“I want to know why you came to ambush me. I don’t believe it was merely for simple revenge.”
Zhou Ming did not hide his purpose. While turning the tiger meat in his hand, he answered Shi Lei’s question calmly.
“Ha ha, ha, cough cough, cough cough……”
Hearing Zhou Ming’s reply, Shi Lei had intended to mock him, to make him give up that idea.
And judging by the situation, Zhou Ming still did not know how precious his pair of snake pupils were.
It would be best if, after being exposed, others treated him as prey — that was the only revenge method Shi Lei could think of.
But he had barely laughed a few times before his injuries provoked a string of coughing fits.
“I think you were going to sneer at me a few times, weren’t you. Heh, never mind. I’ll give you two choices.”
“First, tell me your purpose. I’ll send you on your way with one shot—guaranteed to be painless.”
“Second……”
“Hiss, hiss……”
Before Zhou Ming finished speaking, a tide of Ironthread Snakes had already gathered around Shi Lei.
“…If you keep mouthing off, I won’t waste any more effort; I’ll just let the snake swarm eat you alive.”
When he said that, Zhou Ming’s attention remained fixed on the tiger meat as if it were the most important thing.
“Ironthread Snakes — how could you control so many? I get it now, you used the snake swarm as ears and eyes to detect our movements in advance.”
As an old hunter, seeing ordinary mutated Ironthread Snakes all around, he immediately guessed the snakes’ function.
After all, in a head-on fight, those Ironthread Snakes might not even pierce combat suits.
“You have one minute to think it over. Think carefully — timing starts now.”
Zhou Ming did not waste words; he gave Shi Lei only one minute.
“Sizzle, sizzle……”
In the quiet cave, only the tiger meat hissed as oil dripped. The sound was like a ticking timer, constantly urging Shi Lei.
Shi Lei looked at Zhou Ming’s calm face and could not read his mood. The sizzling of the meat only made him more agitated.
“Zhou Ming, you won’t live long either. Someone will avenge me; you’ll die even worse than I will.”
“Xin Hui Construction Group has been watching you in secret for a long time. Leaving Qinshan Base was a death wish — maybe people are already surrounding this cave.”
“Pah.”
Whether to save his life or to try to frighten Zhou Ming, Shi Lei fabricated a string of claims.
“I know — you can control so many Ironthread Snakes, you must have some secret. Heh heh, everyone will treat you as prey.”
Seeing no reaction from Zhou Ming, and with the meat’s sizzle sounding like a death knell, Shi Lei now only wanted to enrage Zhou Ming into shooting him.
He deliberately claimed that Zhou Ming’s control of the snakes hid some secret.
“Time’s up.”
A voice, so calm it made one’s heart tremble, appeared in the cave.