He Li’s words left the surrounding middle-aged women marveling. They all declared they would learn from Sister He next time and release mineral water to accumulate great merit.

Laughing and chatting, they boarded a bus headed for the suburbs, each carrying their "treasures."

The bus stopped by the bank of the city moat.

It was late autumn. The reeds by the river had turned a withered yellow, but they were still dense and grew taller than a person. When the wind blew, they rustled.

"Alright, everyone, listen up."

The organizer, Zhao Chunxiang, shouted a reminder, "Autumn is when snakes come out. There are a lot of snakes in the grass by this river, so when you’re releasing the animals, be very careful where you step. Don’t get bitten."

"Got it."

Everyone replied in unison, but it was clear that few of them truly took the warning to heart.

The release ceremony officially began.

The women lined up and walked to the riverbank.

Those releasing loaches untied their bags and, with a SPLASH, poured the fish into the murky river water.

Those releasing red-eared sliders carefully tilted their basins, allowing the turtles—an invasive species—to slowly crawl into the water...

It was He Li’s turn.

She walked to the riverbank, pressed her palms together, closed her eyes, and began to mutter a prayer:

"May this merit protect..."

As she chanted, she GLUG GLUG GLUGGED the entire bottle of mineral water into the river.

Just as she unscrewed a second bottle, preparing to continue accumulating her "eighty-four thousand merits"...

Suddenly, she heard a RUSTLING sound from the dense reeds beside her.

She instinctively turned her head to look.

The sight nearly scared her out of her wits!

In the grass, less than half a meter away, was a venomous snake. It was over a meter long with black and white bands, a triangular head, and was coiled up, its head held high as it flicked its tongue.

It stared intently at her with a pair of emotionless eyes.

Huh?

A snake...

He Li knew nothing about snakes. She didn’t know what species this was, or if it was venomous.

But even a common, non-venomous rat snake would have terrified her.

Let alone this one, which looked dangerous at a single glance.

"AHHH—!"

Terrified, He Li let out a piercing scream, and the water bottle in her hand fell to the ground.

Her scream startled the venomous snake, which was already on high alert.

Like a black-and-white arrow released from a bow, the snake shot out of the grass with a WHOOSH.

Before He Li could react, she felt a sharp, needle-like pain in her ankle.

She looked down and saw the snake had sunk its fangs into her exposed ankle.

After striking, the snake didn’t linger for a moment. It dove into the dense reeds and vanished without a trace.

It all happened in the blink of an eye.

"A snake! There’s a snake! I’ve been bitten!"

Terrified, He Li collapsed to the ground, pointing at her ankle and letting out a piercing, wailing cry.

The surrounding women, busy with their "animal releasing," were all startled by the sound.

The timid ones quickly backed away.

One of them tripped and fell, scrambling backward on all fours.

Zhao Chunxiang, as the organizer, felt a sense of responsibility.

Steeling herself, she cautiously approached He Li.

First, she helped He Li move away from the riverbank.

They retreated more than ten meters to an open area clear of wild grass.

With a clear view of their surroundings, they would be able to spot any approaching snakes.

Feeling slightly more at ease, she lifted He Li’s pant leg. On the inside of He Li’s ankle were two distinct, pinprick-like holes, oozing tiny beads of blood.

’This is bad. She really was bitten by a venomous snake.’

What was more terrifying was that in less than a minute or two, He Li’s body began to show obvious signs of envenomation!

Her face turned incredibly pale, and her lips began to turn purple.

She clutched her stomach and began to vomit violently.

"Quick, call 911! Get her to a hospital!"

The scene descended into chaos.

Someone called 911. 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

"Does anyone know first aid? Who knows what to do for a snakebite?"

Watching He Li begin to convulse, Zhao Chunxiang was frantic. She shouted the question at the group of women behind her.

Dead silence.

These women, who were usually so enthusiastic when discussing "merit" and "good fortune," were now silent as the grave and utterly helpless in the face of a real life-or-death crisis.

They had all seen some "first-aid tips" on TV and the internet before.

But now, not a single one of them dared to try anything.

"Suck it out with your mouth. On TV, don’t they always suck the poisoned blood out?" one of the women suggested in a low voice.

"Are you crazy?" someone immediately retorted. "If the venom gets in your mouth and you swallow it, you’ll die right along with her!"

Zhao Chunxiang didn’t know if sucking out the venom was the right thing to do either.

She didn’t dare risk it.

But the ambulance wouldn’t arrive for a while.

Just standing around and waiting wasn’t an option.

After a moment’s thought, she rummaged through her bag, pulled out a handkerchief, and tied it tightly around He Li’s lower leg, hoping to slow the venom’s spread.

Then, copying what she’d seen on TV, she bent down and squeezed the two small wounds on He Li’s ankle with all her might, hoping to force some of the venomous blood out.

However, there was very little muscle tissue around the ankle, just bone and tendon beneath the skin.

No matter how hard she squeezed—using every last ounce of her strength and making He Li’s ankle red and swollen—she only managed to press out a few drops of dark red blood.

The atmosphere was so tense it was hard to breathe.

Some of the more timid women, watching He Li’s increasingly terrifying symptoms, were so frightened they began to whimper.

A few of them whispered amongst themselves.

They all made excuses, returned to the bus, and fled.

In the end, only Zhao Chunxiang and two or three other "group members" she was on relatively good terms with remained, steeling themselves to stay with He Li and wait for the ambulance.

...

The wail of an ambulance siren grew louder, approaching from the distance.

It pulled up to the riverbank.

The paramedics and nurses with the ambulance lifted the deeply unconscious He Li into the vehicle.

After a quick examination, their brows furrowed.

"What happened?"

One of the paramedics asked Zhao Chunxiang and the others for details while monitoring He Li’s vital signs.

"She was... bitten by a snake!"

Zhao Chunxiang explained incoherently, "Right here, by the river! A snake suddenly shot out of the grass!"

"What kind of snake? Did you get a good look at it?"

the paramedic immediately pressed. This was the most critical piece of information.

"We don’t know."

Zhao Chunxiang and the few remaining women all shook their heads frantically. "We were over there, releasing the animals. He Li was farther away from us. By the time she screamed, the snake was already gone. Other than He Li, none of us saw what kind of snake it was..."

Hearing this, the paramedic’s brow furrowed.

He quickly contacted the city’s emergency dispatch center to check the antivenom stock at the major hospitals in the provincial capital.

...