Peach Blossom Divine Medical God-Chapter 1828 - 1822: Ambush by the River

"I believe this is true. Livestock disappear from the village every day; it doesn’t seem like the work of a thief. Plus, the villagers swear they saw something, and it was just a few days ago, so it’s quite convincing."

"I suspect it’s very likely a snake-like spiritual beast, and its hiding place is probably this small river."

Ma Jiantao pointed to the river not far away.

"Right, if it’s a spirit snake, its huge body will definitely leave marks on the ground. Let’s look around first." Ma Jiantao suddenly remembered and said to everyone.

"Yes, the last time we caught a spirit snake, we found it by following the traces it left. We can search along the riverbank." Lisa agreed.

Seeing this, Chen Yang didn’t say much, since they were the professionals.

"Chen Yang, let’s head east. Zhang Wenyan, you and Ao Mingzheng go west, how about that?" Lisa proposed.

"No problem." Chen Yang naturally had no objections.

The other two agreed as well.

With the directions set, they immediately started to act.

Chen Yang and Lisa followed the river east.

While searching, Chen Yang and Lisa chatted casually.

"Why didn’t Xiao Hu come?" Chen Yang asked.

Lisa smiled, "Last time at the ancient cave, he got seriously injured and lost a lot of blood. Though he nearly recovered and wanted to come, Director Ma stopped him."

"He said that Xiao Hu acted too recklessly in the cave, almost costing his life. So, as punishment, he was not permitted to join this mission."

Heh.

Hearing that Xiao Hu was punished, Chen Yang couldn’t help but chuckle.

"He is indeed reckless; I agree with Director Ma on this." Chen Yang laughed.

"Yes, I think so too. Letting him cool down is a good thing."

Lisa nodded, and then the two of them talked about the subject of spiritual beasts.

According to Lisa, spiritual beasts actually exist in many places, but most of them live in seclusion and rarely cause trouble.

"Generally, for those spiritual beasts that live in seclusion, our secret bureau doesn’t interfere too much. Everyone has a right to live. But those that come out to cause trouble, we must eradicate to maintain social stability." Lisa explained.

Chen Yang asked, "What if today’s incident is indeed caused by a spirit beast? Would we slay it?"

"We’ll see how it unfolds. If it is indeed a spirit beast, we’ll certainly try negotiation first. If that fails, we’ll have to eliminate the threat for the people’s safety," Lisa said casually.

Chen Yang nodded in agreement and didn’t say more.

After walking along the river for about two or three minutes, they made a discovery.

In a patch of grass by the river, there were obvious traces of a large snake entering the water.

Judging from the width of the traces and the depth of the indentation, this snake was enormous!

At least as thick as a barrel!

"Such big marks, how big must this snake be? It seems the villagers weren’t exaggerating; it’s likely true." Chen Yang squatted down, examined the traces carefully, and said.

"Indeed, I’ve captured many spiritual beasts for the secret bureau, but it’s my first time seeing such a large snake." Lisa said as she took out her phone to contact Director Ma, Zhang Wenyan, and Ao Mingzheng.

A few minutes later, Director Ma and the other two came over quickly.

"Lisa, Chen Yang, where’s your discovery?" Director Ma asked as soon as he arrived.

Chen Yang parted the grass, revealing the traces.

"Here."

"Wow, this creature is really huge." Ma Jiantao exclaimed instinctively and then immediately crouched down to examine closer.

"It seems the villagers were right; this spirit beast is indeed large. Plus, it definitely lives in this river." Ma Jiantao said, glancing at the river.

The river was not very wide, but judging by the water flow, it must be quite deep.

Finding a snake in such a place would be rather difficult.

"This creature is really clever. No wonder the villagers couldn’t find any clues for so long. It turns out it goes in and out through this hidden patch of grass, using the grass to conceal its traces." Ma Jiantao said with a smile, then immediately looked at Lisa and Chen Yang: "This creature goes in and out multiple times, so there must be more than just this one track. You should search the area for more."

"Okay." Lisa, Chen Yang, and the other two nodded and then started searching around.

Actually, this place could be described as a marshland, a bit away from the river. But due to its low terrain, it was often covered with water, causing the grass to grow thick, and the soil was soft.

This allowed the spirit beast to leave its traces.

Carefully searching the area, Chen Yang and the others did find many new and old tracks, just as Ma Jiantao had said.

Seeing this situation, Ma Jiantao immediately formed a plan in his mind.

"This must be the creature’s regular entrance and exit. Let’s stake out here tonight, and we won’t miss it." Ma Jiantao said with a smile.

No one objected to Ma Jiantao’s proposal; everyone agreed.

So, the five of them stayed in the village the whole afternoon, waiting for the night to come.

Whether by coincidence or not, just before dusk, there was a sudden rumble, and lightning cut through the sky.

And then it started to rain heavily.

A torrential downpour.

"Oh no, such heavy rain will greatly affect our operation," Zhang Wenyan said.

"Director, should we still proceed with the operation tonight?"

Lisa was also a bit worried.

Considering that the snake obviously lived in the river, such a heavy downpour could work to its advantage while hindering their team.

Ma Jiantao understood this logic as well, but after some thorough consideration, he still decided to proceed.

"Rain does have an impact, but the more the weather is like this, the more likely that creature will come out. Besides, today we’ve also contacted Lion Tiger Mountain; they’ll send people over tonight, so we must take action." Ma Jiantao explained.

"Director, you’ve contacted Lion Tiger Mountain?" Lisa was a bit surprised.

Ma Jiantao nodded as a matter of course: "Of course, this area is actually under Lion Tiger Mountain’s jurisdiction. If I’m conducting business here, I should at least inform them out of courtesy."

"That makes sense. Since Lion Tiger Mountain will send people over, let’s go ahead with the operation." Lisa smiled and nodded, agreeing.

"Chen Yang, do you have any opinions?" After convincing Lisa, Ma Jiantao asked Chen Yang for his opinion.

Among the five, Chen Yang had the highest combat ability.

Having seen everyone else’s agreement, Chen Yang naturally had no objections.

"I don’t have any; I’ll follow your lead." Chen Yang said.

Seeing that Chen Yang had no objections, Ma Jiantao immediately made the decision: "Alright, then let’s proceed as planned tonight."

...

Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, it was midnight.

By then, Chen Yang and the others were no longer in the village but had been lying in ambush early in the plains and fields between the village and the river.

This was the only way for the spirit beast to enter the village; if it wanted to enter, it had to pass through here.

The five of them formed two small teams.

Ma Jiantao led Zhang Wenyan and Ao Mingzheng on one side, while Chen Yang and Lisa were about thirty meters away.

One on the left, one on the right, for better ambush positioning against that spirit creature.