Sold immediately after wearing it? I took my family and fled the famine.

The group dug and walked, and after crossing a ridge, they suddenly heard the sound of water ahead.

It's running water; the stream flows out from the mountain crevices, splashing and making a gurgling sound as it hits the rocks.

Several young people rushed forward, squatted by the stream, scooped up handfuls of water, drank it, and shouted back, their voices brightening by half a octave: "Sweet! Spring water!"

They quickened their pace. After walking for several days, their water bags contained either rainwater or snow water. The rainwater was bland, and the snow water was fishy and astringent. Even after boiling it in a pot, it still had an indescribable taste.

At this moment, people scooped up mountain spring water and drank it down. It was cool and sweet, and the burning dryness in their throats finally subsided. Some people filled water bags, some lay down to drink directly, and some slapped the water on their faces while drinking, washing away the dirt that had accumulated over the past few days.

The mountain stream wasn't large, but the sound of the water was exceptionally crisp in this quiet forest. The water splashing on the rocks shimmered in the hazy sunlight. A boy, about half a year old, scooped up water and splashed it on his uncle next to him. He was jokingly scolded, "Don't waste it," and chuckled, shrinking back.

Jiang Xing squatted by the stream and drank a few mouthfuls. The coolness made his teeth ache, but it was indeed very refreshing and sweet.

She finished her drink, stood up, and glanced around. Not far upstream, there was a scree slope with shrubs and ferns growing in the cracks between the rocks. Her gaze swept over the scree slope and stopped. There were several small, dark holes at the bottom of the slope, with little vegetation around them. The stones at the edges of the holes were worn smooth.

Snake dens, and more than one.

When the temperature drops to minus ten degrees Celsius, snakes hibernate. Hibernating snakes have stiff bodies and react very slowly, so as long as you don't dig into their burrows with your bare hands, there is basically no danger.

"There's a snake's nest over there," she said.

The men drinking water froze, their expressions shifting from bewilderment to a hungry excitement. A dark-skinned man put down his water bag and gruffly asked, "Snakes? A snake den?"

"Hmm." Jiang Xing said, "At this temperature, snakes are hibernating and basically don't move. But you can't just dig into their holes with your hands. Use a stick to poke them out. Once you've pulled the snake out, press its head down with a stone before grabbing it. Note that regardless of whether it's poisonous or not, if it's poisonous, just cut off its head. You can't touch the snake's head."

She herself did not intend to eat snakes. She had never eaten snakes even when she was starving in the apocalypse because she found them disgusting from the bottom of her heart.

But she knew how hungry these people were. They had been drinking wild vegetable porridge for days and had even gnawed on tree bark. Their eyes changed when they heard the word "meat." They weren't afraid of snakes; they were only afraid that there weren't enough snakes.

The dark-faced man had already picked up a thick tree branch and started walking up the gravel slope. Several young men followed behind him, each step very light, as if afraid of waking something.

One of the bolder ones poked a branch into the first hole. He heard rustling sounds coming from inside—the sound of the branch touching the snake's body and the snake wriggling slightly. He slowly pulled the branch out, turned around, and whispered, "Yes, there is one. It's huge."

Jiang Xing stood by the stream without going over, watching them operate from a distance, occasionally mentioning things like, "Press down its head with a stone before grabbing it," and "That's a lancet viper, it's poisonous, be careful."

The group of people had never done anything like this before, and they were a bit clumsy. Someone was startled when the dead snake's tail lashed out, and was laughed at by the people next to him, who said, "What are you afraid of? You're already dead, what's there to be afraid of?"

But they learned quickly. With the experience of the first one, they got the hang of it. They used branches to pry open the hole, pressed down the snake's head with a stone, and chopped it down with a knife. The snake's body was still writhing when they were already digging the next hole.

In less than half an hour, a row of dead snakes lay on the gravel slope, including spearhead vipers, sharp-nosed vipers, and short-tailed vipers. Most of them were venomous, but there were also a few non-venomous rat snakes and water snakes. A rough count revealed more than forty snakes.

The dark-faced man squatted down and chopped off the head of the last snake. He looked up and smiled at the person next to him, revealing two rows of teeth stained green by wild vegetables: "I've never touched so many snakes in my life."

As they were processing the snake meat by the stream, Jiang Xing casually remarked, "Put the snake gallbladders in the bowl over there, and don't throw away the snake skin."

She then walked a short distance deeper into the woods, and after confirming that no one was around, she opened the shop panel and used her points to exchange for two plump wild rabbits, which were grayish-brown in color and quite large.

She tucked the wild rabbit behind her waist, picked up a few herbs and covered the basket with them, then turned and walked back to the stream.

"Hey, where did Miss Jiang get that rabbit?" A sharp-eyed woman spotted the wild rabbit behind her waist at a glance.

"I just saw a rabbit hole in the woods and dug it out on the spot," Jiang Xing said.

The woman glanced at the snake meat in her hand, then at the rabbit at her waist, and simply smiled without asking any further questions.

The group of people who came out with Jiang Xing now only feel gratitude towards her. She not only led them to find medicinal herbs, but also helped them catch snakes and dig up fern roots and kudzu roots to fill their stomachs. What's so special about her catching two rabbits? That's her skill.

Around one o'clock in the afternoon, it started snowing again. Fine snowflakes mixed with raindrops fell together, rustling on the leaves.

Jiang Xing led the team back, each person carrying a heavy basket on their back, filled with medicinal herbs, wild vegetables, fern roots, kudzu root, Smilax glabra, and snake meat strung together with straw rope.

As they walked, someone counted over forty snakes. Jiang Xing said that he would take out thirty snakes to share with everyone to make soup, and keep the remaining dozen or so for them to divide among themselves.

I started to laugh as I was doing the calculations, but then I felt so pathetic and tried to stop laughing. But I couldn't help it again.