Suddenly, Chunliang's body went limp and fell, convulsing uncontrollably.

A dark shadow flipped in through the open window, and the moonlight cast on this person's face revealed he was wearing a black stocking over his head. This person moved with extreme agility, leaping down from the windowsill like a falling autumn leaf.

Watching Chunliang convulsing on the bed, the man in black shook his head in satisfaction. He lightly tapped a thin bamboo stick on the ground twice.

A five-step snake slithered away from Chunliang silently and came to the man in black, crawling up his arm along the bamboo stick.

Obviously, the man in black was an expert snake handler. He glanced at Chunliang, who was still struggling on the bed, without any intention of rescuing him. After surveying the room to confirm there were no surveillance devices, he prepared to leave.

He had just turned around when the five-step snake lying obediently on his shoulder suddenly attacked him, biting down on his face.

Reeling in pain, the man in black shouted angrily, "Xiaohua, let go..." In his panic, he forgot to lower his voice.

Xiaohua was the pet name he had given the snake. Xiaohua wouldn't let go, clamping onto his right cheek tightly. The thin stocking couldn't stop Xiaohua's venomous fangs. Two long fang tubes pierced his flesh, injecting venom into it.

The venom of the sharp-nosed pit viper is a protein-based hemolytic toxin, which has a strong hemorrhagic effect.

Typically, victims immediately experience pain and bleeding at the wound, followed by swelling, blistering, tissue necrosis, and ulceration.

The man in black was already feeling dizzy and his heart racing. Sensing danger, he hastily retrieved the anti-venom serum he carried. If he didn't inject it in time, he feared he would lose his life here today.

Just after taking out the vial for injection, a figure suddenly dashed forward, kicking the hand holding the vial. The vial flew out and rolled across the floor.

The man in black was scared out of his wits. Looking up, he saw Chunliang, who had been struggling on the bed just moments ago, now standing calmly in front of him.

The man in black didn't bother dealing with Chunliang, crawling forward desperately on all fours. He had to retrieve the serum quickly, as his life depended on that vial.

The five-step snake wrapped around the man's neck, having completely lost control. Its only thought was to eliminate its master.

Chunliang picked up the bamboo stick the man in black used for controlling the snake and struck hard at the center of the man's ninth thoracic vertebra from behind.

This point was the Tendon Contraction Acupoint, belonging to the Governor Vessel. The name indicates the thermal dissipation and contraction of the Governor Vessel's heavenly water dampness and wind energy. Striking it hard causes all muscles and fascia to stiffen as if using a body freeze technique.

The man in black was first poisoned by the snake and then hit on his acupoint, petrifying him like a statue.

The lights suddenly came on bright, and Chunliang, in slippers, walked past him, picking up the vial of anti-venom serum from the floor and examining it. Then his gaze fell on the man's face, but the black stocking made it impossible to discern his expression.

The five-step snake coiled several times around the man's neck, tightening more and more. At this rate, he'd be strangled to death before the poison could kill him.

Chunliang lightly tapped the ground with the bamboo stick, and the five-step snake stopped its assault on its former master, climbing up the stick.

The man in black couldn't believe his eyes. He had raised this five-step snake from hatching, spending significant effort to tame it, yet Chunliang effortlessly controlled it.

Now he fully understood—Chunliang's poisoning was just a ruse to make him believe it was real.

Chunliang reached out to pull off the black stocking from the man's face. In this moment, the man's right cheek had already swollen and blistered, blood oozing out of the two bite wounds from the five-step snake, presenting a ghastly sight.

The man in black looked at the anti-venom serum in Chunliang's hand and said tremblingly, "Quick... quick... give it to me... give it to me..."

Chunliang smiled and said, "Before you tried to harm me, did you ever think you'd end up like this?" He didn't know the man in black before him, wondering why he attempted to kill him. Based on the methods just now, the man deserved what he got.

"Kid, if you're sensible, give me the serum immediately... If anything happens to me, no one at Huichun Hall will be spared..."

Chunliang sighed and said, "Facing death, you still dare to threaten me." He raised his hand as if to smash the glass vial on the ground.

Frightened, the man in black wailed, "No... I... I was wrong... It was my lack of perspective... Spare me, spare me this time. I swear, I will never oppose you again."

Chunliang patted the snake's head on the bamboo stick with his hand. The five-step snake was as docile as a lamb before him, its bright red tongue licking Chunliang's finger in response. The man in black realized he had encountered a master snake handler, one much more skilled than himself.

"What's your name? Why did you try to poison me?"

The man in black, bitten by the five-step snake, was getting closer to the breakout of the poison. Not daring to delay, he answered honestly, "My name is Han Tianchi."

Chunliang immediately recalled that when he set up to expose Fan Yajun from the Forestry Bureau, the main planner of the phone theft case was named Han Tianchi, which was likely why Han Tianchi came to seek revenge.

Han Tianchi pleaded, "Mr. Xu, spare my life. It's all my fault. Give me the serum now, or it'll be too late..." He felt chills all over, and his face was numb and itchy.

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