Si, your phone!”

Professor Zhou handed the phone to Cheng Si.

Cheng Si took the phone, “Thank you.”

Looking at the phone that was still recording, Cheng Si’s face was expressionless as he pressed the stop recording button and then clicked “delete video.”

Professor Zhou: …

Professor Zhou looked at Teacher Lei.

Teacher Lei also gave him a look: This injury must have a story, but let’s save the child’s face!

They had seen such situations before and sometimes even played along.

On Cheng Si’s side:

Cheng Si couldn’t let others know that his greed and overestimation of his abilities led to the video disaster!

So, his strongest desire at this moment was to delete the video on the phone!

The phone had recorded his entire reckless process, which would severely damage his image and likely cause waves of ridicule in the community, possibly for a long time.

Cheng Si knew he might not fool Professor Zhou and Steve, but if he could fool Feng Yi and others, it would be fine. Even if Professor Zhou and the others suspected something, they wouldn’t investigate further. But if others found out, it would be troublesome.

So, no matter what they asked, he would stick to “I was picking up my sunglasses and didn’t notice the snake.”

It was definitely not a failed attempt to imitate Feng Yi and get bitten by a snake!

While Professor Zhou and the others were providing professional first aid to Cheng Si, Feng Yi couldn’t help much and just moved around, keeping an eye on the surroundings.

Since the incident had just happened, the scent trail hadn’t dissipated.

Various scent molecules were captured by the olfactory organs and transmitted to the brain, where they were analyzed and imaged.

Soon, Feng Yi, with his super-sensitive sense of smell, “saw” a blurry dynamic image formed by the scent trail, reconstructing what had just happened.

He “saw” Cheng Si’s walking path and the cobra that wasn’t very large.

The cobra was originally in the grass, but when it encountered a person, it tried to escape, only to be blocked by Cheng Si.

Then, Cheng Si walked to one side…

Feng Yi followed the scent trail.

That was where the phone was placed.

Professor Zhou had just picked up the phone from there and handed it to Cheng Si.

So, Cheng Si’s actions were:

Seeing a cobra — blocking the cobra — setting up the phone —

And then…

Oh…

The scent information told Feng Yi everything.

Cheng Si’s injury was indeed… hard to describe.

But, it’s better not to reveal it.

Sigh!

Feng Yi himself had once blamed a Burmese python.

Anyway… if asked, it was the snake that initiated!

Cheng Si’s wound had been treated.

Steve checked again, “Fortunately, it was just a graze from the fangs. There was some venom, but not much. The first aid was timely, so there’s no problem. The rest is to wait for the rescue team to take him to the hospital for further treatment. In my opinion, he should be fine in a week.”

“Cheng Si was quite lucky and reacted quickly. If he had been bitten properly, the venom would have entered the tissue, and he would have needed to expand the wound to detoxify. Or if a large amount of venom had entered the bloodstream and lymph, it would have been even more dangerous.”

Professor Zhou also said, “When walking in the wild, be careful. Don’t be overconfident just because you have experience!”

Professor Zhou took this opportunity to remind the young team members. Young people often have many ideas and can be impulsive.

Especially Feng Yi!

He hoped that Cheng Si’s incident would serve as a warning to Feng Yi, not to be arrogant and reckless just because he has some snake-catching skills!

“We’ve already contacted the rescue team, but this area isn’t suitable for their helicopter. The forest is too dense. We need to move to a different location. Cheng Si, you shouldn’t move on your own.”

So…

Cheng Si, being carried by Feng Yi, had a very complex expression.

After receiving Professor Zhou’s call for help, the rescue team immediately contacted the nearest rescue squad, which flew to the location of Team 6 to carry out the rescue.

…

Feng Yi munched on a cookie, watching Cheng Si board the rescue squad’s helicopter.

His eyes carried a hint of envy.

Cheng Si had to leave the team due to his injury, but the rest had to continue along the planned route to complete the expedition task.

Feng Yi, of course, had to continue as well.

Although he was craving a big meal, he had to endure and keep going.

Since he had taken on this task, he had to see it through to the end.

If he really wanted to leave the team, he could always get bitten by a venomous snake…

But that’s not right!

Would the venom from these snakes in the mountains be strong enough to affect him?

Could their venom be stronger than him?

Feng Yi fell into deep thought.

Meanwhile, Cheng Si, now completely relaxed, was thinking about how to maximize the value of his injury.

One of Cheng Si’s team members came with the rescue team. After understanding Cheng Si’s condition, they were relieved. They discussed for a moment, and the team member went to talk to Professor Zhou and the others about recording some videos to get their evaluation of Cheng Si’s performance during the expedition.

Professor Zhou and the others agreed.

They praised Cheng Si for remaining calm after being bitten, for being hardworking and not afraid of fatigue, and so on.

In any case, they all tacitly agreed not to mention how Cheng Si got injured.

Today’s incident, with one side not delving into it and the other not willing to elaborate, focused on Cheng Si’s performance before the bite and his reaction after being grazed by the snake. These were the aspects to be highlighted.

Cheng Si’s team had already started planning the publicity, as an injury could generate attention and attract traffic, which was worth it.

Cheng Si’s biggest regret was not seeing a king cobra.

Before leaving, Cheng Si told Steve and the others, “If you encounter a king cobra, take lots of videos! If Steve can live-stream it, that would be even better!”

Steve smiled, “If we’re lucky enough to find a king cobra, it’s likely to be discovered by Feng Yi. This kid has an incredible talent for finding snakes, but he’s been a bit lazy lately.”

Cheng Si didn’t count on Feng Yi. After being on the team for so long, he realized that Feng Yi wasn’t very interested in filming videos.

Moreover, although Feng Yi was extremely skilled at finding and catching snakes, his focus wasn’t on that. It seemed that wild fruit on the trees was more attractive to him!

Thinking about the past few days, Steve added, “It’s not necessarily Feng Yi who will find it. Our team has good luck. Didn’t you encounter a cobra today?”

Cheng Si: “…” Please don’t say that.

He had already brainwashed himself into believing that he was bitten while picking up his sunglasses.

He would never reveal the truth of today’s incident!

The video was already deleted!

No one could pry the truth out of him!

No one!

No one!!!